Mr. UNDERWOOD. I rise for the purpose of saying to the Senator from New Jersey who has just taken his seat, that I should have asked the privilege of making an explanation during the progress of his remarks but for my reluctance to say anything while he was making the speech which he has so handsomely delivered. I hope he did not understand me when I spoke the other day as casting any reflection of an insulting character upon Tammany or the Tammany Society. If he did so understand me, he certainly misunderstood me, because I had no such intention. On the contrary, I spoke of the movement there as one indicating a disposition to change the longsettled policy of the country. I spoke of them as a body entitled to great influence, and possessing great influence, and I deprecated the movement on that account. I have risen merely for the purpose of putting myself right, I hope, in his estimation, and particularly in the estimation of the gentlemen who may compose that society, with which I acknowledge I have no great acquaintance, as the gentleman might have known from our relative positions on the continent. I have made this statement to show that I meant no indignity whatever to that Society, and I hope that I shall not be understood as having designed anything of the kind.

Mr. CLEMENS said: Mr. President, I regret very sincerely that this resolution was introduced. It is painful to do anything seemingly discourteous, and as I must oppose the adoption of this and all similar resolutions, I should greatly have preferred that the especial champions of Louis Kossuth had been content to leave him in the hands of the people, without attempting to commit the Government to any of his schemes for revolutionizing Europe.

I have listened, Mr. President, with great attention to all that has been said in this debate, and if I have been convinced of nothing else, I am at least satisfied that the resolution on your table furnishes a most excellent subject for speechmaking. It possesses the peculiar advantage, that the less we know about it, the better we can talk upon it. We may then give free rains to the imagination, and fancy can supply all that is needed to give beauty to a sentence or symmetry to the whole discourse. A great man bent, but not broken by misfortune; an exile pleading the cause of his bleeding country; a gallant people, struggling for freedom against overwhelming odds, overpowered, crushed for a time, but only waiting for a ray of hope, a word of sympathy, to rise again upon their oppressors; all these are themes upon which even a dull man might grow eloquent. The misfortune is, that so much of it is fancy; so little is fact. I understand the friends of Kossuth to base his claims to a public reception by Congress, partly upon the assumed fact that he is a republican in principle, and has been the great disseminator of republican sentiments throughout Europe; and I have heard, I must confess with some regret, that he was expected to liberalize still more the already liberal ideas prevailing upon this continent. In other words, that he is to give lessons to the descendants of the patriots of '76, and teach this benighted land the rudiments of civil liberty. Sir, I think it well enough to inquire, before we enter his school, when he became a republican? If I have read the history of that struggle aright, it was not until defeat and misfortune had overtaken him. In the zenith

ereign, whilst violating the royal authority, he cannot but perceive that even their offer of joining Austria is merely a feigned pretext. in order to give at the crisis of the struggle such a superiority to the Sclavish element in Austria that, after thus completely paralyzing the German element, and undermining the Austrian throne, the empire shall be split up into independent Sclavish kingdoms, and the very existence of the Austrian Imperial House shall be thus buried. "And yet loyalty and attachment to the King is so deeply rooted in the heart of the Hungarian nation, that the Il lyrian rebels are well aware, that in openly exhibiting their intentions, they will not meet any sympathy. They have therefore come forward in the spirit of reaction, as the pseudo-heroes of the royal authority, and against the fungarian nation, who have not attacked the royal power, for whom a legal independence and a constitutional administration is not a recent grant, but an ancient right, sanctioned by innumerable royal oaths-against the Hungarian nation, which at this present moment, when almost every throne

hilated-Görgy a prisoner and Kossuth a fugitive in the dominions of the Turk. Even at that late moment the supremacy of the Magyar element was announced as an indispensable basis of any conciliation; and it thus becomes apparent that the right to enslave others rather than the right to be free themselves, constituted the main object of the The supremacy of the Magyar element was the leading idea, and much of the sympathy and enthusiasm which the advent of Kossuth has excited in this republican land might well have been reserved for worthier objects. I expect to be told, that whatever may have been his former sentiments he is now a republican in feeling and principle. Indeed the Senator from Massachusetts has already

war.

"The disloyal rebels actually boast of the support of the offended ruling House itself! And when we requested his Majesty, in order to enlighten the unhappy and deceived people, by his own handwriting, to let the people know that his Majesty disapproves of the rebellion, and is determined to maintain, in all their integrity, the solemnly athrined inviolability of the Hungarian Crown and the anthority of the laws, the leaders of the rebels deceived the people by declaring that this has not been done voluntarily on the part of his Majesty, but that it is merely an unwilling expression, extorted by the Hungarian Ministry, through means of compulsion."

