[_Address before the German Citizens of New York_.]
At the Broadway Tabernacle, on Wednesday evening, Kossuth delivered a
farewell address, before the German citizens of New York. It was spoken
in the German language, and was received with the hearty plaudits of an
immense assemblage. A small portion only of it can here find place.
Dear friends,--Allow me to address you with this sweet name of brotherly
love, hallowed by deep feeling, by the power of principles, and by the
combination of circumstances,--but likewise weighty in regard to the
determination linked to it in my grateful heart, in life as in death, to
serve the cause faithfully which you honour by such generously noble
sympathy.
To me this moment is one of solemn importance. I stand at the close of
my wanderings in America. My words are those of farewell.
In these six months I have been enriched by many an experience. I had
much to unlearn, but I have likewise learnt much.
Whatever be the result of my exertions, so much is sure, that they have
linked more closely the hearts of the Germans and Hungarians, and have
matured the instinct of solidarity into self-conscious conviction. This
result alone is worth a warm utterance of thanks; it will heavily weigh
in the future of the world.
And this result, dear friends, is it not achieved? The hearts of the
German and the Hungarian are linked more closely; they throb like the
hearts of twins which have rested under the same mother's breast; they
throb like the hearts of brothers, who, hand in hand, attain the baptism
of blood; they throb like the hearts of two comrades, on the eve of the
battle, decided to hold together like the blade and the handle.
The echo of this harmony of German song fills yet the air of this hall;
it thrills yet through the soul of the ladies and through the bosom of
the resolute men. Let the word harmony between the Germans and
Hungarians be the consecration of the present moment, which melts
together our feelings, in order that, self-conscious of the sublime aim,
which unites our nations and us all in brotherhood, we may unite in
intention, unite in resolution, unite in endurance, unite in activity
for the aim which fills your souls and mine.
And what is this aim which thrills through our bosoms like a magnetic
current? The aim is the solidarity and independence of nations;--the
freedom of our people--their liberation from the yoke of tyranny.
With this aim before my eyes and decided resolution in my heart, I feel
here amidst you as Werner Stauffacher felt, when, in the hour of the
night, on the Rüttli, God above him and the sword in his hand, he made
the covenant with his two friends against tyrannical Austria.
Let this meeting here become the symbol of a similar covenant; three[*]
were the men who made it, and Switzerland became free. Let us three
nations make a similar covenant, and the world becomes free. Germany,
Hungary, and Italy! hurrah for the new Rüttli-covenant! God increase the
number of them, as he increased the number of those on the Rüttli, and
our triune band, strong in itself, will readily greet every one, and
meet him as a brother, having the same rights in the great council of
the Amphictyons, where the nations will give their verdict against
tyrants and tyranny, on the battle-field, with the thunder of the
cannons and the clashing of swords; and will put the independence of
every nation under the common guarantee of all, in order that every one
of them may regulate her own domestic affairs, without foreign
interference, and every people may govern itself, not acknowledging any
master but the Almighty. They, will increase the members of this
covenant, but Germany, Hungary, and Italy, they are neighbours, and have
the same enemy. Hurrah! for the new covenant of Stauffacher!
[Footnote *: Werner Stauffacher, Walter Fürst, and Arnold of the Melchthal;
November 11th, 1307.]
Now, by the God who led my people from the prairies of far Asia to the
banks of the Danube--of the Danube, whose waves have brought religion,
science, and civilization from Germany to us, and in whose waves the
tears of Germany and Hungary are mingled; by the God who led us, when on
the soil watered by our blood we were the bulwark of Christendom; by the
God who gave strength to our arm in the struggle for freedom, until our
oppressor, this godless House, which weighed so heavily on the liberties
of Germany for centuries, was humbled, and sunk down to be the underling
of the Muscovite Czar; by the ties of common oppression which tortures
our nation--by the ties of the same love of liberty, and of the same
hatred of tyranny which boils in the veins of our people--by the
remembrance of the day[*] when the Germans of Vienna rose to bar the way
toward Hungary against the hirelings of despotism--and by the blood
which flowed on the plain of Schwechat[**] from Hungarian hearts for the
deliverance of Vienna; by the Almighty Eye which watches the fate of
mankind--by all these, I pledge myself, I pledge that the people of
Hungary will keep this covenant honestly, faithfully, and truly, in life
and death.
[Footnote *: October 5th, 1848]
[Footnote **: October 30th, 1848]
I tender the brother-hand of Hungary to the German people, because I am
convinced that it is essentially necessary for the freedom and
independence of my country. Destined as we are to be the vanguard of
freedom, I know well that as long as Germany remains enslaved, even the
victory of our liberty would remain insecure; as long as Germany remains
an army, whose power is wielded by the criminal hand of the house of
Hapsburg; as long as Russia has nothing to fear from Germany, because
the two masters of Germany are but underlings of Russia--obeying the
command of their master, because he maintains them on their tottering
thrones against their own people; so long Russia will always have the
arrogance to throw her despotic sword into the scale against the freedom
of the world.
