Select Speeches of Kossuth - Kossuth
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The THIRD object of my wishes, gentlemen, is the recognition of the
independence of Hungary when the critical moment arrives. Your own
declaration of independence proclaims the right of every nation to
assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to
which "the laws of nature and nature's God" entitle them. The political
existence of your glorious republic is founded upon this principle, upon
this right. Our nation stands upon the same ground: there is a striking
resemblance between your cause and that of my country. On the 4th July,
1776, John Adams spoke thus in your Congress, "Sink or swim, live or
die, survive or perish, I am for this declaration. In the beginning we
did not go so far as separation from the Crown, but 'there is a divinity
which shapes our ends.'" These noble words were present to my mind on
the 14th April, 1849, when I moved the forfeiture of the Crown by the
Hapsburgs in the National Assembly of Hungary. Our condition was the
same; and if there be any difference, I venture to say it is in favour
of us. Your country, before this declaration, was not a
_self-consisting independent_ State. Hungary was. Through the
lapse of a thousand years, through every vicissitude of this long
period, while nations vanished and empires fell, _the self-consisting
independence of Hungary was never disputed_, but was recognized by
all powers of the earth, sanctioned by treaties made with the Hapsburg
dynasty, at the era when this dynasty, by the freewill of my nation,
which acted as one of two contracting parties, was invested with the
kingly crown of Hungary. Even more, this independence of the kingdom was
acknowledged to make a part of the international law of Europe, and was
guaranteed not only by foreign European governments, such as Great
Britain, but also by several of those once constitutional states which
belonged formerly to the German, and after its dissolution, to the
Austrian empire.
This independent condition of Hungary is clearly defined in one of our
fundamental laws of 1791, in these words:--"Hungary is a free and
independent kingdom, having its own self-consistent existence and
constitution, and not subject[*] to any other nation or country in the
world." This therefore was our ancient right. _We were not dependent
on, nor a part of, the Austrian empire, as your country was dependent on
England._ It was clearly defined that we owed to Austria nothing but
good neighbourhood, and the only tie between us and Austria was, that we
elected to be our kings the same dynasty which were also the sovereigns
of Austria, and occupied the same line of hereditary succession as our
kings; but by accepting this; our forefathers, with the consent of the
King, again declared, that though Hungary accepts the dynasty as our
hereditary kings, all the other franchises, rights, and laws of the
nation shall remain in full power and intact; and our country shall not
be governed like the other dominions of that dynasty, but according to
our constitutionally established authorities. We could not belong to
"the Austrian Empire," for that empire did not then as yet exist, while
Hungary had already existed as a substantive kingdom for many centuries,
and for some two hundred and eighty years under the government of that
Hapsburgian dynasty. The Austrian Empire, as you know, was established
only in 1806, when the Rhenish confederacy of Napoleon struck the
deathblow of the German empire, of which Francis II. of Austria, was not
_hereditary_ but _elected_ Emperor. That Hungary had belonged
to the _German_ empire is a thing which no man in the world ever
imagined yet. It is only now that the Hapsburgian tyrant professes an
intention to melt Hungary into the German Confederation; but you know
this intention to be in so striking opposition to the European public
law, that England and France solemnly protested against it, so that it
is not carried out even to-day. The German Empire having died, its late
Emperor Francis, also King of Hungary, chose to entitle himself Austrian
Emperor, in 1806; but even in that fundamental charter he solemnly
declared that Hungary and its annexed provinces _are not intended to
make, and will not make, a part of the Austrian Empire_. Subsequently
he entered with this empire into the German Confederation, but Hungary,
as well as Lombardy and Venice, not making part of the Austrian empire,
still remained separated, and were not received into the confederacy.
[Footnote *: In the original Latin, _obnoxium_, "not entangled, or
compromised, with any other."]
