gayety, pursued their sports, and hunted their game; that every returning day found them the sole, the peaceful, and happy proprietors of this extensive and beautiful domain. Go, administer the cup of oblivion to recollections like these; and then you will cease to complain that the Indian refuses to be civilized. But, until then, surely it is nothing wonderful that a nation, even yet bleeding afresh from the memory of ancient wrongs, perpetually agonized by new outrages, and goaded into desperation and madness at the prospect of the certain ruin which awaits their descendants, should hate the authors of their miseries, of their desolation, their destruction; should hate their manners, hate their color, their language, their name, and every thing that belongs to them! No; never, until time shall wear out the history of their sorrows and their sufferings, will the Indian be brought to love the white man, and to imitate his manners. WILLIAM WIRT.

45. THE SUSPENSION OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH AUSTRIA.

(In recognition of the rights of Hungary.)

MR. PRESIDENT, I do not mistake the true position of my country, nor do I seek to exaggerate her importance. I am perfectly aware that, whatever we may do or say, the immediate march of Austria will be onward in the course of despotism, with a step feebler or firmer, as resistance may appear near or remote, till she is stayed by one of those upheavings of the people, which is as sure to come as that man longs for freedom, and longs to strike the blow which shall make it his.

Pride is blind, and power tenacious; and Austrian pride and power, though they may quail before the signs of the times, before barricades and fraternization, by which streets are made fortresses and armies revolutionists, new and mighty engines in popular warfare, will hold out in their citadel till the last extremity. But many old things are passing away; and Austrian despotism will pass away in its turn. Its bulwarks will be shaken by the rushing of mighty winds, by the voice of the world, wherever its indignant expression is not restrained by the kindred sympathies of arbitrary power.

I desire, sir, not to be misunderstood. I do not mean that in all the revolutionary struggles which political contests bring on, it would be expedient for other governments to express their

feelings of interest or sympathy. I think they should not; for there are obvious considerations which forbid such action, and the value of this kind of moral interposition would be diminished by its too frequent recurrence. It should be reserved for great events-events marked by great crimes and oppressions on the one side, and great exertions and misfortunes on the other, and -under circumstances which carry with them the sympathies of the world, like the partition of Poland and the subjugation of Hungary. We can offer public congratulations, as we have done, to people crowned by success in their struggle for freedom. We can offer our recognition of their independence to others, as we have done, while yet the effort was pending. Have we sympathy only for the fortunate? Or is a cause less sacred or less dear because it is prostrated in the dust by the foot of power? Let the noble sentiments of Washington, in his spirit-stirring reply to the French minister, answer these questions: "Born, sir, in a land of liberty; having early learned to estimate its value; having, in a word, devoted the best years of my life to its maintenance, I rejoice whensoever in any country I see a nation unfold the banner of freedom. To call your nation brave, were but common praise. Wonderful people! Ages to come will read with astonishment the history of your exploits."

I freely confess that I shall hail the day with pleasure when this government, reflecting the true sentiments of the people, shall express its sympathy for struggling millions seeking, in circumstances of peril and oppression, that liberty which was given to them by God, but has been wrested from them by man. I do not see any danger to the true independence of nations by such a course; and indeed I am by no means certain that the free interchange of public views in this solemn manner would not go far towards checking the progress of oppression and the tendency to war.

LEWIS CASS.

40. THE SUSPENSION OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH AUSTRIA.

MR. PRESIDENT, I know that I shall be accused of a want of sympathy for the Hungarians, whose case excites so much attention here. So far as I am personally concerned, I care nothing for such accusations, for I have a witness within me which pronounces them false. But, sir, I should be unwilling to inflict a

new pang upon the unfortunate Hungarian, by doing any thing to give countenance to the idea that there was any man or class of men here who did not respect and sympathize with him in his misfortunes. I was no uninterested observer of his struggleno unmoved witness of its final catastrophe. If my good wishes could have availed him, he had them all. I have studied their history with interest, and learned to admire and respect their national character. There is a wild mixture of Oriental fervor and western chivalry about them which has always made them objects of rather a romantic interest. History, that great record of human affairs, is full of startling contrasts and striking vicissitudes, and the chapter of that great book which belongs to Hungary and her people is nearly as eventful as any. When I first heard, sir, that the Hungarian patriots had been forced to take refuge with the Turk, and seek at his hands the charity of an asylum which Christendom refused them, I could but recall the day when that country was the bulwark of Christendom against the Infidel, and Hunniades made good its title to that debatable land between the Crescent and the Cross. When I saw who the oppressor was, whose foot was upon the neck of bleeding Hungary, I could but recur to the time when a noble ancestress of his, who to the loveliness of woman added the soul of a Cæsar, threw herself upon those people for succor and protection. The scene arose before me, as it appears on the pictured page of Macauley, in which she is represented upon horseback, weak from recent suffering, yet strong in will, flushed under the weight of St. Stephen's iron crown, and after a fashion of her race, which would have been deemed extravagant by any but an Oriental imagination, waving the sword of state to the four quarters of the heavens, and bidding defiance to the earth.

