CHAPTER XXXVII.

Foreign Governments-General Cass' Sympathies with the King-ridden People-Austrian Intercourse -General Cass favors Suspension-Extracts from his Speech-Ireland-The Distress of the PeopleGeneral Cass moves an Appropriation in their Behalf-Iis Relations with Mr. Polk's Administration -Yucatan.

The position which General Cass has so long held in public life has given him unsurpassed opportunities to acquire a thorough knowledge of the schemes of foreign powers. Not only that, but also to become conversant with the wants of the inhabitants. He has always found that under monarchical governments there is a proneness to tyranny. To the bondage of either body or mind he has ever been an unyielding opponent. Democratic in his own sensations and education, he sympathizes with the oppressed every where. Hence, in all the popular movements that from time to time have occurred to improve the condition of mankind, his sympathies have been for success. He has regretted, it is true, on many occasions, that the leaders of the masses in the thickly populated districts of city and country, where the phrensy of the hour has broken the bonds of municipal regulation, were not possessed of more wisdom, and, as it sometimes seemed to him, genuine patriotism-a patriotism that merges all selfish considerations in the promotion of the common cause of their country and all its citizens. But he has made due allowance for poor human nature on such occasions, and, overlooking personal glory or aggrandizement, wished them in his heart God-speed. Often a witness of the wrongs and injustice heaped upon the king-ridden subjects of European monarchs, he observed that the people of those countries were, in most instances, mere machines, submissive to the will of their masters only because the sword and the bayonet were there to wring obedience; and he could well appreciate how grateful to the fugitive from oppression is this land of the free, and how consolatory to their aching minds and bodies is the word of kind welcome and the hand of friendly greeting. Neither

has he been insensible to the alleviation afforded to those left behind and still struggling, by a recognition of them from the high places of republican power on this continent; and, when an opportunity has offered, no one has been more prompt to give utterance to that glorious impulse which would, if it had the power, strike off every manacle. When freedom has cried for sympathy or aid from any quarter, with a generous enthusiasm he was always ready to unite in sending them the encouragement of millions of brave citizens of a happy and prosperous republic.

When Napoleon was banished to Elba, he felt that freedom had retrograded a century in the old world-notwithstanding this prodigy of the age occupied the throne of an emperor, and was invested with the robes and paraphernalia of imperial power. When the tri-colored banner waved in triumph over distracted Paris in 1830, he rejoiced that Louis Phillippe ascended to the high seat of authority. And again, when Lamartine and his philosophical compeers hurled Louis Phillippe, in turn, from the throne, he celebrated the event with his fellow-citizens assembled at the capital of his country. He addressed them. He briefly reviewed the conditions of the governments beyond the Atlantic, the efforts of the people to establish freedom, and rear a regenerated gov ernment on the platform of equality and justice, in such a form as would most conduce to their happiness and safety. He traced the revolutions all over the continent to their sources-to the abuses and oppressions which for centuries had been engrafting themselves upon those governments. And the origin of the movements of 1848, he traced to the avowal by the Pope of his attachment to free principles.

"One of the strangest events," said he, "in this day of great events, is the origin of these movements in favor of liberty upon the continent of Europe. Whence come they? From the Eternal City from the head of the Catholic religion-the successor of St. Peter. Immediately on his elevation to the pontificate, the Pope avowed his attachment to free principles, and from the Vatican went out the decree which is now spreading through the earth. The pontiff who holds the keys of St. Peter, has found a key to unlock the recesses of the human heart. His moral courage was but the more tried by the difficulties of his position. The abuses of the government were the work of ages, and had entered into all the habits of life and the ramifications of society; and he was

surrounded by despotic governments, jealous of the first aspirations of liberty, and maintaining their sway by powerful armies. The Austrian, too, with his Pandours and his Croats from the banks of the Danube, had descended the ridges of the Alps, and had spread himself over the sunny plains of Italy. Almost in sight of the dome of St. Peter's, he watched, with interest and with many a threatening word, the progress of the Pope. But the work went on. Naples is in a state of revolution; Tuscany and Sardinia in a state of reform; and France of apparently peaceful progress in the new career opened to her."

He also supported and voted for the resolution introduced, tendering the congratulations of Congress, in the name of the American people, to the people of France upon their successful efforts to consolidate the principles of liberty in a republican form of government.

The same desire to spread the doctrines of republicanism, and give a word of encouragement to the patriotic reformers of Europe, prompted General Cass to support the proposition to send a minister to the Papal States. There was another consideration: the United States had commercial relations with those States, and many of our citizens resided there; the protection of these interests, argued the General, required that our government should be represented in this new capacity.

