The Express.
London, England, 1850-01-04 00:00:00

TO TUT EDITOIL OP Till LIPIIEB.

Stx,—Sinee the publication of n aerie of calumnies
in the Times, to which that journal refused to insert
my refutation, the re have appeared in it other specific
charges against Kisauth, Sze m. r , and Peresel.
Kesisath is accused, as trustee, of having fraudu-
lently sold the property of orphans, and of only having
been saved from criminal p-nueution by an arrangc-
ment with e e prosecutor. It is furth r alleged that so
little confidence w..s placed in him that an inquiry
was made of Ruth (the prosecutor) as to whether
the signature to his receipt was genuine. The number
f the very act of the tribunal is cited, and it is
sought to impress the reader with the belief that M.
Kossuth was iguiatised by a judicial sentence.
You very properly observe that such specific charges
seldom immediately admit of popible cisproof, though
as in this instance, the known life and character of
those against whom the accusations are directed,
stump them as unworthy of belief.
It would, of course, be impossible for you or myself'
immediately to stow that Kossuth was not, the mur-
derer of Eliza Grimwood, and if this system of reek-
le ss calumny be persevered in, it will, unfortunately,
become a duty to prevent the perpetration of a public
wrong. through personal attack, by personal exposure
of the incriminator/. The facts are brie fly these.
About 1830 Kossuth re r d red himself utonexio..s to
'the Austrian government by being chiefly instru-
' mental in the congregation (a meeting of electors) of
Ithe scanty of Zemplin, in causing a vote of censure
to be passed upon their representative, Baron Vey,
who had vote 1 in the Diet to allow the Austrian
cabinet a supplementary 20,000 met.
At that period, as long afterwards, it is well-
known that Austria sought to crush all rcaistancc by
fair mean, and foul, and no stone was left un-
turned to be revenged on Kounth in the next meet-
ing of the congregation.
It was, at lenth, raked up that he had sold some
pr. duce of the property of Ws orphan wards in
an informal manner. That is to say at the wrong
time and without the participation of the necessary
co-trustees. The duties of trusteeship, it is to be ob-
served, are in Hungary most complicated. The con-
gregation, in consequence, annulled the sale—a pro-
ceeding which for party purposes conveyed a rebuke
to Kossuth as a lawyer, but intended no reflection
on his integrity or good faith. The purchaser applied
to Kcsauth for the amount of the purchase money,
which was returned.

It is to be observed that if any attempt to defraud
his charges had been made or suspec'ed, the &des
judicialia, whose especial duty is the protection of
orphan wards, would and must have taken cognisance
of the act ; whereas, the charge of irregularity was
never entertained by any judicial tribunal, the con.
gregation being merely deliberative and administra-
tive, not judicial in its functions.
Of the bearings of the case the countrymen of Kos-
suth must have been the best judges. It was subse-
quent to this, as you have justly remarked, that in
proof of their confidence men of the highest cha-
iracter, rank, and standing in the country, proposed
to endow him with estates; but your readers may
' not be aware that amongst these was the unfortunate
Count Zichy, whose patriotism Austria had not yet
corrupted ; it to probably not known that the charge
made by the Times correspondent was brought for-
ward in 1t343 by one of the vilest of the Austrian
organs, the Vilay, and that Count Szechei.yi, who
was then a p.litical opponent of Kossuth, in his
paper, the lelenkor, rebutted as an infamous calumny
the accusation; and it msy not be remembered that
Koesuth was named Minister of Finance by the Em-
peror Ferdinand, and as such biought into contact
with the imperial family.
The calumny against Szemere is the rechanp, of an
electioneering squib, when be set up fur the t:Junty of
Biorsod in 1843, and ire founded on the following inci-
dent. M. Szemere was dancing with Mies
Verestnarthy, at Miecole, when one of her diamond
ear-rings fell upon the ground. Szemere picked it
up, and observing, " You have lost it, I have found it,
it is a fair prize, I shall keep it as a souvenir,"—put
it into his pocket in jest, and only returned it the
next morning with a complimentary note or verses.
The charge against Perezel of having for a sum of
money legalised a forged bond is equally false. I am
informed by a Hungarian gentlemen now in this
country, and acquainted with the transaction,
that Fenzel, being a very young man, was imposed
on as to the ideutil of the party whose signature he
authenticated, bat himself 'hoovered and exposed the

imposture which had been practised, and resigned in
consequence of the mistake.
In tact, this wilful confusion of cause and effect is
made by the Times correspondents, that they contend
these personages to have become inimical to the
government in consequence of such charges, wherein
it can be shown, beyond all doubt, that these charges
were urged because they were its known opponent'.
All who are acquainted with the parliamentary his-
tory of Hungary, and the recent history of Austria,
are aware that there are no forms of fraud, perfidy,
or perjury to which the Austrian cabinet did net le-
sort—from the attacks on individual character to the
bravos which she hounded upon such men as Count
Teleki, or to the Gallician massacres perpetrated
at her proved instigation.
But in the method its attacks upon the Hungarian re-
fugees, and in Particular upon Kossuth, it may be
said to have exceeded even itself. It is not content
with the most slanderous imputations on his charac-
ter, but artfully endeavours, by appending his name
to a forged address, to discredit him in pubiic estima-
tion as visionary and unpractical. To yourself I
need scarcely confirm your recorded opinion, that the
"farewell of Kossuth to the Hungarian," published
on some Austrian authority by the Times, never pro-
ceeded from his pen—a pen far more given to figures
than to figures of speech, and with whose predictions,
once read, it would seem impossible in good faith to
have confounded the loose and melodramatic effusion
so mischievously, or with so little judgment, attri-
buted to him by the 7Yrries. _

Happily for this country, Mr. Editor, many of year
readers will be slow in crediting the possibility of
such systematic persecution ; for their instruction, I
shall conclude by adverting to a circumstance which
gives reason to believe that those who have been at
tempting Kneauth's moral assassi,,ation have End. c-
voured actually to take his life. In the month of
October last I was present at the ex-pre•ident go-
vernor'. table at tea. It is the custom of Eastern
Europe to favour this beverage with a fewepco-cfull
of rum. On the occasion in question, it was found
that the Ppirit instantly curd'Act the milk, and tumid
it a pecidiar colour. The same spirit taken from
&nether bottle did not produce the same effect. The
auspicious liquid was removed, an accident re-
vented its being analysed, and the circumstance
was nearly forgotten, wht n a Iluagalion
officer, accompanied by two of his comp.n;ons,
came to give information that a stranger hearing a
Russian passport had been inching numerous in-
quiries as to Kenneth's cook, the dishes that he ate,
and his medical ,:dvisir. The Ilungivian suspecting
hie drift, had led him on, till the stranger Lifer( d
him a present for his introduction tu Kossuth's
doctor. It was agreed that the doctor should be
personated by a gent!eman just arrived frm Hun-
gary, but as the matter was talked of before 'oven'
persons, it got wind, and the individual in qipstion,
ish nd of eorninw to the rendezvous, precipitately left
Widdin.—l am, Mr. Editor, very obediently y ore,
THE AUTHOR OF " REVELMIONS
OF RUSSIA."