Chapter 12
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.
Resolved, That we extend to Louis Kossuth, Governor of Hungary, and the Hungarian nation, that has made such a noble stand in the cause of freedom, that sympathy, aid, and support, which freemen alone know how to grant.
Resolved, That a committee of fifteen, including the officers of this meeting, be appointed to repair to Philadelphia, and invite the Governor of Hungary to visit the capital of Pennsylvania at such times as may suit his convenience.
* * * * *
XVI.--NOVELTIES IN AMERICAN REPUBLICANISM.
[_Washington Banquet, Jan. 5th_, 1852.]
The Banquet given by a large number of the Members of the two Houses of Congress to Kossuth took place at the National Hotel, in Washington City. The number present was about two hundred and fifty. The Hon. Wm. R. King, of Alabama, president of the Senate, presided. On his right sat Louis Kossuth, and on his left the Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State. On the right of Kossuth at the same table, sat the Hon. Linn Boyd, speaker of the House of Representatives. Besides other distinguished guests who responded to toasts, are named Hon. Thomas Corwin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Hon. Alex. H. H. Stuart, Secretary of the Interior.
A few minutes after eight o'clock, a large number of ladies were admitted, and the President of the Senate requested gentlemen to fill their glasses for the first toast, which was,
"The President of the United States."
To this, Mr. Webster responded.
The President then announced the second toast:
"The Judiciary of the United States: The expounder of the Constitution and the bulwark of liberty regulated by law."
Judge Wayne, of the Supreme Court of the United States, replied, and after alluding to "The distinguished stranger" who was then among them, said: I give you, gentlemen, as a sentiment:
"Constitutional liberty to all the nations of the earth, supported by Christian faith and the morality of the Bible."
The toast was received with enthusiastic applause.
The third toast was,--
"The Navy of the United States: The home squadron everywhere. Its glory was illustrated, when its flag in a foreign sea gave liberty and protection to the Hungarian Chief."
Mr. Stanton, of Tennessee, in his reply, said:
But recently, Mr. President, a new significance has been given to this flag. Heretofore, the navy has been the symbol of our power and the emblem of our liberty, but now it speaks of humanity and of a noble sympathy for the oppressed of all nations. _The home squadron everywhere_, to give protection to the brave and to those who may have fallen in the cause of freedom! Your acquiescence in that sentiment indicates the profound sympathy of the people of the United States for the people of Hungary, manifested in the person of their great chief; and I can conceive of no duty that would be more acceptable to the gallant officers of the navy of the United States except one, and that is, _to strike a blow for liberty themselves in a just cause, approved by our Government_.
The fourth toast was,--
"The army of the united states. In saluting the illustrious Exile with magnanimous courtesy, as high as it could pay to any Power on earth, it has added grace to the glory of its history."
General Shields, Senator for Illinois, Chairman of the Committee of Military Affairs in the Senate, being loudly called for, replied in the necessary absence of General Scott, the chief of the army; and after an appropriate acknowledgment of the toast, added:
In paving this very high honor to our illustrious guest--this noble Hungarian--let me observe that that army which has been toasted to-night spoke for his reception by the voice of their cannon; and the cannon that spoke there spoke the voice of twenty-five millions of people. Sir, that salute which the American cannon gave the Hungarian exile had a deep meaning in it. It was not a salute to the mere man Louis Kossuth, but it was a salute in favour of the great principle which he represents--the principle which he advocates, the principle of nationality and of human liberty. Sir, I was born in a land which has suffered as an oppressed nation. I am now a citizen of a land which would have suffered from the same power, had it not been for the bravery, gallantry, and good fortune of the men of that time. Sir, as an Irishman by birth, and an American by adoption, I would feel myself a traitor to both countries if I did not sustain downtrodden nationalities everywhere--in Hungary, in Poland, in Germany, in Italy--everywhere where man is trodden down and oppressed. And, sir, I say again, that that army which maintained itself in three wars against one of the greatest and most powerful nations of the world, will, if the trying time should come again, maintain that same flag (the stars and stripes) and the same triumph, and the same victories in the cause of liberty. [Great applause.]
The president of the evening then, after a cordial speech, proposed the fifth toast:
"Hungary, represented in the person of our honoured Guest, having proved herself worthy to be free by the virtues and valour of her sons, the law of nations and the dictates of justice alike demand that she shall have fair play in her struggle for independence."
This toast was received with immense applause, which lasted several minutes.
Kossuth then rose and spoke as follows:
Sir: As once Cineas the Epirote stood among the Senators of Rome, who, with a word of self-conscious majesty, arrested kings in their ambitious march--thus, full of admiration and of reverence, I stand amongst you, legislators of the new Capitol, that glorious hall of your people's collective majesty. The Capitol of old yet stands, but the spirit has departed from it, and is come over to yours, purified by the air of liberty. The old stands a mournful monument of the fragility of human things: yours as a sanctuary of eternal right. The old beamed with the red lustre of conquest, now darkened by the gloom of oppression; yours is bright with freedom. The old absorbed the world into its own centralized glory; yours protects your own nation from being absorbed, even by itself. The old was awful with unrestricted power; yours is glorious by having restricted it. At the view of the old, nations trembled; at the view of yours, humanity hopes. To the old, misfortune was introduced with fettered hands to kneel at triumphant conquerors' feet; to yours the triumph of introduction is granted to unfortunate exiles who are invited to the honour of a seat. And where Kings and Caesars never will be hailed for their power and wealth, there the persecuted chief of a downtrodden nation is welcomed as your great Republic's guest, precisely because he is persecuted, helpless, and poor. In the old, the terrible _voe victis!_ was the rule; in yours, protection to the oppressed, malediction to ambitious oppressors, and consolation to a vanquished just cause. And while from the old a conquered world was ruled, you in yours provide for the common federative interests of a territory larger than that old conquered world. There sat men boasting that their will was sovereign of the earth; here sit men whose glory is to acknowledge "the laws of nature and of nature's God," and to do what their sovereign, the People, wills.
