On a beautiful day in May, 1852, Louis Kossuth, the exiled governor of
Hungary, who had come to this country to solicit her to interfere in
European politics on behalf of his oppressed people, visited the towns of
Lexington and Concord, and spoke to a large assemblage in each place.
Kossuth was met at the Lexington line by a cavalcade from Concord, who
escorted him to the village, where he received a cordial welcome. The
town hall was crowded with people. The Hon. John S. Keyes presided, and
Mr. Emerson made the address of welcome.
Kossuth, in his earnest appeal for American help, addressed Mr. Emerson
personally in the following passages, after alluding to Concord’s part in
the struggle for Freedom in 1775:—
“It is strange, indeed, how every incident of the present bears the mark
of a deeper meaning around me. There is meaning in the very fact that it
is you, sir, by whom the representative of Hungary’s ill-fated struggle
is so generously welcomed ... to the shrine of martyrs illumined by
victory. You are wont to dive into the mysteries of truth and disclose
mysteries of right to the eyes of men. Your honored name is Emerson;
and Emerson was the name of a man who, a minister of the gospel, turned
out with his people, on the 19th of April of eternal memory, when the
alarm-bell first was rung.... I take hold of that augury, sir. Religion
and Philosophy, you blessed twins,—upon you I rely with my hopes to
America. Religion, the philosophy of the heart, will make the Americans
generous; and philosophy, the religion of the mind, will make the
Americans wise; and all that I claim is a generous wisdom and a wise
generosity.”
[199] _Page 398, note 1._ I am unable to find the source of these lines.
[200] _Page 399, note 1._ For the power of minorities, see “Progress of
Culture,” _Letters and Social Aims_, pp. 216-219, and “Considerations by
the Way,” _Conduct of Life_, pp. 248, 249.