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    1054 &!) * JW**e?* IS^U Br^Y -•, ¦» _ _ ...

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    KOSSUTH'S WELCOME. THE WORKING MEN'S DEM...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    1054 &!) * Jw**E?* Is^U Br^Y -•, ¦» _ _ ...

    1054 &!) * JW ** e ?* IS ^ U Br ^ Y - , ¦» _ _ - 3

    Kossuth's Welcome. The Working Men's Dem...

    KOSSUTH'S WELCOME . THE WORKING MEN'S DEMONSTRATION . The welcome prepared by the working men of London for the Hungarian Chief was equal to the great occasion . ^ ,-Early on Monday morning , the iderobers injme CentTal Committee met in % reatnttMbers at the office in Wellington-street ; and , acconipaTiied by banners and a band of music , marched in procession to vast

    Russell-square . Here , at the apjpdinted time , numbers arrived , until the ^ squlufe was not larg « enough to contain them , and they began to encr " oach on the adjacent streets . About lialf-past eleven , the procession formed , and , defiling round the square , started by Keupel-Btreet for Copenhagen-fields . Ihe men assembled were the flower of the working classes of London , composed chiefly of the Trades Unions , and marc hed banded together by their respective crafts . Three horsemen led the van , followed by the

    footmen five abreast . The fla ^ s and banners took the following order : — " Welcome Kossuth ! the Patriot ; " " There is no obstacle to him that wills ;/ ' the Turkish ensign , surmounted by a gilded crescent ; the American stars and stripes ; " Kossuth , Mazzini—Italy , Hungary ; " " The men of Marylebone ; " " What is life without liberty ? " surmounting a harp ; "A tear for Hungary , " surmounting a shield ; Union Jacks ; " The Notting-hill Financial and Parliamentary Reform Association ; " the Observer newspaper on a pole , with a eulogistic inscription appended ; the Times crumpled up and swinging at a gibbet , accompanied by the words , " The fate of liars , " on one side , and

    " Mentiri est turpe , " on the other ; Hungarian colours ; Union Jack ; red flag , surmounted by a cap of liberty ; flag with the inscription , " Disobedience to tyrants our duty to God ; " Tower Hamlets flag , containing , " Welcome to Kossuth , the leader , the statesman , the soldier , and the patriot , who , having conquered the armies of Austria , fell a -victim to internal treachery and Russian despotism ; " another Tower Hamlets flag , with the words , " A speedy triumph to Democracy . " Hungarian favours were worn on hundreds of breasts , and not a few arms were encircled with badge ? , bearing upon them ,

    " Liberty , equality , and fraternity . " The procession left Keppel-street at one o ' clock , marching to the stirring notes of the " Marseillaise , " ** Mourir pour la Patrie , " and other kindred airs . It proceeded up Tottenham-court-road , along the Hampstead and the Carnden roads , to Copenhagen-fields , the place of meeting . Enthusiastic cheering broke out ever and anon along the entire route , where masses of people had turned out to witness the display . Windows , balconies , and roofs were all put in requisition , many shops were shut , flags waved from numerous eminences , and the whole line presented an unwontedly gay and spirited scene .

    The fields in front of Copenhagen-house were crowded with spectators ; their numbers being variously estimated as low as 25 , 000 by the Times , and as high as 1 . 50 , 000 [ by a gentleman at the Highbury-barn banquet . At half-past three Kossuth appeared on the platform accompanied by Mr . Thornton Hunt , Chairman of the Committee ; M . Wucowicz , ex-Minister of Justice in Hungary ; M . Grorove , late Secretary to the Diet ; Colonel Count IJethlen , M . Pulzsky , Colonel Count Teleky , M . Kajlich , late Prefect of Police ; Colonel Thaz , late aide-de-camp to M . Kossuth ; Colonel ICiss , M . AbztuloH , Major Count Vay , Colonel Gal , Captain Tiir , M . ltoney , M . Simonyi , Captain Tiirok , late aide-de-camp to M . Kossuth ; General Vetter ,

