The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-09 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1849,

Uncertainty is still felt as to the probable conse-
quences of recent events at Constantinople. Every
scrap of intelligence, whether received from the
Viennese newsmongers, or from the gossipping cor-
respondents at the Dardanelles, is seised with an
avidity sufficiently indicative of the general eagerness
for information. Yet these accounts are found to be
so very frequently at variance, that their authenticity
is in almost every instance regarded as dubious, and
their assertions at the first blush are viewed with
-rofound suspicion. Doubtful, however, as the
majority of the statements prevalent are, most un-
questionably, we have, nevertheless, obtained within
the last fortnight a series of communications of the
most unimpeachable exactitude. It is certain, for
extinple, that the attitude assumed by Turkey,
in reference to the demand made by the Emperors of
Austria and Russia for the extradition of the
Hungarian refugees, is one for the most part worthy
of our deepest admiration. It is certain that the
gallant determination of the Sultan AUDULMESCUID
has not only received the concurrence of the French
and English Ambassadors, but that the resolution of
that gallant potentate is in a great measure attribut-
able to the immediate encouragement, or we might
even say, to the direct instigation of Sir ST&ATYOED
CANNING. It is certain, moreover, that if the repre-
sentative of the AUTOCRAT to the Court of the
Sublime Porte has not received his passport, his
aide-de-camp, Prince RADzivsL, hurried in dudgeon
and disappointment from the vicinity of the Bos-
phorus upon the rejection of the ultimatum haughtily
transmitted to the CALIPH, at the behest of the CZAR.
Meanwhile the brave but unfortunate fugitives from
the scene of the Llungarian disasters are still resident
in the fortified town of Widdin, waiting for the deci-
sion of events upon the nature of their subsequent
destinies.
Elsewhere will be found in our impression of this
very evening the _translation of what will henceforth
be regarded as a great historical document—the letter
addressed, on the 20th of September, to Viscount PAL-
ateasrost by the illustrious Kosssrru, now an exile
at Widdin, in the Turkish dominions. To read
that noble and most touching document without
emotions of intense respect, and of exquisite
sympathy, would be impossible for any man capable
of appreciating the dignity of misfortune, the glary
of genius, or the pathos of a sublime self-forgetfulness.
In speaking thus to our Foreign Secretary, the Dic-
tator, and, alas ! whilom, the Liberator of the Hun-
garians, is remaining true to his own majestic repu-
tation, and is offering the most splendid tribute to
England, the tribute of his implicit confidence in her
generosity. Those who with ourselves have sympa-
thised heart and soul with this renowned patriot since
the occasion of his first memorable appeal to the
civism of his fellow-countrymen, will rejoice to find
so magnificent a recognition of this sympathy
as that here afforded by the leader of
the Hungarians. Alluding to the lamentable and
abandoned condition of his beloved country at this
period of supreme calamity, Louis KOSSUTH ex-
claims—" Will England, once her hope, not become
her consolation ?" With Lord PALMERSTON rests the
responsibility of responding to this inquiry—with
him reposes the secret of the result of the interroga-
tion. We cannot but think that the solemn blessing in-
voked upon the head of the foremost man of all England
in the estimation of the nations of the continent—we
cannot but think, we say, that the solemn benedic-
tion called down upon his head by BO great and
royal-hearted a man as KOSSUTII, will bring
forth the fruits of a generous policy towards
that heroic race which ,has through treason and
treachery become the victim of the ruthless soldiers
of Absolutism. "My Lord, may GOD THE AL-
MIGHTY shield you for many years, that you may
long protect the unfortunate, and live to be the
guardian of the rights of freedom and humanity."
That gentle prayer cannot be fruitless. It will, at
least we are sanguine that it will, prompt the Noble
Lord the Foreign Secretary to an interposition be-
tween the conquerors and the vanquished, to save the
former from the guilt of atrocious crimes, and to
spare the latter from the anguish of an unprece
dentedly horrible alternative.

