Mr. Adee to Mr. McCormick.

No. 63.]

Sir: I inclose herewith copy of a letter from Anthony S. Ambrose, esq., supreme president of the National Slavonic Society of the United States of America, alleging that a delegation of Magyars are on their way to this country with a costly Hungarian national banner, on which are inscribed the words, “Be dauntlessly loyal to your fatherland, oh, Magyars;” that this banner is sent as the gift of the Hungarian National League to Hungarians living in the United States; that the gift was [Page 46] prompted by the Hungarian Government and partly paid for by official representatives of that Government; and that it is intended to carry this banner through the United States, the object sought being to preserve the Hungarian nationality of Magyars living in the United States.

You will say to the Hungarian Government that such a report has reached us, and inquire whether such a flag, so inscribed, has in fact been sent to go on a tour through this country.

I am, etc.,

Alvey A. Adee,
Acting Secretary.
[Inclosure.]

Mr. Ambrose to Mr. Hay.

Dear Sir: A delegation of Magyars from Hungary is on its way to the United States with the Hungarian national banner to be presented to the Hungarians living in the United States. The banner is the gift of the “Hungarian National League,” and it was sent here for the purpose, as the official and unofficial press of Hungary expresses it, “to preserve Magyars living in foreign lands for their native country.” Inscribed on it are the words “Be dauntlessly loyal to your fatherland, oh, Magyars” To defray the expenses connected with the making of the flag, the minister president of Hungary, Kalman Széll, contributed $500. A Government official, a gentleman by the name of Zseny, heads the delegation to the United States, and in New York City another official of the Austro-Hungarian Government, namely, the consul-general, Dessewffy, joined with his entire staff the reception committee which is to receive the flag with appropriate honors. A remarkable feature of this is that the flag is not intended for any one in particular, but is presented to all the Hungarians living in the United States, whether naturalized citizens or not. To better accomplish the object for which the flag is being sent here, namely, “to preserve the Magyars living in foreign lands,” and “to foster in them a love for their fatherland,” the flag is to travel from one Hungarian colony to another to give all of them an opportunity to touch its sacred folds. “The Hungarians living in the vicinity of New York,” says the Hungarian newspaper, Magyar Hirmondo, under date of August 14, instant, “will participate in this holy effort with flaming patriotism, unselfish enthusiasm, and this celebrated day [meaning the day of the arrival of the banner in New York City] of the Hungarians of America will be worthy of their name and patriotism.”

Sir, I myself am a native of Hungary, and I view this adulation of the Hungarian national colors in the United States with a mixed feeling of humiliation and shame. Like all other immigrants from the Old World, the Hungarians came to the United States to stay and to found homes for themselves and children. And if they came here to stay permanently and to cast their fortunes with the rest of the people of the country, what feeling other than that of sentiment can they have for their fatherland after their expatriation? The amalgamation of the Hungarian immigrants living in the industrial centers of the East is slow enough as it is, and now comes this disturbing element to retard it. Sir, I happen to be the president of the National Slavonic Society of the United States of America. This society has a membership of over 13,000, all of whom, with very few exceptions, are natives of Hungary. A clause in the by-laws, and one on which we lay much stress, is “That all members should become citizens as soon as entitled thereto.” How can we hope to accomplish much in this direction, and make good American citizens out of my countrymen, if the Hungarian National League, and through it the Hungarian Government, is allowed to meddle with us? Hungarians can not pay homage to two flags—to their own and that of their adopted country—and be loyal to both.

I protest against this insult to my American citizenship. The American flag is good enough for me and it should be good enough for everybody. Under it we have found material prosperity, freedom, and equality. I am a Hungarian Slovak, and there are some 300,000 of my countrymen in the United States. Most of them work in mines and factories in Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut, and New York, and many other States, and they earn wages that they never could have made under that Hungarian flag. Hungary boasts of free press and free speech, and yet Slovak journalists are immured in jails every now and then for defending their [Page 47] people against Government oppression. Was ever a Slovak newspaper writer sent to prison in the United States for similar reasons? Hungary points with pride to her Parliament in Budapest, and yet the Government has seen fit to close the door of that Parliament to 300,000 of Slovaks till 1902 by manipulations that every lover of freedom would be bound to condemn. Slovaks may speak their mother tongue in their adopted country without restraint and hindrance. They may build churches here, found schools, organize political, literary, and benevolent societies, and provide reading printed in the mother tongue for their enlightenment and education. Most of these things they may not do in their old home, under the very flag which they now send us to revere.

Once more I enter my protest on behalf of my fellow-countrymen against paying homage to this foreign nag. It is un-American. It is disloyal.

I am, etc.,

A. S. Ambrose.