Chapter 16

See A. Morrison,The Painters of Japan(1902); S. Tajima,Masterpieces selected from the Kōrin School(1903); S. Hōitsu,The 100 Designs by Kōrin(1815) andMore Designs by Kōrin(1826).

(E. F. S.)

KORKUS,an aboriginal tribe of India, dwelling on the Satpura hills in the Central Provinces. They are of interest as being the westernmost representatives of the Munda family of speech. They are rapidly becoming hinduized, as may be gathered from the figures of the census of 1901, which show 140,000 Korkus by race, but only 88,000 speakers of the Korku language.

KÖRMÖCZBÁNYA(German,Kremnitz), an old mining town, in the county of Bars, in Hungary, 158 m. N. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900), 4299. It is situated in a deep valley in the Hungarian Ore Mountains region. Among its principal buildings are the castle, several Roman Catholic (from the 13th and 14th centuries) and Lutheran churches, a Franciscan monastery (founded 1634), the town-hall, and the mint where the celebrated Kremnitz gold ducats were formerly struck. The bulk of the inhabitants find employment in connexion with the gold and silver mines. By means of a tunnel 9 m. in length, constructed in 1851-1852, the water is drained off from the mines into the river Gran. According to tradition, Körmöczbánya was founded in the 8th century by Saxons. The place is mentioned in documents in 1317, and became a royal free town in 1328, being therefore one of the oldest free towns in Hungary.

KÖRNER, KARL THEODOR(1791-1813), German poet and patriot, often called the German “Tyrtaeus,” was born at Dresden on the 23rd of September 1791. His father, Christian Gottfried Körner (1756-1831), a distinguished Saxon jurist, was Schiller’s most intimate friend. He was educated at the Kreuzschule in Dresden and entered at the age of seventeen the mining academy at Freiburg in Saxony, where he remained two years. Here he occupied himself less with science than with verse, a collection of which appeared under the titleKnospenin 1810. In this year he went to the university of Leipzig, in order to study law; but he became involved in a serious conflict with the police and was obliged to continue his studies in Berlin. In August 1811 Körner went to Vienna, where he devoted himself entirely to literary pursuits; he became engaged to the actress Antonie Adamberger, and, after the success of several plays produced in 1812, he was appointed poet to the Hofburgtheater. When the German nation rose against the French yoke, in 1813, Körner gave up all his prospects at Vienna and joined Lützow’s famous corps of volunteers at Breslau. On his march to Leipzig he passed through Dresden, where he issued his spiritedAufruf an die Sachsen, in which he called upon his countrymen to rise against their oppressors. He became lieutenant towards the end of April, and took part in a skirmish at Kitzen near Leipzig on the 7th of June, when he was severely wounded. After being nursed by friends at Leipzig and Carlsbad, he rejoined his corps and fell in an engagement outside a wood near Gadebusch in Mecklenburg on the 26th of August 1813. He was buried by his comrades under an oak close to the village of Wöbbelin, where there is a monument to him.

The abiding interest in Körner is patriotic and political rather than literary. His fame as a poet rests upon his patriotic lyrics, which were published by his father under the titleLeier und Schwertin 1814. These songs, which fired the poet’s comrades to deeds of heroism in 1813, bear eloquent testimony to the intensity of the national feeling against Napoleon, but judged as literature they contain more bombast than poetry. Among the best known are “Lützow’s wilde verwegene Jagd,” “Gebet während der Schlacht” (set to music by Weber) and “Das Schwertlied.” This last was written immediately before his death, and the last stanza added on the fatal morning. As a dramatist Körner was remarkably prolific, but his comedies hardly touch the level of Kotzebue’s and his tragedies, of which the best isZriny(1814), are rhetorical imitations of Schiller’s.

His works have passed through many editions. Among the more recent are:Sämtliche Werke(Stuttgart, 1890), edited by Adolf Stern; by H. Zimmer (2 vols., Leipzig, 1893) and by E. Goetze (Berlin, 1900). The most valuable contributions to our knowledge of the poet have been furnished by E. Peschel, the founder and director of the Körner Museum in Dresden, inTheodor Körners Tagebuch und Kriegslieder, aus dem Jahre 1813(Freiburg, 1893) and, in conjunction with E. Wildenow,Theodor Körner und die Seinen(Leipzig, 1898).

KORNEUBURG,a town of Austria, in Lower Austria, 9 m. N.W. of Vienna by rail. Pop. (1900), 8298. It is situated on the left bank of the Danube, opposite Klosterneuburg. It is a steamship station and an important emporium of the salt and corn trade. The industry comprises the manufacture of coarse textiles, pasteboard, &c. Its charter as a town dates from 1298, and it was a much frequented market in the preceding century. At the beginning of the 15th century it was surrounded by walls, and in 1450 a fortress was erected. It was frequently involved in the conflict between the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus and the emperor Frederick William III., and also during the Thirty Years’ War.

