The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-03-25
D |
SPEECH OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
on THE
PROPOSED PROTEST OF THE UNITED STATES

tons, submitted by Mr.. SEWARD as a substi-
tute for resolutions introduced by the Hon Mr.
CLARKE. Of Rhode Island
'' Resoircd That while the United States in
consideration Of the ex gencies of society habit
ually recognise Governments de facto in other
States, yet that they are nevertheless bv no
means indifferent when such a Government il
established against the consent of any people
by usurpaton. or by armed Intervention of for
eign States or nations
ReSoired That, considering that the PEG
pie of Hungary in the exercise Of the right Sc
cured To them by the laws of nations in a sol
emn and legitimate manner asserted their ma
tional Independence and established Govern
ment by their own voluntary act and success
fully maintained it against all opposition by
parties lawfully interested in the question and
that the Emperor of Russia. without Just or
lawful right invaded Hungary, and, by fraud
and armed force, subverted the national indie
pendence and political constitution thus estab-
lished. and thereby reduced that country 20 the
condition OF II province ruled by a foreign
power the United States in defence of their
own interests, and of the common interests of
mankind, do solemnly protest against the con
duct of Russia ON that occasion. rs wanton and
tyrannical infraction Of the laws of nations and
the United States do further declare. that they
will not hereafter be Indifferent to similar acts
Of national injustice. oppression aud usnpa-
ton, whenever or wherever they may occur"
Mr.. SEWARD rose and said
Mr. PRESIDENT: Writers on law teach us
that States are Free Independent and Equal
Moral Persons, existing for the objects of Hap
piness and Usefulness, and possessing Rights
and subject to Duties defined by the Law of
Nature, which is system Of politics and NOR
ais founded in right reason that the only
difference between Politics and Morals is, that
one regulates the operations of Government,
while the other directs the conduct of individ-
uals and that the maxims of both are the
same that two sovereign States may be sub
''''rI ~ one I'rrnae onn yf1 De ,pnfpaIJV }no@-
pendent mat nation becomes free by the
act of its Ruler when heexccedsthe fundament-
al laws that when any Power whether domes-
tic or foreign, attempts to deprive State Of
Independence or Of liberty, it may lawfully
take counsel of its courage, and prefer before
the certainty of serNitude the chances " de-
struction that each nation is bound to do to
every other in time of peace the most good,
and in time of war the least harm possible,
| consistently with its own real interests that
while this is an imperfect obligation, of which
no State can exact II performance, any one has
II right to use peaceful means and even force,
il necessary, to repress a Power that openly
violates the Law of Nations, and directly
attacks their common welfare and that al
though the interests of universal society require
mutual intercourse between States, it can never
theless be conducted by those only who in
their respective nations possess and exercise in
fact adequate political powers
Austria being situated in Central Europe,
with only an inconsiderabe seaport, we have
known little of her. except that she was one of
the oldest and most energetic and inexorabe
| members of that combination of States which,
under the changing names of "The Allied
Powers "The Holy League" and THE Holy
Alliance" and with the unchanging pretence
! of devotion to Order and Religion, have more
than half century opposed and resisted every
where the reforming and benign principles of
| the American Revolution
Hungary, after having been in ages past the
| heroic defender of Christian Europe against
| the armies of Islam, and afterwards the chival-
| Gus guardian of Austria from the usurpatons
| of Prussia and France seemed near n century
| ago to disappear, and only four years since
came again ON the stage, and challenged her
| part in the Drama Of Nations. She occupied
| region within the Austrian Empire with
| fifteen millions of people of whom the Magyars
n race that had inherited freedom. arts, and
| arms were onc-thrd, while the remainder
| were Germans, Serbs, and Wallachians, and
| the two latter classes were dcbased and virtii-
ally enslaved by feudal customs and laws
| Under the Constitution given to her by AN An
cient King, st. Stephen, Hungary was II limit
ed Monarchy and an absolutely independent
State Beginning however, in $780, she elect
ed for her Kings the successive reigning, Dukes
of the House OF Hapsburg Lorraine for period
of one hundred and fifty years and then gave
them succession to her throne by a law Of in
heritancc Nevertheless, fundamental laws
enacted by Hungary, and accepted by the
Austrian dynasty. defined the union of the two
States, declaring that the King should have no
powers before coronation, that he could be
crowned only on signing compact and
swearing an oath to sustain the Constitution,
usages, and laws of Hungary, by virtue of
which she was free and independent State
and that she could be bound by no royal edicts
or DEGREES, but only by laws passed by her
own Diet or Legislature, and sanctioned by tho
King.
Hungary was always as independent Of Rus
sa AS we are
Such, Mr.. President, was the condition of
Hungary in March, lS4S. Now she has nci-
Their Constitution, nor King, nor Diet, nor Ma
tional functions, nor National organs, nor In
dependence, nor Liberty, nor Law, but lies pros
trate ut the feet of the Austrian Emperor and
receives his absolute DEGREES from the point Of
the sword Who has wrought this melancholy
and fearful change in n country that had used
rs liberty so nobly, and had kept it 50 long
We shall soon see
In February, lS4s, the Hungarian Diet,
while revising and meorating their domestic
laws, learned by the telcgraphic wires that
Republic had risen in Paris and that Con-
stitutionai Government was about to rise in
Vienna. Awaiting themselves of these prop-
tious circumstances, they decreed the establish
ment Of an independent National Treasury, Il
Resident Palatine or Viceroy, and IA RESPONSE
BILE Hungarian MISREPRESENTATION equally
necessary just, and constitutional Hungary
received the royal sanction Of these measures
with cOntcntment and satisfaction at the very
moment when only her word was wanting TO
subycrt the Empire. Three days afterwards,
the Germans obtained Constitution ut the
hands of the Emperor, who thus became a
limited monarch in his Austrian dominins,
as he had always been in Hungary. The
Hungarian Diet Mt once reformed the social
and political condition Of the State, and, abol-
ishing Feudalism but not without just com
pensation, they established equality of taxa
ton, representation, suffrage, and all legal
rights among all races and classes throughout
the Kingdom; and on the lth Of April the
Emperor crowned this noble and beneicent
work by an edict approving and confirming
the new laws "word for word"
A party Of reaction, not Hungarian, but
Austrian, on groundless pretences iomented in
.urroction in the Hungarian Provinces Of Seryia
and Wallachia; and inasmuch as tyranny,
l. %
the Emperor, violating the Constitution and
Ia wa a o,nted tho cb;ar ;nst;.ato. Aha paro,