When the Hapsburg government, aided by a massive Russian army, defeated the Hungarians in the 1848-49 War of Liberation, Governor Lajos Kossuth fled to the Ottoman Empire. There he received asylum, but, at the insistence of the two imperial powers, was interned at Kutahia in Asia Minor.

None of the revolutionary movements of 1848 excited so much interest in the United States as that of Hungary. The press gave extensive coverage to the struggle and public reaction was overwhelmingly sympathetic. Mass meetings, to express support for the Hungarian revolutionists, were held in New York and other cities. In Hungary's fight for freedom, Americans saw a defense of their own principles. The movement to establish an independent Hungarian state was compared with America's own revolution. Kossuth was likened to George Washington.

On February 17, 1851, Henry S. Foote moved in the Senate a joint resolution empowering the President to send a ship to Turkey, in order to convey Kossuth and his companions to America. This was adopted on February 26, concurred by the House on March 3, and approved by President Millard Fillmore.

In accordance with the Presidential directive, Captain John C. Long of the U.S. Navy's steam frigate Mississippi received on board from a Turkish vessel, at the Dardanelles, Kossuth and some fifty other exiles on September 10, 1851.

Americans expected Kossuth to settle in the United States. Kossuth, however, did not want a safe retirement. He hoped to secure the assistance of the United States and Great Britain in his endeavor to restore Hungarian independence.

Captain Long's instructions were to carry Kossuth and his companions directly to the United States. However, Kossuth insisted on breaking the voyage in order to pay a visit to England. Naturally this created some friction between Kossuth and the captain. After much wrangling, Kossuth left the Mississippi at Gibraltar, where he boarded a steamer bound for Britain, arriving there on October 23.

Kossuth stayed barely a month in England, but during this short period he captivated public opinion. People turned out to greet him as they had turned out for no other foreigner. Millions heard him. Millions more followed his progress and relished the lengthy verbatim reports published of his speeches. He spoke English with a wonderful fluency and effect, even though his style was purely literary and full of archaisms borrowed from Shakespeare. "I did not imagine," wrote Walter Savage Landor, the radical author, for whom Kossuth was the ideal of all that was heroic, "that any Englishman, now living, could exert such a force of eloquence."
 

Kossuth spoke to eager multitudes at Southampton, Winchester, London, Manchester and Birmingham. On each occasion he pleaded the cause of Hungary. Invitations kept pouring in from Wales, Scotland and Ireland, requesting his presence. Their acceptance, however, would have kept him in Great Britain for months. Anxious to continue his voyage to the United States, he declined these invitations and left on November 20.

Commenting on Kossuth's oratorical skills, an editorial in the Athenaeum shortly after his departure rendered the following judgment: "We have heard M. Kossuth, and we have carefully read the reports of his speeches. . . . All is with him clear, sequent, logical. . . . What seems more particularly Kossuthian - that is, personal - in his eloquence is, its moral undertone. . . . Perhaps next to his excellent English, the thing which is most curious . . . is, the extraordinary genius which he has for saying the right thing in the right place."

The Humboldt bearing Kossuth and his entourage dropped anchor in New York harbor in the early hours of December 5. His arrival caused great excitement throughout the whole country. "He is here," said Horace Greeley, the renowned editor of the New York Tribune, "to arouse us to a consciousness of our national position and the responsibilities it involves."

Kossuth spent three weeks in New York City, receiving scores of delegations, attending banquets in his honor, and making stirring speeches. From New York he went to Washington, D.C., and then toured most of the United States east of the Mississippi River. During his seven months stay he delivered over five hundred addresses. The central theme of these speeches was that Russia's intervention in the affairs of Hungary was an infraction of the laws of nations, that if repeated it would not be regarded with indifference by the people of the United States, and that the people ought to urge the government to act accordingly.

Americans, like Englishmen, were surprised and delighted by Kossuth's amazing command of the English language and his intimate knowledge of American history and institutions. Not since the Marquis de Lafayette's sentimental journey in 1824-1825 Americans acclaimed more warmly a European visitor and expressed such enthusiasm for the cause he represented. The dazzling eloquence of his speeches, and the graceful manner in which delivered them, held them spellbound.

Kossuth's magical oratory and superb command of the English language are so well documented that it is startling to see the following comment concerning one of his appearances in St. Louis by Charles Van Ravenswaay, director of the Missouri Historical Society from 1946 to 1962, in an article he contributed to the July 1967 issue of the Society's Bulletin: "Wyman's hall was packed to capacity at $5 a ticket to hear him speak, though his accent was so heavy that few understood his eloquence."

In light of this erroneous statement, it is worthwhile to cite the opinion of several individuals who actually heard Kossuth speak.

Frederick W. Seward, son of Senator William H. Seward, at that time a correspondent with  the Albany Journal, remarked: "He is singularly fluent, with hardly a trace of accent, though occasionally a quaint idiom or phrase reminds the hearer of his foreign birth, or his Shakespearian studies."

