It is however a consolation to me to know, that the chief difficulty with which I have to contend,—­viz. the overpowering influence of domestic questions with you,—­is neither lasting, nor in any way an argument against the justice of our cause.

Another difficulty which I encounter is rather curious.  Many a man has told me that if I had only not fallen into the hands of abolitionists and free soilers, they would have supported me; and had I landed somewhere in the South, instead of at New York, I should have met quite different things from that quarter; but being supported by the free-soilers, of course I must be opposed by the South.  On the other side, I received a letter, from which I beg leave to quote a few lines:—­

“You are silent on the subject of slavery.  Surrounded as you have been by slaveholders ever since you put your foot on English soil, if not during your whole voyage from Constantinople, and ever since you have been in this country surrounded by them, whose threats, promises, and flattery made the stoutest hearts succumb, your position has put me in mind of a scene described by the apostle of Jesus Christ, when the devil took him up into a high mountain,” &c.

Now, gentlemen, thus being charged from one side with being in the hands of abolitionists, and from the other side with being in the hands of slaveholders, I indeed am at a loss what course to take, if these very contradictory charges were not giving me the satisfaction to feel that I stand just where it is my duty to stand—­on a truly American ground.

And oh, have I not enough upon these poor shoulders, that I am desired yet to take up additional cares?  If the cause I plead be just, if it is worthy of your sympathy, and at the same time consistent with the impartial consideration of your own moral and material interests, (which a patriot never should disregard, not even out of philanthropy,) then why not weigh that cause in the scale of its own value, and not in a foreign one?  Have I not difficulties enough before me here, that I am desired to increase them with my own hands?—­Father Mathew goes on preaching temperance, and he may be opposed or supported on his own ground; but who ever thought of opposing him because he takes not into his hands to preach fortitude or charity?  And indeed, to oppose or to abandon the cause I plead, only because I mix not with the agitation of an interior question, is a greater injustice yet, because to discuss the question of foreign policy I have a right,—­my nation is an object of that policy; we are interested in it;—­but to mix with interior party movements I have no right, not being a citizen of the United States.

[After this Kossuth proceeded to urge, as in former speeches, that the interests of American commerce were not opposed to, but were identified with, the cause of Hungary and of European Liberty.  He also adduced new considerations, which are afterwards treated more fully in his speech at Buffalo.]