Sir, there is history in these contrasts. History of past ages and history of future centuries may be often recorded in small facts. The particulars to which the passion of living men clings, as if human fingers could arrest the wheel of Destiny, these particulars die away; it is the issue which makes history, and that issue is always coherent with its causes. There is a necessity of consequences wherever the necessity of position exists. Principles are the _alpha_: they must finish with _omega_, and they will. Thus history may be often told in a few words.
Before the heroic struggle of Greece had yet engaged your country's sympathy for the fate of freedom, in Europe then so far distant and now so near, Chateaubriand happened to be in Athens, and he heard from a _minaret_ raised upon the Propylaeum's ruins a Turkish priest in the Arabic language announcing the lapse of hours to the Christians of Minerva's town. What immense history there was in the small fact of a Turkish Imaum crying out, "Pray, pray! the hour is running fast, and the judgment draws near."
Sir, there is equally a history of future ages written in the honour bestowed by you on my humble self. The first Governor of Independent Hungary, driven from his native land by Russian violence; an exile on Turkish soil, protected by a Mahommedan Sultan from the blood-thirst of Christian tyrants; cast back a prisoner to far Asia by diplomacy; was at length rescued from his Asiatic prison, when America crossed the Atlantic, charged with the hopes of Europe's oppressed nations. He pleads, as a poor exile, before the people of this great Republic, his country's wrongs and its intimate connection with the fate of the European continent, and, in the boldness of a just cause, claims that the principles of the Christian religion be raised to a law of nations. To see that not only is the boldness of the poor exile forgiven, but that he is consoled by the sympathy of millions, encouraged by individuals, associations, meetings, cities, and States; supported by effective aid and greeted by Congress and by Government as the nation's guest; honoured, out of generosity, with that honour which only one man before him received (a man who had deserved them from your gratitude,) with honours such as no potentate ever can receive, and this banquet here, and the toast which I have to thank you for: oh! indeed, sir, there is a history of future ages in all these facts! They will go down to posterity as the proper consequences of great principles.
Sir, though I have a noble pride in my principles, and the inspiration of a just cause, still I have also the consciousness of my personal insignificance. Never will I forget what is due from me to the _Sovereign Source_ of my public capacity. This I owe to my nation's dignity; and therefore, respectfully thanking this highly distinguished assembly in my country's name, I have the boldness to say that Hungary well deserves your sympathy; that Hungary has a claim to protection, because it has a claim to justice. But as to myself, I am well aware that in all these honours I have no personal share. Nay, I know that even that which might seem to be personal in your toast, is only an acknowledgment of a historical fact, very instructively connected with a principle valuable and dear to every republican heart in the United States of America. As to ambition, I indeed never was able to understand how anybody can love ambition more than liberty. But I am glad to state a historical fact, as a principal demonstration of that influence which institutions exercise upon the character of nations.
We Hungarians are very fond of the principle of municipal self-government, and we have a natural horror against centralization. That fond attachment to municipal self-government, without which there is no provincial freedom possible, is a fundamental feature of our national character. We brought it with us from far Asia a thousand years ago, and we preserved it throughout the vicissitudes of ten centuries. No nation has perhaps so much struggled and suffered for the civilized Christian world as we. We do not complain of this lot. It may be heavy, but it is not inglorious. Where the cradle of our Saviour stood, and where His divine doctrine was founded, there now another faith rules: the whole of Europe's armed pilgrimage could not avert this fate from that sacred spot, nor stop the rushing waves of Islamism from absorbing the Christian empire of Constantine. _We_ stopped those rushing waves. The breast of my nation proved a breakwater to them. We guarded Christendom, that Luthers and Calvins might reform it. It was a dangerous time, and its dangers often placed the confidence of all my nation into one man's hand. But there was not a single instance in our history where a man honoured by his people's confidence deceived them for his own ambition. The man out of whom Russian diplomacy succeeded in making a murderer of his nation's hopes, gained some victories when victories were the chief necessity of the moment, and at the head of an army, circumstances gave him the ability to ruin his country; but he never had the people's confidence. So even he is no contradiction to the historical truth, that no Hungarian whom his nation honoured with its confidence was ever seduced by ambition to become dangerous to his country's liberty. That is a remarkable fact, and yet it is not accidental; it springs from the proper influence of institutions upon the national character. Our nation, through all its history, was educated in the school of local self-government; and in such a country, grasping ambition having no field, has no place in man's character.
The truth of this doctrine becomes yet more illustrated by a quite contrary historical fact in France. Whatever have been the changes of government in that great country--and many they have been, to be sure--we have seen a Convention, a Directorate, Consuls, and one Consul, and an Emperor, and the Restoration, and the Citizen King, and the Republic; Through all these different experiments centralization was the keynote of the institutions of France--power always centralized; omnipotence always vested somewhere. And, remarkable indeed, France has never yet raised one single man to the seat of power, who has not sacrificed his country's freedom to his personal ambition!