Chapter 15
One thing let me tell you, gentlemen. _People_ and _Governments_ are different things in such a country as Great Britain is. It is sorrowful enough that the people have often to pay for what the government sinned. Let it not be said in history, that even the people of the United States made a kindred people pay for the sins of its government. And remember that you can mightily react upon the public opinion of Britain, and that the people of Britain can react upon the course of its own government. It were indeed a great misfortune to see the government of Great Britain pushed by irritation to side with the absolutist powers against the oppressed nations about to struggle for independence and liberty. Even Ireland could only lose by this. And besides its own loss, this might perhaps be just the decisive blow against liberty; whereas if the government of England, otherwise remaining as it is, do but unite with you not to allow foreign interference with our struggles on the continent this would become almost a sure guarantee of the victory of those struggles; and, according as circumstances stand, that would be indeed the most practical benefit to the noble people of Ireland also, because freedom, independence, and the principles of natural law could not fail to benefit their cause, which so well merits the sympathy of every just man and they have also the sympathy--I know it--of the better half of England itself.
Hatred is no good counsellor, gentlemen. The wisdom of love is a better one. What people has suffered more than my poor Hungary has from Russia? Shall I hate the people of Russia for it? Oh never! I have but pity and Christian brotherly love for it. It is the government, it is the principle of the government, which makes every drop of my blood boil and which must fall, if humanity is to live. We were for centuries in war against the Turks, and God knows what we have suffered by it! But past is past. Now we have a common enemy, and thus we have a common interest, a mutual esteem, and love rules where our fathers have fought.
Gentlemen, how far this supreme duty toward your own interest will allow you to go in giving life and effect to the principle which you so generously proclaim, and which your party (as I have understood) have generously proclaimed in different parts--_that_ you will in your wisdom decide, remaining always the masters of your action and of your fate. But that principle will rest; that principle is true; that principle is just; and you are just, because you are free. I hope therefore to see you cordially unite with me once more in the sentiment--"Intervention for non-intervention."
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XIX.--MEANING OF RECOGNIZING.
[_Last Speech at Washington_.]
In returning thanks to all the citizens here assembled, and to yourself, sir, in particular,[*] I beg to add some remarks. That I have not here been honoured with the same demonstrations of local cordiality as in other places, I do not, with you, attribute to diplomatic influences. I know well the skill of Russian diplomacy, which indeed at Moldovarica instructs all its representatives to marry Moldovarican ladies. But I also know that the framers of your Constitution wisely discouraged the development of municipal life in the district of Columbia, lest local influences and pressure from without on the seat of the central legislature might unduly sway the national councils. Just so, we have often known a single street in Paris coerce the deliberations of the nation. Columbia having, as I understand, by an exceptional arrangement, no true local self-government, is deficient in local movement. Nevertheless, I have received _private_ expression of sentiment and of generous kind sympathy from various parts of this district, and chiefly from the city of Washington.
[Footnote *: Chancellor Walworth of New York.]
In respect to the declaration which you make as to nonintervention, I have only to thank you, and to express my earnest hope that all those in whose name you speak, will proceed to give effect to their principle in public life.
The second right of nations,--that of mutual commerce--still more closely touches your domestic interests, regard it as a clear national right of your citizens to hold commerce with the thirty-five millions of men oppressed by Austria, if those thirty-five millions desire it, though to Emperor of Austria, having occupied an immoral position refuse it to you: and if the people of Hungary, Bohemia, and Italy take arms to punish his atrocities, that is no good reason why your citizens should submit to abstain from commerce with these injured nations.
In regard to my third desire, to see the _legitimacy_ of our declaration of Independence acknowledged by Congress that did not mean that I (a poor exile!) am _de facto_ Governor of Hungary! You little conceive how valuable to us it would have been, if your Envoy, who came to inquire and report, during our struggle, had been authorized to recognize the legitimacy of our cause and of our proceeding. And even now, the moral effect would be great; for such an act cannot stand alone, it points to your future policy towards every other nation. Moreover, it would enlarge the lawful field of action for private sympathy, and would enable me to accept many things which I cannot now; I do not mean titles,--which I value not. I care only for my country's dignity; but it appertains to its dignity that its solemnly expressed Will be recognized by your government.
Legislatures of your States (with warm gratitude I acknowledge) have declared these principles: cities and associations have received them; so have many eminent persons. But if you wish foreign powers to know that it is not Mr. A. or Mr. B. but the nation itself which pronounces them, I venture to suggest that it may be convenient in your various associations of every kind to make separate declarations to this effect, as by contributions of money ever so small; and this will really be _national_ aid. If the United States carry out this determination with their characteristic energy it will be effectual.
