The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-11-04 00:00:00

A Refutation of the Charge of Imposition and Fraud
against the Baroness Von Beck. By Constant Derra

De Moroda. London : Richard Bentley.

There is no people on the face of the earth so preyed
upon by foreigners, good, bad, and indifferent, as the
English. Singing Italians, guitar-strumming Spaniards,
rebellion-preaching Poles, anti-Christianity-propagating
Germans, all-levelling Franks, and all•contaminating
Huns; in short, the refuse and the scum of all nations—
Ambubiarunz colleaia, Pbarmacopitce, mimi, balatrones,
id genus omne—are welcomed to our shores, and taken to
our hearths and bosoms with a warmth and confidence
that the unfortunate, the talented, and the unpresuming
of our own countryfolk, never experience, Should the
intruding foreigner introduce himself with a eoundin.a
title—should be call himself Marquis, or Duc, or Count,
or Baron—his reception is all the more certain and enthu-
siastic. He is taken for what he chooses to have himself
designated on his card ; and he is addressed, and fondled,
and fed, and harboured, as an " illustrous nobleman un-
der a cloud," whom it is the duty of all generous-hearted
Englishmen to succour, and comfort, and even reward.
We denounce from our souls this mania for foreign exiles,
as well as the mania for all other foreign importations in
preference to the home article ; but we fear it is a part of
the constitution of an Englishman to be gullible, that he
takes a sort of pleasure in being gulled, and that he will
be gulled to the end of the chapter. However, it is one
thing to err on the side of over-generosity, and another to
sin on the side of cruelty and oppression. The case of
the Baroness von Beck is one of the most singularly in-
human, disgraceful, nn-English, and, we may fearlessly
add, unlawful, ever recorded in this country since it be-
came free. This woman, whether a baroness or not, was
unquestionably gifted with rare literary abilities, was ac-
complished in the arts of society, and was ladylike and in-
offensive in her habits of life. She was received with
open arms by those who ought to have examined her cre-
dentials in the first instance; she was acknowledged as
one who had rendered most important and perilous ser-
vices to her country ; her brilliant and captivating book,
which did much to draw attention and to enlist English
sympathies in the " cause of Hungary," as it is called,
was allowed to circulate through England, France, and
the Continent generally, with her name in full on the
title-page, and ample details of her rank, her missions,
and her connexions within. For upwards of a year, while
the "patriots" of Hungary were benefiting by this lady's
popular literary productions, not a word was breathed in
contradiction of the name, the fame, and the merit she
publicly, and in the face of all Europe, made claim to.
Nay, even the leading Hungarian authority here vouched
for her respectability. But all at once, when she an-
nounced her intention to publish a second work, which
the patriots feared might not be so flattering to their va-
nity, or so likely to raise up rich friends and contributors
to their comfort in exile, as the first, she was denounced
as an arrant impostor, si:e was branded as a spy--she, the
confidante of the hero Kossuth, an Austrian spy !—and
was dragged before an English police-court on a false
charge of imposition and fraud, which could not be sus-
tained for a moment. The barbarity and treachery practised
by Hungarian on Hungarian we might not much marvel
-at, but we confess we were both astonished and ashamed
at the treatment this poor sickly, broken-down, enthu-
siastic, and gifted woman received from our own country-
men. Betrayed under the mask of friendship into the
hands of enemies, dragged like a murderess from a draw-
ing-room, in a light evening-dress, and at night, to a gaol.
Left there to expire of the concentrated pangs of shame,
of indignation, and of a sense of outrage which happily in
this country has no name. Her troubles are over ; but
what must be the remorse of those who thus persecuted
her to the death ?

" Though those that are betrayed
Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor
Stands in worse case of woe !"

