Louis Kossuth’s letters from Europe to “The New York Times” (1853-1856)

Abstract

Lajos Kossuth Letters written for The New York Times in the years 1853-1856 are short essays commenting on current political, social, ethnic and military events associated with the ongoing Crimean War. Originally entitled Democratic Letters on European Matters and American Policy and then Letters from L. Kossuth, written in exile in England during the Crimean War in Europe, create a very specific series of more than 40 numbered texts in which the Hungarian patriot and the independence activist lectured his point of view, made his reflections, often not without sharp criticism of the great superpowers and the United States, sometimes tinged with a hint of bitter irony and black humor. The primary aim of those Letters, as it seems to be, was not only to bring distant events taking place across the ocean closer to the Americans but also to move consciences, to shake out of indifference, to encourage to more active attitudes and actions towards the Old Continent. Kossuth hoped at the same time that the memory of him, sympathy, enthusiasm and kindness showed to him during his stay in the USA in the years 1851-1852 did not expire and would help him in his arduous educational actions of American society.