Page:Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs (Volume One).djvu/240

Rh ica the opinion that the time would come when Russia would seek for mastery in the affairs of this continent. This apprehension on his part was not accepted by any class of his hearers and followers, and the cession of Alaska must have quieted the apprehension which had taken possession of Kossuth’s mind.

In passing from so much of Kossuth’s career in America as relates to his public policy and to his views upon public questions, it can be said that he entertained the broadest ideas of personal liberty and of the independence and sovereignty of states, coupled with an obligation binding all states to protect each and every state from the aggressive action of any other state.

It was his hope that England and the United States would unite, and by counsel, if not by active intervention, check, and in the end control, Russia in its manifest purpose to dominate over the Continent of Europe. This hope has not been realized. In no instance have the United States and England co-operated for the protection of any other state, and the influence of Russia on the Continent of Europe was never greater than it now is. Manifestly, England is the only obstacle to the domination of Russia over the Bosphorus.

In these forty years, Hungary has gained as a component part of the Austrian Empire, but, in the ratio of the augmentation of its power, the tendency to independence and to a republican form of government has diminished. The demonstrations that followed Kossuth’s death are evidence, however, that his teachings have affected the student classes in Hungary, and it is possible that those teachings are destined to work changes in Hungary and Italy in favor of republican institutions.

Kossuth’s teachings were in harmony with the best ideas that have been accepted in regard to state policy, international relations, and individual rights; but he was in advance of his