Select Speeches of Kossuth - Kossuth
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Mr. Mayor and citizens of Jersey, I indeed apprehend you will have much
disappointed those who endeavoured by ridicule to drive our cause out of
fashion. You have shown them to-day that the cause of liberty can never
be out of fashion with Americans. I thank you most cordially for it; the
more because I know that long before yesterday sympathy with the cause
of liberty has been in fashion with you. I am here on the borders of a
state noted for its fidelity and sacrifices in the struggle for your
country's freedom and independence: to which the State of New Jersey
has, in proportion to its population, sacrificed a larger amount of
patriotic blood and of property, than any other of your sister states.
I myself have read the acknowledgment of this in Washington's own yet
unedited hand-writings. And I know also that your state has the
historical reputation of having been a glorious battle-field in the
struggle for the freedom you enjoy.
There may be some in this assembly with whom the sufferings connected
with one's home being a battle-field, may be a family tradition yet. But
is there a country in the world where such traditions are more largely
recorded than my own native land is? Is there a country, on the soil of
which more battles have been fought--and battles not only for ourselves,
but for all the Christian, all the civilized world? Oh, home of my
fathers! thou art the Golgotha of Europe.
I defy all the demoniac skill of tyranny to find out more
tortures,--moral, political, and material,--than those which now weigh
down my fatherland. It will not bear them, it cannot bear them, but will
make a revolution, though all the world forsake us. But I ask, is there
not private generosity enough in America, to give me those funds,
through which my injured country would have to meet fewer enemies, and
win its rights with far less bloodshed; or shall the venom of calumny
cause you to refuse that, which, without impairing your private fortunes
or risking your public interests, would mightily conduce to our success?
Allow me to quote a beautiful but true word which ex-Governor Vroom
spoke in Trenton last night. He said: "Let us help the man; his
principles are those engrafted into our Declaration of Independence. We
cannot remain free, should all Europe become enslaved by absolutism. The
sun of freedom is but one, on mankind's sky, and when darkness spreads
it will spread over all alike." The instinct of the people of Hungary
understood, that to yield at all to unjust violence, was to yield
everything; and to my appeals they replied, Cursed be he who yields!
Though unprepared, they fought; our unnamed heroes fought and
conquered,--until Russia and treachery came. And though now I am an
exile, again they will follow me; I need only to get back to them and
bring them something sharper than our nails to fight with for fatherland
and humanity; then in the high face of heaven we will fight out the
battle of freedom once more. This is my cause, and this my plea. It is
there in your hearts, written in burning words by God himself, who made
you generous by bestowing on you freedom.
* * * * *
XL.--THE BROTHERHOOD OF NATIONS.
[_Newark_.]
The Rev. Dr. Eddy introduced Kossuth to the citizens of Newark, and made
an address to him in their name. After this, Kossuth replied:
Gentlemen,--It was a minister of the Gospel who addressed me in your
name: Let me speak to you as a Christian who considers it to be my
heartfelt duty to act, not only in my private but also in my public
capacity, in conformity with the principles of Christianity, as I
understand it.
I have seen the people of the United States almost in every climate of
your immense territory. I have marked the natural influence of geography
upon its character. I have seen the same principles, the same
institutions assuming in their application the modifying influences of
local circumstances; I have found the past casting its shadows on the
present, in one place darker, in the other less; I have seen man
everywhere to be man, partaking of all aspirations, which are the bliss
as well as the fragility of nature in man,--but in one place the bliss
prevailing more and in the other the fragility. I saw now and then small
interests of the passing hour, less or more encroaching upon the sacred
dominion of universal principles; but so much is true, that wherever I
found a people, I found a great and generous heart, ready to take that
ground which by your very national position is pointed out to you as a
mission. Your position is to be a great nation; therefore your
necessity is to act like a great nation; or, if you do not, you will not
be great.
To be numerous, is not to be great. The Chinese are eight times more
numerous than you, and still China is not great, for she has isolated
herself from the world. Nor does the condition of a nation depend on
what she likes to call herself. China calls herself "Celestial," and
takes you and Europe for barbarians. Not what we call ourselves, but how
we act, proves what we are. Great is that nation which acts greatly.
