d two hours and a half in its delivery,
with these words: "I cannot better express my thanks than to pledge my
word, relying, as I have said on another occasion of deep interest,
upon the justice of our cause, the blessing of God, iron wills, stout
arms and good swords, and upon your generous sympathy, to do all in my
power with my people, for my country, and for humanity." Thus, as he
approached the end of his career in America, he abandoned the thought
of securing active interference, or, indeed, of official support in
behalf of Hungary, whatever might have been his hopes when he landed
in the United States.

During the period of Kossuth's visit, from December, 1851, to June,
1852, the attention of the country was directed to the approaching
Presidential election, and in public speeches and in conversations
he attributed his failure to secure the endorsement of Congress and of
legislative assemblies to that circumstance. In his first speech in
Faneuil Hall he said, "Would it had been possible for me to have come
to America either before that contest was engaged, or after it will be
decided! I came, unhappily, in a bad hour." That Kossuth attributed
too much importance to that circumstance, there can be no doubt.
Other, deeper-seated and more adverse causes were at work. The advice
and instructions of Washington as to the danger of entangling foreign
alliances were accepted as authority by many, and as binding traditions
by all. Consequently, there was not, and could not have been, any time
in the century when his appeal would have been answered by an
aggressive step, or even by an official declaration in behalf of his
cause.

Co-operating with this general tendency of public opinion, there
existed a latent sentiment in the slave States and everywhere among
the adherents and defenders of slavery that the mission of Kossuth was
a menace to that peculiar institution. Of this face he was convinced
by his visit to Washington and his brief tour in the slave States. At
Worcester a man in the crowd had shouted, "We worship not the man, but
we worship the principle." The slave-holders were interested in the
man, but they feared his principles; and well they might fear his
principles for he was the avowed enemy of all castes and all artificial
distinctions among men. Hence it was that he was avoided by the
leaders of the Democratic Party, and hence it was that his special
friends and supporters were Abolitionists,