Reminiscences of an octogenarian Hungarian exile

Introduction

This Volume, which is dedicated to the many kind friends who advised me to write and publish the same, contains the description of the principal events of my life, from the time I entered the Hungarian army of liberation in 1848 until 1873, when I resumed my busy life on the Chicago Board of Trade, which I had in 1869 temporarily abandoned.

PART I. The Author's Place of Birth i

The Magyars 3

Louis Kossuth 4

Kossuth as Editor 7

Kossuth Demanding Reforms 10

Kossuth in Vienna 12

Broken Promises 15

Kossuth's Appeal 17

Kossuth With An Army Before Vienna 20

Kossuth Prayer After the Battle of Kapolna (Hungary's Gettysburg.) 21

Declaration of Independence 23

Russian Invasion 24

The Storming of Buda 25

Martyrs of Hungary 27

Kossuth's Farewell Address 28

Release of Kossuth in 185 1 30

Kossuth's Certificates to the Author 31

Kossuth's Speeches 33

PART II. General Bern 34

General Bem's Genius 43

Schumla, Bulgaria 44

A Bedouin Chief's Gift 47

Arrival in Aleppo 49

Massacre at Aleppo 51

V vi CONTENTS

Death of General Bern 52

Trip Across the Syrian Desert 54

City of Damascus ( Sham) 58

PART III. Alexandria, Egypt 65

Arrival in England 67

London 67

Hartford, Connecticut 69

Arrival in Chicago 72

Martin Koszta 74

Jonathan Young Scammon 75

William B. Ogden 79

My Political Life 81

The Decatur Convention 83

The Presidential Campaign of i860 84

Interesting Interview With Abraham Lincoln 87

PART IV. Abraham Lincoln's Election 90

Fort Sumter Fired On 93

The Spring of 1861 93

Organizing a Regiment 94

Ordered to the Seat of War 100

Election of Regimental Officers loi

Crossing the Missouri River 102

Col. U. S. Grant in Mexico. Mo 103

PART V. The Twenty- fourth Illinois at Mexico 105

Leonard Sweet and General Grant 107 .

Gen. John C. Fremont and His Brilliant Staff 109

Jessie Benton Fremont iii

Recruiting for Mounted Artillery 112

Horseback Ride With General Grant 113

Colonel Ransom 114

Personal Explanations 115

CONTENTS vii

PART VI. Joins the Board of Trade 125

First Home Visit In Twenty Years 129

Meeting Artists 131

Periodical Visits To Budapest 133

For the Seat of War 133

PART VII. The Franco-Prussian War 144

From Sedan to Meaux 149

Arrival at Lagni 151

Walk to Ferrieres 153

Copy of Royal Permit 155

Buying a Horse 157

The Siege of Paris 158

Starting for Versailles 159

Arrival at Versailles 162

The Arrest of an Editor 163

My Visit to Saint Cloud 165

My Report to General Sheridan 169

On a Foraging Expedition 169

Meudon 170

First Excursion to Bougival 173

Monte Christo 174

King William's Arrival at Versailles 176

The King's Headquarters at Versailles 177

The Castle of Meudon Destroyed 177

The Playing of the Fountains 178

My Meeting with Hans Blum 179

Peace Conditions Discussed 180

Bombardment of Bougival 181

Meeting Count Von Bismarc'c 182

An Unsuccessful Sortie 183

An Evening with Dr. Bush 186

Thiers in Versailles 187 viii CONTENTS

PART VIII. False Rumors Fly Thick and Fast i88

Friction at Versailles 189

Winter and Snow 192

My Last Tour Around Paris 193

Montmorency and Enghien 194

An Elegant Supper 196

Ducrot's Army Broken Up 197

The Re-clothing of the German Army 198

Hunting for Franctirreurs 198

The Imperial Crown Offered to King William 199

Celebrating Christmas 200

PART IX. The Bombardment of Paris 202

Peace Preliminaries 203

End of the Siege 204

Social Life in Versailles 204

War Correspondents at the Siege of Paris 205

Reflections on the Siege 207

An Appeal to Chicago 208

Homeward Bound 208

Kriegseinzug (Triumphal Entry Into Berlin of War

Veterans) 209

Marienbad 212

Musical and Dramatic Performance in Aid of Chicago 213

Trip to Russia 213

Fourth of July Celebrated at Vienna 215

World's Fair Venture at Vienna in 1873 216

REMINISCENSES OF AN OCTOGENARIAN HUNGARIAN EXILE

Part I

The author of these Reminiscences is far from flattering his amour propre in believing that the incidents and the people he will describe in them will create more than a slight ripple on the surface of the overflooded literature of our age ; nevertheless he will venture to undertake the attempt in relating such happenings in connection with distinguished individuals whom he either personally knew, or else had absolutely reliable information regarding their lives and acts.

