The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-28 00:00:00

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

(BE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH

PLYMOUTH. WEDNESDAY MORNING.

The General Screw Steam Shipping Company's
mail-packet Indiana, Capt. Lambert, arrived this
morning. Her dates are: Calcutta, July 15; Mau-
ritius, Aug. 7 ; Table Bay, 20; St. Helena, 29;
Ascension, Sept. 2 ; St. Vincent, 10 ; and Vigo, 25.
At the Mauritius sugars were making 3 dole. per
100Ibs. Freights to England 31. 3s.
The Sydney, emigrant ship, was lost at Carmonier's
Point on the 12th July; crew and passengers saved.
Affairs continue tranquil at the Cape. The Gaiku
and Kreli have fulfilled the stipulations imposed on
them at the end of the war. Any sudden diminu-
tion of the troops would, in the opinion of the
colonists, be followed by fresh outbreaks. The com-
merce of the Cape is daily increasing, and thc con-
stitution has given a full sense of security.
At the Cape the Meander, Dart, and Hydra.
The Bosphorus, from England, was hourly expected.
Two Spanish ships of war, a frigate, and a brig, were
at Vigo. Spoken : August 16, lat. 34 S., long.
25 E., Chancellor, bound from Bombay to Liver-
pool; 17th, lat. 35 S., long. 21 E., Robert Peel,
from Batavia, to Cowes ; 28th, lat. 18 S., long. 31V.,
Cambria, to Liverpool; 30th, lat. 14 S., 7 W., the
Martaban, for Liverpool ; Sept. 7, lat. 7, long. 19 W.,
the Orion; Sept. 11, lat 19, long. 25 W., the An-
dover; Sept. 26, lat. 44 N., long. 10 W., dist. pendant,
No. 70.

AMERICA.

-•--
(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

KOSSUTH ON THE EASTERN QUEsijoy.

The following letter was sent by Kossuth, in reply
to an invitation to be present at the StairJrd ;log on the
Ea.stern question:

21, Alpha-road, Regent's-park, L%idoti,
Sept. 2i,
Dear Sir,-4 have jolt received your letter of seilember
22, wherein you do me the honour of inviting me to attend
the town meeting of StafFird, called for Monday neat, with
the view to memorialise her Britannic Majesty on the
matter of Rush= invasion of the provinces ut
empire. _