The Illyrian rebels, against whom Kossuth so humbly petitioned the aid of the King, had demanded, and were struggling to obtain, some small portion of the natural rights of man, and the war which finally ended in the subjugation of Hungary was begun by the Magyars to keep the Sclavonian race in subjection-a people every way their equals, and who, if we are to judge from the different character of the petitions presented by them, seem to me to have been far better entitled to the sympathies of a free people than Kossuth and his

associates.

I have read the petition of the Magyars; let me now call the attention of the Senate to that of their antagonists:

"Emperor, if you reject our prayers, we shall know how to vindicate our liberty without you; and we prefeto die heroically, like a Sclavonian people, rather than to bear any longer such a yoke as is imposed upon us by an Asiatic horde, from whom we have nothing good to receive or to learn. Emperor, know that we prefer, if we must choose between them, the knout of the Russians to the insolence of the Magyars. We will not, on any terms, belong to the Magyars. Remember, that if Croatia forms but a thirtyfifth part of your empire, the Croatians constitute a third of your whole infantry."

Sir, the men who uttered such sentiments deserved to be free. They are words fit to be spoken by freemen, and I must be excused if I cannot feel any extraordinary enthusiasm in the cause of a man who sought to hold them in bondage. The question with me is, not whether he preaches freedom and equality now, when he is a wanderer and an exile, but rather, what was his practice when power was in his hands, and when to have surrendered that power would have been indeed amerit worthy of a world's admiration. The task of tracing the history of that period affords me no pleasure, but when I am called upon, as the representative of a sovereign State, to aid in conferring on any individual an extraordinary honor, it is my duty to ascertain how far that honor is deserved. What, then, was his course during the whole progress of the memorable struggle in which he was engaged? Did he ever at any time give utterance to a republican sentiment? On the contrary, was not his whole course that of a determined and

From a Memorial presented to the Archduke by Kossuth and the Hungarian Ministry, July 4th, 1848. "If his highness the Archduke John will bestow a careful attention upon all that we have just said, he cannot but be convineed of the true character of the rebellion of those States, which make great pretensions of fidelity to the Sov

most absolute despot to the humblest slave:

"There are three principles which must prove as a basis to any conciliation, and in regard to which WE SHALL CONCEDE NOTHING, ON ANY CONDITION WHATEVER, for it would amount to committing suicide with our own hands:

"1st. The unity of the State.

"2d. The integrity of the territory of the State as it has existed for centuries.

"3d. THE SUPREMACY OF THE MAGYAR ELEMENT, acquired one thousand years ago by the armed hand, the foundation of our autonomy, and consecrated by the use of the Magyar as the diplomatic language.”

This was on the 10th of June, 1849, only two months before the armies of Hungary were anni

ments within the shadow of the throne of England. I have not so read his speeches. I have read a great deal in praise of the British constitution-nothing against the hereditary King and the hereditary nobility which disgrace it. British freedom is not freedom, as we understand it, and praises of the British constitution do not furnish the highest evidence of a clear conception of the principles of civil liberty. At all events, if we concede all that is claimed for him now, we must still bear in mind that he is only a recent convert. As long as there was a hope of his maintaining an iron rule over a people far more numerous than his own, republicanism never entered his thoughts. There is not a solitary paper emanating from him or his associates during the continuance of the war which does not establish clearly and conclusively that no one of them ever dreamed of the formation of a republic. The language of Count Pulzsky is too explicit to leave a doubt upon this point:

"The most current misrepresentation of the Hungarians is, that they are Republicans, and that they have proclaimed the Republic in such of the Hungarian counties as are in their power, which now comprise almost all the Hungarian territory. This assertion is often unwarily reechoed by friends of the Hungarians, who, considering that the Queen of England maintains amicable relations with the Republie of the United States, with the Republic of France, and the Republic of Switzerland, are not altogether horrified at the Republicans appellation. But the real state of the inatter is, that the Hungarians ARE NOT REPUBLICANS, and that the Republic has not been proclaimed anywhere in Hungary."

There is more, much more, to the same effect, but it is not needful for me to refer to it. As an individual, I am willing to concede to Kossuth whatever of merit he can justly claim; but I am not willing to say by my, vote or otherwise, that I regard him as a purer patriot than Washingtona greater statesman than Jefferson, or a more skillful General than Jackson. There are living men now within the limits of this city whom I look upon as altogether his superiors. I am not one of those to whose vision it is said "distance lends enchantment." I respect rather that greatness which is near me-which I do not have to take upon the uncertain reports of others. If the nearness of the object should disclose infirmities-if dark spots or weak points should be revealed by it, I can still revere what is good and appreciate what is great, without looking for a perfection which is denied to man. I can kneel among the rank weeds at the base of a lofty mountain and worship the grandeur of the Almighty's work, without remembering the petty or the worthless things around me.