And give me leave to say, what an American minister of the Gospel has
said to me: "_Nations_, by the great God of the Universe, are
individualized, as well as men. He has given each a mission to fulfil,
and He expects every one to bear its part in solving the great problem
of man's capacity for self-government, which is the problem of human
destiny; and if any nation fails in this, He will treat it as an
unprofitable servant, a barren fig-tree, whose own end is to be rooted
up and burnt."
Jonah sat under the shadow of his gourd rejoicing, in isolated, selfish
indifference, caring nothing for the millions of the Ninevites at his
feet. What was the consequence? God prepared a worm to smite the gourd,
that it withered. God has privileged you, the people of the United
States, to repose, not under a gourd, but beneath the shadow of a
luxuriant vine and the outspreading branches of a delicious fig-tree.
Give him praise and thanks! But are you, Jonah-like, on this account to
wrap yourselves up in the mantle of insensibility, caring nothing for
the nations smarting under oppression? stretching forth no hand for
their deliverance, not even so much as to protest against a conspiracy
of evil doers, and give an alms to aid deliverance from them? Are you to
hide your national talent in a napkin, or lend it at usury? Read the
Saviour's maxim:
"_Do unto others as ye would that others do unto you!_" This is the
Saviour's golden rule, applicable to nations as well as to individuals.
Suppose when the United States were struggling for their independence,
the Spanish Government had interfered to prevent its achievement
--sending an armament to bombard your cities and murder your
inhabitants. What would your forefathers have thought--how felt?
Precisely as Hungary thought and felt when the Russian bear put down his
overslaughtering paw upon her. They would have invoked high heaven to
avenge the interference--and had there been a people on the face of the
earth to protest against it, that people would have shown out, like an
eminent star in the hemisphere of nations--and to this day you would
call it blessed. What you would have others do unto you, do so likewise
unto them.
And though you met no foreign interference, yet you met far more than a
protest in your favour; you met substantial aid: thirty-eight vessels of
war, nineteen millions of money, 24,000 muskets, 4,000 soldiers, and the
whole political weight of France engaged in your cause. I ask not so
much, by far not so much, for oppressed Europe from you.
It is a gospel maxim "_Be not partaker of other men's sins._" It is
alike applicable to individuals and nations. If you of the United States
see the great law of humanity outraged by another nation, and see it
_silently_, raising no warning voice against it, you virtually
become a party to the offence; as you do not reprove it, you embolden
the offender to add iniquity unto iniquity.
Let not one nation be partaker of another nation's sins. When you see
the great law of humanity, the law upon which your national existence
rests, the law enacted in the Declaration of your Independence, outraged
and profaned, will you sit quietly by? If so (excuse me for saying) part
of the guilt is upon you, and while individuals receive their reward in
the eternal world, nations are sure to receive it here. There is
connection of cause and effect in a nation's destiny.
A nation should not be a mere _lake_, a glassy expanse, only
reflecting foreign, light around--but a _river_, carrying its rich
treasures from the fountain to distant regions of the earth.
A nation should not be a mere _light-house_, a stationary beacon,
erected upon the coast to warn voyagers of their danger--but a moving
_life-boat_, carrying treasures of freedom to the doors of
thousands and millions in their lands.
I confess, gentlemen, that I shared those expectations, which the
nations of Europe have conceived from America. Was I too sanguine in my
wishes to hope, that in these expectations I shall not fail? So much I
dare say, that I conceived these expectations not without encouragement
on your own part.
With this let me draw to a close. One word often tells more than a
volume of skilful eloquence. When crossing the Alleghany mountains, in a
new country, scarcely yet settled, bearing at every step the mark of a
new creation, I happened to see a new house in ruins. I felt astonished
to see a ruin in America. There must have been misfortune in that
house--the hand of God may have stricken him, thought I, and inquired
from one of the neighbours, "What has become of the man?" "Nothing
particular," answered he: "he went to the West--he was too comfortable
here. American pioneers like to be uncomfortable." It was but one word,
yet worth a volume. It made me more correctly understand the character
of your people and the mystery of your inner prodigious growth, than a
big volume of treatises upon the spirit of America might have done. The
instinct of indomitable energy, all the boundless power hidden in the
word "_go ahead_," lay open before my eyes. I felt by a glance what
immense things might be accomplished by that energy, to the honour and
lasting welfare of all humanity, if only its direction be not
misled--and I pray to God that he may preserve your people from being
absorbed in materialism. The proud results of egotism vanish in the
following generation like the fancy of a dream; but the smallest real
benefit bestowed upon mankind is lasting like eternity. People of
America! thy energy is wonderful; but for thy own sake, for thy future's
sake, for all humanity's sake, beware! Oh! beware from measuring good
and evil by the arguments of materialists.
