A V ,0 ^7 ,♦ * ,* v *** * ^ A^ IVith the Compliments of the Executive Committee. VISIT OF THE HON. CARL SCHURZ TO BOSTON VISIT OF THE HON. CARL SCHURZ TO BOSTON March, 1881 BOSTON JOHN WILSON AND SON Sarubcrsitg $rcss 1881 if 6.64 ,s sin CONTENTS. Names of the Executive Committee 5 The Invitation 7 Names of the Signers to the Invitation, and of the Pur- chasers of Tickets 8 Mr. Schurz' Reply 11 Proceedings at the Dinner 13 Address by the Hon. Charles R. Codman 13 Address by the Hon. Carl Schurz 19 Address by President Charles W. Eliot 35 Address by the Rev. George E. Ellis, D.D 41 Address by the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, D.D. . . 49 Address by Edward L. Pierce, Esq 53 Address by Dr. E. B. de Gersdorff 62 Address by Col. Theodore Lyman 66 Letters 71 Invitation to Ex- Attorney General Devens . . . . 71 Letter from Ex- Attorney General Devens 72 Second Letter from Ex-Attorney General Devens . . 73 Letter from Ex-President Hayes 74 Letter from Ex-Secretary Evarts 74 Letter from Ex-Secretary Sherman ....... 75 Letter from George William Curtis, Esq. . . . . . 76 Letter from Mr. Francis Parkman 77 Reception by German Citizens 79 Address by Professor Krauss 79 Address by the Hon. Carl Schurz 81 Receptions by the St. Botolph Club, Orpheus Club, and others 89 The portrait of the Hon. Carl Schurz is an artotype by Harroun and Bierstadt of New York, from a negative kindly lent by Mora, the well-known photographer. (fecutibe Committee. FRANCIS PARKMAN. EDWARD ATKINSON. ROBERT M. MORSE, Jr. JAMES M. BUGBEE. WILLIAM W. CLAPP. EDWIN B. HASKELL. A. J. C. SOWDON. ALFRED D. CHANDLER. I. THE INVITATION. Hon. Carl Schurz : Dear Sir, — The undersigned, citizens of Massachu- setts, respectfully invite you to a dinner in Boston, on such a day after the 4th of March next as you may select, that we may then have the gratification of expressing in person our respect and regard for you as a statesman and citizen, and of thanking you for the eminent ability, the marked fidelity, and the approved success with which you have performed all your duties as Secretary of the Interior. Boston, Feb. 12, 1SS1. VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. N A M E S SIGNERS TO THE INVITATION TO MR. SCHURZ AND OF THE PURCHASERS OF TICKETS TO THE DINNER. Adams, Chas. Francis *Adams, Charles F,, Jr. Adams, John Quincy *Aldrich, Thos. Bailey *Alexander, James Ames, Frederick L. *Ames, Oakes A. *Ames, Oliver *Amory, Harcourt Amory, James S. Amory, William *Andre\v, John Forrester Atkinson, Charles F. *Atkinson, Edward Atkinson, George Atkinson, William P. *Babcock, Lemuel H. *Barbour, Edward D. Barnard, Edmund J. *Barrett, Edwin S. Batcheller, Alfred H. *Bird, Frank W. Blake, Arthur W. *Blake, George Baty Blanchard, John A. Bond, E. W. *Bond, George William *Boos, Gabriel *Bowditch, Henry P. *Bowles, Samuel Bowles, S. W. Brigham, Lincoln F. *Brimmer, Martin Brooks, Henry C. Browne, Causten *Browne, Alexander P. *Bugbee, James M. *Burr, Isaac T. Cabot, J. Elliot *Candler, William L. Case, H. N. Chandler, Theoph. P. Chandler, Peleg W. *Chandler, Alfred D. Chase, George B. *Choate, Charles F. *Clapp, William W. *Clarke, Jas. Freeman Clement, J. H. Clifford, Charles W. *Coale, George G. *Cobb, Samuel C. *Cochrane, Alexander *Codman, Charles R. *Coffin, Geo. Winthrop *Coolidge, Albert L. *Coolidge, Horace H. Coolidge, T. Jefferson *Copeland, Charles W. *Crocker, George G. *Crocker, Uriel H. *Cummings, John *Cunningham, Fred'k *Curtis, George S. *Curtis, Laurence *Dalton, Henry R. Dana, Richard H., Jr. *Dana, Thomas *Danforth, Isaac W. *Danforth, James H. Daniell, Josiah E. *Davis, J. Alba *Davis, James C. *Deane, Charles *De Gersdorff, E. B. *Denny, George P. *De Wolf, J. Halsey (Providence, R. I.) *Dexter, Frederick *Dodge, John C. *Dole, Charles F. *Dove, George W. W. *Duff, John R. Dunbar, Charles F. Dunham, J. N. *D\vight, John S. *Eliot, Charles W. *EUis, George E. *Emmons, Nathaniel H. *Endicott, Henry *Endicott, William, Jr. *Ernst, George A. O. *Erskine, John Eustis, William Tracy