The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-17 00:00:00

LOUIS KOSSUTH AND THE ITALIANS.

The following note has been addressed to ouriii
selves by Captain Mayne Reid, enclosing, 0 vl
be seen, a somewhat remarkable communication
addressed to one of our morning contemporales;
In our leading columns of this evening we hale
referred more directly to the very curious do
cu
-
ments here subjoined

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
30, Parkfiekl-street, Islington, Feb. 16, -1851
Sir,—l regret that lam a stranger to you, but havenece
confidence that your sense of "fair play" will lautanof
you to insert the accompanying letter in youricurn.t ststes
morrow. I need hardly add that the facts which 1 high
b
have been drawn from an authentic source.—
mioria 11°11" respect, sir, I am, &c.,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
s 018;
Sir,—ln your journal of the 10th inst., aPPeer-q a. 10"
graphic dispatch announcing an insurrection in 3l11,01; los
underneath, in the same column, a document willb is itr
state " purports to be from Kossuth," and to Nywe
pended the name of that gentleman. out, of
Now, sir, M. Kossuth either did write that doctne,. wlthost
he did not. If he did, and you have published ib lair's 0,
his authorisation, you have committed, by all "`", did ne,
1
honour in this land, a dishonourable act. If 'e• tics ,„
"
write it, you have committed, by the laws of 3usovoit•
this land, a criminal act. I charge you with the latter,
tal of both. You are guilty of the latter, and the
like a parenthesis, embraces the former.
ibutli°l4i
You have published that document without any ; sad
sation from the man whose name is subscribed t° loce
upon the day following, in an additional artiolo,2,-0114
declared its authenticity, as a proclamation alw- Wag
M. Kossuth from Bayswater, for the purpose °f -g
...,to•
the Lombard and Hungarian patriots in the We
ins
tion at Milan.
440
1
As such, sir, in the name of M. Kossuth, I -
document. I pronounce it to be a forgery. the 1)°,4
It remains with M. Kossuth to bring you hew-0,1
of the law. It has become my duty to arraign I- •
the tribunal of public opinion.
ance t's
I charge you, then, with having given Uttar. with *
forged document, which was calculated to
anthor'
damning influence upon the fame of its rePnwri ivieteci
Such conduct is in any case culpable. In yours-,iatestd
curable, since you daily tell-us that "whatever 7„,/ aldr`"
for insertion must be authenticated by the name 6"-
of the writer."
1004
But this is not all, sir. In the editorial reforrett,,,,s
take occasion to speak of the man whose name
thus abused in a tirade of vengeful invective, w.uroatiO
thets I, as a gentleman, shall not condescend to OP pas
Calling the false proclamation "bombastic fustiallfooitv
have charged M. Kossuth with aiding to incite th:00101,;
surrection in Milan, and thereby causing the wigl_44lls
ding of blood—of " hallooing on the wretched L.-ost If;
certain destruction, while he himself enjoys the, 11 Frith
few, eet personal security under the guardianship °
l"
This is a serious charge, and if not true, a slander of °i'a
by the mildest constructionmust be termed both efel c°-„4.
atrocious. It 18 not true. It is a slander, and 3-
,ye
fident that all who read will pronounce it, as .„
• t
cruel and atrocious. hs
ffiral t
With regard to its first clause, I here a .„.iiario
Kossuth had not only no part in exciting the J-I"'t jaolv°- t
revolution at this time ; but, that, up to the Wes nova
he opposed such an ill-judged and prematuro,!°, reas)oo
with all the might of his counsel. He had vieigv"ilot tbot,
for so doing. Perhaps you, sir, may know 1° or '10:
" weighty reasons " are ; but whether you tle
nett ° 10°'
lam not going to declare them for the he but ,it
trian ears. That is not the question now, „ that
charge is ; to which I oppose the affirmatle- f
is not true., With regard to the latter clans° >n ties
quoted assertion, I have thus to answer : that the_„reeti
in which M. Kossuth received the news of the ins wi'en (119.0 i
uMilan—and which came upon him as unefPbc;lol:lo,
upon any man in England—upon that moment' of s°
to make preparation for his departure to the scone tot si
Although filled with a prophetic apprehension poop
affair would turn out to be an emeute, and umet,rbocliSo
revolution, he, nevertheless, resolved to fling f 811' °
the struggle. I, who was to have had the honour which
