Kossuth in England and America
Bust-length daguerreotype portrait of Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth was briefly head of state in Hungary after the initial success of the uprising against Habsburg rule in 1848. The revolution was defeated in the following year with the help of a Russian army of 200,000 men. Kossuth and his government had to flee Hungary.
Of the generals of the revolutionary Hungarian army who stayed in Hungary, 13 were hanged in the city of Arad for high treason by the order of the Austrian commander, General Haynau. Somewhat earlier when posted to Italy this officer’s brutality earned him the epithet, “the Hyena of Brescia”.
After his defeat, Kossuth was offered asylum in Turkey like his predecessor in the anti-Habsburg struggle Rakoczi a few centuries earlier. The Turks also proposed that he convert to the Muslim faith — an offer that he politely declined, but which many of his companions (among them Josef Bem, his most successful general) accepted.
The Austrians were unhappy that Kossuth got away. They sent an assassination squad to Turkey; it was captured as soon as it arrived. Then they tried other means. They sent Kossuth the pretty wife of Dembinski’s nephew (Dembinski was one of the military leaders of the insurrection), hoping that she would deliver him to Vienna. That attempt failed too. They also tried to persuade the Sultan to extradite the Hungarian refugees, but the Turks rejected the demand.
Kossuth was determined to leave the Sultan behind and seek support in England, a country that in the past often accepted exiled revolutionaries, and whose Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston was known to have sympathy for East European reform movements. Kossuth arrived by ship in Southampton in 1851. He had a tumultuous reception there and everywhere else. In Manchester he was received by half a million people. Palmerston even wanted to invite Kossuth to his home, but this was opposed by the Cabinet and earned the displeasure of Queen Victoria. Understandably she was not pleased to see her Foreign Secretary entertaining a staunch republican. She actually demanded Palmerston’s resignation but Lord John Russell, the Prime Minister, resisted.
Lajos Kossuth addresses the crowd from the balcony of Andrew’s coach factory.
It is worth mentioning that an international incident took place in London on an official visit of General Haynau. He was recognised by some draymen and beaten up. (“That’s for Arad”, they said.) The Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini made an effort a decade later to thank the draymen for their stand against tyranny. The Viennese authorities were indignant. They lodged a protest. Palmerston replied: “By visiting England Haynau had shown such a want of tact that the excitement of the working classes was quite understandable.”
Kossuth was the finest orator Hungary had ever known. So how did he fare in England? Eloquence cannot be easily translated from one language to another, but Kossuth managed very well indeed. During his year in prison for sedition he had learned English by reading the Bible and the plays of William Shakespeare in the original. Accordingly, his English speeches had an archaic tinge, but his audience loved it.
As for the efficacy of his eloquence: how much could he influence the prevailing political views? The answer is: “significantly”. He did it twice: first, on the Russian question. Whenever Kossuth had a chance, he would denounce both Russia and Austria as odious tyrannies. To a large extent public opinion was willing to accept the Crimean War because it was prepared by Kossuth’s oratory in every single county of Britain.
Secondly, a decade later in 1859 when another Bonaparte, Napoleon III, sat on the French throne, a new war started: France and Sardinia against Austria. For Kossuth, this was a war for the liberation of Italians from Austrian rule. For the Tory government of Lord Derby, the issue was the balance of power. They did not want France to grow any more powerful, so they were pro-Austrian.
In the next election that year the Tories suffered a resounding defeat. According to the English press at the time, Kossuth’s anti-Austrian speeches made a significant difference. Very politely, very slowly and with boundless enthusiasm, he enumerated the reasons why Austria should not possibly be supported by England. He succeeded against the odds. The incoming Whigs promptly decided that England would stay neutral. Aim achieved. The French-Sardinian Alliance was always likely to win — and did so.
Kossuth’s next step was across the Atlantic, to New York. He was received by the thunder of a hundred guns and by a crowd that even exceeded the half a million he had in Manchester. The story was the same. He went to state after state and repeated again and again his yearning for democracy and his moral outrage against all kinds of despotism. Daniel Webster, the American Secretary of State at the time, became his strong supporter. The US could not go as far as to declare war on Austria, as Kossuth would have liked, but showered him with cash that he immediately spent on weapons.
“When Kossuth Rode up Broadway” (New York on 6 December 1851)
How could Kossuth accomplish all that? I shall give below an appreciation of Kossuth’s oratory by Butler, who was actually one of his opponents: “The Statesmen and crowds of two continents listened to his eloquence with open mouths and moist eyes. And yet he does not resort to any flowers of rhetoric to attract the attention of his auditors. He does not exploit any class prejudices for his own ends; he does not promise the poor any Utopias, nor does he attack the rich. He is always simple, earnest and considerate. He stands there calmly with the supreme dignity of true greatness and utters nothing but the truth. And yet he carries away his audience and fires even the indifferent.”
Kossuth’s last chance for an armed uprising in Hungary came around 1865-1866, as the conflict between Prussia and Austria turned into a hot war. Kossuth’s Hungarian Legion was ready to move. Bismarck was not interested. After his victory at Königgrätz, the Prussian Minister President quickly concluded a generous peace with Austria and that ended Kossuth’s last hopes. The historic compromise between Austria and Hungary was signed in December 1867. A dual monarchy was created to enable the Habsburgs to rule Austria-Hungary.
Kossuth’s funeral procession in Budapest in 1894
Kossuth lived for another quarter century in exile in Turin, a disappointed man. He died on the 20th March 1894 aged 91. His body was brought to Budapest ten days later. His funeral brought crowds to Budapest in a number never seen before, perhaps a million mourners. Tens of thousands simply walked to Budapest. All the Austrian government could do was to forbid army officers from participating in the funeral procession. Today, the main square in Budapest, in front of the Hungarian Parliament, is named after Kossuth.
The Museum of Ethnography mirrored in large reflecting pool on Kossuth Square, Budapest, Hungary.
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