the Hungarian throne.” It was a step characteristic of his love for extreme and dramatic action, but it added to the dissensions between him and those who wished only for autonomy under the old dynasty, and his enemies did not scruple to accuse him of aiming at the crown himself. For the time the future form of government was left undecided, but Kossuth was appointed responsible governor. The hopes of ultimate success were frustrated by the intervention of Russia; all appeals to the western powers were vain, and on the 11th of August Kossuth abdicated in favour of Görgei, on the ground that in the last extremity the general alone could save the nation. How Görgei used his authority to surrender is well known; the capitulation was indeed inevitable, but a greater man than Kossuth would not have avoided the last duty of conducting the negotiations so as to get the best terms.
With the capitulation of Villagos Kossuth’s career was at an end. A solitary fugitive, he crossed the Turkish frontier. He was hospitably received by the Turkish authorities, who, supported by Great Britain, refused, notwithstanding the threats of the allied emperors, to surrender him and the other fugitives to the merciless vengeance of the Austrians. In January 1849 he was removed from Widdin, where he had been kept in honourable confinement, to Shumla, and thence to Katahia in Asia Minor. Here he was joined by his children, who had been confined at Pressburg; his wife (a price had been set on her head) had joined him earlier, having escaped in disguise. In September 1851 he was liberated and embarked on an American man-of-war. He first landed at Marseilles, where he received an enthusiastic welcome from the people, but the prince-president refused to allow him to cross France. On the 23rd of October he landed at Southampton and spent three weeks in England, where he was the object of extraordinary enthusiasm, equalled only by that with which Garibaldi was received ten years later. Addresses were presented to him at Southampton, Birmingham and other towns; he was officially entertained by the lord mayor of London; at each place he pleaded the cause of his unhappy country. Speaking in English, he displayed an eloquence and command of the language scarcely excelled by the greatest orators in their own tongue. The agitation had no immediate effect, but the indignation which he aroused against Russian policy had much to do with the strong anti-Russian feeling which made the Crimean War possible.
From England he went to the United States of America: there his reception was equally enthusiastic, if less dignified; an element of charlatanism appeared in his words and acts which soon destroyed his real influence. Other Hungarian exiles protested against the claim he appeared to make that he was the one national hero of the revolution. Count Casimir Batthyany attacked him in The Times, and Szemere, who had been prime minister under him, published a bitter criticism of his acts and character, accusing him of arrogance, cowardice and duplicity. He soon returned to England, where he lived for eight years in close connexion with Mazzini, by whom, with some misgiving, he was persuaded to join the Revolutionary Committee. Quarrels of a kind only too common among exiles followed; the Hungarians were especially offended by his claim still to be called governor. He watched with anxiety every opportunity of once more freeing his country from Austria. An attempt to organize a Hungarian legion during the Crimean War was stopped; but in 1859 he entered into negotiations with Napoleon, left England for Italy, and began the organization of a Hungarian legion, which was to make a descent on the coast of Dalmatia. The Peace of Villafranca made this impossible. From that time he resided in Italy; he refused to follow the other Hungarian patriots, who, under the lead of Deak, accepted the composition of 1867; for him there could be no reconciliation with the house of Habsburg, nor would he accept less than full independence and a republic. He would not avail himself of the amnesty, and, though elected to the Diet of 1867, never took his seat. He never lost the affections of his countrymen, but he refrained from an attempt to give practical effect to his opinions, nor did he allow his name to become a new cause of dissension. A law of 1879, which deprived of citizenship all Hungarians who had voluntarily been absent ten years, was a bitter blow to him.
He died in Turin on the 20th of March 1894; his body was taken to Pesth, where he was buried amid the mourning of the whole nation, Maurus Jokai delivering the funeral oration. A bronze statue, erected by public subscription, in the Kerepes cemetery, commemorates Hungary’s purest patriot and greatest orator.
