Christian Deucalions who peopled this New World, and founded a nation in seeking but the asylum of a new home? What is it I claim from you, people of America? Is it that you should send over yonder Atlantic a fleet of new "Mayflowers," manned with thousands of Miles Standishes? . . . Is it that which I claim, in the name of mankind's great family, of which you are a mighty, full-grown son? No, I claim not this. Do I claim from you to send over your sons to Hungary's border mountains to make a living fence by their breasts, catching up the blasting wind of Russia that it may not fall upon the poor, leaf-torn shrub of Hungary? No, I claim not this. Or do I claim from you to beat back the bloody hand of the Austrian, that he may not waste the tempest-torn shrub, and not drain the life-sweat of its nursing soil? No, I do not claim that.

What is it, then, I claim from America? That same violence which shattered Hungary's bush has loosened, has bent, has nearly broken the pole called law of nations, without which no right is safe and no nation sure,- none, were it even ten times so mighty as yours. I claim from America that it should fasten and make firm that pole called “law of nations," that we may with the nerve-strings of our own stout hearts bind to it our nation's shattered shrub. That is what I claim. And I ask you, in the name of the Almighty, is it. too pretentious, is it too much arrogance to claim so much?

"In the law of nations every nation is just so much interested as every citizen in the laws of his country." That is a wise word. It is the word of Mr. Webster, who, I am sure of it, in the high position he holds, intrusted with your country's foreign policy, would readily make good his own word if only his sovereign, the nation, be decided to back it, and says to him, "Go on."

To whom shall the oppressed turn for the protection of law and of right if not to those who have the power to protect that law and that right upon which their own power, their own existence, rests? Turn to God and trust to him, you say. Well, that we do. The Lord is our chief trust; but, precisely because we trust to God, we look around with confidence for the instrumentality of this protection. And who shall be that instrumentality if not you, people of America, for whom God has worked an evident wonder out, and upon this very place where I stand?

We may well praise the dignity of Carver and Bradford, the bravery of Standish, the devotion of Brewster, the enterprising spirit of Allerton, the unexampled fortitude and resignation of their women, the patience of their boys, the firmness, thoughtfulness, religious faith and confident boldness of all the Pilgrims of the "Mayflower." We may well praise that all, no praise is too high and none undeserved; but, after all, we must confess that the wonderful results of their pilgrimage,— the nation which we see here,— that is not their merit, as it could never have been the anticipation of their thoughts. No, that is no human merit: that is an evident miracle,— the work of God.

What have they been, those Pilgrims of those days? What was their resolution, their aim, their design? Let me answer in the eloquent words of Mr. Webster's last centennial address: "They have been the personification of humble and peaceable religion flying from causeless oppression, conscience attempting to escape from arbitrary rule, braving a thousand dangers to find here- what? A place of refuge and of rest." And what is it they have founded here? mighty nation, of twenty-four millions, in the short period of two hundred and thirty-two years. Well, that has never entered the thoughts of the boldest of them.

A

The Revolution of 1775 was no miracle. It was a necessity,— an indication of your people's having come to the lawful age of a nation. Your assuming now the position of a power on earth, as I hope you will, that will again be no miracle. It would be wisdom but the wisdom of doing what is good to humanity and necessary to yourselves. But, the United States of America,- a result of the Pilgrim Fathers' landing on Plymouth's Rock, that is no wisdom, no necessity it is an evident miracle, a work of God. And believe me, gentlemen, the Almighty God never deviates from the common laws of eternity for particular purposes. He never makes a miracle but

for the benefit of all the world. By that truth the destiny of America is appointed out, and every destiny implies a duty to fulfil. Happy the people which has the wisdom of its destiny and the resolution of its duties resulting therefrom. But woe to the people which takes not the place which Providence does appoint to it! With the intentions of Providence, and with the decrees of the Almighty, no man can dare to play. Self-reliance is a manly virtue, and no nation has a future which has not that virtue. But to believe that seventy-five years of prodigious growth dispense of every danger and of every care, that would be the surest way to provoke danger and to have much to care. You will judge by this, gentlemen, if it was too much boldness on my part to believe that it is your country's destiny to regenerate the world by maintaining the laws of nations, or too much boldness to claim that which I believe is your destiny. . . .

