The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-04 00:00:00

Pine-s— for our lives and fortunes ; and "The
sword of Saul returned not empty."—(Cheers.) The
.Austrians were defeated, humiliated, abandoned, and
on the ruins of our country rose the liberties of Hun-
gary. But the case cannot bear the good; the tyrant
cannot bear freedom and happiness ; the freedom of
nations must be secrified to the desires and cupidities
of a single family, at least that is the rule of European
politics beyond the sea.—(Cheers.) Austria was not
able to subdue Hungary by herself—she called in the
aid of Russia; and by Russia our fathers, mothers,
brothers, sisters, and friends were killed. Still (turn-
ing to the motto behind the chair) " there is no obsta-
cle to him that wills."—(Loud cheers.) It is said
that the Russian forces were brought forward in the
name of God to subdue rebellion. Ido not know
what ideas of justice or humanity tyrants entertain;
but I know that the principles of European policy are
wholly abhorrent to religion and humanity. What !
attribute the sanction of God and nature to Russian
and Austrian scalping-knives. I say there is a God
in heaven—and God is just. The Hungarian people
still live—" they are swifter than eagles and stronger
than lions."—(Cheers.) Their day will return—it
cannot be far distant and at that moment I will
call for justice to my coun'ryinen—l will invoke the
humanity of the generous English people.—(Cheers.)
I trust that the sympathies which we meet in the
palaces of the rich, as well as in the cottages of the
poor, will support our people in those days ; and that
in the few words of your immortal Nelson—" England
expects every man to do his duty"— (Loud cheers)—
all Englishmen will unite in maintaining the hap-
piness and freedom not of Hungary only, but of the
whole world.—(Cheers.)
Mr. CONYNGLIAM, of Brighton, then proposed,
" Italy, and long life to Joseph Mizzini."— (Cheers.)
With regard to the procession of the day, be had
seen many processions on the continent, and he could
not estimate to-day's gathering at less than 150,000
persons.—(Cheers.) They had expressed their sen-
timents in favour of Hungary, but how vain was all
this expression of sentiment so long as the people
were not represented in the House of Commons ?
Did they suppose if the people had been represented
that England would ever have allowed a single Cos-
sack to set his foot on the soil of Hungary ?
(Cries of " No, no.") But what could they do so
long as they were ruled by the Whigs, than whom
there was not a greater set of impostors under the
sun ?—(Cheers.) The first duty of every Englishman
was to get them out of office, and the only way to do
that was to insist on universal suffrage.—(Loud
cheers and cries of:" Question.") Why did not the
six millions of the disfranchised rise as one man, and
insist upon the suffrage ? Was it asked of them
what right they had to the suffrage ? He asked of
such people what right had they to the land mono-
poly—(Loud cheers)—what right had they to the
principle of hereditary legislation ?—(Cheers.) All
that the disfranchised population had to boast of was
the privilege of hereditary bondage. He would say
to the people of England, if they were in earnest
when the next struggle came, let them go forward as
one man and insist upon having the suffrage. Let
them return i their, own representatives to the
House of Commons, and all subordinate questions
would take care of themselves.—(Cheers.) Political
reform was but a stepping-stone to social reform. It
was not merely a radical reform they wanted, but
a reform in the social organization of the whole
countrv.—(Cries of " Question," and " What has
this to do with Mazzini ?") It had every-
thing to do with Mezzini.—(Great confusion.) He
was: anxious to impress upon the people the im-
portance of a change in the Government. If the
Whig impostors continued to rule England, when
the struggle came again in Hungary not a finger
would be moved to save them. If they were in
earnest in meeting in such solemn festivals as these
they must take steps to put the Government of Great
Britain into such hands that when Russia ventured
to invade Hungary, or Austria to interfere in Italy,
England and the United States would say to them—
stir at your peril.—(Loud cheers.) He concluded by
proposing " Joseph Mazzini and Italy."
Mr. DAVID MASSON replied.
Mr. FETTLE (the secretary) then proposed France.
(Cheers.) The heart of France even now beat
quick, and the period would soon arrive when she
would unfurl the banner, not of any one man, but of
a glorious principle-1832 was the epoch when France
had named that her struggle for freedom would re-
commence; when she would unite in sentiments of
fraternity with wounded Italy, with broken Hun-
gary, and with Poland, fallen, bat yet again to rise.
—(Cheers.) It there was any name dear to France,
it was the name of a man that was present among
them—dear to all who, like himself, were the toilers
and workers, the hewers of wood and the drawers of
water; and yet there were other names dear to
France, and he hoped that those men would yet re-
turn and raise aluft the banner of their country's
glory ;:for in the honour of these men lay the action
of France, end in the action of France lay the hope
of the world.—(Loud cheers.)