One of the most serious mistakes which has crept into this discussion, is the confident assumption that Kossuth is "the invited guest of the Nation." I deny it, broadly and explicitly. If he ever read the resolution under which he came he could not possibly have so understood it. Thas resolution was carefully and deliberately drawn by the Senator from Mississippi, [Mr. FOOTE,] whose knowledge of language is familiar to us all, and

who we all know is not addicted to the use of words the full import of which he does not understand. It is in these words:

A Resolution for the relief of Louis Kossuth and his Associates, exiles from Hungary.

Whereas the people of the United States sincerely sympathize with the Hungarian exiles, Kossuth and his associates, and fully appreciate the magnanimous conduct of the Turkish Government in receiving and treating these noble exiles with kindness and hospitality; and, if it be the wish of these exiles to emigrate to the United States, and the will of the Sultan to permit them to leave his dominions: Therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be and he hereby is requested to authorize the employment of some one of the public vessels which may now be eruising in the Medi

terranean to receive and convey to the United States the said Louis Kossuth and his associates in captivity.

I need not say in this Senate, that it is impossible to construe the word "emigrate" into "guest.' All that the resolution says, all that it meant to say, is, that if he and his associates chose to come here as settlers-if they chose to seek an asylum here, we would furnish them with the means of transportation. I am willing to admit further, that by the passage of that resolution we tacitly pledged ourselves to provide them homes when they did come; but certainly no ingenuity can give to it a broader construction than that. He was not invited as a guest. He was not invited at all; but simply informed that if he desired to come among us as an emigrant, the means of reaching our shores would be placed at his disposal.

Mr. FOOTE. Did the Senator read the whole resolution?

Mr. CLEMENS. The preamble is the important part, but the Senator can have both. [Mr. C. then read the resolution, as given above.]

It will be observed, that the resolution refers not to Kossuth alone, but "his associates" are connected with him throughout. If he is our guest, they are equally so, and entitled to an equally honorable reception. Further, the resolution does not authorize the President to send a national vessel specially for them, but simply to direct their reception on board of one that might be at the time cruising in the vicinity.

Mr. FOOTE. That is all we intended. Mr. CLEMENS. Certainly. So I understood then, and understand now.

I do not know, Mr. President, that it is expected in any quarter to make political capital out of the movements which preceded and accompanied the landing of the Hungarian Governor, and certainly I attribute no such purpose to the Senator from Mississippi; but I have heard a great deal of that "swelling tide of public sympathy," which we are warned not to disregard. We have been told that the people have received Kossuth, and Congress dare not turn their backs upon him. I propose neither to turn my back nor my face phim. I propose to leave him in the hands of the people. If they choose to get up pageants in honor; if they choose to carry him in process from city to city and village to village, it is concern of mine, and I shall not interfere with so harmless an amusement. But it is a different matter when the Senate of the United States is asked to take part in it. I have been able to d nothing in the history of this man-nothing in his whole career which demands such an honor at our hands. If it is a mere political speculation, at is so much the more to be reprobated. We are not altogether without example in our own land, to which it may be instructive to refer. Not many years since there was a struggle for freedom on the Schwestern border of the Republic-a struggle which finally brought an empire into the Union. When the successful hero of that revolution landed upon our shores, not as a fugitive, but crowned with the wreaths of victory, who ever dreamed of inviting him here to receive the homage of Congress? Sir, he was bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. He had shed his best blood, in his youth, in defence of our land. In riper years, he had accomplished a successful revolution, redeemed a people from bondage, and brought an empire to lay at our feet; but for him there was no Congressional homage-no resolution of welcome. Sir, I am afraid that we are sometimes inclined to overlook the merits of our own kindred, and unduly exalt those who have less claim upon our sympathies. We can intercede with Turkey for the Hungarian-with France for the Arab-with England for the Irishman; but not a word is spoken here of the fifty sons of America who were murdered in Cuba. We hear nothing of national vessels sent to the coast of Africa to redeem from bondage our own citizens, banished to this inhospitable shore, for no sin but that of loving liberty well enough to fight for it in another land than our

own.

Mr. President, I have yet another and a graver objection than any yet urged to the passage of this resolution. Since the landing of Kossuth in England, evidence has been piled upon evidence that he seeks this land for political purposes-that he comes not as an emigrant, but as an agitator. I know the Senator from Mississippi has denied

that the speeches of Kossuth will bear this interpretation. That Senator surely could not have reed those speeches with his usual care and attention. I read from Kossuth's London speech:

"When I declared,- Let not remain barren your sympathy; help us to carry that noble cause to a happy issue; you have the power, so help,-when I spoke that, I intended not to ask England to take up arms for the restoration of Hungary to independence and liberty. No, gentlemen, that is the affair of Hungary itself; we will provide for our own freedom. (Hear, hear.) All I wish is, that the public opinion of England may establish it to be a ruling principle of the politics of Europe to acknowledge the right of every nation to dispose of its own internal concerns, and not to give a charter to the Czar to dispose of the fate of nations-(cheers), and so not to allow the interference of Russia in the domestic concerns either of Hungary, or of whatever other nations on the continent-(hear, hear,) because the principles of freedom are in harmony, and I love-I am interested in-the freedom of all other countries as well as of my own. (Hear, hear.) My lord and gentlemen, these are the words which I again and again will repeat here in England, and there in the United States, from a most honored member of which I have had the honor to hear principles which quite once carried into effect, would and will give liberty to the world. I have heard it proclaimed from an honored citizen of the United States, the honored object of the sympathy and confidence of a great part of his countrymen, even a candidate to become the Chief Magistrate of the United States-I have heard, in answer to my appeal, declare that he believes the younger brother of the English race very heartily will give his hand to England to protect the oppressed nations not admitting interference with their domestic affairs."

Mr. FOOTE. I will ask from what paper the Senator is reading?

of 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. It is hence that my liberation was cheered, from Sweden down to Portugal, as a ray of hope. It is hence that even these nations which most desire my presence in Europe now, have unanimously told me, Hasten on, hasten on to the great, free, rich, and powerful people of the United States, and bring over its brotherly aid to the cause of your country, so intimately connected with European liberty;' and here I stand to plead the cause of the solidarity of human rights before the great Republic of the United States.

6

"Having thus expounded my aim, I beg leave to state that I came not to your glorious shores to enjoy a happy rest-I came not with the intention to gather triumphs of personal distinction, but because an humble petitioner, in my country's name, as its freely chosen constitutional chief, humbly to entreat your generous aid; and then it is to this aim that I will devote every moment of my time with the more assiduity, the more restlessness, as every moment may bring a report of events which may call me to hasten to my place on the battle field, where the great, and I hope the last, battle will be fought between Liberty and Despotism, a moment marked by the finger of God to be so near, that every hour of delay of your generous aid may prove fatally disastrous to oppressed humanity."

This language leaves no room for conjecture. His object is to secure the armed assistance of England and the United States. And now let us inquire for what purpose that assistance is sought? To establish liberty in Hungary? No; but the supremacy of the Magyar race. The exiles who have come among us have probably imbibed, and have certainly proclaimed, republican sentiments; but who believes that such sentiments have found a home in the bosom of the Hungarian people? It has been their boast for ages that they constituted the firmest prop of the Austrian throne. It is a well-known historical fact that they have clung to their institutions with a tenacity even beyond that with which the Mohammedan clings to the Koran. It is those who have remained at home, constituting the vast majority of the population, who must give character to the institutions a successful revolt may enable them to establish; and who doubts they will return to that constitution and form of government for which they have manifested so decided a preference? Our aid, then, if given at all, will not be given to a republic but to

a monarchy.

Mr. CLEMENS. The New York Courier and Enquirer. I shall read something stronger from other papers directly. Now, sir, it was not in London only, but everywhere in England, and since his arrival here, he has proclaimed himself a political missionary. His avowed object is to induce England and the United States to combine for the purpose of preventing Russian interference with the affairs of Europe. That is, we are to prevent Russia from interfering by interfering ourselves. We are to abandon the policy of Washington and his successors-forget all the lessons they have transmitted to us, and erect the United States into a kind of general guardian for the nations of Europe. I know he speaks of assuming a threatening attitude merely, and predicts that will The Senator from Mississippi tells us that we be sufficient to overawe the Emperor of Russia. ought not to shrink with alarm at the idea of a conBut suppose he should be mistaken in that predic-troversy with Russia. I have seen no manifestation tion: we would then be fully committed to war. If he possesses one tithe of the foresight which has been ascribed to him, he must be aware that an interference begun by threats must be ended by cannon balls and bayonets. It is childish to talk of trammeling the action of Russia by threats uttered on this side of the Atlantic. She would that you have enough to do to manage your own threats to scorn. laugh your She would tell you concerns at home, without traveling beyond the Atlantic to interfere with the concerns of other nations. She would tell you to be careful that in

*

of any great apprehension on the part of any one here. But it by no means follows that, because we do not happen to feel any great alarm at the idea of a controversy with Russia, we should provoke that controversy. It by no means follows that because we are not afraid of Russia, we should go to war with Russia. She has a right to the same courtesy at our hands that other nations have. She has a right not to be insulted. If this resolution should be adopted, under all the attending circumstances, and the Emperor of Russia has the feelings of a man, he must believe he will believe that we have offered him an unnecessary and causeless insult. To demonstrations on the part of the people he has no right to object; but acting in our official capacity, we ought to be cautious how we do things calculated to disturb our friendly relations with foreign Powers; and, above all, we should refrain from giving our public approbation to an individual who has told us openly before landing on our shores-who tells us nowagainst a nation with whom we are on terms of that his object is to agitate-to excite enmity amity; who tells us, further, that his object will not be accomplished unless he can obtain from the Governmont of the United States a sanction and approval of his mission. When the news reached Gov. Kossuth that the resolution introduced by the Senator from Mississippi had been withdrawn, he saw proper to become highly offended, and assumed to deliver a lecture to a Philadelphia committee upon the conduct of Congress. Listen fo his reply to that committee, and then judge how far we can now be justified in inviting him here:

