Lajos Kossuth

Lajos (Louis) Kossuth (September 19, 1802 - March 20, 1894), was a Hungarian lawyer, politician, and for a time was regent.

Exile and Death

Kossuth's career was at an end. A solitary fugitive, he crossed the Turkish frontier. He was hospitably received by the Turkish authorities, who, supported by the British, refused, notwithstanding the threats of the allied emperors, to surrender him and other fugitives to Austria. In January 1849 he was removed from Vidin, where he had been kept under house arrest, to Shumla, and thence to Katahia in Asia Minor. Here he was joined by his children, who had been confined at Pozsony/Pressburg (Bratislava); his wife (a price had been set on her head) had joined him earlier, having escaped in disguise.

Related Topics:
Turkish - British - Vidin - Shumla - Katahia - Asia Minor

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In September 1851 he was allowed to leave Turkey on an American man-of-war. He first landed at Marseille, where he received an enthusiastic welcome from the people, but the Prince-President Louis Napoleon refused to allow him to cross France. On October 23 he landed at Southampton and spent three weeks in England, where he was generally feted. Addresses were presented to him at Southampton, Birmingham and other towns; he was officially entertained by the Lord Mayor of London; at each place he spoke eloquently in English for the Hungarian cause. The agitation had no immediate effect, but the indignation which he aroused against Russian policy had much to do with the strong anti-Russian feeling which made the Crimean War possible.

Related Topics:
1851 - Marseille - Louis Napoleon - October 23 - Southampton - Lord Mayor of London - Russia - Crimean War

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From England he went to the United States of America: there his reception was equally enthusiastic, if less dignified. Gradually, his autocratic style and uncompromising outlook destroyed any real influence among the expatriate community. Other Hungarian exiles protested against his appearing to claim to be the only national hero of the revolution. Count Casimir Batthyány attacked him in The Times, and Szemere, who had been prime minister under him, published a bitter criticism of his acts and character, accusing him of arrogance, cowardice and duplicity. He soon returned to England, where he lived for eight years in close connection with Mazzini, by whom, with some misgiving, he was persuaded to join the Revolutionary Committee. Quarrels of a kind only too common among exiles followed. Hungarians were especially offended by his continuing use of the title of Regent. He watched with anxiety every opportunity of once more freeing his country from Austria. An attempt to organize a Hungarian legion during the Crimean War was stopped; but in 1859 he entered into negotiations with Napoleon III, left England for Italy, and began the organization of a Hungarian legion, which was to make a descent on the coast of Dalmatia. The Peace of Villafranca made this impossible.

Related Topics:
United States of America - Napoleon III - Dalmatia - Peace of Villafranca

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From then on, Kossuth remained in Italy. He refused to follow the other Hungarian patriots, who, under the lead of Deák, negotiated the 1867 Compromise (Ausgleich), and the ensuing amnesty. It is doubted whether Emperor Franz Joseph would have allowed the amnesty to extend to Kossuth. Publicly, Kossuth remained unreconciled to the house of Habsburg, and committed to a fully independent state. Though elected to the Diet of 1867, he never took his seat. He continued to remain a widely popular figure, but did not allow his name to be associated with dissent or any political cause. A law of 1879, which deprived of citizenship all Hungarians who had voluntarily been absent ten years, was a bitter blow to him. He displayed no interest in benefitting from a further amnesty in 1880.

Related Topics:
Italy - Deák - 1867 - Ausgleich - 1880

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In 1890, a delegation of hungarian pilgrims in Turin recorded a short patriotic speech delivered by the elderly Lajos Kossuth. The original recording on two wax cylinders for the Edison phonograph survives to this day, although barely audible due to excess playback and unsuccessful early restoration attempts. Lajos Kossuth is the earliest born person in the world who has his voice preserved.

Related Topics:
Pilgrim - Turin - Wax - Edison - Phonograph

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He died in Turin on the 20th of March 1894; his body was taken to Budapest, where he was buried amid the mourning of the whole nation, Mór Jókai delivering the funeral oration. A bronze statue was erected, by public subscription, in the Kerepesi Cemetery. Many regard Kossuth as Hungary's purest patriot and greatest orator.

Related Topics:
Turin - Mór Jókai - Kerepesi Cemetery

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Many points in Kossuth's career and character will probably always remain the subject of controversy. His complete works were published in Hungarian at Budapest in 1880-1895. The fullest account of the Revolution is given in Helfert, Geschichte Oesterreichs (Leipzig, 1869, &c.), representing the Austrian view, which may be compared with that of C Gracza, History of the Hungarian War of Independence, 1848-1849 (in Hungarian) (Budapest, 1894). See also E. O. S., Hungary and its Revolutions, with a Memoir of Louis Kossuth (Bohn, 1854); Horvath, 25 Jahre aus der Geschichte Ungarns, 1823-1848 (Leipzig, 1867) H Maurice, Revolutions of 1848-1849. Stiles, Austria in 1848-1849 (New York, 1852); Szemere, Politische Charakterskizzen: III. Kossuth (Hamburg, 1853); Louis Kossuth, Memoirs of my Exile (London, 1880); Ferenc Pulszky, Meine Zeit, mein Leben (Pressburg, 1880); A Somogyi, Ludwig Kossuth (Berlin, 1894).

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Today the square with the Hungarian Parliament Building is named after him.

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