    Colonel Kemeny , and Geiier .-. l Czea . Konnuth was dressed in a black velvet frock coat , with blue cloth cloak . IIin appearance- wan the signal for an enthusiastic burst of clieerH from the assemblage , round following round , and every hat waving the salutations of itH owner , whilut flags bearing incriptions of welcome , amongst the rest that highly decorated , with the Hungarian colours and the wordn , "Welcome , Kossuth , tho exiled Hungarian statesman , leader , soldier , and patriot , " were advanced to meet his eye . With head uncovered , he stepped forward and gracefully acknowledged the plaudits of hi . s adinircrH , bowing twice to the front and as often to the right and loft . When comparative silence had been restored .

    Mr . l ' ettie , Secretary of the Committee , read the address , which was very elegantly engrossed on parchment , and bound on a roller covered with f igured erinriBon velvet . The ? following is n copy : — " TO LOUIH KOHHUTH , Till ' . AoiMU ' . HH O * f T II 1 { InIIAIUtanth or . London , iu : i'Hkhi : ntki > nv tiih Unimoil-K 1 GNKI ) . " Patriot citizen and worthy representative of a gToat people , —We approach you with n <> nt , inientH of hopeful

    joy we huil with satisfaction your restoration to freedom imd ' to your country ' s service , an we heard with Borrow the tidings of your expatriation . In th « war so heroically Bustained by the Hungarian tialion , against the united Governments of Rusiua and Austria , the Ryinputhy of the people of Britain w ith the people of Hungary wubro tmivernally expressed as to be historical , but we desire that it may ti « recorded that , hnd our winheH received governmental aid , the intervention of ItuBBia would not have been met alone by protests upon paper , but upon

    the field fcf Action by & e Jot-tee of British arms . Our regret for the fastts l & Mrl ) ed With humiliation for the futility of ox & desires , but it is alleviated by our hopes and our resolve * for the future . Chosen as the guide o ' brave people in the path of freedom , your liberation gives hops ? not alone to Hungary , but to humanity . In the brotherhood of peoples rest the h * fe tff civilisation , the assurance . of our progress in the peaceful arts , and the . free : development of man s noblest faculties . In the brotherhood of peoples there also eJS & ts the . certainty of success , in resisting the encroachments , bf despotic powers . . Distinguished alike Yor wisdom a * for "integrity , if we have said so , much to you , it Ys faetea'iise your name and that of your country are linked hi our hopes arid our prayers to the names of other men and other nations . Need we name them ? No ; your true heart has already responded—Italy , Poland , Germany , and—there is a nation which for half a century has expiated its love of freedom in bereavement of its best sons , in the tears of its mothers and daughters . Its cup of bitterness is full . Whilst the arms of the people were extended to embrace you , you were repelled from their shores . As we believe in a future for Hungary , so also do we believe in a future for France . Whilst congratulating

    Hungary , and you , Sir , freely chosen governor , on your liberation , we turn with sentiments of fraternal gratitude to that nation which , despite of menace and intrigue / shielded you in the adverse hour , and has restored you to free action and fresh hope in the fulfilment of your glorious mission . To the citizens of the great Republic which has thrown its flag around you—linked , as we are , by ties of kindred—we are more closely linked in our mutual esteem for you , and sympathy for your country . We rejoice with them in the honour they have won ; but we lament that we should have deserved that honour less . Welcome to our country ! Our words are but the poor echo of a million voices which , from the extreme limits of our land , bless your name , and , in blessing you , bless Hungary . "

