LOUIS KOSSUTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8222, 5 April 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

LOUIS KOSSUTH.

$HE GREAT HUNGARIAN EXILE "TALKS OF THE WORLD'S AFFAIRS. AN EXTREME PESSIMIST. Town, Feb. 25.—Here where the wild Alps are flung against the sky about the cradle of Italian liberty, I found Louis Kossuth to-day. For more than twenty years the great patriot has maintained a steadfast silence. He has watched the drift of political events, sounded the currents and marked the rocks against which monarchies and republics are drifting, and yet ho has not spoken. It is almost a whole generation since Victor Emmanuel and Cavour invited the unsuccessful Washington of Hungary to live in Italy. From that time on he has lived alone, spealfing with no one but three or four persons necessary to his comfort, but reading and writing prodigiously. He is eighty-eight years old, but his eyes are bright and his mind as clear and vigorous as ever.

"a man without a country." The world at large does nob seem to be Bware of the fact that within a few days Kossuth became a "man without a country." A law was passed in Hungary declaring that all persons living abroad for ten years, and failing formally to assert their citizenship before some Austrian official, #tvould be thereby denationalised. Kossuth has never recognised the Austrian Emperor's authority, and would nor do any act that might compromise ins position. Last month the law made him a political outcast.

There is a tremendous burst of patriotism overflowing Hungary in consequence of this event. Already eighty-three cities have conferred honorary citizenship upon him and fresh tributes arrive every day. The people he led are weaving a wreath for his brows that will never fade while the world honours stainless patriotism. An effort will be made to repeal the law that makes Kossuth a stranger in his own land on the eve of the year when Hungary will celebrate a thousand years of existence as the bulwark of Europe against barbarism. THE PATRIOT AT HOME. When I called at Kossuth's house, No. 22, Via de Mille, I found the venerable chieftain seated at a large desk in his work-ing-room. Papers and books were strewn about in all directions, and carefully marked drawers in the wall spoke of a life of industry. Even in his old age Kossuth earns his own living, scorning all assistance. His is a strong face, with broad forehead, earnest blue eyes, and mouth made to command, his snowy locks curling from beneath a black silk cap and his hoary beard almost touching his deep, full chest. Yet there is in his gentle countenance the suggestion of some old sorrow. We started a talk about the rescripts of the German Emperor calling for an international conference to settle the great social question raised by organised labour. Gradually we drifted from one topic to another. Kossuth -would not consent to be quoted. All I can do is to give the impressions left on my mind by a two hours' talk with this remarkable man.

KMFEROR WILLIAM LABOUR PLAN". The German Emperor's words are only words, Xo doubt, they are sincere, for it is the hereditary principle of the lichenzollern prince* to interest themselves in the poor. They have always aimed to base their power upon the masses and not upon the few. But congresses of nations do not amount to much ami congresses of kings are not to be trusted. Rings take little real interest in the welfare of the common people, except when it happens to coincide ■with their own plans. As for the present sovereigns of Europe, their personal interests are so antagonistic that it would be impossible for them to agree on the labour question, even if it were solvable. Monarchies, to exist in the present time, must extend themselves, and no king can afford to set any limits to his actions, such as an international compact regulating labour. PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED. Two propositions are advanced by the Emperor. One is that the normal hours of labour shall be fixed ; the other is that the workinjman shall participate in the arbitration of labour questions. Already the latter idea is in partial operation both in England and America. But the scheme of regulating the hours of work is no more practicable than the idea of a common system of popular education for all countries. Differences of temperament, physique, and character, added to difference of surroundings, create a barrier that cannot be crossed.

The international project formed by Mr. Blaine in the United States is quite another matter. If he succeeds in bringing about a union of all the Americas on certain lines of political economy, it will have an incalculable effect upon the future of Europe. THE GREAT SOCIAL MALADY. It is clear that the social, industrial question surmounts all others. Society is sick of a malady that defies cure. The progress of civilisation has given the great mass of people desires which were once confined to few, and each workingman today regards as necessaries what his predecessor considered luxuries.

