The Press.
London, England, 1854-06-10 00:00:00

M. KOSSUTH AT SHEFFIELD.

THE promised demonstration of anti- Russian and
pro-" Nationalities of Europe " character came off on
Monday at Sheffield. There were two assemblages
on the occasion : one at noon, in the open air, pre-
sided over by Mr. Solly, the
Mayor of Sheffield, and
attended by a vast concourse numbering, it was
computed, twelve or fifteen thousand persons; the
second meeting took place in the evening in the
Music-hall, but the admission being by tickets, for
which prices of ls. and 2s. 6d. were charged, accord-
ing to class, the attendance was much more select,
and the numbers present amounted to but a few
hundreds. At both gatherings, however, M. Kossuth
was the chief attraction, and the proceedings com-
prised little else but voluminous speeches delivered
by him and very warmly appreciated by the au-
dience.

Beginning with Russia and the Eastern war, M.
KOSSUTH, in the morning address, conducted his
hearers in the course of a few sentences into the very
centre of the great European neutrality question. As
thus—Englishmen, wherever he went, assured him
that they were earnest and anxious to withstand the
assaults of Russia, to cripple her powers of aggres-
sion, and secure the freedom of Europe. So far, all
well; but, when he looked at the shifty plans of poli-
ticians, at the diplomatic despatches, the hasty pro-
tocols manufactured by scores, at the interpellations,
declarations, and orations delivered "in a certain
place," he found that the great object "of the little
statesmen of our sickly age " was to hide the plain
truth in unmeaning generalities, and, above all, to
avoid defining what they understood by that phrase
so constantly in their mouths, " the peace of Europe."
If this shuffling was allowed to go on, he warned the
people of England that they would one day wake up
and find, with horror, that their gallant brethren and
sons had been shedding their blood and they them-
selves lavishing millions of treasure for an aim just
contrary to what they had meant to tight and pay
for :

" Yon will have meant to fight for the independence and
liberties of Europe, and you shall discover that you have
fought for securing oppression over many a nation on the
Continent. Yes, you may expect, in reward of your blood
and sacrifices, a miserable paper treaty, good for the cheese.
mongers--(laugAter)—and, at the utmost, Russian des-
potism a little tired, until it gets restored by an afternoon
nap—(laughter)—bat, in its stead, Austrian despotism
made a great deal stronger and more secure."
Arrived at this point, M. Kossuth dilated upon the
well-known theme, drawing a dark picture of the
crimes which Austrian despots had committed, and
giving a sad augury of the results likely to flow from
the ill-starred union which the Bntish Ministry
seemed on the verge of cementing with that country.
" I ask you," he said to his audience,
" do you hate Russian despotism? (Loud cries of 'Year)
You do. Again, I ask do you like Austrian despotism?

