The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-03-23
An ORATOR RATHER THAN 4
sTATEsMAy.

STATESMAN.
The late Louis Kossuth was very great
orator. He was not only great orator
before m audience of Hungarians, but he
vas esteemed great orator In both Eng
land and America He was great orator.
splendid agitator, like Mazxsni or Wen
dell Phillips. He had the mind Of .
critic married to that Of poet. and such
men make splendid agisators. but he WAS
not statesman in the sense that Crom-
well. Mirabeau. Washington. Bismarck,
Cavour or Lincoln were statesmen. for he
was an idealiss, and therefore an imprac-
ficabie. who did not understand that
practical ssatesmanship always means
compromise
Ia fs49 when Russia crushed ont Hun
gary's struggle for home rule and kossuth
became fugitive, he was about - years
Old Here his career may be said To have
ended; he went to England and America
which so charmed Rufus Choate that no
himself subsequently made an eloquent
plea for intervention in behalf OF Hungary
and Italy. After his return from America.
in is52, Kossuth may be said to have
ceased to be significant figure in the
Kossuth remained IN comparative OBJ
security. and Hungary owes her enjoy
ment Of home rule today, for which she
spent her blood like water in 1850. not
70 kossuth. but to the wisdom and states
manship of Dcak, one of kossuth's old
fellow revoiutionists. and the sagacity of
the great Austrian statesman, Won Beust,
who persuaded the emperor of Austria,
after his great defeat by Prussia ct Sa-
dosa in 1866 10 concede to Hungary the
national parliament she demanded in is4s.
Deak aud Won Beust accomplished this in
1867. and the grateful Hungarians elected
the emperor and empress Of Austria king
and queen Of Hungary and established
the succession IN the house OF Hapsburg.
Hungary enjoys home rule. with a parlia-
ment at Buda.Pesth, while the imperial
parliament 10 held At Vienna. Within
twenty years after is&s the emperor of
Austria surrendered voluntarily to Hun
gary all that she dem anded under Kos
suth. In the twenty years which elapsed
between isis and the grant of home rule
to Hungary in Is6s Kossuth did nothing
for Hungary; he would not cooperate
with Deak. his old comrade; he was moth
ing when he was not obstructive and con-
temptuous in his treatment Of all efforts
To secure his cooperation with Deak's
statesmanlike purpose to take a half loaf
when you cannot get q whole one.
kossuth was q man Of genius, like
Mazzini, CASTELAR, and Wendell Phillips.
but he was a born agita.or, not con-
structive or recognizing statesman, so
that while he lived forty-fve years after
his expulsion from his native land in isl9,
his career may be said to have ended
when most great men are in their prime.
His work. or rather, his opportunity, Was
gone, never TO return. and he lived the
remainder OF his days after 1870 the life of
an exile; he was a predetermined agitator,
like Maxzini: he did great work; he
finished it early and 1t took statesmen,
like Deak and Won Beust, to begin where
npssutH tHueu anu VIII by domestic
craftsmanship what kossuth failed to
secure by resort to arms,
II Is true that Hungary in is49 was
crushed by the interference of Russia. but
nevertheless In kiniller times Kossuth
always failed 10 understand that the vic
tories Of peaceful statesmanship are A.
glorious IS those of war. Had he been .
Csvour he would never have spent forty
five years in exile from his native land
from motives that are not crcdi,able to his
good sense or his patriotism. When he
came TO this country his trucking TO the
slaveoerats drew upon him the eloquent
indignation of Wendell Phillips. Kos
suth, like the eloquent Irish exiles of isis,
had no sympathy for liberty except for
Hungary. Indeed. his eIoquence was not
unlike that Of the Irish orator Meagher
Who once lameutsd that 1.-The sword OF
Poland had been sheathed in the shroua
OF kosciusko." An sgitator. an orator. n
poet was kossuth. but not statesman.
Hungary owes her home rule today To
neak and Won beust not 10 kossuth