The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-05-16
WORK OF KOSSUTH
The Cause He Labored For Is Now
Substantially Achieved
Some Of the Striking Incidents OF tas
Hungarian Patriots TroubIous
Career-His Death In Vol.
uatary Exile.


! is now almost hazy past. Those
| among us whose hair is gray still re-
member the appearance on these
shores of the man who, to our imagina-
ton, was the hero Of a grand romance
And romantic hero, he was, indeed,
says Harper's Weekly, the most roman
| tic by far of all those made famous by
the revolutionary movements which
| shook the European continent in the
years of 1s4s and 1919. Nothing seemed
to Withstand his marvellous eloquence,
adorned with the luxuriance of almost
| oriental imagery and inspired by
high aims. But these aims were also
| essentially romantic. He sought to
| raise the Hungarians-a remnant.
comparatively small in numbers Of
Asiatic migration that had flooded
Europe in the dark ages-to the posi-
ton of an entirely independent power
"a conception the realization of which
could appear probable only at time
| when the Imagination OF men was
heated by the revolutionary upheavals
Of ls4S, which brought forth events so
unexpected and seemed to expunge the
word impossible" from the diction-
airy.
1t was not the conception of a calm
" calculating statesman. but rather
that of an ardent patriot who was at
the same time a poet. And Kossuth's
nature was essentially poetic.
ParadoXical as it may sound, his
cause would have been lost even if it
had won in the heroic struggle of 1s49.
Talleyrand is credited with the oracu-
lar saying that if the Australian en-
pire did not exist it would have to be
invented. Old cynic as he was he had
shrewd political ideas and frequently
told the truth. The Austrian empire
as conglomeration of different ma
tionalities which are not only not
friendly, but in a great measure hos
tile to one another, appears like mon
strous continuance. It seems almost
always on the point of flying to pieces
and dissolving itself into its constitu-
will convince, any thinking man that
the nstionaities living under the Aus
trian crown in tho great valley of the
Danube and.its tributaries have enough
interests in common to make their
union under one general government
desirable, if not necessary.
After bloody vengeance taken for the
insurrection, and an attempt at severe
ly centralized rule, the Austrian gov
eminent found it wise to restore to
Hungary such measure of indepen-
dent administration as would beft
member Of q confederacy, and a COM
panion of Kossuth in the revolutionary
war, Count Andrassy, was for many
years the leading minister of the Aus
trian empire.
Had Kossuth succeeded in making
Hungary an Independent nation as he
conceived it, It would, in spite of the
brightness, generosity and heroism Of
the Magyar race, have been a weak lit
tie state, torn by internal race conflicts,
insignificant In the councils of nations.
and con stantly threatened by it's neigh
bors. The independent Hungary he
rejected is substantially self-govern-
ing and most influential part of one Of
the great powers Of the world. But
his stubborn consistency fitted the ro-
nance of his life.
1t has not infrequently happened in
the history of the world that the
champions Of great objects died as dis
appointed men, because those objects,
although accomplished in substance,
were not accomplished in the manner
the original champions had ,designed.
Mazzini had lived for the unifcation
of Italy, and he died in gloom and de-
spondency because Italy was united
under a king of the house of Savoy.
The German revolutionists of 1S4s
fought for united Germany, and they
lived to see Germany united under the
same men against whom they had
fought in 1913. And now Kossuth has
died in voluntary exile, refusing to
recognize his independent Hungary
because its Independent government
recognized Hapsburg as its king.
Still, he is and deserves to be, revered
above all others as the hero of his ma
ton.