Moncure D. Conway, clergyman, radical thinker and prolific author, who had ample opportunity to observe Kossuth in the nation's capital, said: "He spoke English well, and his accent added to his eloquence by reminding us of his country, for which he was pleading. I followed him about Washington, to the Capitol, the White House, and the State Department, listening with rapt heart to his speeches, and weeping for Hungary."

Former President John Tyler wrote to the Rev. William Tyler on January 12, 1852: "You ask my opinion of him. I scarcely know how to express it in terms sufficiently strong. He is not only the first of orators, but in my opinion the greatest, because he is one of the purest of men."

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a leading literary presence and an indefatigable activist at the forefront of numerous social movements, declared: "No such series of speeches was ever delivered in so short a space by one man, since the world began; and when you add the fact of the foreign language, it becomes so astonishing that you cannot remember how astonishing it is. There seems absolutely no limit to the resources of his eloquence, his mastery over language, or the power of meeting the occasion; his career from the moment he landed has been one long intellectual triumph."

Catharine M. Sedgwick, the most popular female writer in the United States in the 1850s, wrote to her niece Mrs. K. S. Minot on May 2, 1852: "I long to know if you heard Kossuth. I trust so. No such orator has been, or in all human probability will be heard again. And, as for his cause, it is the rock of eternal justice."

Summing up Kossuth's American visit, George Ticknor, the noted biographer and cousin of publisher William D. Ticknor, wrote to British geologist Sir Charles Lyell: "He is a brilliant orator and rhetorician; showing marvelous power in different languages not his own, almost as if he had the gift of tongues; and acting sometimes on the masses as if he were magnetizing them."

Even those who did not subscribe to Kossuth's political idealogy and the objectives of his mission were dazzled by his eloquence. Speaking to the Dialexian Society of New York Central College on June 22, 1852, William G. Allen, one of three African-American professors employed at the school, who was very critical of Kossuth's neutral stance on the issue of slavery, nevertheless acknowledged: "Judging him from the speeches which I have read, and those which I have heard, I should regard him, . . . superior to any orator who has ever spoken, whether of ancient or modern date."

During this occasion Professor Allen also delved into the origins and characteristics of the Hungarians, saying: "The Hungarians, . . . are descendants of a very feeble race of Northern Asiatics. They were driven about a thousand years ago, by the Turkish invasion, into Hungary, and finding that . . . to be an exceedingly fertile spot, they changed entirely their former mode of life. . . . in Europe they adopted a settled manner of life. The result of this was a continual going upward in intellectual and moral improvement. . . . In the sixth century they became intermingled with the Persians on the shores of the Baltic; and in the ninth century with the Hunns. It is, doubtless, owing to this mixture, and their favorable climate, that the Magyars are not only the finest looking, but are also among the most intellectual of men."

While most Hungarians would dispute Professor Allen's chain of reasoning, few, if any, would disagree with his conclusions.

All of Kossuth's speeches were printed in the newspapers of the day and most of them have been collected in various books. A number of his addresses are held up as outstanding examples of oratory in human history. According to the World's Best Orations, "his speeches in America would have been sufficient to perpetuate his name as an orator had he made no others."

Therefore, it is difficult to say which are his most memorable and brilliant ones. However, his address at the Congressional Banquet in Washington, D.C. on January 7, 1852, his speech at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall on April 29, and his lecture at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City on June 21 are generally regarded as his greatest triumphs.

The sumptuous Congressional Banquet, held at the lavish National Hotel and attended by some three hundred leading politicians, was a great occasion for Kossuth and his cause. It was his only opportunity of making a public appeal directly to those who had the power of acting governmentally for the United States and on the great question which he had proposed.

Kossuth's speech was one of his finest oratorical efforts, and several allusions to American history and American statesmen called forth vigorous unrestrained bursts of enthusiasm.  All present were completely entranced by his singularly captivating eloquence. "The "Hungarian Whirlwind" certainly carried away everything," recorded the Reverend Charles Moore Butler, chaplain of the Senate, "and mingled all parties into confused mass of admirers, prostrate at M. Kossuth's feet."

Marian Campbell Gouverneur, the wife of Samuel L. Gouverneur, a grandson of ex-President James Monroe, concurred: "I vividly recall the impression produced upon his audience when, in his deeply melodious tones, he invoked the "Throne of Grace" and closed with the appealing words: "What is life without prayer?" I have never before or since observed an audience so completely under the sway of an orator, as it seemed to me that there was not a person in the room who at the moment would not have been willing to acquiesce in whatever demands or appeals he might present."

Few larger audiences ever gathered in Faneuil Hall - dubbed the "Cradle of Liberty" because of its association with the Boston Tea Party - than the multitude that awaited Kossuth on Thursday evening, April 29. Speaking in so distinct a voice that the first syllable he uttered was heard in the remotest corner of that vast hall, he held the attention of the assembly most perfectly till the last word. He pointed out that absolutism and democracy are enemies, and therefore "Republican America and all-overwhelming Russian absolutism cannot much longer subsist together on earth."

