[_Utica._]
At Utica, in New York State, the elegant Saloon of the Museum was
arranged for Kossuth's reception: and the Hon. W. Bacon made a powerful
address to him. Kossuth in the course of his reply, said:--
Ladies and gentlemen,--The history and the institutions of the United
States were not only the favourite study of my life, from my early
youth, strengthening my conviction that with centralization and with
parliamentary omnipotence, which absorb all independence of municipal
life, there is no practical freedom possible:--but the history and
institutions of the United States exerted also a real influence upon the
resolution of my people to resist oppression, and not to shrink before
the dangers and sacrifices of a terrible conflict.
Never yet was there a people against which all the arts of hell had been
combined worse than against the people of Hungary in 1848. Neither
dreaming to attack any, nor suspecting to be attacked, never yet was a
people less prepared for a war of defence, or more surprised by the
danger than my country was.
In those frightful days, when many of the stoutest hearts prepared
mourningly to submit to the imperious necessity, I called Hungary to
arms; and while on the one side I pronounced a curse against those who
would forsake the fatherland, and were willing to bow cowardlike before
a sacrilegious violence, and accept the degradation of servitude,--on
the other side, in order to cheer up the manly resolution of my
countrymen, I pointed to the heart-raising example of your history. And
that history became the guiding star to us, from the lustre of which we
have drawn self-reliance and resolution to bear up against all danger
and all adversities.
But while we on our part readily yielded to the heart-ennobling
influence of your history, we were disappointed in some expectations
which we derived from it. We saw that you were not forsaken in the hour
of need; yet your grievances were by far less heart-stirring than ours,
and should _you_ have failed in the noble enterprize of
independence, such a failure, at that time, would by no means have
teemed with such immediate results of positive mischiefs to the world
outside of you, as every considerate mind might have foreseen from
_our_ fall.
I therefore confess that I trusted to that instruction also of your
history, and hoped that should we prove worthy of the attention of the
world, that attention would not be restricted to a mere looking at our
contest with barren sympathies. But allow me to mention that it was not
from America alone that I hoped our struggle would not be regarded with
indifference: the example of former political transactions in Europe
entitled me to just expectations from other quarters also in that
respect.
When Greece heroically rose to assert its independence, Great Britain,
France, and even Russia herself, interposed together to pacify the two
contending parties, on the basis of the establishment of an independent
Greece. And so very anxious were those great powers to stop the effusion
of blood, that they solemnly declared they would insist upon the
pacification, should even the conflicting parties decline to consent to
the proposed arrangements. And thus Greece took its seat among the
independent States, though that was possible only by reducing the
territory of the Ottoman Empire, the integrity of which was considered
essential to the equilibrium of political power on earth.
Besides, what were those powers which interposed their mediation in
favour of bleeding Greece? It was Russia, despotical as she is: it was
legitimist France, then scarcely to be called constitutional; for it was
before the revolution of 1830: and it was the ministry of Great Britain,
then, if I am not mistaken, a Tory one.
Now was I not entitled with this precedent before my eyes, to hope that
the bloody struggle in Hungary would not be regarded with indifference?
We had not risen from any reckless excitement to assert new rights, or
to experiment on new theories; we should have been contented to keep
what we lawfully possessed. It was not we who broke the peace; we were
assailed with a perjury more sacrilegious than the world has ever
seen:--we merely took up arms to defend ourselves against national
extermination, against the nameless cruelties inflicted upon our
people,--men, women, children,--by fire, murder, war, and royal perjury.
And besides, when we took up arms in legitimate defence, it so happened
that in France there was a republic established which proclaimed the
principle of universal fraternity; and there was in England a ministry
claiming to be liberal, which on a former occasion had solemnly vouched
its word to the British parliament, that _constitutional independence
of any country, great or small, would never be a matter of indifference
to the English government;_ adding emphatically, that _whoever
might be in office, conducting the affairs of Great Britain, he would
not perform his duty if he were inattentive to the interests of such
States._ Am I to blame for having thought that there is and should be
morality in politics?
And besides, there was republican America, quite in another shape than
she was twenty years before, at the time of the war of independence in
Greece. Then she had not yet extended her sway to the Pacific, and was
not yet exposed to be so much affected by the political issues of Europe
and Asia as she now is: then she had not yet a population of more than
twenty millions, who now are in the necessity to claim the position of a
power on earth: then she was indeed a new world teeming with the
mysteries of the future, but yet was far from being what she is to-day;
nay, even the Erie Canal, the great artery which now acts as a
miraculous link between Europe and the interior of your republic, was
only about to be completed at the time. And still what mighty sympathy!
a sympathy warm in expression, and not barren in facts, thrilled through
all America, much like that which I now meet, and pervaded even your
_national_ councils:--would I were entitled to say, much like as
now! Although the question of Greece was of course worthy of all
interest (as the cause of liberty always and everywhere is), yet it was
only an isolated cause, and by no means of such surpassing influence
upon the condition of the world as the cause of Hungary was, and is.
