rk subterranean prison-cell in the castle of
Buda, and detained there, while his father and mother and his family,
who were looking to him solely for their support, were robbed of the aid
of their natural protector.

Although at that period lawlessness was the order of the day, yet this
last cruel and illegal act of the Government greatly exasperated the
public mind, which was already in a ferment of excitement. But while the
excited passions raged throughout the country, the Government, nothing
loth, caused Kossuth to be prosecuted for high treason, and, having
obtained his conviction, had him sentenced to an imprisonment of three
years. Kossuth applied himself during his detention to serious studies,
and acquired also, while in prison, the English language to such an
extent that he was enabled to address in that language, during his
exile, with great effect and impressiveness, large audiences both in
England and in the United States of America. His imprisonment lasted two
long years, after the lapse of which he obtained, in 1840, a pardon in
consequence of the repeated and urgent representations of the Diet.

Kossuth returned to the scene of his former activity as the martyr of
free speech and the victim to the cause of the nation. He very soon
found a new field in which to labor. The Government perceived at last
that violence was of little avail, and that those questions which were
occupying the minds to such a degree could no longer be kept from being
publicly discussed by the press. Kossuth now obtained permission to edit
a political daily paper. Its publication was commenced under the title
of _Pesti Hirlap_ ("Newspaper of Pest") in 1841, and may be said to have
created the political daily press of Hungary. It disseminated new ideas
among the masses, stirred up the indifferent to feel an interest in the
affairs of the country, and gave a purpose to the national aspirations.
It proclaimed democratic reforms in every department; the abolition of
the privileges of the nobility and of their exemption from taxation,
equal rights and equal burdens for all the citizens of the State, and
the extension of public instruction, and it endeavored to restore the
Hungarian nationality to the place it was entitled to claim in the
organism of the State.

The wealth of ideas thus daily communicated to the country appeared in
the most attractive garb, for Kossuth possessed a masterly style, and
his leaders and shorter articles sho