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Leader (1850-1860), 13th September 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 866, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      come to our knowledge ; but in a shape far too imperfect to be used publicly ; however , we are assured that explanations shall be given , full and unexpected . Meanwhile , nothing but good can be done by pub - Hshing the following letter , addressed to Mr . George Dawson , from Mr . Francis Newman , a gentleman whose understanding is so clear , and whose sense of honour is so delicate : — 7 , Park-villag-e East , Regent ' s-park , London , September 9 , 1851 .

      Dear Sir , —Hearing from a mutual friend that you are uncomfortable at not having been warned by Mr . Pulszky against the impostress Von Beck , I am induced to write to you . If it were possible for these whispers of dissatisfaction to be expressed as plainly to Mr . Pulszky himself as they are to others , and if he knew that friends as well as enemies make them , he would himself say all that could be needed . And yet not all ; there are things which friends can say for him , but which he would not say for himself .

      I wish then to tell you , not for your information solely , but for that of other friends of Hungary who have been deceived , that early this year some charitable ladies applied to me for the character of this Von Beck , whom they discerned not to have ladylike manners , and suspected not to be a baroness . I consulted Mr . Pulszky , and received in substance the following reply : — " The Baroness von Beck has made herself my calumniator ; therefore , as she has injured me , my testimony against her would seem to be that of an enemy . I wish not to be in the position of avenging my personal injury , and I heartily desire to keep aloof from her . Yet , when asked , I must reply , that my knowledge of her gratuitous attack on me is enough

      to destroy confidence in her truth . As to her book , I dare say she tells truth as to what she saw herself ; but I regard it , as a whole , a mere made up story , quite untrustworthy . Whether she is or is not a baroness , I do not know ; that she is in great pecuniary distress I have no doubt : and if any ladies will waive the question of her honesty and moral godness , and will see in her only an indigent Hungarian exile , and will relieve her as such , I think they will perform a great act of charity . Yet I advise that they should not give her much money at a time ; for she seems to lavish all she has with unthinking generosity on bad persons around her . " In consequence of this reply , the ladies engaged a resident Hungarian ( not a refugee ) to dole out small sums to the

      baroness . It was not then suspected that she was a spy , in receipt of pay from Austria , much less from our own Ministry ( oh , shame and disgrace to England !) But it is now impossible to doubt that her liberality to the bad men round her was a mere spending of Austrian and English moneys given her for the purpose . Mr . Pulszky ' s insight into her position no doubt grew clearer , when his convictions arose that some of these "bad men" were Austrian spies ; and beset as he is with hired calumniators , who misinterpret every action of his , in order to breed discord among the refugees , he has an extremely delicate part to play . It was necessary to his safety to say nothing that might be a pecuniary damage to the Baroness or her faction , unless he could promptly and cheaply justify it in a court of law ; for if

      he had laid himself open to an action , the Austrians would have instigated a prosecution , and have supplied her with unlimited funds for conducting it . They would pay thousands to entangle him in difculties . Their hirelings have done their utmost { not unsuccessfully ) in discrediting Mr . Pulszky with the refugees , by the outcry that " he does not raise money enough for them ; " and it was morally impossible for him to step forward and say— " Do not give money to auch persons , " until he had full legal proofs of imposture . When , after the arrival of Mr . Paul Ilajnik , it was at laBt discovered who the pseudo-baroness was , and proof was gained that would insure prompt conviction , Mr . Pulszky acted decisively ; for I presume I may take for granted that the recent proflecution conducted by his friend Mr . Toulmin Smith was in fact his doing .

      It now remains for Englishmen to insist on tearing off the niurtk from our abominable secret-spy system , and endeavour to show the Hungarian and Ilungaro-Polish refugees who are deluded by the spies , thai Pulszky is hated by Austrian and feared by English despots , beeause he is trusted by Kossuth , and that factious attack on an honourable , wise , and energetic man is doing the work of a perfidious and implucable enemy . If you choose to publish this , so much the better ; but 1 must add , that I write without consulting Mr . Pulazky , und without having communicated at all with him for seven weeks past , as I have been absent from home . I am , Dear Sir , sincerely yours , FltANCIH W . NKWMAN .

