XVI.—­NOVELTIES IN AMERICAN REPUBLICANISM.

[Washington Banquet, Jan. 5th, 1852.]

The Banquet given by a large number of the Members of the two Houses of Congress to Kossuth took place at the National Hotel, in Washington City.  The number present was about two hundred and fifty.  The Hon. Wm. R. King, of Alabama, president of the Senate, presided.  On his right sat Louis Kossuth, and on his left the Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State.  On the right of Kossuth at the same table, sat the Hon. Linn Boyd, speaker of the House of Representatives.  Besides other distinguished guests who responded to toasts, are named Hon. Thomas Corwin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Hon. Alex.  H. H. Stuart, Secretary of the Interior.

A few minutes after eight o’clock, a large number of ladies were admitted, and the President of the Senate requested gentlemen to fill their glasses for the first toast, which was,

  “The President of the United States.”

To this, Mr. Webster responded.

The President then announced the second toast: 

“The Judiciary of the United States:  The expounder of the Constitution and the bulwark of liberty regulated by law.”

Judge Wayne, of the Supreme Court of the United States, replied, and after alluding to “The distinguished stranger” who was then among them, said:  I give you, gentlemen, as a sentiment: 

“Constitutional liberty to all the nations of the earth, supported by Christian faith and the morality of the Bible.”

The toast was received with enthusiastic applause.

The third toast was,—­

“The Navy of the United States:  The home squadron everywhere.  Its glory was illustrated, when its flag in a foreign sea gave liberty and protection to the Hungarian Chief.”

Mr. Stanton, of Tennessee, in his reply, said: 

But recently, Mr. President, a new significance has been given to this flag.  Heretofore, the navy has been the symbol of our power and the emblem of our liberty, but now it speaks of humanity and of a noble sympathy for the oppressed of all nations. The home squadron everywhere, to give protection to the brave and to those who may have fallen in the cause of freedom!  Your acquiescence in that sentiment indicates the profound sympathy of the people of the United States for the people of Hungary, manifested in the person of their great chief; and I can conceive of no duty that would be more acceptable to the gallant officers of the navy of the United States except one, and that is, to strike a blow for liberty themselves in a just cause, approved by our Government.

The fourth toast was,—­

“The army of the united states.  In saluting the illustrious Exile with magnanimous courtesy, as high as it could pay to any Power on earth, it has added grace to the glory of its history.”

General Shields, Senator for Illinois, Chairman of the Committee of Military Affairs in the Senate, being loudly called for, replied in the necessary absence of General Scott, the chief of the army; and after an appropriate acknowledgment of the toast, added: