New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-12-08


it ever wander from that solemn purpose,
then.-to borrow his own magnificent Ian
guage,-the spirits of the Hungarian mar
tyrs would pass before him and the cry
of the millions of his countrymen, Liberty
or Death ~ would recall him to the great
business of his life.
Remote as we are from Europe, happily
pursuing our own development IN peace and
freedom, it is difficult for US to form an idea
of the causes there at work, and ere long
to conyulse that Continent with a universal
revolution. 1t is difficult for us to appre-
bend the gravity Of the crisis with an inter-
est vital enough to make it real in our
minds. But believe it or not as we may,
the world has never witnessed an epoch
more pregnant with momentOus conse-
ouences than the present. See how tyran'
nv everywhere is unbOunded and defiant
See how all rights are trampled under foot,
Justice and humanity scofed at, and every
law but that Of the strong arm utterly abol'
ished or despised. See how the people are
overwhelmed with taxation to support I'M
mense armies and maintain dynastles In
splendor. And know that underneath the
quietude maintained by all the means OF op-
preston, is gathering iriesistibly moral
and political earthquake that must either
destroy absolutism throughout Europe or
plusge the millions in still gloomier abyss
Of suffering. Can we wonder that man
V no stands behind the scenes of history,
who not only knows all this and feels It, IN
every fiber and at every moment, but knows
and feels that he has to play leading part
in the awful drama, should be altogether oc-
cupied with its Apr zach, and should omit
and neglect nothing that can insure for 1t a
happy and benignant issue?
1t is no holiday visit then, no mere cere-
mony which brings The Magyar leader to
this country. He comes to rouse our SYM
pathy for his people and their cause, and
for the cause of popular liberty in all Eu-
rope, and to ask US that, in case of need, that
sympathy may not be suffered to evaporate
with the words wherein it is expressed.
He comes TO set forth and enforce a great
point in the mutual obligations of nations.
On that topic few brief words.
We are believers in the supreme wisdom
of minding your own business. We are
believers in Peace. We believe in Indus
try and in Power, gained, as alone it can
be, by staying at home and working faith
fully to develop the natural resources
with which nature has endowed every coun-
try, and the mental and moral resources
with which she has gifted every people.
Webelieve in the good old American policy
Of neutrality, and no entangling alliances.
1t is the policy under which the nation has
grown great and strong, and under which
it will grow greater and stronger.
But there may be circumstances when
cur own interest, as well as our duty as a
member of the great family of States, must
command us to step beyond the strait line of
this policy.
Should you, person of respectable
strength and courage, able to handle your
man, see rufiian bruising and trampling a
little boy in the street, would you be scri-
luous as to preserving your neutrality
Or if you saw brute raising his fist to
strike down a defenseless woman, would
you look on in silence till the blow had
faRen and help was impossible BY no
means. You would despise yourself for
doing so, and everybody else would despise
you. You would intervene and forbid and
prevent such outrageous breaches of the
peace. Such would be your duty and your
impulse, and all your honest neighbors
would bear you out in it. And the great
moral law of Christianity, would bear you
cut in it also
How do the rules of mutual duty which
bind nations differ from those which bind
individuals A weak man or a child may
deserve no blame for locking on silently
when another is violently maltreated, and
so may weak or an infant nation. But
can mature and strong one hope TO be ex-
cused if it does not act, nor even raise its
voice in protest, when ruffianly powers
uamPle on the justest principles of public
law, and make mock of every national
right! This question will be amply and
plainly discussed by Kossuth during his
stay in the United States He will discuss
1t from many points Of view, and bring 70
bear upon il great variety of arguments.
We commend them 20 the earnnst .nnsid