[_Address in the Plymouth Church at Brooklyn, Dec. 18th, 1851_.]
The Rev. H. W. Beecher having assured Kossuth of the deep and religious
interest long felt and expressed towards him within those very walls:
Kossuth replied, declaring that he felt himself always in the power of
God, and believed Christianity and freedom to be but one cause. He went
on to add:
The cause of Hungary is strongly connected with the principle of
religious liberty on earth. In the first war of the sixteenth century a
battle was fought by the Moslems in Hungary, by which the power of our
nation was almost overthrown. At that time the monarchy was elective. A
Hungarian, who was Governor of Transylvania, was chosen king, but
another party elected Ferdinand of Austria to be King of Hungary. A long
struggle ensued, in which the Princes of Transylvania called in Turkish
aid against the House of Austria.
In the hour of necessity, the House of Austria complied with the wishes
of my nation, whenever my country had taken up arms; but no sooner was
the sword laid down, than this dynasty always neglected to perform its
promises. In the midst of the last century, under Maria Theresa, those
who did not belong to the Catholic faith were almost excluded from all
offices. Joseph succeeded, who was a tolerant man; but scarcely was he
in his grave, when the Emperor Francis renewed persecution, and it was
only in 1848, that religious liberty was established to every creed.
When the House of Austria took arms against the laws of 1848, they took
arms against religious liberty.
In our Parliament, it was Roman Catholics who stood in the van of battle
for religious liberty: but when I say this, I must state it without
drawing any commentary from it. It was reserved to our revolution to
show the development of the glorious cause of freedom. When my country
imposed on me the duty to govern the land, I was ready to show the
confidence I had in religious freedom. I chose a Catholic Minister to be
Minister of Education in Hungary, and he fully justified the confidence
I reposed in him. He has shown that our Constitution is founded upon
equality; that it regards all men as citizens, and makes no distinction
of profession. It is only under free institutions that a clergyman can
remain a clergyman with burning heart towards his own duties, and yet,
when called to perform the duties of a citizen, be no longer a clergyman
but a citizen. Could the Church of Rome have appreciated this principle,
and have acted upon it, my friend Mazzini were not now necessary for the
freedom of Italy. But as Rome did not appreciate it, the temporal power
of the Pope will probably fall at the next revolution.
My principles are, that the Church shall not meddle with politics, and
Government will not meddle with religion. In every society there are
political and civil concerns on one side, and on the other social
concerns; for the first, civil authority must be established--in
political and civil respects every one has to acknowledge the power of
its jurisdiction. But, in respect to social interests, it is quite the
contrary. Religion is not an institution--it is a matter of conscience.
For the support of these principles I ask your generous aid. You know
that whenever the House of Austria attains to any strength, its first
step is to break down religious liberty. And Austria is helped by
Russia, which is even still less propitious to these principles; you
remember the insolence or hardship to which in Russia those people are
subject who do not belong to the Greek Church; at the present time the
poor Jews are subjected to great indignities, and compelled, if not to
shave off their hair, to cut it in a particular manner, so as to
distinguish them from members of the Greek Church. But Hungary, by the
providence of God, is destined to become once more the vanguard of
civilization, and of religious liberty for the whole of the European
Continent against the encroachments of Russian despotism, as it has
already been the barrier of Christianity, against Islamism.
Kossuth then proceeded to explain, that any moneys contributed by the
generosity of the American public would not be employed as a warlike
fund, for which it would be utterly insignificant; but solely as a means
of enabling the oppressed to concert their measures. After this he
canvassed _the three props_ of Austria, and pointed out the
weakness of them all; viz. its loans,--its army,--and Russia. Its loans
run fast to a bankruptcy. Its army is composed of nations which hate it.
Under the Austrian government, the Tyrol perhaps alone has escaped
bombardments, scaffolds, and jails filled with patriots. The armies are
raised by forcible conscriptions, and contain some hundred thousand
Hungarians who recently fought and conquered Austria, whom Austria now
keeps in drill to serve against her when the time comes. As to the third
prop--Russia,--possibly for some days yet in the future it may support
Austria; but not in a long war: Austria can never stand in a long war.
I am told (said Kossuth) that some who call themselves "men of peace"
cry out for _peace at any price_. But is the present condition
peace? Is the scaffold peace?--that scaffold, on which in Lombardy
during the "peaceful" years the blood of 3742 patriots has been shed.
When the prisons of Austria are filled with patriots, is that peace? or
is the discontent of all the nations peace? I do not believe that the
Lord created the world for _such_ a kind of peace as that,--to be a
prison,--to be a volcano, boiling up and ready to break out. No: but
with justice and liberty there will be contentment, and with
contentment, peace--lasting peace, consistent peace: while from the
tyrants of the world there is oppression, and with oppression the
breaking forth of war.....
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