KOROCHA,a town of central Russia, in the government of Kursk, 75 m. S.S.E. of the city of Kursk, on the Korocha river. Pop. (1897), 14,405. Its inhabitants live by gardening, exporting large quantities of dried cherries, by making candles and leather, and by trade; the merchants purchase cattle, grain and salt in the south and send them to Moscow. Founded in 1638, Korocha was formerly a small fort intended to check the Tatar invasions.

KORSÖR,a seaport of Denmark, in theamt(county) of the island of Zealand, 69 m. by rail W.S.W. of Copenhagen, on the east shore of the Great Belt. Pop. (1901), 6054. The harbour, which is formed by a bay of the Baltic, has a depth throughout of 20 ft. It is the point of departure and arrival of the steam ferry to Nyborg on Fünen, lying on the Hamburg, Schleswig, Fredericia and Copenhagen route. There is also regular communication by water with Kiel. The chief exports are fish, cereals, bacon; imports, petroleum and coal. A market town since the 14th century, Korsör has ruins of an old fortified castle, on the south side of the channel, dating from the 14th and 17th centuries.

KORTCHA(Slavonic,GoritzaorKoritza), a city of Albania, European Turkey, in the vilayet of Iannina, in a wide plain watered by the Devol and Dunavitza rivers, and surrounded by mountains on every side except the north, where Lake Malik constitutes the boundary. Pop. (1905), about 10,000, including Greeks, Albanians and Slavs. Kortcha is the see of an Orthodox Greek metropolitan, whose large cathedral is richly decorated in the interior with paintings and statues. The Kortcha school for girls, conducted by American missionaries, is the only educational establishment in which the Turkish government permits the use of Albanian as the language of instruction. The local trade is chiefly agricultural.

KORYAKS,a Mongoloid people of north-eastern Siberia, inhabiting the coast-lands of the Bering Sea to the south of the Anadyr basin and the country to the immediate north of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the southernmost limit of their range being Tigilsk. They are akin to the Chukchis, whom they closely resemble in physique and in manner of life. Thus they are divided into the settled fishing tribes and the nomad reindeer breeders and hunters. The former are described as being more morally and physically degraded even than the Chukchis, and hopelessly poor. The Koryaks of the interior, on the other hand, still own enormous reindeer herds, to which they are so attached that they refuse to part with an animal to a stranger at any price. They are in disposition brave, intelligent and self-reliant, and recognize no master. They have ever tenaciously resisted Russian aggression, and in their fights with the Cossacks have proved themselves recklessly brave. When outnumbered they would kill their women and children, set fire to their homes, and die fighting. Families usually gather in groups of sixes or sevens, forming miniature states, in which the nominal chief has no predominating authority, but all are equal. The Koryaks are polygamous, earning their wives by working for their fathers-in-law. The women and children are treated well, and Koryak courtesy and hospitality are proverbial. The chief wedding ceremony is a forcible abduction of the bride. They kill the aged and infirm, in the belief that thus to save them from protracted sufferings is the highest proof of affection. The victims choose their mode of death, and young Koryaks practise the art of giving the fatal blow quickly and mercifully. Infanticide was formerly common, and one of twins was always sacrificed. They burn their dead. The prevailing religion is Shamanism; sacrifices are made to evil spirits, the heads of the victims being placed on stones facing east.

See G. Kennan,Tent Life in Siberia(1871); “Über die Koriaken u. ihnen nähe verwandten Tchouktchen,” inBul. Acad. Sc. St. Petersburg, xii. 99.

KOSCIUSCO,the highest mountain in Australia, in the range of the Australian Alps, towards the south-eastern extremity of New South Wales. Its height is 7328 ft. An adjacent peak to the south, Mueller’s Peak, long considered the highest in the continent, is 7268 ft. high. A meteorological station was established on Kosciusco in 1897.

KOSCIUSZKO, TADEUSZ ANDRZEJ BONAWENTURA(1746-1817), Polish soldier and statesman, the son of Ludwik Kosciuszko, sword-bearer of the palatinate of Brzesc, and Tekla Ratomska, was born in the village of Mereczowszczyno. After being educated at home he entered the corps of cadets at Warsaw, where his unusual ability and energy attracted the notice of Prince Adam Casimir Czartoryski, by whose influence in 1769 he was sent abroad at the expense of the state to complete his military education. In Germany, Italy and France he studied diligently, completing his course at Brest, where he learnt fortification and naval tactics, returning to Poland in 1774 with the rank of captain of artillery. While engaged in teaching the daughters of the Grand Hetman, Sosnowski of Sosnowica, drawing and mathematics, he fell in love with the youngest of them, Ludwika, and not venturing to hope for the consent of her father, the lovers resolved to fly and be married privately. Before they could accomplish their design, however, the wooer was attacked by Sosnowski’s retainers, but defended himself valiantly till, covered with wounds, he was ejected from the house. This was in 1776. Equally unfortunate was Kosciuszko’s wooing of Tekla Zurowska in 1791, the father of the lady in this case also refusing his consent.

