Hungarian liberty may be cast down, but cannot be destroyed. The sacred flame burns unquenched in the hearts of the people, and will again burst forth, a glorious light to enlighten the nation—but a consuming fire to their oppressors. But when? and how shall this be accomplished? Sir, we believe and feel with you that this will be accomplished whenever the free people of America, uniting with those kindred nations of Europe which sustain and shall secure free institutions, will support and insist upon that great moral principle of international law which you have recently so eloquently and ably expounded—that one nation should not interfere with the domestic concerns of another. Establish this great and just principle, and Hungary would again assume her station among the nations of the earth—free and independent. Establish this great principle, and Germany and Italy would also soon be free. Sir, we believe in this great principle; we believe it to be a principle of justice and humanity; we believe it to be the inalienable right of every people to establish such forms of government as are best adapted to their condition, and as they may deem best calculated to ensure their own rights, liberties, and pursuit of happiness. And we believe that this great principle of international law should be the basis of the intercourse of nations, and that we have no more right to make free with the forms of government of other nations, than with their forms of religion. But this principle being conceded and established, how is it to be enforced? How are the despotic dynasties of Europe to be prevented from lending their combined energies to crush every germ of freedom amongst those who, if left to themselves, would, like Hungary, be free and independent. Solely by the method which you have so ably developed. Solely by inducing those nations which are strong enough to maintain the principles of international law—to unite in their support, and by such union, effectually to guarantee the peace of the world. To effect this most desirable object, you have adopted the true method. You would operate upon the public opinion, and public opinion operating upon free government, creates and establishes public and international law. But when we see this great principle of non-intervention violated—when we see a free and united people crushed and trampled upon by foreign despots, because they have dared to proclaim and establish equal rights and privileges as the basis of their own institutions, must we look tamely on and see the life-blood of freedom crushed out by the iron heel of barbaric despotism, and hear the death-groans of the brave and free without daring to express our feelings or to extend the hand of sympathy and comfort to the suffering sons of liberty? No! in the name of outraged justice and humanity, no! We will openly, warmly, and freely express our sympathy in the cause of freedom, and our approbation of the devotion, the endurance, and the gallantry of her sons. We will, by all constitutional modes, endeavour to sustain those principles, which will terminate this outrage upon the sacred laws of justice and humanity. We will further aid this cause by contributing our share to the contributions offered by our people to enable you to advance the establishment of those principles so important to the emancipation of your beloved Hungary, and so essential to the preservation of civil and religious liberty. And now upon this interesting occasion, I hail the presence of this noble company of faithful and devoted sons of Hungary, your companions in exile and in prison, and present them to this division; men, who, like our fathers, pledged their sacred honours "to sustain the independence of their country." [Here there was an outburst of cheering, and Colonel Berczenszy and the other Hungarians, companions in arms of Kossuth, all rose, and were again greeted with another burst of enthusiastic cheering.] We receive them as friends and brothers, and as martyrs in the same holy cause of constitutional liberty in which our fathers fought and bled, and suffered, and triumphed; and in which, we trust and believe, you will also live to triumph and rejoice, in the bosom of your own, your native land.

Loud applause followed the conclusion of this address.

Kossuth then rose and said—

General and gentlemen,—I accept with the highest gratitude, the honour to meet the first division of the New York State Militia, who having, in their capacity of citizen soldiers, honoured me on my arrival by their participation in the generous welcome which I met with, have also, by the military honour bestowed on me, so much contributed to impart to this great demonstration that public character which cannot fail to prove highly beneficial to the cause which I hold up before the free people of this mighty republic, and which I dare confidently to state is the great question of freedom and independence to the European continent. I entreat you, gentlemen, not to expect any elaborate speech from me, because really I am unprepared to make one. You are citizen soldiers, a glorious title, to which I have the ambition of aspiring; so, I hope you will kindly excuse me, if I endeavour to speak to you as soldiers. Do you know, gentlemen, what is the finest speech I ever heard or read? It is the address of Garibaldi to his Roman soldiers in the last war, when he told them:—"Soldiers, what I have to offer you is fatigue, danger, struggling, and death—the chill of the cold night, the open air, and the burning sun—no lodgings, no munitions, no provisions—but forced marches, dangerous watchposts, and continual struggling with bayonets against batteries. Let those who love freedom and their country, follow me." That is the most glorious speech I ever heard in my life. But, of course, that is no speech for to-day. I will speak so, when I again meet the soldiers of Hungary, to fight once more the battle of freedom and independence. [After various compliments to General Sandford on the appearance of his soldiers, and the good order of the republic, Kossuth continued as follows:] I thank you for the explanation of the organization and discipline of this gallant division. Europe has many things to learn from America. It has to learn the value of free institutions—the expansive power of freedom—the practical value of local self-government, as opposed to centralization. But one of the most important lessons you give to Europe, is in the organization of the militia of the United States. You have the best organized army in the world, and yet you have scarcely a standing army at all. That is a necessary thing for Europe to learn from America—-that great standing armies must cease. But they can cease, only then, when the nations are free; for great standing armies are not national institutions, they are the instruments of dynastic violence or foreign despotism. The existence of tyranny imposes on Europe great standing armies. When the nations once become free, they will not want them, because they will not war with each other. Freedom will become a friendly link among nations. But as far as they may want them, your example shows that a popular militia, like yours, is the mightiest national Defence. Thirty-seven years ago a great battle was fought at New Orleans, which showed what a defence your country has in its militia. Nay more, your history proves that this institution affords the most powerful means of Offensive war, should war become indispensable. I am aware, gentlemen, that your war with Mexico was chiefly carried on by volunteers. I know what a distinguished part the volunteers of New York took in that war. And who were these volunteers? Who were those from New York city, and of other regiments? They were of your militia, the source of that military spirit which is the glory of your country, and its safety when needed in time of war or social disorder. I learned all this from the United States, and it was my firm intention to carry out this militia organization in Hungary. My idea was and still is to do so, and I will endeavour, with the help of God, to carry it out.

My idea is, there are duties towards one native land common to every citizen, and public instruction and education must have such a direction as to enable every citizen to perform them. One of these duties is to defend it in time of danger, to take up arms for its freedom and independence and security. My idea is to lay such a foundation for public instruction, in the schools, that every boy in Hungary shall be educated in military skill, so much as is necessary for the defence of his native land, and those who feel inclined to adopt the profession of arms, might complete their education in higher public schools and universities, as is the case in the professions of the bar, and physic, and the pulpit. But I would have no distinction among the citizens. To defend our country is a common duty, and every one must know how to perform it. Taking the basis of your organization as an example for Hungary, Hungary would have at least one million of men ready to defend it against the oppression of any power whatever. That the militia of Hungary, thus developed, would be the most solid guardian of my country's freedom and independence, we have shown in our past struggles. The glorious deeds which the unnamed heroes of the people achieved, proves what with previous preparation they could do in defence of their native land. Often they have gone into battle without knowing how to fire or cock a musket; but they took batteries by their bayonets, and they achieved glorious deeds like those that are classed among the deeds of immortality. We have not either wish or inclination for conquest. We are content with our native land if it be independent and free. For the maintenance of that independence and freedom, we established by law the institution of the National Guard. It is like your militia. I consider the organization to be like a porcupine, which moves on its own road quietly, but when attacked or when danger approaches, stretches forth its thorns. May God Almighty grant that I may soon see developed in my native land, the great institution of a National Guard!