"Kossuth said he was extremely rejoiced at this demonstation on the part of Philadelphia, and that he felt the highest gratification in being thus honored by the glorious corporation of that renowned city. Before he left Europe, one of the pleasures he had promised himself was to meet and mingle with the citizens of that great city where the Declaration of Independence had been proclaimed; and he felt now particularly anxious to visit the hallowed spot where that immortal charter had been adopted. But he went on to say, that at the present moment it was quite impossible for him to declare at what time he could go there, and that, indeed, it was not certain that he could go there at all. His object in visiting this country was not a personal one-he did not come to promote any selfish purpose, and he could not,

public when she sends an army to crush another Lule Republic for assuming the very same right which she assumed for herself. She would not allow the right which she took herself to the Italmas. America has become a great and powerful Republic. America got some aid in the hour of her trial; and now that she is powerful and great, she says to others, You may fight out your own Lattles in your own way. We are safe, and we will continue so. This is going rather far; and there s one thing which, I think, has been carried too far: it is the ostentatious parade of this principle of non-intervention. We may act upon it; and it may be prudent to act upon it; but why parade it before the world? Why tell the despots of the world, that no matter what Republic they may crash, our hands are tied; that we stand, as it were, self-excommunicated from the rest of the world in that way. I think it may be very well act upon that principle: and hitherto it has been well. It has, no doubt, made this country great. But I feel, at the same time, that it is not very prudent to parade it before the world, as the permanent, fixed, and unalterable policy of this country. I can imagine a state of things-and it was suggested by the honorable Senator from New Jersey, Mr. STOCKTON]-wherein this principle Could not be acted upon. If the present appearace of the world be taken as an indication of the fature, God only knows how long we shall be permitted to act on this principle. Reaction is now triumphant all over Europe. When it beComes successful universally, who can tell how Long we shall be permitted to remain here without me interference? Be that as it may, it is not the question.

I say again, that it does not matter now whether This resolution pass or not. The effect of it has been destroyed by this opposition. Kossuth, in coming to this country, must have either benefited er injured his cause. He came to this country to benefit his cause. He has said frequently that he wants us to unite with England, and form a kind of alliance, to prevent the intervention of other countries in the affairs of Hungary, and make other countries observe the principle of action which we have laid down for ourselves. We wish to make our principle universal. He says that it do for any country not to intervene; because that would require that country to be unfaithful in its duty to humanity. There is something in that view. He asks us to unite with other liberal countries, and prevent intervention. This Country need not give him an assurance that it act on that principle of his. But, by receiving ham kadiy, generously, hospitably, magnaninously, we would have made an efficient impresSon upon him, so that he could go back to Europe and accomplish, perhaps, his object, so far as his own country is concerned. But it matters not now what we do, because it seems that the cause of Kossuth has not been benefited by the proceedings which have taken place in this Senate. I would beg honorable Senators to abstain from saying anything with regard to Kossuth which may injure his prospects. He will go back; and within two years from his going back to Europe, mark my word for it, there will be seen a revolution in Europe such as has never yet been witnessed there. Kossuth, in my opinion, is the man, framed by misfortune, formed by education, and, if I may be allowed the expression, raised by the hand of God, to prepare the materials for that great and, I hope, final and successful revolution in Europe. Senators may say that he is not a man to compare with Lafayette, or this man, or that man. This country owes to Lafayette an immense debt; but I say that this age has produced no man to compare with Louis Kossuth. He is, in my humble opinion, in politics and statesmanship what Napoleon was in war. He looks over the whole field of Europe. His country is his idol. No man could be what he is, if he had not that grand ideal before him, which he has. He has studied not only the politics of Hungary, but of Europe.

Sir, in England he seems to know her institutions, her weakness, and her strength, as well as Lord John Russell, the Premier. They are astonished, they are astounded at it. So with regard to France. So with regard to Italy. I consider him, therefore, if I may use the expression, as raised by the hand of destiny for this great mission. The time is arriving; the hour will soon come—here is the man!-here he is amongst us!