M. LOUIS BLANC then rose and spoke as follows:
Citizens—l regret that I cannot express in a satisfac-
tory manner, in your language, the emotion which
tho ardent expression of your sympathies has caused
within me. How I regret that I cannot throw my
heart into my words ! I am proud, for my beloved
country, of all which I have just heard, and I trust
that those who hear me may never have the sad ex-
perience of feeling how gratifyingly the praises of
his country fall upon the soul of the exile. It is my
turn to express to you how my admiration was ex-
cited for your country by what it has been my lot to
witness here. Haynau arrived here, and his presence
excited one burst of generous indignation. Such was
the reception which the English people had ready for
despotism. Kossuth arrived, and thousands of Eng-
lishmen rushed to welcome him as a brother—such
was the reception England had in store for liberty.
There is a connexion between these two facts which
I think contains a deep lesson, and no stronger proof
could be given, in the times in which we live, that no
nation can remain indifferent to the fate of another.
It was not without surprise, therefore, that I read
the other day, in a speech of Mr. Cobden's, that the
fundamental principle of the policy of free govern-
ments should be the principle of non-intervention.
This assertion appeared to me the more singular
in the mouth of one of the most ardent apostles
of free trade. For, in sooth, if when considering
simply their commercial and material interests,
peoples should approach each other as near as
possible, entwine and embrace each other, why should
they remain confined to an isolated position when
their moral interests are concerned, their social faith,
the worship which they have to render in common to
universal truth and justice? The principle of non-
intervention ! Why, that is national egotism sanc-
tified ; it is almost to acknowledge that the weak
should be abandoned ; it is every one for himself,
every one at home, admitted as the rule for inter-
national relations ; it is a giving up of diplomacy to
the away of that maxim " laissez faire, laissez
passer," which, in political economy, has been too
often translated thus—" laissez gemir,laissez souffrir,
laissez mourir." Well am I aware that when a
people feels itself strong enough to re-assert its inde-
pendence by its own efforts, all the honour must be
conceded to it, even at the expense of more tears and
more bloodshed. After all, liberty is well worth the
pains men take about it, and he who hesitates to brave
a rugged path to attain it is not worthy of possessing
it. I can thus perfectly understand the shout which
Italy raised in 1848, " farce da se," and it
was from my very soul that I applauded Kossuth
when he said, " Let only Russia be stopped, and the
Hungarians will do the rest." Who has a greater right
than Kossuth to bold such language—he who is the re-
presentative of a people who have recently immor-
talized themselves by fighting the battles of giants ?
But it must not be forgotten that there are nations
who are weighed down by the consequences of a long
oppression ; it must not be forgotten that chains leave
marks—that they enervate the limbs upon which they
press, and that one of the crimes of tyranny is to
deprive its victims even of the firm will to shake it
off. With regard to those peoples, what value, tell
me, can be attached to non-intervention ? You find
a man prostrate on the ground—a brigand has a knee
upon his breast—will you confine yourself to say, "If
another assailant comes I will stop him ; until then I
shall not interfere ?" If the unfortunate man suc-
cumbs, it is because be had not the strength to de-
fend himself ; and will you pass listlessly on ? Citi-
zens! those are not the principles of Democracy.
Puissancewvhe
what
yt i
true
ry
ue
eoblige. Weakness is the creditor of
strength—ignorance is the creditor of knowledge—
s
every
athneincdreidviidtoural ofis evvcieurayllyfreaepumlinaanb—le
a nation. For, citizens when a man—a single man
od
—is oppressed,
eheis representsttl' in. that moment the
Thus was it understooed
whole earth—
ebmbtohdirn_!nt of humanity.
When that much calumniated, the French revolution.
tion entered upon the scene of the world, it did not
en
jo
that-in t ear 1. Tzt ogna oronmp tleehdei
sct con-
trary,
then-t
that glorious. revolu-
tit nhoebplyrinincaiipillteaoinf
proclaimtrary ,
natural debtor of weaker nations—is
there was not a drop of blood—not one—in the veins that
France which did not belong to the oppressed. It did
not write at the head of its new laws, " Declaration
of the rights of Frenchmen," but it wrote, "Decla-
ration of the rights of man," and that heroic charter
was entrusted to citizen soldiers to proclaim it
he risk of their lives and atthroughout Europe, at t
the point cf their bayonets. That Pitt should have
resolved to transform the anathemas of Burke against
the French revolution, and that he one day exclaimed
in the British Parliament, " Will you allow the re-
publicans of France to send to the republicans of
England, as they announced, 50,000 caps of
liberty ? let us hasten to declare war against
the principles of the French revolution—principles
which it is capable of teaching to Europe from the
cannon's mouth"—that Pitt, Isa took such a course
and held such l 31,
anguage is not to be wondered at. Evil,
like good, has Rll
flexible logic of its own. BY in"

tervening in the affairs of Europe, for the ruin of the
French revolution, Pitt acted up to his part, as the
French revolution did its part for the destruction of
oppressive privileges and for the triumph of justice.