The power of Hungary, thus established, is a basis indispensable to the freedom of Europe. I will prove this in a few words. The enemy of European freedom is Russia. Now, can Hungary be a barrier to secure Europe against this power of Russia? I answer: yes. You are a nation of twenty-four millions, and you have an organized militia of some three millions; Hungary is a nation of fifteen millions, and at least can have one million of brave citizen soldiers. I hope this may be regarded, then, as a positive proof of what I say about the ability of Hungary to resist the power of despotism, and defend Europe against Russian encroachments. Another thing is, the weakness of Russia herself; for she is not so strong as people generally believe. It has taken her whole power to put down Hungary, and all she can raise consists of 750,000 men. Then you must consider that the Russian territory is of immense extent, and that its population is oppressed; tranquillity and the order of the grave,—not the order of contentment,—is kept in Russia itself, only by the armed soldiery of the Czar. Now, it is not much when I say that 250,000 men are indispensable to keep tranquillity in the interior of that empire; 100,000 men are necessary to guard its frontiers extending from Siberia to Turkey; 100,000 to keep down the heroic spirit of oppressed Poland, Take all this together, and you will see that Russia scarcely can, at the utmost, employ 300,000 men in a foreign war, and, really, it had not more engaged, as history will prove, in the greatest struggle it made for existence—it could not bring more into the field. The million of citizen soldiers would not require to be so brave as they are, to be a match for those 300,000 men; and, therefore, the first result of restored independence in Hungary would be—should the Czar once more have the arrogant intention to put his foot upon mankind's neck, as he blasphemously boasted he had the authority of God to do—the repression of his power by Hungary. Not only would it be repressed, but Hungary could assault him in a quarter where she would find powerful allies. His financial embarrassments are very great, for you know that even in the brief war in Hungary he was necessitated to raise a loan in England. We should have for our allies the oppressed people, and our steps would be marked by the liberation of all who are now enslaved. First among our allies would be the Polish nation, which is not restricted to the Poland of the maps, but extends through the wide provinces of Gallicia, Lithuania, &c. These are proofs that the might of Russia is not so immense that it should intimidate a nation fighting in a just cause. With Hungary once free, Russia would never dare to threaten European liberty again.

But if Russia is so weak as I have shown her to be, why, you may say, do I ask your support and aid against her interference? Because Russia is only thirty hours' distance from Hungary, and one of her large armies stands prepared to move at any time against the liberties of our people, before we could have time to develop our resources. This is the motive why I ask, in the name of my country, the great and beneficial support of the United States to check and prevent Russian interference in Hungary, so that we may have time to erect it into an insurmountable barrier and impregnable fortress against the despotism of the Czar. This, I say, is the reason why I claim aid from the United States, and ask it to assume its rightful executive in the police of nations. That is the only glory which is wanting to the lustre of your glorious stars. The militia of the United States having been the assertors of the independence and liberties of this country and the guardians of its security, have now scarcely any other calling; and I confidently hope, that being your condition, you will not deny your generous support to the great principle of non-interference, in the next struggle which Hungary will make for freedom and independence, which even now is felt in the air, and is pointed out by the finger of God himself. My second earnest wish and hope is, that the people will see that their commerce with other people, whether in revolution or not, shall be secured. It is not so much my interest as it is your right; and I hope the militia of the United States will ever be ready to protect oppressed humanity. My third humble claim is, that this great republic shall recognize the legitimate independence of Hungary. The militia of this country fought and bled for that principle upon your own soil; so, by the glory of your predecessors—by all the blessings which have flowed from your struggle, which make your glory and happiness—you will feel inclined to support this my humble claim for the recognition of the legitimate independence of my fatherland.

I thank you for the generous sympathy, and for the reception and welcome of my companions, the devoted sons of Hungary, who were ready to sacrifice life and fortune to the independence of their native land. There are several among them who were already soldiers before our struggle, and they employed their military skill in the service of their country. But there were others who were not soldiers, yet whose patriotism led them to embrace the cause of their native land, and they proved to be brave and efficient supporters of the freedom for which they fought. Thanking you for the sympathy you have expressed for them, I promise you, gentlemen, that they will prove themselves worthy of it. I will point out to them the most dangerous places, and I know they will acquit themselves honourably and bravely. As to myself, I have here a sword on my side given to me by an American citizen. This being a gift from a citizen of the United States, I take it as a token of encouragement to go on in that way by which, with the blessing of Almighty God, I shall yet be enabled again to see my fatherland independent and free. I swear here before you, that this American sword in my hand shall be always faithful in the cause of freedom—that it shall be ever foremost in the battle—and that it shall never be polluted by ambition or cowardice.

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X.—CONDITIONS ESSENTIAL FOR DEMOCRACY AND PEACE.

[Reply to the Address of the Democrats of Tammany Hall, New York, Dec. 17th.]

Mr. Sickles, who made the address, closed by stating that he contributed to the cause of Hungary "a golden dollar, fresh from the free mines of the Pacific;" adding that he trusted millions would follow, and that the "Almighty Dollar," if still the proverb of a money-making people, would become a symbol of its noblest instincts and truest ambition.

Kossuth, in reply, after warm thanks, declined the personal praises bestowed on him, and sketched the series of events by which the Austrian tyranny had converted him from insignificance into a man of importance. He then proceeded to comment on France[*] as follows:—I hope that the great French nation will soon succeed to establish a true republic. But I have come to the conviction, that for freedom there is no duration in CENTRALIZATION, which is a legacy of ambitious men. To be conquerors, power must be centralized; but to be a free nation, self-government must reign in families, villages, cities, counties, states. As power now is lodged in France, the government has in its hand an army of half a million of men, under that iron discipline which is needed in a standing army. It has under its control a budget of more than a thousand million francs. It can dispose of every public office in France; it has a civil army of more than 500,000 men: the mayor of the least village derives his appointment from the government. All the police, all the gens d'armes, are in its hands. Now, gentlemen, is it not clear that—with such authority and force,—not to become dangerous to liberty, every President needs to be a Washington. And Washingtons are not so thickly strewn around. Woe to the country, whose institutions are such, that their freedom depends on the personal character of one man. Be he the best man in the world, he will not overcome the essential repugnance of his position to freedom. When France abandons this centralization, and carries out her own principles of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," by local self-government, she will be the great basis of European republics. As to sovereignty of the people, I take it that the right to cast a vote for the election of a President once in four years does not exhaust the sovereign rights of a nation. A people deciding about its own matters, must be everywhere master of its own fate, in village communes as much as in electing its chief officer.

[Footnote *: The news of the coup d'etat had not yet reached him.]

You have spoken about certain persons who will have "peace at any price." Of course you feel that permanent peace cannot be had at any less price, than that which buys justice: nor can there be justice, where is no freedom. Under oppression is neither contentment nor tranquillity. There are some who prefer being oppressed to the dangers of shaking off oppression; but I am sure there are millions who fear death less than enslavement. Peace therefore will not exist, though all your Rothschilds and Barings help the despots. To withhold material aid from the oppressed will not avert the war, but by depriving the leaders of the means of concert will simply make the struggle more lingering: a result surely not desired by friends of peace.

But, sir, I thank you for your dollar. The ocean is composed of drops. The greatest results are achieved, not by individuals, but by the humble industry of mankind, incessantly bringing man nearer to the aim providentially destined for him. Not all the Rothschilds together can wield such sums as poor people can; for the poor count by millions. Those dollars of the people have another great value. One million of them given by a million of men gives hope to the popular cause: it gives the sympathy and support of a million men. I bless God for that word of yours, that the one dollar should be followed by many; for then your example would not only in a financial respect be a great benefit, but afford a foundation for that freedom which the Almighty designs for the nations. Here is a great glory for your country to aim at. It is glorious to stand at the top of the pyramid of humanity; more glorious to become yourselves the pillar on which the welfare of human nature rests. For this, mankind looks to your country with hope and confidence.

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XI.—HUNGARY AND AUSTRIA IN RELIGIOUS CONTRAST.

[Address in the Plymouth Church at Brooklyn, Dec. 18th, 1851.]

The Rev. H. W. Beecher having assured Kossuth of the deep and religious interest long felt and expressed towards him within those very walls: Kossuth replied, declaring that he felt himself always in the power of God, and believed Christianity and freedom to be but one cause. He went on to add:

The cause of Hungary is strongly connected with the principle of religious liberty on earth. In the first war of the sixteenth century a battle was fought by the Moslems in Hungary, by which the power of our nation was almost overthrown. At that time the monarchy was elective. A Hungarian, who was Governor of Transylvania, was chosen king, but another party elected Ferdinand of Austria to be King of Hungary. A long struggle ensued, in which the Princes of Transylvania called in Turkish aid against the House of Austria.

