d the confidence
I reposed in him. He has shown that our Constitution is founded upon
equality; that it regards all men as citizens, and makes no distinction
of profession. It is only under free institutions that a clergyman can
remain a clergyman with burning heart towards his own duties, and yet,
when called to perform the duties of a citizen, be no longer a clergyman
but a citizen. Could the Church of Rome have appreciated this principle,
and have acted upon it, my friend Mazzini were not now necessary for the
freedom of Italy. But as Rome did not appreciate it, the temporal power
of the Pope will probably fall at the next revolution.

My principles are, that the Church shall not meddle with politics, and
Government will not meddle with religion. In every society there are
political and civil concerns on one side, and on the other social
concerns; for the first, civil authority must be established--in
political and civil respects every one has to acknowledge the power of
its jurisdiction. But, in respect to social interests, it is quite the
contrary. Religion is not an institution--it is a matter of conscience.

For the support of these principles I ask your generous aid. You know
that whenever the House of Austria attains to any strength, its first
step is to break down religious liberty. And Austria is helped by
Russia, which is even still less propitious to these principles; you
remember the insolence or hardship to which in Russia those people are
subject who do not belong to the Greek Church; at the present time the
poor Jews are subjected to great indignities, and compelled, if not to
shave off their hair, to cut it in a particular manner, so as to
distinguish them from members of the Greek Church. But Hungary, by the
providence of God, is destined to become once more the vanguard of
civilization, and of religious liberty for the whole of the European
Continent against the encroachments of Russian despotism, as it has
already been the barrier of Christianity, against Islamism.

Kossuth then proceeded to explain, that any moneys contributed by the
generosity of the American public would not be employed as a warlike
fund, for which it would be utterly insignificant; but solely as a means
of enabling the oppressed to concert their measures. After this he
canvassed _the three props_ of Austria, and pointed out the
weakness of them all; viz. its loans,--its army,--and Russia. Its loans
run fast to a bankruptcy. It