Interests the mo-t sacred and the dearest to me—as g
man, as a patriot, as a friend of freedom, and a member of
the great family of mankind—are intimately ednuected
with the pending complication in the East ; aud, I owe,
moreover, gra:itusdueltatno.by which ley life md
Turkey, ter the noble
athnoedrleEenarl;of everlasting in
ilutti'ugvi the
companions were saved from the blood.
thirty persecution of Christian despots, after my fatherland
had been overthrown—nut by Russian arms, but by the
same policy of which the cautinuatian—indeed, the second
act of the same tragedy—now rouses your indignation. 1
can, therefore, immure you, air, that I neither au n,r shall
neglect to exert all my activity to serve the legitimate M.
terests of the Turkish Empire, according to my bet
abilities. Therefore, glad as lam to see the citizens of
Stafford intending to act in the same direction, I certainly
would have thankfully accepted your institutive were it not
for the following two considerations;
Had I been called upon to address the citizens of Stafford
on the subject, it would have been, frem my. ',aide°, itn.
possible not to dwell upon the intimate connexion ot the
Turkish question with the prospects of my own dear father-
land, and upon the advantage which the cause of freedom
might derive from Turkey effectively supported in bee re-
sistance to the Czar of Russia and his confederates.
Now, sir, I kaow, on one side, that any particular expla-
nation of that nature would certainly have been but an ed.
ditional claim to the csympathica of the men of Stafford;
but, unfortunately, 1 have also reason to apprehend, on the
other hand, that the more successful 1 might have been is
forwarding that cause, and in carrying that point, the
stronger stimulus I should have given to the pre,ent English
government for pressing affairs to an issue ouch as the
friends of justice, freedom, and humanity must di plore.
Sir, by analysing the conduct of the English government,
during the present crisis, it is impossible nut to come to the
conclusion that it is not so much either by tear from, or by
a particular predilection for, Russia, that the English go.
vernmeut has until now rather served than checked Itussis's
ambitious designs; but that it is rather fur tenor lest, by
encouraging Turkey to legitimate resistance, an opportu-
nity might be offered to some successful popular rising in
other quarters.
I have, indeed, no hesitation to say, that the policy of
England has long since beim Russian in its reoults though
not Ruosian in its motives—it has been worse, it has been
anti•liberal in principle.
In 1848 Russia interfered against the popular movement
in Moldo-Wallachia by armed invasion, and thus prepared
I the way for the subsequent intervention in I:tinzary, as
well as for the present occupation of the hiec.palities
England did not oppose it.
Soon after, Russia interfered by arms in lluneary, and
gained by it an awful ',repots...trance throughout the Con-
tinent of Europe. The government ut Eugland bad no-
thing to object to it.
This Russian intervention being carried on from Turkish
territory, was in itself the grossest violation of its iadepend-
ence. Turkey was made an instrument for 11tiotien am.
bitiun and for Austrian oppression. It was pet witted that
the resources of Turkish provinces, proviiiins, money,
means of transport, should be made use of by Rut sia in her
attack on Hungary. The Austrians, beaten, twice found
refuge and means of attack in the same Turkah provinces ;
which was neither more nor Ina than a virtual resignation
of the independence of Turkey. And the government of
England allowed all this to be done—nay, it checked
Turkey in opposing it, by advising her " not to come into
hostile collision with her stronger neighbours --as the
Foreign Secretary of England hid the ridiculous politeness
to style that Austria, which we had defeated so often that
she was no longer able to resist us without the aid of
Russia, who, in her turn, had to strain every nerve to
effect it.

Now, sir, has the English government done all this,
because it liked Russia's striding preponderance ? No; it
did it, because it hated the popular triumph of what they
call "the revolutionary principle."
And now, once more, the Danubian Principalities are
occupied, and their resources made subservient to Ruins
in her hostility against the l gitimate suzerain of those pro-
vinces ; and, again, the English government is guilty, be-
fore God and the world, of having permitted .aelt piracy
to be perpetrated without resistance. Was this done be-
cause England approved the seizure of /1o:de-Wallachia
by the Czar ? No ; but it was not opposed, beeause the
English government feared, lest any resistance to Russian
aggression might lead some of the oppressed nations to re-
new their efforts for freedom.

That is the real clue to that policy, against which the
citizens of Stafford are about to record their pretest.
The fatal incubus which weighs heavily on the foreign
policy of your government, is not so much love
for the Czar as fear and hatred of democracy. It would
be vain to dissimulate, sir, that aristocracy and plutocracy,
as leading elements, will always less fear the despot than
popular liberty.
This is the reason, sir, that I must decline the honour of
attending your meeting. I should not like, by my partici-
pation in that demonstration, to add a new stimulus to your
government for persisting in its harmful direction.
My second reason, sir, for not responding to your kind
invitation ie, that I have no knowledge of the practical
purport of the resolutions intended to be submitted to the
meeting. And this I take to be an essential point, sir,
because it is not enough to agree in the ultimate aim, it is
equally important to come to a clear understanding about
the most efficient means to attain that aim, and I should not
like to be placed in a false position in that respect, out of
delicacy due to the occasion.
_ _