In the hour of necessity, the House of Austria complied with the wishes of my nation, whenever my country had taken up arms; but no sooner was the sword laid down, than this dynasty always neglected to perform its promises. In the midst of the last century, under Maria Theresa, those who did not belong to the Catholic faith were almost excluded from all offices. Joseph succeeded, who was a tolerant man; but scarcely was he in his grave, when the Emperor Francis renewed persecution, and it was only in 1848, that religious liberty was established to every creed. When the House of Austria took arms against the laws of 1848, they took arms against religious liberty.

In our Parliament, it was Roman Catholics who stood in the van of battle for religious liberty: but when I say this, I must state it without drawing any commentary from it. It was reserved to our revolution to show the development of the glorious cause of freedom. When my country imposed on me the duty to govern the land, I was ready to show the confidence I had in religious freedom. I chose a Catholic Minister to be Minister of Education in Hungary, and he fully justified the confidence I reposed in him. He has shown that our Constitution is founded upon equality; that it regards all men as citizens, and makes no distinction of profession. It is only under free institutions that a clergyman can remain a clergyman with burning heart towards his own duties, and yet, when called to perform the duties of a citizen, be no longer a clergyman but a citizen. Could the Church of Rome have appreciated this principle, and have acted upon it, my friend Mazzini were not now necessary for the freedom of Italy. But as Rome did not appreciate it, the temporal power of the Pope will probably fall at the next revolution.

My principles are, that the Church shall not meddle with politics, and Government will not meddle with religion. In every society there are political and civil concerns on one side, and on the other social concerns; for the first, civil authority must be established—in political and civil respects every one has to acknowledge the power of its jurisdiction. But, in respect to social interests, it is quite the contrary. Religion is not an institution—it is a matter of conscience.

For the support of these principles I ask your generous aid. You know that whenever the House of Austria attains to any strength, its first step is to break down religious liberty. And Austria is helped by Russia, which is even still less propitious to these principles; you remember the insolence or hardship to which in Russia those people are subject who do not belong to the Greek Church; at the present time the poor Jews are subjected to great indignities, and compelled, if not to shave off their hair, to cut it in a particular manner, so as to distinguish them from members of the Greek Church. But Hungary, by the providence of God, is destined to become once more the vanguard of civilization, and of religious liberty for the whole of the European Continent against the encroachments of Russian despotism, as it has already been the barrier of Christianity, against Islamism.

Kossuth then proceeded to explain, that any moneys contributed by the generosity of the American public would not be employed as a warlike fund, for which it would be utterly insignificant; but solely as a means of enabling the oppressed to concert their measures. After this he canvassed the three props of Austria, and pointed out the weakness of them all; viz. its loans,—its army,—and Russia. Its loans run fast to a bankruptcy. Its army is composed of nations which hate it. Under the Austrian government, the Tyrol perhaps alone has escaped bombardments, scaffolds, and jails filled with patriots. The armies are raised by forcible conscriptions, and contain some hundred thousand Hungarians who recently fought and conquered Austria, whom Austria now keeps in drill to serve against her when the time comes. As to the third prop—Russia,—possibly for some days yet in the future it may support Austria; but not in a long war: Austria can never stand in a long war.

I am told (said Kossuth) that some who call themselves "men of peace" cry out for peace at any price. But is the present condition peace? Is the scaffold peace?—that scaffold, on which in Lombardy during the "peaceful" years the blood of 3742 patriots has been shed. When the prisons of Austria are filled with patriots, is that peace? or is the discontent of all the nations peace? I do not believe that the Lord created the world for such a kind of peace as that,—to be a prison,—to be a volcano, boiling up and ready to break out. No: but with justice and liberty there will be contentment, and with contentment, peace—lasting peace, consistent peace: while from the tyrants of the world there is oppression, and with oppression the breaking forth of war.....

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XII.—PUBLIC PIRACY OF RUSSIA

[Reply to the Address of the Bar of New York, Dec. 19th, 1851.]

A reception and a banquet to Kossuth having been prepared by the Bar at Tripler Hall, ex-justice Jones introduced him with a short speech; after which Judge Sandford, in the name of the whole Bar, read an ample address, of which the following is the principal part:—

Governor Kossuth.—The Bar of New York, having participated with their fellow-citizens in extending to you that cordial and enthusiastic welcome which greeted your landing upon the shores of America, have solicited the opportunity to express to you, as a member of the legal profession, their respect for your great talents and eminent attainments, and their admiration for the ardour and enthusiasm with which you have devoted all your powers and energies to the sacred cause of the emancipation of your native land. Wherever freedom has needed an advocate, wherever law has required a supporter, wherever tyranny and oppression have provoked resistance, and men have been found for the occasion, it is the proud honour of our common profession to have presented from our ranks some prominent individual who has generously and boldly engaged in the service; and Hungary has furnished to the world one of the most striking in the brilliant series of illustrious examples. As early as the year 1840, the public history of Hungary had made us acquainted with the distinguished part which a Mr. Kossuth, an attorney, as he was then described, had performed in sustaining the laws of his country. Mr. Kossuth, the Attorney of that day, has since matured into the Counsellor, Statesman, Patriot, Governor, and now stands before us the Exile more distinguished for his firmness and undaunted courage in his last reverse than for his exaltation by the free choice of his countrymen. After the years of your imprisonment and painful anxiety had worn away, and the illegal measure of your arrest had been publicly acknowledged, we found you restored to your personal liberty, and again ardently engaged in the great cause of your country's freedom. At the meeting of the Diet of Hungary which was held in November, 1847, and before the flame of revolution had illuminated Europe, we found a series of acts resolved upon by that body, which declared an equality of civil rights and of public burdens among all classes, denominations, and races in Hungary and its provinces, perfect toleration for every form of religion, an extension of the elective franchise, universal freedom in the sale of landed property, liberty to strangers to settle in the country, the emancipation of the Jews, the sum of eight millions set apart to encourage manufactures and construct roads, and the nobles of Hungary, by a voluntary act, abolishing the old tenure of the lands, thereby constituting the producing classes to be absolute owners of nearly one half of the cultivated territory in the kingdom. This great advance made by your country in a system of benign and ameliorating legislation, was checked by occurrences which are too fresh in your recollection to require a recapitulation. We welcome you among us; we tender you our admiration for your efforts; our sympathy for your sufferings; our cordial wishes that your persevering labours may be successful in restoring your country to her place among nations, and her people to the enjoyment of those blessings of civil and religious liberty, to which, by their intelligence and bravery, and by the laws of nature and of nature's God, they are justly entitled. Our professional pursuits have led us to the study of the system of jurisprudence which has been matured by the wisdom and experience of ages, but which has been recognized by all eminent jurists to be founded upon the defined principles of Christianity. From that great source of law we have learned, that as members of the family of mankind, our duties are not bounded by the territorial limits of the government which protects us, nor circumscribed as to time or space. We have framed a constitution of government, and under it have adopted a system of laws which we are bound to execute and obey. The stability and efficiency of our own government are dependent upon the intelligence, virtue, and moderation of our people. It has been justly remarked by one of our most distinguished jurists, that "in a republic, every citizen is himself in some measure entrusted with the public safety, and acts an important part for its weal or woe." Trained as we have been in these principles of self-government, appreciating all the blessings which a bounteous Creator has so profusely showered upon us, and desirous to see the principles of civil and religious liberty extended to other nations, we rejoice at every uprising of their oppressed people; we sympathize with their struggles, and within the limits of our public laws and public policy, we aid them in their efforts. If through weakness or treachery they fail, we grieve at their misfortunes. In you, sir, we behold a personification of that great principle which forms the corner stone of our own revered Constitution—the right of self-government. Darkened as has been the horizon of suffering Hungary, in you, sir, still burns that living fire of freedom, which we trust will yet light up her firmament, and shed its lustrous flame over her wasted lands. "The unnamed demi-gods" whose blood has moistened her battle-fields, the martyrs whose lives have been freely offered up on the scaffold and beneath the axe, the living exiles now scattered through distant lands, have not suffered, are not suffering in vain. Governments were created for the benefit of the many, and not of the few. A day, an hour of retribution will yet come; the Almighty promise will not be forgotten—"Vengeance is mine—I will repay it, saith the Lord."