Everett, Charles C. *Everett, William *Farnsworth, Ezra *Fay, Clement K. *Fisk, James C. *Fitz, Reginald H. Flagg, Augustus *Forbes, John M. Forbes, William H. *Foster, Charles O. *Foster, Francis A. *Fox, Jabez *French, Abram *French, Lvman P. NAMES OF SIGNERS, ETC. ♦French, William A. ♦Friedman, S. ♦Gallagher, Charles T. Gems, Robert Gladden, Washington *Goddard, George A. *Godkin, E. L. (New York) *Gookin, Charles B. *Gorham, James L. *Greenough, Malcolm S. *Greenough, Wm. W. *Grew, Henry S. *Grover, William O. Guild, Josiah F. Haile, W. H. *Hale, George S. ♦Harding, Herbert L. ♦Hardy, Alpheus H. Hardy, Edward T. Harris, F. H. ♦Haskell, Edwin B. ♦Hayden, Edward D. ♦Henshaw, Edward ♦Higginson, T. Went- woi'th Higginson, Waldo ♦Hill, Clement Hugh ♦Hill, Hamilton A. ♦Hill, J. E. R. ♦Hobart, Arthur ♦Holmes, Oliver Wen- dell Hooper, Edward W. ♦Hooper, Robert W. Horton, Charles P. ♦Howe, Archibald M. Howells, William D. ♦Howes, Osborne, Jr. Huntress, George L. Ives, Stephen B., Jr. ♦Jackson, Charles C. ♦James, Charles L. ♦James, George Abbot ♦Jewell, Harvey ♦Johnson, Samuel ♦Joy, Glidden W. *Keith, James M. ♦Kendall, Joseph S. Kidder, Henry P. ♦King, George P. Kinsley, Edward W. ♦Langdell, Charles G. Langerfeldt, C. W. R. ♦Langerfeldt, T. O. ♦Lathrop, John Lee, Henry S. ♦Lewis, Weston ♦Lincoln, Arthur Lincoln, Joseph B. ♦Lincoln, Solomon, Jr. Little, James L. Livermore, Thomas L. (New Hampshire) ♦Lodge, Henry Cabot Longfellow, Henry W. ♦Loring, John A. ♦Loring, William Caleb ♦Lovering, William C. ♦Luce, Matthew ♦Lyman, John P. ♦Lyman, Theodore ♦Lyon, Henry ♦Mack, Thomas *Marston, Stephen W. Mason, W. Powell Merriam, George S. Milton, Richard S. Minot, William, Jr. ♦Morse, Leopold ♦Morse, Nathan ♦Morse, Robert M. ♦Morse, Robert M., Jr. ♦Morse, Samuel T. ♦Moseley, Alexander Mudge, E. R. ♦Munroe, William A. ♦Myers, James J. ♦Niles, Stephen R. ♦Norcross, Grenville H. Norcross, Otis ♦Norcross, Otis, Jr. ♦Norton, Charles Eliot Ordway, John A. ♦Osgood, James R. ♦Page, Kilby Paine, Charles J. Parker, Francis E. Parker, Henry G. Parkinson, John Parkman, Francis ♦Parkman, Henry *Peabody, Francis H. Peabody, Robert S. Perkins, Edward N. ♦Perkins, William Philbrick, Edward S. ♦Phillips, Henry M. ♦Pierce, Edward L. ♦Pierce, Henry L. ♦Pierce, Jacob W. ♦Pomeroy, Ralph M. ♦Potter, Asa P. Powers, L. J. ♦Prang, Loui9 Pratt, John C. ♦Proctor, Thomas P. Prouty, Dwight ♦Pullman, George M. (Chicago, III.) ♦Pulsifer, R. M. ♦Putnam, George Putnam, John P. Quincy, Edmund. ♦Quincy, Josiah, Jr. Quincy, Samuel M. ♦Reed, Henry R. ♦Richards, George H. ♦Richardson, Moses W. ♦Richardson, Thos. O. ♦Richardson, Wm. L. *Roberts, James A. Robins, Edward B. ♦Rodman, Samuel W. ♦Rogers, Henry M. Rogers, John K. Rogers, William B. ♦Ropes, John C. ♦Ross, M. Denman ♦Rueter, Henry II. Russell, Edward B. IO VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. Russell, Henry S. *Russell, William G. *Samuel, N. *Sanford, John E. *Schlesinger, Barthold *Schlesinger, S. B. *Sears, J. Henry *Sears, J. Montgomery *Shaw, Lemuel *Shepard, Harvey N. *Shuman, A. *Simes, "William Sleeper, J. Henry *Smith, Edward M. Smith, W. L. *Snelling, George H. *So\vdon, A. J. C. *Spaulding, John P. *Spaulding, Mahlon D. *Sprague, Henry H. *Stackpole, J. Lewis *Stearns, Frank W. *Stearns, Richard H. Stebbins, Solomon B. *Stockton, Howard Storer, W. Brandt Storey, Moorfield Storrow, James J. *Sturgis, James Sturgis, John H. Sullivan, Richard *Talbot, I. Tisdale Talbot, Thomas *Tappan, Lewis W. *Teele, John O. Terhune, Edward P. *Thayer, Frank N. *Thayer, James B. *Thompson, Albert *Thompson, Francis *Thompson, Robert M. Thomdike, John L. *Thorndike, S. Lothrop *Thorp, Joseph G. *Townsend, Edward B. *Train, Charles R. *Villard, Henry (X. V.) *Wadleigh, Bainbridge (New Hampshire) *Walcott, Charles F. «Walcott, Henry P. *Walker, Nathaniel *Ware, William R. *Warner, Joseph B. *Warren, H. Langford *Warren, Samuel M. Webster, John G. W T eeks, Allen S. *Weil, Charles *Weissbein, Louis *Weld, A. Davis, Jr. *Weld, Francis M. (New York) *Weld, Otis E. *Weld, William