Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1851-03-21
Tho Late tsenerai hem.


No sooner has the grave closed over the mortal
remains of Benz than there individuals who assert
that he is vet alive; while others, more audaclous
hesitate not to affirm that he poisoned at the IN
stance of the government under which he found an
asylum The matter is of sufficient Importance for
Won, and through you for the world to know, that
the one and the other presumption are equally ground
less Without stopping to inquire into the nature
or extent of the hospitality afforded to Bem it is on
" the truth to say that it to the last honorable
and liberal. Such is the testimony OF Gen. Kmety,
the friend of Benz, with whom have just been hon.
ored with conversation the subject; and which,
rs it may interest your readers take the liberty to
notice for your columns
To nut the fact of Bems decease beyond all suspi-
cion, his physician Monsieur Kalozdy, an Hunga-
RAN of considerable attainments has drawn up re-
port intended for the press, showing the nature of
the malady and the natural causes of Bem's death
The painful event took place at half-past A. M OF
the 10th of December last when this first of artille
nv oficers-the King of Cannons, as he was surnam-
ed in the Hungarian wars-breathed his last. at the
age of SIS in his country house, close to the walls of
Aleppo. His grave lies height near the militia
ry barracks of the town.
Honored and revered in life, the hero of Ostraen-
ka the victor of many battles will be deeply deplor
ed by the Sclaves the Poles, and the Hungarans to
obtain whose freedom the most distinguished portion
of his life gallantly devoted with an ndomitabe
spirit and noble enthusiasm and though there are
various opinions concerning the wisdom of the policy
of the renowned soldier yet it is hoped there will
now prevail generous sympathy for the death of
the exile.
To the common cause of grief and solicitude his
immediate friends have another-the circumstance
of his deep poverty. BEN has left foreign debts
amounting, far as is yet known, to about 100000.
His creditors chiefly in Paris. Benz, like some
other illustrious men, cared little for money. His
wealth consisted mainly in his great strategic tai
ents; genius which created out of scattered ele-
HoII &c tho obi
ployment of which more than shook an empire to
the centre, and from an humble position at a bound
placed Hungary in an attitude of terrific action-a
strife, though confessedly unequal yet determin-
ed and brilliant that his united enemies ceased not
to admire while they poured down with gigantic
strength to crush
The wealth of assaulted cities lay at Bems feet,
but he remained poor bearing an irreproachable
public reputation. One incident worth hundred
will serve prominently to exhibit the grandeur of
Bems character. At moment when, chiefly thro'
his instrumentality, the flag of Hungary was every
where triumphant the Government of that country
offered him the command in chief of all the Hunga-
rian forces elevated position but one which he
would only consent to accept after the Government
had explained itself distinctly the points which
nearest his heart. the freedom of the Sclayo-
mans and the reconstruction of Poland.
Such among others, were the objects of his ambi-
tion-such the ends he proposed to accomplish. War
was the means; and surely, whatever his failings
that man is great who, denying himself, makes his
own prosperity to depend the advancement of hi:
fellow men in the moral and social scale of being
Benz would sacrifice self in everything to attain these
great ends Even to the last the mind of this re-
markable man lost none of its ygor; he was active
ly engaged in useful experiments designed to benef
the country which afforded him its hospitality and
though they diminished his pecuniary resources YET
his purse was ever open to his needy country
men Permit me to add that the Sutan's Govern
ment, with an honorable generosity has provided fol
the payment of his local debts and Mahomet Pasha
late Ottoman Ambassador to St. James, and now
Governor General of Aleppo, is generously occupied
in measures calculated to promote the object pro
posed in respect to the European creditors of the de
ceased. G.