Kossuth thereupon replied:—

Gentlemen,—Highly as I value the opportunity to meet the gentlemen of the Bar, I should have felt very much embarrassed to have to answer the address of that corporation before such a numerous and distinguished assembly, had not you, sir, relieved my well-founded anxiety by justly anticipating and appreciating my difficulties. Let me hope, that herein you were the interpreter of this distinguished assembly's indulgence.

Gentlemen of the Bar, you have the noble task to be the first interpreters of the law; to make it subservient to justice; to maintain its eternal principles against encroachment; and to restore those principles to life, whenever they become obliterated by misunderstanding or by violence. My opinion is, that Law must keep pace in its development with institutions and intelligence, and until these are perfect, law is and must be with them in continual progress. Justice is immortal, eternal, and immutable, like God himself; and the development of law is only then a progress, when it is directed towards those principles which, like Him, are eternal; and whenever prejudice or error succeeds in establishing in customary law any doctrine contrary to eternal justice, it is one of your noblest duties, gentlemen,—having no written Code to fetter justice within the bonds of error and prejudice,—it is one of your noblest duties to apply Principles, —to show that an unjust custom is a corrupt practice, an abuse; and by showing this, to originate that change, or rather development in the unwritten, customary law, which is necessary to make it protect justice, instead of opposing and violating it.

If this be your noble vocation in respect to the Private laws of your country, let me entreat you, gentlemen, to extend it to that Public law which, regulating the mutual duties of nations towards each other, rules the destinies of humanity. You know that in that eternal code of "nature and of nature's God," which your forefathers invoked when they raised the colonies of England to the rank of a free nation, there are no pettifogging subtleties, but only everlasting principles: everlasting, like those by which the world is ruled. You know that when artificial cunning of ambitious oppressors succeeds to pervert those principles, and when passive indifference or thoughtlessness submits to it, as weakness must submit: it is the noble destiny—let me say, duty—of enlightened nations, alike powerful as free, to restore those eternal principles to practical validity, so that justice, light, and truth may sway, where injustice, oppression, and error have prevailed. Raise high the torch of truth; cast its beams on the dark field of arbitrary prejudice; become the champions of principles, and your people will be the regenerators of International law.

It will. A tempestuous life has somewhat sharpened my eye, and had it even not done so, still I would dare to say, I know how to read your people's heart. It is conscious of your country's power; it is jealous of its own dignity; it knows that it is able to restore the law of nations to the principles of justice and right; and knowing its ability, its will shall not be lacking. Let the cause of Hungary become the opportunity for the restoration of true and just international law. Mankind is come to the eleventh hour in its destinies. One hour of delay more, and its fate may be sealed, and nothing left to the generous inclinations of your people—so tender-hearted, so noble, and so kind—but to mourn over murdered nations, its beloved brethren in humanity.

I have but to make a few remarks about two objections, which I am told I shall have to contend with. The first is, that it is a leading principle of the United States not to interfere with European nations. I may perhaps assume that you have been pleased to acquaint yourselves with what I have elsewhere said on that argument; viz. that the United States had never entertained or confessed such a principle, or at any rate had abandoned it, and had been forced to do so: which indicates it to have been only a temporary policy. I stated the mighty difference between neutrality and non-interference; so I will only briefly remark that a like difference exists between alliance and interference. Every independent power has the right to form alliances, but is not under duty to do so: it may remain neutral, if it please. Neither alliances nor neutrality are matters of principle, but simply of policy. They may hurt interest, but do not violate law; whereas with interference the contrary is the case. Interference with the sovereign right of nations to resist oppression, or to alter their institutions and government, is a violation of the law of nations and of God: therefore non-interference is a duty common to every power and every nation, and is placed under the safeguard of every power, of every nation. He who violates that law is like a pirate: every power on earth has the duty to chase him down as a curse to human nature. There is not a man in the United States but would avow that a pirate must be chased down; and no man more readily than the gentlemen of trade. A gentleman who came yesterday to honour me with the invitation of Cincinnati, that rising wonder of the West,—with eloquence which speaks volumes in one word, designated as piracy the interference of foreign violence with the domestic concerns of a nation. There is such a moving power in a word of truth! That word has relieved me of many long speeches. I no longer need to discuss the principle of your foreign policy: there can be no doubt about what is lawful, what is a duty, against piracy. Your naval forces are, and must be, instructed to put down piracy wherever they meet it, on whatever geographic lines, whether in European or in American waters. You sent your Commodore Decatur for that purpose to the Mediterranean, who told the Dey of Algiers, that "if he claims powder, he will have it with the balls;" and no man in the United States imagined this to oppose your received policy. Nobody then objected that it is the ruling principle of the United States not to meddle with European or African concerns; rather, if your government had neglected so to do, I am sure the gentlemen of trade would have been foremost to complain. Now, in the name of all which is pleasing to God and sacred to man, if all are ready thus to unite in the outcry against a rover, who, at the danger of his own life, boards some frail ship, murders some poor sailors, or takes a few bales of cotton—is there no hope to see a similar universal outcry against those great pirates who board, not some small cutters, but the beloved home of nations? who murder, not some few sailors, but whole peoples? who shed blood, not by drops, but by torrents? who rob, not some hundred weight of merchandize, but the freedom, independence, welfare, and the very existence of nations? Oh God and Father of human kind! spare—oh spare that degradation to thy children; that in their destinies some bales of cotton should more weigh than those great moralities. Alas! what a pitiful sight! A miserable pickpocket, a drunken highway robber, chased by the whole human race to the gallows: and those who pickpocket the life-sweat of nations, rob them of their welfare, of their liberty, and murder them by thousands—these high-handed criminals proudly raise their brow, trample upon mankind, and degrade its laws before their high reverential name, and term themselves "most sacred majesties." But may God be blessed, there is hope for human nature; for there is a powerful, free, mighty people here on the virgin soil of America, ready to protect the laws of man and of Heaven against the execrated pirates and their associates.

But again I am told, "The United States, as a power, are not indifferent; we sympathize deeply with those who are oppressed; we will respect the laws of nations; but we have no interest to make them respected by others towards others." Interest! and always interest! Oh, how cupidity has succeeded to misrepresent the word? Is there any interest which could outweigh the interest of justice and of right? Interest! But I answer by the very words of one of the most distinguished members of your profession, gentlemen, the present Honourable Secretary of State:—"The United States, as a nation, have precisely the same interest (yes, interest is his word) in international law as a private individual has in the laws of his country." He was a member of the bar who advanced that principle of eternal justice against the mere fact of policy; and now that he is in the position to carry out the principle which he has advanced, I confidently trust he will be as good as his word,[*] and that his honourable colleagues, the gentlemen of the bar, will remember their calling to maintain the permanent principles of justice against the encroachments of accidental policy.

[Footnote *: See the extracts from Mr. Webster's speech at the Washington Banquet.]

But I may be answered—"If we (the United States) avow that we will not endure the interference of Russia in Hungary (for that is the practical meaning, I will not deny), and if Russia should not respect our declaration; then we might have to go to war." Well, I am not the man to decline the consequences of my principles. I will not steal into your sympathy by evasion. Yes, gentlemen, I confess, should Russia not respect such a declaration of your country, then you are forced to go to war, or else be degraded before mankind. But, gentlemen, you must not shrink back from the mere word war; you must consider what is the probability of its occurrence. I have already stated publicly my certain knowledge how vulnerable Russia is; how weak she is internally. But the best clue to you as to what will be her future conduct, if you act decisively, will be gained by examining the extreme caution and timidity with which, in the late events, she felt her way, before she interposed by force.