In the interval between these amorous episodes Kosciuszko won his spurs in the New World. In 1776 he entered the army of the United States as a volunteer, and brilliantly distinguished himself, especially during the operations about New York and at Yorktown. Washington promoted Kosciuszko to the rank of a colonel of artillery and made him his adjutant. His humanity and charm of manner made him moreover one the most popular of the American officers. In 1783 Kosciuszko was rewarded for his services and his devotion to the cause of American independence with the thanks of Congress, the privilege of American citizenship, a considerable annual pension with landed estates, and the rank of brigadier-general, which he retained in the Polish service.

In the war following upon the proclamation of the constitution of the 3rd of May 1791 and the formation of the reactionary Confederation of Targowica (seePoland:History), Kosciuszko took a leading part. As the commander of a division under Prince Joseph Poniatowski he distinguished himself at the battle of Zielence in 1792, and at Dubienka (July 18) with 4000 men and 10 guns defended the line of the Bug for five days against the Russians with 18,000 men and 60 guns, subsequently retiring upon Warsaw unmolested. When the king acceded to the Targowicians, Kosciuszko with many other Polish generals threw up his commission and retired to Leipzig, which speedily became the centre of the Polish emigration. In January 1793, provided with letters of introduction from the French agent Perandier, Kosciuszko went on a political mission to Paris to induce the revolutionary government to espouse the cause of Poland. In return for assistance he promised to make the future government of Poland as close a copy of the French government as possible; but the Jacobins, already intent on detaching Prussia from the anti-French coalition, had no serious intention of fighting Poland’s battles. The fact that Kosciuszko’s visit synchronized with the execution of Louis XVI. subsequently gave the enemies of Poland a plausible pretext for accusing her of Jacobinism, and thus prejudicing Europe against her. On his return to Leipzig Kosciuszko was invited by the Polish insurgents to take the command of the national armies, with dictatorial power. He hesitated at first, well aware that a rising in the circumstances was premature. “I will have nothing to do with Cossack raiding,” he replied; “if war we have, it must be a regular war.” He also insisted that the war must be conducted on the model of the American War of Independence, and settled down in the neighbourhood of Cracow to await events. When, however, he heard that the insurrection had already broken out, and that the Russian armies were concentrating to crush it, Kosciuszko hesitated no longer, but hastened to Cracow, which he reached on the 23rd of March 1794. On the following day his arms were consecrated according to ancient custom at the church of the Capucins, by way of giving the insurrection a religious sanction incompatible with Jacobinism. The same day, amidst a vast concourse of people in the market-place, Kosciuszko took an oath of fidelity to the Polish nation; swore to wage war against the enemies of his country; but protested at the same time that he would fight only for the independence and territorial integrity of Poland.

The insurrection had from the first a purely popular character. We find none of the great historic names of Poland in the lists of the original confederates. For the most part the confederates of Kosciuszko were small squires, traders, peasants and men oflow degree generally. Yet the comparatively few gentlemen who joined the movement sacrificed everything to it. Thus, to take but a single instance, Karol Prozor sold the whole of his ancestral estates and thus contributed 1,000,000 thalers to the cause. From the 24th of March to the 1st of April Kosciuszko remained at Cracow organizing his forces. On the 3rd of April at Raclawice, with 4000 regulars, and 2000 peasants armed only with scythes and pikes, and next to no artillery, he defeated the Russians, who had 5000 veterans and 30 guns. This victory had an immense moral effect, and brought into the Polish camp crowds of waverers to what had at first seemed a desperate cause. For the next two months Kosciuszko remained on the defensive near Sandomir. He durst not risk another engagement with the only army which Poland so far possessed, and he had neither money, officers nor artillery. The country, harried incessantly during the last two years, was in a pitiable condition. There was nothing to feed the troops in the very provinces they occupied, and provisions had to be imported from Galicia. Money could only be obtained by such desperate expedients as the melting of the plate of the churches and monasteries, which was brought in to Kosciuszko’s camp at Pinczow and subsequently coined at Warsaw, minus the royal effigy, with the inscription: “Freedom, Integrity and Independence of the Republic, 1794.” Moreover, Poland was unprepared. Most of the regular troops were incorporated in the Russian army, from which it was very difficult to break away, and until these soldiers came in Kosciuszko had principally to depend on the valour of his scythemen. But in the month of April the whole situation improved. On the 17th of that month the 2000 Polish troops in Warsaw expelled the Russian garrison after days of street fighting, chiefly through the ability of General Mokronowski, and a provisional government was formed. Five days later Jakob Jasinski drove the Russians from Wilna.