    Kossuth , on receiving the address , pressed it to his breast amid the thundering shouts of the crowd . When silence was somewhat restored , he spoke as follows : — ' Gentlemen , —I most warmly thank you for your generous sentiments of active and operative sympathy with the freedom and independence of my native land , so closely connected—as you have rightly judged—with the freedom and independence of other nations on the European continent . { Cheers . ) It is to me highly gratifying to know that a large part of the present meeting belongs to the working classes . { Cheers . ) It is gratifying to me , because , if to belong to the working classes implies a man whose livelihood depends on his own honest and industrious labour , then none among

    you has more right to call himself a working man than I so to call myself . I inherited nothing from my dear father , and I have lived my whole life by my own honest and industrious labour . ( Cheers . ) This my condition I consider to have been my first claim to my people ' confidence , because well they knew , that being in that condition , I must intimately know the wants , the sufferings , and the necessities of the people . And so assuredly it was . It is , therefore , that I so practically devoted my life to procure and to secure political and social freedom to my people , not to a race , not to a class , but to the whole people ; besides , I devoted all my life for many years , by

    the practical means of associations , to extend the benefit of public instruction to the working classes , and to forward the material welfare of the agriculturists , of the manufacturers , and of the trading men . ( Cheers . ) Among all the enterprises to that effect of that time of Thy life , when I was yet in no public office , but a private man , there is none to which I look back with more satisfaction and pride than to the association for the encouragement of manufacturing industry—to its frte schools , to its exhibitions , to its press , and to its affiliations . Besides conferring immense material benefi's , it proved also politically beneficial by bringing in closer contact and more friendly relations the different classes of my

    dear native land , by interesting the working-classes in the public political concerns of our nation , and by bo developing a strongly united public opinion to support me in my chief aim , which was conserving the municipal and constitutional institution !* of my country—to substitute for tbe privileges of single classes the political emancipation of the whole people , and substituting freedom to class privileges—to impart to tbe people the faculty of making tbe constitution a common benefit to all—for all—in a word , to transform the closed hall of class privileges into an open temple of the people ' s liberty . ( Loud cheers . ) This being my early connection with the working classes , 1 had at Southampton already occasion to nay , that among all the generous testimonials of English

    sympathy which honour me and my nation ' s past strugglcu , which console our present sufferings and assure our future , there is none dearer to my heart than when I Bee that those chinnce , whose onl y capital is their honest labour and their time , stop in their work and sacrifice that valuable time for the purpose , openly and resolutely , of expressing that the great principles of freedom can reckon upon the sympathies , the cooperation , and the support of the people of England . ( Cheers . ) In the streetn of London , a few days ago , and here on the present occasion , this grout phenomenon presents itself on a Btill larger scale , in a atill higher degree ; the more it is therefore gratifying to me , hnd connoting to my country , the more have I theylcanureablc duty to acknowledge the high value of it , and to thank you the more fervently

    for it . I said at Southampton that in these do " " tions of the operative classes I recognize that r . * 8 tu " stinct of the people , before which every individual' " ness must b ' ow down with respect . ( Cheers ) Th eat " acknowledgment I have to make on this occasion i a 0 le a larger scale , and in a higher degree . Allow me' fir ? ° congratulate you on the attention which you haveh v proved that you / devote to public matters , to the eln y wejl as to the interests of your country , and to thpf as dom and interests of humanity . May this public r ^" never decrease ! may every Englishman for ever feeTw it is the basis of all constitutional organization b under a republican or a monarchical form , that it i \ y ^ public opinion of the people which must give direeti to the policy of the country , and that it is , therefore ** the but also the

    only right , duty , of every honest chirp * to contribute to the development and expression of th \ public opinion , of which the legislative as well as th executive authorities are , and must be , faithful renr sentatives . Allow me , secondly , to congratulate you the just and happy instinct with which , bestowing your attention on public concerns , you have seized the verv point which really is the most important among all in which the mind and heart of Englishmen can be in terested . That point is the freedom of the European continent . I said it in the Common Council of the city

    of London , I repeat it here ; there is none among your internal questions which outweighs in importance the external . ( Cheers . ) And how maybe summed up the external interest of the British empire on the European continent ? It is to be summed up in this question—by which principle shall the continent of Europe be i tiled * by the principle of freedom , or by the principle of abolutism ? Can England , or can it not , remain indifferent to the approaching struggle and final decision of this question ? and , if it cannot remain indifferent without losing its position in the world , endangering its own freedom , and hurting its

