[_Jackson, Mississippi--(Visit to Senator Foote) April 1st_.]
Kossuth had felt it a duty of gratitude, on his return from New Orleans,
to visit Jackson, the chief city of Mississippi, in order to express his
thanks in person to Senator Foote, then Governor of the State, for
having moved a resolution in the Senate to send a steamer to
Constantinople for Kossuth, and afterwards, a resolution tendering to
him a cordial national welcome at Washington. On his proposing this
visit, he received an enthusiastic invitation from the citizens at
large, as was expounded to him by Governor Foote in a very cordial
speech, which ended with the words:
In the name of the sovereign people of Mississippi, and by the special
request of those of our citizens whom you see before you and around you,
I now bid you welcome to our own Capital, and pray that a bounteous
Providence may vouchsafe to you and the sacred cause of which you are
the advocate, its most auspicious countenance and protection.
Kossuth replied:
Your Excellency has been pleased to bestow a word of approbation upon
the manner in which I have spoken and acted since I am here in the
United States, especially as to frankness: which frankness, on another
side, has occasioned much hostility toward me. Allow me, on the present
occasion, to exercise that same frankness. If I were less frank, I
should perhaps tell you I had a fond desire to see Mississippi, and
thank the citizens for sympathy to my country. But I claim not a merit
which I do not possess. I did not come to meet the people. My only
motive was one of gratitude toward YOU, sir.
One anxiety has weighed upon my breast ever since I have been in the
United States, and that is, lest I lose the opportunity to say to you,
with a warm grasp of the hand, and in a few but heartfelt words, how
thankful I feel for the important part you have been pleased to take in
my liberation from captivity. I hope to God, you will never have reason
to regret what you have done for me. Allow me to state that there was
something Providential in the fact, and in the time of intercession in
my behalf.
The Sultan is a generous man; I can bear testimony to that. When Russia
and Austria, proudly relying upon their armies and the flush of victory,
arrogantly demanded that we should be surrendered to the hangman of my
fatherland; and when the majority of the Divan (the great Council of
Turkey) taking a shortsighted view of the case, and influenced by the
impending danger, had already consented to the arrogant demand, and
when, in consequence thereof, the abandonment of our religion was
proposed as the only means to save our lives, then the Sultan, informed
of the matter, and following the noble impulse of his generous heart,
declared that he would prefer to perish rather than dishonour his
name--he would therefore accept the dangers of war rather than disregard
the great duty of humanity--thus if he be doomed to perish, he would at
least perish in an honourable way. By that noble resolution our lives
were saved. But European diplomacy stepped in, to convert the accorded
hospitality into a prison;[*] the Sultan being left alone, not
supported, not encouraged by any one soever, but assailed by
complications, ill advised by fear, and threatened by many, yielded at
last, but yielded with the intention to restore us to our natural
rights, as soon as he could be sure that he stood not forsaken and alone
in acknowledging the right of humanity. For a long while, no
encouragement came, and we lingered in our prison, forsaken and without
hope. You, sir, moved a resolution in the Senate of the United States.
In consequence thereof, the great Republic of the West, by its generous
offer, cast a ray of consolation into my prison, and gave encouragement
to the Sublime Porte. The English and the French governments, unwilling
to appear less liberal, both approved the course of the United States.
England made even a similar offer as America, and the Sultan, glad to
see that he was no longer alone in asserting what is right, agreed to
the offer, notwithstanding all the machinations of my enemies, and I and
my countrymen became free.
[Footnote *: I am permitted to explain, that Kossuth had in view not the
action of one power only, but the total result of all the powers. While
the Sultan knew what the arms of Russia were meant for, and could not
learn whether the fleet of England was meant for anything but _a mere
show_ (for Sir Stratford Canning "had no orders" to _use_ it),
the practical advice of diplomacy was, not, to do what was just, but, to
make the least disgraceful and least dangerous compromise.]
