This utterance has been called the “Baptismal Speech of the Revolution.”  Coming as it did directly after the news of the French revolution, it gave a definiteness to the growing demands for freedom; but it did more than this.  Metternich had cherished a growing hope that the demand for constitutional government in Vienna might be gradually used to crush out the independent position of Hungary, by absorbing the Hungarians in a common Austrian parliament; and he had looked upon a Croatian question as a means for still further weakening the power of the Hungarian Diet.  Kossuth’s speech struck a blow at these hopes by declaring that freedom for any part of the empire could be obtained only by working for the freedom of the whole; he swept aside for the moment those national and provincial jealousies which were the great strength of the Austrian despotism, and appealed to all the Liberals of the empire to unite against the system which was oppressing them all.  Had Kossuth remained true to the faith which he proclaimed in this speech, it is within the limits of probability that the whole Revolution of 1848-1849 might have had a different result.

The Hungarian chancellor, Mailath, was so alarmed at Kossuth’s speech that he hindered the setting out of the deputation which was to have presented the address to the Emperor.  But he could not prevent the speech from producing its effect.  Although Presburg was only six hours’ journey from Vienna, the route had been made so difficult that the news of anything done in the Hungarian Diet had hitherto reached Vienna in a roundabout manner, and had sometimes been a week on its way.

The news of this speech, however, arrived on the very next day; and Kossuth’s friend Pulszky immediately translated it into German and circulated it among the Viennese.  A rumor of its contents had spread before the actual speech.  It was said that Kossuth had declared war against the system of government, and that he had said state bankruptcy was inevitable.  But as the news became more definite the minds of the Viennese fixed upon two points—­the denunciation of the men of the past, and the demand for a constitution for Austria.  So alarmed did the Government become at the effect of this speech that they undertook to answer it in an official paper.

The writer of this answer called attention to the terrible scenes which he said were being enacted in Paris, which proved according to him that the only safety for the governed was in rallying round the government.  This utterance naturally excited only contempt and disgust; and the ever-arriving news of new constitutions granted in Germany swelled the enthusiasm which had been roused by Kossuth’s speech.