Without entering into any biographical narrative, I will simply state that my birthplace is a modest and unpretentious little town called Belenyes, which is equivalent to the English Buffalo, evidently because many ages ago it must have been the abiding place of the wild buffalo. The town is situated in the county of Bihar, and it cosily nestles among the foothills of the lesser Carpathian Mountains that divide Hungary from Transylvania, or Siebenburgen in German, and Erdely Orszag in Hungarian.

As it would not be of any particular interest to the readers of these sketches to follow my childhood or even my adolescence, before I had reached the age of seventeen, when I entered fresh from College, in 1848, the army of the Hungarian Revolution, I will pass it, and will merely state that my first experience in that war, in the early days of 1848, was in the so-called Banat, the most fertile section of Hungary, where the Serbs or Servians, predominating, at the instigation of the Austrian Government, rose in insurrection against the newly formed constitutional Government of Hungary,

Without entering into the details of one of the greatest struggles for independence, Hungary although not having yet attained the apex of its aspirations — namely, an Independent Republic — is today nevertheless a country governed by a constitution called the Golden Bull that antedates the English Magna Charta, and which was granted to it over one thousand years ago.

It stands to reason, being a native of Hungary, that my first sketches must necessarily be of Hungarian men and characters with whom the writer came in contact, and in order that the readers of these sketches may have an intelligent conception of the characters and incidents described, it will be necessary to give a short and cursory description of Hungary and also of the reputed origin of the Magyars.

THE MAGYARS

Coming from the regions about the Volga, they crossed the Carpathians in A, D. 889, under the lead of Duke Almos. The seven tribes of which the nation

THE MAGYAKS 3

then consisted subsequently occupied ancient Pannonia under the lead of Arpad. For one hundred and eleven years they were governed by their Dukes (Vezereck) until Duke Vaik embraced Christianity and was crowned as St. Stephen, First Apostolic King of Hungary, A. D. 1000. Pope Sylvester presented him with the Iron Crown with which he was crowned, and sent Bishops from Germany into Hungary to help christianize the Magyars. The language adopted to assist in christianizing the Magyars was Latin, of which the common people did not understand a single word.

The reign of St. Stephen (Szent Istvan) was the beginning of a new era in the Uves of the Magyars. When the seven tribes of the Magyars settled in Pannonia they were united under a solemn compact guaranteeing justice and equality to all alike, so that when St. Stephen began to reign the general feeling of the nation was faithfully to adhere to that solemn compact, and they at first refused to obey the mandates of the newly introduced clergy, with the result of many bloody religious wars and massacres. As they were still untutored in the arts of industry and civilization, St. Stephen imported various artisans from Germany. Having led a nomadic life, they considered the working of the soil as menial and below the dignity of a Magyar. St. Stephen further subdivided the country into Counties, forced the people to pay tithes to the clergy, and organized a national council, the higher branch being composed of temporal and spiritual lords; then there was a lower house of Nobility, called the sandal nobility (Bocskoros Nemes Ember).

With the death of St. Stephen, the native dynasty became extinct, and between 1290 A. D. some kings that were legitimate and other usurpers ruled the country until 1516, when the line of the Hungarian Kings became suddenly extinct with the death of Louis II., who fell at the Battle of Mohacs, fought with the Turks. This battle is designated as the Graveyard of Hungarian Independence.

Sometimes nations, like individuals, fail to practice the Golden Rule as laid down by the Nazarene, and thus the mistakes they commit change their current of life. The Magyars, although converted to Christianity during the tenth century, A. D., instead of following the teachings of the Gallilean Prophet, obeyed the edicts ot their spiritual advisers, the Bishops and the clergy of the Catholic Church. The fatal mistake made by the Hungarian nation was when, owing to the intermarriage of one of their former Kings to a member of the House of Hapsburg, they transferred St. Stephen's crown to that dynasty.

