The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-10 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 10, 1849

TESTIMONIAL
TO THE HUNGARIAN REFUGEES

THE HUNGARIAN NATION COUNTS ON THE SYMPATHY
CF EVERY NATION WHICH LOVES EIGHT AND Ll-
BERTY."—Kossuth's Protest against Russian Intel yen-
tion.

Subscriptions may be sent to the following bankers:—
Messrs. Coutts and Co.
Messrs. Drummond.
Messrs. Smith, Payne, and Smith ;
or to any one of the members of the committee recently
formed to carry out the TestimPnial.
4.*A1l further Post-office orders to be made payable to Murdo
Young, Esq., at the Money Order Office, Strand.

Subscriptions already received ... .• ...NG 11 71
Henry Wilkinson, Sheffield ... ••• 1 0 0
Subscriptions at Edinburgh, acknowledged in the
Caledonian Mercury :
Charles Cowan, Esq., M.P. ••• 5 0 0
John Grant, Esq. ••• ••• . 5 0 0
A Journeyman Tailor ... .• 0 10 0
At the door of the Music. hall, on the occasion
of the Meeting at Edinburgh ... 18 4 6i
Subscriptions paid into the Bankers:—
The Liberal Inhabitants of lieighley, per T.
S. Duncombe, Esq., M.P. ... 2 0 0
F. W. Forbes, Esq., Hanipstead, per W. H.
Birkbeck, Esq. ••• ••• ••• ••• 1 1 0
John Wellings, Esq , Wotton-under-Edge 0 10 6
Clarkson Osier, Esq., Birmingham 10 6
E. Lynn 0 10 6
From a Few Friends at the National Hall, Hol-

born, to aid Hungarian Liberty and Indepen-
dence against the Despotism of her Invaders ... 2 2 0
From a Few Cigar-makers, St. John-street 2
From a Few Working Men, per Mr. Ranwell ••• 0 6 6
R. G. ... ... ... ... • ... 0l 6
From a Few Men at Messrs. Brine Brothers,
Northern Stone-wharf,:llorsefall-basin, King's-
-0 8 6
The Proceeds of a Concert given at the John-
street Literary Institution, Fitzroy-square, the
use of which was given gratis for the Benefit
of the Hungarians, per Samuel Palmer 8 2 6
0 2 6

Total ...

£Bl2 4 2i

INDEPENDENCE OF HUNGARY.
PUBLIC MEETING IN DERBY.
(From the Derby and Chesterfield Reporter.)
The requisition to the Mayor is, it will be seen,
both numerously and respectably signed, and by men
of all parties. The meeting will take place in the
Town Hall, at seven o'clock in the evening of Mon-
day next, the Mayor in the chair. We are happy to
say that our esteemed representative Mr. Bass has'
signified his intention of abandoning the arrange-
ments he had previously made for reaching the
Highlands on Saturday next, in order to unite with
his constituents in an expression of sympathy with
the Hungarians. We rejoice to add, that Mr. T,
Gisborne has also signified his intention to be present
at the meeting, provided particular business, which
will not brook delay, may not call him off in another
direction. Mr. Hey worth has set forth his reasons
for not attending the meeting in a letter which will
probabiy be published. Invitations have also been
sent to Mr. Strutt and Mr. W. Evans. The meeting
will be an overflowing one.
Meanwhile public meetings are being held over the
whole kingdom. The Lord Provost presided at an
enthusiastic meeting at Edinburgh the other day; at
Leicester there has been an enthusiastic meeting (pre-
sided over by the Mayor); and not a day passes that
we do not read of one or more meetings taking place
This is as it should be. _ _

