s era of arrested activities, the energies of a restless
people turned otherwhere for interest. To relieve the monotony of
political stagnation, popular attention was now turned toward the
affairs of Hungary. We could not solve our own problems, but we
were as ready to solve those of Europe as Europe was to offer us
aid in ours. Therefore, instant interest attached to the news that
a Hungarian committee of inquiry had landed upon our shores, with
the purpose of investigating a possible invitation from our
republic to the Hungarian patriot, Kossuth, then in exile in Turkey.

The leader of this mission was General Zewlinski, an officer of the
patriot army of Hungary, who brought with him a suite of some dozen
persons. These, late in the winter of 1850-51, arrived at
Washington and found quarters of somewhat magnificent sort in one
of the more prominent hotels of the national capital. At once
political and journalistic Washington was on the _qui vive_. The
Hungarians became the object of a solicitude, not to say a
curiosity, which must at times have tried their souls.

The first formal action of the Hungarian committee took the shape
of a return reception, to be held in the hotel parlors. The
invitations, liberal as they were, were sought for quite in excess
of the supply, and long before the doors were open, it was quite
assured that the affair would be a crush. The administration, for
which Mr. Webster, our secretary of state, had not hesitated to
write in most determined fashion to the attache Hulsemann regarding
the presumptuous Austrian demands upon our government, none the less
was much in a funk regarding "European obligations." Not wishing to
offend the popular fancy, and not daring to take decisive stand, the
usual compromise was made. Although no member of the administration
was sent officially to recognize these unofficial ambassadors, a
long suffering officer of the navy, with his wife and one or two
other ladies, were despatched quasi-officially to lend color to the
occasion.

Such splendor as could be arranged had been provided for the
setting of this event. A Hungarian orchestra, brought with these
commissioners, discoursed its peculiar music beyond a screen of
palms and flowers. One of the great parlors had been prepared for
those of the young who could not resist the temptation to dance.
At the head of the little line of these visitors, now themselves in
effect hosts, stood the old Hungaria