Among the many distinguished figures in the audience were Richard Henry Dana Jr., eminent lawyer, author of Two Years before the Mast, and a founder of the Free Soil Party, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, America's great poet of the 19th century.

"He spoke extremely well," Dana recorded in his journal. "His speeches are full of thought, his manner is dignified & quiet, yet earnest, his eye the center of attraction, & his voice clear, audible & flexible, without being very loud." Longfellow was enthralled: "Wonderful man! to speak so long and so well in a foreign tongue." After conversing with Kossuth at a party a few days later, Dana confided in his journal: "I like the man. He is thoughtful, earnest, solemn, & full of great purposes. His eye is wonderful, indicating both tenderness & intensity."

Kossuth's address at the massive Broadway Tabernacle marked his last major appearance in front of an American audience. Long before eight o'clock, the hour announced for the meeting, every seat was occupied. The aisles were lined with extra benches, but many were forced to stand during the whole evening. The topic of Kossuth's speech was The Future of Nations: In What Constitutes Its Security.

Referrring to this most remarkable lecture, the New York Evening Post, on the day after delivery, had the following: "His speech, about an hour and a half in length, was a noble specimen of his eloquence - deliberate, earnest, graceful, and various - now thrilling the hearer with its gentle pathos, and anon strirring them with its manly appeals to high and generous feelings like the sound of a trumpet. . . . Kossuth appears nowhere greater than in this discourse. His comprehensive politics, his beautiful sympathies, his power over language, his poetic imagination, his magnetic and melting earnestness of purpose, are blended with that depth of religious feeling which gives to his character as a patriot the sanctity and unction of the prophet."

"I read this morning the greater part of Kossuth's speech at the Tabernacle, New York," Horace Mann, the "Father of American Public Education," wrote to a friend. "Is it not his greatest speech?"

Although Kossuth did not realize his political aims, his fine presence, demeanor and, above all, oratorical prowess made a deep and lasting impression.

Recalling Kossuth's visit at the annual meeting of the Buffalo Historical Society, January 10, 1899, James O. Putnam, one of the principal founders of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, the University of Buffalo and the Buffalo Historical Society, said: ". . . with marvelous eloquence he repeated the woes and hopes of Hungary to large audiences in several cities. Buffalo was one of them, and the melody of his voice and the charm of his eloquence still linger with me like rich strains of music."
 

In his article entitled "Kossuth in New England," published in the July 1894 issue of The New England Magazine, former Massachusetts governor George S. Boutwell stated: "I class Kossuth among the small number of great men, whether he be classed among orators, philosophers, students of history and government, or as advocate of the largest range of individual freedom that is consistent with the good order of society."

George F. Hoar, a member of the State Legislature during Kossuth's tour of Massachusetts, wrote in his Autobiography, published in 1903: "He was a marvellous orator. He seemed to have mastered the whole vocabulary of English speech, and have a rare gift of choosing words that accurately expressed his meaning, and he used so to fashion his sentences that they were melodious and delightful to the ear. . . . his speeches were gems. They were beautiful in substance and in manner."

A multitude of theories have been advanced to explain Kossuth's enormous popular appeal in England and America. According to Justin McCarthy, a contemporary British author, Kossuth "had a strikingly handsome face and a stately presence. . . . He looked like a picture; all his attitudes and gestures seemed as if they were meant to be reproduced by a painter."

Writing to Mrs. Sarah Storrow shortly after Kossuth's arrival in New York City, Washington Irving, best remembered for Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, said: "I have heard and seen Kossuth both in public and private, and he is really a noble fellow, quite the beau ideal of a poetic hero. There seems to be no base alloy in his nature. All is elevated, generous, intellectual, and refined, and with his manly and daring spirit there is mingled a tenderness and sensibility of the gentlest kind. He is a kind of man that you would idolize."

Similar sentiments were voiced by other Americans who came into contact with Kossuth: George Bancroft, Henry Ward Beecher, Sarah Bolton, Charles Loring Brace, William Cullen Bryant, William Francis Channing, Charles A. Dana, Julia Ward Howe, Samuel Gridley Howe, James Russell Lowell, Frederick Law Olmsted, Theodore Parker, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Mary Traill Putnam, Ernestine L. Rose, Carl Schurz, William H. Seward, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Greenleaf Whittier, to name but a few.

Perhaps the most succint and finest tribute ever paid to Kossuth was penned by Congressman Galusha A. Grow: "Kossuth was worthy of all the honor that was heaped upon him. His handsome presence, the marblelike paleness of his complexion, . . . and the picturesqueness of his foreign dress, captivated the popular fancy; while, more than all, his wonderful eloquence and the fervor with which he pleaded his country's cause, left an influence upon the hearts of those who heard him that nothing could destroy."