The Eighth Tribe, 1975 (2. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1975-04-01 / 4. szám
April, 1975 THE EIGHTH TRIBE Page Eleven First page of an article about Louis Kossuth from Harper’s New Monthly Magazine” Vol. 4, No. 19, Dec. 1851. 40 HARPER’S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. KOSSUTH. AS GOVERNOR OF HUNGARY. IN 1849. LOUIS KOSSUTH * was bom at Monok, in Zemplin, one of (he northern counties of Hungary, on the 27th of April, 1806. His family was ancient, but impoverished ; his father served in the Austrian army during the wars against Napoleon; his mother, who still survives to exult in the gloiy of her son, is represented to be a woman of extraordinary force of mind and character. Kossuth thus adds another to the long list of great men who seem to have inherited their genius from their mothers. As a boy ho was remarkable for the winning gentleness of his disposition, and for an earnest enthusiasm, * Pronounced ss though written Kos-shoot, with the accent on the last syllable. The Magyar equivalent Tor the French Louis and the German Ludwig is Lajos. We have given the date of his birth, which seems best authenticated. The notice of the Austrian police, quoted below, makes him to have been bora in 18<M; still another account gives 1801 as the year of his birth. The portrait which we furnish is from a picture taken a little more than two years since in Hungary, for Measrs. Goupil, the well-known picture-dealers of Paris and New York, and is undoubtedly an authentic likeness of him at that time. The following is a pen-and-ink portrait of Kossuth, drawn by those capital artists, the Police authorities of Vienna “ Louis Kossuth, an ex-advocate, journalist, Minister of Finance, President of the Committee of Defense, Governor of the Hungarian Republic, born in Hungary, Catholic [this is an error, Kossuth is of the Lutheran which gave promise of future eminence, could he but break the bonds imposed by low birth and iron fortune. A young clergyman was attracted by the character of the boy, and voluntarily took upon himself the office of his tutor, and thus first opened before his mind visions of a broader world than that of the miserable village of his residence But these serene days of powers expanding under genial guidance soon passed away. His father died, his tutor was translated to another post, and the walls of his prison-house seemed again to close upon the boy. But by the aid of members of his family, themselves in humble circumfhith], married. He is of middle height, strong, thin; the face oval, complexion pale, the forehead high and open, hair chestnut, eyes blue, eyebrows dark and very thick, mouth very small and well-formed, teeth One, chin round. He wears a mustache and imperial, and his curled hair does not entirely cover the upper part of the head. He has a white and delicate hand, the fingers long. He speaks German, Hungarian, Latin, Slovack, a little French and Italian. His bearing when calm, is solemn, full of a certain dignity; his movements elegant, his voice agreeable, softly penetrating, and very distinct, even when he speaks low. He produces, in general, the effect of an enthusiast; his looks often fixed on the heavens ; and the expression of his eyes, which are fine, contributes to give him the air of a dreamer. His exterior does not announce the energy of his character.” Photography could hardly produce a picture more minutely accurate
