The Van Buren Press

Kossuth concludes an address to the Hungarians in which he begs them not to dig the grave of Hungary, and sink into it felo de se, a "nation in that vast cemetery, the Austrian Empire," in these words:

"My own native land: thou hast suffered much and long since I saw thee. We, banished from, not by thee—we, too, have suffered much and long. I have grown gray with age, with inconsolable grief, and with mourning for many losses, thine and mine in the doleful land of exile. But no aching pain, no dire affliction, has ever diminished the sense of duty I owe to thy holy cause. This sense of duty impels me, even now, to be up and doing. And with the calm reflection of preponderating thought, with the warmth of hope to which my joyless heart does not easily yield, and withal with the determination of the strong will I say—what these seventeen years I never said—'Be of good cheer, my nation! we shall meet again.'"