ut for Europe, and America even, he speaks. Before you he pleads your
own cause. It is to a just tribunal I present a noble advocate. And to
him it shall be a bright spot in the dreary waste of the exile's life,
that to-night he pleads the cause of Hungary and humanity, where once
Otis and Adams, and Hancock and Quincy, pleaded the cause of America and
liberty.

I present to you Governor Kossuth of Hungary.

In reply to Governor Boutwell, when the tumultuous applause had
subsided, Kossuth spoke, in substance as follows:--

He apologized for profaning Shakespeare's language in Faneuil Hall, the
cradle of American liberty. Yet he ventured to criticize that very
phrase; for liberty ought not to be _American_, but _human_;
else it is no longer a right, but a privilege; and privilege can nowhere
be permanent. The nature of a privilege (said he) is exclusiveness, that
of a principle is communicative. Liberty is a principle: its community
is its security; exclusiveness is its doom.

What is aristocracy? It is exclusive liberty; it is privilege; and
aristocracy is doomed, because it is contrary to the destiny of men. As
aristocracy should vanish within each nation, so should no nation be an
aristocrat among nations. Until that ceases, liberty will nowhere be
lasting on earth. It is equally fatal to individuals as to nations, to
believe themselves beyond the reach of vicissitudes. By this proud
reliance, and the isolation resulting therefrom, more victims have
fallen than by immediate adversities. You have grown prodigiously by
your freedom of seventy-five years; but what is seventy-five years as a
charter of immortality? No, no, my humble tongue tells the records of
eternal truth. A _privilege_ never can be lasting. Liberty
restricted to one nation never can be sure. You may say, "We are the
prophets of God;" but you shall not say, "God is only our God." The Jews
said so, and their pride, old Jerusalem, lies in the dust. Our Saviour
taught all humanity to say, "Our Father in heaven," and his Jerusalem is
lasting to the end of days.

"There is a community in mankind's destiny"--that was the greeting which
I read on the arch of welcome on the Capitol Hill of Massachusetts. I
pray to God, the Republic of America would weigh the eternal truth of
those words, and act accordingly; liberty in America would then be sure
to the end of time; but if you say, "American Liberty," and take that
grammar for your policy, I dare to say the