Koszta Affair
Koszta Affair | |||||||
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Part of Hungarian Revolution of 1848 | |||||||
USS St. Louis, the sloop used by Captain Ingraham to threaten the Austrian brig Huszár. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Austrian Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Captain Duncan Ingraham | Unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1 sloop-of-war | 1 brig-of-war |
The Koszta Affair (1853) was the name applied to a diplomatic episode between the United States and the Austrian Empire involving the rights in foreign countries of new Americans who were not yet fully naturalized.
Background
Martin Koszta, a man of
Abduction
After residing in the United States for a year and eleven months, Koszta returned to Turkey on private business. He was placed under the protection of the United States by the American consul at
Americans learned of rumors that the prisoner was to be transported secretly to
Diplomacy
On August 29, 1853, Baron Hülsemann, the Austrian chargé d'affaires in Washington, wrote to Secretary of State William L. Marcy, asking for the United States to "disavow the conduct of its agents, ... hasten to call them to a severe account, and tender to Austria a satisfaction proportionate to the outrage."[citation needed] He said that Koszta was not a naturalized citizen of the US and had never ceased to be a citizen of Austria. Ingraham's threat was thus in violation of international law.
Marcy replied on September 26, 1853, in what is known as the Hülsemann letter. He defended the position of the United States throughout on the ground that Koszta had ceased to be a citizen of Austria even by the law of Austria. His letter said;
that Koszta when seized and imprisoned was invested with the nationality of the United States, and they had therefore the right, if they chose to exercise it, to extend their protection to him; that from international law – the only law which can be rightfully appealed to for rules in this case – Austria could derive no authority to obstruct or interfere with the United States in the exercise of this right, in effecting the liberation of Koszta; and that Captain Ingraham's interposition for his release was, under the extraordinary circumstances of the case, right and proper.[citation needed]
The letter was published, to great enthusiasm throughout the United States. The State Department's position in relation to the status of immigrants who were not fully naturalized has been endorsed by various well-known authorities on international law.[citation needed]
Koszta was ultimately released by Austria and allowed to return to the United States. The United States Congress passed a joint resolution of thanks to Captain Ingraham and decorated him with the Congressional Gold Medal, in commemoration of his services.
References
- ^ Defending Residents Abroad: The Almost Abduction of Martin Koszta in Smyrna. By Niels Eichhorn, 7 April 2020. The Journal of the Civil War Era. Accessed 10 November 2020.
- New International Encyclopedia(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). Encyclopedia Americana. .
Further reading
- Correspondence between the Secretary of State and the chargé d'affaires of Austria relative to the case of Martin Koszta (Washington, 1853)
- United States (1854). Martin Koszta--Correspondence, &c. Washington, D.C.: Dept. of State.
- Rhoades, J. F., History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 (New York, 1910)