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XX.--CONTRAST OF THE AMERICAN TO THE HUNGARIAN CRISIS.
[_Speech before the Senate at Annapolis, Jan. 13_.]
Kossuth, having arrived at Annapolis, capital of Maryland, was entertained in the Government House by Governor Lowe, and was next day introduced to the Senate, who welcomed him with a cordial address. He responded as follows:--
Mr. President: In the changes of my stormy life, many occasions, connected with associations of historical interest, have impressed a deep emotion upon my mind: but perhaps never yet has the memory of the past made such a glowing impression upon me as here.
I bow reverentially, Senators of Maryland, in this glorious hall, the sanctuary of immortal deeds, hallowed by immortal names.
Before I thank the living, let me look to those dead whose spirits dwell within these walls [looking at the portraits that hung upon the walls], living an imperishable life in the glory, freedom, and happiness of your great United Republic, which is destined, as I confidently hope, to become the corner-stone of the future of Humanity.
Yes, there they are, the glorious architects of the independence of this Republic.
There is _Thomas Stone_; there, your Demosthenes, _Samuel Chase_; there, _Charles Carroll, of Carrollton_, who designedly added that epithet to the significance of his name, that nobody should be mistaken about who was the _Carroll_ who dared the noble deed, and was rewarded by being the last of his illustrious companions, whom God called to the Heavenly Paradise, after he had long enjoyed the paradise of freedom on earth; and here, _William Paca_;--all of them signers of the Declaration of American Independence--that noblest, happiest page in mankind's history.
How happy that man must have been [pointing to the portrait of Governor Paca] having to govern this sovereign State on that day when, within these very halls the act was ratified which, by the recognition of your very enemy, raised your country to an independent nation.
Ye spirits of the departed! cast a ray of consolation by the voice of your nation over that injured land, whose elected chief, a wandering exile for having dared to imitate you, lays the trembling hopes of an oppressed continent before the generous heart of your people--now not only an independent nation but also a mighty and glorious power.
Alas! what a difference in the success of two like deeds! Have we not done what ye did? Yes, we have. Was the cause for which we did it not alike sacred and just as yours? It was. Or have we not fought to sustain it with equal resolution as your brethren did? Bold though it be to claim a glory such as America has, I am bold to claim, and say--yes, we did. And yet what a difference in the result! And whence this difference? Only out of that single circumstance that, while you, in your struggle, meet with _assistance_, we in ours met not even with _"fair play:"_ since, when we fought, there was nobody on earth to maintain "the laws of nature's God."
During our struggle, America was silent and England did not stir; and while you were assisted by a French King, we were forsaken by a French Republic--itself now trodden down because it has forsaken us?
Well, we are not broken yet. There is hope for us, because there is a God in heaven and an America on earth. May be that our nameless woes were necessary, that the glorious destiny of America may be fulfilled; that after it had been an asylum for the oppressed, it should become, by regenerating Europe, the pillar of manhood's liberty.
Oh! it is not a mere capricious change of fate, that the exiled governor of the land whose name, four years ago, was scarcely known on your glorious shores, and which now (oh, let me have the blessings of this belief!) is dear to the generous heart of America. It is not a mere chance that Hungary's exiled chief thanks the Senators of Maryland for the high honour of public welcome in that very Hall where the first Continental Congress met; where your great Republic's glorious constitution was framed; where the treaty of acknowledged independence was ratified, and where you, Senators, guard with steady hand the rights of your sovereign States which is now united to thirty others, not to make you less free, but to make you more mighty--to make you a power on earth.
I believe there is the hand of God in history. You assigned a place in this hall of freedom to the memory of Chatham, for having been just to America, by opposing the stamp act, which awoke your nation to resistance.
Now, the people of England think as once Pitt the elder thought, and honours with deep reverence the memory of your Washington.
But suppose the England of Lord Chatham's time had thought as Chatham did: and his burning words had moved the English aristocracy to be just towards the colonies: those our men there [turning to the portraits] had not signed your country's independence. Washington were perhaps a name "unknown, unhonoured, and unsung," and this proud constellation of your glorious stars had perhaps not yet risen on mankind's sky--instead of being now about to become the sun of Freedom. It is thus Providence acts.
Let me hope, sir, that Hungary's unmerited fate was necessary, in order that your stars should become such a sun.
