Chapter 20
Besides, I beg to remind you of my second and third requests, either of which might bring a practical solution of this doubt. At present, whoever will may sell arms to Austria, but you forbid your own citizens to sell arms to Hungary; and this, though the rule of Austria has no legitimate basis, but rests on unjust force; while you have avowed the cause of Hungary to be just. Such a state of your law is not neutrality, and is not righteous towards _us_ nor is it fair towards your _own people_. If Venice were to-day to shake off the yoke of Austria, Austria will forthwith forbid all of you to buy and sell with Venice. Well: I say that is not fair towards your own citizens, any more than to the Venetians. True; you have not the right to open any market by force, towards a nation which is unwilling to deal with you, but you have a clear right to deal with one which desires it, in spite of any belligerent who chooses to forbid you. How could the fact of Hungary or Venice rising up against their oppressor justify Austria in damaging the lawful commerce of America with those nations? On this turns my second principle, which I consider of high importance for the coming struggle; that the United States would declare their resolve to uphold their commercial intercourse with every nation which is ready to accept it.
Thirdly, I claimed that you would recognize the Hungarian Declaration of Independence as having been legitimate. My enemies have misrepresented this, as if I desired to be recognized as _de facto_ the Governor of Hungary. This is mere absurdity. That is not the question--_am_ I governor or not governor? The question is--_was_ the Declaration of Independence of Hungary, in the judgment of the people of the United States, a legitimate one, to which my nation had a right--or was it not? I believe America cannot answer no, because your very existence rests on a similar act. And if that declaration is made, what will be the consequence of it? What will be the practical result? Why, that very moment when I or whoever else, upon the basis of this declaration, recognized to be legitimate by your republic, shall take a stake upon Hungarian independence, and issue a proclamation declaring that a national government exists, that very moment the existence of the government will be recognized, and the gentleman who will be sent to Europe will not be sent to investigate what chances we have of success, but into what diplomatic relation we shall come. And what will be the consequence? A legitimate commercial intercourse of America. Then I can fit out men of war--steamers and everything--and your laws will not prevent me. The government of Hungary will then be a friendly power, and therefore according to your laws everything might be done for the benefit of my country--and who knows what a benefit it might secure to yourselves?
As regards my use of any pecuniary aids, I declare that I will respect the laws of every nation where I have the honour even temporarily to be. I will employ that aid, which the friends of Hungary may place at my disposal, for the benefit of my country, to be sure, but only in such a way as is not forbidden by, or contrary to, your laws. Now, to make an armed expedition against a friendly power--that is forbidden. But if Hungary rises upon the basis of a recognized, legitimate independence, then what is necessary for it to prepare for coming into that position is lawful. I have taken the advice of the highest authorities in that respect. I was not so bold as to become the interpreter of your laws, but I have asked, Is that lawful, or is it not? from the highest authorities in law matters of the United States.
Now to return to Hungary. In what condition is it! In the beginning of my talking I mentioned the invasion of Tartarian hordes. Then the wild beasts spread over the land, and caused the few remnants of the people to take refuge in some castles, and fortresses, and fortified places and in the most remote and sterile ground. The wild beasts fed on human blood. Now again the wild beasts are spreading terribly; and why? Because to have a single pistol, to have a sword, or a musket, is a crime which is punished by several years' imprisonment. Such is now the condition of Hungary! Therefore, you may now see that the country is disarmed, and of what importance is it for that success, about which I hear now and then doubts, to have arms prepared in a convenient lawful manner.
[After this, Kossuth spoke in some detail concerning the pecuniary contributions; and closed with complaints of his painfully over-worked chest, which had much impeded his speech.]
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XXIX.--OHIO AND FRANCE CONTRASTED AS REPUBLICS.
[_Reception at Cincinnati_.]
Kossuth having been received by a vast assemblage of the people of Cincinnati was addressed in their name by the Honourable Caleb Smith, from whose speech the following are extracts:--
Your progress through a portion of the whole States which originally constituted the American confederacy, has called forth such manifestations of public feeling as leave no doubt that the liberty enjoyed by the people of those States, has created in their hearts a generous sympathy for the advocates of civil liberty who have endeavoured to establish free institutions in Europe.
The brilliant success which attended the first efforts of the Hungarian Patriots, excited the hope that the tricoloured flag unfurled on the shores of the Danube, would, like the stars and stripes of our own Republic, become the emblem and the hope of freedom.
The intervention of Russia, in violation of the law of nations, in defiance of justice and right, and in disregard of the public sentiment of the civilized world, for a time, at last, disappointed this hope; and the exultation it excited was followed by a mournful sadness, when Russian arms and domestic treason combined, caused the Hungarian flag to trail in the dust.
