Boros György (szerk.): Értesítő a Nemzetközi Unitárius Conferencziáról (Kolozsvár, 1897)
A Nemzetközi Unitárius Konferenczián tartott beszédek és felolvasások - Beszédek és felolvasások
112 I visit your wonderful Country at this time in realization of the dreams of youth! But though a traveller from so far away, I feel myself at home among you, for your countrymen, like mine, are engaged in the glorious task of /building up a nation in harmony with the most enlightened progress of the XIX/th Century. I came to Hungary, as to a land of Romance, of Chivalry, of Music, — a land celebrating its beautiful old-age in a millenial jubilee. And what do I find? I find Buda-Pesth your brilliant capital, the most modern, may I not say, the most American of European cities, I came with dreams of the immemorial past. I find the reality in this beautiful city of the XIX/th., nay of the XX/'th. century. By your reverend age you command the respect and veneration which an American ever feels for what is ancient. By your vigorous forward-fronting, youthful life, by your liberality, your rapid strides in all new art and science, you astonish even an American who has perhaps believed that his own land above all others li ved for the Future not the Past. In this respect therefore, as in so many others, America and Hungary are alike. Both are in a certain senseseFTree from the burden of the past. You keep yours in beautiful museums, such as I have just seen in your Exposition. We keep ours in England. We leave to our English brothers the memorials of our bygone ages; and as we have opportunity, we return to take a pleasant holiday among the tombs of our Ancestors. Gentlemen, America and Hungary have this in common, that for us both the past remains not as a burden, not as a repressiv power, but only as a glory, an ornament, an incentive! My ancestors crossed a mighty ocean. They left the Past behind. They turned their backs on Europ’s ancient woe, tyranny, and crime. The Ocean set them free! The waters obliterated many a
