The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-01-15
WASHINGTON, ID. C..
CONGRESSIONAL DINNER TO KOssUTH.

both Houses OF congress 10 the nations guest,
the iustrious representative Of the intellect
the suferings the wants the purposes and
hopes Of Hungary, took place at the National
Hotel in this city on Wednesday evening, 18th
January.
The large company assembled at six o'clock
and about seven the doors Of the immense din
ing hall were thrown open, and the party took
their seats In the centre of the hall which was
hung round by numerous national flags, on the
right side, at a table slightly elevated, sat the
noble Hungarian-theH Hon. Mr.. Boyd, Speaker
of the House. on his right and on his left the
Hon. w r. King, President of the Senate Next
to Mr. King sat the Hon. Daniel Webster Sec
rotary Of State The Rev. DR.. Butler invoked
the Divine blessing. Everything was well ar
ranged the dinner excellent, and band OF
music enlyened the scene The health of the
President of the United States was drank with
applause and when silence was restored, the
Secretary of State the Hon. Daniel Webster,
arose and said:
am here tonight, with other heads of De-
partments who belong to the Executive ad-
ministration of the Government, and who are
confidential cOunsellors Of the President | rise
in their behalf as well as my own, to tender
10 the company our thanks for the manner in
which the health of the President has been
received as the sentiment OF the meeting here
assembled and assure you, sir, and all present,
that in kindness towards the guest of the Oc-
casion, and attachment to the great principle
Of political liberty Applause and nations in
dependent Applause, there IS no man who
partakes in higher degree than the President
in the general feeling Of this vast community
lApplause
To sentiment in honor Of the Navy of the
United States the Hon Mr.. Stanton from
Tennessee, responded in a few brief but peril
nent remarks, abiding to the fact that in one of
our ships of war the eminent man now our
guest had been brought to our shores.
The third toast was to this effect:
,s ESQ y ksoS4Ag "a - =, q ~,
Lutte when MpB g.1on 10 vno lhuse, .Sus / ..,st,
it manifested a magnanlmOus courtesy, and
added grace to the glory Of its history.
Senator Shields responded, and, referring to
the guest of the occasion, said that the cannon
alluded to spoke the voice of twenty-five mil
lions of people That voice had a meaning,
and was a significant salute, not only TO a man,
Louis Kossuth, but to the great principle he
represents and advocates-national and human
liberty An Irishman by birth and an Ameri-
can by adoption, he (Mr. Shields would be
untrue to the character of both if he withheld
his sympathy and good will from him whom
we had met to honor, and from the just cause
of tho Hungarian people.
The President of the Senate Hon w. r.
King, then rose, and said he would offer a SEN
timent, to which every one present would with
sincerity and sensibility respond
Hungdry-Represente in the person Of our
honored guest Having proved herself worthy
to be free by the valor and virtue of her sons,
the laws of nations and the dictates of justice
alike demand that she shall have fair play
in her struggle for independence.
The toast was received with tremendous
cheers when NJ. Kossuth rose, and spoke as
follows:
Sir: As once Cyneas the Epirote stood
among the Senators of Rome who, with an
earnest word Of selfconscious majesty, con-
troled the condition of the world, and arrested
full Of admiration and of reverence, | stand |
amongst you, legislators of the new Capitol, that |
glorious hall of your Peoples collective ma
jesty The Capitol of old yet stands, but the |
spirit has departed from it, and come over to |
yours purified by the air of liberty. The old
stands mournful monument of the fragilty
of human things; yours az sanctuary OF
eternal rights The old beamed with the red
lustre Of conquest, now darkened by oppres-
son's gloomy night; yours beams with free
dom's bright ray The old absorbed the world
by its own centralized glory; yours protects
your own nation against absorption, even by
itself The old was awful, with Unrestricted
power yours is glorious with having restricted
it. At the view Of the old, nations trembled
at the view of yours humanity hopes To the
old misfortune was only introduced with fet-
tered hands, to knecl at triumphant conquer
or's heels TO yours the triumph of introduce
ton is granted 10 unfortunate exles invited to
the honor of a seat And where kings and
Caesars never will be hailed for their power,
might and wealth. there the prosecuted chief
of dOwn-trodden nation is welcomed a. your
great Republics guest, precisely because he IL
prosecuted, helpless and poor. In the old, the
terrible uG UtctiS was the rule. In yours, pro-
lection to the oppressed malediction to ambi-
tiOus Oppressors, and consolation to a vanquish-
ed lust cause And while out of the old II
conquered world WAS ruled you in yours pro-
vide for the common federative interests of Il
territory larger than the conquered world of
the old There sat men Boosting their will TO
be the sovereign of the world; here sit men
whose glory is to acknowledge the laws of Ma
ture and Of Natures God, and to do what their
sovereign, the People, wills
Sir thara ia history in those narallpla His
tory of past ages, and history of future centu-
ries, may be often recorded in few words The
small particulars to which tho passion of liv-
ing men clings with feryent zeal, AZ if the fra
ge fingers of men could arrest the rotation of
Destiny's wheel-these particulars die away :;
it is the issue which makes history and that
issue is always logical. There is q necessity of
consequences wherever the necessity OF posi-
ton exists Principles are the alpha ; they
must finish with omega, and they will,
Thus history may be told often in few words
Before yet the heroic struggle of Greece first
engaged your countrys sympathy for the fate
of freedom in Europe then so far distant and
now 50 near, Chateaubriand happened to be in
Athens and he heard from a minaret, raised
upon the Propylcums ruins, Turkish priest
in Arabic language announcing the lapse of
hours TO the Christians of Minerals town
What immense history in the small fact OF u
Turkish lmum crying out, Pray, pray, the
hour is running fast, and the Judgment draws
near ~
Sir, there is equally history of future ages
written in the honor bestowed by you to my
humble self The first Governor of independent
Hungary, driven from his native land by Rus
sian violence an exile on Turkish soil, pro-
tectcd by Mahometan Sultan against the
blood-thrist of Christian tyrants; cast back n
prisoner to far Asia by diplomacy; rescued from
his Asiatic prison by America crossing the At
lantic charged with the hopes of Europe's OPP