Hungary failed to establish her independence, but failed only, when success was impossible. The efforts she has made have not been wholly lost. The seed which she has sown in agony and blood, will yet sprout and bring forth fruit. The memory of her devoted sons who have fallen in the cause of liberty, will be perpetuated upon the living tablets of the hearts of freedom's votaries throughout the world. The spirits of the martyrs shall whisper hope and consolation to the hearts of her surviving children; and from out the dungeons of her captive patriots shall go forth the spirit of liberty to cheer and animate their countrymen.
You are engaged in a high and holy mission. The redemption of your fatherland from oppression is worthy of your efforts, and may God prosper them; and may you find in this free land such sympathy and aid as will strengthen your heart for the stern trials which await you in your own country.
Kossuth replied:--
Sir,--Before I answer you, let me look over this animated ocean, that I may impress upon my memory the look of those who have transformed the wilderness of a primitive forest into an immense city, of which there exists a prediction that, by the year of our Lord 2000, it will be the greatest city in the world.
"The West! the West! the region of the Father of Rivers," there thou canst see the cradle of a new-born humanity. So I was told by the learned expounders of descriptive geography, who believe that they know the world, because they have seen it on maps.
The West a cradle! Why? A cradle is the sleeping place of a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and crying for the mother's milk.
People of Cincinnati, are you that child which, awakening in an unwatched moment, liberated his tender hands from the swaddling band, swept away by his left arm the primitive forest planted by the Lord at creation's dawn, and raised by his right hand this mighty metropolis. Why, if that be your childhood's pastime, I am awed by the presentiment of your manhood's task; for it is written, that it is forbidden to men to approach too near to omnipotence. And that people here which created this rich city, and changed the native woods of the red man into a flourishing seat of Christian civilization and civilized Christianity--into a living workshop of science and art, of industry and widely spread commerce; and performed this change, not like the drop, which, by falling incessantly through centuries, digs a gulf where a mountain stood, but performed it suddenly within the turn of the hand, like a magician; that people achieved a prouder work than the giants of old, who dared to pile Ossa upon Pelion; but excuse me, the comparison is bad.
Those giants of old heaped mountain upon mountain, with the impious design to storm the heavens. You have transformed the wilderness of the West into the dwelling-place of an enlightened, industrious, intelligent Christian community, that it may flourish a living monument of the wonderful bounty of Divine Providence--a temple of freedom, which glorifies God, and bids oppressed humanity to hope.
And yet, when I look at you, citizens of Cincinnati, I see no race of giants, astonishing by uncommon frame: I see men as I am wont to see all my life, and I have lived almost long enough to have seen Cincinnati a small hamlet, composed of some modest log-houses, separated by dense woods, where savage beast and savage Indian lurked about the lonely settlers, who, as the legend of Jacob Wetzel and his faithful log tells, had to wrestle for life when they left their poor abode.
What is the key of this rapid wonderful change? The glorious cities of old were founded by heroes whom posterity called demi-gods, and whose name survived their work by thousands of years. Who is your hero? Who stood god-father at the birth of the Queen of the West?
I looked to history and found not his name. But instead of one mortal man's renowned name, I find in the records of your city's history an immortal being's name, and that is, _the people_. The word sparkles with the lustre of a life invigorating flame, and that flame is LIBERTY. Freedom, regulated by wise institutions, based upon the great principle of national independence and self-government; this is the magical rod by which the great enchanter, "_the people_," has achieved this wonderful work.
Sir, there is a mighty change going on in human development. Formerly great things were done by great men, whose names stand in history like milestones, marking the march of mankind on the highway of progress. It was mankind which marched, and still it passed unnoticed and unknown. Of him history has made no record, but of the milestones only, and has called them great men. The lofty frame of individual greatness overshadowed the people, who were ready to follow but not prepared to go without being led. Humanity and its progress was absorbed by individualities; because the people which stood low in the valley got giddy by looking up to the mountain's top, where its leaders stood. It was the age of childhood for nations. Children cling to the leading strings as to a necessity, and feel it a benefit to be led.
But the leaders of nations changed soon into kings. Ambition claimed as a right what merit had gained as a free offering. Arrogance succeeded to greatness; and out of the child-like attachment for benefits received, the duty of blind obedience was framed by the iron hand of violence, and by the craft of impious hypocrisy, degrading everything held for holy by men--religion itself--into a tool of oppression on earth. It was the era of uncontroverted despotism, which, with sacrilegious arrogance, claimed the title of divine rank; and mankind advanced slowly in progress, because it was not conscious of its own aim. Oppression was taken for a gloomy fatality.
