XI.—HUNGARY AND AUSTRIA IN RELIGIOUS CONTRAST.
[Address in the Plymouth Church at Brooklyn, Dec. 18th, 1851.]
The Rev. H. W. Beecher having assured Kossuth of the deep and religious interest long felt and expressed towards him within those very walls: Kossuth replied, declaring that he felt himself always in the power of God, and believed Christianity and freedom to be but one cause. He went on to add:
The cause of Hungary is strongly connected with the principle of religious liberty on earth. In the first war of the sixteenth century a battle was fought by the Moslems in Hungary, by which the power of our nation was almost overthrown. At that time the monarchy was elective. A Hungarian, who was Governor of Transylvania, was chosen king, but another party elected Ferdinand of Austria to be King of Hungary. A long struggle ensued, in which the Princes of Transylvania called in Turkish aid against the House of Austria.
In the hour of necessity, the House of Austria complied with the wishes of my nation, whenever my country had taken up arms; but no sooner was the sword laid down, than this dynasty always neglected to perform its promises. In the midst of the last century, under Maria Theresa, those who did not belong to the Catholic faith were almost excluded from all offices. Joseph succeeded, who was a tolerant man; but scarcely was he in his grave, when the Emperor Francis renewed persecution, and it was only in 1848, that religious liberty was established to every creed. When the House of Austria took arms against the laws of 1848, they took arms against religious liberty.
In our Parliament, it was Roman Catholics who stood in the van of battle for religious liberty: but when I say this, I must state it without drawing any commentary from it. It was reserved to our revolution to show the development of the glorious cause of freedom. When my country imposed on me the duty to govern the land, I was ready to show the confidence I had in religious freedom. I chose a Catholic Minister to be Minister of Education in Hungary, and he fully justified the confidence I reposed in him. He has shown that our Constitution is founded upon equality; that it regards all men as citizens, and makes no distinction of profession. It is only under free institutions that a clergyman can remain a clergyman with burning heart towards his own duties, and yet, when called to perform the duties of a citizen, be no longer a clergyman but a citizen. Could the Church of Rome have appreciated this principle, and have acted upon it, my friend Mazzini were not now necessary for the freedom of Italy. But as Rome did not appreciate it, the temporal power of the Pope will probably fall at the next revolution.
My principles are, that the Church shall not meddle with politics, and Government will not meddle with religion. In every society there are political and civil concerns on one side, and on the other social concerns; for the first, civil authority must be established—in political and civil respects every one has to acknowledge the power of its jurisdiction. But, in respect to social interests, it is quite the contrary. Religion is not an institution—it is a matter of conscience.
For the support of these principles I ask your generous aid. You know that whenever the House of Austria attains to any strength, its first step is to break down religious liberty. And Austria is helped by Russia, which is even still less propitious to these principles; you remember the insolence or hardship to which in Russia those people are subject who do not belong to the Greek Church; at the present time the poor Jews are subjected to great indignities, and compelled, if not to shave off their hair, to cut it in a particular manner, so as to distinguish them from members of the Greek Church. But Hungary, by the providence of God, is destined to become once more the vanguard of civilization, and of religious liberty for the whole of the European Continent against the encroachments of Russian despotism, as it has already been the barrier of Christianity, against Islamism.
Kossuth then proceeded to explain, that any moneys contributed by the generosity of the American public would not be employed as a warlike fund, for which it would be utterly insignificant; but solely as a means of enabling the oppressed to concert their measures. After this he canvassed the three props of Austria, and pointed out the weakness of them all; viz. its loans,—its army,—and Russia. Its loans run fast to a bankruptcy. Its army is composed of nations which hate it. Under the Austrian government, the Tyrol perhaps alone has escaped bombardments, scaffolds, and jails filled with patriots. The armies are raised by forcible conscriptions, and contain some hundred thousand Hungarians who recently fought and conquered Austria, whom Austria now keeps in drill to serve against her when the time comes. As to the third prop—Russia,—possibly for some days yet in the future it may support Austria; but not in a long war: Austria can never stand in a long war.
I am told (said Kossuth) that some who call themselves "men of peace" cry out for peace at any price. But is the present condition peace? Is the scaffold peace?—that scaffold, on which in Lombardy during the "peaceful" years the blood of 3742 patriots has been shed. When the prisons of Austria are filled with patriots, is that peace? or is the discontent of all the nations peace? I do not believe that the Lord created the world for such a kind of peace as that,—to be a prison,—to be a volcano, boiling up and ready to break out. No: but with justice and liberty there will be contentment, and with contentment, peace—lasting peace, consistent peace: while from the tyrants of the world there is oppression, and with oppression the breaking forth of war…..