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THE

PRESBYTERIAN MAGAZINE.

FEBRUARY, 1852.

Miscellaneous Articles.

KOSSUTH AND HIS MISSION.

"THE world is governed by ideas." This is a truth which all history confirms. The authors of these ideas are often secluded philosophers, of whom the world takes little notice. Unconscious of the power they are to wield in moulding the destiny of men, these thinkers elaborate and enunciate thoughts, which sooner or later work their way into the public mind, and become the controlling principles of public action. A simple proposition as to the nature of virtue, has done more to mould the character of an age, than all the measures of government combined. There had been no American revolution were it not for the aphorism, "Taxation without representation is tyranny."

It pleases God from time to time to raise up particular men, whose mission is either to originate some vital truth, or to give it a secure lodgment in the public mind. The latter, as we conceive, is the MISSION OF KOSSUTH. The idea that it is the right of every nation. to order its own affairs, and that the infraction of that right, on the part of any foreign power, justifies and calls for the intervention of any or all other competent powers to prevent or rectify such infraction, is not new. It did not originate with Kossuth. It has been announced, if not with the same precision, yet distinctly, by our own and other governments, and has been made the ground of important political measures. But a crisis has arrived which invests that principle with a new and unlimited importance; and a man has appeared in whom it is a religion; whose intellect comprehends its immense results; whose soul is fired with zeal for its general recognition, and for its application to the case of his own country, dearer to him than wife, children, or life; and who has the gifts necessary to exhibit and enforce it with surpassing power.

VOL. II.-No. 2.

7

(49)

There are three things which combine to promise success to the mission of this extraordinary man. The first is his own character and history; the second the excited state of the public mind in Europe and America; and the third is the simplicity, the self-evidencing truth, and power of the principle itself.

I. As to the first of these topics, our readers know all we know. Kossuth was a Hungarian lawyer and editor; and became the leading advocate, through the press, and as a member of the Hungarian parliament, of the reform of abuses and of the rights of the people. For his liberal opinions, and the open avowal of them, he was cast into prison by the Austrian government. After his release he resumed his labours in the cause of liberty; secured the passage through both houses of the Hungarian Diet of a law emancipating the serfs, and abolishing the burdensome rights of the nobles. To this law the Austrian government at first refused its assent, but on the outbreak of the revolution of 1848, solemnly sanctioned this great reform, and pledged itself to the restoration and observance of the Hungarian constitution. When these pledges were broken and Austria endeavoured to re-establish her despotic sway, the Hungarians declared their independence, and elected Kossuth their Governor. Under his guidance armies were created, the resources of war collected and organized, and the Austrians everywhere defeated and driven from the country. Russia now threw her sword, and, it is said, her gold into the scale. Georgy, the most successful of the Hungarian leaders, surrendered, and Kossuth and a few followers escaped into Turkey. The Sultan, sustained by England and France, refused to give him up on the demand of Austria and Russia, and after a detention of two years, consented to his coming to America in one of our national vessels, sent by the authority of Congress for that purpose. He appears among us therefore invested with the interest of an exiled hero and confessor.

To the sympathy and admiration due to him for his sufferings and his services, is to be added the interest which attaches to his personal character. He is, in the first place, a professing Christian. He avows himself not only by birth but from conviction a member of the Lutheran church; he openly professes his faith in the Scriptures, and in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. This element of Kossuth's power is second to none other in importance. God often uses wicked men as his instruments in punishing his enemies; but it is rare indeed that he employs them as his organs for announcing truth or for establishing good. The fact that the liberal movement in Europe, especially in France and Germany, has to so great an extent been allied with infidelity and atheism, has forfeited for it the confidence and co-operation of Christians. They know it is vain to expect to gather grapes of thorns; they know that any movement which springs from such a source or is controlled by wicked men, must come to evil. They have been taught by history that the most remorseless of all tyrants are infidel and atheistic liberals. They wisely prefer

the despotism of Austria and Russia to that of Marat and Danton. It is not enough, therefore, that Kossuth's cause is just, or that his principles are true. It is essential that the conduct of the great movement which he represents should be in the hands of good men; in no other condition can it secure confidence. The Protestants are more persecuted in France under the Republic than they were under the Restoration; and there is less religious liberty in the radical cantons of Switzerland than in any part of the Austrian dominions. The world has never yet seen such tyranny as must result from the ascendency of atheistic socialism, and it may be that this is the besom of destruction with which God is about to sweep the face of Europe. For this very reason, we hail Kossuth as a bow of promise-as a gleam of light from heaven on the dark face of the coming storm. He is the first public man who has attained a commanding influence in the present struggle for liberty, who openly avows himself a Christian, who professes to make the Bible his guide, and recognizes Jesus Christ as his rightful sovereign. God bless him, and make him faithful to this good confession! He will then have the hearts and hands of God's people, (the real power-bearers of the world) enlisted in his favour, which will do more to insure success than thousands of bayonets or millions of money.