Again; when the gallant people of oppressed Hungary rose against their rulers, and in an organized combination made one mighty and vigorous effort to shake off Austrian domination, and regain their long-lost constitutional rights and religious privileges, General Cass' heart was with them, and his voice was heard cheering them on in their holy work. To him the opportunity seemed a proper and a favorable one to offer, by one strong act of national legislation, the condolence of a great and powerful people to the bravery of the oppressed, and their indignation against the cruelties and barbarities of the hoary and tyrannical oppressor. With these emotions, on the 24h of December, 1849, he offered for the consideration of the Senate a resolution instructing the Committee on Foreign Relations to inquire into the expediency of suspending diplomatic relations with Austria. It was, indeed, a bold measure, but such as a patriot would wish to see adopted. He supported the proposition with a manly speech, and summoned the patriotism of the Senate to its duty.

In the course of his remarks we observe the following:

But, sir, while I maintain that the cessation of diplomatie intercourse with Austria would give the government of that country no just cause of offense, I do not seek to deny or conceal that the motives for the adoption of this measure will be unacceptable and peculiarly obnoxious to the feelings of a power proverbially haughty in the days of its prosperity, and rendered more susceptible by recent events, which have destroyed much of its ancient prestige, and compelled it to call for Russian aid in the perilous circumstances where the noble efforts of Hungary to assert her just rights had placed the oppressor. On the contrary, the course I propose would lose half its value were any doubts to rest upon the motives that dictate it.

"And certainly, were they not open to the day, I should not look for that cordial approbation which I now anticipate from the American people for this first effort to rebuke, by public opinion expressed through an established government, in the name of a great republic, atrocious acts of despotism, by which human liberty and life have been sacrificed under circumstances of andacious contempt for the rights of mankind and the sentiments of the civilized world, without a parallel even in this age of warfare between the oppressors and the oppressed. I say this first effort, for, though the principle of public disapprobation in situations not very dissimilar may be traced in the proceedings of at least one of the representative bodies of Europe, I do not recollect that any formal act has been adopted rendering the censure more signal and enduring. If we take the first step in this noble cause, where physical force with its flagitious abuse, if not conquered, may be ultimately restrained by moral considerations, we shall add to the value of the lesson of 1776, already so important to the world, and destined to become far more so by furnishing one guarantee the more for the preservation of human rights where they exist, and for their recovery where they are lost.

"Mr. President, I do not mistake the true position of my country, nor do I seek to exaggerate her importance by these sugges tions. I am perfectly aware that whatever we may do or say, the immediate march of Austria will be onward in the course of despotism, with a step feebler or firmer as resistance may appear near or remote, till she is stayed by one of those upheavings of the

people, which is as sure to come as that man longs for freedom, and longs to strike the blow which shall make it his.

"Pride is blind, and power tenacious; and Austrian pride and power, though they may quail before the signs of the times-before barricades and fraternization, by which streets are made fortresses and armies revolutionists, new and mighty engines in popular warfare-will hold out in their citadel till the last extremity. But many old things are passing away; and Austrian despotism will pass away in its turn. Its bulwarks will be shaken by the rushing of mighty winds-by the voice of the world, wherever its indignant expression is not restrained by the kindred sympathies of arbitrary power."

He asked that the senators of the United States, from their high places of government, might reflect the true sentiments of their fellow-citizens, and express, in an effective form, their sympathy for struggling millions, seeking, in circumstances of peril and oppression, that liberty which was given them by God, but wrested from them by man. This sentiment is beautifully and powerfully portrayed in the following extract:

"Here is an empire of freemen, separated by the broad Atlantic from the contests of force and oppression, which seem to succeed each other like the waves of the ocean in the mighty changes going on in Europe-twenty millions of people enjoying a measure of prosperity which God, in his providence, has granted to no other nation of the earth. With no interest to warp their judgment; with neither prejudice nor animosity to excite them; and with a public opinion as free as the air they breathe, they can survey these events as dispassionately as is compatible with that natural sympathy for the oppressed which is implanted in the human breast. Think you not, sir, that their voice, sent from these distant shores, would cheer the unfortunate onward in their work-would encourage them while bearing their evils to bear them bravely as men who hope-and when driven to resist by a pressure no longer to be borne, to exert themselves as men who peril all upon the effort? But where no demonstration of interest on the part of a government is called for by circumstances, a sound public opinion is ready to proclaim its sentiments, and no reserve is imposed upon their expression. It is common to this country, and to every country where liberal institutions prevail; and it is as powerful and as powerfully exerted in France and in