Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-05-09
Hungary's Hero.
Louis kOssuth, One of the Purest Pa
triOtS the World Has Record Of.

The announcement, from abroad, that
kossuth is dying, brings to mind one of
| the most remarkable characters, one of he
| most finished orators the world has ever
| knoTu. Had success crowned his iefforts
ne would have figured in history from
| Washington, lafayette and the host of
| heroes with whouc love OF country over
shadowed and overwhelmed every osher
feeling; but though his name may lot
hold place in history among the sue
cessfui patriots, who have been the means
of country's salvation, but none the less,
will his name be forever remembered and
cherished as one OF the noblest patriots
the world has to he proud of.
Living, SIS he has, exiled and in secIu-
sion, for long years, his cherished hope
for his country shattered years ago, his
memory but a name, there fingers, still
about that name enough patriotism, in
trepld bravery, and devotion, to lift him
far above the level of mans common life.
to those heights where only heroes tread.
When, forty years ago, the wandering
Hungarian chief was welcomed TO these
Shores, his fame had preceded him, and
the ovation he had received in England,
but augmented the general desire to greet
the hero, whose misfortunes had but in
creased his heroism.
His story was well known; how he, a
patriotic young advocate and editor, was
snatched from his labors and hurried to
the dungeon, the victim Of des potism, ''the
martyr of the liberty of the press" With
no limitation of sentence. and DO reas-
enable hope of deliverance. he took that
time to prepare himself for the part he
was destined to take in the future. With
no teacher save a dictionary, grammar,
and Shakespeare, in the dim light of a
prison, he set himself to the task of
learning the English language, with what
success let his eloquent speeches testify.
In his long hours of solitary thought he
learned those great principles of equal
rights, which America proclaimed during
the revolution.
When he left his prison, and, by his
genius and daring heroism, became, sue
cessively, deputy, finance minister, and
finally governor of Hungary, at time
when nearly every day was marked by
some memorable event among the many
patriots developed by the time and cir
cumstances, Kossuth lowered peerless and
alone.
Even after Hungary had succumoed to
a fate, brought about by tyranny and
treachery, he still had hopes for his un-
happy country, and first in England and
then in America, made those soul stir
ring appeals, which even yet, with the
occasion past, the cause almost forgotten,
| cannot be read without thrill of
sympathy for the heroic patriotism of the
man who ever forgot self In hiscountry.
1t is necessary to look over the litera-
ture of those days to fully realize the
wild enthusiasm which greeted Kossuth
in America; the guns that thundered a
welcome over the water, the flags that
huttered everywhere, the huZzas that rent
the air; poets sang his praises, and the
most eloquent orators were none too elo-
quent to welcome the greatest orator of
all, whose earnest pathetic appeals for the
cause OF liberty thrilled hearts as Ghey
were never thrilled before, "with the elo-
Quence Of Demosthenes, and the sublime
tervor of Isaias," and that, too, in a Ian
guage not his own; what wonder that
his speeches to his countrymen, should
have reused them to deeds of courage
and unequalled herOism, and nerved them
TO do or die.
1t seems like a voice from the past, to
hear, now, OF Kpseuth, an old man, though
We can but fancy him, as we think of
J his burning zeal, ever in his prime. How
|
Oh, rished hopes broken, his fondest
dreams, but dreams. 1t is hard TO say,
that this great soul could settle down in
hopeless misanthrophy, it is impossible
to believe; he had an anchor for the oul
Doth sure and steadfast-his religious
hopes; there no doubt assailed him, no
fears harrassed.
In one of his most fervjd speeches he
exclaimed, with what now seems the voice
of prophesy, as if foreshadowing his fu-
ture! go, could | cast one single glance
into the book of futurity? No, God for
give me this impious wish. 1t is He who
hid the future from man, and what He
does, is we'll done. It were not good for
man to know his destiny, the energy of
his sense of duty would falter Or subside,
if we were assured of the failure or sue
cess of our aims. 1t is because we do not
know the future that we retain our energy
of duty. So will go on my work, with
the full energy Of my humble abilities,
without despair, but hope I have some
what of eastern fatalsm in my DISPOSE
ton. but it is the fs taiism of Christian,
who trusts with unwavering faith in the
bouudless goodness of a Divine Provi-
dence." Again he says II have always
acknowledged and will ever acknowledge
my unspeakable confidence in a God as
} the richest source of consolation, and the
most solemn of all my hopes for the fu-
ture; all our misfOrtune5 are only the
means to come to that end which God,
in his Divine Providence, has marked for
u.s."
So let US hope that in the long years
his consultations have Outweighed his
griefs and even after discontinue and
defeat, like vessel dismantled by many
a storm, he may safely make the haven of
his hopes, secure that his fame is ever
lasting; among orators and patriots he
stands unequaled, and, while men cherish
the names of Leonidas, Koscloska and
Washington, Kossuth will never be for
COTTON.
We can fancy, though years have inter
vened, this brave soldier meeting his last
enemy with the heroic courage expressed
in his own farewell words of years ago:
Il will wipe the tear of sorrow from m 2
eye, and go to the Lords last supper,
and then to battle and TO death; there is
no help for US but in the trust TO God
and our own good swords. [ will leave
you with the old Roman moribundi salut
ant-the dying bid you farewell"