The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-14 00:00:00

7 -

t political, commercial, arid religious liberty of Hungary,
and in spite of all that had been said to the contrary,
the way which the Hungarians had taken to resist these
aggressions \Nils the only way which they could have
taken. Until they had a ration of saints they must be
content with a nation of heroes. They certainly had
not a nation of saints existing anywhere,
t the present time, but had they a nation of heroes? He
ould ask was France an heroic nation, were Spain,
Germany, or Italy heroic nations?—(" No, no.") There
was not a nobler instance in all history of self-devotion
for the cause of freedom than those Hungarians pre-
sented.—(Cheers.) Let them mentally contrast an Eng-
lish landscape smiling with the blessings of peace and
plenty, with the appearance of an Hungarian town, gaps
in its wails, half burnt houses, and a mourning popula-
tion, and then consider whether a people who could en-
dure thus in the sacred cause of freedom were not worthy
of the assistance of the groat English nation.—(Cheers.)
Mr. JOSEPH STOOGE, who en his appearance was
greeted with loud cheers, said that he wished to address
e few words, and perhaps before ho had done he should
not be quite so popular. He most cordially agreed in
denouncing the conduct of Austria towards Hungary,
and he fully sympathised with the objects which they
had in view; to that extent he felt as strongly as any
man present, but he was one of a set of men who thought
that as Christians we had no right on any
account to set ourselves in array to kill
our fellow-men, oho considered that passive
resistance was decidedly the most efficacious mode
to put down abuses, and to drive tyranny from the land.
In this spirit he could not conscientiously give his ap-
proval to all that the Hungarians had done to obtain
their freedom; but to the general purpose of the
meeting, he gave his hearty and most cordial support.
He had thought it right, as an honest and conscientious
man, to state these opinions to his fellow-townsmen, and
he thought they were better said than left unsaid.
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.
Mr. MUNTZ, M.P., who was also received with loud
and universal cheering, came forward to propose the
second resolution. He said this was the first meeting he
bad attended on this subject, because, owing to the many
applications he received, he had for some time deter-
mined to confine himself in his advocacy of popular
questions entirely to meetings in this town, and to his
place in the House of Commons. It appeared to him
that this question was the most important which
for some time bad come before the people of
this country. The question they had to consider
was, whether any Government quarrelling with its people
had a right to call in another nation to aid in subduing
the complaints of its people. If that principle were
once admitted he thought there would be an end to all
I correction of government. A government for the future
might net in any manner it chose; it might spurn the
people, tyrannise over the liberties of its subjects, and
when a nation rebelled it would only have to call its next
neighbour to crush complaint, and all fear of its re-
sponsibility would be thrown to the winds. And now
they had to consider in what way they should act with
regard to this question. Sympathy was all very well,
but what would it do? He did not hesitate in the face
of open day to declare that in defence of Hungarian
freedon this nation had a right to go to war to-morrow,
He had as great a dread of war as any man, but insuch a
case as this he would not hesitate an instant; he enter-
tained as great an objection as any man to killing a
fellow-creature, but if he found a man break-
ing into his house, and braving the risk of
having to shoot its owner, he would shoot that man as
he would a dog. What was the use of acknowledging the
Government ot Hungary if they were not at the same time
prepared to follow it up and support it by an appeal to
erne.? moral force, he was confident, had never been of
much service without it bad had physical force for its
near neighbour. Physical force, and not moral force,
had carried the Reform Bill. Besides, if they acknow-
ledge the independence of Hungary, they would place
the Emperor of Russia in such a position that he would be
unable to relinquish the contest; he could not go back to
his Russians and say, " Oh, England has acknowledged
the independence of Hungary, so I was obliged to give
way." They would laugh him to scorn, and perhaps in
a short time he would find a string about his neck, and
there would be an end of Nicholas, Emperor of all the
Missies. No, they must be prepared for a contest if
they did acknowledge Hungary. But he did not see a
very cheering prospect before him. What would be the
conduct of her Majesty's Government? What had it
always been upon such occasions? Why, in Portugal
they had interfered on behalf of that infamous Queen
against the so-called insurgents, who were in fact the
Portuguese people. The fact was, that the spirit of
pounds, shillings, and pence governed this country; we
dared not go to war, because we could not afford
it. It was, as Napoleon said, we were " a nation of
shopkeepers;" but th; time would come when England
would repent, when perhaps too late, like Napoleon in the
case of Poland, of not having interfered in this matter.
They might after this expect no end to the aggressions
of Austria and Russia. When the Hungarians had
been put down, Russia would invite Austria to aid her
in securing some slice of territory to which she might
take a fancy, and so on in alternations, till at last Eng-
land would he forced to go to war for the defence of the
liberties of Europe, at a much greater loss and much
greater disadvantage than at present. Sympathy was
of little use. The proper course was for the Govern-
ment of this country to acknowledge the independence
of Hungary, and to notify to Russia and Austria, that if
the coalition was not immediately dissolved and Austria
left to fight her own battles with Hungary, instant war
would be declared against Russia. That was the way to
proc' ed. As for what had been said about cramping the
resources of Russia and stopping her loans, he begged
to assure the meeting that that was perfect nonsense.
A loan he would get somewhere when he wanted it; if
he could not get it at four per cent, he would give five,
if not at five be would give six. If it did not come from
London it would come from Liverpool; if not from Liver-
pool then from Amsterdam or somewhere else; but a loan
would have. The Hon. Gentleman concluded moving
—" That as we look with deep and unmitigated ab-
horrence upon the savage and horrible manner in which
I Austria carries on the war; and as friends of Hungary,
of the rights of nations, and the freedom of the world,
emphatically protest against the unrighteous interference
of Russia."
Mr. GEORGE Dawsort begged to second the resolu-
tion. In doing so he,wished to remind the meeting that
many years ago, long before Magna Charter, the Hun-
garians bad a Charter of their own. It was a lie to say
that Hungary had ever been an Austrian province; that
its position could at all be assimilated to that of Ireland.
It bore more analogy to that of Hanover with England.
He certainly was himself no admirer of the ancient
system of Hungary; they had retained feudalism long
after we had done away with it. In 1848 Kossuth, with
the spirit of a consistent radical, had begun to abash
it; and great changes had gradually been introduced
until the Austrian Government interfered. The Hon.
Gentleman then proceeded to enter into the history
of the struggle, commenting severely upon the
treacherous conduct of the Austrian Government.
What was to be the conduct of this country in this crisis?
It was a difficult matter for such men as himself to
determine. War he abhorred, but in such a cause as this
he could not but think that it was lawful. He would
sooner believe half history a lie, than not think it right
to strike with the arm of the flesh in defence of freedom.
If war were unjustifiable in such a cause, what became
of the honoured names of Cromwell, Hofer, and Tell ? And
our Puritan:ancestors, too, what became of them, they who
marched forth with the Bible in one hand and the sword
in the other, who read mightily from the one, and then
laid on lustily with the other ? Clearly in his opinion,
unless we could conscientiously fold our arms in peace.
and say that without our striking a blow we believe that
God himself would work out the deliverance of Hungary
by his own means, we were justified in going to war.
But an old German writer had said, " Do steadily the duty
which lies next to thee," and such should be their

