OBITUARY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4906, 22 March 1894, Page 2

OBITUARY.

; Louis Kossuth, , [Special to Pbess Association.] k VIENNA, Mabch 21. > The death is announced of Louis i Kosauth, tbo veteran Hungarian 1 patriot, ae''-at ninety-two. [Louis Kossutb, ex-Gavernor of Hiin--1 gary, was born April 21, 1802, at Monok, 1 ia the county of Zein;- ! iu, where his father ' was a small owner, of the noble claes. At " the ago of twenty-^even he took his seat : in the National Diet of Prcsburg, R3 \ representative of a magnate. He pub- '- lished reports of the proceedinga of thiß ' assembly oa lithographed sheetß, until they * were suppressed by the Government, and [ afterwards ia manuscript circularß. The 1 Government, which determined not to 1 allow reports of Parliamentary debates 3 to become current in Hungary, prosecuted ' him for high treason ; and in 1839 he was eeatenced to four years' imprisonment. ' After about a year and a half of confine- ' raent he was liberated under an act of 3 amnesty. In January, 1841, he became " chief editor of the Hirlap, a newspaper j| publi3hed at Pesth. His influence with * his countrymen steadily increased until, ' in March, 1848, he entered Vienna with a ? deputation to urge the claims of h's I country upon the Government, and r£J turDed to Presburg as Minister of Finance. ' Under bi3 influence the internal reforms T which he had advocated were carried ' out ; the last remains of the opprecsive } feudal system were swept away, and the 1 peasants were declared frea from all 5 seignorial claims, the country undertaking 5 to indemnify the landlorde. The Diet was ' dissolved, and a new Diet summoned for | July 2, by which Kossuth was created ' Governor of Hungary, and he held that ! post during the civil war of 1848-9. After ' the efforts of the Hungarians had been j crushed mainly by the aid of Russian ' armed intervention, Koasuth was com--1 pelled to retire to Turkey. He reached 1 Schumia with Bsm, Dembiaeki, Perczel 1 Guyon and 5000 men, and was appointed a residence in Widdin. Austria and Ruesia wished the refugees to be gi?ea up, in which case they would probably have been executed. Through the intervention of England and France the ! demand was refused. The late Sultan beiiuvM with great humanity and disinterestedness on the occasion. The refugees were romoved to Kutahia, in Asia Minor, where they remained prisoners until August 22, 1851. Kossuth left Kutahia Sept. 1, and after touching at Spezzia, called at Marseilles, but was refused permission to travel through France. ■ Having been hospitably received at Gibraltar and at Lisbon, he reached Southampton, Oct. 28, Bailed for the United States Nov.' 2\} and made a tour, agitating in favour of Hungary. He soon returned to .England, where he resided for some years, occupy ing himßelf chiefly in writing 1 foi? iWapapers, and delivering" lectures against the house of Hapsburg. One; of the last occasions on which his name wa3 brought prominently before the public, was in 1860, when the Auatnan Gpfrerh. r ; ment instituted a successful procees agalnßt Messrs Day and Sons for lithograpbiilg: several millions of bank notes for cirouia^ tion in Hungary, Bigned by Kossuth, as Governor of that country. In November, 1861, he published in tho Perseveranza, an Italian journal, a long letter, setting forth the situation of Hungary, and urging the Italians to commence war against Austria, with the view of enabling the Hungarians to develop their strength against that power; issued an inflammatory address to tho Hungarians, June 6, 1866, and after the close of the war of that year advised the Hungarians to reject the concessions offered by Francis Joseph. He was elected deputy for Waitzen, Augu3t 1, 1867, but he declined to accept the office. Latterly he has devoted much of hi? time to science, and hu published a paper on the " FarbenverUnderung der Sterne" in 1871.