Kossuth

Hungarians generally were much gratified when U.S. President Coolidge accepted a bronze statue of Louis Kossuth and another of George Washington.

The statues, three feet high, are the work of the Hungarian sculptor Julius de Bezeredy of Budapest. That of George Washington is a replica of the statue which stands in the Varosliget in Budapest.

The presentation was made in the White House by a delegation of American citizens of Hungarian descent, headed by one Eugene Pivany of Manhattan. Said Mr.Pivany: " These two statues are offered in symbolization of the aims and ideals for which these two great heroes of all mankind--in different ages and different climes, but the same unselfish devotion--had fought, and as tokens of gratitude for the warm support which the people and Government of the United States had given to Hungary's great patriot."

President Coolidge in his reply expressed his pleasure at receiving the gifts and said: " While Washington is a father of Liberalism in America, Kossuth is a father of Liberalism in Europe."

In 1802 was born Lajos (Louis) Kossuth; it was the same year in which the great Napoleon Buonaparte was made Consul for life, that thin edge of the wedge that was to secure for him the designation "Emperor of the French" and much legendary glory. It was the epoch immediately preceding that in which the spectre of the die-hard Austrian Chancellor, Prince Metternich, was to stalk eerily throughout Europe, scattering all but good, honest supporters of the Holy Alliance.

Kossuth, a Protestant, was educated at the Calvinist college of Sarospatlak and at the Budapest University. Aged 19, he became steward to the Countess Sapary, a position which he subsequently lost owing to a quarrel with that good lady, who vindictively charged him with stealing money to pay his gambling debts. Soon after this he became the representative of Count Hungardy at the National Diet in Pressburg (dissolved in 1836).

This was the time when the great reformer Count Szechenyi (forebear of the present Hungarian Minister to the U. S.) was instilling into Hungarian politics a pronounced liberal spirit --and liberalism in those days was regarded as Bolshevism is today.

It was not, however, until 1848-- that year of European revolutions--that Kossuth achieved the summit of his popularity. In this year Europe was like a ship without a pilot. In the offing were the sombre clouds of revolution, the waves of discontent dashed themselves against the hull, flinging the spray of revolt high into the air, while a whining wind shrieked its final warning. And the crew were 'down below gambling for the destinies of men!

Finally, the first clap of Revolution roared its deafening crash and the firebrand of Liberty lit the sky with its message to mankind. In Paris, the Orleans Monarchy was overthrown and Revolution spread all over Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and the Italian principalities. Kossuth boarded the derelict ship, took the helm and became the leader of the European Revolution. It was Kossuth who sent the once omnipotent Metternich scurrying ignominiously to England and it was Kossuth's speeches that were read by eager revolutionaries everywhere; it was Kossuth who established Hungary as an independent State, connected to Austria only through the Emperor; it was again Kossuth who caused the Emperor Ferdinand to abdicate in favor of "our beloved Archduke Franz Josef."

But this great triumph was not long to last. In the following year, Prince Windischgraetz ended the Hungarian revolt and Hungarian liberty became once more a myth. Kossuth fled to Turkey after declaring that " The House of Habsburg, perjured in the sight of God and man, had forfeited the Hungarian throne." Although he was enthusiastically welcomed at Marseilles, in England, and boisterously in America (when he addressed the Congress),-- all his utterances became tinged with charlatanism and as a great man he became extinct. He did not cease to work for Hungary, however, and until his death at Turin in 1894, he remained a champion of her liberty and the bitterest foe of the Habsburg House. Today, in Hungary, he is still venerated as the " purest patriot and greatest orator," while the world honors him as a great apostle of freedom.

*Two other foreigners have addressed the IT. S. Concrete: Lafayette, Count Albert Ap-poayi.