The visit of Kossuth to the United States, to plead for our interest in the cause of the independence of Hungary, in 1851-52, and the popular demonstration attending it, constitute perhaps the most impressive chapter in the history of the sympathy of our people for other peoples strug gling for freedom. The advent of the American republic in history was as the morning star to lovers of liberty and democracy in Europe and throughout the world. It has been our greatest glory through the century that the workers for freedom and political progress everywhere have looked to us, and that our sympathy and help have gone out to them. We were the friends of Bolivar and the young South American republics; and the history of the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine will be remembered

(see Old South Leaflet, No. 56, on "The Monroe Doctrine"). The speeches of Webster, Clay, and others in behalf of the Greeks, at the time of their uprising against the Turks in 1824, should be read. Our sympathy went out to Garibaldi and Mazzini, as again and again to the republicans of France and of Germany, so many of whom, when fortunes were adverse, have found their homes among us. Our sympathy for the oppressed people of Cuba led ultimately to armed interference in their behalf. American influences have been second to no other in the political new birth of Japan; and the reformers in Servia and Bulgaria drew their inspiration largely from Robert College.

Kossuth arrived in America in December, 1851. He came as the guest of the nation. The President and Congress had officially declared their sympathy; and the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, replying shortly before to the Austrian minister's remonstrances against our expressions of interest in the Hungarian cause, had firmly declared that no spectacle could ever enlist the sympathies of the American people more deeply than that of a nation struggling to maintain or gain its independence. Kossuth's reception in New York was something unparalleled in its enthusiasm, and this enthusiasm continued everywhere until his departure. His speech before the Corporation of New York, December 11, was perhaps the ablest and most comprehensive which he delivered, appealing to the utterances of Washington and the fathers as justification for the republic's active interest in the cause of freedom and self-government in all the world. This speech, together with the speeches in Philadelphia, Washington, etc., is printed in the appendix to Headley's Life of Kossuth. From Washington, Kossuth went to the West and the South; and in April, 1852, he came to New England, speaking to enormous crowds in Boston, New Haven, Springfield, Worcester, Lowell, and a score of places. There is a special volume, "Kossuth in New England," devoted to this visit, including the various addresses. Governor George S. Boutwell welcomed Kossuth to the State of Massachusetts, President Henry Wilson to the Senate, and Speaker N. P. Banks to the House of Representatives; and their speeches, as well as Kossuth's replies, should be read, as expressing the sentiment of the time. Kossuth made three speeches in Faneuil Hall, the first at a public meeting on the evening of April 29, the second at a legislative banquet on the following evening, the third on May 14. The first of these speeches is that here reprinted, together with the speeches at Concord and (in part) Plymouth. See Charles Sumner's speech, "Welcome to Kossuth" (Sumner's Works, iii. 3). This was Sumner's first speech in the Senate, Dec. 10, 1851. See also Sumner's letter on "Sympathy with the Rights of Men Everywhere? (Works, ii. 444).

PUBLISHED BY

THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass.

Old South Leaflets.

No. 112.

King Alfred's Description of Europe.

THE FIRST CHAPTER OF KING ALFRED'S TRANSLATION OF OROSIUS, WITH HIS ORIGINAL INSERTIONS.

the garsecg

on

1. Our elders, said Orosius, divided into three parts all the globe of this mid-earth, as it is surrounded by the ocean, which we call Garsecg; * and they named the three parts by three names, Asia and Europe and Africa; though some said there were but two parts, one Asia and the other Europe. 2. ASIA is encompassed by the ocean the south, north, and east; and so, on the east part, contains one half of this mid-earth. Then on the north part of Asia, on the right hand,† in the river Don, there the boundaries of Asia and Europe lie together; and from the same river Don, south along the Mediterranean Sea, towards the west of the city Alexandria, Asia and Africa lie together.

