died there 16th October, 1817, in consequence of a fall from his horse. By order of Alexander his remains were taken to Cracow, and a public funeral awarded to him at Warsaw, where extraordinary enthusiasm prevailed. At West Point, the military college of the United States, the cadets raised a monument to his memory within the works he had erected, when serving as engineer in the American army.—P. E. D.
KOSEGARTEN, Johann Gottfried Ludwig, was born in 1792. His father, Ludwig Theobul, was distinguished as a poet and theological professor at Greifswald, where he died in 1818, aged sixty. J. G. L. Kosegarten was educated at Greifswald and Paris. In 1817 he became oriental professor at Jena, and in 1824 at Greifswald, professor of theology and oriental tongues. He died at Greifswald, August 18, 1860. His knowledge of eastern languages was profound and varied, and his published works are considered of great importance and value for philological and antiquarian purposes.—B. H. C.
KOSLOV, Ivan, a Russian poet of considerable merit, and the translator of Lord Byron's Bride of Abydos into Russian. He was born in 1780 of a good family, and passed the greater part of his life at Moscow. With a facility common to educated Russians he acquired an intimate knowledge of modern languages, and studied the literature of England, France, Italy, and Germany. Until his fortieth year he indulged freely in the pleasures which the society of Moscow affords. In 1820 he was struck with a malady which deprived him of the use of his feet, and forced him into a retirement, where his literary acquirements became his sole resource. To lameness was shortly added the calamity of blindness, and the afflicted poet sought in the ideal world a compensation for the loss of things external. He lived by his memory and imagination, and spent his days in poetical composition, recording the emotions of his past life in verse. Byron he translated from memory in 1826. In 1828 his poems were published at St. Petersburg, the most remarkable piece being "Tschernetz, or the monk."—R. H.
* KOSSUTH, Louis, the illustrious leader of the Hungarian revolution in 1848, was born on the 27th April, 1806, at Monok, in the district of Zemplin. His father was of noble birth, but not affluent, and acted as procurator-fiscal to Baron Veesey. The baron took charge of the education of the young Louis and sent him to college, where he showed more than the usual impetuosity of character. His attention was soon directed to the history of his own country, and as a student he declared himself so strenuously against the tyranny of Austria, that when he applied for a situation in the public service he was informed that he could have nothing to hope from the administration. He therefore resolved to follow the profession of his father, and after a short private engagement went to Pesth in the year 1831. A year after his arrival the prospect of a public career opened up to him. He became representative of a magnate in the diet at Presburg, and was so far launched on public life; but his first essay, like that of some other eminent men, was not successful. Not disheartened, he turned to the press as the exponent of national opinion, and commenced a lithographed journal, which gave an account of the proceedings of the diet. This journal was soon prohibited by the authorities, but means were found to circulate information, and to establish a system of correspondence that grew into national importance. Again the authorities interfered, and Kossuth in reply stated that there was no censorship in Hungary, and sought the protection of the municipal council of Pesth. He was arrested, and with some others condemned to four years' imprisonment. The act was unpopular, and gave rise to various complications and to the resignation of some of the Hungarian functionaries. In the year 1840 the elections were favourable to the popular party, and a powerful opposition claimed justice for the political prisoners. A general amnesty was the result, arid Kossuth was set at liberty. He now married, and undertook the direction of the Pesth Journal, which commenced on the 2nd January, 1841, with sixty subscribers. Two months later it had a circulation of six thousand. In this publication Kossuth developed his principles. He was first Hungarian, and then liberal. So far from being democratic, he announced to the nobles that the national party was quite prepared to act with them and under their orders if the nobles were willing, but that progress must be made whether the nobles were willing or not. Three years and a half were spent in connection with this journal, when, on account of circumstances relating to the proprietary, Kossuth withdrew; and after ineffectual attempts to found another paper, devoted himself to the establishment of national societies. Count Casimir Bathyany was the president of the first society, which, in the autumn of 1845, contained about one hundred and fifty-four members, representing the various parts of Hungary. In 1847 when the new elections were to take place, the national party resolved to return Kossuth for Pesth; and so strong was the hold his principles had obtained, that he was elected by nearly three thousand votes against thirteen hundred. He was then forty-one years of age and in possession of all his powers, able and ready to take advantage of any circumstance that could favour the national cause. Nor had he to wait long. The French revolution of 1848 sent a wave of turmoil over the greater part of Europe. Hungary at first was tranquil, not dreaming of any measures save those that were constitutional. In March, 1848, Kossuth moved that the appointment of a Hungarian ministry should be demanded. The proposal was carried by acclamation, and he took his departure for Vienna, accompanied by Count Bathyany, to lay the project before the emperor. The deputation, composed of eighty deputies escorted by three hundred students, was received by the public in Vienna with every mark of enthusiasm. On the 16th March the Hungarians proceeded to the palace, and delivered to the emperor the address of the nation. The demand was granted, and Count Bathyany was selected as the first president. At this period there was no intention of separating from Austria, or of impugning the imperial government. But as history has too often shown, the Austrian government could not or would not honestly fulfil its stipulations, and the Hungarian movement soon took a wider range. The facts have been much disputed; but even after this period, namely, at the end of March and beginning of April, it is indisputable that Kossuth was seeking by means constitutional, according to the fundamental laws of Hungary, the political reform of his country. Whether those laws were acceptable to the imperial party is a totally different question. What he sought was according to law, because by law no foreigner could hold place in Hungary; and he sought according to law, because by the act of Leopold II. in 1790 it was settled that Hungary should not be subject to any other state, but should always have her own constitution. In seeking a Hungarian administration Kossuth was seeking a strictly legal object; and the enmity of Austria, as has since been too clearly proven, was really and truly against the free constitution which Austria intended to destroy. Recent events have cleared up this point, and have placed the question in an indubitable light.
Now, however, came the crisis. On the motion of Kossuth it was carried in the diet that equality of civil rights and public burthens should be established for all classes without distinction. The Hungarian nobility generally entered into the new movement, and renounced their right to certain lands occupied by the peasants, so that three hundred thousand peasant families found themselves in possession of from thirty to sixty acres of land each. The electoral suffrage was extended to every citizen possessing £10 of income or £40 of heritable property, to every graduate of the universities, and to every workman employing an apprentice. After an attempt on the part of Vienna to evade these reforms they were confirmed by the emperor, who went to Presburg in person to give his sanction to them, 11th April, 1848, and they thus became statutes of the realm. Troubles, however, were soon introduced by the Croats, instigated by the agitator, Jellachich, and a revolution was the consequence. Jellachich took advantage of the prejudices of the Croats, and persuaded them to adhere to Austria rather than Hungary. Hungarians were murdered without legal remedy, and general confusion was the result. Kossuth now started a new journal, the Kossuth Gazette. He was not even yet a revolutionist. But Austria threw off the mask, and in June, 1848, openly took the side of the Croats. It was now that the reformer, hitherto loyal, seeing the peril of his country made an appeal to the nation. "I demand," he said, "two hundred thousand men and forty-two millions of florins." A moment of silence followed in the assembly, when Paul Nyary rose and said, "We give them." All the deputies rose, held out their hand, and repeated the words. Kossuth left the tribune amid a storm of applause, and from that moment Hungary stood on her defence. Shortly after this Bathyany retired, and Kossuth, without appealing to the Austrian government, got the chamber to vote the emission of bank-notes and the formation of the army. The
