Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-02-20
LOUIS KossuTH.
His Visit to the United States-A Fervid
and Flamboyant Oath.


So Kossuth is not dead after all,
though, as in '82, the event premature
ly announced a not be long post
poncd. His tour through this country
is one of the great events of the cen
fury. 1t is thirty-three years since the
illustrious exile landed in New York
and stirred upsucha patriotic Juror and
frenzy. I remember running away
from school and walking nine miles and
back to hear the flaming orator speak
from the balcony of the Massasoit
House at Springfield. He was the hero
Of the hour. He quite left Daniel Web
ster in the shade in the matter of elo-
quence. 1t was the year of revolutions
in France, in Germany, in Ireland, in
Austria, in Italy, in South America.
The Yankee heart was warm, and sthe
Magyar patriot collected / forget how
many million dollars, issued his per-
sonal notes for it. and carried it back to
the lands beyond the seas. 1t was go
ing to be spent to make his oppressed
countrymen free-oh, yes. every cent of
it! 1 remember the oath to that effect
which he registered in old Tripler hall
to an audience of Germans the night
before he sailed away, and 1 quote the
end of it as an Illustration of his pic
turesque, fervid. and tiambovant style.
"Now, by the God who led my PEG
pie from the prairies of distant Asia to
the banks of the Danube-the Danube,
whose waves have brought to us re-
ligion, science and civilization from
Germany and in whose waters the
tears of Germany and Hungary have
mingled; by the God who led us when,
on the soil moistened with our blood,
we defended the bulwark of Christian
ity; by the God who gave strength to
our arms in the struggle for freedom
which wei ghed SO heavily for centuries
on the liberties of Germany, was hum
bled and sunk to be IN underling of the
Muscovite Gar; by the ties of the COM
mon oppression which fortunes u
nations; by the ties of love Of liberty
and hatred of tyranny that bills in our
veins alike; by the memory of the day
when the Germans of Vienna rose to
bar the way which led to Hungary
against the hirelings of deSpotism; by
the blood from Hungarian hearts
which flowed on the plains of
Schwechat for the deliverance of Wen
ma; by the Almighty Eye which
watches e the destinies OF mankind
by all these 1 have pledged and
do pledge myself again that the peo-
pie of Hungary will keep this
covenant honestly. faithfully, truly,
in life and death! Exert your influence
and active aid in behalf of the move
ment for freedom in Europe. l can ash
sure you that there are hundreds of
thousands there who take this for their
motto which the German singers sang
the other day, and which l repeat from
the depths of my heart:
"The shield and spear shall never rust
"May God keep me-this is my oath,
and my oath is my farewell
He swore vigorously, s%plrltedly,
beautifully, the eloquent Magyar. His
speech was a shining sword-a tongue
Of fire. never knew what was done
with the money. But it is said that his
sisters in Prague kept boarding-house
no more. The eminent exile himself
has ever since lived in London, Geneva
end Turin. Whatever became of this
fund, the American people We're not the
loser. The eloquence and he%art-thrill-
ing ring were worth the money they
cost. 1t is worth $40, 600, 900 any day
for the youth of a country to get thor
oughly stirred up in behalf Of justice
nnl human freedom.-W. 4. G~ofaA
IN y. \. Verdi.