The last French Revolution broke out in February, 1848. The Czar hates republics,—name and thing; but he did not interfere against the France of Lamartine, any more than against the France of Louis Philippe in 1830. Why not? He dared not. But he resorted to his natural and his most dangerous weapon, secret diplomacy. He sent male and female intriguers to Paris, and succeeded in turning the revolution into a mock republic. But from the pulsations of the great French heart every tyrant had trembled. The German nation took its destiny into its own hands, and proposed to itself to become ONE, in Frankfort. The throne in Berlin quaked; the Austrian emperor fled from his palace, a few weeks after he had with his own hands waved the flag of freedom out of his window. In Vienna an Austrian Parliament met. A constitution was devised for Polish Gallicia, linked by blood, history, and nature, to the Poland domineered over by the Czar; while on its western frontier another Polish province, Posen, was wrapt in revolutionary flames. You can imagine how the Czar raged, how he wished to unite all mankind in one head, so that he might cut it off with a single blow; and still he nowhere interfered. Why not? Again I say, he was prudently afraid. However, the French republic became very innocent to him—almost an ally in some respects, really an ally in others, as in the case of unfortunate Rome. The gentlemen of Frankfort proved also to be very innocent. The hopes of Germany failed—the people were shot down in Vienna, Prague, Lemberg,—the Austrian mock Parliament was sent from Vienna to Kremsen, and from Kremsen home. Only Hungary stood firm, steady, victorious—the Czar had nothing more to fear from all revolutionary Europe—nothing from Germany—nothing from France. He had no fear from the United States, since he knew that your government then was not willing to meddle with European affairs: so he had free hands in Hungary. But one thing still he did not know, and that was—what will England and what will Turkey say, if he interferes?—and that consideration alone was sufficient to check him. So anxious was he to feel the pulse of England and of Turkey, that he sent first a small army—some ten thousand men—to help the Austrians in Transylvania; and sent them in such a manner as to have, in case of need, for excuse, that he was called to do so, not by Austria only, but by that part of the people also, which deceived by foul delusion, stood by Austria! Oh, it was an infernal plot! We beat down and drove out his 10,000 men, together with all the Austrians—but the Czar had won his game. He was hereby assured that he would have no foreign power to oppose him when he dared to violate the law of nations by an armed interference in Hungary. So he interfered with all his might.

It is a torture even to remember, how like a dream vanished all our hopes that there is yet justice on earth. When I saw my nation, as a handful of brave men, forsaken to fight alone that immense battle for humanity; when I saw Russian diplomacy stealing, like secret poison, into our ranks, introducing treason into them;—but let me not look back; it is all in vain; the past is past. Forward is my word, and forward I will go; for I know that there is yet a God in heaven, and there is a people like you on earth, and there is a power of decided will here also in this bleeding heart. It is my motto still, that "there is no difficulty to him who wills." But so much is a fact, so much is sure, that the Czar did not dare to interfere until he was assured that he would meet no foreign power to oppose him. Show him, free people of America—show him in a manly declaration, that he will meet your force if he dares once more to trample on the laws of nations—accompany this declaration with an augmentation of your Mediterranean fleets, and be sure he will not stir. You will have no war, and Austria falls almost without a battle, like a house without foundation, raised upon the sand; Hungary—my poor Hungary—will be free, and Europe's oppressed continent able to arrange its domestic concerns. Even without my appeal to your sympathy, you have the source in your own generous hearts. This meeting is a substantial proof of it. Receive my thanks.

I have done, gentlemen; I am worn out. I must reserve for another occasion what I would say further, were I able. I know that when I speak in this glorious country, there is the mighty engine of the press which enables me to address the whole people. Let me now say that the ground on which the hopes of my native land rest, is the principle of justice, right, and law. To the maintenance of these you have devoted your lives, gentlemen of the Bar. I leave them under your professional care, and trust they will find many advocates among you.

* * * * *

XIII.—CLAIMS OF HUNGARY ON THE FEMALE SEX.

[Speech to the Ladies of New York.]

The Rev. Dr. Tyng having spoken in the name of the Ladies of New York, and concluded with the words: "And now, sir, the ladies whom I have the honour to represent, knowing your history, and fully aware of its vast importance, desire themselves to be the audience, and to hear the voice of Kossuth, and the claims of Hungary." Kossuth replied as follows:—

I would I were able to answer that call. I would I were able suitably to fill the place which your kindness has assigned to me. You were pleased to say that Austria was blind to let me escape. Be assured that it was not the merit of Austria. She would have been very glad to bury me alive, but the Sultan of Turkey took courage, and notwithstanding all the remonstrances of Austria, I am free.

Ladies, worn out as I am, still I am very glad that the ladies of New York condescend to listen to my farewell. When in the midst of a busy day, the watchful care of a guardian angel throws some flowers of joy in the thorny way of man, he gathers them up with thanks: a cheerful thrill quivers through his heart, like the melody of an Aeolian harp; but the earnest duties of life soon claim his attention and his cares. The melodious thrill dies away, and on he must go; on he goes, joyless, cheerless, and cold, every fibre of his heart bent to the earnest duties of the day. But when the hard work of the day is done, and the stress of mind for a moment subsides, then the heart again claims its right, and the tender fingers of our memory gather up again the violets of joy which the guardian angel threw in our way, and we look at them with delight; while we cherish them as the favourite gifts of life—we are as glad as the child on Christmas eve. These are the happiest moments of man's life. But when we are not noisy, not eloquent, we are silent almost mute, like nature in a midsummer's night, reposing from the burning heat of the day. Ladies, that is my condition now. It is a hard day's work which I have had to do here. I am delivering my farewell address; and every compassionate smile, every warm grasp of the hand, every token of kindness which I have received (and I have received so many), every flower of consolation which the ladies of New York have thrown on my thorny way, rushes with double force to my memory. I feel happy in this memory—there is a solemn tranquillity about my mind; but in such a moment I would rather be silent than speak. You know, ladies, that it is not the deepest feelings which are the loudest.

And besides, I have to say farewell to New York! This is a sorrowful word. What immense hopes are linked in my memory with its name!—hopes of resurrection for my fatherland—hopes of liberation for the European continent! Will the expectations which the mighty outburst of New York's heart foreshadowed, be realized? or will the ray of consolation pass away like an electric flash? Oh, could I cast one single glance into the book of futurity! No, God forgive me this impious wish. It is He who hid the future from man, and what he does is well done. It were not good for man to know his destiny. The sense of duty would falter or be unstrung, if we were assured of the failure or success of our aims. It is because we do not know the future, that we retain our energy of duty, So on will I go in my work, with the full energy of my humble abilities, without despair, but with hope.

It is Eastern blood which runs in my veins. If I have somewhat of Eastern fatalism, it is the fatalism of a Christian who trusts with unwavering faith in the boundless goodness of a Divine Providence. But among all these different feelings and thoughts that come upon me in the hour of my farewell, one thing is almost indispensable to me, and that is, the assurance that the sympathy I have met with here will not pass away like the cheers which a warbling girl receives on the stage—that it will be preserved as a principle, and that when the emotion subsides, the calmness of reflection will but strengthen it. This consolation I wanted, and this consolation I have, because, ladies, I place it in your hands. I bestow on your motherly and sisterly cares, the hopes of Europe's oppressed nations,—the hopes of civil, political, social, and religious liberty. Oh let me entreat you, with the brief and stammering words of a warm heart, overwhelmed with emotions and with sorrowful cares—let me entreat you, ladies, to be watchful of the sympathy of your people, like the mother over the cradle of her beloved child. It is worthy of your watchful care, because, it is the cradle of regenerated humanity.

