Mr. President--The General Assembly of Ohio, having magnanimously
bestowed upon me the high honour of this national welcome, it is with
profound veneration that I beg leave to express my fervent gratitude for
it.
Were even no principles for the future connected with the honour which I
now enjoy, still the past would be memorable as history, and not fail to
have a beneficial influence, continuously to develop the Spirit of the
Age. Almost every century has had one predominant idea, which imparted a
common direction to the activity of nations. This predominant idea is
the Spirit of the Age, invisible yet omnipresent; impregnable,
all-pervading; scorned, abused, opposed, and yet omnipotent.
The spirit of our age is Democracy. All _for_ the people and all
_by_ the people. Nothing _about_ the people _without_ the
people. That is Democracy, and that is the ruling tendency of the spirit
of our age.
To this spirit is opposed the principle of Despotism, claiming
sovereignty over mankind, and degrading nations from the position of a
self-conscious, self-consistent aim, to the condition of tools
subservient to the authority of ambition.
One of these principles will and must prevail. So far as one
civilization prevails, the destiny of mankind is linked to a common
source of principles, and within the boundaries of a common
civilization community of destinies exists. Hence the warm interest which
the condition of distant nations awakes now-a-days in a manner not yet
recorded in history because humanity never was yet aware of that common
tie as it now is. With this consciousness thus developed, two opposite
principles cannot rule within the same boundaries--Democracy and
Despotism.
In the conflict of these two hostile principles, until now it was not
Right, not Justice, but only Success which met approbation and applause.
Unsuccessful patriotism was stigmatized with the name of crime.
Revolution not crowned by success was styled Anarchy and Revolt, and
the vanquished patriot being dragged to the gallows by victorious
despotism, men did not consider _why_ he died on the gallows; but
the fact itself, that _there_ he died, imparted a stain to his
name.
And though impartial history, now and then, casts the halo of a martyr
over an unsuccessful patriot's grave, yet even this was not always sure.
Tyrants have often perverted history by adulation or by fear. But
whatever that late verdict might have been; for him who dared to
struggle against despotism at the time when he struggled in vain, there
was no honour on earth.--Victorious tyranny marked the front of virtue
with the brand of a criminal.
Even when an existing "authority" was mere violence worse than that of a
pirate, to have opposed it unsuccessfully was sufficient to ensure the
disapproval of all who held any authority. The People indeed never
failed to console the outcast by its sympathy, but Authority felt no
such sympathy, and rather regarded this very sympathy as a dangerous
symptom of anarchy.
When the idea of justice is thus perverted--when virtue is thus deprived
of its fair renown, and honour is thus attacked--when success like that
of Louis Napoleon's is gained through connivance--all this becomes an
immeasurable obstacle to the freedom of nations, which never yet was
achieved but by a struggle,--a struggle, which success raised to the
honour of a glorious revolution, but failure lowered to the reputation
of a criminal outbreak.
Mr. President, I feel proud at the accident, that in my person public
honours have been restored to that on which alone they ought to be
bestowed--righteousness and a just cause; whereas, until now, honours
were lavished only upon success. I consider this as a highly important
_fact_, which cannot fail to encourage the resolution of devoted
patriots, who, though not afraid of death, may be excused for recoiling
before humiliation.
Senators, Representatives of Ohio, I thank you for it in the name of all
who may yet suffer for having done the duty of a patriot. You may yet
see many a man, who, out of your approbation, will draw encouragement to
noble deeds; for there are many on earth ready to meet misfortune for a
noble aim, but not so many ready to meet humiliation and indignity.
Besides, in honouring me, you have approved what my nation has done. You
have honoured all Hungary by it, and I pledge my word to you that we
will yet do what you have approved. The approbation of our conscience we
have--the sympathy of your generous people has met us--and it is no
idle thing, that sympathy of the people of Ohio--it weighs as the
sovereign will of two millions of freemen. You have added to it the
sanction of your authority. Your people's sympathy you have framed into
a law, sacred and sure in its consequences, on which humanity may rely.
But, sir, high though be the value of this noble approbation, it becomes
an invaluable benefit to humanity by these resolutions by which the
General Assembly of Ohio, acknowledging the justice of those principles
which it is my mission to plead in my injured country's name, declares
that the mighty and flourishing commonwealth of Ohio is resolved to
resist the eternal laws of nations to their due sway, too long contemned
by arbitrary power.
It was indeed a sorrowful sight to see how nations bled, and how freedom
withered in the iron grasp of despotisms, leagued for universal
oppression of humanity. It was a sorrowful sight to see that there was
no power on earth ready to maintain those eternal laws, without which
there is no security for any nation on earth. It was a sorrowful sight
to see all nations isolating themselves in defence, while despots
leagued in offence.
The view has changed. A bright lustre is spreading over the dark sky of
humanity. The glorious galaxy of the United States rises upon oppressed
nations, and the bloody star of despotism fading at your very
declaration, will soon vanish from the sky like a meteor.
Legislators of Ohio, it may be flattering to ambitious vanity to act the
part of an execrated conqueror, but it is a glory unparalleled in
history to protect rights and freedom on earth. The time draws near,
when, by virtue of such a declaration as yours, shared by your sister
States, Europe's liberated nations will unite in a mighty choir of
Hallelujahs, thanking God that his paternal cares have raised the United
States to the glorious position of a first-born son of freedom on
earth.
Washington prophesied, that within twenty years the Republic of the
United States would be strong enough to defy any power on earth _in a
just cause_. The State of Ohio was not yet born when the wisest of
men and purest of patriots uttered that prophecy; and God the Almighty
has made the prophecy true, by annexing, in a prodigiously short period,
more stars to the proud constellation of your Republic, and increasing
the lustre of every star more powerfully, than Washington could have
anticipated in the brightest moments of his patriotic hopes.
Rejoice, O my nation, in thy very woes! Wipe off all thy tears, and
smile amidst thy tortures, like the Dutch hero, De Wytt. There is a
Providence which rules. Thou wast, O my nation, often the martyr, who by
thy blood didst redeem the Christian nations on earth. Even thy present
nameless woes are providential. They were necessary, that the
star-spangled banner of America should rise over a new Sinai--the
Mountain of Law for all nations. Thy sufferings were necessary, that the
people of the United States, powerful by their freedom and free by the
principle of national independence, that common right of all humanity,
should stand up, a new Moses upon the new Sinai, and shout out with the
thundering voice of its twenty-five millions--"Hear, ye despots of the
world, henceforward this shall be law, in the name of the Lord your God
and our God.
Ye shall not kill nations.
Ye shall not steal their freedom.