The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-12-18

his falling Statel The laws of nature require,
and the laws of nations demand, hospitality to
those who flee from oppression and despair.
This is all that we have DONE and all that we
propose to do. We have invited kossuth here
we have procured his release from captivity !;
we have brought him here and now we only
propose to say to him, as he stands before us
upon our own shore, as his eyes are directed
towards us. and while we know that the eyes
of the civilized world are fixed upon him and
US. Louis Kossuth, in the name and behalf of
the American people, we bid you cordial
welcome
Mr.. HALE. Mr.. President am DESTROYS
that this resolution should pass. | beg to
assure the honorable Senator from Mississippi
Mr. FooTE,l who is now within my hearing
that | shall use words with no sectional, no
hidden, or sinister meaning. | think | can use
pure English, and use language in its general
acceptation among the people of the United
States, even as far south as civilization extends
Laughter With no qualification at all, am
DESTROYS that the resolution should pass. AM
80 DESTROYS sir, that it should pass, that will
interpose no amendment, because the honorable
Senator from Michigan, Mr. CAss whom |
have in my eye, thinks that on former occa-
siOn an amendment which proposed proved
very fatal to a resolution which he introduced
But my own opinion is that the amendment
lost strength by being tackled to his resolution,
laughter, and that, if | should have intro
duced it as an original measure, it would have
passed.
But sir. want to address myself to those
who think this resolution wants precedent,
and that the only precedent which is to be
found is the reception which was given TO the
Justly celebrated Lafayette. A very eloquent
eulogy was passed upon the services of that in
dividual; and those services entitled him to the
reception which was rendered him when he
visited our shores as the champion of liberty,
something more than quarter of a century
since. want to take the case of Lafayette
and see if it is not case in point. When the
idea was first presented to the mind of Lafay-
ette Here are transatlantic people-a wide
ocean ian ocean wider then by thousand
miles, for all practical purposes, than it is now,
since the introduction of steam navigation) be-
tween him and this transatlantic people, who
had risen with the energy of freemen to de-
clare their rights, and were struggling for
tSsis lyes to maintain these Eiohts--if Lafay-.
etSe instead OF tne nSoie devotion ana cnlyairy
NJ 7'birb be tb1sw bipseF ipte the enoteSt
had set himself t6sthe task OF Searching me
musty records of the past to discover prece-
dent, how long would it have been before he
would have thrown his life and all his energies
into the struggle to assist in establishing free
dom and the supremacy of human rights
Sir, it would have been long time--many
centuries would have passed away before such
a precedent could have been found He found
none for the occasion, and the occasion made a
precedent
Now, sir, one word with regard to prece-
dents. What has been sthe history of the
United States! Why sir, instead of following
precedents, they have been making precedents.
This is their duty and their destiny The hon
orable Senator from Mississippi, Mr.. FoorE.
it seems to me, cannot hear the word precedent,
which sounds so much like President. without
calling up some thoughts besides
MIR. FOOTE, of Mississippi, Gntcrposing)
Really, now, the gentleman is thinking of the
time when he ran for the Office of President ]
thought it possible the idea would run in his
mind, although the pronunciation is very dis
tinct
Mr.. HALE, (resuming.) Well, sir, in pro-
nuncation will yield to the honorable Sena-
tor from Mississippi, but in nothing else, sir
will go further. In dictionaries, in prece-
dents, and in pronunciation, will yield to him.
but in nothing further, sir And, sir, think
it is a little ungenerous for the honorable Sena-
tor from Mississippi to come from the field
which he has so successfully won-to come
here with his plumed cap and sword by his
side, in the midst of the blushing honors with
which his State has crowned him, with such a
fling at my poor claims, which were so long
ago rejected. Laughter
ask him, sir, when all these honors are
heaped upon him. if he cannot enjoy them so
long as he sees Mordecai the Jew sitting at
the kings gate!" did hope better things of
him. had hoped that prosperity would have
taught him better lesson but it seems that
all such hopes are doomed to disappointment
was saying, sir, that it has been the PROV
nce of the United States not only to make
Presidents, but precedents. believe that the
members of the Continental Congress assem-
bled on the 4th of July, 1776, to make the
declaEation that they had right to political
freedom, acted entirely without precedent; "A
precedent was not to be found where people
had come together in peaceful concave to
throw off the restraints of that Government
they had been taught to support, and to cease
to render the obedience they had been accus-
toned to render to the mother country But
they thought not of precedents then. They
were acting without precedent, too, when
after the justice of that declaration had been
indicated by seven years war, and an ex-
periencc OF few years of peace had told them
that peace itself might become valueless with
out something to render its blessings more per-
manent and valuable-they assembled together
IN the Convention which framed our Constitu-
ton. they were acting entirely without apre-
cedent. believe you may search the history
of the world, and. you cannot find an instance
In which the representatives of q nation came
together and formed a written constitution 1t
was the second in the history of the world and
the first was framed on board the Mayflower,
when the Pilgrims were on their way from
Delfthaven to this country.
These, sir, were all cases without precedent
Why, sir, the history of this country has been
without precedent; and we, so far from follow
ing in the footsteps of those nations which have
gone before us, have been making instead of
following presidents; and so, sir, | trust we
shall continue to do.
And now, Sir, in respect to this resolution of
sympathy and good feeling, and whatever else
it may be, with Kossuth-what is to be the eff
feet of it? 1t may look to something Interior
in the minds Of some gentlemen, but it does
not of itself indicate anything Of that sort. 1t
does not bind the people of this country to any
thing else; but it is simply an expression of
what the whole people feel--of deep sympathy
with Kossuth They look upon him as the liv-
ing representative of the great principle which
has been the idol of their affection, and most
reverently cherished. They look upon him as
the indicator, in the struggles which he has
sustained in his own country, of those great
sentiments which are the most dear to the
whole American people, and the most deeply
impressed on the whole American heart And,
sir, it is because the people of this country look
upon him as the representative of those princi-
pies and the living Embodiment of those char
acteristics which are 80 dear to their own af-
fectons that they desire, in the most solemn