Rejoice, O my nation, in thy very woes!  Wipe off all thy tears, and smile amidst thy tortures, like the Dutch hero, De Wytt.  There is a Providence which rules.  Thou wast, O my nation, often the martyr, who by thy blood didst redeem the Christian nations on earth.  Even thy present nameless woes are providential.  They were necessary, that the star-spangled banner of America should rise over a new Sinai—­the Mountain of Law for all nations.  Thy sufferings were necessary, that the people of the United States, powerful by their freedom and free by the principle of national independence, that common right of all humanity, should stand up, a new Moses upon the new Sinai, and shout out with the thundering voice of its twenty-five millions—­“Hear, ye despots of the world, henceforward this shall be law, in the name of the Lord your God and our God.

Ye shall not kill nations.

Ye shall not steal their freedom.

And ye shall not covet what is your neighbour’s.”

Ohio has given its vote by the resolutions I had the honour to hear.  It is the vote of two millions, and it will have its constitutional weight in the councils of Washington City, where the delegates of the people’s sovereignty find their glory in doing the people’s will.

Sir, it will be a day of consolation and joy in Hungary, when my bleeding nation reads these resolutions, which I will send to her.  They will flash over the gloomy land; and my nation, unbroken in courage, steady in resolution, and firm in confidence, will draw still more courage, more resolution from them, because it is well aware that the legislature of Ohio would never pledge a word to which the people of Ohio will not be true in case of need.

Sir, I regret that my illness has disabled me to express my fervent thanks in a manner more becoming to this Assembly’s dignity.  I beg to be excused for it; and humbly beg you to believe, that my nation for ever, and I for all my life, will cherish the memory of this benefit.

* * * * *

XXVIII.—­THE MISERIES AND THE STRENGTH OF HUNGARY.

[Columbus, Feb. 7th, to the Association of Friends of Hungary.]

On Feb. 7th was held the first regular meeting of the Ohio Association of the Friends of Hungary, in the City Hall of Columbus.  Governor Wood addressed the Association, as its President; and in the course of his speech said:—­

This is a cause in which the people of the United States feel much interest.  Much has been said on the doctrine of intervention and non-intervention.  There was a time when if I ventured to speak a word on any question in this State it was received with authority.  The opinions I now express have been formed with the same deliberation as those I expressed with authority in another capacity.  There has seemed to be a combined effort on the part of despots in Europe to put down free institutions.  It is the duty of freemen to oppose this effort—­to resist the principle that every civic community has not a right to regulate its own affairs.  Whenever one nation interferes with the internal concerns of another, it is a direct insult to all other nations.