I have seen too many sad and bitter hours in my stormy life, not to
remember every word of true consolation which happened to brighten my
way.
It was nearly four months ago, and still I remember it, as if it had
happened but yesterday, that the delegation, which came in December last
to New York, to tender me a cordial welcome from and to invite me to
Newark, called _me a brother, a brother in the just and righteous
appreciation of human rights and human destiny; brother in all the
sacred and hallowed sentiments of the human heart_. These were your
words, and yesterday the people of Newark proved to me that they are
your sentiments; sentiments not like the sudden excitement of passion,
which cools, but sentiments of brotherhood and friendship, lasting,
faithful, and true.
You have greeted me by the dear name of brother. When I came, you
entitled me to the right to bid you farewell in a brother's way. And
between brethren, a warm grasp of hand, a tender tear in the eye, and
the word "_remember_," tells more than all the skill of oratory
could do. And remember, oh remember, brethren! that the grasp of my hand
is my whole people's grasp, the tear which glistens in my eyes is their
tear. They are suffering as no other people--for the world, the
oppressed world. They are the emblem of struggling liberty, claiming a
brother's love and a brother's aid from America, who is, happily, the
emblem of prosperous liberty!
Let this word "_brother_," with all the dear ties comprized in that
word, be the impression I leave upon your hearts. Let this word,
"_brethren, remember!_" be my farewell.
* * * * *
XLI.--THE HISTORY AND HEART OF MASSACHUSETTS.
[_Worcester,[*] Massachusetts_.]
[Footnote *: "Heart of the Commonwealth," is the American title of the
town of Worcester.]
Gentlemen,--Just as the Holy Scriptures are the revelation of religious
truth, teaching men how to attain eternal bliss, so history is the
revelation of eternal wisdom, instructing nations how to be happy, and
immortal on earth. Unaccountable changes may alter on a sudden the
condition of individuals, but in the life of nations there is always a
close concatenation of cause and effect--therefore history is the book
of life, wherein the past assumes the shape of future events.
The history of old Massachusetts is full of instruction to those who
know how to read unwritten philosophy in written facts. Besides, to me
it is of deep interest, because of the striking resemblances between
your country's history and that of mine. In fact, from the very time
that the "colonial system" was adopted by Great Britain, to secure the
monopoly of the American trade, down to Washington's final
victories;--from James Otis, pleading with words of flame the rights of
America before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, breathing into the
nation that breath of life out of which American Independence was born;
down to the Declaration of Independence, first moved by a son of
Massachusetts;--I often believe I read of Hungary when I read of
Massachusetts. But next, when the kind cheers of your generous-hearted
people rouse me out of my contemplative reveries, and looking around me
I see your prosperity, a nameless woe comes over my mind, because that
very prosperity reminds me that I am not at home. The home of my
fathers--the home of my heart--the home of my affections and of my
cares, is in the most striking contrast with the prosperity I see here.
And whence this striking contrast in the results, when there exists such
a striking identity in the antecedents? Whence this afflicting
departure from logical coherence in history?
It is, because your struggle for independence met the good luck, that
monarchical France stipulated to aid with its full force America
struggling for independence, whereas republican America delayed even a
recognition of Hungary's independence at the crisis when it had been
achieved. However! the equality of results may yet come. History will
not prove false to poor Hungary, while it proves true to all the world.
I certainly shall never meet the reputation of Franklin, but I may yet
meet his good luck in a patriotic mission. It is not yet too late. My
people, like the damsel in the Scriptures, is but sleeping, and not
dead. Sleep is silent, but restores to strength. There is apparent
silence also in nature before the storm. We are downtrodden, it is true:
but was not Washington in a dreary retreat with his few brave men,
scarcely to be called an army, when Franklin drew nigh to success in his
mission?