The events which transpired in Hungary since St. Stephen's time are matters of history, and as it is the writer's intention to give brief sketches of men and incidents which had more or less bearing on his life, he has naturally selected as his first subject the person who above all others was instrumental in changing the current of events in his life. That person is

KOSSUTH LAJOS

Or, as he is better known outside of his own land, Louis Kossuth, who fills the highest niche in Hungarian history, and occupies the same position in the

KOSSUTH LAJOS 6

estimate of his countrymen which has been accorded to Washington and Abraham Lincoln in American history. His greatness, however, resembled more that of Lincoln than Washington. Of comparatively low origin, he, by virtue of his great genius and incomparable oratory, as well as by his self-sacrificing industry for the benefit of his fellow-countrymen, gained the highest pinnacle of fame and an everlasting place in the affections of a grateful people. He, like Lincoln, manumitted millions of slaves, serfs which were but slaves, not by the stroke of the pen, as Lincoln did, but by the thunder of his voice, as he fearlessly stood before Emperor Ferdinand, the fifth, demanding the abolishment of all feudal service throughout the realm. It is noteworthy that this concession was the only one that was not abrogated subsequently by the Austrian Imperial Government. Thus proving once more the truth of the saying that "Revolutions never go backward." They may for a time deviate from their onward and forward course, but they are always directed back to their true course by an all-wise and infinite Ruler of the Universe. Thus the five million peasants freed through the influence of Louis Kossuth became and forever remained free. Louis Kossuth was born April 27th, 1802, in the county of Zemplin, Hungary, in the same county where 400 years before the great Hunyadi died. His phenomenal rise as an advocate, editor, orator, statesman, and finally as the governor-president of his country, demonstrates that neither country, race or conditions can limit the potential abilities of inborn genius. Kossuth, although originally not of the dominant Magyar race, was singled out by an all-wise Providence to lead his fellow countrymen, as did Moses of old, out from bondage. He thus became the quickening spirit, urging on not only the Magyars but all other nationalities of his and neighboring countries, to throw off their long endured political slavery.

While representing an absent delegate in the upper house of the Diet, he stenographically copied and circulated the daily proceedings of the Diet, which was contrary to the arbitrary code of the Imperial Government. He kept this up in spite of the official warnings received, and was arrested May 4th, 1837, and taken to prison. He was thus detained for a whole year before he was granted a trial; The trial being but of the ordinary farce trials, he was sentenced to the fortress of Buda as a prisoner for four years. Kossuth, imprisoned, however, turned out to be more powerful than while he was free, and it so happened that when the Imperial Government in 1840 wanted Hungary to furnish more troops to the army, the Diet flatly refused to furnish them unless the two political prisoners, Kossuth and Baron Vesselenyi, were liberated. The Government finally bowed to the inevitable, and set Kossuth and the blind baron free on May 15th, 1840, after having been incarcerated for three years.

The popular demonstration during that night of his release prophetically indicated the coming great events of succeeding years in Hungary. But the blind, despotic power of the Government could not, or would not, discern the political barometer, Kossuth was escorted through the cities of Buda and Pesth by an immense procession of torch bearers. Shortly after

KOSSUTH AS AN EDITOR 7

this he withdrew from the public to Parad, a mountain watering place, in order to regain his much impaired health, in consequence of his cruel confinement. On his return from the mountain resort, he married, January 10, 1844, Teresa Meszlenyi, a very amiable lady, who, soon after his incarceration opened a correspondence with the martyr prisoner, which soon ripened into friendship and finally culminated in their marriage.

KOSSUTH AS AN EDITOR

On January 1st, 1841, Kossuth became the editor of the Pesti Hirlap, (Pesth Gazette). This was the opportunity he was long waiting for ; although the liberty of the press in the Austrian monarchy was yet unborn, it afforded him, as the editor of a paper, an occasional chance to drive the naked truth home into the hardened consciousness of the oppressor.

In 1843, in order to obtain better treatment for his native land, Kossuth inaugurated a general boycott on all manufactured goods coming from Austria, outside of Hungary. The immediate effect was that in order to retain their Hungarian trade, many of the Austrian manufacturers transferred their plants to Hungary.

