The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-01-29
KOssUTH AT ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.

ZDENKo.
K0ssUTH AT ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
On Tuesday the / 9th inst, Kossuth latter hay
ing spent a most agreeable evening the prece-
ding day at Governor Lowes) was welcomed,
amid large assembly of Senators and other
gentlemen and ladies-to the Senate
Gs,a4f ~ - FHoygl then
welcomed MN 70 the SENATE Chamber, NM
Kossuth was conducted to seat on his right
where he spoke as follows:
KOSSUTHS SPEECH
Mr.. President: The stormy current of my
life has offered several moments to me when
the Importance of the occasion, connected with
associations of historical interest, impressed a
deep emotion upon my mind
But perhaps never yet in my life has the
memory of the past made such a glowing i'm
preston upon me rs here
bow with reverential awe before history in
bowling before you, Senators of Maryland, in
this glorious hall, the sanctuary of immortal
deeds, hallowed by the memory of immortal
names. Applause
Before thank the living, let me look to
those dead whose spirits dwell within these
walls, looking at the portraits that hung upon
the walls, living an unimperishable life in the
glory, freedom, and happiness, of your great
United Republic, destined, as 1 confidently
hope. to become the cornerstone of the future
of Humanity.
Yes, there they are, the glorious architects
of the independence of this Republic, grown up
to such giant in such short time
There is Thomas Stone there, your Demos
themes Samuel Chase Ipointing to the por-
trait of each, as named there, Charles Carroll
Of Cdrrollton who desgnedly added that cpl
tibet to the significance Of his name, that no
body should be mistaken about who was the
Carroll who dared the noble deed, and was
rewarded by being the last of his illustrious
companions, whom God called to the Heaven
ly Paradise, after he had long enjoyed the
paradise of freedom on earth; and here, Wi
ham Pdca--all of them signers Of the Decla-
ration Of American lndependence--that no
best that happiest page in mankind's history.
Applause.
How happy that man must have been, Ipoint-
ing to the portrait of Governor Paca, having
to govern this sovereign State on that happy
day when, within these very halls, was rati
fed the act which, by the recognition of your
very enemy, raised your country to the seat OF
an Independent nation on earth
Ye spirits of the departed, cast ray of con-
ISOLATION by the laundering voice of your ma
ton over that down trodden land, whose elect
chief a wandering exile for having dared to
initiate the inspiration of your manly hearts,
lays the trembling hopes of an oppressed con-
tinent before the generous heart of your
peOple--now not only an independent nation
but also mighty and glorious power on earth |!
Applause.
Alas what difference in the success of two
like deeds Have | not done what We did
Yes, have Was the cause for which did
it not alike sacred and Just as yours? Ii was
Or have we not fought to sustain it with equal
resolution as your brethren did Bold though
it be to claim glory such as America has
am bold to claim, and say--yes, we did And
yet what difference in the result And
where this difference? Only out of that single
circumstance that while you, in your struggle,
met with assistance. we in ours met not even
with fair playD-because when we fought
there was nobody on earth to maintain the
laws of natures God
America was silent, and England did not
stir; and while you were assisted by French
King we were forsaken by a French Repub-
he--itself now trodden down, because it has
forsaken us
Well, we are not broken yet There is hope
foi us, because there is God in heaven and
an America ON earth. Applause May be
that our nameless woes were necessary, that
the glorious destiny Of America may be full
filled that after it was an asylum for the
oppressed it should become, by regenerating
Europe, the pillar of manhoods liberty.
Oh! it is not n mere capricious change Of
fate, that the exiled Governor of that land
whose name, four years ago, was scarcely
known ON your glorious shores and which now
(oh, let me have the blessings of this faith is
dear to the generous heart OF America it is
not mere chance that Hungary's exled chief
thanks the Senators of Maryland for the high
honor of public welcome in that very Hall where
the first Continental Congress met where
your great Republics glorious Constitution
WAS framed where the treaty of ACKNOWLEDGED
independence was ratified and where you, Sena-
tors, guard with steady hand the sovereign
States rights Of your own State, united 10
thirty else not TO make you less free but to
make you more mighty-to make you power
on earth.
believe there is the hand Of God in history
You assigned a place in this hall Of freedom
10 the memory of Chatham, for having been
Just to America, by opposing the stamp act
which awoke your nation to resistance
Now, the people Of England think US once
Pitt the elder thought, and honors with deep
reverence the memory Of your Washington.
But suppose the England of Lord Chatham's
time had thought as Chatham did and his
burning words had moved the English aristoo-
racy to be just towards the colonies; those
four men there turning 10 the portraits had
not signed your country's independence; Wash
ington we're perhaps name unknown, un-
bcnored. and unsung and this proud constel-
lation of your glorious stars had perhaps not
vet risen on mankind's sky, instead Of being
now about to become the sun OF freedom. APP
nlause II il thus Providence acts.
Let me hope sir that Hungarys unmerited
fate was necessary in order that your stars
should become such a sun
Sirs | stand, perhaps upon the very spot
where your Washington stood, a second Gin
cinnatns, concentrating the greatest act OF his
lie The walls which now listen 10 my hum
ble words, listened to the words Of his repub-
lean virtue, immortal by their very modesty
Let me, upon this sacred spot, express my con-
fident belief that IL he stood here now he would
tell YOU that his prephecy In fulfilled; that you
are mighty enough to defy any power on earth
in a lust cause, and he would tell you that
there never was and never will be q cause more