American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-12-05
Kossuth and the Co...cLs.

Ana the Board adjourned aa
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Kossuth and the COssacks.
The approach of the greatest man of the age,
Kossuth Of Hungary, to the free shores of
America, is stirring up elements of controversy
in various quarters, from editors down to oafers,
| and from loafers up to Congressman and char
latans. For long time there has been dis
pute between certain editors in this goodly me-
tropolis relative to the mind, the capacity, and 4
characteristics of Kossuth, and the Hungarian :.
war. The ex-charge to Austria who must have
received all his intelligence when he dined one
day in Schoenbrunn, from the highest authori-
ties in the Austrian empire-from Schwartzen-
burg, Haynau, or worthless of that stamp--has
insisted, all along, that Kossuth was no patriot
no republican--no democrat--no general friend
of human liberty, in any comprehensive form
that he was, in fact, from the beginning to the
end of the Hungarian struggle, merely sup
porter of the exclusive Hungarian mobiles, and
opposed the rights of the masses of other races
who had been held in subsection to the Magyars.
In opposition to this view certain editors of the
| other branch of the same party have endeavored
to show, by interminable extracts from all sorts
of pamphlets, magazines, newspapers, and old
books, that Kossuth was republican-that he
fought for the liberties of the aggregate people
of Hungary-that he was and is a true patriot
and that he is the most complete and unap-
| proachable democrat of the day, on either side
of the Atlantic, or from the north pole to the
centre of the tropics. tfss
Without at all going into the scrambling and
silly details which both these classes of philo-
sophers have raked up; without wishing to
disturb the enjoyment that even now is de-
rived from the expectation Of the reception that
win be extended to the great Magyar on his
arrival in this country, we may at once pro-
nounce both these classes of disputants in some
measure right and correct in their conclusions
: respecting the character and political charac-
teristics Of Kossuth during his whole career in
!, Hungary, and up TO this period. Both classes
of these controversialists are, in some measure,
correct in their estimation of the character and
: history of the hero of Hungary, but it is ne
!, cessary to unite the inferences and deductions
of both on one platform, in order to present
full portrait of Kossuth to the minds eye.
In the early part of Kossuth's career he was,
y no doubt q monarchst, as the term is under
I stood in Europe, and as is represented by the
J x-Charge to Austria. In latter stage his
e mind had gone through the natural progress Of
intellectual development, and he gradually ap-
. preached, through the process of paper money
!; and necessity, nearer and nearer to republican
ism, until, during his captivity in Turkey and
his career in England, he completed his politi-
cal education, and now comes to this country
full-fedged, undying and dyed-in-the-wool
democrat. .r. ..
All great revolutions and every original re-
publican that sprang from them, have passed,
; in every age of the world, from the depths and
and dungeons Of monarchy and monarchical
ideas, up to the lights and heights of republi-
. canism, by the gradual development of facts,
) ideas, and historical events. The great men Of
the American revolution were Mt first monarch
lists and in the early stages of our struggle with
Great Britain, they sought only for the aboli-
tion of the tax on tea, imposed by the British
Parliament. The British government refused
! the reasonable demands of the American peo-
pie; and from that moment the fathers of the
country gradually went through the process Of
changing their belief in monarchy and morar-
, chical institutions, to full faith and triumph
, Of repubicanism and democracy. The same
process and gradual change characterized the old
revolution in England, commenced by Hampden
and Sydney, in consequence Of the ship money
and other impositions attempted by Charles
the First. They commenced by avowing their
belief in monarchy aud in monarchical rights,
to a reasonable extent; but in consequence of
the opposition of the Crown, they gradually
went through the natural circle of human ri ghts
and reached the belief which established the
Commonwealth, and demolished monarchy in
England for series 0f years. The same char
acteristics mark the rise, progress, and history
of the old French revolution. In the States
General Of $780, there were few or no avowed
republicans, and even Mirabeau and those asso-
ciated with him claimed the right merely to
form constitutionally monarchical government
Opposition from the Crown, as in the other in
stances naturally led to the development of the
political mind of the age, and the consequence
was the establishment of the old French repub-
lie, the recollection OF which has its influence
at this day. even in France and in all Europe
Even in ancient times the very old republics Of
Greece and Rome went through the same circle
Of despotism, monarchy, and democracy.
With these historical examples before us,
! showing the natural progress Of the human
mind and the human character, how foolish il
is in editors calling themselves intelligent and
, acquainted with history, to be fighting each
other day after day, writing and printing inter
minable columns of yerbiage, and inditing the
merest sophistry that could occupy the atten-
ton Of the school boys, or school men of the
middle ages. Kossuth once played teetotum
and the football. He was a smart boy then on
the banks of the Danube. The ex-Charge to
Austria may as well.eay that Kossuth' IS views at
this moment do not rise above teetotum or foot
ball, because it is fact in his history that he
I once played these amusements in some by-lane
8 or by-way, or the fields Of Hungary. What
nonsense