And thence it resulted that France was overspread
over the globe, or rather submerged it for a time ;
but democracy is like the Nile—when it submerges
it fructifies. When Nicholas issued forth his armies
upon Hungary to subjugate it—when, by the most au-
dacious and at the same time most cowardly of attempts,
Louis Napoleon took possession of Rome, doubtless it
would have been a happy event if a powerful Go-
vernment, for instance the English Government, had
come forward and exclaimed, " You shall not pass."
But if that Government had been truly democratic,
do you suppose that it would have confined itself
simply to the frozen theory of non-intervention ?
No, citizens ; if it had within itself the power to
carry out a noble action, it would have said, " You
are going to fight against a just cause, I shall defend
it ; you intervene against right, I intervene for
right ; and that is why I say to you—invoking equity,
strong in the support of what men holds most sacred
in the eyes of the world which beholds us, and human
conscience which judges us—' You shall not pass.'"
In fine, citizens, the enemies of nations are friends in
bond (sont solidaires) ; the peoples and the Govern-
ments that represent them must be solidaires also. It
is not enough to paralyse the intervention of Evil, the
intervention of Good must be organized, and it is
high time. For we aro perhaps even now on the eve
of a struggle, and—it is with a profound emotion that
I say it—perhaps a terrible struggle. May the Al-
mighty spare us such a calamity; may a last struggle
not become necessary to put a final end to combats;
may a last and formidable war not be indispensable to
stifle war ! But can we entertain such a hope ? Alas !
our enemies have but too well studied how to make
bloodshed the price of progress. The revolution of
1848 met them with words of peace, of generosity,
of clemency. And when they had gained the strong
hand, how did they act ? They were violent even
unto madness. Dividing Europe into two camps,
these misguided men devoted themselves blindly to
create the necessity of a duel ez mort. May Heaven
avert it ! But should the folly of the counter-revolu-
tion decide it otherwise, then let fate be accomplished!
Democracy, you may be sure, will not render up its
sword.
The CHAIRMAN said while M. Louis Blanc had
been making his eloquent speech in favour of an effi-
cacious non-intervention--
Mr. REYNOLDS—No, no; be is not in favour of
non-intervention [here there was great confusion and
cries for an interpretation of the speech, in the midst
of which]—
The CHAIRMAN hoped the meeting would support
him. He said that while M. Louis Blanc was de-
livering that eloquent speech, he had been reading
three letters he had received from Robert wen—
(Cheers) ; D. Brattiano, representative from the Dal-
matian provinces, which Russia would next eat up,
and member of the Central Democratic Committee of
Europe ; and M. Mazzini, which
.he would read to
the meeting.
They all contained apologies for non-attendance.
The following is the letter of M. Mazzini :
"Sir,—Your kind invitation reached me very late on
Saturday. I regret that both previous engagement and
other merely personal motives will prevent me from
availing myself of it, but in heart, soul, and wishes I am
with you and with all those who advocate the principle
contained in the address to Kossuth, that on the
brotherhood of peoples rest the hopes of civilization and
the free development of man's noblest faculty.'
"A truly holy alliance of the nations, on the basis of
freedom and equality for the moral, intellectual, and
physical progress of mankind, has been the parent
thought of all that I have during twenty-two years
spoken, written, done, and endeavoured. Let that parent
thought live and act through all your manifestations.
God and the people, truth and might, will help you on
your way, on which the blessing and friendship of all
now bleeding and struggling nations will welcome the
English workers.
"Believe me, Sir, with cordial thanks,
" Ever faithfully yours,

"JOSEPH MAZZINI.
" 2, Sydney-place, Brompton, Nov. 3."
Mr. BRONTERRE O'BRIEN next addressed the
meeting, and proposed the toast of " Germany."—
(Cheers.) He referred in terms of high praise to the
Democratic insurrections that took place in 1848, in
Vienna, in Berlin, in Leipsic, Dresden, &c., where
emperors, kings, and dukes, were all sent upon the
tramp, and which was checked only because the
principle of non-intervention was not carried out. He
hoped they would all be ready next year—be would
not say with force or violence—but still they wotild
be united to insist that when Ministers proposed a
Bill of reform, it should not be a mockery like former
Reform Bills, but that it should be a real reform,
such as would put power into the hands of the com-
mon people. Then what a glorious future might be
looked for in all Europe. He was in the habit of
mixing among some three hundred of the more ad-
vanced men connected with all the countries of
Europe, and he could tell them that next year they
looked for the complete emancipation of the whole of
Europe. It would begin with France, for that was
the reservoir whence the living fountains of the
waters of liberty came forth and flowed over all Eu-
rope. When that example spread over the continent
Gemany would establish a grand confederation of
democratic republics. —(Loud cheers.) Yes, thirty-
seven democratic republics, as there were now thirty-
seven states, with one central assembly for the general
affairs of the whole, like the Central Congress of
America. The same thing would take place in Italy.