Especially in regard to my poor fatherland, I have particular claims on the fairer and better half of humanity, which you are. The first of these claims is, that there is not perhaps on the face of the earth a nation, which in its institutions has shown more chivalric regard for ladies than the Hungarian. It is a praiseworthy trait of the Oriental character. You know that it was the Moorish race in Spain, who were the founders of the chivalric era in Europe, so full of personal virtue, so full of noble deeds, so devoted to the service of ladies, to heroism, and to the protection of the oppressed. You are told that the ladies of the East are degraded to less almost than a human condition, being secluded from all social life, and pent up within the harem's walls. And so it is. But you must not judge the East by the measure of European civilization. They have their own civilization, quite different from ours in views, inclinations, affections, and thoughts. We in Hungary have gained from the West the advantages of civilization for our women, but we have preserved for them the regard and reverence of our Oriental character. Nay, more than that, we carried these views into our institutions and into our laws. With us, the widow remains the head of the family, as the father was. As long as she lives, she is the mistress of the property of her deceased husband. The chivalrous spirit of the nation supposes she will provide, with motherly care, for the wants of her children; and she remains in possession so long as she bears her deceased husband's name. Under the old constitution of Hungary (which we reformed upon a democratic basis—it having been aristocratic) the widow of a lord had the right to send her representative to the parliament, and in the county elections of public functionaries widows had a right to vote alike with the men. Perhaps this chivalric character of my nation, so full of regard toward the fair sex, may somewhat commend my mission to the ladies of America.

Our second particular claim is, that the source of all the misfortune which now weighs so heavily upon my bleeding fatherland, is in two ladies—Catharine of Russia, and Sophia of Hapsburg, the ambitious mother of this second Nero, Francis-Joseph. You know that one hundred and fifty years ago, Charles the Twelfth of Sweden, the bravest of the brave, foreseeing the growth of Russia, and fearing that it would oppress and overwhelm civilization, ventured with a handful of men to attack its rising power. After immortal deeds, and almost fabulous victories, one loss made him a refugee upon Turkish soil, like myself. But, happier than myself, he succeeded in persuading Turkey of the necessity of checking Russia in her overweening ambition, and curtailing her growth. On went Mehemet Baltadji with his Turks, and met Peter the Czar, and pent him up in a corner, where there was no possibility of escape. There Mehemet held him with iron grasp till hunger came to his aid. Nature claimed her rights, and in a council of war it was decided to surrender to Mehemet. Then Catharine who was present in the camp, appeared in person before the Grand Vizier to sue for mercy. She was fair, and she was rich with jewels of nameless value. She went to the Grand Vizier's tent. She came back without her jewels, but she brought mercy, and Russia was saved. From that celebrated day dates the downfall of Turkey, and the growth of Russia. Out of this source flowed the stream of Russian preponderance over the European continent. The depression of liberty, and the nameless sufferings of Poland and of my poor native land, are the dreadful fruits of Catharine's success on that day, cursed in the records of the human race.

The second lady who will be cursed through all posterity in her memory, is Sophia, the mother of the present usurper of Hungary—she who had the ambitious dream to raise the power of a child upon the ruins of liberty, and on the neck of prostrate nations. It was her ambition—the evil genius of the House of Hapsburg in the present day—which brought desolation upon us. I need only mention one fact to characterize what kind of a heart was in that woman. On the anniversary of the day of Arad, where our martyrs bled, she came to the court with a bracelet of rubies set in so many roses as was the number of heads of the brave Hungarians who fell there, declaring that she joyfully exhibited it to the company as a memento which she wears on her very arm, to cherish in eternal memory the pleasure she derived from the killing of those heroes at Arad. This very fact may give you a true knowledge of the character of that woman, and this is the second claim to the ladies' sympathy for oppressed humanity and for my poor fatherland.

Our third particular claim is the behaviour of our ladies during the last war. It is no arbitrary praise—it is a fact,—that, in the struggle for our rights and freedom, we had no more powerful auxiliaries, and no more faithful executors of the will of the nation, than the women of Hungary. You know that in ancient Rome, after the battle of Cannae, which was won by Hannibal, the Senate called on the people spontaneously to sacrifice all their wealth on the altar of their fatherland. Every jewel, every ornament was brought forth, but still the tribune judged it necessary to pass a law prohibiting the ladies of Rome to wear more than half an ounce of gold, or particoloured splendid dresses. Now, we wanted in Hungary no such law. The women of Hungary brought all that they had. You would have been astonished to see how, in the most wealthy houses of Hungary, if you were invited to dinner, you would be forced to eat soup with iron spoons. When the wounded and the sick—and many of them we had, because we fought hard—when the wounded and the sick were not so well provided as it would have been our duty and our pleasure to do, I ordered the respective public functionaries to take care of them. But the poor wounded went on suffering, and the proper officers were but slow in providing for them. When I saw this, one single word was spoken to the ladies of Hungary, and in a short time there was provision made for hundreds of thousands of sick. And I never met a single mother who would have withheld her son from sharing in the battle; but I have met many who ordered and commanded their children to fight for their fatherland. I saw many and many brides who urged on the bridegrooms to delay their day of happiness till they should come back victorious from the battles of their fatherland. Thus acted the ladies of Hungary. A country deserves to live; a country deserves to have a future, when the women, as much as the men, love and cherish it.

But I have a stronger motive than all these to claim your protecting sympathy for my country's cause. It is her nameless woe, nameless sufferings. In the name of that ocean of bloody tears which the impious hand of the tyrant wrung from the eyes of the childless mothers, of the brides who beheld the executioner's sword between them and their wedding day—in the name of all these mothers, wives, brides, daughters, and sisters, who, by thousands of thousands, weep over the graves of Magyars so dear to their hearts,—who weep the bloody tears of a patriot (as they all are) over the face of their beloved native land—in the name of all those torturing stripes with which the flogging hand of Austrian tyrants dared to outrage human nature in the womankind of my native land—in the name of that daily curse against Austria with which even the prayers of our women are mixed—in the name of the nameless sufferings of my own dear wife [here the whole audience rose and cheered vehemently]—the faithful companion of my life,—of her, who for months and for months was hunted by my country's tyrants, with no hope, no support, no protection, but at the humble threshold of the hard-working people, as noble and generous as they are poor—in the name of my poor little children, who when so young as to be scarcely conscious of life, had already to learn what an Austrian prison is—in the name of all this, and what is still worse, in the name of liberty trodden down, I claim, ladies of New York, your protecting sympathy for my country's cause. Nobody can do more for it than you. The heart of man is as soft wax in your tender hands. Mould it, ladies; mould it into the form of generous compassion for my country's wrongs, inspire it with the noble feelings of your own hearts, inspire it with the consciousness of your country's power, dignity, and might. You are the framers of man's character. Whatever be the fate of man, one stamp he always bears on his brow—that which the mother's hand impressed upon the soul of the child. The smile of your lips can make a hero out of the coward, and a generous man out of the egotist; one word from you inspires the youth to noble resolutions; the lustre of your eyes is the fairest reward for the toils of life. You can kindle energy even in the breast of broken age, that once more it may blaze up in a noble generous deed before it dies. All this power you have. Use it, ladies, in behalf of your country's glory, and for the benefit of oppressed humanity, and when you meet a cold calculator, who thinks by arithmetic when he is called to feel the wrongs of oppressed nations, convert him, ladies. Your smiles are commands, and the truth which pours forth instinctively from your hearts, is mightier than the logic articulated by any scholar. The Peri excluded from Paradise, brought many generous gifts to heaven in order to regain it. She brought the dying sigh of a patriot; the kiss of a faithful girl imprinted upon the lips of her bridegroom, when they were distorted by the venom of the plague. She brought many other fair gifts; but the doors of Paradise opened before her only when she brought with her the first prayer of a man converted to charity and brotherly love for his oppressed brethren and humanity.

Remember the power which you have, and which I have endeavoured to point out in a few brief words. Remember this, and form associations; establish ladies' committees to raise substantial aid for Hungary. Now I have done. One word only remains to be said-a word of deep sorrow, the word, "Farewell, New York!" New York! that word will for ever make every string of my heart thrill. I am like a wandering bird. I am worse than a wandering bird. He may return to his summer home, I have no home on earth! Here I felt almost at home. But "Forward" is my call, and I must part. I part with the hope that the sympathy which I have met here in a short transitory home will bring me yet back to my own beloved home, so that my ashes may yet mix with the dust of my native soil. Ladies, remember Hungary, and—farewell!

