The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-29 00:00:00

GENERAL XLAPKA AND GENERAL

GARIB AL 111.

General Klapka has addressed the following
letter to Garibaldi, dated Geneva, Aug. 16, 1861 :
General,—l have just read the eloquent appeal
. which you have addressed to the Roumains, exhort-
, ing them to concord and unity with the Hunga-
rians. I trust in God that this wise advice may be
followed, and that dissident parties may feel that
the time is come when all should unite as one body.
This is the only way to baffle the intrigues which
are so skilfully woven by the reactionary party in
Europe. In truth, it is no longer bayonets, prisons,
or scaffolds that we have to fear, but rather that
deplorable discord which the agents of reaction so
well know how to keep alive in the midst of popu-
lations who should understand one another—those
calumnies with which they are unceasingly cover-
ing every liberal and national movement—that in-
fernal art which they employ to mislead and cor-
rupt the political aspirations and sentiments of the
masses. In Italy, religion and legitimacy are the
levers with which they work upon ignorant minds
and feeble characters : in Hungary they work upon
national differences and susceptibilities by reviving
the buried hatred of races. The great national
movement of Italy, which is the admiration of all
the world, is represented by them as opposed
to tho Catholic religion, and subversive of so-
cial order. They distort the liberal and emanci-
pating character of the movement in Hungary, and
vilify it by representing it as incompatible with
the freedom and development of the other Danu-
bian nationalities. Deceptive voices are heard
anew at Vienna. They suddenly remember there
that it is their duty to protect the Sclaves and Rou-
mains against the would-be pretensions of the
Magyars. They wish that all should participate in
the benefits of the new improvised institutions.
But these concessions made in a moment of weak-
ness deceive no one. The experience of past years
has taught people to set them down at their proper
value. Hungarians, Croats, Roumains, Serbs—all
recollect that yoke of iron which, after 1848, marked
the triumph of reaction. They do not forget the
sufferings and burdens which they had to endure.
The principle of equality for all nationalities so
loudly proclaimed at Vienna in the constitution of
the 4th of March, 1849, was in fact applied in all
its rigour. All were equally deprived of their
rights and liberties ; all reduced to the same misery ;
all alike insulted in what men esteem most sacred ;
all, in fine, had to shed their blood in order to de-
fend in Italy a cause the triumph of which would
have only aggravated and pepetuated their own
slavery. We must almost despair of the future
destiny of nations, if, after such recent experience,
the plots of the reactionary party are still to suc-
ceed. Happily these fears will not be realised. I
have a firm conviction that the sentiments of fra-
ternity will gain the ascendant over the accursed
rivalries of the past. Just as in Switzerland, the
classic soil of liberty, French, Germans, and Italians
animated by the same love of country, and pro-
tected by the same institutions, live and prosper ; so
let us hope the day is approaching, when in Hun-
gary and Croatia, Sclave, Roumains, and Hun-
garians will live as brothers, enjoying the same
liberties, and ready to combine their forces to
defend themselves against all aggression. The
principal bonds which unite different populations
of Switzerland in one body are the necessity of
defence egainst the foreigner—geographical situa-
tion and identity of interests. These bonds already
exist among the Sclave, Roumain, and Hungarian
populations, and it is only by knitting them closer
that each of them will be able to attain its freedom
and complete development ; whereas on the con-
trary, by remaining disunited and without the pro-
tection of mutual support, they will soon fall an easy
prey to the powerful neighbours in the midst of
whom they are placed, The Hungarian Diet, con-
vinced of and penetrated by these truths, have just
proclaimed, on the eve of their separation, as one of
the fundamental principles of the Hungarian con-
stitution, that " all the populations in Hungary,
especially the Magyars, Sclaves, Roumains, Germans,
Serbs, Ruthenes, &c., are considered as nationalities
fully equal in rights, who, by means of individual
liberty and the right of meeting, may realise with-
out any rcats iotion their national aspirations within
the limit of the unity of the country." Is not this
the best answer that Hungary can give to her
adversaries ? These principles apply to Hungary
Proper. As to Croatia, the patriots of both countries
are actively engaged in reknitting the federal pact
in such a manner as to satisfy the lust exigencies
and requirements of all. The Diet and all Hungarian
patriots are, and ever will be ready to enter into
every equitable compromise, in order to satisfy the
non-Magyar populations—cohabitants of Hungary ;
but they will never go so far as to break the ter-
ritorial integrity of the country. In order that
Hungary may accomplish its destiny amongst
nations, all its territory, that is to say, its natural
frontiers and the whole of its forces, are indispens-
ably necessary to it. I am convinced that, except on
these conditions, there is safety for none. To muti-
late Hungary is to close the future and to choke all
hopes of freedom, not only in Hungary, but i n all
the Danubian states, for which a strong Hungary
is the first condition. Receive, General, with my
thanks, those of all my friends and compatriots, for
having raised your powerful voice in the interest of
reconciliation and concord. Your heartfelt appeal
will, I, am sure, reach all to whom it has been ad-
dressed. It will be heard and understood on the
Danube, as it has been in Italy. The day of recon-
cilement is near—on that day Hungary will be free
—on that day the independence of Italy will be
completed and for ever secured. Repeating the
expression of my deep acknowledgments, I amp
General, your very devoted

