The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 37
The Sultan and Kossuth
The Sultan and Kossuth.
When Kossuth took refuge on Ottoman soil, two powerful empires demanded his surrender. Abdul Medjid was in council when informed that such a demand was about to be made. He rose from the divan and uttered these unpremeditated words:—
"Shall I, who am master of the empire, be denied the right of refuge, which I cannot refuse to the meanest of my subjects in the case even of a cnlprit? Sooner let the empire perish!"
This was after Kossuth had written:—"Should Russia not believe we are to be conquered so easily, we are ready, rather than come under Austrian rule, to fling ourselves with all our force, which is not insignificant, on Turkey and Wallachia, and set the East in a blaze."