His speeches thrill all Europe. And the cause of Hungary is the cause of all Europe. Every man felt that when Hungary was fighting, she was not only fighting her own battles, she was fighting the battles of liberty; she was fighting the battles of nationality for the whole civilized world. Kossuth will go back to his own country, whether you receive him or not-whether you give or refuse this little compliment. He goes back to Europe. The first revolution that takes place there and that may not be very far distant-my impression is, that Hungary will be erect and free again. Hungary cannot be kept down unless Europe is kept down. Europe must be trodden down first. The fate of Hungary is involved in the fate of Europe; and they will not keep Europe down-never! never!!

inborn sense of pride and independence which scorns the idea that either Austria, Russia, or all Europe, would make him shrink from performing his duty towards a guest who comes to his country. I speak of that. I forgive England and Englishmen a few of the wrongs which they inflicted elsewhere, when they show the way in which they receive this man. There is something great in it. As for an Englishman, you could not get him to say that he is afraid of the Czar of Russia. You would never hear that from him. On the contrary, as was said by the honorable Senator from New Jersey, [Mr. STOCKTON,] if an Englishman is insulted in any part of the world, there is immediately an English fleet sent to repel that insult. I saw that myself very often.

From England he comes to this country. We propose here to give him a public reception and welcome. I before said that I regretted this discussion had commenced, but now that it has commenced, now that his name has been brought into it, I think it would be ungenerous, and almost wanting in magnanimity, to repulse him from us. In receiving Louis Kossuth you would do honor, not merely to him, but to a great principle. What is that principle? It is the very principle of our own political existence. Are you afraid to respect a man who is the incarnation of a great principle, when that principle itself is the very principle upon which our nation is founded? It seems to me that such should be the case. But this is said to be an empty honor. Very well; if it be an empty honor, why not give it to the Governor of Hungary, whom all acknowledge was once the Governor of Hungary? He was the governor of a great nation. Is not that sufficient to authorize will be Governor of Hungary again. I hope so; and I trust that this Republic will do everything a great nation can do to give him encouragement, and bid him God speed!

There is the most extraordinary phenomenon in Europe now that ever perhaps was witnessed before. There are more men in arms, from the Volga to the Rhine, than there were when the battle of Leipsic was fought, when Napoleon was at the head of his army-when he had aroused all Europe. There are more men in arms in Europe now than there were then. Napoleon is dead; he is not at the head of his army now; he is lying buried on the banks of the Seine, and yet Europe is now trembling under the tread of armies. Of what is Europe afraid? Where is the enemy? No one nation is now afraid of another. No, sir; but they have armed against such men as Kossuth; against the spirit he brings, and against the principles he enunciates to the world. They have armed against the spirit of democracy. I do not mean that in a little party sense. I mean it in a broad, national, mundane sense. I say now that there are no governments on God's earth possi-his reception? I think so, and I believe that he ble but democracies and absolute governments. The old governments are giving way. Even England is effete. She will go, and she feels it; and her statesmen now are preparing to launch her on the tide of democracy. She cannot live longer unless it is done. She must go with the Absolutists or with the Democrats. Her statesmen see it. Why was Kossuth received so warmly there, not only by the people, but by the first men of the land? Why has Palmerston taken such pains to rescue him from the dungeons of Turkey? Why is he shown such friendship in England? Sir, it is because Kossuth is fighting the battle of liberty everywhere. All must become absolute govern

ments or democracies. Absolutism seems to be in the ascendant. There seems to be but one mind from St. Petersburgh to Lisbon. All the principalities of Europe in that neighborhood, political and religious, have become absolute; there all are absolutists now. England sees it. She sees that if the tide of absolutism prevails, she is excommunicated from the continent of Europe. She knows and she feels it. In my opinion it will not be long before England will be launched upon tide of liberty; and that is why England courts this country at this time. She now turns her face to a nation which she rejected, and I may say despised, for a long time. Why does she do it? Because she wants this great, young, powerful, unconquered and unconquerable country to stand at her back in defence of these great principles.

the

[Mr. FOOTE next obtained the floor, and made a few remarks relative to his connection with the subject under consideration. The report of them has been withheld for revision.]

Without finishing, he gave way for a motion to adjourn.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. WEDNESDAY, December 10, 1851. The House met at twelve o'clock, m. The Journal of yesterday was read and approved. The SPEAKER announced the following gentlemen to constitute on the part of the House, the members of the Joint Committee on Printing, viz: Mr. GORMAN, Mr. HAVEN, and Mr. STANTON of Kentucky.

Mr. COBB gave notice, under the rule, of his intention to ask leave to introduce a bill to enable the proper Department so to construe the act of June 28, 1850, granting bounty land to the officers, musicians, and soldiers of the American Army since the year 1790, as to embrace all persons who may have been mustered into, received pay from, and were mustered out of service by the General Government.