Many points in Kossuth’s career and character will probably always remain the subject of controversy. His complete works were published in Hungarian at Budapest in 1880–1895. The fullest account of the Revolution is given in Helfert, Geschichte Oesterreichs (Leipzig, 1869, &c.), representing the Austrian view, which may be compared with that of C. Gracza, History of the Hungarian War of Independence, 1848–1849 (in Hungarian) (Budapest, 1894). See also E. O. S., Hungary and its Revolutions, with a Memoir of Louis Kossuth (Bohn, 1854); Horvath, 25 Jahre aus der Geschichte Ungarns, 1823–1848 (Leipzig, 1867); Maurice, Revolutions of 1848–1849; W. H. Stiles, Austria in 1848–1849 (New York, 1852); Szemere, Politische Charakterskizzen: III. Kossuth (Hamburg, 1853); Louis Kossuth, Memoirs of my Exile (London, 1880); Pulszky, Meine Zeit, mein Leben (Pressburg, 1880); A. Somogyi, Ludwig Kossuth (Berlin, 1894). (J. W. He.)
KOSTER (or Coster), LAURENS (c. 1370–1440), Dutch printer,
whose claims to be considered at least one of the inventors of
the art (see Typography) have been recognized by many investigators.
His real name was Laurens Janssoen-Koster (i.e.
sacristan) being merely the title which he bore as an official of
the great parish church of Haarlem. We find him mentioned
several times between 1417 and 1434 as a member of the great
council, as an assessor (scabinus), and as the city treasurer.
He probably perished in the plague that visited Haarlem in
1439–1440; his widow is mentioned in the latter year. His
descendants, through his daughter Lucia, can be traced down
to 1724.
See Peter Scriver, Beschryvinge der Stad Harlem (Haarlem, 1628); Scheltema, Levensschets van Laurens d. Koster (Haarlem, 1834); Van der Linde, De Haarlemsche Costerlegende (Hague, 1870).
KOSTROMA, a government of central Russia, surrounded by
those of Vologda, Vyatka, Nizhniy-Novgorod, Vladimir and
Yaroslav, lying mostly on the left bank of the upper Volga.
It has an area of 32,480 sq. m. Its surface is generally undulating,
with hilly tracts on the right bank of the Volga, and extensive
flat and marshy districts in the east. Rocks of the Permian
system predominate, though a small tract belongs to the Jurassic,
and both are overlain by thick deposits of Quaternary clays.
The soil in the east is for the most part sand or a sandy clay;
a few patches, however, are fertile black earth. Forests, yielding
excellent timber for ship-building, and in many cases still
untouched, occupy 61% of the area of the government. The
export of timber is greatly facilitated by the navigable tributaries
of the Volga, e.g. the Kostroma, Unzha, Neya, Vioksa and
Vetluga. The climate is severe; frosts of −22° F. are common
in January, and the mean temperature of the year is only 3°.1
(summer, 64°.5; winter, −13°.3). The population, which numbered
1,176,000 in 1870 and 1,424,171 in 1897, is almost entirely
Russian. The estimated population in 1906 was 1,596,700. Out
of 20,000,000 acres, 7,861,500 acres belong to private owners,
6,379,500 to the peasant communities, 3,660,800 to the crown,
and 1,243,000 to the imperial family. Agriculture is at a low
ebb; only 4,000,000 acres are under crops (rye, oats, wheat and
barley), and the yield of corn is insufficient for the wants of the
population. Flax and hops are cultivated to an increasing
extent. But market-gardening is of some importance. Bee-keeping
was formerly an important industry. The chief articles
of commerce are timber, fuel, pitch, tar, mushrooms, and
wooden wares for building and household purposes, which are
largely manufactured by the peasantry and exported to the
steppe governments of the lower Volga and the Don. Boat-building
is also carried on. Some other small industries, such as the manufacture of silver and copper wares, leather goods, bast mats and sacks, lace and felt boots, are carried on in the villages; but the trade in linen and towelling, formerly the staple, is declining. There are cotton, flax and linen mills, engineering
and chemical works, distilleries, tanneries and paper mills. The
government of Kostroma is divided into twelve districts, the
