The echo of this harmony of German song fills yet the air of this hall; it thrills yet through the soul of the ladies and through the bosom of the resolute men.  Let the word harmony between the Germans and Hungarians be the consecration of the present moment, which melts together our feelings, in order that, self-conscious of the sublime aim, which unites our nations and us all in brotherhood, we may unite in intention, unite in resolution, unite in endurance, unite in activity for the aim which fills your souls and mine.

And what is this aim which thrills through our bosoms like a magnetic current?  The aim is the solidarity and independence of nations;—­the freedom of our people—­their liberation from the yoke of tyranny.

With this aim before my eyes and decided resolution in my heart, I feel here amidst you as Werner Stauffacher felt, when, in the hour of the night, on the Ruettli, God above him and the sword in his hand, he made the covenant with his two friends against tyrannical Austria.

Let this meeting here become the symbol of a similar covenant; three[*] were the men who made it, and Switzerland became free.  Let us three nations make a similar covenant, and the world becomes free.  Germany, Hungary, and Italy! hurrah for the new Ruettli-covenant!  God increase the number of them, as he increased the number of those on the Ruettli, and our triune band, strong in itself, will readily greet every one, and meet him as a brother, having the same rights in the great council of the Amphictyons, where the nations will give their verdict against tyrants and tyranny, on the battle-field, with the thunder of the cannons and the clashing of swords; and will put the independence of every nation under the common guarantee of all, in order that every one of them may regulate her own domestic affairs, without foreign interference, and every people may govern itself, not acknowledging any master but the Almighty.  They, will increase the members of this covenant, but Germany, Hungary, and Italy, they are neighbours, and have the same enemy.  Hurrah! for the new covenant of Stauffacher!

[Footnote *:  Werner Stauffacher, Walter Fuerst, and Arnold of the Melchthal; November 11th, 1307.]

Now, by the God who led my people from the prairies of far Asia to the banks of the Danube—­of the Danube, whose waves have brought religion, science, and civilization from Germany to us, and in whose waves the tears of Germany and Hungary are mingled; by the God who led us, when on the soil watered by our blood we were the bulwark of Christendom; by the God who gave strength to our arm in the struggle for freedom, until our oppressor, this godless House, which weighed so heavily on the liberties of Germany for centuries, was humbled, and sunk down to be the underling of the Muscovite Czar; by the ties of common oppression which tortures our nation—­by the ties of the same love of liberty, and of the same hatred of