William Penn Life, 2014 (49. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2014-03-01 / 3. szám
Branching Out with Endre Csornán KOSSUTH: Hungarian hero from Jan. 22 through 31,1852. Kossuth stayed at the St. Charles Hotel, a part of the present-day campus of Point Park University. Each day, Kossuth was the guest of honor of different groups. Kossuth expressed his famous thoughts on the essence of democracy in his speech to the Ohio General Assembly in Columbus on Feb. 7,1852. It was even quoted 11 years later by none other than Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address: "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government [should be] of the people, by the people, for the people, [and] shall not perish from the earth." Kossuth was given a royal reception everywhere he went but could not get the official support of any foreign country. His hopes dashed and already forsaken by many of his friends and supporters, he refused to return to the land that he loved. He gave back his soul to his creator on March 26,1894. Ever since, March 15 has been observed by the Magyars as the Magyars' Liberty Day, a time for reflection, wherever they may reside. Kossuth remains a hero to the Magyar nation. □ Engraving of Kossuth by unknown artist and published in Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, Germany, 1859. Image © Can Stock Photo IncYGeorgiosArt THIS YEAR MARKS the 166th anniversary of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution for Independence from the Austrian Monarchy. On March 15,1848, the Magyar nation, under the leadership of Lajos Kossuth, took up arms in defense of national independence and human liberties. On this date, a large public demonstration took place in Pest, where Sándor Petőfi, the great lyric poet, recited Nemzeti Dal ("National Song" ) for a large crowd of 10,000 people in front of the National Museum. A magyarok istenére Esküszünk, Esküszünk, hogy rabok tovább Nem leszünk! (By the God of the Magyars We solemnly swear That the yoke of slavery We shall no longer bear!) A new Hungarian parliament was formed soon after, led by Lajos Batthyány as prime minister and Lajos Kossuth as minister of finance. Hungary was transformed into a modern state, and feudalism was eliminated almost immediately. But the success of the Magyars' re-organization and struggle for freedom was cut short by the Russian Czar. The Russian invasion against Hungary began May 4,1849, when the Czar sent division after division of his military to invade Hungary and reclaim it for the Austrian monarchy. On August 12,1849, Kossuth transferred the civil authority to General Artúr Görgey. The next day, Görgey ordered his army to lay down its arms before the Russian general, General Rüdiger, and surrender at the town of Világos. The war ended with this surrender, and on Aug. 18, Lajos Kossuth, along with some 5,000 followers, crossed the frontier at Orsova onto Turkish soil where he was arrested and imprisoned. The United States, acting with Great Britain, requested Kossuth's release from the Sultan of Turkey, and so Kossuth was released. He sailed to the U.S. in the fall of 1851 and made a large-scale tour with public speeches and appearances. One local connection that Pittsburghers have with Kossuth is that he actually visited the city