The laws which we succeeded to carry in 1848, of course altered nothing
in that old chartered condition of Hungary. We transformed the
peasantry into freeholders, and abolished feudal incumbrances. We
replaced the political privileges of aristocracy by the common liberty
of the whole people; gave to the people at large representation in the
legislature; transformed our municipalities into democratic
corporations; introduced equality before the law for the whole people in
rights and duties, and abolished the immunity of taxation which had been
enjoyed by the class called _Noble_; secured equal religious
liberty to all, secured liberty of the press and of association,
provided for public gratuitous instruction of the whole people of every
confession and of whatever tongue. In all this we did no wrong. All
these were, as you see, internal reforms which did not at all interfere
with our allegiance to the king and were carried lawfully in peaceful
legislation _with the king's own sanction_. Besides this there was
one other thing which was carried. We were formerly governed by a Board
of Council, which had the express duty to govern according to our laws,
and be responsible for doing so; but we found by long experience that a
Corporation cannot really be responsible; and that this was the reason
why the absolutist tendency of the dynasty succeeded in encroaching upon
our liberty. So we replaced the Board of Council by Ministers; the empty
responsibility of a Board by the individual responsibility of men--and
_the king consented to it_. I myself was named by him Minister of
the Treasury. That is all. But precisely here was the rub. The dynasty
could not bear the idea that we would not give to its ambition the life
sweat of our people; it was not contented with the 1,500,000 dollars
which were generously appropriated to it yearly. It dreaded that it
would be disabled in future from using our brave army, against our will,
to crush the spirit of freedom in the world. Therefore it resorted to
the most outrageous conspiracy, and attacked us by arms, and upon
receiving a false report of a great victory this young usurper issued a
proclamation declaring that Hungary shall no more exist--that its
independence, its constitution, its very existence is abolished, and it
shall be absorbed, like a farm or fold, into the Austrian Empire. To all
this Hungary answered, "Thou shalt not exist, tyrant, but we will;" and
we banished him, and issued the declaration of the deposition of his
dynasty, and of our separate independence.
So you see, gentlemen, that there is a very great difference between
your declaration and ours--it is in our favour. There is another
difference; you declared your independence of the English crown when it
was yet very doubtful whether you would be successful. We declared our
independence of the Austrian crown only after we, in legitimate defence,
were already victorious; when we had actually beaten the pretender, and
had thus already proved that we had strength to become an independent
power. One thing more: our declaration of independence was not only
overwhelmingly voted in our Congress, but every county, every
municipality, solemnly declared its consent and adherence to it; so it
became sanctioned, not by mere representatives, but by the whole nation
positively, and by the fundamental institutions of Hungary. And so it
still remains. Nothing has since happened on the part of the nation
contrary to this declaration. One thing only happened,--a foreign
power, Russia, came with its armed bondsmen, and, aided by treason, has
overthrown us for a while. Now, I put the question before God and
humanity to you, free sovereign people of America, can this violation of
international law abolish the legitimate character of our declaration of
independence? If not, then here I take my ground, because I am in this
very manifesto entrusted with the charge of Governor of my fatherland. I
have sworn, before God and my nation, to endeavour to maintain and
secure this act of independence. And so may God the Almighty help me as
I will--I will, until my nation is again in the condition to dispose of
its government, which I confidently trust,--yea, more, I know,--will be
republican. And then I retire to the humble condition of my former
private life, equalling, in one thing at least, your Washington, not in
merits, but in honesty. That is the only ambition of my life. Amen.
Here, then, is my THIRD humble wish: that the people of the United
States would, by all constitutional means of its wonted public life,
declare that, acknowledging the legitimacy of our independence, it is
anxious to greet Hungary amongst the independent powers of the earth,
and invites the government of the United States to recognize this
independence _at the earliest convenient time_. That is all. Let
me see the principle announced: the rest may well be left to the wisdom
of your government, with some confidence in my own respectful discretion
also.
So much for the people of the United States, in its public and political
capacity. But if that sympathy which I have the honour to meet with is
really intended to become beneficial, there is one humble wish more
which I entertain: it is a respectful appeal to generous feeling.
Gentlemen, I would rather starve than rely, for myself and family, on
foreign aid; but for my country's Freedom, I would not be ashamed to go
begging from door to door. I have taken the advice of some kind friends
whether it be lawful to express such a humble request, for I feel it an
honourable duty neither to offend nor to evade your laws. I am told it
is lawful. There are two means to see this my humble wish accomplished.