By this time Kosciuszko’s forces had risen to 14,000, of whom 10,000 were regulars, and he was thus able to resume the offensive. He had carefully avoided doing anything to provoke Austria or Prussia. The former was described in his manifestoes as a potential friend; the latter he never alluded to as an enemy. “Remember,” he wrote, “that the only war we have upon our hands is war to the death against the Muscovite tyranny.” Nevertheless Austria remained suspicious and obstructive; and the Prussians, while professing neutrality, very speedily effected a junction with the Russian forces. This Kosciuszko, misled by the treacherous assurances of Frederick William’s ministers, never anticipated, when on the 4th of June he marched against General Denisov. He encountered the enemy on the 5th of June at Szczekociny, and then discovered that his 14,000 men had to do not merely with a Russian division but with the combined forces of Russia and Prussia, numbering 25,000 men. Nevertheless, the Poles acquitted themselves manfully, and at dusk retreated in perfect order upon Warsaw unpursued. Yet their losses had been terrible, and of the six Polish generals present three, whose loss proved to be irreparable, were slain, and two of the others were seriously wounded. A week later another Polish division was defeated at Kholm; Cracow was taken by the Prussians on the 22nd of June; and the mob at Warsaw broke upon the gaols and murdered the political prisoners in cold blood. Kosciuszko summarily punished the ringleaders of the massacres and had 10,000 of the rank and file drafted into his camp, which measures had a quieting effect. But now dissensions broke out among the members of the Polish government, and it required all the tact of Kosciuszko to restore order amidst this chaos of suspicions and recriminations. At this very time too he had need of all his ability and resource to meet the external foes of Poland. On the 9th of July Warsaw was invested by Frederick William of Prussia with an army of 25,000 men and 179 guns, and the Russian general Fersen with 16,000 men and 74 guns, while a third force of 11,000 occupied the right bank of the Vistula. Kosciuszko for the defence of the city and its outlying fortifications could dispose of 35,000 men, of whom 10,000 were regulars. But the position, defended by 200 inferior guns, was a strong one, and the valour of the Poles and the engineering skill of Kosciuszko, who was now in his element, frustrated all the efforts of the enemy. Two unsuccessful assaults were made upon the Polish positions on the 26th of August and the 1st of September, and on the 6th the Prussians, alarmed by the progress of the Polish arms in Great Poland, where Jan Henryk Dabrowski captured the Prussian fortress of Bydogoszcz and compelled General Schwerin with his 20,000 men to retire upon Kalisz, raised the siege. Elsewhere, indeed, after a brief triumph the Poles were everywhere worsted, and Suvarov, after driving them before him out of Lithuania was advancing by forced marches upon Warsaw. Even now, however, the situation was not desperate, for the Polish forces were still numerically superior to the Russian. But the Polish generals proved unequal to carrying out the plans of the dictator; they allowed themselves to be beaten in detail, and could not prevent the junction of Suvarov and Fersen. Kosciuszko himself, relying on the support of Poninski’s division 4 m. away, attacked Fersen at Maciejowice on the 10th of October. But Poninski never appeared, and after a bloody encounter the Polish army of 7000 was almost annihilated by the 16,000 Russians; and Kosciuszko, seriously wounded and insensible, was made a prisoner on the field of battle. The long credited story that he cried “Finis Poloniae!” as he fell is a fiction.

Kosciuszko was conveyed to Russia, where he remained till the accession of Paul in 1796. On his return on the 19th of December 1796 he paid a second visit to America, and lived at Philadelphia till May 1798, when he went to Paris, where the First Consul earnestly invited his co-operation against the Allies. But he refused to draw his sword unless Napoleon undertook to give the restoration of Poland a leading place in his plans; and to this, as he no doubt foresaw, Bonaparte would not consent. Again and again he received offers of high commands in the French army, but he kept aloof from public life in his house at Berville, near Paris, where the emperor Alexander visited him in 1814. At the Congress of Vienna his importunities on behalf of Poland finally wearied Alexander, who preferred to follow the counsels of Czartoryski; and Kosciuszko retired to Solothurn, where he lived with his friend Zeltner. Shortly before his death, on the 2nd of April 1817, he emancipated his serfs, insisting only on the maintenance of schools on the liberated estates. His remains were carried to Cracow and buried in the cathedral; while the people, reviving an ancient custom, raised a huge mound to his memory near the city.

Kosciuszko was essentially a democrat, but a democrat of the school of Jefferson and Lafayette. He maintained that the republic could only be regenerated on the basis of absolute liberty and equality before the law; but in this respect he was far in advance of his age, and the aristocratic prejudices of his countrymen compelled him to resort to half measures. He wroteManœuvres of Horse Artillery(New York, 1808) and a description of the campaign of 1792 (in vol. xvi. of E. Raczynski’sSketch of the Poles and Poland(Posen, 1843).