G. *Wellington, Henry W. *Wells, Samuel *Weston, Henry C. *Wesselhoeft, Conrad *Wheeler, Alexander S. *Wheeler, Henry N. *White, Charles G. ^Whitman Henry *Whitney, Henry M. * Williams, George Fred. Williams, Moses, Jr. *Williams, S. Augustus *Williams, William B. Wilson, James H. Winsor, Alfred *Winsor, Justin *Wolcott, Roger *Woods, Henry *Young, Charles L. * Attended the Dinner. MR. SCHURZ' REPLY. Department of the Interior, Washington, Feb. 24, 1881. DEAR Sir, — The letter signed by yourself and a large number of citizens of Massachusetts, by which I am invited to a public dinner in Boston, has been presented to me by Mr. A. D. Chandler of your city. I need not say how deeply sensible I am of the honor done me by an invita- tion not only most kind in its terms, but remarkable in the character of its signers ; and I gratefully accept it. To name a day for my visit to Boston will not be pos- sible until I shall know when my successor will be ready to take charge of the Interior Department. I shall then have the honor to correspond with you on this subject. Believe me, dear Sir, very truly yours, C. SCHURZ. Mr. Francis Parkman, Boston, Mass. II. PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. Tuesday, the 22d of March, was selected as the day for the dinner, which was given at the Hotel Vendome. Mr. SCHURZ arrived in Boston on Monday, the 2ist, and dined with the Committee that evening at the Hotel. An in- formal reception to Mr. SCHURZ was held at five o'clock on Tuesday, the 22d, and at six the company sat down to dine. Grace was said by the Rev. J AMES FREEMAN CLARKE. At half-past eight, the Hon. Charles R. Codmax, who presided, called the company to order, and delivered the opening address. He was followed by Mr. SCHURZ and by other gentlemen. The addresses of the president and of the guest of the evening, as well as those which followed, were received with the heartiest satisfaction throughout, and were continually interrupted by enthusiastic applause. ADDRESS BY THE HON. CHARLES R. CODMAN. We are assembled to-night to do honor, by a frank and cordial expression of regard, to one of the most distinguished statesmen of the country; to testify our hearty admiration of a remarkable and unexampled political career ; and to say to our fel- low-citizens in Massachusetts and in the whole 1 4 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. country, so far as our names carry any influence or weight, that we believe that Carl Schurz, in the field, in the Senate, and in the Cabinet, has ren- dered services to the nation which rightfully place him in the foremost rank of her public men, and entitle him to the high respect and gratitude of all the people. At the age of nineteen, in the foreign country in which he was born, he had become conspicuous for an ardent devotion to the great principles of free- dom which have ever since guided and colored his political action. An exile and a refugee for liberty, he lands in early manhood upon the shores of America ; and, frankly renouncing his German citi- zenship, he adopts as his country the nation which gives to him, as to all the oppressed from foreign lands, protection, freedom, and opportunity. To that nation he gives his full allegiance ; and when her hour of danger comes, resigning an honorable post in her diplomatic service, he joins her patriotic sons born on her soil, and ventures his life in the war for Liberty and the Union. Of the highest capacity for public affairs, and by nature and training a lover of politics in the best sense of the word, he set himself the task of com- prehending the great ideas which underlie American constitutional government ; and he has mastered them with the same thoroughness with which he has conquered the difficulties of the historic lan- guage, through the medium of which they have MR. CODAIAN'S ADDRESS. *5 been proclaimed to the world. No public man to- day has more deeply studied American history and politics ; none is more imbued with their spirit, in their higher aspects ; no