Monthly Record of Current Events.
United States.
Public attention, during the month, has been mainly fixed upon Kossuth, in his addresses to the various portions of the people of the United States with whom he is brought in contact. After the banquet given to him, December 16th, by the New York Press, noticed in our last Record, Kossuth remained in New York until Tuesday, the 23d. The Bar of New York gave him a public reception and banquet on the 18th, at which he made a speech devoted mainly to the position, that the intervention of Russia in the affairs of Hungary was a gross violation of the law of nations, deserving the name of piracy; and that the United States was bound alike in interest and in duty, to protest against it. He conceded fully that if such a protest should be made, and treated with contempt, the United States would be bound in honor to enforce it by war. At the same time he declared his conviction that there was not the slightest danger of war, and entered into some historical details to show that Russia would never interfere in Hungarian affairs, until she was assured that England and the United States would not resist her.—At the dinner, speeches were made by several prominent members of the bar. Judge Duer, after a long and very eloquent eulogy of Kossuth and his cause, was going on to reply to his argument in favor of the interference of this country for the protection of international law, but the company refused to allow him to proceed.—On the 20th, in the afternoon, Kossuth addressed a large company of ladies assembled to meet him, in a speech of exquisite beauty and touching eloquence. He also delivered an address at the church of the Rev. H. W. Beecher, in Brooklyn, in which he spoke of the question of religious liberty, as it is involved in the Hungarian struggle.—During his stay in New York he was waited on by a great number of deputations from different sections of the country, and from different classes of the community, who all made formal addresses to him which were answered with wonderful pertinence and tact.
On the 23d he left for Philadelphia, and had a public reception the next day in the old Hall where independence was declared in 1776. His speech was merely one of thanks. He was entertained at a public dinner in the evening, and at another on the evening of Friday, the 26th. His speech on the latter occasion was devoted mainly to the usurpation of Louis Napoleon, which he regarded as having been dictated by the absolute powers of Europe, and as certain to end in his destruction. The struggle in Europe between the principles of freedom and despotism would only be hastened by this act, and he appealed earnestly to the United States for a decision, as to whether they would protest against Russian intervention in Hungarian affairs.
On the 27th he went to Baltimore, where he was most enthusiastically received. In the evening he made a speech of an hour and a half to the citizens at the hall of the Maryland Institute, in which he set forth the connection between Hungary and the rest of Europe, and the reasons why the United States could not remain indifferent to struggles for liberty in any part of the world.
On Tuesday, the 30th, he went to Washington, and was received at the cars by the Senate Committee. Very soon after his arrival he was waited upon by Mr. Webster, and a great number of other distinguished persons. He also received a deputation from the Jackson Democratic Association, and one from the clergy, making to the addresses of both pertinent replies. On Wednesday, the 31st, he was received by President Fillmore at the Executive Mansion. In a brief and admirable address he expressed his fervent thanks for the interest taken by the United States in his liberation from captivity and in the cause he represented, and for the action of the President himself in connection with it. He referred, with warm satisfaction to the declaration in the President's Message, that the people of this country could not remain indifferent when the strong arm of a foreign power is invoked to stifle public sentiment and to repress the spirit of freedom in any country. The President replied very briefly, saying that the policy of this country had been long settled, and that his own sentiments had been freely expressed in his Message; and his language upon those points would be the same in speaking to foreign nations as to our own—On Wednesday, the 7th, he was formally invited into both Houses of Congress. In the evening he was present at a public dinner given to him by a large number of members of Congress, and other distinguished persons. His speech on that occasion was a terse and most eloquent sketch of the position of his country—of its relation to the principles of liberty, and of the influence upon Europe of the history and example of the United States. To give that influence its full weight, it was necessary that the nations of Europe should be left free to manage their own concerns.—Mr. Webster, on this occasion, also made a long and eloquent speech, expressing the highest appreciation of Kossuth, his country and his cause, and declaring his belief that Hungary was admirably fitted for self-government, and his wish for the speedy establishment of her independence. He said he would not enter upon any discussion of the principles involved in this question as it is now presented, because he had already and repeatedly expressed his views in regard to them. Referring to his speech upon the Greek Revolution in 1823, and to his letter to the Austrian Chargé, M. Hulsemann, he said he was prepared to repeat them word for word and to stand by every thing he had said on those occasions. General Cass also made an eloquent speech avowing his full and most cordial assent to the doctrine that the United States ought to interfere to prevent Russian intervention against the independence of Hungary. Senator Douglass also expressed his concurrence in these views, but said he would not go for joining England in any such protest until she would do justice to Ireland.
Kossuth left Washington on the 12th of January, for Annapolis, where he remained when this Record was closed.
In Congress no public business of importance had been transacted. Both Houses spent several days in debating the subject of Kossuth's reception.