The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Koszta Affair
KOSZTA () AFFAIR, a diplomatic
incident. A Hungarian refugee to the United
States, named Martin Koszta, obtained his
“declaration of intentions” or first citizenship
papers in 1850. He visited Smyrna in 1853 and
was seized by members of the crew of the

Austrian brig Huzar on 21 June. Captain
Ingraham, of the American war sloop Saint
Louis, under instructions from the American
Minister at Constantinople, demanded his
release. Hearing that the prisoner was to be
transported secretly to Trieste, Captain Ingraham
set a time limit to the surrender and made
preparations to attack the Huzar on 2 July.
The prisoner was surrendered. The Austrian
government issued to the European courts a
note of protest against the American procedure.
Baron Hülsemann, Austrian Chargé d'Affaires
at Washington, asked Secretary of State Marcy
“to disavow the conduct of its agents . . .
hasten to call them to a severe account and
tender to Austria a satisfaction proportionate to
the magnitude of the outrage,” claiming the
arrested man to be an Austrian citizen and the
action of Ingraham violative of international
law. Marcy's reply, within a month, declared
Koszta was not a citizen of Austria but “that
Koszta, when seized and imprisoned, was
invested with the nationality of the United States,
and they therefore had the right, if they chose
to exercise it, to extend their protection to him;
that from international law — the only law
which can rightfully be appealed to for rules
in this case — Austria could receive 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.” The Congress passed
a joint resolution of thanks to Captain
Ingraham and invested him with a medal in
commemoration of his services. Consult
‘Correspondence between the Secretary of State and
the Chargé d'Affaires of Austria relative to
the Case of Martin Koszta’ (Washington
1853); Rhoades, J. F., ‘History of the United
States from the Compromise of 1850’ (New
York 1910), this contains a bibliography of
the controversy. See
.