The scene has changed. Nations have become conscious of their rights and destiny, and will tolerate no masters, nor will suffer oppression any longer. The spirit of freedom moves through the air; and remember, that you are morally somewhat responsible for it, inasmuch as it is your glorious struggle for independence which was the first upheaving of mankind's heart roused to self-conscious life. Even by that first effort she gloriously achieved the national independence of America. Though gifted with all the blessings of nature's virginal vitality, you would never have succeeded to achieve this wonderful growth which we see, if you had employed your conquered national independence merely to take a new master for the old one.
And mark well, gentlemen! a nation may have a master even if it has no king--a nation may be called a republic, and yet be not free--_Wherever centralization exists, there the nation has either sold or lent, either alienated or delegated its sovereignty_; and wherever this is done, the nation has a master--and he who has a master is of course not his own master. Power may be centralized in many--the centralization by and by will be concentrated in few, as in ancient Venice, or in one, as in France at the time of the "_Uncle_," some forty years ago, and again in France, now that the "_Nephew_" has his bloody reign for a day.
Yes, gentlemen, if that generation of devoted patriots who achieved the Independence of the United States, had merely changed the old master for a new one with the name of an Emperor or a King, or of an omnipotent President, your country were now just something like Brazil or Mexico, or the Republic of South America, all of them independent, as you know, and all except Brazil even Republics, and all rich with nature's blessings, and offering a new home to those who fly from the oppression of the Old World--and yet all of them old before they were young, and decrepit before they were strong. Had the founders of your country's Independence followed this direction which led the rest of America astray, Cincinnati would be a hamlet yet as it was in Jacob Wetzel's time; and Ohio, instead of being a first-rate star in the constellation of your Republic, would be an appendage of neighbouring Eastern States--a not yet explored desert, marked in the map of America only by lines of northern latitude and western longitude.
The people, a real sovereign; your institutions securing real freedom, because founded on the principles of self-government; union to secure national independence and the position of a power on earth; and all together, having no master but God; omnipotence not vested in any man, in any assembly,--and an open field to every honest exertion--because civil, political, and religious liberty is the common benefit to all, not limited but by itself (that is, by the unseen, but not unfelt, influence of self-given law); that is the key of the living wonder which spreads before my eyes.
Let me recall to your memory a curious fact. It is just a hundred years ago, that the first trading house upon the Great Miami was built by daring English adventurers, at a place later known as Laramie's Store, then the territory of the Twigtwee Indians. The trade house was destroyed by Frenchmen, who possessed then a whole world on the continent of America. Well, twenty-four years later, France aided your America in its struggle for independence; and oh! feel not offended in your proud power of to-day, when I say that independence would not then have been achieved without the aid of France.
Since that time, France has been twice a Republic, and changed its constitutions thirteen times; and, though thirty-six millions strong, it has lost every foot of land on the continent of America, and at home it lies prostrated beneath the feet of the most inglorious usurper that ever dared to raise ambition's bloody seat upon the ruins of liberty. And your Republic? It has grown a giant of power. And Ohio? out of the ruins of a trading-house into a mighty commonwealth of two millions of free and happy men, who shout out with a voice like the thunderstorm, to the despots of the Old World, "ye shall stop in your ambitious way before the power of freedom, ready to protect the common laws of all humanity."
What a glorious triumph of your institutions over the principles of CENTRALIZED government!
Oh! may all the generations yet unborn, and all the millions who will yet gather in this New World of the West, which soon will preponderate in the scale of the Union, where all the west weighed nothing fifty years ago--may they all ever and ever remember the high instruction which the Almighty has revealed in this parallel of different results.
Sir, you say that Ohio can show no battle field connected with recollections of your own glorious revolution. Let me answer, that the whole West is a monument, and Cincinnati the fair cornice of it. If your eastern sister States have instructed the world how nations become independent and free, the West shows to the world what a nation once independent and really free can become.
Allow me to declare, that by standing before the world as such an instructive example, you exercise the most effective revolutionary propaganda; for if the mis-result of French revolutions discourage the nations from shaking off the 'oppressors' yoke, your victory,--and still more, your unparalleled prosperity,--has encouraged oppressed nations to dare what you dared.
Egotists and hypocrites may say that you are not responsible for it; you have bid nobody to follow you:--and it may be true that you are not responsible before a tribunal. Still, you are sufficiently free not to feel offended by a true word; therefore I say you are responsible before your own conscience, for, your example having started a new doctrine, the teacher of a new doctrine is morally bound not to forsake his doctrine when assailed in the person of his disciples.