My retreat is somewhat longer, to be sure, but then our struggle went on
from the first on a far greater scale; and again, the success of
Franklin was aided by the hatred of France against England; so I am
told, and it is true; but I trust that the love of liberty in republican
America will prove as copious a source of generous inspiration, as
hatred of Great Britain proved in monarchical France. Or, should it be
the doom of humanity that even republics like yours are more mightily
moved by hatred than by love, is there less reason for republican
America to hate the overwhelming progress of absolutism, than there was
reason for France to hate England's prosperity? In fact, that prosperity
has not been lessened, but rather increased by the rending away of the
United States from the dominion of England; but the absorption of Europe
into predominant absolutism, would cripple your prosperity, because you
are no China, no Japan.
America cannot remain unaffected by the condition of Europe, with which
you have a thousand-fold intercourse. A passing accident in Liverpool, a
fire in Manchester, cannot fail to be felt in America--how could then
the fire of despotic oppression, which threatens to consume all Europe's
freedom, civilization, and property, fail to affect in its results
America? How can it be indifferent to you whether Europe be free or
enslaved?--whether there exists a "Law of Nations," or no such thing any
more exists, being replaced by the caprice of an arrogant mortal who is
called "Czar?" No! either all the instruction of history is vanity, and
its warnings but the pastime of a mocking-bird, or this indifference is
impossible; therefore I may yet meet with Franklin's good luck.
Franklin wrote to his friend Charles Thompson, after having concluded
the treaty of peace--"If we ever become ungrateful to those who have
served and befriended us, our reputation, and all the strength it is
capable of procuring, will be lost, and new dangers ensue."
Perhaps I could say, poor Hungary has well served Christendom, has well
served the cause of humanity; but indeed we are not so happy as to have
served your country in particular. But you are generous enough to
permit our unmerited misfortunes to recommend us to your affections in
place of good service. It is beautiful to repay a received benefit, but
to bestow a benefit is divine. It is your good fortune to be _able_
to do good to humanity: let it be your glory that you are _willing_
to do it.
Then what will be the tidings I shall have to bear back to Europe, in
answer to the expectations with which I was charged from Turkey, Italy,
France, Portugal, and England? Let me hope the answer will be fit to be
reanswered by a mighty hallelujah, at the shout of which the thrones of
tyrants will quake; and when they are fallen, and buried beneath the
fallen pillars of tyranny, all the Christian world will unite in the
song of praise--"Glory to God in Heaven, and peace to right-willing men
on earth, and honour to America, the first-born son of Liberty. For no
nation has God done so much as for her; for she proved to be well
deserving of it, because she was obedient to his Divine Law--She has
loved her neighbour as herself, and did unto others as, in the hour of
her need, she desired others to do unto herself."
Gentlemen,--I know what weight is due to Massachusetts in the councils
of the nation; the history, the character, the intelligence, the
consistent energy, and the considerate perseverance of your country,
give me the security that when the people of Massachusetts raises its
voice and pronounces its will--it will carry its aim.
I have seen this people's will in the manifestation of him whom the
people's well-deserved confidence has raised to the helm of its
Executive Government; I have seen it in the sanction of its Senators; I
have seen it in the mighty outburst of popular sentiments, and in the
generous testimonials of its sympathy, as I moved over this hallowed
soil. I hope soon to see it in the Legislative Hall of your
Representatives, and in the Cradle of American Liberty.
I hope to see it as I see it now here, throbbing with warm, sincere,
generous, and powerful pulsation, in the very heart of your
Commonwealth. I know that where the heart is sound the whole body is
sound--the blood is sound throughout all the veins. Never believe those
to be right who, bearing but a piece of metal in their chests, could
persuade you, that to be cold is to be wise. Warmth is the vivifying
influence of the universe, and the warm heart is the source of noble
deeds. To consider calmly what you have to do is well. You have done
so. But let me hope that the heart of Massachusetts will continue to
throb warmly for the cause of liberty, till that which you judge to be
right is done, with that persistent energy, which, inherited from the
puritan pilgrims of the Mayflower, is a principle with the people of
Massachusetts. Remember the afflicted,--farewell.