G. KLAPICA.

DREADFUL ATTEMPT AT MURDER

AND SUICIDE Al LEEDS.

A shocking attempt to commit murder and suicide Iva!,
made on Tuesday night, by a man named Anthony Rayner,
residing in Holmes's-yard, York-street, Leeds. Rayner
had been in the habit of treating his wife—who bore the
character of an honest industrious woman—with disgusting
brutality. He accused her of infidelity, and as she lay in
bed on Tuesday night, he assailed her with the foulest
abuse, and then announcing his intention of murdering
her, plunged a knife into her right temple. The poor
woman called loudly for assistance, and struggled as
well as she could with her husband, who in the mean-
time got hold of a razor, and attacked her with
that instrument. The daughter hearing her mother's
screams, ran down stairs and let in some of the neighbours,
who had been aroused by the noise, and who succeeded in
snatching the unfortunate woman from her husband's
clutches. She was taken into an adjoining house, and
shortly afterwards removed to the Infirmary, where it was
found that she had received a deeply incised wc und on the
right temple, a small incised wound on the right side of the
nose, and a very deep gash right across the palm of the left
hand.

Police-officer Garforth went to Rayner's house, and
found that the fellow, after his wife had been rescued, had
locked the door. The officer demanded admission, but re-
ceived no answer, and was compelled to break open the
d Rayner lying
on the
Onbed entering frinisththerohaotuscue,t. Ghefaorfoohrth took him into
custody, and charged him with attempting to murder his
wife, whereupon Rayner remarked--" Is she dead F" Upon
being answered in the negative, he said, " I am sorry she
is not dead and myself also." He added that he had been
to Goole to get a knife on purpose to do the job, but found
it was too weak, and then he got a razor. The razor, he
said, was under the bed, and on looking there, the officer
found a razor open, and smeared with blood. He also
found a bloody knife in the room, and the bed and
bedclothes were saturated with blood. Another razor,
;
closed, and not marked with blood, was found
in a hat on a chair in the room. The prisoner—who, it
may be observed, was perfectly sober—was taken to the
Infirmary
on his way thither he again expressed his re-
gret that he had not completed the deed. He stated that
he had got the wrong razor, by mistake ; and that if he
had got the one which he had in his hat, and which
he had sharpened for the purpose, he would have
done for his wife and himself too. The razor found
under the bed was a very blunt cne, but the one in the
bat had been recently sharpened. The knife had also
been recently sharpened, but the blade was not vet!
strong, and the point was rather broken. The woman is
the more seriously injured; but, fortunately, neither hus-
band nor wife is in immediate danger. The wound which
Rayner had inflicted on his own throat—done with the
same razor with which he attacked his wife—is about an
inch long, but not deep, and has not affected any vital part.
Mr. Jessop, the house surgeon, thinks the man must have
hacked at his throat with the razor five or six times. The
only reason Rayner gives for his murderous deed is, that
he was buffering from hunger.