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XXX.--WAR A PROVIDENTIAL NECESSITY AGAINST OPPRESSION.
[_To the Clergy of Cincinnati_.]
The clergy of Cincinnati addressed Kossuth by the mouth of the Rev. Mr. Fisher. Among other topics, this gentleman said:--
We wish to _you_ first, and through you, to the world, to express our respect for those heroic clergymen who dared to offer public prayers to Almighty God for the success of your arms. We have not forgotten the manner in which Austria attempted to dragoon their tongues into silence, and their souls into abject submission. Nor can we believe that a country with such pastors--that a country whose religious interests are confided to men ready to pray against the Despot, will be suffered by our heavenly Father to remain trodden down, and to have her name blotted out of the history of nations. If in the great battle of freedom, the heart of the minister of religion at the Altar, beats in sympathy with the heart of the minister at the Council Board, and the soldier in the battle-field, there is then a union of the moral, intellectual, and physical forces of a nation, which we have been taught to believe would generally and ultimately be victorious.
We frankly confess to you that our hope that Hungary is not to share the fate of unhappy Poland, is grounded first on the large element of a Protestant ministry she embraces, and secondly on the advance which the nations are making in a true understanding of the principles of republican freedom. We believe the cause of Hungary to be just. Against the usurpations of Kings and perjured Princes--against the interference of foreign powers to assist in treading on the sparks of liberty anywhere on the earth, and especially in such a land as yours, we claim the privilege at the fit time of entering our protest and expressing toward such acts our deepest abhorrence. And while we desire most earnestly the advent of universal peace, and rejoice that the power of moral principles is increasing in the world, and anticipate the day when the nations shall learn war no more, yet we are fully convinced, both from the Holy Scriptures and the history of the past, that under the overruling providence of God wars occasioned by the oppression, the ambition, and the covetousness of men, are often the means of breaking up the stagnant waters of superstition and irreligion, and securing to the truth a position from which it may most successfully send abroad its light, and mould the heart of a nation to religion and peace. _Despotism is_ in our view _a perpetual war of a few upon the many_; and we must unlearn some of the earliest lessons that our mothers taught us and our fathers illustrated in their lives, before we can cease to sympathize with the assertors of their rights against the force or the fraud of their fellow-men. And since the sad issue of revolution after revolution in infidel France, there are not a few of us, who have indulged the hope (especially since your visit to our shores), that in central Europe, in your native land, among an undebauched and a Bible-reading people, a government might arise that would accord freedom of conscience to all, and shine as a light of virtuous republicanism upon the darkness around.
In meeting you thus we design no mere display, no ineffective parade of words. We wish to give whatever weight of influence we may bear in this community, to the cause of freedom in your native land, to assist in securing to you and your nation, such aid as a nation situated as we are can _wisely_ give, so as best to subserve the interests of liberty and humanity in all the world. We regard the moral influence of this country as of the first importance; and the peaceful working of republican institutions as a daily protest against despotism. And for ourselves we pledge to you and your country, that we will, in public and private, bear your cause upon our hearts, and invoke in your behalf, the intervention of an arm that no earthly power can resist.
Kossuth replied at length. The following is an extract from his speech:--
You have been pleased to refer to war as, under certain circumstances, an instrumentality of Divine Providence--and indeed so it is. Great things depend upon the exact definition of a word. There is, I suppose, nobody on earth who takes war for a moral or happy condition. Every man must wish peace; but peace must not be confounded with oppression. It is our duty, I believe, to follow the historical advice of the Scriptures, which very often have pointed out war as an instrumentality against oppression and injustice.
You have very truly said that despotism is a continued war of the few against the many, of ambition against mankind. Now if that be true--(and true it is--for war is nothing else than an appeal to force)--then how can any persons claim of oppressed nations not to resort to war? Who makes war? those who defend themselves? or those who attack others? Now if it be true that despotism is a continued attack upon mankind, then war comes from that quarter, and I have no where in the world heard that an unjust attack should not be opposed by a just defence. It is absurd to entreat nations not to disturb a peace which does not exist. What would have become of Christianity in Europe (and in further consequence, also in America), if in those times, when Mohammedanism was yet a conquering power, Hungary out of love of peace had not opposed Mohammedanism in defence of Christianity? What would have become of Protestantism when assailed by Charles V, by Philip II, and others? Did Luther or others forbid the use of arms against arms, to protect for men the right of private judgment in matters of salvation. I have seen war. I know what an immense machine it is. What an immense misfortune and with what sufferings it is connected. Believe me, there is no nation which loves war, but many that fear war less than they hate oppression, which prevents both their happiness on earth and the development of private judgment for salvation in eternity.