, it was unwilling to do things by
halves;--we had therefore full and unrestricted liberty, on leaving
Turkey, to go and to stay where we pleased--to take such a course as we
chose, and that to that purpose, an American and an English vessel would
be ready at the Dardanelles, and it would depend on our choice, on board
of which we embarked. Indeed I have an official communication on the
part of the English Government in my hands, by which I was informed,
that the only reason why the appointed English vessel came not to the
Dardanelles was, that I and my associates had declared that we preferred
to embark on board the American ship.

But again: in respect to that embarkation, I must state that, in the
resolution of the Congress, one word being contained which might have
been subject to different interpretation, I considered it my duty to
declare frankly to the legation of the United States at Constantinople,
that I neither was, nor would be, willing to assume the character of an
_emigrant_; but would only be considered an _exile_, driven
away by foreign violence from my native land, but not without the hope
to get home again to free and independent Hungary; therefore, that I not
only would not pledge my word to go directly to the United States, or to
remove thither permanently, but, upon regaining my liberty, intended to
devote it to win back for my country its sovereign independence, which
we had achieved and proclaimed, and which was wrested from us by the
most sacrilegious violation of the laws of nations. I got an answer
fully satisfactory on the part of your legation, assuring me that the
United States would never consent to give me a new prison, instead of
liberty; and that there was, and could be, no intention on the part of
the United States to restrain my freedom or my activity, beyond the
limits of your common laws, which are equally obligatory and equally
protective to every one, so long as he chooses to stay in the United
States. Upon this. I accepted thankfully the generous offer of the
United States. I wrote a letter of thanks to His Excellency the
President, and ordered my diplomatic agent in England to write a similar
one to the Honourable Secretary of State, expressing, that I considered
the struggle for our national independence not yet finished, and that I
would devote my regained liberty to the cause of my fatherland.

_Nearly three months after these declarations_, the Mississippi
steam-ship arrived