The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-10-23
ITRANsLATIoNl

your obedent fellOw-citlzen and servant
G. ToCHMAE.
TRANSLATION.
address of Kossuth 10 The People of the Unite
States Of North AmerIoa.
Two wears ago, by Gods providence, l. VIII
would be only an humble citizen, held in m
hands the destiny Of the reigning house q
Austria
Had been ambitious, or had believed tina
this treacherous family were so basely wicked
as the; ofsrn A. 90 % sIys tsoI1S2ssa9 . X, I'll,
lettering pillars of their throne would have
TaJJog~-t .,,,v command and buried the crowned
traitors beneath their RUNS or would have scat
tered them like dust before a tempest, homeless
exiles, bearing nothing but the remembrance
of their prefdy, and that royalty which the,
ought to have lost through their own wicked
ness
|, however, did not take advantage of thes
favorable circumstances thoHghthe entire free
dom of my dear native land was the only wisl
of my heart. My requests were Of that mode
rate nature which, in the condition of Hungar,
and Europe seemed best fitted for my country
men. asked of the King. not the complete in
dependence of my beloved country-not ever
any new rights or privileges-but simply thes,
three things
First That the inahenable rights sanctioned
by thousand years and by the constitution o
my fatherland, should be guaranteed by q
national and responsible administration.
Second That every inhabtant of my country
without regarding language or religion, should
be free and equal before the laval classes
having the same privileges and protection from
the law
Third That all the people of the Austrian
Empire that acknowledged the same persons as
Emperor whom we Hungarians recognised as
King, and the same law of succession. should
have restored their ancient constitutional rights,
of which they had been uniustly despoiled
modified to suit their wants and the spirit of
the age
The first demand was not for any new grant
or concession, but simply a fresh guarantee In
the arrangement made with our ancestors,
when, by their free will they elevated the
house of Hapsburg to the throne a condition
was made that the King should preserve the in
dependence and constitution of the country.
This independence and this constitution were
the very vitality of our national being During
three centuries, twelve Kings of the House of
Hapsburg had sworn, in the presence of the
eternal God, before ascending the throne, that
they would preserve our independence and the
constitution and their lives is but n his
tory of perpetual and accursed perjury. Yet
such conduct did not weaken our fidelity No
nation ever manifested more iaithfuhess to
their rulers And though we poor Hungarans
made endless sacrifices, often ut the expense of
our national welfare--thOugh these Kings in
times of peace drew their support from us and
in times of or and danger relied upon the I'M
cOnquerablc strength OF our army--thOugh we
ever trusted in their words-they deceived us Il
thousand times, and made our condition worse
While other nations were able to apply all
their energies to promote the general welfare
and to deyelope their means of happiness, we
had to stand on guard like the watchmen
mentioned in Scripture, for three centuries to
prevent our treacherous Kings from destroying
entirely the foundation of our national exist
ence-our constitution and independence.
!, as the representative Of my countrymen,
asked nothing more than a constitutional min
istry, whose responsibility would prevent the
King from violating his oath.
The second demand was still less for any po-
litical right We asked for nothing more than
a reform in the internal administration of the
State-a simple act of Justice which the aris-
tocracy owed the people And in this how
much the King would have gained! The
strength OF his throne would have been incrcas-
ed tenfold by thus winning the affections of his
faithful people
The third demand was prompted by human
ity and fraternal feeling twas the proper and
holy mission of our nation, ~ the oldest men,
Der Of the empire and possessing n constitution
al form of Government, to raise its voice in be-
half of those sister nations under the same ru-
Ter, and who were united to us by 80 many ties
Of relationship Lovers of freedom, we would
not ask liberty for ourselves alone we would
not boast OF privileges that others did not enjoy,
but desired TO be free, in fellowship with free
nations around us This motive was inspired
by the conviction that two crowns-a constitu-
tional and deSpotic crown-c0uld not be worn
by the same head-nO more than two oppos-
ing dispositions can harmonic in the same
breast or that man can be good and evil nj
the same time
The King and royal family granted these re.
quests appealing to the sanctity of their oaths
as n guarantee of their fulfment; and |, weak
in myself but strong through the confidence ofmy
oounhymen and the noble sympathy of the Aus
trian people, proclaimed everywhere, amidst the
raging storm of revolution that "the house OF
Austria should stand for, by the blessing OF
the Almighty, it had begun TO move in the right
direction, and would be just to its people" II
stood, and stood, too, Mt Il time when, whatever
might have been the fate of Hungary, the rev.
dictionary tempest under my direction would
have blown away this antiquated and helpless
dynasty Ike chat before the winds of heaven
not only preserved the house of Austria but
placed IN ITS hands the materials of long and
glorious iuture--the foundation of an indestruc-
tlble power in the affection of thirtv-two millions
of people rendered them the fidelity and AS
sistance of my own heroic Hungary. which alone
was able 70 defend them against the assaults Of
the world. ! afforded them the glorious oppor-
tunity-more glorious than had ever been nre
scented bef0re-of establishing an impregnable
barrier 10 protect freedom civilization. and nro.
gress, against the Cossack power which now
threatens Europe To attain this honor this
glory, one thing only was necessary--that they
should remain faithful to their oaths But
when was it that Austria was not treacherous
We look in vain for as much honor rs is foam,
even among robbers in the Hapsburg family
On the very day they signed the grant o
those moderate demands of the Hungarian PEG
Pile and solemnly swore before God and the ma
ton to maintain them, they secretly resolves
and planned the most cruel conspiracy agains
us. They determined TO break their oaths, b
desolate the land with insurrecton, conhagra
ton. and blood ill, feeble and exhausted under
the burden Of a thousand miseries, Hungary
might be struck from the roll of living nations
They then hoped, by the power of the bayonet
and if necessary by the arms of Russia, &c