Hungarian statesman, the son of Lajos Kossuth; born on the 16th of November 1841, and educated at the Paris Polytechnic and the London University, where in 1859 he won a prize for political economy. After working as a civil engineer on the Dean Forest railway he went (1861) to Italy, where he resided for the next thirty-three years, taking a considerable part in the railway construction of the peninsula, and at the same time keeping alive the Hungarian independence question by a whole series of pamphlets and newspaper articles. At Cesena in 1876 he married Emily Hoggins. In 1885 he was decorated for his services by the Italian government. His last great engineering work was the construction of the steel bridges for the Nile. In 1894 he escorted his father’s remains to Hungary, and the following year resolved to settle in his native land and took the oath of allegiance. As early as 1867 he had been twice elected a member of the Hungarian diet, but on both occasions refused to accept the mandate. On the 10th of April 1895 he was returned for Tapolca and in 1896 for Cegléd, and from that time took an active part in Hungarian politics. In the autumn of 1898 he became the leader of the obstructionists or “Independence Party,” against the successive Széll, Khuen-Héderváry, Szápáry and István Tisza administrations (1898–1904), exercising great influence not only in parliament but upon the public at large through his articles in the Egyetértés. The elections of 1905 having sent his party back with a large majority, he was received in audience by the king and helped to construct the Wekerle ministry, of which he was one of the most distinguished members.
See Sturm, The Almanack of the Hungarian Diet (1905–1910), art. “Kossuth” (Hung.) (Budapest, 1905).—[Unattributed author].
As Minister of Commerce in the Wekerle Cabinet, Kossuth had many opportunities of turning to account his technical and economic experience. At the critical period of the Coalition he showed throughout solid ability, in contrast to Justh, who in 1909 brought about the break-up of the Independence party, which split into the Kossuth and the Justh wings. In consequence of increasing ill-health Kossuth withdrew more and more from active politics, and only appeared in Parliament on special occasions. When in the summer of 1913 the two wings of the Independence party were again united Count Mihály Károlyi undertook their actual leadership. In articles published in the Budapest Kossuth continued to express his views. He made his last appearance in Parliament on October 30, 1913. From his bed of sickness, to which he was confined from the autumn of 1913 onwards, he declined any participation with Count Mihály Károlyi against the Triple Alliance policy of the Dual Monarchy. He died on the 25th of May 1914.—[Eduard von Wertheimer].