In 1847 Kossuth was brought forward as a candidate for the Diet from Pesth, by his friend Count Louis Batthanyi, who afterwards fell a martyr to Austrian vengeance. Notwithstanding the many machinations of the Government he was elected. The wild enthusiasm which this election of the modern Demosthenes created all over the country beggars description. It was likened by some to the religious demonstration by the followers of Peter the Hermit during the first Crusade. I was attending college at that time in Szarvas, whose president was the celebrated Hungarian lexicographer, Ballaghi Mor (Moritz Bloch). I well remember that, owing to the intense excitement prevailing over Kossuth's election, and his heart-stirring speeches in the National Assembly, the students of our college devoted more time to the discussion of the political events of the day than to their studies. "£1- jen Kossuth" (long live Kossuth) became the battlecry of the throngs that nightly gathered in front of the Casino to listen to the patriotic utterances of the professors and students. The great patriot and "orator with the flaming tongue," as he was aptly named, was at that time the central sun of Magyar constellation. Both magnate and peasant bowed before his greatness ; the peasant, especially, almost worshipped him. I may be pardoned if I here quote the very eloquent tribute which the great editor, Horace Greeley, gave to Louis Kossuth in his introductory remarks to the Life of Louis Kossuth by Headley. He says : "A voice from the far Pannonia, with the eloquence of a Demosthenes and the sublime fervor of an Isaiah, it utters burning words, which call men from divers creeds and races to the battlefield in which the rights of all are to be asserted."

Kossuth's entry into the National Assembly in 1848 signalized the beginning of a new era in Hungary's history. By his extraordinary eloquence he aroused the dormant aspirations of his nation by inviting it to reenter the glorious path which it followed centuries ago and before its absorption by Austria.

KOSSUTH AS AN KDITOK 9

I have often wondered at the mistaken ideas which prevailed, and still prevail to a great extent, that the Hungarian war of Independence was the outgrowth of the French Revolution of 1848. On the contrary, the many eloquent revolutionary speeches of Kossuth plainly presaged a violent political upheaval in Europe. It was the French Chamber of Deputies which drew its inspiration from these speeches. The great influence which these fiery denunciations exerted upon the political world of those days may be inferred from what a foe, and not a friend of Kossuth, said about the great orator and his orations. He said: "His speeches were at that time (1847) like burning arrows, which he hurled into kindred minds, thereby urging them to a frantic enthusiasm. His oratory was like a large battery, with heavy pieces of ordnance, whose discharge did the most fearful execution. The poisonous sting of his interpretations, his despotic power in the house and his intrigues (?) out of doors, formed in themselves a power, so to say, of an army against the stand-still policy of Metternich." Such was the tribute accorded to Kossuth by an opponent, but evidently a spellbound admirer of his unmatched eloquence and power.

During the session of 1847, the Diet, among others, adopted the proposition that all the peasants of the Kingdom, of whatever race or religion, should be at once exempted from all urbarial dues and obligations to their landlords, the latter to receive an indemnity from the^Siate. The proposition was passed, and thus five million serfs were made freemen by the eloquent advocacy of Louis Kossuth, long before the French Revolution took place, in 1848.

KOSSUTH DEMANDING REFORMS

On the 4th of March, 1848, or two days after the news of the French Revolution reached Pressburg, then the capital of Hungary, Kossuth rose in the Diet to speak on a motion of inquiry on the condition of the National Bank, whose notes were refused both in Hungary and Bohemia. Among other things referred to, he said: "The local question in relation to the Bank I will not now discuss. It is true, Magyars, Austria has embarrassed us long enough. But this is a secondary matter. What we ought to ask for is the budget of the Hungarian receipts and expenses, which have hitherto been mixed up with those of our neighbors. We ought to ask for the constitutional administration of our finances. We ought to ask for a separate and independent financial board for Hungary. For, unless we have this, the foreign Government which rules us without our advice, is likely to embarrass our finances to helplessness."

Then again : "Mighty thrones, supported by political sagacity and power, have been overthrown, and nations have fought and won their liberty, who three months ago could not have dreamed of the proximity of such an event. But for three whole months we are compelled to roll the stone of Sisyphus incessantly and without avail."

After closing his speech with an impressive peroration, he moved an "address to the throne," in which

KOSSUTH DEMANDING REFORMS H

a series of reforms were demanded, which was unanimously adopted by the National Assembly.

These events were certainly sufficient to arouse the wildest enthusiasm all over Hungary. When the copies of the Pesti Hislap reached Szarvas, where I then attended the Junior class of the college, all classes were dismissed spontaneously, and while the faculty was discussing in whispers the happenings at the capital, the students celebrated the event with vociferous cries of "filjen Kossuth."