I am not the first who say it, that the freedom of Germany is the
condition of the liberty of the world; history tells it with a thousand
tongues, every statesman acknowledges it, and all the despots know it.
Twenty years past, when the German Princes recovered from the stunning
blow of the July Revolution, by finding out that LOUIS PHILIPPE was not
in earnest with his phrases of liberty, when, in the year 1832, they
united to enslave the German people, and to retract the concessions
which they had given in the fright of their hearts; when they curtailed
all the Constitutional guarantees, then HENRY LYTTON BULWER, the same
who was Ambassador in Washington during the last year, rose in the
English Parliament, and claimed that England should not permit the
liberty and independence of the German people to be crushed. He claimed
the attention of the world to the great truths that _the peace of
Europe cannot be secured without a strong Germany, and that Germany
cannot be strong without freedom._ A free Germany is a bulwark
against the encroachments of France and the arrogance of Russia.
Germany enslaved, is either the prey of the former or the tool of the
other. His prophecy is fulfilled; Germany is become half the prey and
wholly the tool of Russia. Who then can calculate on security and peace
and freedom, as long as Germany is thus enslaved.
You see, dear friends, that the brotherly union with Germany must be of
sacred importance to me, and that my heart must beat as fervently for
Germany's freedom, as for that of my own people. Therefore, I
necessarily wished to bequeath the care of the seed which I have sown,
to men urged to this task of love, not only by enlightened American
patriotism--not only by the conscience of right and duty and prudence,
but likewise especially by love for their old German fatherland. And do
I not express only the sentiments of your own hearts, when I say, "The
German may wander from his father's house, and may build for himself a
new home in a distant country, yet he ever loves truly and faithfully
his own old German fatherland"?
I request you to exert your influence, that the idea of the solidarity
of the struggle for European liberty may be well understood, and that
preparations be made to support the revolution, whenever it breaks out.
There is nothing more dangerous than to say: "The Hungarian, the
Italian, or the German fights; let us see whether he succeeds; if he
succeeds, we too will try the same." By the isolation of the nations the
combined despots become victorious. Let everybody support Liberty,
wherever she struggles. But, on the other side, the forces of the
revolution cannot so pledge and tie themselves, as to be thrown into the
abyss by every ill-combined premature outbreak. _Not an_ "EMEUTE,"
_but a_ REVOLUTION _is our aim_; and therefore the leaders of
the movement of the different nations must combine either in a
simultaneous outbreak, or to mutual support; and in this combination
there must be absolute freedom and equality.
There are persons in this country who did me the honour to mention that
I would lead the German movement. No! gentlemen; that would be a
presumptuous arrogance, even if it were practical, which it is not. This
idea itself is the most antagonistical to my principles. No!--No! No
foreign interference with the domestic affairs of a nation. I will not
bear it in Hungary, nor obtrude it abroad. Full independence is my
watchword.
But you will ask who are, or who were, the leaders of Germany, with whom
I still combine? The question is easily answered; you will acknowledge
them from their works. Whoever comes to tender me his hand as a
confederate, I do not ask who he is, where he comes from?--but I ask,
"What do you weigh? what power do you command? what forces have you
organized? or what are your prospects or means of organization?" and
then I inquire into the truth myself. I judge the vitality of the
intention, and accept or decline the proffered brotherly alliance of
mutual support.
This is my way. I do not think that Germany will ever combine under the
leadership of one man; but there are many Germans in the different parts
of Germany who enjoy the confidence of their countrymen, and have a
leading influence. Every one of these can act in his sphere. I, my
friends, will be always ready to combine with every one who does, and
who has some forces to tender to the league. I do not care for names,
for petty party disputes, or for those which belong to the domestic
questions.
[Kossuth proceeded, in assent to a special request, to give his advice
as to the method of proceeding suitable to the German voters in America;
and closed by saying:]
Those are the principles, my dear friends, which should lead you,
according to my humble opinion, in the present crisis. And if you take
into kind consideration my bequest, and exert your influence and active
aid on behalf of the movement for freedom in Europe, I can but assure
you, for my grateful farewell, that there are hundreds of thousands in
Europe who take those words for their device, which the other day, the
German singers sang, as if from the depth of my heart.
"And never shall rest the shield and the spear,
Till destroyed we see, and laid in the dust,
The enemies all."
May God help me! This is my oath, and this oath my farewell!
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