* * * * *

XIV.—RESULTS OF THE OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

[Speech at the Citizens' Banquet, Philadelphia, Dec. 26th.]

Mr. Dallas, the Chairman, made an eloquent address advocating the cause of Hungary against Russia, and avowing the duty of America to give warlike aid. This speech was the more remarkable, as coming immediately after the arrival of the news of Louis Napoleon's usurpation. The mind of the public was naturally so full of the event, that Kossuth could not avoid to discuss it; but the topic is so threadbare to the reader, that it will suffice here to preserve a few sentiments.

In the opening, Kossuth complained of forged letters and forged cheques sent to annoy him, and anonymous letters of false accusation circulated against him. Proceeding from this to public topics, and the certainty of a new convulsion in Europe, he said, that it might prove in the future highly dangerous to the moneyed interests, if the world be persuaded that the holders of great disposable wealth use it to aid despotism, and that the possession of it checks the generous propensity to forward the triumph of freedom. If the world be confirmed in this persuasion, the results will be painfully felt by those gentlemen, whose treasures are always open for the despots to crush liberty with. Such moneylenders have excited boundless hatred in all that section of Europe, which has had to suffer from their ready financial aid to despotism. I (said Kossuth) am no Socialist, no Communist; and if I get the means to act efficiently, I shall so act that the inevitable revolution may not subvert the rights of property: but so much I confidently declare—that to the spreading of Communist doctrines in certain quarters of Europe nobody has so much contributed as those European capitalists, who by incessantly aiding the despots with their money have inspired many of the oppressed with the belief that financial wealth is dangerous to the freedom of the world. Rothschild is the most efficient apostle of Communism.

In regard to Louis Bonaparte's temporary success, Kossuth argued, that it would secure, when France makes her next move for freedom, two results beneficial to liberty: First, that in future, the French republicans would abandon their delusive and disastrous Centralization. We have shown (said he) in Hungary, that for a nation to be invincible, its life must not be bound up with its metropolis. Henceforward, in European aspirations, centralization is replaced by federative harmony. I thank Louis Napoleon for it. Your principles of local self-government, gentlemen, were hitherto professed on the continent of Europe chiefly by us Hungarians: now they will conquer the world,—a new victory for humanity. Had the old French republic stood, it would have perpetuated the curse of great standing armies, which are instruments of ambition and a wasting pestilence. Again; the blow struck by Louis Napoleon has forced his nation into the common destiny of Europe. It has forbidden France ever in future to play a separate game, and think to keep her own liberty, without effectively espousing the cause of foreign liberty.

What is the sum of all this? First, that there is nothing in the news from France to alter any judgments which you might previously have formed, or cause you any suspense. Secondly, it only more than ever claims from you an immediately decisive conduct. The success of freedom now depends entirely on what policy the United States of America will adopt.

Well! gentlemen. It may be that the United States have no reply to the hopes of the world. You will then see a mournful tear in the eye of humanity, and its breast heaving with sighs. We presume, you are so powerful that you can afford not to care about the treading down of the law of nations and the funeral of European freedom. You are so glorious at home, that you can afford to lose the glory (at so rare a crisis!) of saving liberty and justice on earth. Yet in your own hour of trial you asked and received military and naval aid from France. Your President has informed the world, that you are not willing to allow "the strong arm of a foreign power to suppress the spirit of freedom in any country." If after this you tell me that you are afraid of Russia, and are too weak to help us,—and would rather be on good terms with the Czar, than rejoice in the liberty and independence of Hungary, Italy, Germany, France,—dreadful as it would be, I would wipe away my tear, and say to my brethren, "Let us pray, and let us go to the Lord's Last Supper, and thence to battle and to death." I would then leave you, gentlemen, with a dying farewell, and with a prayer that the sun of freedom may never drop below the horizon of your happy land.

I am in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, the city of William Penn, whose likeness I saw this day in a history of your city, with this motto under it: "Si vis pacem, para bellum"—(prepare for war, if thou wilt have peace)—a weighty memento, gentlemen, to the name of William Penn.

And I am in that city which is the cradle of your independence—where, in the hour of your need, the appeal was proclaimed to the Law of Nature's God, and that appeal for help from Europe, which was granted to you.

I stood in Independence Hall, whence the spirit of freedom lisps eternal words of history to the secret recesses of your hearts. Man may well be silent where from such a place history so speaks. So my task is done—with me the pain, with you the decision—and, let me add the prophetic words of the poet, "the moral of the strain."

Kossuth took his seat amid the three times three of the audience.

* * * * *

XV.—INTEREST OF AMERICA IN HUNGARIAN LIBERTY.

[Baltimore, Dec. 27th.]

On the 27th December Kossuth reached Baltimore, and was met by an immense concourse of citizens and a long line of military, who escorted him to his quarters with much enthusiastic demonstration. In the evening he addressed the citizens in the Hall of the Maryland Institute, which was densely crowded, great numbers standing outside the building, when unable to get admittance.

After an apologetic introduction, Kossuth proceeded to say:—

Gentlemen! It is gratifying to me to receive this spontaneous welcome. I was already grateful, during my stay in New York, to receive the expression of your sentiments, and your generous resolutions. They become the more beneficial to me, because I am on my way and very near to Washington City, where the elected of your national confidence stand in their proud position, as conservators of those lofty interests, which bind your thirty-one stars of Sovereign States into one mighty constellation of Freedom, Power, and Right; where the Congress and Government of this vast Republic watch over the common weal of your united country, and hereby make you a Power on earth, a fullgrown member of that great Family of Nations, which, having One Father in heaven, are brethren, and should act as brethren.

Among the interests intrusted by you to the Congress and Government, your foreign policy is nearly the most important. This, in a great and powerful nation, can have no other basis than Eternal Law and Christian Morality. Even your peculiar interests are, in my belief, best served, when your foreign policy rests, not on transitory considerations, but on everlasting principles. Even in private life no man can entirely cut himself off from others. A man willing to attempt it would be an exile in his own country, an exile in his own city, an exile in his family. Just so with nations, which in the larger family of man are individual members. If a nation seclude itself, it is an exile in the midst of humanity. No man, ladies and gentlemen, is independent of his fellow-man; no nation, however powerful, is independent of other nations. Put the richest, the strongest man for a single week wholly apart from family, city, country, and he will quickly learn his essential weakness. In a nation, the consequence of total isolation is not felt as soon, but it will at length be felt as surely. The hours of nations are counted by years; yet the secluded nation, self-exiled from mankind, dwindles away. Woe to the people, whose citizens care only for their own present, and not for the future of their country! the future, in which they have to live immortally by children and children's children, with whose glory and happiness and power they ought now to sympathize. Men or nations secluded are like the silk-worm, which secretes itself in a self-woven case, and at length creeps out to die. So will it at length be with the nation which is wrapped up in self.

It is one of your glories, that some portions of your united republic are farther from other portions than Hungary is from Baltimore: mere distance is therefore no reason why you should be unconcerned about our fate. You are not too far for commercial intercourse with the most distant coasts of Europe; and especially since the invention of one of your citizens has been brought to higher perfection, the ocean rather unites you to us, than separates you. Would you have the advantages of the connection, without the duties which spring out of it? Disregard of duty sooner or later kills advantage. I need not remind you what a link of nature, blood, language, science, industry, religion, civilization, exists between you and us, and binds us ever tighter. You cannot help feeling at home our condition in Europe. Our peace or war, our civilization or barbarism, our freedom or oppression, our wealth or starvation, progress or retrogression, must act upon you, just as your condition reacts upon us. The link between the destinies of Christendom cannot be cut asunder. In fact, there never yet was a time when Europe more demanded that you should have some policy towards it; and indifference is none at all. At this moment it is under universal oppression of social, political, and religious liberty,—the three treasures which make your glory and happiness. This oppression is ordered by Russia, and executed by her satellites. The elected President of France has impiously stabbed the constitution, to make himself Emperor. The Austrian Ministry has openly declared that the absolutist powers will maintain him. Thus the impulse of revolution has been given; its vibration will be felt throughout Europe and in my fatherland. Never will you have an opportunity more glorious for you, and more favourable to mankind, for adopting a real policy founded upon principles.