one expounds more clearly, more ably, and more independently the problems of finance and of government. That a man of for- eign birth and of foreign education should gain the ear of an English-speaking people as journalist, writer, and speaker, and should hold a place in the popular estimation which places him in the fore- front of statesmen and orators, is now seen for the first time in Anglo-Saxon history. We who are here to-night believe that Carl Schurz is one of the few men in public life who distinctively represent independent and comprehen- sive statesmanship. We have felt, even when sepa- rated from him by party lines, and supporting candidates who were not his, that he may have been right and we mistaken. It is not given to all men to stand outside of the clash of parties, or wisely and judiciously to deter- mine between them. Those who can take such a position, and maintain it by sheer force of ability, integrity, and character, are surely our foremost men. They are not the leaders of factions ; they are not even the recognized leaders of parties, — though that is an honorable and a lofty function : but they are the champions of great policies, and, if not the chiefs of parties, they are the natural leaders of men. There have always been such men 1 6 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. in our politics, and there will always be need of them. Charles Sumner was such a man; and Carl Schurz is such a man. It is my privilege to-night, in the name of this company, to present its thanks to Mr. Schurz for great and eminent services. We thank him that he has always been true to the two great political ideas which have ever been first in the hearts of the good people of this Commonwealth, — those, namely, of freedom and justice for all men, and of the sacred maintenance of public faith and credit. We thank him that when the West was honeycombed with the inflation heresy, his was the strongest and the clearest voice that pointed to the resumption of specie payments as demanded by every considera- tion of public safety and honor. And it has been his singular good fortune that upon this point, un- like many even of the wisest of our public men, he has had no occasion to revise or correct his opin- ions. They have stood the test of time ; and he has lived to see general acquiescence in views of which at one time he, almost alone among Western states- men, was the convinced and unhesitating advocate. We thank him for having added lustre and re- nown to the administration of President Hayes, — an administration which, in purity and honesty of pur- pose, and in absolute freedom from scandals and cor- ruption, has had no superior in American annals. We thank him for his able and successful man- agement of the vast and complicated concerns of MR. CODMAN'S ADDRESS. I 7 the Department of the Interior; for having shown that the public business is done more economically, more efficiently, and more honestly by officials whose appointment and promotion depend solely upon their merit and competency, — thus demon- strating the necessity and practicability of extending the same principle to the entire civil service. We thank him for having done more than any of his predecessors for the advancement of the Indians in education and civilization, and for the improvement of their relations with the white men and with the Government. We thank him for having called the attention of our legislators — indifferent even after they were informed — to the outrages inflicted upon the Indi- ans in the name and by the agents of a free people ; and we congratulate him that a measure of justice has been meted out to the unfortunate Ponca tribe. That sentiment of sympathy for the oppressed, and of resistance to oppression, which always stirs the blood of Massachusetts, has at last awakened the conscience of this community ; and, in the sud- den and honest and indignant expression of that sentiment, grave injustice, as we believe, has been done to the man who, overlooking the whole field, and