And yet I was disappointed in the expectation which I derived from your
own history, that a just cause will find supporters and never will be
forsaken by all. Oh, we were forsaken, gentlemen! We were forsaken even
at the crisis, when, single-handed, we had defeated our cruel enemy. And
Russia, that personification of despotism, stepped in with its iron
weight, tearing to pieces the law of nations, and overthrowing upon our
ruins the balance of power on earth.
That Russia, if invited, would snatch at the opportunity to gain
preponderance amongst the powers on earth--of this I entertained not the
slightest doubt; but I must confess, I did not believe either that
Austria would claim, or that the other powers of the earth, and chiefly
Great Britain and America, would permit the intervention of Russia. I
could not believe that Austria would resort to this desperate remedy,
because (and it is a remarkable circumstance which I mention now for the
first time) it was Austria which but a few years before, when, in the
transactions with Turkey, the question of foreign interference for the
maintenance of the integrity of the Turkish empire was agitated in the
councils of the world (and from which you of course were excluded, as to
the present day you always yet have been, as if you were nothing but a
patch of earth); yes, it was Austria, which objecting that the guarantee
of interference should be even claimed, pronounced in a solemn
diplomatic note these memorable words:--
_"A State ought never to accept, and still less request, of another
State, a service for which it is unable to offer in return a strict
reciprocity; else by accepting such favour she loses the flower of her
own independence--a State accepting such a favour becomes a mediatized
State: it makes an act of submission to the will of the State which
takes the charge of its defence; this State becomes a protector, and to
be dependent upon a protector is insupportable."_
Thus spoke Austria. How then could I imagine that the same Austria which
thus spoke would accept the degradation of Russian interference? And
should even the house of Austria, ruled by a guilty woman, under the
name of a witless, cruel child, be willing thus to ruin itself; how
could I imagine that England, that America, that the World, would allow
such a preponderance to Russia as makes her almost the mistress over the
world; at least opens the way to become such? No, that indeed I could
not imagine.
And still it was done. We fell, not "unwept, unhonoured, and unsung,"
but still we fell. Well: sad though be our fate, it is but a trial, and
no death. Perhaps it was necessary that the destinies of mankind should
be fulfilled. I have an unbroken faith in Him, the Heavenly Father of
all; the heart of mortal men may break, but what he does, that is well
done.
The ways of Providence are mysterious. The car of destiny goes on
unrestrained, and the weight of its wheels often crushes the happiness
of generations; floods of tears and of blood often mark its track.
Mankind looks up to heaven, and while measuring eternity with the rule
of the passing moment, sometimes despairs of the future, and believes
the sun of Freedom sunk for ever! It is a delusion: it is the folly of
anxiety! Night is the darkest before dawn, and the misfortune of the
moment often leads to the happiness of eternity.
Yes, gentlemen! the ways of Providence are miraculous. Let me cast a
look backwards into the last struggles for freedom in Europe, that their
history may become the book of future, and that, when we perceive the
salutary action of Providence even in our misfortunes, we may be
strengthened in our faith in the future freedom, and that you may see
that for us, down-trodden but not broken, there is full reason to pursue
our way, not only with the resoluteness of duty, but also with the
cheerfulness of a sure success, courageous as strength, untired as
perseverance, unshaken as religious faith, self-sacrificing as maternal
love, cautious as wisdom, but resolute as desperation itself.
But where is the action of Providence visible in the failure of 1848? is
your question. Gentlemen, I will tell you. The continent of Europe was
afflicted with three diseases in 1848--monarchical inclination,
centralization, and the antagonism of nationalities. With such elements
and in such direction, deception was unavoidable, lasting liberty was
not to be achieved.
It was the lot of the peoples to be freed from these diseases, because
God had designed the peoples to freedom and not to deception; therefore
the revolution of 1848 had to fail, but it was still not a mere accident
in history; it was a necessary step in the development of mankind's
destiny, and it will shine for ever in history as a glorious preparation
for the ultimate triumph of liberty, to carry which a positive,
practical direction is necessary. And that now exists.
France, Germany, and Italy are no more to fight for the deception of
monarchical principles, not for the triumph of dynasties, but for
republics. Hungary took this direction already in 1849, by dethroning
the Hapsburgs. France, Germany, and Italy will not follow in the track
of centralization. Hungary never followed it. And the governments may
ally themselves for the oppression of the world's liberty;--they have
already allied themselves--but nations will no more rise in arms against
one another. They will rise, not to dominate, but to be independent and
free. Instead of the antagonism of nationalities, it is now the idea of
the solidarity and fraternity of nations, which is become the character
of our times. And this is to be the source of our success in future;
this explains the fear of the tyrants which manifests itself in such
blind rage. This is the direction which I pursue; this is the secret of
the sympathy of the people, unparalleled yet in history, which I met in
both hemispheres, and of the coalition of despots, aristocrats, and
ambitious intriguers, to persecute me.
I hope, gentlemen, with these considerations before your eyes, you will
not share in the opinions of those who despair of the cause of freedom
in Europe, because the revolution of 1848 has failed.
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