" While Paskiewitch and the Ban are outgeneralled
by the Hungarian commanders (says the Examiner,
in an article which has been already quoted
in extenso in The Sun), public opinion in
this country is every day pronouncing itself in
a more decided manner, and with more substantial
effect. We have the best authority for stating
that the Austrian Camarilla is seriously alarmed at
the state of feeling in England, and at the tone of the
independent English press : and this was before the
account of the debate in the House of Commons on the
20th of July, and of the meeting at the London
Tavern, had reached Vienna. The knowledge of the
fact should stimulate the friends of the Hunga-
rians in this country to fresh exertions on their
behalf. The example of public meetings, which
has been so auspiciously given at the London
Tavern and followed by Marylebone, is
being imitated all over the country. Nor should
these meetings be confined to vague and general ex-
pressions of sympathy : they should tend to a prac-
tical purpose—the recognition by English statesmen
of the de facto Government of Hungary. .
"It was well shown (proceeds the Examiner) at
the Marylebone meeting that every step which Russia
makes westward has the effect of closing to British
industry a previously-existing market, or of prevent-
ing a fresh one from being opened ; that, consequently,
so much bread is taken out of the mouth of the
British artisan, or prevented from being put into it.
That Austria as at present constituted is not a barrier
against the territorial aggrandisement of Russia is
evident. As Colonel Thompson very pertinently
observed, the guardian (I) of European civilization
has opened the door and let the robber in. That
the success of the Hungarians would at once open to
us a market hardly inferior to that of Russia, and
capable of indefinite extension, we have already
indicated. . . .
"That every Liberal should warmly sympathise
with the Hungarians is but natural. No nation has
given such an example of a privileged class having
voluntarily renounced its exclusive privileges, and
having raised the unprivileged to a perfect equality
with itself for the benefit of their common country.
No nation has been a more consistent advocate of
civil, religious, and commercial freedom. But, above
all, the sympathies of the moderate and far-sighted
Conservative ought to be enlisted on their behalf. The
Hungarians are pre-eminently, above all other conti-
nental nations, the sticklers for precedent and for the
letter of the law. Indeed, the reproach that has been
urged against them with the greatest semblance of
justice, is that they are not revolutionary enough for the
present age. . . .
" The ameliorations effected in the Hungarian Con-
stitution by the National party were not brought
about by revolutionary measures ; they were not the
result of an emeute, however justifiable an emeute
may be in some cases ; but they were carried out by
legal means upon the broadly-trodden and clearly-
defined path of Parliamentary reform. Nor were
these ameliorations effected in consequence of a
sudden impulse inspired by the events in France.
The February revolution in Paris undoubtedly
strengthened the hands of the Hungarians by the
terror which it caused to- Metternich and his satel-
lites. But the measures of reform themselves were
nothing more than the legitimate development of
the spirit of the Hungarian Constitution, carried out
by means in strict accordance with measures which
had been urged on the Government by the Na-
tional party since 1832, and of which Mr. Paget thus
speaks :
" The favourite objects of their desires were,—after
strengthening the nationality of Hungary,—freedom of
commerce, and an improved commercial code ; the navi-
gation of the Danube, and the improvement of internal
communication; increased freedom and education of the
peasantry; the repeal of laws preventing the free pur-
chase and sale of larded property ; perfect equality of
all religions, and the freedom of the press. For the
greater part of these objects they are still struggling:—
Paget's Hungary and Transylvania, vol. i. p. 162."
" This was written ten years ago. Much had been
effected, spite of Government intrigues, subsequently
to that period, and previously to the Diet of 1641'-8.
In that Diet many of the most important internal
reforms -bad passed not merely the Lower but the
Upper House, before February, 1848. These re-
forms, together with others conceived in the same
spirit, obtained the sanction of the then legitimate
Monarch of the country. Nor was the nature of
these reforms more truly Conservative than the man-
ner in which they were effected. Where vested
interests were found to be incompatible with the
welfare of the State, the holders of such vested
interests were indemnified for their surrender; and the
electoral qualification of property and intelligence,
which was substituted for that of birth, preserved a
just mean between too wide and too narrow a suffrage.
An income of 101. in towns, a property equivalent to
301. in the country, is very different from what such
a qualification would be here—when we consider that
in Hungary meat is lid. per pound, and wheat 15s.
a quarter.
" In Hungary we do not find one faction struggling
against another, democracy against aristocracy, po-
verty against wealth. The who le nation has risen as
one man in defence ofits constitution against revolu-
tionary despotism, in defence, of its independence
against foreign invasion. The newly.enfranchised
peasantry are not less ardent in the national cause
than those who, before the reforms, were exclusively
in possession of the full rights of citizenship. The
really independent and unembarrassed magnates, the
peers of Hungary, are found aiding the same cause
with their arm, their purse, or their counsel. One
Bathyany is expiating his attachment to his
country in the dungeons of Laibach ; another
takes the department of Foreign Affairs in Kos-
a regiment of
suth's Ministry. A Karolyi raises
hussars at his own expense; and a Teleki, of the
.
noblest and wealthiest house Transylvania, is ac-
tively employed in the diplomatic service of his
country. But, above all, the country gentlemen of
ancient lineage are found where they ought to be
found in such a crisis. We observe that Marzibanyi,
the wealthiest untitled noble of Hungary, has just
,been sentenced by Haynau to a fine of '2,000/. for
his patriotism. It is from this class, indeed, that
the men who so ably fill the various posts in the
present Government are principally taken—men well