"
In closing so much of my review of Kossuth's sojourn in Massachusetts
as relates to the incident of his visit to Boston and the neighboring
cities and towns, I may be permitted to devote a few lines to my
acquaintance with him. To my position as Governor of the State, to the
paragraph in my address to the Legislature, to my letter of invitation,
and to my speech of welcome from the steps of the State House, he gave
much more consideration than was deserved; and on many occasions I
received evidences of his friendship and confidence.
I class Kossuth among the small number of great men, whether he be
classed among orators, philosophers, students of history and
government, or as an advocate of the largest range of individual
freedom that is consistent with the good order of society.
The great orators have appeared and the great orations have been
delivered in revolutionary periods; and this has been illustrated most
strikingly when states have been menaced by the fear of transition from
a constitution of freedom to a government of tyranny. Of the great
orations of this class, the most significant are the orations of
Demosthenes in behalf of the imperiled liberties of Greece, and the
orations of Cicero in defence of his character and of his conduct in
the public service, and in denunciation of the crimes by which the
Republic of Rome was transformed into the Empire of the Caesars.
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