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Title: Kossuth and the London Times (1853)
Description: Leading article of the New-York Daily Tribune on the charge made by The Times that arms and munitions had been found in a house occupied by Kossuth (the Rotherhithe rocket affair, April 1853).
Author: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
Date: 1853-05-02
URL: https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/originales/1853%20Kossuth%20and%20the%20London%20Times
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*Published unsigned as a leading article in the* New-York Daily Tribune*, No. 3757, May 2, 1853, p. 4, under the heading “Kossuth and the London Times”; MEGA² (I/12) prints it in its appendix among the texts of doubtful attribution (Dubiosa), without deciding between Marx and Engels. The newspaper’s misprints “Mr. Hale.” and “origi-ginal” are corrected. Text from the original newspaper (Library of Congress, Chronicling America). [Traducción al español](https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/1853%20Kossuth%20y%20el%20Times%20de%20Londres).*

*The London Times*, which, during the Hungarian contest, was distinguished for its Austro-Russian articles, has not intermitted its malignity toward Kossuth, as appears from the following incident noticed in our columns on Friday:

In its number of the 15th April *The Times* stated that “the house in the occupation of M. Kossuth” had been searched by the authorities, in virtue of an order from the Home Secretary, and that a great quantity of arms, munitions, and other warlike materials had been found. And thereupon *The Times* proceeded to read a long homily to Kossuth, including such sentences as this: “All that we have learned hitherto of the character of M. Kossuth, of his conspiracies and ridiculous juggleries,” and so forth, in an equivalent strain of ridicule and obloquy.

Now it appears that no such house in the occupation of M. Kossuth has any existence, but the following are the facts: Mr. Hale, the inventor of a certain rocket, (used in our Mexican war, by the way,) at Rotherhithe, had been visited by Kossuth before and after he came to America. On his first visit he had suggested certain improvements to Mr. Hale, and after his return to England Mr. Hale called on him and stated that his suggestion had been applied with success. Subsequently, according to *The Daily News*,

> “A Hungarian soldier, a deserter from the Austrian army, called on him seeking charity. M. Kossuth having ascertained that the man had had some experience in the Austrian artillery, and subsequently in the chemical department of the sanitary establishment, thought that he might be suited to the work of Mr. Hale’s factory, and accordingly recommended him to that gentleman for employment. The man was taken on, but, in consequence either of his inattention or misconduct, was shortly afterward dismissed; and it is just possible, that out of revenge, he rushed to the Home Office, and hoaxed its astute chief with the cock-and-bull story of the ‘Old House at Rotherhithe,’ and M. Kossuth’s mysterious manufacture and accumulation of projectiles. It must be repeated that this is only conjecture, and may possibly involve an unjust accusation against a true-hearted Hungarian.”

Mr. Hale has written a letter protesting against the police entry of his premises, stating that “no gunpowder and not an arm of any kind was found except the rockets; Lord Palmerston boldly asserting that arms were found, and 500 lbs. of powder, which is a gross fabrication.”

Notwithstanding these facts *The Times* has a second article in the same accusatory spirit as the first, commencing as follows:

> “In spite of the strenuous and repeated efforts of Sir Joshua Walmsley, Mr. Thomas Duncombe, Mr. Bright, Lord Dudley Stuart, and the friends and patrons of M. Kossuth, to elicit from Lord Palmerston a disavowal or contradiction of the statement published by this journal on Friday last, the Secretary for the Home Department said nothing to shake, in any important particular, the accuracy of our information. In using the expression, ‘a house in the occupation of M. Kossuth,’ we never intended to describe his dwelling-house, because we were aware that this seizure had been made at a manufactory in or near Rotherhithe, while M. Kossuth lives at Bayswater. * * * Whatever may hereafter be proved on behalf of M. Kossuth, the essential facts of this case remain unexplained, and very much in need of explanation. It is undoubtedly true, that upon the entry of the police on these premises near Rotherhithe they found upwards of 70 cases closely packed, and containing, apparently for transmission to a distance, *several thousand war rockets*, besides a considerable number of rockets in a state of preparation, 2,000 shells not as yet loaded, and 500 lbs. of gunpowder. These are Lord Palmerston’s own words in describing the seizure effected by the police; and it will not be denied that these particulars establish the existence of an extraordinary case, which fully justifies the curiosity of the public and the interference of the Government.”

When *The Times* was about to turn its memorable and historical somerset on the free trade question, there was a meeting of the proprietors, and the question was discussed as to the reason or apology which it should give therefor. After a flood of discussion, the chief proprietor rose and said: *The Times* never retracts or explains; and, accordingly, the next day it appeared on the other side in politics, without a word of explanation. So goes the story. The persistence in its original view of the rockets is in keeping with the above.