lam led to this remark by the fact, of which I am well
enured, that your government was led into that incoesis-
tency—which I and you equally deplore—by an endeavour
to save Austria from her well-merited fete, and to help her
to a position which, even were it consistent with •justice
and right, &sit is certainly not, would be impracticable.
I know it, sir, and can prove it if needed, that all the
exertions of English diplomacy in the East have been not
so much prompted by the wish to do what ie advautageou
to Turkey, as by the consideration what might be least em-
barrassing to Austria. There are some who suppose that
this ungrateful task might have been inspired by considera-
tions which, however dear to some private relations, are cer-
tainly of no interest to the people of England. But at is
likewise founded upon a prejudice, blindly without in•
vestigation accepted by existing diplomacy ; and
that is, that Austria is necessary to Europe, precisely as a
barrier for Turkey against Russian encroachments,. Now,
sir, I proclaim this to be a false supposition in the past, and
impoesible for the future. Austria never has been a barrier
of Turkey against Russia, or else, how could it happen that
in spite of that barrier, in a time when it was yet shaken by
the universal discontent of all the nations which Austria
rules, Russia has succeeded, in extending her conquest upon
Turkey on one side to the Kuban, on the other to the
Danube ; nay, that she took even into her iron grasp the
estuary of that Danube, which is precisely the life artery
of Austria herself ? Austria was never a barrier to R-ssia.
She was her ally against Turkey in almost all her wars ; so
much so that even when she made a show of mediation
between Turkey and Russia in that war which ended
with the treaty of Belgrade, she did it only to disguise
her preparations for joining Russia, as she is doing now
again. When in 18% Austria feigned a feeble opposition
against Russia, it was only because the bribe of the leading
minister, which he had regularly received from the Emperor
Alexander, was withheld by Czar Nicholas ; the bribe re-
turned, and the opposition vanished. No Austria was
never a barrier of Turkey against Russia. It is in com-
plete defiance at history to repose on her as a barrier; and,
even could she have been so in the put, she cannot be one
in future; for, after she had accepted the intervention of
Russia—after the Hungarians had arrived at the conscious-
ness of their strength, which enables them to destroy her
when she is unsupported by Russia—after Austria has
aroused all her nations by oppression and treachery
—after she has foolishly uprooted all her vita-
telt; when she has no other aepport than an
army of doubtful faith, one-half employed to watch
and keep down the other half—after all this has happened,
it is more than ignorance to believe in an independent Au-
tria ; it is a political blunder. Every sensible man in the
world must feel convinced that Austria can in no case act
but as Russia orders her; because, by the hold which Ras-
sista influence has over the Sclavonic elements of the Aus-
trian empire, and by the readiacss of the Hungarian na-
tion to accept any imaginable condition to the hated rule
of Austria, she is well aware that a word from the Power
which saved her in 1849, may destroy her fictdiou, ex-
istence.

Yet it is this Austria with which the government of
mighty England is so anxious to combine her policy in the
EVA ; it is this Austria which led England passively in all
the negotiations hitherto carried on ; which have resulted
in Russia's taking possession of two Turkish province., im-
portant in themselves, but more important yet ae a
strategical basis for further encroachments, and affording
the sinews of war to Russia against the legitimate buirrals
of those same provinces.

Why, air, the most untrained novice in diplomacy tali.tht
have understood, that if Austria agrees to dt something
conjointly with England in regard to Russia, it is. Itute
much as if England acted conjointly with Russia herself,
because Austria only can dare to do what Russia wills. lf,
therefore, in the resolutions to be submitted to your mat-
ing, something might have blipped in by not taking into
sufficient consideration the above-mentioned views, from
which your government, though professing to agree with
your ultimate aim, might have derived a new pretest for
persisting in its injurious and impractical " coquetterie.
with Austria, I, being present, should have found myself
under the disagreeable necessity of raising my humble
voice against it. Hence it is that, being unacquainted with
the contents of the resolutions, 1 could not accept your im•
vitation.
Nevertheless, I cannot forbear from expressing the high
gratification I feel in seeing the citizens of Staff .11 resolved
to eluiw the constitutional privilege of expressii.o the pohlie
opinion of England upon the policy of the g,,cernment;
whereby if past mischief cannot be cured, at least its NMe
increase may be prevented.
l'opular manifestations are, in my humble opinion, tbe
more appropriate now, as parliament is not sitting to ex-
press the will of the nation, bud therefore tke -Pence ni the
people might be used as an excuse for acting in a meaner
adverse to the people's wishes.
I certainly never could understand how it is roe-
eible that the people of England—proud as they are of