So-called State socialism will not cure the sickness. An equal division of property will be followed in time by an unequal possession of property. The weak will always go down before the strong Monarchy will nob cure the malady. Monarchy is going down all over the world and republicanism is coining up. The monarchical principle is not extending itself, while the principle of republicanism is rapidly gaining ground, as the recent change of government in Brazil shows. It is a certain law, that when one system ceases to extend itself and an opposing system keeps on growing, the first is bound to be displaced. Bat republicanism will not cure the malady, for is there not in America the nearest possible approach to a real Republic, with an enfranchised democracy, free education, and popular institutions? Still, America has this social malady too. There seems to be no remedy. Meanwhile the earth will continue to revolve, and some day the present population may be swept from its surface and a new race, capable of a new civilisation, may appear. A cataclysm is the only hope of solution. EFFECT OF THE RESCRIPTS. This appeal for an international system of labour regulations is simply the reasser tion of the old doctrine that the Government must meddle in everything, help everything, and control everything. That idea is discredited by history and by the present condition of the working people. It will not do. There must be more scope for man ; the individual must have room to develop. "the impending conflict."

Much of the poverty in Europe is due to the expenses involved in standing armies. Tbey will not disappear till the monarchs, ■with their personal ambition, disappear. Europe is on the verge of a vast conflict; it is inevitable. Nothing can avert it. The only cause for surprise is that war has not already begun.

France and Germany could step asideand settle their differences peacefully withoat disturbing the balance of Europe. Bat not so is the great Oriental question between Russia and Austria. Russia knows that Constantinople could be taken by a coup deforce, but it would be a barren victory. She could not maintain such a position without first getting possession of Bulgaria as a background. Austria cannot afford to be surrounded by Panslavism and crushed. NO USE FOE AUSTRIA. A great thinker has said that there was no good reason for the existence of Austria. Had Hungary succeeded in gaining her independence, Poland would have been liberated and they would have been followed by a Danube alliance of small States, united only for common defence and offence, but each preserving its independence. The movement of Russia toward the sea, which threatens the peace of the world, dates from the downfall and division Si Poland. That threw Europe open to the Czar. When the struggle opens the Hungarians will fight against Russia to a man. Chey have still preserved their nationality and know that if Russia succeeds all hope of independence is gone. If Russia is defeated .Hungary still has a chance of freedom by revolution or in the event of the crown tumbling from the head of Franz Josef. * » Hungary was crushed only because she fat no outside help. Washington at Valley orge acknowledged that he was hors de combat and then France went to his aid.

Where would Wellington have been had he not been supported by the Teutonic arms ? ' Italy is safe. She has a great and happy future, and her people deserve it. They have been true so long and through so j many bitter trials to the principle of Italian I unification. When the thread of coni spiracy fell out of one man's hands on tho i scaffold there was always another to take it up. The Vatican casts a small shadow. That question is settled. Had the College of Cardinals been adroit enough to have selected a member of the reigning House of Savoy— the late Duke of Aosta, brother of King' Humbert, for instance, to St. Peter's chair, they might have changed the situation, but Papal sovereignty is a thing of the past, and no one understands that better than the present Pope. England's power, waning. England is a waning Power. She is living to-day on the capital accumulated in the past, and rapidly using it up. Canada and Australia are sure to be separated from the mother country, and not a drop of blood will be shed to retain them. There will always remain ties of language and similarity of institutions that will encourage inter-commerce and be mutually profitable These colonies are not a great source of strength from a material standpoint. India is a gieat treasure house. Had Lord Beneonstield lived and carried out his plan of using the Indian troops in Europe, England would be to-day ft mighty force. Ireland is drifting away from England. Every year her people become more closely knit in sympathy with the United States. Modern "invention has partly annihilated the distance between the two countries, and now it docs not take much longer to go to San Francisco than to Quecnstown. There are men now alive who will see the day when Ireland will become a State in the American Union.

When I bade good-bye to tho grand old man he stood in the middle of the cheerless outside reception room with bowed head, saying that-ho was almost ashamed to live so* long. Ami so I left him in his hermitage. Kossuth, the incorruptible, who, if he could have chosen his own place in nature, would have been the dew, trampled on by man and beast, unnoticed and unappreciated, but still silently fructifying the earth.