Mr. HALL, by unanimous consent of the House, introduced a bill, of which previous notice had been given, "granting to the State of Missouri the right of way and a portion of the public lands, to aid in the construction of a railroad from Hannibal to St. Joseph, in that State."

referred to the Committee on Public Lands. The bill was read a first and second time, and

ASSIGNABILITY OF LAND WARRANTS. Mr. HARRIS, of Tennessee, moved that the rules be suspended, and that the House resolve itself into Committee of the Whole upon the state

of the Union.

entitled "An act granting bounty land to certain officers and soldiers who were engaged in the military service of the United States.

The CHAIRMAN. The motion is in order. The committee can determine what business it will first take up.

Mr. KING, of New York. Does not the rule require that we shall take up the business in the order in which it stands upon the Journal?

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman is correct. Mr. KING. Then I desire to know what is the first business in order.

The CHAIRMAN. The President's message is the first business in order. The gentleman from Tennessee must move to pass that by, in order to take up the joint resolution to which he has referred.

Mr. HARRIS. I make that motion.

The motion to pass by the President's message was then agreed to.

Mr. HARRIS then moved to take up for consideration joint resolution No. 1, in relation to the assignability of bounty land warrants; which motion was agreed to.

The resolution was read.

Mr. HARRIS. With the indulgence of the committee, I propose to make a brief statement as to the objects to be effected by the passage of the series of resolutions which I had the honor to introduce.

The object of the first resolution is to make the bounty land warrants, the issuance of which was authorized by the act of 28th September, 1850, assignable.

Of the 2d, is to authorize the registers and receivers of the United States land offices, to charge and receive for the location of these warrants the same rate of compensation that they would be entitled to where the land was sold at public sale at $125 per acre, to be paid by the Government of the United States where the location is made for the soldier or his heirs, and in all other cases to be paid by the assignee or holder of the warrant.

Of the 3d, to provide for the same rate and character of compensation to registers and receivers for services already rendered in the location of this class of warrants.

Of the 4th, to extend the provisions of the act of 28th September, 1850, to all commissioned and non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, who have been mustered into the service of the United States to suppress or prevent Indian hostilities, and who have served a sufficient length of time to entitle them to bounty land under the provisions of that act.

Of the 5th, to extend the provisions of the act of 28th September, 1850, to the militia, volunteers, and State troops, who have been called out by the law or executive authority of any State, and whose services have been recognized and paid for by the Government of the United States.

The necessity of the passage of the resolutions under consideration addresses itself with so much force to the sound judgment and discretion of every gentleman upon this floor, that I should regard myself as trespassing unnecessarily upon the time and patience of the committee, to detain them with a word of comment upon it.

Mr. EVANS. I do not intend to offer any resistance to the passage of these resolutions. That these bounty land warrants should be made assignable, is very clear; whether they ought ever to have been granted, is another question. I can assure the gentleman who has introduced this measure that, so far as I am concerned, I do not intend to offer any opposition to it. Yet it must be apparent to every gentleman that we do not understand what it is. The resolutions are very long. I have heard them read twice, with great attention, and yet I am not able to comprehend them. There may be a great deal more in the resolutions than meets the eye. There may be a great deal more in them than strikes us at first hearing, and there ought therefore to be a copy of the resolutions upon the desk of every member here, in order that we may be able to suggest corrections and amendments if any shall be necessary. The resolutions can still be passed within a few days. They can be printed in a day or two, and we can then go into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union again and pass them. They ought not to be passed with such precipitation. It is inconsistent with sound legislation to proceed with such unseemly haste. Neither is there any neces

sity for it. What we propose to effect to-day, can easily be effected before a single week shall have passed away. No delay will be caused by waiting until we can inform ourselves in regard to the contents of these resolutions. With respect to one of them, it seems to me-although I may have misapprehended it-that it directly throws upon the Treasury of the United States expenses which ought perhaps to be borne by the possessor of the land warrant himself. It provides that the owner of the land warrant, if it be assigned, shall be responsible for all the charges connected with it, but that if the land warrant is not assigned, and is in the possession of the original holder, then the Treasury of the United States shall pay all the charges of the register and receiver, who are engaged in locating and recording it. I do not know the precise amount of these charges. I do not know what they amount to upon a single warrant. But I do know that the Secretary of the Interior informs us in his late report, that the total number of these land warrants, issued under the act of the 28th of September, 1850, will be at least two hundred and fifty thousand. Now I am not prepared to say that it is not right and proper that the Government should pay these charges, but it is at any rate a fair matter for consideration. It is known to those gentlemen who were in the last Congress, that I offered strong opposition to certain features of the bounty land bill, but I do not intend to offer any opposition to these resolutions, or even to vote against them, as I understand that it is the general feeling of the House that they shall pass. I will, however, respectfully suggest to the mover of these resolutions, that he should allow the committee to rise, in order that the resolutions may be printed, with the understanding that as soon as they are printed, we shall again go into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and pass them I move that the committee do nowrise. The motion was agreed to.

