400 



KOSSUTH, LOUIS. . 



independence. This envoy had audience of the 

 Japanese Emperor at Hiroshima, Oct. 18. On 

 Nov. 20 the Mikado's ambassador, Count Inouye, 

 who succeeded Mr. Hoshi Toru at Seoul, had an 

 audience of the King, who promised to assist him 

 and the Korean Reforms Committee in perfect- 

 ing and carrying out the new national Constitu- 

 tion. This instrument, which reflects the actual 

 reforms which in Japan since 1868 have made 

 Dai Nippon a new nation, was formally promul- 

 gated Jan. 8. 1895, when the King in the temple 

 of his ancestors, with imposing ceremonies, sol- 

 emnly adjured vassalage and dependence upon 

 China, and declared the independence of Korea. 

 Thus disappears from history the chief anomaly 

 in diplomacy. The last commercial treaty made 

 by Korea with a European country was with 

 Austria- Hungaiy. the treaty being signed at 

 Tokio, June 23, 1892, and the ratifications ex- 

 changed at Seoul, Oct. 8, 1893. 



KOSSUTH, LOUIS, Hungarian patriot, born 

 in Monok, Hungary, April 27, 1802 ; died in 

 Turin, Italy, March 20, 1894. His father was a 

 nobleman and a small landed proprietor. Louis, 

 the only son, was educated at the Protestant 

 College of Sarospatak. He began the study of 



Copyright, 1894, by J. Reich. By permission of the Artist. 



LOUIS KOSSUTH. 



law in 1819, attending the district court of Epe- 

 ries and the royal court at Pesth, and in 1822 

 he was appointed honorary attorney to the coun- 

 ty of Zemplin, and settled in Monok. In 1831 

 he removed to Pesth, and in 1832 attended the 

 sittings of the Hungarian Parliament. As rep- 

 resentative there of a magnate, he was entitled 

 to speak, but could not vote He wrote reports 

 of the proceedings of the Parliament, which were 

 so eagerly read in manuscript that he set up a 

 lithographic press in order to furnish printed 

 copies. The Austrian Government made objec- 

 tion to the printing and circulation of these re- 

 ports, and ordered Kossuth to discontinue the 



work of furnishing them. This he did so far as 

 the printed matter was concerned, but he con- 

 tinued to disseminate his manuscripts as widely 

 as he was able. After the close of the session of 

 Parliament in 1836 certain young men, accused 

 of plotting conspiracy against the Government, 

 were arrested and thrown into prison. Kossuth 

 charged the prosecutors with unjust and illegal 

 proceeding, and for his temerity was himself 

 compelled to share their fate. He was tried, 

 found guilty, and imprisoned at Buda in 1837. 

 Here for three years he was kept in solitary con- 

 finement and refused all books or writing ma- 

 terials. When the Parliament again met, in 

 1840, the members demanded his release. They 

 proclaimed that his confinement was unjust, and 

 that they would grant no supplies until he was 

 set free, which was accordingly done. 



On the first day of 1841 appeared a paper en- 

 titled the " Pesth-Hirlap " ("Pesth Journal"), 

 edited by him. It was published at first 4 times 

 a week, but it soon became a daily newspaper, 

 and its circulation was very large,' at one time 

 amounting to 10,000. Soon after he began his 

 career as editor Kossuth married Teresa Mesz- 

 lenyi. 



The Austrian Government became alarmed at 

 the effect the powerful new journal was having, 

 and in the Parliament of 1844 they succeeded in 

 replacing the Liberal ministry by one in sym- 

 pathy with the empire. In 1847 Kossuth was 

 elected to represent the county of Pesth in the 

 Parliament. Count Louis Batthyany, the leader 

 of the Liberals, was powerful, and on March 3, 

 1848, he succeeded in getting the Parliament to 

 adopt a proposition made by Kossuth to send a 

 deputation to the Emperor of Austria (who was 

 also King of Hungary) to ask him to give them 

 a new ministry which should be Hungarian, and 

 which should favor constitutional reforms. Kos- 

 suth was sent in charge of the deputation, and 

 when he entered Vienna he found that Prince 

 Metternich had fled, and the excited people were 

 about to overwhelm him with the enthusiasm of 

 their reception. On March 17 the Emperor re- 

 ceived the delegation, and in reply to their re- 

 quest he issued a decree that a new ministry be 

 formed, of which Count Batthyany should be 

 President and Kossuth Minister of Finance. 

 When this had been accomplished, he still fur- 

 ther yielded to their demand for the restora- 

 tion o*f some of their constitutional rights. Ho 

 also abolished the feudal services demanded 

 of the peasantry and taxes extorted from the 

 nobles. 



But their enemy was really on their flank. 

 The grants of the King included Servia and 

 Croatia, and, for a time, all three nationalities 

 rejoiced together ; yet as time went on Austrian 

 sympathizers among the two weaker peoples be- 

 gan to murmur that the Hungarians only meant 

 their subjugation to themselves, and they averred 

 that the Austrian dominion was preferable. In 

 their contention the archbishop was one of the 

 leaders. These little countries, whose people 

 had just been raised to the rank of freemen, 

 first used their liberty to assail the people 

 through whose courage and persistence it had 

 come. They made an attack upon Hungary, as 

 the result of organized insurrectionary effort, in 

 June, 1848. Austria secretly furnished them 