See Jozef Zajaczek,History of the Revolution of1794 (Pol.) (Lemberg, 1881); Leonard Jakob Borejko Chodzko,Biographie du général Kosciuszko(Fontainebleau, 1837); Karol Falkenstein,Thaddäus Kosciuszko(2nd ed., Leipzig, 1834; French ed., Paris, 1839); Antoni Choloniewski,Tadeusz Kosciuszko(Pol.) (Lemberg, 1902); Franciszek Rychlicki,T. Kosciuszko and the Partition of Poland(Pol.) (Cracow, 1875).

(R. N. B.)

KÖSEN,a village and summer resort of Germany, in the Prussian province of Saxony, 33 m. by rail S. by W. of Halle, on the Saale. Pop. (1905), 2990. The town has a mineral spring, which is used for bathing, being efficacious for rheumatism and other complaints. Kösen, which became a town in 1869, has large mill-works; it has a trade in wood and wine. On the adjacent Rudelsburg, where there is a ruined castle, the German students have erected a monument to their comrades who fell in the Franco-German War of 1870-71. Hereon are also memorials to Bismarck and to the emperor William I. The town is famous as the central meeting-place of the German students’ corps, which hold an annual congress here every Whitsuntide.

See Techow,Führer durch Kösen und Umgegend(Kösen, 1889); and Rosenberg,Kösen(Naumburg, 1877).

KOSHER,orKasher(Hebrew clean, right, or fit), the Jewish term for any food or vessels for food made ritually fit for use, in contradistinction to thosepasul, unfit, andterefah, forbidden. Thus the vessels used at the Passover are “kosher,” as are also new metal vessels bought from a Gentile after they have been washed in a ritual bath. But the term is specially used of meat slaughtered in accordance with the law of Moses. Theschochator butcher must be a devout Jew and of high moral character, and be duly licensed by the chief rabbi. The slaughtering—the object of which is to insure the complete bleeding of the body, the Jews being forbidden to eat blood—is done by severing the windpipe with a long and razor-sharp knife by one continuous stroke backwards and forwards. No unnecessary force is permitted, and no stoppage must occur during the operation. The knife is then carefully examined, and if there be the slightest flaw in its blade the meat cannot be eaten, as the cut would not have been clean, the uneven blade causing a thrill to pass through the beast and thus driving the blood again through the arteries. After this every portion of the animal is thoroughly examined, for if there is any organic disease the devout Jew cannot taste the meat. In order to soften meat before it is salted, so as to allow the salt to extract the blood more freely, the meat is soaked in water for about half an hour. It is then covered with salt for about an hour and afterwards washed three times. Kosher meat is labelled with the name of the slaughterer and the date of killing.

KÖSLIN,orCöslin, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Pomerania, at the foot of the Gollenberg (450 ft.), 5 m. from the Baltic, and 105 m. N.E. of Stettin by rail. Pop. (1905), 21,474. The town has two Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, a gymnasium, a cadet academy and a deaf and dumb asylum. In the large market place is the statue of the Prussian king Frederick William I., erected in 1824, and there is a war memorial on the Friedrich Wilhelm Platz. The industries include the manufacture of soap, tobacco, machinery, paper, bricks and tiles, beer and other goods. Köslin was built about 1188 by the Saxons, and raised to the rank of a town in 1266. In 1532 it accepted the doctrines of the Reformation. It was severely tried in the Thirty Years’ War and in the Seven Years’ War, and in 1720 it was burned down. On the Gollenberg stands a monument to the memory of the Pomeranians who fell in the war of 1813-15.

KOSSOVO,or Kosovo, a vilayet of European Turkey, comprising the sanjak of Uskub in Macedonia, and the sanjaks of Prizren and Novibazar (q.v.) in northern Albania. Pop. (1905), about 1,100,000; area, 12,700 sq. m. For an account of the physical features of Kossovo, seeAlbaniaandMacedonia. The inhabitants are chiefly Albanians and Slavs, with smaller communities of Greeks, Turks, Vlachs and gipsies. A few good roads traverse the vilayet (seeUsküb), and the railway from Salonica northward bifurcates at Usküb, the capital, one branch going to Mitrovitza in Albania, the other to Nish in Servia. Despite the undoubted mineral wealth of the vilayet, the only mines working in 1907 were two chrome mines, at Orasha and Verbeshtitza. In the volume of its agricultural trade, however, Kossovo is unsurpassed by any Turkish province. The exports, worth about £950,000, include livestock, large quantities of grain and fruit, tobacco, vegetables, opium, hemp and skins. Rice is cultivated for local consumption, and sericulture is a growing industry, encouraged by the Administration of the Ottoman Debt. The yearly value of the imports is approximately £1,200,000; these include machinery and other manufactured goods, metals, groceries, chemical products and petroleum, which is used in the flour-mills and factories on account of the prohibitive price of coal. There is practically no trade with Adriatic ports; two-thirds of both exports and imports pass through Salonica, the remainder going by rail into Servia. The chief towns, Usküb (32,000), Prizren (30,000), Koprülü (22,000), Ishtib [Slav.Stip] (21,000), Novibazar (12,000) and Prishtina (11,000) are described in separate articles.

