Lajos Kossuth

If I had undertaken the practical direction of military operations, and anything went amiss, I feared that my conscience would torture me, as guilty of the fall of my country, as I had not been familiar with military tactics.

Men like me, who merely wish to establish political freedom, will in such circumstances lose all their influence, and others will get influence who may become dangerous to all established interests whatsoever.

Your generous part in my liberation is taken by the world for the revelation of the fact, that the United States are resolved not to allow the despots of the world to trample on oppressed humanity.

My nomination to be Governor was not to gratify ambition.

In exile, I have tried to profit by the past and prepare for the future.

You must be a power on earth, and must therefore accept all the consequences of this position.

Upon this the Hungarian ministers resigned, but the names submitted by the president of the council, at the demand of the king, were not approved of for successors.

I consider no man honest who does not observe towards other nations the principles which he desires to be observed towards his own: and therefore I will not interfere in your domestic questions.

Hungary is, in a word, in a state of WAR against the Hapsburg dynasty, a war of legitimate defence, by which alone it can ever regain independence and freedom.

The house of Austria has publicly used every effort to deprive the country of its legitimate Independence and Constitution, designing to reduce it to a level with the other provinces long since deprived of all freedom, and to unite all in a common sink of slavery.

Now since France has three times in sixty years failed to obtain practical results from Political revolutions, all Europe is apt to press forward into new Social doctrine to regulate the future.

The time draws near, when a radical change must take place for the whole world in the management of diplomacy.

I am a straightforward man.

Neutrality, as a lasting principle, is an evidence of weakness.

The principle of evil in Europe is the enervating spirit of Russian absolutism.

Even in political considerations, now-a-days, you have stronger motives to feel interested in the fate of Europe than in the fate of the Central or Southern parts of America.

I believe that the confidence of Hungary in me is not shaken by misfortune nor broken by my calumniators.

And if you cannot remain indifferent, you must resolve to throw your weight into that balance in which the fate and condition of man is weighed.

The Hungarian ministry begged the king earnestly to issue orders to all troops and commanders of fortresses in Hungary, enjoining fidelity to the Constitution, and obedience to the ministers of Hungary.

Now that I am a deputy, I will cease to be an agitator.

Yet my humble capacity has not preserved me from calumnies.

The power that is supported by force alone will have cause often to tremble.

In my opinion, the form of Government may be different in different countries, according to their circumstances, their wishes, their wants. England loves her Queen, and has full motive to do so.

I can understand Communism, but not Socialism.

The unspoken word never does harm.

It is chiefly in New York that I feel induced to urge this, because New York is, by innumerable ties, connected with Europe – more connected than several parts of Europe itself.

The policy of the house of Austria, which aimed at destroying the independence of Hungary as a state, has been pursued unaltered for three hundred years.

I came not to your glorious shores to enjoy a happy rest – I came not to gather triumphs of personal distinction, but as a humble petitioner, in my country’s name, as its freely chosen constitutional leader, to entreat your generous aid.

I must therefore implore your indulgence for a pretty long and plain development of my views concerning that cause which the citizens of New York, and you particularly, gentlemen, honour with generous interest.

I have to thank the People, the Congress, and the Government of the United States for my liberation.

I will not become a Napoleon nor an Alexander, and labour for my own ambition; but I will labour for freedom and for the moral well-being of man.