There were at present thirteen states there; and the
opinions of the friends in London were not united
whether there should be a confederation of thirteen

republics, aye republics—for those miserable devils—
kings and popes—would no longer be tolerated ; or
whether there should be one grand republic for the
whole.—(Cheers.) These republics would be founded
on the principles decreed by our own Alfred, who
promulgated the law that there should he only eight
hours for work.—(Great and prolonged cheering.)
Yes, Alfred ordained that there should be eight hours
for sleep, eight hours for recreation, but that no man
unless for crime should work more than eight hours.
—(Continued cheering.) When France gave the
signal for this movement all the despots of the world
would attack them, then England would give the
signal for a democratic rising, and they would fly
not only at the political tyrants but at all the rich
mercantile moneyed classes who supported them, and
they would sweep away all vestiges of feudal tyranny
all over Europe.—(Cheers.)
Mr. AM AND GOEGG returned thanks, and said—
Citizens and friends—the unavoidable absence of my
friends Ruge and Tausenau imposes on me the task of
responding to the generous sentiments which you
have been pleased to express with regard to Germany
—a task which I would, indeed, wish to have fallen
into abler hands than mine, but which I yet most
cheerfully accept. I thank you most heartily,
in the name of German democracy, for your
generous sympathies for our cause. That
cause is not triumphant now, nor can we, like the
illustrious Kossuth, boast of former triumphs. Yet
the barricades of Berlin, Dresden, Frankfort, the
glorious struggle of Vienna, and the battle-fields of
Baden, have sufficiently proved to the world that the
German people were resolved to gain the glorious pri-
vileges of freemen. Had we to deal with one tyrant
only, as the French had, we should long ago have
succeed in breaking the yoke. But with us the task
is somewhat more difficult; thirty-five tyrants are not
so readily overcome as one. I know there are some
who will assert that the German character is too phi-
losophical, poetical, and metaphysical ever to achieve
great things on the practical field. This is true per-
haps to some extent ; perhaps we are a little too much
in the habit of looking to the clouds above us, and
disregarding the clods beneath our feet. But of this
much let me assure you: we are for all that a freedom
loving people, aye, and one which will not be satisfied
merely with acquiring political rights and independ-
ence, but which will also, and more strenuously still,
insist upon a thorough social reform. For years have
we been carefully watching what has passed around
us. We have looked, for instance, to France. What
have we seen there, and what do we see there even
now ? A. n approach, indeed, to political liberty ; but
by the side of individual slavery and social misery.
This is not the liberty to which we aspire. No
once more rest ye assured, with us social ameliora-
tion shall walk hand in hand with political reform.
The achievement of political independence is with us
only the key to the much more invaluable trasure of
individual and social freedom and happiness. I know
that there are now around me many, and that beyond
the walls of this building there are millions of Eng-
lishmen, Frenchmen, Italians, and Hungarians, who
think and inspire with us in these most important
matters. Millions of brothers who eagerly and hope-
fully look forward to the dawn of their emancipation
from the slavery of capital. But reforms, such as we
contemplate, can only be gained by a league of the
peoples. I need say no more. Permit me to propose
a toast—" To the political equality of all citizens, to
the emancipation of labour from the tyranny of
capital ; in fine, to the political and social regenera-
of mankind."—(Cheers.)
Mr. G. J. 110LYOALE, in proposing the toast of
Turkey, referred to the progress lately made by her
Majesty in the north, and to the loyalty with which
she had been received by the working classes. The
poorest
t knew cl
a s
that lh
newspapers said that loyalty lived in the breasts of
Tin ee
sne
m w
c rt
eNowre democrats,
he (
tHhe ypo
ol
Al
and while they respected the person of the Queen they
would have given a thoughtful, intelligent, and manly
vote against the continuance of the Queen's
office if
it had been put to them, and they would have done
so because she was the symbol of aristocratic rule
which was ever adverse to the liberties of the people.
If, then, these people showed that they couldtreat
with marked respect apolitical foe, or one whom they
considered as such, it showed their fitness for the
franchise; for every one knew it was more difficult
to behave courteously to an antagcnist than to a