Sirs, I stand, perhaps, upon the very spot where your Washington stood, consummating the greatest act of his life. The walls which now listen to my humble words, listened to the words of his republican virtue, immortal by their very modesty. Let me, upon this sacred spot, express my confident belief that if he stood here now, he would tell you that his prophecy is fulfilled; that you are mighty enough "to defy any power on earth in a just cause," and he would tell you that there never was and never will be a cause more just than the cause of Hungary, being, as it is, the cause of oppressed humanity.
Sir, I thank the Senate of Maryland, in my country's name for the honour of your generous welcome. I entreat the Senate kindly to remember my prostrate fatherland. Sir, I bid you farewell, feeling heart and soul purified, and my resolution strengthened, by the very air of this ancient city of Providence.
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XXI.--THANKS FOR HIS GREAT SUCCESS.
[_Speech at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on his Reception in the Capitol. Jan. 14th_.]
On Jan. 14th Kossuth was received in Harrisburg, capital of Pennsylvania, in the Capitol. Governor Johnston in the name of the State, addressed to him a copious and energetic speech, in the course of which he said:--
We have declared the law, that man is capable of self government, and possesses the inherent and indestructible right of altering, amending, and changing his form of government at his pleasure, and in furtherance of his happiness. We have sworn hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. These truths we have made a part of the laws of nations. Despots combine and interfere by force and fraud, to prevent the erection of republican institutions by a nation struggling successfully against its local usurping oppressor, for independence. Fidelity to our principles and institutions demands that we PREVENT such interference by solemnly proclaiming that the laws of nations and humanity SHALL BE PRESERVED inviolate and sacred. In the performance of this duty the faint-hearted may falter; the domestic despot and cold diplomatist may linger behind; the man of world-extended and fearful traffic may hesitate; but the warm and great heart of the American masses will feel no moment of hesitation and doubt in defence of truth. The great Author of nations will find the means to carry out His wise designs. How glorious our destiny, if to us is given the solemn charge of carrying into effect the beneficent purpose of Heaven in the establishment upon earth of universal liberty, universal education, universal happiness, and peace.
When Governor Johnston had concluded with a very cordial welcome, Kossuth replied as follows:--
Senators and representatives of Pennsylvania.--I came with confidence, I came with hope to the United States--with the confidence of a man who trusts to the certainty of principles, knowing that where freedom is sown, there generosity grows--with the hope of a man who knows that there is life in his cause, and that where there is life there must be a future yet. Still hope is only an instinctive throb with which Nature's motherly care comforts adversity. We often hope without knowing why, and like a lonely wanderer on a stormy night, direct our weary steps towards the first glimmering window light, uncertain whether we are about to knock at the door of a philanthropist or of a heartless egotist. But the hope and confidence with which I came to the United States was not such. There was a knowledge of fact in it. I did not know what _persons_ it might be my fate to meet, but I knew that meet I should with two living _principles_--with that of FREEDOM and that of NATIONAL HOSPITALITY.
Both are political principles here. Freedom is expansive like the light: it loves to spread itself: and hospitality here in this happy land, is raised out of the narrow circle of private virtue into political wisdom. As you, gentlemen, are the representatives of your people, so the people of the United States at large are representative of European humanity--a congregation of nations assembled in the hospitable Hall of American liberty. Your people is linked to Europe, not only by the common tie of manhood--not only by the communicative spirit of liberty--not only by the commercial intercourse, but by the sacred ties of blood. The people of the United States is Europe transplanted to America. And it is not Hungary's woes alone--it is the cause of all Europe which I am come to plead. Where was ever a son, who in his own happy days could indifferently look at the sufferings of his mother, whose heart's blood is running in his very veins? And Europe is the mother of the United States.
I hope to God, that the people of this glorious land is and will ever be, fervently attached to this their free, great and happy home. I hope to God that whatever tongue they speak, they are and will ever be American, and nothing but American. And so they must be, if they will be free--if they desire for their adopted home greatness and perpetuity. Should once the citizens of the United States cease to be Americans, and become again English, Irish, German, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Swedish, French--America would soon cease to be what it is now--freedom elevated to the proud position of a power on earth.
