The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-08-09

Fr~ssM 4stlGyssssr ief ysstsrdsy.
The Treable at smyrna.
We have bssa A~osed with private letter
from an officer Of the sloop-of-war st. Louis,
from which we make the annexed extracts, re-
lating faithfully, we presume, the circumstances
at Smyrna connected with the arrest of the Hun
garan Kossta, and the considerations which de-
cided the commander Of the st. Louis to demand
his release. 1t appears that Captain Ingraham
folt very sensibly the delicacy Of the position in
which he was placed, and was'lnuch embarrassed
how 70 act; but tho OPTIONS and advice Of our
Charse d'Ahamesa ut Csnstantinople, confirmed by
the claim Of the prisoner to ,Americsn protection,
decided the captain, not unnaturally, that the
course Of peril or Of battle, if need be, was the
course Of duty. Truly thankful arc we that SO
awful an issue was averted by the considerato al
tentative proposed by the two Consuls taa
ts. "UMrED SrArEs SHIP Sr. Louis,
"SMYRNA,, July I, 1853.
81 wrote you that one Martin Kossta, u Hun
garian refugee, had been forcibly taken on board
Of an Austrian brig-of-war, and confined in double
irons. Although he was not citizen Of the Uni
ted States, still he had made his declaration OF
i,nention to apply to become such. Captain In
graham, knowing that certain death would await
the man if he should be carried to Austria, deter
mined, if possible, to save him, if he could do it
without compromising our flag. Orders had been
issued by the Austrian Consul to carry the man
away on the Goth of June. Captain lngraham,
hearing this the night Of the 26th sent his pro-
test that the must not be carried away until it
was fully settled whether or not Martin Kossta
was an American. On the morning Of the 29th
our ship made sail and bore down towards the Aus
trian brig, and anchored near, 30 we could watch
and see that the man was not carried of. The
Austrans. thinking that we were going to take
the man, made every preparation to receive
During the morning the Austrian captain sent
word that the man would not be sent away.
Letters came the mme day from Mr.. Brown,
the Charge d'Affaires adj interim at CONSTANT
nople, stating that Kossta was citizen of
the United States, and as such was entitled to
protection from our country. Well, as things
stood, the captain was in doubt how to act, but
asked that further time might be allowed to
hear from MIR. Marsh, who was daily expected at
Constantinople. The Austrians gave until last
Saturday, the I'd of July. Other letters came
from Constantinople, but still Captain Ingraham
was in doubt; and after little conversation with
the Consul, the captain and consul went on board
the Austrian brig-of-war to see Martin Kossta.
After some conversation, Martin Kossta demand
ed protection from the American flag. Captain
Ingraham then told him he should have it. The
captain and Consul returned on board of our ship,
and the captain sent word to the Austrian that he
demanded Martin Kossta by four O'Clock in the
evening. After this was known tremendous ex-
element spread throughout the ship; all hands
were called to quarters to make preparations for
action; the big guns were loaded, cutlasses, small
arms, boarding pixies, and every thing ready for
an engagement. The surgeons brought out their
instruments, ready to cut off legs, patch up
wounds, &c. The shore was crowded with peo
pie to witness the engagement, as they thought
bloody work was going to take place. The news
spread like wild-fire throughout Smyrna, and the
people were much excited as we were. Delega-
tons came off the ship ifsomething could not
be done to prevent an action. After four or five
hours (happily for all parties) the American and
Austrian Consuls came to compromise: that is,
the Austrian Consul, who had full control of the
man, consented that Martin Kossta should be de-
who consented to take charge of him until every
thing was fully settled by the two governments as
to who had claim to the man. Well, after this
was settled, of course we all breathed much freer
than we did before. No doubt but many lives
would have been lost on both sides. Although
our guns are much larger than the Austrians',
still at the quarter intended fighting their
guns would have been just as destructive as ours.
The Austrian force consisted of one brig of six
teen gums, one schooner of ten guns, and three
which wot1d no doubt have assist
ed in the engagement. So you see their force
was much larger than ours. There was general
rejoicing after the matter was settled, and the
American citizens in Smyrna gave dinner to
Captain Ingraham and his officers on the 4th of
July. There was general Notification, and there
was popping Of bottle-corks instend of the big
guns. Last night we gave ball on board to some
Of the residents Of Smyrna, who have been very
kind to us since our arrival in port. -
TMpoprANr Law CAsr A. TprNroN -Refo,e