Calvin Synod Herald, 1987 (87. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
1987 / 1. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD — 5 — REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA Remembering Louis Kossuth At Cleveland’s University Circle stands the unpretentious statue of Louis Kossuth, Hungarian patriot. It was a gift to the city in 1902 by Clevelanders of Hungarian descent, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Kossuth’s visit to Cleveland. The importance attached to the statue of Louis Kossuth by Clevelanders at the turn of the century was well merited. There are few public monuments in Cleveland so intimately connected with the city’s cultural past. Even today, it plays an important part in the life of the large Cleveland Hungarian colony. On Hungarian "Independence Day,” usually celebrated on the Sunday nearest to the Ides of March, thousands of Cleveland Hungarians gather around it to rededicate themselves to the democratic principles propagated by Louis Kossuth, principles which are identical withthe spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. The New England settlers of Cleveland 135 years ago were deeply impressed by those same principles when Kossuth was the honored guest of their city. Kossuth has a romantic career. He was born in 1802 at Monok, Zemplén County. His father was a minor official on the large estate of Baron Andrassy. Baptized a Lutheran, Kossuth became acquainted early with the Bible and learned to respect the dignity of the individual. He studied law at Sárospatak where he showed remarkable mental powers by memorizing the whole system of Corpus Juris Hungarici. As a result of his published reports on the proceedings of the Hungarian Diet of 1832-36, he was apprehended by the Austrian government and sentenced to four years imprisonment in 1837. He spent three years in prison where he studied English from the Bible, Shakespeare and Johnson’s Dictionary. On popular insistence he was released in 1840 and became editor of the first Hungarian daily, the Pesti Hírlap. The Budapest Revolt of March 15,1848, of which he was one of the leaders, led to the declaration of Hungarian independence. In the newly formed Hungarian government, he became minister of finance; and when Emperor Ferdinand V repudiated the new government, he was elected governor of Hungary. He headed the short-lived Hungarian Republic until it was evident that the national army could not stand against the overwhelming Russian forces sent by the Czar to save the Austrian Empire. In August 1849 Kossuth fled to Turkey, where he was interned at Kutayia as a political prisoner. At this point America took interest in Kossuth. Strong Kossuth sentiment throughout the states culminated in a resolution passed by both houses of Congress to the effect that Kossuth be invited to the United States as the "guest of the nation.” At the news of the unexpected American interest in the fate of the Hungarian revolutionary leader and his followers, Kossuth’s popularity in Europe grew to new heights. The unprecedented public enthusiasm in England, the news of demonstrations in Italy, France, Portugal, Belgium and Sweden convinced him of the unbelievable: he was the leader of European republicanism. Kossuth came to America to convince the nation of the necessity for the United States and England to stand united on a policy of political freedom in Europe. He made one mistake. He did not foresee that America first had to solve the slavery problem before it could venture abroad. It was the ever growing slavery issue which defeated Kossuth’s real purpose in America. The Abolitionists became his bitter enemy and remained hostile to the very end. They called his aloofness from the slavery question craven and time serving conduct. But Ohio and the Middle West received Kossuth well. Kossuth understood the romantic thought in American nationalism, and at his magic oratory America became once more vividly conscious of its national unity and international destiny before the outbreak of the "irrepressible conflict.” To countless thousands of Americans, Kossuth was not a man with new ideas, but rather the man who convinced America of the possibility of a democratic order of life on the continent of Europe. Kossuth spoke not as a stranger, but as a brother from the other side of the Atlantic pointing with prophetic vision toward the glorious destiny of a nation. "By being faithful to your past,” he once said, "you can have the glory of becoming the first nation on earth, you will conquer the world to your principles.” The spirit of Kossuth was many immigrants’ first guide to American democracy. Under the banner of his principles they rallied to throw in their influence on the side of liberal movements in Hungary, with telling results. It was Harry A. Garfield, son of the President, who summarized the sentiments of America about Kossuth: "He stood for what Washington stood for; for what the whole American people stood for, and he struck a responsive chord in the American people.” Clevelanders and many Americans accepted the scholarly judgment of Charles F. Thwing, late president of Western Reserve University, who said, "Among the great ones of the earth we .place him.” AML/EAS On March 15 thousands of Hungarian Americans will honor the memory of Louis Kossuth, a leader of the revolt whose beliefs embraced the spirit of America’s Founding Fathers. William Penn l»fe
