"Your presence brings before us our own past, bitter in its experience,
but glorious in its history. We once had apostles of liberty on
whose heads a price was set, who were hunted by tyranny from their
homes, and threatened with expulsion from civilized life. That day of
oppression and anxiety with us is ended. It introduced a contest for
human rights, whose results on this continent you have seen, in the
extent, character and power of the American republic.
"The people of Massachusetts, inspired by their early history and
animated by the impulses of their hearts, greet you as one who has
nobly served and suffered in the cause of individual freedom and the
rights of states. Nor will their admiration be limited by any
consideration arising from the fate of your country, or the failure of
the patriotic hopes with which it was inspired.
"Liberty can never die. The generations of men appear and pass away,
but the principles and aspirations of their nature are immortal.
"Despotism is of time. It contains within itself the elements and the
necessity of decay and death.
"Fifty years of your eventful life are past; but take courage, sir, in
the belief that, in the providence of God, the moment is near when the
light of freedom shall penetrate the darkness of European despotism.
Then shall your own Hungary welcome you to her fields and mountains, to
her homes and heart; and we will welcome Hungary to the family of
republican, constitutional, sovereign states.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267