    own interests , with which principle shall England sidewith the principle of freedom or with the principle of aggression ? Shall it support the rights , freedom , and happiness of nations , or the oppressive combinations of arbitrary Governments ? ( Cheers ) That is the question —a question the more urgent and the more important that ( i . e ., because ) no man of Whatsoever party can dissimulate , still less deny , that the situation of France , of Italy , of Germany , of Austria , of Hungary , of Poland , and of Russia is so unnatural , so contrary to the human

    and national interests of the respective people , that it is utterly impossible it can endure . Yes , no man can dissimulate the conviction that France , Italy , Germany , Austria , and Hungary , are already on the eve of those days when the great , and I hope final battle of these adverse principles will be fought out . ( Loud cheers . ) Now , the people of Great Britain , by its loudly proclaimed sympathy with the cause of freedom and independence of Hungary , has pronounced itself willing not to remain indifferent , and to side not with absolutism ,

    but with liberty , by supporting and protecting against all interference of foreign Governments the sovereign right of every nation to dispose of itself . You yourselves have pronounced by this demonstration and by your generous address in favour of this principle ; so , thanking you most fervently for it , I beg leave to congratulate you on the sound judgment and on the comprehensive views you give and that you entertain on the duties of England towards Europe , and on the proper interests of England itself . You have rightfully considered that the freedom of England , and that happy institutions

    condition which you feel assured that your , your freedom , and your public spirit , will go on peacefully developing—morally , materially , and pohtically-tbat an this is intimately connected with the victory « r the principle of freedom on the European continent , u word , you have pronounced for that truth 1 , since m England , on no occasion have omitted to express , viz . that there is a community in the principle of freedom as there is an identity in the destinies of hurnani y . ( u > m cheers . ) Besides , you have duly considered that the material welfare of " Great Britain is a so in theh . glu st degree dependent on , and connected with , the ™ t ° ry ° thf principle of freedom in Europe . And tr » y H- discussed already this »«

    On several occasions I have portant topic , and will do so more amply yet on anoin occasion . Here I beg only leave to slate br , c-fly a ft plain facts . You live by honest labour Yoi 11 » v J ^ manufactured products to dispose of , f « r _ ? , J' , - ,, „ . ) large free markets and free trade . ( Great , h « < . Now , it is as obvious as that two ami two make f ur , t ^^ without Europe becoming free , fciiglaml can 11 free trade with Europe . I will show you by , t »{; ia facts that the amount of trade with absoli l ' * Ilt and Austria is 7 d . per head , whereas the a of the trade of England with a free country , republic of the United States of Ainenca , ia /»¦ uu ( , ( . What a difference ! Absolutism gives to yo f dolIl and industry a market of 7 d per" hi ad , ^ n ()( gives a market , of 7 « . per head ! ( Low * ''' vita intercut the freedom of England , then , a question ol v u ^ to you ? Let us Jook to consequences , b M P ^ price of the bread which one of you « - »» ?" , | of or JG 4 ; upon this _ price you have by ^ ^ ^ t ¦ he

    the corn laws , oroDabiy n <» *« - " •» -- ) 0 Ht . ( 1- " to £ l . Certainl y a great benefit . 1 } ut * I ^ „„„ . millions who inhabit Kussia , Austria , ^ ^ ] 11 ( 1 III 1 C « h gary , to become free , and , being i « j «» st fc . B ( tliouK » much of your manufactures as t . eu . jt « l « " *„ ,,. j ,, r in part highly manufacturing U >«« l " Je t ^ £ 60 . W i « ° head ; that Would give a » arW of a ^" ' ^ I . f jcW , terlh \ g to England , which would P ™^^ hiBg ehj »« . £ 3 a-year per head toyou . I will not wiUH y ,. fu ly dwell further upon this subject mm l » Ut j acknowledge that you were """^ f J t . " jen ero .. H aentimonstration by higher moUyea-Tjy if u ° " j ? hv thftt '*»«

    ments a « betoken the noblefct feeling ., « . « -, Um ( 1 - » dignity of man which in the revelation « f . Divine origin . You aay , !» your ktod aJd « u ^ ^ ^ the brotherhood of the people in wlncn rce

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 8, 1851, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08111851/page/2/