his a ngers, can bear testimony to the zeal freletd
was hurrying to face them, when his purpose weh'nd, the
by the news that the insurrection was erns- to tD°
I to detail, as I may one day be called °Pei..set,
the sacrifices which he made to effect that 014 wowo
slanders, sir, which you have uttered against thePle9etil3
recoil
_ still more bitterly upon yourself. For mit oho
I content myself with the assertion of the fact ; I,l#
you render it necessary I am ready with the proiTsal,,,,
Blit no such explanation was needed t°:11 I fee; s'
Kossuth from your unmanly accusation. Shy me
circumstance in the life of that heroic man Ai— 0:1;1'44
•
You, sir, must know it well. It has been ir°'""• 10`,:th•
columns, and engraven in the tablets, of historl.; 100'
1849, upon the banks of the Danube stood 1,0112",,, forAo
On one side was the avenging Austrian, thir,nn'i•Tor r,tei
blood, on the other his weak and wavering Prfr—g 00;''i;
had declared that unless he—Kossuth—an his the
would consent to abandon the religion of theirslossie,4l*
must be yielded up, to what ? On the part hf.
this
athr-ercileortau; ciiirisis
death—upon the ignominious
upon the terms proothpoerses,dl.esswhacomt didpromi
came to his turn to speak ?He uttered these wor to sot)
"Death, death upon the scaffold, in Pre,.fealenlsj• „ terms for life ! Accursed be the tongue that
me such an infamous proposal." hejtoor
In such language, at such a time, there.Lito°raen heylt° tic fustian." I could believe that there th
able of comprehgnelanauccitaing the sublime e°uLb-ihereec'''
va,imrtaune oinf sallehEna ;whboutwloudlidd not
awindthpaalephaabr„leoemoefauncoz_aitoces o
tot the effr°n 0 het°
• their' °)
pthoasittiaevet
Such, air, are the facts connected. • •ththis_anffnpar. .0,43
at some future• time treat you to a few opiwTiS' reP-ioljo)
view more copiously the history of your condne"
to M. Kossuth. Meanwhile I leave you to Pn,-,00, °
soiled escutcheon as you best may.—l am, Ear'
die
Feb
ly
15. 31,11148 Rd
•
P.S.—Feb. 16th.—Sir,—In your journal °._f,tro I°olol3
ing, instead of publishing the above letter, you that Igot
it in a short paragraph, worthy of the ke„nt 10,0001f'
malign a patriot. But do not imagine 01.00 or
escape thus easily from the unpleasant posi lcoract4
you have placed yourself. In this country the,bo 0300
a gentleman, though he boa stranger, is not to oleos
assailed with impunity ; and you, sir, shall be t
to the laws of honour and justice as the nisan-'4
the land. *11"
You say, in relation to your pseudo Provmr,eilti"
you "had good reason for believing it to 13.°_,Zr 0
shall certainly not discredit ifwithout nu" it b,
than that of Mayne Reid.'"
Puglia
If you had no better authority for ,arebto
what is implied by the tenor of the above, Wog ",01/0
fancy you will have some difficulty in exPie oar efA
readers why you published it at all, and to Yr eil7,ts 04,
men why—so long as a doubt existed in 01 utiol° :001 itif
its genuineness—you took advantage of the ee 003 "ir,
pressed by it to defame the character of its rep ,r it *pool.;
You take occasion to characterise my letternblic• 01,0
bombastic language." It is before the P shoo
Let them be the judges ; and the only favo„,Anriale al fro
of them would be, to read your editorial '-oras'i;ate
prior Ply, Ot
same subject. Having given yours a
satisfied that their ears will not be so delicately oe. , sSi
to be jarred by the " absurdly bombastic" ot.til yost;0;1
Bombastic seems to be a favourite phrase Icres°lSitet
for the style itself no writer in England is in° the alp
to its usage than that mythical personage--•
the Times. , 'o°4 sftil
la'
Tu 1,
Your sneer at the "authority of Marl° ,• t 0 ,
sts
characteristic. It is true lam but a plain ge- tjeo,o
make my living, like yourself, by literatnLeirt
not calculate upon the statement of .00
having any weight with you. In my letter b-sh
tosli
full proofs of my assertions. You do not 1-ew- A 0
call them forth. or yv a,
f‘te, 10
And now, sir, one word more. If 9°llli vecwAt' ottfjli
that, by means of bold swagger and past...t:olo
can cover your misdeeds, you are sadly meta%con,co o,„tlll4°L
insult the understanding of Englishmen, ''-otlfy woo'
do, with your wordy sophistry and ,IDS, f ,400 tier.
who " run as they read"—l, sir:have *Dlgnooo,l 012,40
intelligence of my countrymen, and a fu' agb
the majority of them have heads clear enossoor
stand, and hearts pure enough to repudiate,' 00'
and unproven slunder.—l am, Sir, Ste., 0011.