mmenced his speech, the noise caused by the dropping of a pin could be
heard throughout the large and capacious room.

KOSSUTH'S SPEECH.

Sir,--In returning you my most humble thanks for the honour you did me
by your toast, and by coupling my name with that cause which is the
sacred aim of my life, I am so overwhelmed with emotion by all it has
been my strange lot to experience since I am on your glorious shores,
that I am unable to find words; and knowing that all the honour I meet
with has the higher meaning of principles, I beg leave at once to fall
back on my duties, which are the lasting topics of my reflections, my
sorrows, and my hopes. I take the present for a highly important
opportunity, which may decide the success or failure of my visit. I must
therefore implore your indulgence for a pretty long and plain
development of my views concerning that cause which the citizens of New
York, and you particularly, gentlemen, honour with generous interest.

When I perceive that the sympathy of your people with Hungary is almost
universal, and that they pronounce their feelings in its favour with a
resolution such as denotes noble and great deeds about to follow; I
might feel inclined to take for granted, at least _in principle_,
that we shall have your generous aid for restoring to our land its
sovereign independence. Nothing but _details_ of negotiation would
seem to be left for me, were not my confidence checked, by being told,
that, according to many of your most distinguished Statesmen, it is a
ruling principle of your public policy never to interfere in European
affairs.

I highly respect the source of this conviction, gentlemen. This source
is your religious attachment to the doctrines of those who bequeathed to
you the immortal constitution which, aided by the unparalleled benefits
of nature, has raised you, in seventy-five years, from an infant people
to a mighty nation. The wisdom of the founders of your great republic
you see in its happy results. What would be the consequences of
departing from that wisdom, you are not sure. You therefore
instinctively fear to touch, even with improving hands, the dear legacy
of those great men. And as to your glorious constitution, all humanity
can only wish that you and your posterity may long preserve this
religious attachment to its fundamental principles, which by no means
exclude development and progress: and that every citizen of your great
union, thankfully acknow