But hard as has been the lesson taught the Hungarian in his recent struggles, it would do no good for foreign powers to interpose in his favor and give him armed assistance: still less would it be of any avail to offer him such a resolution of sympa. thy as this. There is not, sir, on the page of history, an instance of a nation which has maintained its liberty by foreign aid; for the moment the protecting hand is withdrawn, it must fall, unless it has some internal resources-some means within itself of maintaining its independence, and for self-defence. I have said, sir, that this resolution of sympathy will do the Hungarian cause no good. But is that enough to say? Is there no danger that it may do that brave but unfortunate people some harm? It has been said, by wise and observing men, that Che final catastrophe of Poland was probably hastened by im

prudent speeches made in the British House of Commons and the French Chamber of Deputies. It is said that those imprudent but sympathizing speeches awakened false hopes in Poland, and led to unwise movements there. Is there no danger that such a course of action as is proposed here might give rise to unfounded hopes in Hungary, or increase, perhaps, their sufferings by irritating those who govern them? But, sir, be that as it may with regard to Hungary, I am not prepared to take this step from considerations of what is due to my own country. I give Hungary my best wishes, my earnest sympathy; but I prefer my own country to any other, and I cannot sacrifice its interests for those of another. I was sent here to legislate, not for foreign nations, but my own. I will not abandon my own duties in the attempt to discharge those of another. It would doubtless be pleasing to any generous mind to indulge the demands of sympathy; yet, sir, truth and justice are of higher obligation, and ought to be of higher consideration still. Mr. President, I cannot vote for this resolution. I owe it not only to my own country, but to the rights of man, of which so much is said, to preserve the wise and long-established policy of the former, and to stand by the principle of non-intervention as a high moral defence and security for the other.

ROBERT M. T. HUNTER.*

47. THE PRESIDENT'S PROTEST.

THE immediate question is upon the rejection of the President's message. It has been moved to reject it—to reject it, not after it was considered, but before it was considered! and thus to tell the American people that their president shall not be heard,should not be allowed to plead his defence, in the presence of the body that condemned him, neither before nor after it! This is the motion; and certainly no enemy to the senate could wish it to miscarry. The President, in the conclusion of his message, has respectfully requested that his defence might be entered upon the journal of the senate-upon that same journal which contains the record of his conviction. This is the request of the President. Will the senate deny it? Will they refuse this act of sheer justice and common decency? Will they go further, and not only refuse to place it on the journal, but refuse even to suffer it to remain in the senate? Will they refuse to

*U. S. Senator from Virginia.

permit it to remain on file, but send it back, or throw it out of doors, without condescending to reply to it? for that is the exact import of the motion now made! Will senators exhaust their minds, and their bodies also, in loading this very communication with epithets, and then say that it shall not be received? Will they receive memorials, resolutions, essays, from all that choose to abuse the President, and not receive a word of defence from him? Will they continue the spectacle which has been presented here for three months-a daily presentation of attacks upon the President from all that choose to attack him, young and old, boys and men-attacks echoing the very sound of this resolution, and which are not only received and filed here, but printed also, and referred to a committee, and introduced, each one with a lauded commentary of set phrase ?—are the senate to receive all these, and yet refuse to receive from the object of all this attack, one word of answer? In this point of view, as a question concerning the senate itself, it may become material to the senate, in a country and in an age when no tribunal is too high for public opinion to reach it-it may become material to the senate, in such a country and such an age, to reject and throw out of doors the calm and temperate defence of the President, in the midst of the reception of a thousand memorials and resolutions condemning him for the very act which he is not allowed to defend. Is he to be the only citizen who is not to be heard by the senate; upon whom it seems to be lawful for every one to lavish billingsgate rhetoric, whose education and manners qualify him for the application of it? Rejected or not, that communication cannot be secreted from the eyes of the American people. It has been read, and will be printed. An independent press will carry it to the extremities of the country, and hand it down to succeeding generations. It will be compared with speeches delivered for three months in this capitol against this president; and an enlightened and upright community will decide between the language of the defence and the language of the accusation; between the temper of the accusers and the temper of the accused; between the violent President who has violated the constitution and the laws, and the meek and gentle senators who have sat in judgment upon him for it. The people will see these things-will compare them together-will judge for themselves; and that judgment, in this free and happy land, will be the final and supreme award, from which there is no appeal.

* U. S. Senator from Missouri.

THOMAS H. BENTON.*