The first is, by spontaneous subscription; the second is, by a loan. The
latter may require private consultation in a narrower circle. As to
subscriptions, the idea was brought home to my mind by a plain but very
generous letter, which I had the honour to receive, and which I beg to
read. It is as follows:--
CINCINNATI, O., Nov. 14, 1851.
M. LOUIS KOSSUTH, Governor of Hungary:--Sir--I have authorized the
office of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, in New York, to
honour your draft on me for one thousand dollars. Respectfully yours, W.
SMEAD.
I beg leave here publicly to return my most humble thanks to the
gentleman, for his ample aid, and the delicate manner in which he
offered it; and it came to my mind, that where one individual is ready
to make such sacrifices to my country's cause, there may perhaps be many
who would give their small share to it, if they were only apprised that
it will be thankfully accepted, however small it may be. And it came to
my mind, that millions of drops make an ocean, and the United States
number many millions of inhabitants, all warmly attached to liberty. A
million dollars, paid singly, would be to me far _more_ precious
than paid in one single draft; for it would practically show the
sympathy of the people at large. Would I were so happy as your
Washington was, when he also, for your glorious country's sake, in the
hours of your need, called to France for money.
Sir, I have done. I came to your shores an exile: you have poured upon
me the triumph of a welcome such as the world has never yet seen. And
why? Because you took me for the representative of that principle of
liberty which God has destined to become the common benefit of all
humanity. It is glorious to see a free and mighty people so greet the
principle of freedom, in the person of one who is persecuted and
helpless. Be blessed for it! Your generous deed will be recorded; and as
millions of Europe's oppressed nations will, even now, raise their
thanksgiving to God for this ray of hope, which by this act you have
thrown on the dark night of their fate; even so, through all posterity,
oppressed men will look to your memory as to a token of God that there
is a hope for freedom on earth, since there is a people like you to feel
its worth and to support its cause.
* * * * *
VIII.--ON NATIONALITIES.
[_Speech at the Banquet of the Press, New York_.]
At this Banquet, Mr. Bryant, the poet, presided, and numerous speeches
were delivered, among which was one by the well-known author, Mr.
Bancroft, lately ambassador in England. This gentleman closed by saying,
that when the illustrious Governor of Hungary uttered the solemn truth,
that Europe had no hope but in republican institutions--that was a
renunciation to the world that the Austrian monarchy was sick and dying,
and that vitality remained in the people alone. And as he uttered that
truth, not his own race only--not the Magyars only, but every
nationality of Hungary, all the fifteen or twenty millions within its
limits--all cried out that he was the representative of their
convictions--that he was the man of their affections, that he was the
utterer of truths on which they relied.
Our guest crosses the Atlantic, and he is received; and what is the
great fact that constitutes his reception? He finds there the military
arranged to do him honour. And among those who, on that day, bore arms,
were men of every tongue that is spoken between the steppes of Tartary,
eastward, towards the Pacific ocean. The great truth that was pronounced
on that occasion--I do not fear to utter it--was, let who will cavil,
_la solidarite des peuples_--the sublime truth that all men are
brothers--that all nations, too, are brethren, and are responsible for
one another.
The chairman also spoke eloquently in introducing the third toast, which
was briefly, LOUIS KOSSUTH. As Mr. Bryant pronounced his name, Kossuth
rose, and was received with multifarious demonstrations of enthusiasm.
At last he proceeded as follows:--
Gentlemen.--I know that in your hands the Independent Republican Press
is a weapon to defend truth and justice, a torch lit at the fire of
immortality, a spark of which glisters in every man's soul and proves
its divine origin: and as the cause of my country is just and true, and
wants nothing but light to secure support from every friend of freedom,
every noble-minded man,--for this reason I address you with joy,
gentlemen.
Though it is sorrowful to see how Austrian intrigues, distorting plain
open history into a tissue of falsehood, find their way even into the
American press, I am proud and happy that the immense majority of you,
conscious of your noble vocation and instinct with the generosity of
freedom, protect our sacred rights against the dark plots of tyranny.
Your Independent Press has likewise proved that its freedom is the most
efficient protection even against calumny; a far better one than
restrictive prevention, which condemns the human intellect to eternal
minority.
I address you, gentlemen, with the greater joy, because through you I
have the invaluable benefit of reaching the whole of your great,
glorious, and free people.