But while I hope that all the people of the United States will never become anything but Americans; and that even its youngest adopted sons, though fresh with sweet home recollections, will know here no South, no North, no East and no West--nothing but the whole country, the common nationality of freedom--in a word, America; still I also know that blood is blood--that the heart of the son must beat at the contemplation of his mother's sufferings. These were the motives of my confident hope. And here in this place I have the happy right to say, God the Almighty is with me; my hopes are about to be realized. Sir, it is a gratifying view to see how the generous sympathy of individuals for the cause which I respectfully plead is rising into Public Opinion. But nowhere had I the happy lot to see this more clearly expressed than in this great commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the mighty "_keystone_ State" of the Union. The people of Harrisburg spoke first: no city before had so distinctly articulated the public sympathy into acknowledged principles. It has framed the sympathy of generous instinct into a political shape. I will for ever remember it with fervent gratitude. Then came the Metropolis--a hope and a consolation by its very name to the oppressed--the sanctuary of American Independence, where the very bells speak prophecy--which is now sheltering more inhabitants than all Pennsylvania did, when, seventy-five years ago, the prophetic bell of Independence Hall announced to the world that free America was born; which now, with the voice of thunder, will, I hope, tell the world that the doubtful life of that child has unfolded itself into a mighty power on earth. Yes, after Harrisburg, the metropolis spoke, a flourishing example of freedom's self-developing energy; and after the metropolis, now so mighty a centre of nations, and it ally of international law--next came Pittsburg, the immense manufacturing workshop, alike memorable for its moral power and its natural advantages, which made it a link with the great valley of the West, a cradle of a new world, which is linked in its turn to the old world by boundless agricultural interests. And after the people of Pennsylvania have thus spoken, here now I stand in the temple of this people's sovereignty, with joyful gratitude acknowledging the inestimable benefits of this public reception, where--with the elected of Pennsylvania, entrusted with the Legislative and Executive power of the sovereign people, gather into one garland the public opinion, and with the authority of their high position, announce loudly to the world the principles, the resolution, and the will of the two millions of this great Commonwealth. Sir, the words your Excellency has honoured me with will have their weight throughout the world. The jeering smile of the despots, which accompanied my wandering, will be changed, at the report of these proceedings, to a frown which may yet cast fresh mourning over families, as it has cast over mine; nevertheless the afflicted will wait to be consoled by the dawn of public happiness. From the words which your Excellency spoke, the nations will feel double resolution to shake off the yoke of despotism.
[Footnote: Philadelphia (_brotherly love_) is evidently intended. "Metropolis" strictly means mother city, not chief city.]
The proceedings of to-day will, moreover, have their weight in the development of public opinion in other States of your united Republic. Governor! I plead no dead cause, Europe is no corpse: it has a future yet, because it wills. Sir, from the window of your room, which your hospitality has opened to me, I saw suspended a musket and a powder horn, and this motto--"Material Aid." And I believe that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania is seated in that chair whence the Declaration of American Independence was signed. The first is what Europe wants in order to have the success of the second. Permit me to take this for a happy augury; and allow me with the plain words of an earnest mind, to give you the assurance of my country's warm, everlasting gratitude, in which, upon the basis of our restored independence, a wide field will be opened to mutual benefit, by friendly commercial intercourse ennobled by the consciousness of imparted benefit on your side, and by the pleasant duty of gratitude on the side of Hungary, which so well deserves your generous sympathy.
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XXII.--ON THE PRESENT WEAKNESS OF DESPOTISM. [_Speech at the Harrisburg Banquet_.]
About three hundred persons sat down to dinner, a large portion of them members of the legislature. Governor Johnston presided, assisted by Ex-Senator Cameron. A toast complimentary to Governor Johnston having been drunk with great enthusiasm, the Governor briefly responded. After returning his thanks for the compliment, he alluded to the mission of Kossuth. The great Magyar came here not for _sympathy_ alone, but for _aid_ for the cause of republican freedom. He not only wanted that, but encouragement of our government in aid of the cause of down-trodden Hungary. No profession, but action was wanted; and he exhorted his hearers never to cease acting, until the government took the high ground necessary to secure to Hungary the simple justice she demanded. In conclusion he gave the third toast:
"Hungary--Betrayed but not subdued; her constitution violated, her people in chains, her chief in exile. The star of freedom will yet shine through the dark night of her adversity."
Kossuth, in response, opened by lamenting that the perpetual claims upon his time, and the pressure of sorrowful feelings on his heart, made it impossible for him to study how to address them suitably. He proceeded to say:
But to what purpose is eloquence here? Have you not anticipated my wishes? Have you not sanctioned my principles? Are you not going on to action, as generous men do, who are conscious of their power and of their aim? Well, to what purpose, then, is eloquence here? I have only to thank--and that is more eloquently told by a warm grasp of the hand than by all the skilful arrangement of words.
I beg therefore your indulgence for laying before you some mere facts, which perhaps may contribute to strengthen your conviction that the people of the United States, in bestowing its sympathy upon my cause, does not support a dead cause, but one which has a life, and whose success is rationally sure.