535

Do you like that despotism which quartered Poland, asses-
sinated Hungary, and murdered Italy? Do you like that
despotism ? (Prolonged (Ties of ' r) No, you don't.
Well, if you don't lake it, let the mighty word of the peoplo
of England be lawfully told up to the heavens, and down
to Westminster-hall, because danger is knocking at your
doors. England is about to be married to Austrian des-
potism—England is about to pledge that your blood shall
be bbed and your money shall be spent to make Austrian
despotism sure. There are strange anomalies to be met
with here in your England. Who is the humble individual
who has the honour of speaking now to you? Humble and
unpretending as I am, still, by what I have done, and by
what I have been, and by what 1 am, I certainly tun a
living protest against Russian encroachment and Austrian
aespousna. (Cheers.) And who is Francis Joseph of
Austria? He is the man who holds in his bloody bands
one of the quartered limbs of Poland. He is the man who
betrayed every province of his empire by holding up be-
fore their eyes the solemn promise of a constitution, and
thou abolishing every letter of it. He is the man who
attacked the laws and existence of Hungary by conspiracy
and by arms—who spread tire, and death, and desolation
over the land, and called iu the forces of a foreign despot
to subjugate it. He is the man who raised scaffolds by
hundreds, and immolated upon them patriots by thousands.
He is the man who murdered Hungary and Italy. (Load
cheers.) Now, the world has seen the millions of the people
of England cheering my humble self and cursing Francis
Joseph of Austria. The world has seen mayors and alder-
men, and corporations and delegations, and societies and
whole communities, and the people of ngland, expressing,
in some 120 addresses, their approbation of my course of
resistance to Austrian aggression and their sympathy for
my country's wrongs, bidding me to be of good cheer, and
to trust that the day of retribution will come. (Cheers.)
It is high time for England, it is high time for the world,
to know what is the people's will about this war. You
should insist upon a serious issue for your sacrifices. Yon
should insist that no power shall be left to despotism
and despots to drive you to new wars, by encroaching upon
the freedom, the rights, and the independence of nations.
You should insist to attain by your present sacrifices a true
and lasting peace. Now, neither of these aims can be
attained without Poland, Hungary, and Italy restored to
their national rights, and especially Russia's overwhelming
power cannot be reduced without Poland being recon-
structed an independent nation with its national territory ;
nor can the integrity and independence of Turkey be se-
cured without a free and independent Hungary. All these
aims would be subverted by England taking despotic
Austria for her ally. (Cheers.) Then you would tight for
Austrian despotism, and not for freedom. That cannot,
that would not, suit you. (Cheers.) Therefore, if you
agree with me that the honour, the interests, and the sym-
pathies of the people of England are all for the op.
pressed, and not for the oppressors, pronounce your will
—protest against marrying England to despotic Austria.
(Cheers.)"

At the evening meeting M. KOSSUTH returned to
the subject, enforcing his conclusions with new ar-
guments, urged at greater length. France and Eng-
land, he said, had first sanctioned the crimes of the
partition of Poland and the enslavement of Hungary.
Those events formed the stepping-stones over which
Russia advanced into preponderance in Europe.
After that they fell into the error of believing that
Austria was the only bar against the further progress
of Russia:—

" And from this error Austria became the pet of Eng-
land's Ministers and Parliament; not of the people—of
this my own humble person is a living testimony. And,
happily, Ministers and M.P.'s are passing—the people
remains. The question is, who was right,—the people or
the Government? In my opinion facts are the best
criterion of the soundness of a policy. Whenever a cer-
tain line of policy had full and free scope to prove its
efficiency, then, if we see the end proposed attained, we
may say the policy was a sound one ; but, if we see that
the contrary has happened, then we must judge that the
policy was a wrong one. That is clear, I think. Now, I
ask you, has all the fondling and petting of Austria proved
efficient for the aim of conserving the independence of
Tsrkey and of checking the preponderance of Russia?
No ; you are compelled to go to war for this very purpose.
There is the answer. Now, for God's sake, don't allow
your Government to persist in a course which had such a
fair trial, and has proved so eminently wrong—nay, proved
to be just subservient to the growing supremacy of Russia.
Right about, gentlemen ; let your policy turn upon its
heels—that's good sense. To persist obstinately in march-
ing in the wrong direction would be the contrary of good
sense."

In England two years since the restoration of Hun-
garian independence was a subject for sympathy and
generous sentiment merely—now it had become a
matter of self-preservation. We cf uld fight the Czar
with prospect of success only by making that one of
the elements in our warfare. Turkey itself, he con-
tended, had often aided in the constitutional strug-
gles of the Hungarians, and, as history showed, had
always received a due reward for its help. On one
occasion, in 1848, that aid was withheld, and for this
lapse Turkey had now to atone by a supreme struggle
for life and death. This fact. sufficed to show "what
it, is to enter into unnatural alliances." In the same
year (1848) England also committed a fault in con-
senting to the Russian occupation of Montenegro,
and even in advising the Porte not to offer a practi-
cal resistance to that invasion of its territory. "On
the very day that advice was given," argued M.
Kossuth, "the present war was made inevitable. A
contrary course would have spared you all the pre-