A second element of Kossuth's power is to be found in his extraordinary abilities. His rising, at an early age, from the obscure ranks of the people to become the acknowledged master-spirit of his country, beloved, trusted and admired beyond all others; invested in the hour of danger with dictatorial power, venerated in defeat as much as when triumphant, puts his superiority of talent and character beyond all question. The wisdom and moderation of the measures which he proposed when in opposition, and which he carried out when in power; the amazing energy evinced in the organization of armies, in the collection of military stores, in the management of the financial resources of the country, speak volumes for his ability. It is doubtful whether even Napoleon during the Hundred days, when his soul pervaded all France, evinced greater executive power than Kossuth during the year of his dictatorship. The conviction of his superiority, derived from his past history, is strengthened by what has occurred since his visit to England and this country. The series of speeches which he has delivered in such rapid succession, since his liberation, when all the circumstances are considered, are without a parallel. They are characterised by such moderation, simplicity, and truthfulness; they so abound with profound thoughts, far reachingprinciples, and elevated sentiments; they are so various and so peculiarly adapted each to its own occasion; they evince so much knowledge, so much logical discrimination, so much imagination and feeling; they are delivered with such forgetfulness of himself, with such devotion to his cause, and such propriety of tone and impressiveness of manner, that the world may be challenged to produce anything to compare to them. The effect which they produce is religious. They raise the hearer out of himself, elevate him above

the world of sense into that of truth; they expand his mind with lofty principles, and enlarge his heart with generous sentiments. He feels himself a better man and more in communion with all that is good, more in fellowship with his fellow men, under their magic power. If such effects are produced by Kossuth while speaking in a foreign tongue, it is easy to credit the accounts which represent him as the first of living orators, when, free from trammels, he speaks in his native language to his own people.

To all this is to be added the attractiveness of his disposition and personal appearance. He is a man to be loved as much as admired. He wins his way to all hearts. His mild, melancholy countenance, when eradiated with a smile, or glowing with emotion, melts into sympathy all beholders, and prepares them to receive the impress of his thoughts. There is much, therefore, in the history and character of the man himself to give success to his great mission.

The

II. The second ground on which this success may be anticipated, is the interest now universally felt in the cause of Hungary and of Europe in general. Ten years ago Kossuth would have found the public mind unprepared for his appeals and arguments. Now all men desire that truth and expediency may be on the side in which their sympathies are enlisted. This interest is a rational one. cause of Hungary is just. She claimed nothing more than her rights. Her constitutional privileges have been systematically encroached upon by force and fraud; her resistance to oppression has been overcome by the intervention of foreign power; her patriots have been ignominiously executed; her women publicly whipped, and military despotism has taken the place of constitutional liberty.

Apart, however, from a sympathy which men must feel in their fellow-men, and freemen in the cause of freedom, there is special importance due to this struggle of the Hungarians for liberty. By their geographical position, their numbers, their social and political organization, their bold and fearless character, they are fitted to be the bulwark of western Europe. In times past they stemmed the flood of the Saracen invasion. In the present posture of affairs their vocation is no less important. Two of the great dangers of Europe are the despotism of Russia and the despotism of Rome. The one political, the other both political and religious. It is easy to see that if Hungary be reduced to the condition of Poland, and Austria remains as she now is, the protégé of Russia, there is nothing can resist the encroachments of the northern barbarians. Napoleon, shortly before his death, said, "In fifty years Europe will be either republican or Cossack." To all appearances the scales are trembling to the decision of this momentous question. At present the Cossack is ascendant-liberty has everywhere been overthrown-in France, in Italy, in Germany, in Hungary. There is less liberty of thought or action, there is more of oppression, injustice and cruelty, in all these countries, than at any period for the last half century. Is this state of things to continue and become permanent? The answer

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