Among them was a young refugee from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He had been a leader in an attempt to free Hungary from Austrian rule. The attempt had failed and he fled to escape execution. In America, this young Hungarian, Koszta by name, became an importer by trade and took out his first citizenship papers. One day, business took him to a Mediterranean port. There was a large Austrian warship under the command of an admiral in the harbor. He had a manservant with him. He had described to this manservant what the flag of his new country looked like. Word was passed to the Austrian warship that this revolutionary was there and in the night he was kidnapped and taken aboard that large ship. This man's servant, desperate, walking up and down the harbor, suddenly spied a flag that resembled the description he had heard. It was a small American war sloop. He went aboard and told Captain Ingraham, of that war sloop, his story. Captain Ingraham went to the American Consul. When the American Consul learned that Koszta had only taken out his first citizenship papers, the consul washed his hands of the incident. Captain Ingraham said, "I am the senior officer in this port and I believe, under my oath of my office, that I owe this man the protection of our flag."
He went aboard the Austrian warship and demanded to see their prisoner, our citizen. The Admiral was amused, but they brought the man on deck. He was in chains and had been badly beaten. Captain Ingraham said, "I can hear him better without those chains," and the chains were removed. He walked over and said to Koszta, "I will ask you one question; consider your answer carefully. Do you ask the protection of the American flag?" Koszta nodded dumbly, "Yes," and the Captain said, "You shall have it." He went back and told the frightened consul what he had done. Later in the day three more Austrian ships sailed into harbor. It looked as though the four were getting ready to leave. Captain Ingraham sent a junior officer over to the Austrian flag ship to tell the Admiral that any attempt to leave that harbor with our citizen aboard would be resisted with appropriate force. He said that he would expect a satisfactory answer by four o'clock that afternoon. As the hour neared they looked at each other through the glasses. As it struck four he had them roll the cannons into the ports and had them light the tapers with which they would set off the cannons — one little sloop. Suddenly the lookout tower called out and said, "They are lowering a boat," and they rowed Koszta over to the little American ship.
Captain Ingraham then went below and wrote his letter of resignation to the United States Navy. In it he said, "I did what I thought my oath of office required, but if I have embarrassed my country in any way, I resign." His resignation was refused in the United States Senate with these words: "This battle that was never fought may turn out to be the most important battle in our Nation's history." Incidentally, there is to this day, and I hope there always will be, a USS Ingraham in the United States Navy. | For about 135 years there's always been a ship in the United States Navy with the name USS Ingraham. Let's hope there always will be. I'll be right back.
I'm still in London and still enjoying that special look at America one gets when one's far away from home. Yesterday I spoke of our constitution, the contract between us and our government, making it plain that government exists only through our voluntary sufferance. We agree to take whatever collective action is necessary if even one of us is unjustly denied his constitutional rights, wherever in the world he may be. Some suggest it's foolish to risk the safety of the majority to rescue one or a dozen or even a few hundred. If we buy that we sell out the rights of all of us. Perhaps we should follow the example set for us 135 years ago when our nation was young, so young it wasn't taken very seriously by the great powers of Europe.
It seems a young Hungarian revolutionary who had participated in an attempt to free his country from the rule of the Austrian emperor had fled to America to escape execution. He took out his first naturalization papers and became an importer by trade. his business took him to a seaport on the Mediterranean there happened to be in the harbor a large Austrian warship, and as fate would have it Koszta, that was his name, was recognized, kidnapped, and taken aboard the warship. Koszta's manservant had been told what our flag looked like. Pacing up and down the waterfront he saw an American flag, it flew from the mast of a tiny war sloop. He went aboard and told his story to the commanding officer Captain Ingraham. Together they went to the American consul, when the consul learned that Koszta had only taken out his first papers and hadn't yet been sworn in as a citizen of the United States he decided he was relieved of any responsibility for the man.
Captain Ingraham had a different idea; he went aboard the Austrian warship and demanded to see the prisoner. The Austrian admiral, somewhat amused by all this, had Koszta brought on deck. Captain Ingraham asked Koszta one question, "Do you seek the protection of the American flag" he said. "Yes." Koszta replied. Going ashore the captain told the consul what he had done and what he intended to do. Meanwhile two more Austrian warships had entered the harbor. Captain Ingraham sent a message to the Austrian admiral to the effect that any attempt to leave with our citizen would be resisted with appropriate force. He indicated he would expect a reply by 4 o'clock that afternoon. As the hour neared he ordered the guns rolled into the sally ports, one tiny sloop against three men of war. Still no response. So he ordered the gunners to prepare to light the fuses and then the lookout shouted, "They're lowering a boat" and thus Koszta was delivered to the American ship.
Captain Ingraham then went below and wrote his letter of resignation to the United States Navy. In it he said I did what I thought my oath required but if I have embarrassed my government I hereby resign from the navy. His resignation was rejected on the floor of the senate with these words, "this battle that was never fought may turn out to be the most important battle in our nation's history" and that's why there's been a USS Ingraham in our navy ever since. I hope there always will be. This is Ronald Reagan thanks for listening. |