Eighty years ago the immortal Franklin's own press was almost the only
one in the colonies: now you have above three thousand newspapers, with
a circulation of five millions of copies. I am told that the journals of
New York State alone exceed in number those of all the rest of the world
outside of your great Union, and that the circulation of the newspapers
of this city alone nearly reaches that of the whole empire of Great
Britain! But, what is more,--I boldly declare that, except in the United
States, there is scarcely anywhere a practical freedom of the press.
Indeed, concerning Norway I am not quite aware. But throughout the
European continent you know how the press is fettered. In France, under
nominally republican government, all the fruits of victorious
revolutions are nipt by the blasting grip of _centralized_
power,--legislative and administrative omnipotence. The independence of
the French press is crushed; the government cannot bear the free word of
public opinion; and in a republic, the shout "Vive la republique" is
become almost a crime. This is a mournful sight, but is an efficient
warning against centralization. It is chiefly Great Britain which boasts
of a free press; and assuredly in one sense the freedom is almost
unlimited: for I saw placards with the printer's name stating that Queen
Victoria is no lawful queen, and all those who rule ought to be hanged;
but men only laughed at the foolish extravagance. Nevertheless, I hope
the generous people of Great Britain will not be offended when I say
that their press is not practically free. Its freedom is not real, for
it is not a _common benefit_ to all: it is but a particular
benefit, that is, a _privilege_. Taxation there forbids the use of
newspapers to the poor. Absence of taxation enables your journals to be
published at one tenth, or even one twentieth, of the English price:
hence several of your daily papers reach from thirty to sixty thousand
readers, while in England one paper alone is on this scale,--the London
'Times,' which circulates thirty thousand, perhaps. Such being the
condition of your press, in addressing you I address a whole people; nor
only so, but a whole intelligent people.
The wide diffusion of intelligence among you is in fact proved by the
immense circulation of your journals. It is not solely the cheap price
which renders your press a common benefit, and not a mere privilege to
the richer; but it is the universality of public instruction. It is
glorious to know that in this flourishing young city alone nearly a
hundred thousand children receive public education annually. Do you
know, gentlemen, what I consider to be your most glorious monument? if
it be, as I have read, that, when your engineers draw geometrical lines
to guide your wandering squatters in the solitudes where virgin Nature
adores her Lord, they place on every thirty-sixth square of the district
marked out to be a township, a modest wooden pole with the glorious
mark, POPULAR EDUCATION. This is your proudest monument. In my opinion,
not your geographical situation, not your material power, not the bold
enterprizing spirit of your people, is the chief guarantee of their
future; but the universality of education: for a whole people, once
become intelligent, never can consent not to be free. You will always be
willing to be free, and you are great and powerful enough to be as good
as your will.
My humble prayers in my country's cause I address to your entire nation:
but you, gentlemen, are the engineers through whom my cause must reach
them. It is therefore highly gratifying to me to see, not isolated men,
but the powerful complex of the great word PRESS, granting me this
important manifestation of generous sentiment. I beg you to consider,
that whatever and wherever I speak, is _always_ spoken to the
press; and for all the imperfections of my language let me plead for
your indulgence, as one of your professional colleagues: for indeed such
I have been.
Yes, gentlemen; I commenced my public career as a journalist. You, under
your happy institutions, know not the torment of writing with hands
fettered by an Austrian censor. To sit at the desk, with a heart full of
the necessity of the moment, a conscience stirred with righteous
feeling, a mind animated with convictions and principles, and a whole
soul warmed by a patriot's fire;--to see before your eyes the scissors
of the censor ready to lop your ideas, maim your arguments, murder your
thoughts, render vain your laborious days and sleepless nights;--to know
that the people will judge you, not by what you have felt, thought,
written, but by what the censor will let you say;--to perceive that the
prohibition has no rule or limit but the arbitrary pleasure of a man who
is doomed by profession to be a coward and a fool;--oh! his little
scissors suspended over one are a worse misery than the sword of
Damocles. Oh! to go on, day by day, in such a work of Sisyphus, believe
me, is no small sacrifice of any intelligent man to fatherland and
humanity. And this is the present condition of the press, not in Hungary
only, but in all countries cursed by Austrian rule. Indeed, our recent
reforms gave freedom of the press, not to my fatherland only, but
indirectly to Vienna, Prague, Lemberg; in a word, to the whole empire of
Austria and this must ensure your sympathy to us. Contrariwise, the
interference of Russia has crushed the press on the whole European
continent. Freedom of the press is incompatible with the preponderance
of Russia, and with the very existence of the Austrian dynasty, the
sworn enemy of every liberal thought. This must engage your generous
support to sweep away those tyrants, and to raise liberty where now foul
oppression rules.