course in the present crisis. The duty which
lay next before them was to recognize the
Hungarian Government, and that would do a
great deal. A resident and officially-recognised Hun-
garian agent in this country would have a great effect ;
then, if itt camehe wouldt oth e worst,ask, looking
otheyi
ga
mustt h
t bee
news which
fight. But
they had just received, did they think that the Hunga-
rians wished this country to declare war in their
favour ? He suspected not ; he hoped there would be
no occasion, and if they went on as they were now
doing they certainly would not require any help but
their own right arms; they would wish for none to
come in at the end of the fight to share the glory and
none of the labour, but with their own arms would they
be content to win their own freedom. Still the recog-
nition of Hungary would be a great point gained, and
he believed that if, on the eve of the next battle, Kossuth
would announce to his soldiers, " The great nation of
England had tried our cause and found it just," then
every arm would be doubly nerved for the fight, and
every eye would see more clearly to strike down the foe.
—(Cheers.) The Hon. Gentleman then resumed his seat
amidst loud cheers.

The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.
Mr. LANGFORD came forward to propose the third re-
solution—" That a petition be presented to the Queen,
praying that her Government may give an emphatic ex-
pression to the universal feeling of the people, by im-
mediately reorganizing the de facto Government of
Hungary; and that the Mayor be requested to sign it."
Mr. MASON seconded the resolution. He said it was
necessary not only for the protection of Hungary
merely, but also of Europe, that every opposition should
be made to the ambitious designs of Russia. There
were no limits to her ambition, and her resources were
inexhaustable ; and should another Peter the Great
arise to direct them, Europe itself would have to
tremble for its liberties. This country ought at once, then,
to interfere. It was the duty of Lord Palmerston at once,
and without delay to recognise the independence of
Hungary, end to demand the withdrawal of the Russian
troops, and to leave Austria and Hungary to fight out
consideration tfli cult, however,
htheeiimr
aogwinnedq,uatroreol.ppolstewßouuldssiano ,t
there
was scarcely a
notion in Europe which merited
any.
did not sympathise with the Hungarians. America had
already signified her feelings upon the subject; and with
this unanimity on the subject among the nations, he did
not anticipate much difficulty in bringing the oppressors
to
Aftertheir senses.the
unanimous adoption of this resolution,
Mr. PARTRIDGE proposed that a committeeo gentle-
men be appointed to receive subscriptions to the Hunga-
rian cause, and to apply the same in the manner which
might seem best to them.

1 his resolution was brig ij seconded by Mr. BARNETT,
a Jew, who alluded to the fact that in Kossuth's army'
there were 50,000 Jews, two of whom were generals,
and many superior officers.
After a vote of thanks to the Mayor, the meeting then
separated.

Mas. JERMY.—This lady passed a few hours in
where slip is about to remain for
Preston on Monday. understand that she was on
vant, Eliza Chutney, woe with
1:104
a herway
short
titmoet.heqLaerkes,ser