0,4 constitutional rights, that 'a to say, of direct
siaeJ in the management of public interests—could
c, readily submit to have almost no share at all in the
d.gctieea et the foreign policy of the country. In home
aflame mistakes of legislates' may be cured by modifying
or revetsitig them, and still the people would nut endure •
a. slightest measure to Le introduced without its consent.
Set in foreign polit.cs, where a single mistake may engen-
der irreperable mischief, the people are satisfitd to hear
that it a incompetible with public interest to let the people
now how its deareet interests are disposed of.
If OM age, sir, claims the credit of civilisation arid pro-
p as,
it should not submit to imposition of worn-out prejtc
diet 4, the toleration of which can be only excused by the
undeveloped condition of the popular intellect. Amongst
aess preludices there is none fraught with more mischiev-
ous results to all humanity than secrecy of diplomacy. Con-
sptraors, air, may want secrecy, and weak nations may be
exeuseil fur creeping by stealth into positions which openly
tho could not claim. But, be sure of it, sir, that, with a
tverful nation, which should
Jest sod right, and which has the power to enforce its
eiatens, the keeping secret the management of its national
inter, et. it the surest indication (tithe's being "something
roe, Li in the state of Denmark ;" and that there must be
thee la, in operation which are likely, if not to betray, at
Best v. compromise public weal.
The practice of secret management engenders careless-
ge-s towards the most important political problems, in the
so:atian of which a mighty natiun has to claim a share, and
that carelessness is always followed by popular ignorance of
all the matters counected with foreign policy. It is upon
suds foundation that etatesmeu of higo standing con dare to
lapse upon public credulity, by assertions which history
contradicts. Thus, it is possible that the English people
have to hear Francis Joseph of Austria praised as the hope
of the nations whom he oppresses ; thus, it is possible that
another statesman Hest re the English people with the high-
sounding statement that thie country has stood forward
many times "to maintain the independence of weaker
nations' mud to preserve to the general family of nations
that frevtdem, that power of governing themselves, of which
others sought to deprive them ; " whereas, so far as history
is the record of fact,, scarcely a single instence is known of
England's government having need its interference for the
triumph of popular rights. Certainly not in our age, and,
least of all, in the case of Hungary, though that neglect
was fraught with all the mischief which, if Gud and the
people of Turkey will not prevent it, is just about to over-
whelm the world. Thus it is posaitde that while, one day, one
'oister of the crown pledgee his word that the immediate
and complete evacuation of the Danubian Principalities is •
tontine.. thou quit cord of any settlement ; another day another
minister of the crown reduces this condition, line qua non,
to the expectation that the "magnanimous Czar" will feel
inclined to du so spontaneously. Thus it is possib'e, that
while England's moral dignity is engaged in the support of
Turkey—because it is England which advised Turkey not
t yield to the arrogant dictates of Prince Idenchikoff—it is
England which presses upon Turkey to sign conditions
which. though more mildly styled in kern, are the same
in essence. And thus we come to the point that we may
be doomed to see the boasted friendship of England for the
l'erte coming to the issue, that England may interfere in
Turk' y just as Iluseia did interfere in Hungary, and fight
the Turkish people for daring to resent th; encroachments
of Russia upon the honour of the Salton, and the lodes
peodenee of his empire.
Sir, nobody can charge me with having ever attempted,
whilst 1 enjoy the protection of English laws, to meddle
with auy internal matter of your country. But the ques-
tion now pending in the East, is not • question belongit g
to England alone; it is a question of mankind, of liberty,
of civilisation, and particularly of the future of my country ;
aid, hi such matters, I may well claim the right of having
an opinion, and of expressing it. I, therefore, conclude by
saying, that it is with seep sorrow and intents; anxiety that
I see the Ii
hoe of policy which the course of events has already con-
demned, and which impartial history will undoubtedly
protiouue• to have been unbecoming the position of Eng-
End, adverse to the interests of Great Britain and of hums-
ally ; inefleacioue to achieve its declared design, imm-
esh nt in Its hearing, compromising those it intended to
help, and helpiog those it professed to oppose.
I am, sir, with particular regards,
Yaws respectfully,
William replete, Esq., Stafford. L. KOSSUTH.