The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-09-09


tardy. cruel. circuitous method of eflccting her
regeneration; and which, after waiting through
slow centuries of agony and crime, would send
her such civilization by such messengers l
have only to add, that before | would accept
any such theology as this, | would seek my
creed among the old mythologies of the hea-
then. In this hideous doctrine, which slavery
has now forced upon that public intellect which
it had before deprayed there is material sufii-
cent for eight anti Bridgewater Treatises,"
all diS-proving the wisdom, the power. and the
goodness of God
Another obvious consequence of the exist
ence of slavery in this country, has been the
criminal remissness of the Government in sup
pressing the slave trade on the coast of Africa.
We have refused TO enter into treaties with
European Governments to secure 50 desirable
an end and authentic documents, developing
the horrors of this traffic, and proving Ameri-
can-built merchant ships to he engaged in it,
have laid on the files of the State Department
for years, and through whole Presidential
terms unnoticed. On such an appalling crime
rs this, whose suppression has been within our
reach, the national conscience has been be-
numbed into torpidty and paralysis by the ex-
istence of slavery amongst us.
Look at another instance in which slavery
has deprayed the popular sentiment of the
country. Under the generous and chivalric
lead Of Mr.. Clay. with what enthusiasm did
We hail the birth of the South American Re-
publics What hosannas did we shout forth
for the emancipation of Greece! How deep
the sigh of the nations heart when Poland
struggled in her death-agony and breathed her
last Even SO late as 1913, this Congress sent
resolutions congratulatng France on her Mag
ma Charta Of liberty, equality, and fraternity
In one of the European revolutions of that year,
on the banks of the Danube young man
sprang at single bound, from comparative
obScurty to universal fame. His heroism or
ganized armies. His genius created resources.
He abolished the Fictitious order of nobility,
but his exalted soul poured the celestial ichor
of the gods through ten millions of peasant
hearts and made them truly noble. Though
weak in all but the energies Of the soul yet it
took two mighty empires to break down his
power When he sought refuge in Turkey,
the sympathies Of the civilized world attended
his exile. He was invited to our shores He
came, and spoke as man never before spake.
1t was Byron's wish that he could cOndenSe all
the raging elements of his soul
into 0He word
And that word were lightning
kossuth found what Byron in vain prayed for
for all has words were lightning; not bolts, but
a lambert flame which he poured into mems
hearts-not to kill but to animate with more
exalted and diviner life In cities where the
vast population went forth to hail him. in aca-
demic halls where the cultivation of eloquence
and knowledge is made the business of life: in
those great gathering places where the rivers
at npOnIp have their tInnppp bp Nyasa al, Il
ed by the most eloquent men whom this nation
of orators could select. More than five hun
dred of our selectest speakers spoke speeches
before him which they had laboriously prepar-
ed from history and embclished from the poets,
with severe toll by the long-trimmcd lamp
Save in two or three peculiar cases, his UMPIRE
pared and improvised replies, in eloquence, in
pathos in dignity, in exalted sentiment excel
led them all For their most profound philoso-
ply, he gave them deeper CONGRATULATIONS; he
out-circuited their widest ranges of thought,
and in the whole sweep of the horizon revealed
glores they had never seen; and while they
checked their ambitious flight beneath the sun,
he scared into the empyrean, and brought down,
for the guidance Of mems hearts and deeds, the
holy light that shines from the face of God
Though all their splendors were gathered to a
gence. His immortal theme was Liberty
liberty for the nations, liberty for the people
Once that word was enough to electrify meDs
hearts, aye, to make the stones in the streets cry
out for joy. But, by the compromises of 1850,
and this Internal Slave Law, and the efforts of
political leaders and parties to sustain them the
people had been demoralzed their sentiments
had been debauched To thousands and hun
dreds OF thousands the cry Of the rights of man
had become an odious cry To hail liberty in
the East, while we We're propagating slavery
III the West; to receive with honors a fugitive
from Austrian bondage, while our hands were
thrustng back fugtlves into II tenfold direr
bondage ut the South, were contradictions so
palpabe and fragrant that even partisan blind
ness could not but see them. kOssuth owed
labor and service to Francis Joseph of Austria,
just as much rs Thomas Sims owed it to John
Potter of Georgia. Why should the onn be
cheered and the other chained! Why should
the Mississippi bring Kossuth here for free
dom, and the Acorn carry Sims back to bond
age! kossuth had committed treason, ten
thousand times over, against the House of Haps-
burg. Why should he be sheltered in our
arms from the penalties of treason, while the
Government here sets all the foul ministers of
the law to make constructive trcasons for the
punishment of innocent men! Kossuth had re-
belled against Austria, and had caused the
death of tens of thousands of her subjects
Why should he be screened behind II rampant
of American hearts, while those who killed
Gorsuch, under the law of selfprcseryation and
in defence of life, liberty, and home should he
ANONYMOUSLY hung on the gallows! These
were questions that no deafness could avoid
hearing, and, when heard, no sophstry could
answer. Freedom is one, slavery is its antipode,
and therefore the protection of the fugitive Kos
suth and the surrender of the fugitive slave
could never be reconciled. Hence it was that.
in public assemblies, among public men,
throughout the newspaper press, wherever the
spirit of slavery predomnated, there Kossuth
was denounced. say among pubic men
Accuracy directs me to add that among our
public men, there were a few honorable exccp-
tons, of which Mr.. Webster was one. But. M
to the newspapers, if You saw one to-day, filled
with the yeriest scrvllity towards the slave
power, you might be sure that it would revile
and detame kossuth tomorrow Or, if Won
saw one column rceklng with abuse of Kos
suth, you would be sure to find pro-Savcry
pecan IN the next. Even NJ the door of this
House, after kossuth had been invited To the
Capitol, he was stopped and insultcd Some
OF the more simple ones avowed their reasons.
They said, if we sympathize with the Cypress
ed IN the person of IA Hungarian now. we may
next be called upon to sympathize with the or-
pressed in the persons of three millions of AZ
rcanS Compare the triumphal s. Progress" of
kossnth through the free States such rs no Ro-
man consul, returning from foreign conauests
and laden with spoils ever knew, with the fee
BILE, and grudgcd, and stnted honors paid him
IN the land of bondage Slavery made the
contrast Almost without exception, the North
crn opponents of kossuth were sympathizcrs
with Southern slavery, and therefore with
Francis Joseph and Nicholas.
The person of this truly noble Hungarian