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      ENGLISH THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES . We find the following in the columns of the Times . The inilucntial position of that journal in regard to the political parties happening to uiuiuigo our ulfairH , gives great importance to thin threat , for the hint really ainountH to a menace : — " These predatory expeditions , the chance of more neriouu hostilities , und thu portability of their success in Cubn , arc all matters of ncrious injury to ourselves . All civilized nations have a common interest in repressing a

      wanton spirit of invasion , which holds sacred no territorial rights and no public engagements ; but how much more are we intcrested in the defence of these rights when our own territories are the next to be assailed ! If the resistance to these attempts in uncertain or feeble , they arc continually encouraged , and they will bo continually repeated . To avoid the renewal of these ouluiuitiea , and the danger of more serious hostilities at a future , but not distant , period , it is the evident duty and intercut of tUe great wwrifiwo powers to support tU «

      Government of the TJnited States to the fullest extent in its laudable efforts to fulfil its engagements to a friendly power , and to oppose , if possible , an insurmountable barrier to these lawless aggressions . Lawless as they are , if they are not steadily opposed by those who have the power to resist them , they will at length inflame the American nation , and triumph over the resistance of the present Government . We are most anxious the causes of war should not be multip lied in the world , or the present peaceful and industrious condition of mankind disturbed ; but there are interests which must be defended in order that peace itself may be secure , and we do not hesitate to express our conviction , that the occupation of the port of Havannah by an aspiring maritime power , capable of using all the advantages of that position against the trade and the Colonial dependencies of European States , would be an event to which this country ought not to submit . A British Minister who should allow such a change in the distribution of maritime power to be effected , without using the most strenuous exertions to prevent it , would deserve to be ranked with the weakest and most incapable servants of the Crown , and we are confident that the result would speedily demonstrate the insecurity of a peace preserved on such terms . If the Southern States are allowed to incorporate Cuba , and to strengthen the slave-holding interest in the Union by that enormous acquisition , the North will ^ turn in selfdefence upon ihe nearest territory , which it may seize to restore the balance of power , and that territory is our own . One act of violence and rapine will follow another , until the popular cry will be for the expulsion of European authority from the North American continent and the West Indian islands . To that doctrine the only answer we can make is , that the European States have a common interest in holding their own possessions , and especially in protecting them against unlicensed and piratical warfare ; and , though we are not unused to the vehemence of popular oratory at American meetings , we are well assured that the good sense of the nation will not attempt what it cannot hope to effect . Fortunately in expressing these opinions we are saying no more than the American Government , and every reflecting politician in that country will be ready to admit ; and , in desiring to strengthen the basis of the general peace by rendering all attacks on it more hopeless and criminal , we are not defending any peculiar interest of this country , but the faith of treaties , the respect of international law , and the welfare of the world . The local administration of the United States renders it extremely feeble in preventing the occurrence of such outrages ; but at least the Federal Government can take care that there shall be no doubt as to the policy to be pursued by the Union towards its neighbours ; and the recurrence of this aggression seems imperatively to require that explanations should be exchanged with Spain and the maritime powers in such terms as to leave no doubt upon the intentions of the American Cabinet for the future . "

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      RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN GERMANY . Lower Mount-cottage , Lower-heath , Hampstead , Sept . 11 , 1851 . Sir , —You will oblige me much by inserting the following letter in your journal . It contains facts which call to mind the cruel persecutions against the Protestants in Austria in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . I need say nothing to enforce them on the attention of civilized nations . The House of Hapsburg cannot in the nineteenth century burn heretics at the stake ; but it finds a way , nevertheless , to kill them slowly and surely . The writer of the letter is a member of the Presiding Committee of the Free Congregation of Vienna , dissolved by violence , as described in my last communication to you . At the time I established that congregation in 1848 , he was one of the most intelligent and active members , and during my stay there was elected by the congregation on the committee . When , with the victory of the Imperialists in the last days of October , 1848 , the unhappy epoch of despotic reaction came upon the Peoples of Austria , and when both the ministers of the congregation had been removed by Government authority , Herr Pesanegger- —this is the name of the nobleminded man—took the management of the congregation into his hands and discharged the duty with ability until August , 1851 . He was an employe * of the National Bank of Vienna . The Government procured his dismissal from thatjoffice , because he was a member of the Free Congregation , and threw him for six weeks into prison . In the course of the present summer Herr PesBiiegger , accompanied by three youths , sons of a friend , came to London to viuit the Great Exhibition . After his return to Austria he was subjected to the persecutions related in the subjoined letter .

      Persecutions like these , detailed as they are in the words of a heartbroken father , speak bo impressively that every feeling man must sympathize with this victim of Imperial tyranny , and must join in the honest indignation of outraged manhood against such arbitrary and barbarous proceedings . I have entered into communications with my friends in Germany with u view to remove Madame Pessnegger and her son from the vengeance of the Jesuits . I am , however , singly too weak to render efficient ausistance in this and like cases , and I am , therefore , obliged to appeal to all

      friends of humanity ' and especially to the generosity of the English people to aid me in this struggle against the Jesuits . I cannot nit still tamely while noble-minded men and women , who have laboured with zeal and sacrifice for the cause of religious liberty und progress , are Buiiering from the iusune persecutions of Gcrmuii Governments . I cannot r of ruin from an appeal to the generous sympathies of Englishmen when bo many congregations and schools established by me , often at the risk of life itself , are crushed by the weight of lawlesH power , JU j « th , c Cftuj » v of humanity .