The committee then rose, and the Speaker having resumed the chair, the chairman of the committee reported that they had had joint resolution No. 1 under consideration, and had come to no conclusion thereon.

Mr. EVANS moved that joint resolution No. 1 be printed.

Mr. MARSHALL, of Kentucky, by unanimous consent, presented an amendment, [a copy of which could not be procured,] which he intended to offer to the resolution at the proper time.

Mr. DUNHAM asked the unanimous consent of the House to lay upon the table and have printed an amendment to the resolution, which he intended to offer at the proper time.

Mr. CARTTER objected. The committee was, he said, the proper place for amendments. The question was then taken on the motion ordering the joint resolution and the amendment of Mr. MARSHALL, of Kentucky, to be printed, and it was agreed to.

TRANSFER OF BOUNTY LAND WARRANTS. Mr. COBB. A few days ago I asked the unanimous consent of the House to introduce a bill of which previous notice had been given. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. CARTTER] objected to its introduction at that time, because he did not know the contents of it. He now understands it, and is in favor of its passage. Duty to my country and to the parties more particularly interested demand that I should press the bill upon all occasions, and I therefore again ask leave to introduce it. It is simply a bill to authorize the transfer of bounty land warrants issued under the act of the 28th September, 1850, granting bounty land to the officers and privates of the American Army since 1790.

There being no objection, the bill was introduced, and read a first and second time.

Mr. COBB. I now move to put the bill upon its passage, and call for the previous question.

Mr. HARRIS, of Tennessee. Is it in order to move to refer the bill to the Committee of the

Whole on the state of the Union?

The SPEAKER. It is in order.
Mr. HARRIS. Then I make that motion.

Mr. CLINGMAN. I would submit this question of order to the consideration of the Chair: When a bill is before us and there is a call for the previous question, is it in order, while the Chair is in the act of ascertaining whether the previous

question will be sustained, for a member to make another motion? I submit that the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. HARRIS] is too late in making his motion. If the previous question is not sustained, then further motions will be in order.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. CLINGMAN] is correct. The motion to refer cannot be entertained pending the call for the previous question.

The question was then taken on sustaining the call for the previous question; and, on a count, there were--ayes 93, noes 31-no quorum voting.

Mr. CLINGMAN called for tellers; which were ordered; and Messrs. ROBINSON and CоBB were appointed.

The question being again taken, there wereayes 91, noes 24-still no quorum voting.

The SPEAKER stated, that if there was no objection the count would be taken over again.

There being no objection, the tellers resumed their places; and a new count having been had, there appeared-ayes 109, noes 25.

So the previous question was sustained. The main question on the engrossment of the bill was then ordered; and the bill being engrossed was then read a third time.

The question now being, "Shall the bill pass?" Mr. COBB demanded the previous question; which was seconded, and under the operation thereof, the bill was passed.

Mr. COBB moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed, and to lay the motion to reconsider upon the table; which latter motion was agreed to.

Mr. FICKLIN. I ask leave to introduce a bill of which previous notice has been given. NAVAL COMMITTEE.

Mr. ROSS. I rise to a privileged question. I have had the honor of being appointed a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs. I regret to say that I am under the necessity of asking the House to excuse me from serving on that committee. I make the request, not with any disrespect to the honorable chairman or any member of that committee, but for reasons which are entirely satisfactory to my own mind, and which leave me no other alternative. I hope the House will excuse me.

The question was then taken, and he was excused.

Mr. FICKLIN, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill, of which previous notice had been given, to protect actual settlers on the lands on the line of the Central Railroad and branches, by granting preemption rights thereon; which was read a first and second time by its title, and referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. CLARK asked leave to introduce a bill, of which previous notice had been given, to grant a certain quantity of land to the State of Iowa for the purpose of aiding said State in the construction of a railroad from Dubuque to Keokuck.

Mr. CARTTER objected, and inquired of the Chair what was the regular order of business? The SPEAKER said, the regular order of business was to call the States for petitions.

Mr. CARTTER asked if it would not be in order to take up the President's message and to refer it to appropriate committees?

The SPEAKER said that it would not be strictly in order.

On motion by Mr. JOHN W. HOWE, by unanimous consent, leave was granted to withdraw from the files of the House, for the purpose of reference to one of the executive departments, the petition and papers of John Morrison, asking for bounty lands under the law of 1850.

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. Mr. CARTTER. I now move that the House proceed to take up the President's message, and to refer it to the appropriate committees. My object in making that motion is to furnish the standing committees with their legitimate business, so that they may organize and go to work. I would inquire whether the message is now before the House, or whether it has been referred to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union? The SPEAKER said it had been so referred. Mr. CARTTER. Then I move that the House do now resolve itself into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, with the view of taking up the President's message, and distributing it between the several standing committees.