Some time back there appeared in certain New York papers systematic
falsehoods, which went so far as to state that we, the Hungarians, had
struggled for oppression, while it was the Austrian dynasty which stood
up for liberty! Such effrontery astonishes even one who has seen
Russian treacheries. We may be misrepresented, scorned, jeered at,
censured. Our martyrs, whose blood cries for revenge, may be laughed at
as fools. Heroes, who will command the veneration of history, may be
called Don Quixotes. But that among freemen and professed republicans
even the honour of an unfortunate nation, in its most mournful
suffering, should not be sacred,--that is indeed a sorrowful page in
human history.
You cannot expect me to enter into a special refutation of this compound
of calumnies. I may reserve it for my pen. But inasmuch as the basis of
all the calumnies lies in general ignorance concerning the relation of
the Magyars to other races of Hungary, permit me to speak on the
question of NATIONALITIES, a false theory of which plays so mischievous
a part in the destinies of Europe. No word has been more misrepresented
than the word Nationality, which is become in the hands of absolutism a
dangerous instrument against liberty.
Let me ask you, gentlemen: are you, the people of the United States, a
_nation_, or not? Have you a _national_ government, or not?
You answer, yes: and yet you are not all of one blood, nor of one
language. Millions of you speak English; others French, German, Italian,
Spanish, Danish, and even several Indian dialects: yet you are a nation.
Neither your central government, nor those of separate states, nor your
municipalities, legislate or administer in every language spoken among
you; yet you have a national government.
Now, suppose many of you were struck with the curse of Babel, and
exclaimed, "This union is an oppression! our laws, our institutions, our
state and city governments, are an oppression! What is union to us? what
are rights? what avail laws? what is freedom? what is geography? what
is community of interests to us? They are all nothing; LANGUAGE is
everything. Let us divide the Union, divide the states, divide the very
cities, divide the whole territory, according to languages. Let the
people of every language become a separate state: for every nation has a
right to national life, and to us, the language, and nothing else, is
the nationality. Unless the state is founded upon language, its
organization is tyranny."
What then would become of your great Union? What of your constitution,
the glorious legacy of your greatest man? What of those immortal stars
on mankind's moral sky? What would become of your country itself,
whence the spirit of freedom soars into light, and rising hope
irradiates the future of humanity? What would become of this grand,
mighty complex of your republic, should her integrity ever be rent by
the fanatics of language? Where now she walks among the rising temples
of liberty and happiness, she soon would tread upon ruins, and mourn
over human hopes. But happy art then, free nation of America, founded on
the only solid basis,--liberty! a principle steady as the world, eternal
as the truth, universal for every climate, for every time, like
Providence. Tyrants are not in the midst of you to throw the apple of
discord and raise hatred in this national family, hatred of
_races_, that curse of humanity, that venomous ally of despotism.
Glorious it is to see the oppressed of diverse countries,--diverse in
language, history, habits,--wandering to these shores, and becoming
members of this great nation, regenerated by the principle of common
liberty.
If language alone makes a nation, then there is no great nation on
earth: for there is no country whose population is counted by millions,
but speaks more than one language. No! It is not language only.
Community of interests, of rights, of duties, of history, but chiefly
community of institutions; by which a population, varying perhaps in
tongue and race, is bound together through daily intercourse in the
towns, which are the centres and home of commerce and industry:--besides
these, the very mountain-ranges, the system of rivers and streams,--the
soil, the dust of which is mingled with the mortal remains of those
ancestors who bled on the same field, for the same interests, the common
inheritance of glory and of woe, the community of laws and institutions,
common freedom or common oppression:--all this enters into the complex
idea of Nationality.