The Eighth Tribe, 1979 (6. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1979-03-01 / 3. szám

March, 1979

THE EIGHTH TRIBE

Page 5

Kossuth delivers his July 11 address

an absentee member of the Parliament. Nobody pays any attention to the young attorney from Zemplén as he takes his seat in a remote part of the great hall. Fifteen years later the same Kossuth, no longer a nameless country lawyer, but a member of the cabinet of the independent Hungary, a great leader, ascends the rostrum of the Diet, his lips uttering the memorable words; Gentlemen: the country is in danger!” He is asking for an army of 200,000 men, and the members of the Diet, all party distinctions forgotten, rise as a man as they answer his impassionate plea; “We grant it.”

Who was this Kossuth?

The son of a country lawyer, born in 1802 (Monok, Zemplén). His father, László, was about 40, his mother (Karolina Meszlényi) about 18. His father died in 1836 while Kossuth was in prison, his mother died on the way to England in Belgium, 1852. He had four sisters, two died in America, one (Lujza, married Joseph Ruttkay) as a widow stayed with Louis in exile and outlived him by eight years. Louis Kossuth lived 92 years. Educated in Sátoraljaújhely, then Sárospatak, graduated at age 17 as a student of law, his final diploma obtained at age 21 in Pest, then returned to his county, Zemplén.

In 1832 he was commissioned as a representative of an absentee member (Baron Vécscy-Gischer).

It was a poorly-paid job and he was regarded only as an observer, having no right to vote. BUT KOSSUTH WAS DESTINED TO BE HEARD. He began to publish the Diet Bulletin, the first of such ventures. It contained not only the dry records of the proceedings, but editorial comments. Soon Kossuth’s name was gaining country-wide recognition. Many of the Bulletins were confiscated by the government; he worked out a private delivery system. In 1833 he wanted to publish his political views, but his manuscript disappeared in Germany. After four years of work at the Diet, he began to publish the Municipal Bulletin, reporting on the political activities in the counties.

On May 5, 1836, he was arrested during the night, tried for 22 months, and thrown into prison. It was in prison that he learned English with the help of his Bible and Shakespeare. He read numerous books on many different fields, acquiring immense knowledge. In 1840 he was freed from prison on popular demand. He was asked to edit the “Pesti Hírlap” (Pest Herald), more of a political review than a newspaper at that time, 1841. At the end of 1843 he refused to sign a new contract because of censorship. He could not find a paper for sale or to edit, could not even establish his own, but he did not give up. “If nine roads will be blocked before me / shall find the tenth that is open ’ — said Kossuth. He did. HE BEGAN TO