Among the reforms demanded in the address to the throne the most prominent were : First, the abolition of serfdom ; second, the equalization of taxes ; the further development of the representative system of Government, and a responsible Ministry. Kossuth's design was to demand these concessions, not for Hungary alone, but as far as applicable, for all the States under the Government of the Emperor of Austria. He possessed sufficient statesmanship to know that a constitutional government in Hungary alone could not harmonize with an absolute and despotic administration in the other States of the Empire. He forcibly put himself on record in the following: "With a Constitutional Government secured in Hungary, it was then the proper and holy mission of our nation, as the oldest member of the Empire, to raise its voice in behalf of those sister nations under the same ruler, and who are united to us by so many ties of relationship. Lovers of Freedom, we would not ask liberty for ourselves alone. We would not boast of privileges that others did not enjoy. A Constitutional and despotic crown could not be worn by che same head, any more than two opposing disposit'ons can harmonize in the same breast at the same time."

Kossuth at that time did not contemplate the separation of Hungary from Austria. His aim was to remind Emperor Ferdinand of the sacredness of the oath he took as the Constitutional King of Hungary.

Kossuth, in moving the above reforms, was far ahead of the conservative upper house of the Diet. The many years of Austrian tutelage had reduced the life members of that body, composed as it was of the high nobility of the realm and the Roman Catholic Bishops, to mere automatons of the Austrian Camarilla. They were horrified at the boldness of Kossuth's propositions and demands.

KOSSUTH IN VIENNA

While the Delegates at Pressburg were pondering over the recently passed reform demands, the revolution in Vienna broke out. The news of this outbreak reached Pressburg while the Diet was in session. It created a great surprise, except to Kossuth, who expected it. The Aula, composed of the students of the Vienna University and the intellectual portion of Vienna's population, formulated and submitted their demands to the Emperor, who, overawed by fear, granted everything demanded of him. The revolutionary spirit had also permeated the soldiers of the Vienna garrison, who refused to fire at the assembled multitudes, who were ordered to disperse by the reactionary Ministry. Metternich's dismissal was asked

KOSSUTH IN VIENNA 13

for and speedily granted. The liberty of the press was also granted, and so was trial by jury.

While the delegates in the Diet had hardly recovered from their amazement over the Vienna news, Kossuth arose and calmly asked the Diet to send a deputation to the Emperor at Vienna, demanding an immediate dissolution of the Chancellery and the substitution of a responsible cabinet in its place, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the land. He closed his speech with the following inspiring words: "For 600 years, Magyars, we formed a Constitutional State. We will, therefore, that from this moment on Ministers shall again sit upon these benches, to hear and answer our questions ;" with a graceful sweep of his arms he pointed to the ministerial seats, which had been vacant for many years. "From this day on we wish to have a Hungarian ministry." The response was a unanimous affirmative vote. The committee was appointed, with Kossuth at its head. The committee appeared at Vienna on March 13, 1848. The Vienna people hailed it with great rejoicing. In their unbounded enthusiasm they carried Kossuth on their shoulders to the palace. There he met face to face the Emperor by whose orders he had been incarcerated only a few years before. Calmly, and conscious of his power to destroy the tottering throne of the Hapsburg dynasty, he laid the demands before the Emperor, The courtiers, in their rich dress uniforms, that were covered by glistening decorations, were relegated to the rear, while two figures stood in the foreground of this most remarkable scene, worthy of the brush of a Titian. The one, Kossuth, the whilom prisoner of Buda, representing millions of his countrymen, demanding their God-given rights, and the other, Ferdinand V, Emperor of Austria, a representative of the exploded theory of despotic Government by "divine right." For a minute the trembling Emperor hesitated, but as the deafening demonstrations of the assembled multitudes in the streets below reached his ears, and as he saw Kossuth suggestively point his finger at the open window, he yielded, and granted everything that was demanded.

There was a time when the writer thought that Kossuth committed a fatal mistake, when, holding the destiny of the Hapsburg dynasty in the hollow of his hand, he did not then and there destroy the pernicious and oath-breaking tyranny, for he certainly had it in his power to do so during the scene above referred to. But an experience gained through a tempesttossed life brought to me the absolute conviction that the teachings of the Bible, which says : "Vengeance is mine," is after all preferable to being our own avenger, for in the end, evil, no matter of what nature, destroys itself.

As a result of that interview, a Hungarian Ministry was named, with Louis Bathanyi as Prime Minister and Louis Kossuth as Minister of Finance. Among others who held portfolios in this Ministry were Deak, Szemere, Meszaros, Klauzel, Count Sechenyi, Baron Oetves, and Prince Esterhazy, all very eminent representative men. The recital of the succeeding events to the establishment of a Constitutional Government in Hungary belongs to the historian. Only such inci-

BEOKEN PKOMISES 15

dents with which Kossuth is principally connected will be referred to.