Talk of the Inquisition ; this atrocious violation of all de-
cency, and this mock tri 1 at the Birmingham police-
court, after the intended victim had become a corps; out-
did any Inquisition that ever before WIIS heard of. For-
tunately for the poor lady's memory, she left one behind
her able and ready to vindicate it. Her secretary, M.
Constant Derra De Moroda, has just published a refuta-
tion of the charges in the Birmingham police-court—a
refutation that is altogetherlbased on documentary evi-
dence, and which therefore is unassailable. He adduces the
letters of Daniel von Kaszonyi, late first lieutenant in the
Hungarian army, and adjutant of Major Ladislaus von
Ujhazi; of Count Paul Esterhazy ; of the late Minister of
Justice in the Hungarian Government; of Thade Tdzi-
kowski, late colonel of the Polish Legion in Hungary; of
Wolfgang von Kemeny, late colonel in the Hungarian
army ; of Alexander Strauss, late lieutenant of pioneers in
the Hungarian army ; of Xavier Gorsky, late aide-de-
camp to General Bern ; and several other persons—all of
whom attest to the identity of the Baroness, and vouch
for the truthfulness of her representations. In our opi-
nion these evidences are conclusive. But we will give our
readers an extract or two, and let them judge for them-
selves. Daniel von Kaszonyi makes this declaration
In conclusion, I have still to declare, that if any doubt
could exist in my mind as to the reality of the Baroness von
Beck's services, and as to her identity, it would have been
completely removed by the declaration of M. von Duka, late
adjutant of General Arthur von Gorgey, who stated, in the
presence of Cottnt Paul Esterhazy, Lieutenant-Colonel von
Juhasz, the Rev. Hyacinth von Ronay, Constant von Derra,
and myself, on the lst of september, 1851, that " although he
did not like to give anything in writing, yet was he ready to
declare, that, during the War of Independence in Hungary, he
had never heard the Baroness von Beck named otherwise than
as the Baroness von Beck; and also that, under this title, he
had frequently announced her to the aforesaid general. Fur-
ther, that he had never even once heard the name Racidula ;
but that the Baroness von Beck was frequently mentioned as
having done many and important services to the Hungarian
arm y."

Colonel Thade Idzikowski, addressing the Baroness from
Paris, on August 28, thus writes to her:—
" I am, expecting, with the greatest impatience, the arrival of
our Governor. According to the intelligence of the public pa-
pers, some new difficulties must have arisen regarding the libe-
ration of the Governor. But lam in hopes that circumstances
will alter; and I have also confidence in you, Madame Baro-
ness, that your talent will aid. If I can be useful, lam ready
to do all in my power. You will be so good as to write me a
few words of hope. lam sure you will not deny me, for I have
in this short time learned to know your magnanimous heart
and your energy.

" hope ! and courage ! I beg you most respectfully to accept
my high esteem.
6" IDZIKOWSKI, Mall. prop.

" P.S.—I greet all Hungarians who are true' to thefather-
land, and friends of Kossuth."

Xavier Goraky, late aide-de-camp of General Bem, thus
declares :

" As a further proof, I do hereby declare, that when in De-
breczin, I saw, and, in the company of many gentlemen, spoke
to the Baroness von Beck, who died at Birmingham, on the
30th of August, 1951. 1 met her again at Pesth, with the Mi-
nister von Csanyi, Colonel Danielis, Baron Lopreati (cavalry
captain), and the Government Commissioner von Boronkay.

On the 27th of July, whilst travelling as aide-de-camp from
Clausenberg to Szegedin, I found Madame von Meszlenyi,
Kossuth's sister, in Mad, from whence I travelled with her 10
Szegedin ; and she also spoke of the merits of the deceased
Baroness von Beck. .

-44;aii;entiW27th of July, I accompanied Kossuth's Mo-
ther from Oroszhiza to Arad ; on which occasion also the Ba-
roness von Beck was frequently remembered.
" All the above-mentioned persons knew Der, and entitled
her Baroness Beck.

----i, In proof of this, my own hand and seal, and, if necessary,
I will confirm it on oath."

There is no need of other confirmation ; but we will
quote a passage or two from a letter, written by a lady
who had every opportunity of knowing whether the Baro-
ness was a gentlewoman or not in her manners, tastes,
and converse :

" I was introduced to her in Liverpool, and acted as her in-
terpreter in July last. The newspapers state, that she was of
low origin and vulgar behaviour. As to her origin I cannot
speak, but her behaviour was that of a lady; and those who
could assert differently must themselves have been void of
common sense. I have myself been well bred. I am a native
of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, in Northern Germany. My
father was in easy circumstances, and spared nothing on my
education. My life has been a chequered one. I have mixed
with gentle and simple of many nations ; but never have! seen,
in my whole experience of life, a vulgar person behave with
such ease and graceful self-possession as the poor lady in ques
tion, under every circumstance

was ''' 4" introduced to the Baroness, as I have stated be-
fosre eI
by a German '99 rCc"!c§to me to act
a
a Hungarian Baroness, who was seeking
ntinerp Jiu.eltyer lasito:
subscribers for a work she was about to publish. She had let-
ters of introduction to some of the first families here. I con-
sented, and was introduced to her. She rose in a most lady.
like manner, and received me with great courtesy, and said,
with tears in her eyes, Will you, Madam, take pity on a poor
exile, who is endeavouring to secure a living by her literary
labours, to shield her from want, until fate may decree again
that she return to her dear native country?' "