Now suppose, sir, you had not introduced that resolution then, and the
star-spangled flag had not been cast in protection around me--suppose
that the _coup d'état_ of Louis Napoleon had found me in prison
still--that _coup d'état_ which caused a change of the ministry in
England,--what would have been the consequence? England would probably
have remained indifferent, and France would have certainly opposed the
proposition of the United States--or rather, supported the cause of
Austria; and the Sultan abandoned by the constitutional powers of
Europe, would have been forced to make Kutaya what the arrogant despots
desired--a physical, or at least, a moral grave for me--and instead of
the new hope and fresh resolution which my liberation inspired into
nations groaning under the weight of a common oppression, there would be
now a gloom of despondency spread over all who united with me in spirit,
in resolution, and in sentiments.
Therefore, in whatsoever I may yet be _useful through my regained
activity, it is due to you, sir_. Without the intercession of the
United States, there would have been no field of activity left me.
Allow me now to speak on another matter connected with this. Among the
calumnies perpetually thrown out at me, is one which I cannot pass in
silence, because it charges me with ingratitude to the United States,
saying that I misuse the generosity of your country, which granted me
protection and an asylum, _upon my accepting the condition not to
meddle any more with politics_, but to abandon the cause to which I
have devoted my life--to retire from public life, and to lay down my
head to rest.
Now, before God and man, this representation is entirely false. No such
condition was added to the generous offer of the United States; and I
declare, that however much I regard such an offer, had this condition
been attached, I would in no case, have accepted it. Life is of no value
to me, except inasmuch as I can do some service to my country's cause.
Therefore, under the condition of forsaking my country, I would not
accept happiness--not liberty--not life. This I have said before.
It is due from me to the honour of the Turkish Government to declare,
that the Sublime Porte not only attached no condition at all to my
liberation, but explicitly and officially intimated to me, that having
once decided to set us free, it was unwilling to do things by
halves;--we had therefore full and unrestricted liberty, on leaving
Turkey, to go and to stay where we pleased--to take such a course as we
chose, and that to that purpose, an American and an English vessel would
be ready at the Dardanelles, and it would depend on our choice, on board
of which we embarked. Indeed I have an official communication on the
part of the English Government in my hands, by which I was informed,
that the only reason why the appointed English vessel came not to the
Dardanelles was, that I and my associates had declared that we preferred
to embark on board the American ship.
But again: in respect to that embarkation, I must state that, in the
resolution of the Congress, one word being contained which might have
been subject to different interpretation, I considered it my duty to
declare frankly to the legation of the United States at Constantinople,
that I neither was, nor would be, willing to assume the character of an
_emigrant_; but would only be considered an _exile_, driven
away by foreign violence from my native land, but not without the hope
to get home again to free and independent Hungary; therefore, that I not
only would not pledge my word to go directly to the United States, or to
remove thither permanently, but, upon regaining my liberty, intended to
devote it to win back for my country its sovereign independence, which
we had achieved and proclaimed, and which was wrested from us by the
most sacrilegious violation of the laws of nations. I got an answer
fully satisfactory on the part of your legation, assuring me that the
United States would never consent to give me a new prison, instead of
liberty; and that there was, and could be, no intention on the part of
the United States to restrain my freedom or my activity, beyond the
limits of your common laws, which are equally obligatory and equally
protective to every one, so long as he chooses to stay in the United
States. Upon this. I accepted thankfully the generous offer of the
United States. I wrote a letter of thanks to His Excellency the
President, and ordered my diplomatic agent in England to write a similar
one to the Honourable Secretary of State, expressing, that I considered
the struggle for our national independence not yet finished, and that I
would devote my regained liberty to the cause of my fatherland.
_Nearly three months after these declarations_, the Mississippi
steam-ship arrived, and I embarked, having again, previously and on
board, constantly declared, that it was my fervent wish to visit the
United States, but not without previously visiting England, on board the
same frigate, if the favour should be granted to me; else on board
another ship from a Mediterranean port, if needs must be. This is the
true history of the case.
I hope you will excuse me for having answered for once a
misrepresentation which charges me with bad faith and ingratitude, such
as neither have I merited, nor can I bear * * *
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