      I hope , Sir , in a future letter to be permitted to detail other cases of persecution which have come to my know ledge , particularly the barbarous treatment by thV Prussian Government of the venerable Professor Neea Ton Esenbeck , now in his seventy-sixth year , a name well-known to the savans of England , simply because this excellent man is a member of the free Catholic con gregation of Breslau . I have the honour to remain , ' Sir , your obedient servant Johannes Roxge '

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      [ Extract of a letter from Herr Passnegger of Vienna to the Reverend Johannes Ronge . ] " Briinn , August 21 , 1851 . " When I arrived at Paris , a telegraphic messag e intimated that my presence was immediately required at Vienna . When I arrived there , on the 5 th of July to the most cordial salutations of my family the anxious question was joined , whether I had had any intercourse while in London with Mazzini , Ledru Rollin , or Louis Blanc . I said that I had not ; which was the fact They were astonished ; for on that pretext the police had made a domiciliary visit under a special order from the Government , when they took possession of all my papers including those connected with the management of the

      congregation ; they even seized the various ministerial decrees on the subject of the free congregations . The frequent inquiries made at my house by the police if I had returned to Vienna showed that ulterior proceedings were in contemplation . People even hinted at banishment . Oq the 10 th of July I was summoned before the police , when it was intimated to me that I must leave Vienna within twenty-four hours . I asked the reason . They shrugged their shoulders and replied that it was not known , and referred me to Weiss von Starkenfels , the director of police * I went to him , and was told to ask no reasons , but to obey the order at once . My blood boiled , but I controlled my indignation , quietly protesting against this illegal proceeding , and declaring that I should voluntarily obey the order . I , however , resolved only to act merely by way of passive resistance , so as to give no occasion to the Government to raise a criminal

      charge against me on that ground . I tried to have an audience of Dr . Bach , the Minister of the Interior , but I could not get at him . I thereupon presented a memorial to the Minister , stating that I had gone to London to see the Great Exhibition with three sons of a friend ( at his request ) ; that I was furnished with a regular passport ; that I could prove bv official documents that I was a citizen of Vienna , and had been a resident since 1826 ; that Vienna was , therefore , my legal residence , and that I had the right to live there and gain my livelihood ; that my expulsion from that town was , therefore , a legal impossibility ; that I could not abandon my wife and children ; that I had no possibility of gaining my livelihood in any other place ; and that , moreover , my position as plaintiff in an actioa against the National Bank of Vienna , rendered my presence preremptorily necessary to save me from absolute starvation .

      " I obtained an official confirmation of this proceeding , and hastened with it to the office of the police . On . learning that I had memorialized the Minister of the Interior , a commissary promised to remove me merely outside the walls of Vienna , that he might be able to state that he had executed his order , thus allowing an opportuuity to see if an effect would be given to the memorial . It fell worse for me , however . An officer of the police came to my house , and delivered the following document : — 41 ' ( Official . ) Prescribed route . For Herr Possnegger . The same is to travel by the direct route from Vienna to [ The personal de- Briinn , and is immediately at scription is here his arrival there , formally to given . ] present himself to the police . " ' All civil and military authorities are required to let the bearer of this prescribed route pass free and unhindered , provided he does not deviate from it . " By the Imperial and Royal Branch Police-office , " ' Jositt'ii Stadt . " ( Signed ) Neuwihth , CommisBary . " * Vienna , July 11 , 1851 .

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      " I asked the police officer whether he had brought money to pay the coats of the journey and my other expenses . He « aid that he had not , but that I should fmu everything that was necessary in Briinn . An hour « 'tpr I was separated from my poor wife ana boy . You wu not require from me a description of the sad scene , i <> r you can imagine it all , when I tell you that I was obliged to abandon these dear ones to the benevolence of friends , and that I departed to suffer days of anguish . On my arrival at Briinn , I immediately presented myself to tno police . They had not then received any notification about me , and 1 was desired to cull again . The omoiai report from Vienna did not arrive till the third day ; " did not declare that 1 had been removed from VH' « »

      and hud gone to Briinn , but that 1 was a person P urticu " larly dangerous to the State and to be kept under Uie strictest surveillance from superior State necessityrepresented to the police the inconsistency of tiiioii ^ report with a compulsory passport , and requested tliai reference should be made to the authorities at Vi «» i » A minute of my request was made , and the same I > ~ scnted to the Governor of Moravia , who ordt ; rt ; , V reference to be made . The police , however , tolilme in it was not obligatory on the city of Briinn to delray J expenses or cost of living there . I am « " » i . J > . ,, «' obliged—deceived as 1 was by the authorities 1 U Vit , ' and cruelly imposed on—to live in an expense »" '

      private individuals will not let mo lodging" m «»« " " "" for fear of attracting the surveillance of the police . ** The Presiding Committee of the Free Congregation . , and a dvpntntioa of rCsn « ottW « wmI uflluowt oiwena «*

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      $ 66 ILlfrt JLt&llt t * [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 13, 1851, page 866, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1900/page/6/