The people of Hungary have abundant motives to risk life for freedom and independence. Once we had a nationality; now we have none. Once we had a constitution;—by the blessing of God we succeeded to transform it three years ago from an aristocratic to a democratic one;—now Hungary has no constitution at all. For a thousand years we were a free people; we are now so no longer. Like a flock of sheep, we are appropriated, not by the Austrian empire, not by the nation, but by a despotic ambitious family. We had freedom of the press. Not nineteen years ago, I began the struggle, and endured three years imprisonment for it; but we won that great right of mankind—free expression of thought. Now there is no press at all in Hungary; there is only the hangman and martial law. We established equal protection for every religion; now there is equal oppression for all. The Protestant Church had its own self-government for its churches and schools, won by victorious arms and secured by a hundred laws; now the laws are torn down, and the freedom of church and school is gone. The Catholic Church had control of its own estates; now, day by day, the nearly bankrupt Austrian government is overgrowing that property by the poisonous weeds of a new loan, on which it vegetates, a curse to every nation on the continent. Such is the condition of the Catholic Church, concerning which I—a Protestant, not only by birth, but also by conviction—declare, that during a whole lifetime, when Hungary was struggling for religious liberty, that Church contended in the foremost rank for the rights of us Protestants. So much do we value the freedom of conscience, that the very thought was repugnant to us all, that there should be unequal rights of citizenship between Protestants and Catholics and professors of the Faith of Moses. Zeal for religious freedom will kindle Magyars to struggle, as long as there is blood in our veins. As during three centuries, so the late war was for religious independence as well as civil; indeed, still earlier, we were the barrier of Christendom against the invading Mahommedan. We succeeded lately in freeing the agriculture of Hungary, and transforming peasants into freeholders; now the Austrian dynasty is stealthily bringing back feudal rights. In freeing the peasants, we provided for indemnification of landlords; Austria taxes the peasants very heavily, and does not (for she cannot) indemnify the landlords; because her violence and wastefulness does not know how to turn our public estates to account. She favours a few landlords only, who are faithful tools of her oppression. During our struggle, we issued paper-money,—it was called the Kossuth-bank-note; Austria disavowed it, and commanded its surrender, yet twenty millions are firmly held by the people, as valuable after a new revolution. Before we fell under the stroke of Russian interference, the taxation permitted by our Parliament was only four and a half millions of dollars; Austria now imposes SIXTY. Our people burn their tobacco-seed and cut down their vines, rather than endure her tax. Such are the motives which Austria gives to Hungary not to make a new revolution! There is not a single interest which she has not mortally wounded. The mind, the heart, dignity, conscience, self-esteem, hatred, love, revenge, besides every material interest of every class, is engaged to the struggle.

The oppression of Hungary has ratified the oppression of all our continent. Since she has fallen, Italy has been completely crushed, the moderate freedom of Germany has been put down by Austria with the support of Russia; lastly, the usurpation of Louis Napoleon has been made possible. Without the restoration of Hungary Europe cannot be freed from Russian thraldom; under which nationalities are erased, no freedom is possible, all religions are subjected to like slavery. Gentlemen! the Emperor Napoleon spoke a prophetic word, when he said that in fifty years all Europe would be either republican or Cossack. Hungary once free, Europe is republican; Hungary permanently crushed, all Europe is Cossack. And what does Hungary need for freedom? Not that other nations should fight our proper battle against our immediate oppressor. We have hearts loving freedom and ready to shed their blood for it; we have armies fully equal to Austria, we want only "FAIR PLAY." Let the United States feel itself to be as it is, a Power on earth, bound to aid in the police of the nations, and in the name of violated right let it say to the Russian intruder, "Keep back, hands off, let the brave Magyars fight their own battle, else we must take their part." For centuries, perhaps, you will have no more glorious opportunity than now. Hitherto, the word Glory has been connected with conquest and oppression. Take the New Glory for yours, by assuring to all nations exemption from the conspiracy of tyrants. That is what I first humbly request and hope.

[Kossuth proceeded, as in former speeches, to explain his other requests, viz. secondly, free commerce with America, whether Hungary was in war with Austria or not; thirdly, that when the suitable moment arrived, the Government should recognize the legitimate character of the Declaration of Independence made by Hungary in April, 1849. He added]:—

These requests I have very often explained since I have had the honour to be in the United States. I explained them yesterday in Philadelphia—the cradle of your Declaration of Independence. There I was answered, not only by the unanimous adoption of these resolutions on the part of the city of Harrisburg the capital of Pennsylvania, but also by the people of Philadelphia, at a great and important meeting. Nor was that enough. I received more in Philadelphia. I was told that, besides the granting of these my humble requests, whenever war breaks out for Hungary's freedom and independence I shall find brave hearts and stout arms among the twenty-four millions of the people of the United States ready to go over to Europe and fight side by side in the great battle for the freedom and independence of the European continent. I was told that it was not possible, when the battle for mankind's liberty is fought, for the sword of Washington to rest in its scabbard. That sword, which struck the first blow here on this continent for the republican freedom of this great country, must be present there, where the last stroke for all humanity will be given. Now, gentlemen, I will not abuse your kind indulgence and patience, which you have bestowed in your crowded situation. I will only say, that should this be the generous will of the people of the United States, in the name of the honour of my nation I can give the assurance that the Hungarians will be found worthy to fight side by side with you for civil and political freedom on the European continent, and to take care, with the sword of Washington, that no hair of that lock which I received as a present in Philadelphia, and which I promised to attach to that very standard which I will bear to decide the victory against despotism—that no hair of that lock shall fall into the hands of tyrants. And now may the ladies who have honoured me with their presence graciously allow me to express to them my most humble thanks and one humble prayer. The destinies of mankind—the future of humanity—repose in the hands of womanhood. The mark which the mother imprints upon the brow of the child remains for his whole life. Ladies of the United States, when the wandering exile passes away from your presence, take to your kind care the great cause of the liberty of the world with the tenderness with which a mother takes care of her child; and when you take care of this great cause, the sympathy of the people of the United States will not vanish like the passing emotion of the heart, but will become substantial, active, and effectual.

The speaker then took his seat, with three times three from the audience.

Judge Legrand followed and proposed the Harrisburg resolutions, which were adopted. They are as annexed:—

Resolved,—That the citizens of Harrisburg, the seat of government of Pennsylvania, in town meeting assembled, hereby approve and endorse the three propositions promulgated by Louis Kossuth, Governor of Hungary, in his great speech before the Mayor and authorities of the city of New York, viz.:—

"First. That feeling interested in the maintenance of the laws of nations, acknowledging the sovereign right of every people to dispose of its own domestic concerns to be one of the laws, and the interference with this sovereign right to be a violation of these laws of nations, the people of the United States—resolved to respect and to make respected these public laws—declares the Russian past intervention in Hungary to be a violation of these laws, which, if reiterated, would be a new violation, and would not be regarded indifferently by the people of the United States.

"Second. That the people of the United States are resolved to maintain its right of commercial intercourse with the nations of Europe, whether they be in a state of revolution against their government or not; and that, with the view of approaching scenes on the continent of Europe, the people invite the government to take appropriate measures for the protection of the trade of the people with the Mediterranean.

"Third. That the people of the United States should declare their opinion in respect to the question of the independence of Hungary, and urge the government to act accordingly."

Resolved, That the people of Hungary are, and ought to remain a free and independent nation; that Louis Kossuth is their lawful governor, and that the Hungarian people should not be prevented from exercising the rights of freemen by the tyranny of Austria and Russia.