In the middle ages the vilayet formed part of the Servian Empire, its northern districts are still known to the Serbs as Old Servia (Stara Srbiya). The plain of Kossovo (Kossovopolje, “Field of Blackbirds”), a long valley lying west of Prishtina and watered by the Sibnitza, a tributary of the Servian Ibar, is famous in Balkan history and legend as the scene of the battle of Kossovo (1389), in which the power of Servia was destroyed by the Turks. (SeeServia:History.)

KOSSUTH, FERENCZ LAJOS AKOS(1841- ), Hungarian statesman, the son of Lajos Kossuth, was born on the 16th of November 1841, and educated at the Paris Polytechnic and the London University, where in 1859 he won a prize for political economy. After working as a civil engineer on the Dean Forest railway he went (1861) to Italy, where he resided for the next thirty-three years, taking a considerable part in the railway construction of the peninsula, and at the same time keeping alive the Hungarian independence question by a whole series of pamphlets and newspaper articles. At Cesena in 1876 he married Emily Hoggins. In 1885 he was decorated for his services by the Italian government. His last great engineering work was the construction of the steel bridges for the Nile. In 1894 he escorted his father’s remains to Hungary, and the following year resolved to settle in his native land and took the oath of allegiance. As early as 1867 he had been twice elected a member of the Hungarian diet, but on both occasions refused to accept the mandate. On the 10th of April 1895 he was returned for Tapolca and in 1896 for Cegléd, and from that time took an active part in Hungarian politics. In the autumn of 1898 he became the leader of the obstructionists or “Independence Party,” against the successive Szell, Khuen-Haderváry, Szápáry and Stephen Tisza administrations (1898-1904), exercising great influence not only in parliament but upon the public at large through his articles in theEgyetértés. The elections of 1905 having sent his party back with a large majority, he was received in audience by the king and helped to construct the Wekerle ministry, of which he was one of the most distinguished members.

See Sturm,The Almanack of the Hungarian Diet(1905-1910), art. “Kossuth” (Hung.) (Budapest, 1905).

KOSSUTH, LAJOS[Louis] (1802-1894), Hungarian patriot, was born at Monok, a small town in the county of Zemplin, on the 19th of September 1802. His father, who was descended from an old untitled noble family and possessed a small estate, was by profession an advocate. Louis, who was the eldest of four children, received from his mother a strict religious training. His education was completed at the Calvinist college of Sárospatak and at the university of Budapest. At the age of nineteen he returned home and began practice with his father. His talents and amiability soon won him great popularity, especially among the peasants. He was also appointed steward to the countess Szápáry, a widow with large estates, and as her representative had a seat in the county assembly. This position he lost owing to a quarrel with his patroness, and he was accused of appropriating money to pay a gambling debt. His fault cannot have been very serious, for he was shortly afterwards (he had in the meantime settled in Pesth) appointed by Count Hunyady to be his deputy at the National Diet in Pressburg (1825-1827, and again in 1832). It was a time when, under able leaders, a great national party was beginning the struggle for reform against the stagnant Austrian government. As deputy he had no vote, and he naturally took little share in the debates, but it was part of his duty to send written reports of the proceedings to his patron, since the government, with a well-grounded fear of all that might stir popular feeling, refused to allow any published reports. Kossuth’s letters were so excellent that they were circulated in MS. among the Liberal magnates, and soon developed into an organized parliamentary gazette (Orszagyulesi tudositasok), of which he was editor. At once his name and influence spread. In order to increase the circulation, he ventured on lithographing the letters. This brought them under the official censure, and was forbidden. He continued the paper in MS., and when the government refused to allow it to be circulated through the post sent it out by hand. In 1836 the Diet was dissolved. Kossuth continued the agitation by reporting in letter form the debates of the county assemblies, to which he thereby gave a politicalimportance which they had not had when each was ignorant of the proceedings of the others. The fact that he embellished with his own great literary ability the speeches of the Liberals and Reformers only added to the influence of his news-letters. The government in vain attempted to suppress the letters, and other means having failed, he was in May 1837, with Weszelenyi and several others, arrested on a charge of high treason. After spending a year in prison at Ofen, he was tried and condemned to four more years’ imprisonment. His confinement was strict and injured his health, but he was allowed the use of books. He greatly increased his political information, and also acquired, from the study of the Bible and Shakespeare, a wonderful knowledge of English. His arrest had caused great indignation. The Diet, which met in 1839, supported the agitation for the release of the prisoners, and refused to pass any government measures; Metternich long remained obdurate, but the danger of war in 1840 obliged him to give way. Immediately after his release Kossuth married Teresa Meszleny, a Catholic, who during his prison days had shown great interest in him. Henceforward she strongly urged him on in his political career; and it was the refusal of the Roman priests to bless their union that first prompted Kossuth to take up the defence of mixed marriages.

