=403. Kossuth’s Visit.=—The great growth in population, the acquisition of vast territories, the surprising industrial and commercial development, were not only uniting the people of America, but were stimulating their emotional nature. The quiet, staid country of two generations before no longer existed. Popular furores became possible and a love of the spectacular was developed. Barnum, the showman, laid the foundations of his fortune. Newspapers rivaled one another in securing news quickly. International yacht races were begun. Distinguished men went on lecture tours through the country. Great authors and actors came from abroad to receive American hospitality and applause. There were women’s rights conventions and agitations in behalf of temperance.[181] But all these elements of excitement were thrown into the shade by the visit of Louis Kossuth, the great Hungarian orator who had vainly attempted to secure the independence of his native land and was now an exile. Invited by Congress, Kossuth late in 1851 reached the United States, on the man-of-war _Mississippi_. He was received with an enthusiasm unequaled in our history, save on the occasion of Lafayette’s visit. Receptions were given him in all the chief cities, and he astonished his hearers by the ease and power with which he spoke English. But he made the mistake of trying to persuade the people that the policy of non-interference in European affairs, established by Washington, was an erroneous one. A few politicians, for party purposes, seconded his proposal that the United States should intervene in behalf of Hungary. But the nation at large held aloof from him; the novelty of his visit wore off; and the great orator returned to Europe a disappointed man. [Illustration: FRANKLIN PIERCE.]