The revolutionary era had ended; tranquillity was restored; and peace
reigned throughout Europe.
But it was a peace secured by chains, and supported by bayonets.
Manin was dead, Hecker an exile in transatlantic lands, Blum had been
murdered--as also a score of other distinguished revolutionary leaders.
But there were two still surviving, whose names caused uneasiness to
despotism from the Baltic to the Mediterranean--from the Euxine to the
Atlantic.
These names were Kossuth and Mazzini.
Despite the influence used to blacken them--the whole power of a
corrupted press--they were still sounds of magical import; symbols that
at any day might stir up the peoples to strike one other blow for
freedom. More especially was this true of Kossuth. Some rashness shown
by Mazzini--a belief that his doctrines were too _red_--in other words,
too far advanced for the time--stinted the confidence of the more
moderate in the liberal party.
It was otherwise with the views of Kossuth. These had all along been
strictly in accordance with conservatism--aiming only at national
independence upon a presumed republican basis. Of the _republique rouge
et democratique_ talked of in France, he had never given assent to the
_rouge_, and but partially to the _democratique_.
If the future historian can ever find flaw in the character of Kossuth,
it will be in the fact of his having been too conservative; or rather
too national, and not enough developed in the idea of a universal
propagandism.
Too much was he, as unfortunately most men are, a believer in
non-interference; that sophism of international comity which permits the
King of Dahomey to kill his subjects to his heart's content, and the
King of Viti-Vau to eat _his_, to the satisfaction of his stomach.
This limitation in the principles of the Magyar chief was the only thing
in his character, known to the writer, that will exclude him from being
considered truly, grandly great.
It may have been only assumed--it is to be hoped so--to contribute to
the success of his noble purposes.
It certainly tended to this--by securing him the confidence of the more
timid adherents of the revolutionary cause.
But there was another influence in his favour, and against the
triumphant despots. All knew that the failure of the Hungarian
revolution was due to causes over which Kossuth had no control--in
short, to the blackest treachery on record. That with unerring genius,
and all his soul's energy, he had protested against the courses that led
to it; and, to the last hour, had held out against the counsels of the
wavering and the wicked. Not by his own consent, but by force, had he
succumbed to them.
It was the knowledge of this that lent that magical influence to his
name--every day growing stronger, as the story of Georgei's treason
became better understood.
Expelled from his own land, he had sought an asylum in England.
Having gone through the _fanfaron_ of a national welcome, in the shape
of cheap receptions and monster meetings--having passed the entire
ordeal, without succumbing to flattery, or giving his enemies the
slightest cue for ridicule--this singular man had settled down in a
modest suburban residence in the western district of London.
There in the bosom of his beloved family--a wife and daughter, with two
sons, noble youths, who will yet add lustre to the name--he seemed only
desirous of escaping from that noisy hospitality, by this time known to
him to be nothing but the emptiest ostentation.
A few public dinners, cooked by such coarse caterers as the landlords of
the London or Freemasons' Tavern, were all of English cheer Kossuth ever
tasted, and all he cared to claim. In his home he was not only
permitted to purchase everything out of his own sadly attenuated purse,
but was cheated by almost every tradesman with whom he had to deal; and
beyond the ordinary extortion, on the strength of his being a stranger!
This was the sort of hospitality extended by England to the illustrious
exile, and of which her Tory press have made so much boast! But that
press has not told us how he was encompassed by British spies--by French
ones also, in British pay--watched in his outgoings and incomings--
tracked in his daily walks--his friends as well--and under constant
incitement through secret agencies to do something that would commit
him, and give a colourable chance for bringing his career to a close!
The outside world believed it had come to this; that the power of the
great revolutionist was broken for ever, and his influence at an end.
But the despots knew better. They knew that as long as Kossuth lived,
with character unattainted, scarce a king in Europe that did not need to
sit trembling on his throne. Even England's model queen, or rather the
German prince who then controlled the destinies of the English nation,
understood the influence that attached to Kossuth's name, whilst the
latter was among the most active of those secret agents who were
endeavouring to destroy it.
The hostility of the royal family of England to the ex-dictator of
Hungary is easily understood. It had a double source of inspiration:
fear of the republican form, and a natural leaning to the alliance of
kinship. The crowns of Austria and England are closely united in the
liens of a blood-relationship. In the success of Kossuth would be the
ruin of cousins-german and German cousins.
It was then the interest of all crowned heads to effect his ruin--if not
in body, at least in reputation. His fame, coupled with a spotless
character, shielded him from the ordinary dangers of the outlaw. The
world's public opinion stood in the way of their taking his life, or
even consigning him to a prison.
But there was still the chance of rendering him innocuous--by blasting
his reputation, and so depriving him of the sympathy that had hitherto
upheld him.
For this purpose the press was employed--and notoriously the leading
journal: that instrument ever ready, at a price, for purposes of
oppression.
Openly and secretly it assailed him, by base accusations, and baser
insinuations.
He was defended by a young writer, who had but lately made his
appearance in the world of London, becoming known through the
achievement of a literary triumph; and so successfully defended, that
the Kossuth slanders, like curses, came back into the teeth of those who
had uttered them.
In its long career of tergiversation, never had this noted newspaper
been driven into such a position of shame. There was a whole day,
during which it was chaffed on the Stock Exchange, and laughed at in the
London clubs.
It has not forgotten that day of humiliation; and often has it given its
antagonist cause to remember it. It has since taken ample revenge--by
using its immense power to blast his literary reputation.
He thought not of this while writing those letters in defence of freedom
and justice. Nor did he care, so long as this object might be attained.
It was attained. The character of the great Magyar came out stainless
and triumphant--to the chagrin of suborned scribblers, and the despots
who had suborned them.
Cleared in the eyes of the "nationalities," Kossuth was still dangerous
to the crowns of Europe--now more than ever.
The press had failed to befoul him. Other means must be employed to
bring about his destruction.
And other means were employed. A plot was conceived to deprive him, not
alone of his reputation, but his life. An atrocity so incredible, that
in giving an account of it I can scarce expect to be believed!
It is nevertheless true.