He had now become a popular leader. As soon as his health was restored he was appointed (January 1841) editor of thePesti Hirlap, the newly founded organ of the party. Strangely enough, the government did not refuse its consent. The success of the paper was unprecedented. The circulation soon reached what was then the immense figure of 7000. The attempts of the government to counteract his influence by founding a rival paper, theVilag, only increased his importance and added to the political excitement. The warning of the great reformer Szechenyi that by his appeal to the passions of the people he was leading the nation to revolution was neglected. Kossuth, indeed, was not content with advocating those reforms—the abolition of entail, the abolition of feudal burdens, taxation of the nobles—which were demanded by all the Liberals. By insisting on the superiority of the Magyars to the Slavonic inhabitants of Hungary, by his violent attacks on Austria (he already discussed the possibility of a breach with Austria), he raised the national pride to a dangerous pitch. At last, in 1844, the government succeeded in breaking his connexion with the paper. The proprietor, in obedience to orders from Vienna (this seems the most probable account), took advantage of a dispute about salary to dismiss him. He then applied for permission to start a paper of his own. In a personal interview Metternich offered to take him into the government service. The offer was refused, and for three years he was without a regular position. He continued the agitation with the object of attaining both the political and commercial independence of Hungary. He adopted the economic principles of List, and founded a society, the “Vedegylet,” the members of which were to consume none but home produce. He advocated the creation of a Hungarian port at Fiume. With the autumn of 1847 the great opportunity of his life came. Supported by the influence of Louis Batthyany, after a keenly fought struggle he was elected member for Budapest in the new Diet. “Now that I am a deputy, I will cease to be an agitator,” he said. He at once became chief leader of the Extreme Liberals. Deak was absent. Batthyany, Szechenyi, Szemere, Eotvos, his rivals, saw how his intense personal ambition and egoism led him always to assume the chief place, and to use his parliamentary position to establish himself as leader of the nation; but before his eloquence and energy all apprehensions were useless. His eloquence was of that nature, in its impassioned appeals to the strongest emotions, that it required for its full effect the highest themes and the most dramatic situations. In a time of rest, though he could never have been obscure, he would never have attained the highest power. It was therefore a necessity of his nature, perhaps unconsciously, always to drive things to a crisis. The crisis came, and he used it to the full.

On the 3rd of March 1848, as soon as the news of the revolution in Paris had arrived, in a speech of surpassing power he demanded parliamentary government for Hungary and constitutional government for the rest of Austria. He appealed to the hope of the Habsburgs, “our beloved Archduke Francis Joseph,” to perpetuate the ancient glory of the dynasty by meeting half-way the aspirations of a free people. He at once became the leader of the European revolution; his speech was read aloud in the streets of Vienna to the mob by which Metternich was overthrown (March 13), and when a deputation from the Diet visited Vienna to receive the assent of the emperor to their petition it was Kossuth who received the chief ovation. Batthyany, who formed the first responsible ministry, could not refuse to admit Kossuth, but he gave him the ministry of finance, probably because that seemed to open to him fewest prospects of engrossing popularity. If that was the object, it was in vain. With wonderful energy he began developing the internal resources of the country: he established a separate Hungarian coinage—as always, using every means to increase the national self-consciousness; and it was characteristic that on the new Hungarian notes which he issued his own name was the most prominent inscription; hence the name ofKossuth Notes, which was long celebrated. A new paper was started, to which was given the name ofKossuth Hirlapia, so that from the first it was Kossuth rather than the Palatine or the president of the ministry whose name was in the minds of the people associated with the new government. Much more was this the case when, in the summer, the dangers from the Croats, Serbs and the reaction at Vienna increased. In a great speech of 11th July he asked that the nation should arm in self-defence, and demanded 200,000 men; amid a scene of wild enthusiasm this was granted by acclamation. When Jellachich was marching on Pesth he went from town to town rousing the people to the defence of the country, and the popular force of theHonvedwas his creation. When Batthyany resigned he was appointed with Szemere to carry on the government provisionally, and at the end of September he was made President of the Committee of National Defence. From this time he was in fact, if not in name, the dictator. With marvellous energy he kept in his own hands the direction of the whole government. Not a soldier himself, he had to control and direct the movements of armies; can we be surprised if he failed, or if he was unable to keep control over the generals or to establish that military co-operation so essential to success? Especially it was Görgei (q.v.) whose great abilities he was the first to recognize, who refused obedience; the two men were in truth the very opposite to one another: the one all feeling, enthusiasm, sensibility; the other cold, stoical, reckless of life. Twice Kossuth deposed him from the command; twice he had to restore him. It would have been well if Kossuth had had something more of Görgei’s calculated ruthlessness, for, as has been truly said, the revolutionary power he had seized could only be held by revolutionary means; but he was by nature soft-hearted and always merciful; though often audacious, he lacked decision in dealing with men. It has been said that he showed a want of personal courage; this is not improbable, the excess of feeling which made him so great an orator could hardly be combined with the coolness in danger required of a soldier; but no one was able, as he was, to infuse courage into others. During all the terrible winter which followed, his energy and spirit never failed him. It was he who overcame the reluctance of the army to march to the relief of Vienna; after the defeat of Schwechat, at which he was present, he sent Bem to carry on the war in Transylvania. At the end of the year, when the Austrians were approaching Pesth, he asked for the mediation of Mr Stiles, the American envoy. Windischgrätz, however, refused all terms, and the Diet and government fled to Debrecszin, Kossuth taking with him the regalia of St Stephen, the sacred Palladium of the Hungarian nation. Immediately after the accession of the Emperor Francis Joseph all the concessions of March had been revoked and Kossuth with his colleagues outlawed. In April 1849, when the Hungarians had won many successes, after sounding the army, he issued the celebrated declaration of Hungarian independence, in which he declared that “the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, perjured in the sight of God and man, had forfeitedthe Hungarian throne.” It was a step characteristic of his love for extreme and dramatic action, but it added to the dissensions between him and those who wished only for autonomy under the old dynasty, and his enemies did not scruple to accuse him of aiming at the crown himself. For the time the future form of government was left undecided, but Kossuth was appointed responsible governor. The hopes of ultimate success were frustrated by the intervention of Russia; all appeals to the western powers were vain, and on the 11th of August Kossuth abdicated in favour of Görgei, on the ground that in the last extremity the general alone could save the nation. How Görgei used his authority to surrender is well known; the capitulation was indeed inevitable, but a greater man than Kossuth would not have avoided the last duty of conducting the negotiations so as to get the best terms.