BROKEN PROMISES

Not of the Machiavelian type of statesmanship, Kossuth, fully trusting the Emperor's oath-bound promises, devoted his whole time to the task of disentangling the finances of his country. While he was devoting his energies to building up the National credit, the conspirators surrounding the Austrian throne were at work, undermining the Constitutional rights granted recently to his country. The fact is, that the intrigues were hatched only a few minutes after the Emperor granted the Hungarian deputation its demands. The first open sign of Hapsburg treachery manifested itself on June 1st, 1848, when the Servians inhabiting the Banat and Bacska, in the Southeastern part of Hungary, rose in insurrection against the newly organized Constitutional Government. The Croatians, a race occupying the territory which is an integral part of the Kingdom of Hungary, also rose in rebellion. They were persuaded to believe that the Magyars, the dominant race of the Kingdom so far as numbers were concerned, wished to withhold from them, as well as from all other races, the privileges and rights recently exacted from the Central Government, and that the Magyars would take away from them their own, the Croatian, language. Of course all this was false, but an old law of 1832 was cited, which made the Magyar tongue the official tongue of the Hungarian Kingdom. This law was passed in order to replace the Latin language.

Ig REMINISCENCES

which for centuries had kept the masses of the people in ignorance, because a comparatively small proportion of the people were conversant with Latin. It is a well established truism that ignorance is an everready handmaid of a despotic Government.

This double dealing on the part of the Emperor and his surrounding satellites aroused the ire of all right thinking denizens of the country, with the exception of the above mentioned Croatians and Servians. A Colonel of a Croatian regiment (a great favorite of the Camarilla, at whose head stood the Archduchess Sophia, mother of the present Emperor) Baron Joseph Jellaschich, was appointed Ban (Governor) of Croatia, with instructions and authority to lead the revolt in Croatia.

The struggle with the insurrectionary Servians had now begun in dead earnest. The various seats of learning had closed several weeks before the usual time for the year's vacation. The students were hurriedly flocking to their respective homes, in compliance with a call from their respective cities and counties. At the suggestion of Kossuth, Onkenytes (Volunteer) battalions were formed, in order to stem the Servian revolt. The writer and his elder brother were among those who entered the ranks. During the three months spent in the Banat, fighting the Servians, there were no great engagements. The fighting was more of a desultory nature, more like the fighting of the Missouri Bushwhackers during our Civil War. The atrocities committed by the insurgent Servians were of such a revolting and barbaric nature

KOSSUTH S APPEAL 17

that the writer's pen is reluctant to write them down ; therefore it is best to leave them unrecorded.

Kossuth's appeal to parliament for 2CX),000 men

Kossuth's handicap in his course as a statesman was his over-tender heart and a never-doubting disposition in the sincerity of those he had dealings with. Being himself actuated by the sole desire to do all for the benefit of his fellowmen, he put implicit confidence in the sincerity of the Emperor's promises. He once more addressed a petition to the Emperor, praying that he should repudiate the recently committed illegal acts of the Ban of Croatia. Fearing the displeasure of the Hungarian Nation, while his army in Italy was meeting with reverses, Ferdinand hypocritically expressed his indignation at these acts, ordering the Ban to appear at once before him, and in a royal manifesto he branded him a traitor to his country. The duplicity and double dealing of the Austrian Court was, however, soon revealed by the supplies furnished to the insurgent Ban, both in money and arms. Kossuth, unable to restrain his indignation any longer at this double dealing, used his powerful oratory during the session of the Diet in July, 1848, to great advantage. While he still refrained from calling the Emperor a traitor, his burning words indicated the coming storm. In one of his great speeches before the Diet, on July 11th, 1848, he said: "In ascending the tribune to demand of you to save our country, the greatness of the moment weighs oppressively over my soul. I feel as if God had placed into my hands the trumpets to arouse the dead, that, if still sinners and weak, they may relapse into death, but that they may awake for eternity, if any vigor or life be yet in them. Thus, at this moment, stands the fate of the nation. Gentlemen, with the decision of my motion God has certified to your hands the decision affecting the life or death of our people. — ^That nation alone will live which in itself has vital powers. That which knows not how to save itself by its own strength, but only by the aid of others, has no future."