* * * * *
XLII.--PANEGYRIC OF MASSACHUSETTS.
[_Speech at Faneuil Hall_.]
Kossuth entered Boston on the 27th April, escorted by twenty-nine
companies of infantry and four of artillery, in the midst of flags and
other festive display. He was welcomed by Gov. Boutwell at the State
House. In the afternoon he reviewed the troops on the common, in the
midst of an immense multitude. The members of the legislature and of the
council came in procession from the State House, and joined him in the
field. In the evening he was entertained at the Revere House, as the
guest of the Legislative Committee.
On April 28th he was escorted by the Independent Cadets to the State
House, where Governor Boutwell received him with a brief but emphatic
speech, avowing that Kossuth had "imparted important instruction" to the
people of the United States. The governor then conducted Kossuth to the
Senate, where he was warmly welcomed by the President, General Wilson;
and thence again to the House of Representatives, where the Speaker, Mr.
Banks, addressed him in words of high honour, in the name of the
representatives. To each of these addresses Kossuth replied; but the
substance of his speeches has scarcely sufficient novelty to present
here.
On the evening of the 29th of April it was arranged that he should speak
in Faneuil Hall. The hall filled long before his arrival, and an
incident occurred which deserves record. The crowd amused itself by
calling on persons present for speeches: among others Senator Myron
Lawrence was called for, who, after first refusing, stept on the
platform and declared that _he had some sins to confess_. He had
been guilty of thinking Kossuth to be what is called "a humbug;" but he
had seen him now, and thought differently. He had seen the modest,
truthful bearing of the man,--that he had no tricks of the orator, but
spoke straightforward. Mr. Lawrence now believed him to be sincere and
honest, and prayed Almighty God to grant him a glorious success. This
frank and manly acknowledgment was received with unanimous and hearty
applause.
At eight o'clock Governor Boutwell, his council, and the committee of
reception, as also the vice-presidents and secretaries, received Kossuth
in Faneuil Hall.[*] When applause had ceased, the Governor addressed
Kossuth as follows:--
[Footnote *: Faneuil Hall is entitled by the Americans "the cradle of
American Liberty."]
Gentlemen,--We have come from the exciting and majestic scenes of the
reception which the people of Massachusetts have given to the exiled son
of an oppressed and distant land, that on this holy spot, associated in
our minds with the eloquence, the patriotism, the virtue of the
revolution, we may listen to his sad story of the past and contemplate
his plans and hopes for the future. And shall these associations which
belong to us, and this sad story which belongs to humanity, fail to
inspire our souls and instruct our minds in the cause of freedom? Europe
is not like a distant ocean, whose agitations and storms give no impulse
to the wave that gently touches our shore. The introduction of steam
power and the development of commercial energy are blending and
assimilating our civilities and institutions. Europe is nearer to us in
time than the extreme parts of this country are to each other. As all of
us are interested in the prevalence of the principles of justice among
our fellow men, _so_, as a nation, we are interested in the
prevalence of the principles of justice among the nations and states of
Europe.
Never before was the American mind so intelligently directed to European
affairs. We have not sought, nor shall we seek, the control of those
affairs. But we may scan and judge their character and prepare ourselves
for the exigencies of national existence to which we may be called. _I
do not hesitate to pronounce the opinion that the policy of Europe will
have a visible effect upon the character, power, and destiny of the
American Republic_. That policy as indicated by Russia and Austria,
is the work of centralization, consolidation and absolutism. American
policy is the antagonist of this.
We are pledged to liberty and the sovereignty of States. Shall a
contest between our own principles and those of our enemies awaken no
emotions in us? We believe that government should exist for the
advantage of the individual members of the body politic, and not for the
use of those who, by birth, fortune, or personal energy, may have risen
to positions of power. We recognize the right of each nation to
establish its own institutions and regulate its own affairs. Our
revolution rests upon this right, and otherwise is entirely
indefensible. The policy of this nation, as well foreign as domestic,
should be controlled by American principles, that the world may know we
have faith in the government we have established. While we cannot adopt
the cause of any other people, or make the quarrels of European nations
our own, it is our duty to guard the principles peculiar to America, as
well as those entertained by us in common with the civilized world.