On reference to this dignified appeal to the
generosity of England, through the medium of her
magnanimous statesman, it will be seen that a
dreadful preposition has been submitted by the
Turkish Ministry to the Hungarian chieftains at
%Viddin, and to their 5,000 companions. It has
been intimated to those children of glory and mis-
fortune, that the price of their preservation from the
ferocity and vengeance of their enemies must be
their instant conversion to Mahometanisrn. It has
been implied by the bearers of this conditional offer of
protection, that its rejection will be the compli-
ance of RESCUID PASHA and his Ministerial colleagues
with the demand of extradition. how this com-
munication from the authorities at Constantinople

was received by Koss UK and his compatriots may
be easily conjectured. "My answer," says this great
man, " does not admit of hesitation. BQtween death

and shame .the choice can be neither dubious nor

difficult. Governor of Hungary, and elected to that

high place by the confidence of fifteen millions of my
countrymen, I know well what I owe to the honour

of my country even in exile. Even as a private
individual I have an honourable path to pursue. Once
Governor of a generous country—l Imo no heritage

to my children—they shall, at least, bear an unsullied
name. GOD'S will be done. lam prepared to die."
Resolute in his own instance as to his choice between
an ignominious death upon the scaffold and the ab-
juration of his faith as a Christian, the Leader of the
Hungarians has still a tender solicitude for his
compatriots, the sharers of his expatriation.
Hence his appeal to England, through the
person of her statesman, Lord PALMERSTON.
After urgently entreating the speedy interposition
of the British Government, Louis KOSSUTH utters
this affecting adjuration—a demand which it is im-
possible for us to read without our eyes swimming
with the dews of commiseration. "My Lord," he
exclaims in broken accents, "I am a man prepared
to face the worst, and I can die with a free look at
Heaven, as I have lived. But lam also, my Lord a
husband, a son, and a father; my poor true hearted
wife, my children, and my noble old mother are
wandering about Hungary. They will probably
soon fall into the hands of those Austrians who de-
light in torturing even feeble women, and with whore
the innocence of childhood is no protection against
persecutions. I conjure your Excellency, in the
name of the MOST HIGH, to put a stop to these cruel-
ties by your powerful mediation, and especially to
accord to my wife and children an asylum on the
soil of the generous English people."
Since those melancholy words were written, the
forebodings of the unhappy KOSSUTH have been
lamentably realised, those women and those children
whom he holds so dear are in the power of his ruth-
less and infuriated antagonists. His "poor true-
hearted wife," his offspring yet but little removed
from the years of infancy, his "noble old mother,"
have been carried off to the Austrian capital, and
are now incarcerated in a dungeon of Vienna. Will
the English Government allow matters to remain in
their present position without dne interference ? GOD
in Heaven forbid 1 The aid of England, demanded by
the voice of the immortal KOSSUTH, is also required
by the principles of humanity, by the divine dogmas
of Christianity, and by the holy cause of Civilization.