3. EUROPE begins, as I said before, at the river Don, which runs from the north part of the Rhipæan Mountains, which are near the ocean, called Sarmatian. The river Don runs thence right south, on the west side of Alexander's altars to the nation of the Roxolani. It forms the fen which is called Mæotis [Sea of Azov]; and then runs forth, with a great flood, near the city called Theodosia [Kaffa], flowing eastward into the Black Sea; and then, in a long strait, south-easterly, where the Greek city Constantinople lies, and thence out into the Mediterranean Sea. The south-west boundary of Europe is the ocean, on the west

*Mr. Hampson suggests that the myth of an armed man,-a spear-man,- being employed by the Anglo-Saxons as a term to denote the Ocean, has some analogy to the personification of Neptune holding his trident.

↑ In tracing the frontier of Asia from north to south, the Don is on the right hand.

of Spain, and chiefly at the island Cadiz, where the Mediterranean Sea shoots up from the ocean; where, also, the pillars of Hercules stand. On the west end of the same Mediterranean Sea is Scotland [Ireland].*

*.

4. The division between AFRICA and Asia begins at Alexandria, a city of Egypt; and the boundary lies thence south, by the river Nile, and so over the desert of Ethiopia to the southern ocean. The north-west limit of Africa is the Mediterranean Sea, which shoots from the ocean, where the pillars of Hercules stand; and its end, right west, is the mountain which is named Atlas, and the island called Canary.

5. I have already spoken shortly about the three parts of this mid-earth; but I will now, as I promised before, tell the boundaries of these three regions, how they are separated by

water.

6. Over against the middle of Asia, at the east end, there the mouth of the river called Ganges opens into the ocean, which they call the Indian Ocean. South from the river's mouth, by the ocean, is the port they call Calymere. To the south-east of the port is the island of Ceylon; and then to the north of the mouth of the Ganges, where Mount Caucasus ends, near the ocean, there is the port Samera. To the north of the port is the mouth of the river, named Ottorogorre. They call the ocean Chinese.

7. These are the boundaries of India, where Mount Caucasus is on the north, and the river Indus on the west, and the Red Sea on the south, and the ocean on the east. In the district of India are forty-four nations; and, besides many other

*This last sentence is an addition by Alfred. In early times, Ireland was called Scotland. In paragraph 28, Alfred says, "Ireland we call Scotland." Ireland was exclusively called Scotia or Scotland from the fifth to the tenth or eleventh century. The first we hear of the Scoti, or Scots, is as a people inhabiting Ireland. In the fifth century they contended with the Hiberni, the earlier inhabitants, and soon gained supreme power, and gave their name to the country. About A.D. 503 a colony of these Scoti, having given their name to Ireland, emigrated to North Britain, gained influence there, and also imposed their name on that country. But Ireland is north of Spain. Ancient geographers placed Ireland much more to the south and Alfred, being guided by them, speaks of it as being on the west of Spain. Orosius erroneously says, Hibernia insula, inter Britanniam et Hispaniam sita. Correct information was not supplied till after the time of Alfred. Though, in most cases, he was in advance of his age, yet in regard to the position of Ireland he appears to have fallen into the error of the time.

†The modern names of places are given in the translation, except where the old name is almost as familiar as the modern designation. When the position or present name cannot be discovered, there is no alternative but to retain the word used in the Anglo-Saxon text.

The Red Sea, in ancient geography, comprehended not only the present Red Sea, but what we now call the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Thus the Tigris, as well as the Indus, are said to run into the Red Sea; and the whole country between the Indus and the Tigris is described as having the Red Sea for its southern boundary.