With the capitulation of Villagos Kossuth’s career was at an end. A solitary fugitive, he crossed the Turkish frontier. He was hospitably received by the Turkish authorities, who, supported by Great Britain, refused, notwithstanding the threats of the allied emperors, to surrender him and the other fugitives to the merciless vengeance of the Austrians. In January 1849 he was removed from Widdin, where he had been kept in honourable confinement, to Shumla, and thence to Katahia in Asia Minor. Here he was joined by his children, who had been confined at Pressburg; his wife (a price had been set on her head) had joined him earlier, having escaped in disguise. In September 1851 he was liberated and embarked on an American man-of-war. He first landed at Marseilles, where he received an enthusiastic welcome from the people, but the prince-president refused to allow him to cross France. On the 23rd of October he landed at Southampton and spent three weeks in England, where he was the object of extraordinary enthusiasm, equalled only by that with which Garibaldi was received ten years later. Addresses were presented to him at Southampton, Birmingham and other towns; he was officially entertained by the lord mayor of London; at each place he pleaded the cause of his unhappy country. Speaking in English, he displayed an eloquence and command of the language scarcely excelled by the greatest orators in their own tongue. The agitation had no immediate effect, but the indignation which he aroused against Russian policy had much to do with the strong anti-Russian feeling which made the Crimean War possible.

From England he went to the United States of America: there his reception was equally enthusiastic, if less dignified; an element of charlatanism appeared in his words and acts which soon destroyed his real influence. Other Hungarian exiles protested against the claim he appeared to make that he was the one national hero of the revolution. Count Casimir Batthyany attacked him inThe Times, and Szemere, who had been prime minister under him, published a bitter criticism of his acts and character, accusing him of arrogance, cowardice and duplicity. He soon returned to England, where he lived for eight years in close connexion with Mazzini, by whom, with some misgiving, he was persuaded to join the Revolutionary Committee. Quarrels of a kind only too common among exiles followed; the Hungarians were especially offended by his claim still to be called governor. He watched with anxiety every opportunity of once more freeing his country from Austria. An attempt to organize a Hungarian legion during the Crimean War was stopped; but in 1859 he entered into negotiations with Napoleon, left England for Italy, and began the organization of a Hungarian legion, which was to make a descent on the coast of Dalmatia. The Peace of Villafranca made this impossible. From that time he resided in Italy; he refused to follow the other Hungarian patriots, who, under the lead of Deak, accepted the composition of 1867; for him there could be no reconciliation with the house of Habsburg, nor would he accept less than full independence and a republic. He would not avail himself of the amnesty, and, though elected to the Diet of 1867, never took his seat. He never lost the affections of his countrymen, but he refrained from an attempt to give practical effect to his opinions, nor did he allow his name to become a new cause of dissension. A law of 1879, which deprived of citizenship all Hungarians who had voluntarily been absent ten years, was a bitter blow to him.

He died in Turin on the 20th of March 1894; his body was taken to Pesth, where he was buried amid the mourning of the whole nation, Maurus Jokai delivering the funeral oration. A bronze statue, erected by public subscription, in the Kerepes cemetery, commemorates Hungary’s purest patriot and greatest orator.

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