The Hon. Member for Buckinghamshire appears to
have taken fright at the symptoms of insubordina-
tion apparent in the Protectionist eamp. " Equal
taxation and cheap capital," if fully and fairly car-
ried out, will not by any means satisfy his querulous
associates. They have too long been in the enjoy-
ment of exclusive privileges. They have too long
been accustomed to consider themselves a favoured
class, entitled to a servile tribute from the manufac-
turing parishes, to be contented with any equitable
arrangement, having for its object a full and perfect
equalisation of the national burdens. The Hon.
Gentleman has accordingly been compelled to make
the amende honorable. He has declared that he is
" prepared at all times and under all circumstances
to maintain and to advance those great principles of
industrial polity which the Protectionist party upheld
in Parliament in the great struggle of 1846 ;" that
he "does not for a moment imagine, that he
has never for an instant pretended that any equitable
adjustment of the burdens peculiar to real property
can remedy the frightful•position in which they (1. e.
the agriculturists) find themselves, or the still more
menacing position that is yawning beneath their feet ;
that it is necessary to have recourse to measures of
a much more considerable and stringent character ;"
and he winds up by stating that he " is not ashamed
to say that he is prepared to uphold and maintain the
constitutional preponderance of the land of England."
This, then, is Mr. DISRAELI'S idea of " equal taxa-
tion," that every burden bearing exclusively upon
land is to be removed, but the moment that the great
body of the people complain of the pressure of indi-
rect taxation, and show that under that iniquitous
system the industrious classes are compelled to con-
tribute far more than their just proportion to the
National Exchequer, then he replies " that he is pre-
pared to uphold and maintain the constitutional
preponderance of the land of England." This is,
indeed, but a partial and one-sided view of the great
principle so boldly and distinctly enunciated at
Aylesbury. This is a view which the overtoiled
artizans and operatives of this mighty kingdom will
scarcely feel inclined to support. They are not yet
prepared to acknowledge their decided inferiority to
their agricultural brethren—they do not feel them-
selves to be surfs and villeins, 'who would willingly
labour for the benefit of their lords and masters, who
would gladly pay a tax on every loaf of bread
that they place before their children, as a willing
tribute to the " constitutional preponderance of the
land of England." Nothing less, however, will
content the Protectionists, and Mr. DISRAELI,
in order to retain bucolic support, has been obliged
to abjure the heresy to which he gave utterance, in a
convivial moment, before a select body of his own
constituents.
The equalisation of the land-tax, on the justice and
expediency of which the Honourable Gentleman ex-
patiated with such force and eloquence, has also been
thrown overboard. It was standing on rather ticklish
ground to advocate the propriety of raising addi-
tional funds from real property. However equitable,
however politic, it might be to carry out the true in-
tention of the Legislature, and to render an existing
tax really productive by assessing it fairly, in propor-
tion to the present value of the contributory property,
it would not advance the Protectionist doctrines,
or cast undue weight upon those who earn
their daily bread by their daily labour.
A new scheme was, therefore, necessary for obtaining
the surplus revenue essential to the establishment of
" a sinking fund," which is to be the great panacea
for the evils under which the nation is groaning.
The elaborate and brilliant argument at Aylesbury is,
therefore, slurred over with a rapid hand. The Hon.
Gentleman scarcely alludes to the subject of the
land-tax ;he merely says :—" In some casual obser-
vations which I made elsewhere—which were much
misrepresented—l expressed an opinion that we
might obtain such a sinking fund through the
medium of the land, without the imposition of any
❑ew tax, but on certain conditions to which I then
imperfectly referred—conditions which involved not
only that the land should have fiscal justice, but that
it should have salutary and legitimate protection.
But I shall not quarrel about the means so that
only I can obtain the end. The principle is the
thing, not the means by which we are to obtain it."
A new programme is, therefore, sketched out, and
ad valorem duties are to be placed "on all articles
of foreign import whatever ;" that is "the weapon,
the charmed weapon," with which the battle is to be
gained. That experiment has, however, been already
tried and proved a total failure. Five per cent,
additional was placed on every import duty, and the
result proved a bitter disappointment to the then Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, and distinctly showed that
the limits of indirect taxation had already been
reached. The attempt to levy eight or ten per cent.
additional would completely change our commercial
relations with other nations, and even that would not
be sufficient to meet the local charges which
the Honourable Gentleman would transfer from
the present payers to the Consolidated Fund.
We fear, therefore, that the "charmed weapon"
which is tendered to the agriculturists will not, like
the spear of B&ADAMANTE, or the Excalibar of King
ARTUUR, be sufficiently potent to overthrow the
honest opposition that will undoubtedly be directed
against a scheme so unjust in ita operations, and so
inadequate to the object that is sought to be attained.
With respect to a " sinking fund," we cordially
approve of the principle, if the necessary means
could be obtained in a fair and equitable manner.

so that every man should contribute secundum

statum et facultates.

IVe concur with Mr.

RIGET WASON, in thinking that "it is dis

creditably dishonest in the owners of
realised property not to pay off the National
Debt." It was contracted for their especial benefit,
for the protection of the properties which they have
inherited from their forefathers, or which they have
acquired, subject to every equitable charge. The
Payment would materially benefit the entire commu-
nity; but it is rather too bad to declare that it should
fall upon those who have received nothing from their
parents but their thews and sinews and the privilege
of toiling for their more favoured brethren. No f
de
ever declared that the unportioned child shouldco be
liable for the debts of his ancestors, but, under the
system of indirect taxation, our predecessors have
attempted to mortgage the labour of posterity, to
render their descendants slaves, bound to labour
at the behest and for the advantage of their
creditors. Let a sinking fund be estahli3hed for the '