Kossuth replied briefly, with thanks and cordial assent.

* * * * *

XXIV.—­REPLY TO THE PITTSBURG CLERGY.

[Jan. 26th.]

The substance of his speech is reported as follows:—­

He said that he received with a thankful heart this testimonial of respect and welcome from the reverend ministers of the Gospel, whose hearts and minds were deeply imbued with regard and desire for truth.  He had been taught to reverence the Word of God, because it guaranteed freedom to man; and there was nothing more intimately associated with the idea of freedom than the right of every mind to search for truth in its own way—­the right of private judgment.  Therefore in receiving the approbation of so reverend and learned a body, he felt that he received the approbation of religion itself; and as if an angel voice from heaven had declared to him—­“The cause you plead has found favour before Heaven.  You may encounter hostility; you may be overtaken by calumny; you may endure sufferings, and trials, and temptations; you may even suffer martyrdom;—­but the cause will triumph.  Trust to Him who strengthened the arm of David against the mighty Goliath; and learn to say in truth:  Lord, thy will be done!” When he thought thus, and felt thus, he was not weak, but strong.  The sufferings and trials which he had endured had strengthened his body, even as the holy influences of religion had strengthened his soul.  He was not left as the fragile flower, that remained bowed and bent before the blast; for he could now look forward with more of hope and of trust for the future of his own beloved land, when he heard such glorious truths so warmly proclaimed; and when he saw such evidences of real sympathy for the cause of Hungary.  They spoke of the Protestant Church.  He claimed no merit on account of his belief; but he, too, was a Protestant—­not by education merely, but from his own studied convictions.  He could believe nothing merely because he might be commanded to do so; but solely as the result of his own convictions.  Truth is as uncorruptible and imperishable as God himself; and He will spread it throughout all the world.  But the triumph of truth cannot be achieved by persecution, opposition, or political oppression.  This glorious principle can only be triumphant when the nations of the earth shall become free from oppression; because it is only under the protection of free institutions—­a free press, free controversy, freedom of speech, and free popular education,—­where it is your privilege to preach and that of the neighbour to hear,—­that the political independence of a people can be preserved.  Oppression is everywhere accompanied by the demoralization of the masses, and their adoption of infidelity or fanaticism; while under the teachings of freedom religion becomes a growth of the soul.