On Jan. 14th Kossuth was received in Harrisburg, capital of
Pennsylvania, in the Capitol. Governor Johnston in the name of the
State, addressed to him a copious and energetic speech, in the course of
which he said:--
We have declared the law, that man is capable of self government, and
possesses the inherent and indestructible right of altering, amending,
and changing his form of government at his pleasure, and in furtherance
of his happiness. We have sworn hostility against every form of tyranny
over the mind of man. These truths we have made a part of the laws of
nations. Despots combine and interfere by force and fraud, to prevent
the erection of republican institutions by a nation struggling
successfully against its local usurping oppressor, for independence.
Fidelity to our principles and institutions demands that we PREVENT such
interference by solemnly proclaiming that the laws of nations and
humanity SHALL BE PRESERVED inviolate and sacred. In the performance of
this duty the faint-hearted may falter; the domestic despot and cold
diplomatist may linger behind; the man of world-extended and fearful
traffic may hesitate; but the warm and great heart of the American
masses will feel no moment of hesitation and doubt in defence of truth.
The great Author of nations will find the means to carry out His wise
designs. How glorious our destiny, if to us is given the solemn charge
of carrying into effect the beneficent purpose of Heaven in the
establishment upon earth of universal liberty, universal education,
universal happiness, and peace.
When Governor Johnston had concluded with a very cordial welcome,
Kossuth replied as follows:--
Senators and representatives of Pennsylvania.--I came with confidence, I
came with hope to the United States--with the confidence of a man who
trusts to the certainty of principles, knowing that where freedom is
sown, there generosity grows--with the hope of a man who knows that
there is life in his cause, and that where there is life there must be a
future yet. Still hope is only an instinctive throb with which Nature's
motherly care comforts adversity. We often hope without knowing why, and
like a lonely wanderer on a stormy night, direct our weary steps towards
the first glimmering window light, uncertain whether we are about to
knock at the door of a philanthropist or of a heartless egotist. But
the hope and confidence with which I came to the United States was not
such. There was a knowledge of fact in it. I did not know what
_persons_ it might be my fate to meet, but I knew that meet I
should with two living _principles_--with that of FREEDOM and that
of NATIONAL HOSPITALITY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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