oppressed with the. load of official responsibility, has been considering for months and years a prob- lem of astounding difficulty, with a view to its solu- tion on principles of justice and safety for the Indians. And now that a tardy act of reparation 1 8 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. has been done, and the nation has recognized its fault and its humiliation, surely that citizen may stand acquitted who, first of all men holding execu- tive or legislative office, proclaimed the wrong and demanded the redress. These are the views, as I have tried imperfectly to interpret them, of this assembly, — representing, not, I trust, altogether inadequately, the commercial enterprise, the literary culture, and the independent politics of Massachusetts. We offer to our guest, now withdrawing — temporarily, we hope — from the public service, this tribute of our regard. We will not believe that the country is to lose his val- ued counsels. He will yet be heard, we doubt not, in the press and in the gatherings of the people ; and we know that he will discuss the issues of the day with the highest intellectuality, patriotism, and power. Looking hopefully forward to the future, we are here to-night to thank him for the past, and to give him our best wishes and our heartiest com- mendation. Health and prosperity and added dis- tinguished public honors to Carl Schurz! MR. SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 19 ADDRESS BY THE HON. CARL SCHURZ. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, — I hope you will not find fault with me for saying that I stand before you a proud man, and you are responsible for it. When I received your invitation to this dinner, and read the names of its signers, — among them poets who have charmed the minds and be- come dear to the hearts of all civilized mankind, men of science, scholars, publicists, ministers, leaders of thought, of commerce, and of industry, ornaments and illustrations of this renowned old Common- wealth ; and when I considered that, in an expression of approval and confidence like this, votes are not only counted but weighed, and that this demonstra- tion came to me, not as to one clothed with power and authority, but at the moment of my return to private life, — I felt that I was honored in a measure falling to the lot of not many men. That I heartily thank you for this extraordinary honor is saying but little, and I am only troubled by a doubt as to how I can have deserved it all. I may say, at least, that I am conscious of having earnestly and faithfully endeavored to do so. This is not the first time I have received great kindness at the hands of citizens of Massachusetts. Twenty-two years ago, a young and obscure new- comer in this republic, as some of my friends here 20 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. present may remember, I was, so to speak, intro- duced by public men of Massachusetts to the Ameri- can people as one of the advocates of the Antislavery cause. Later, when Charles Sumner had departed from the living, the city of Boston deemed me worthy to express her appreciation of the patriotic career, and her grief at the loss, of one of her most illustrious sons. Still later, I was honored with a call to aid in public debate in one of your State contests, when the cause of honest money and pub- lic faith seemed to be at stake. And more recently, in a controversy concerning the Indian problem, referred to by our honorable chairman, my name has been discussed in Massachusetts with a warmth of interest which could not have been greater had I been a native citizen of your Commonwealth, and had I lived in it and been of it all the days of my life. It is not surprising, therefore, that I should not feel like a stranger among you ; friend and foe here have treated me as one of your own, and I am perfectly at home with both. The measure of praise you have been kind enough to award to me for my administration of the Interior Department is — I say this without any affectation of modesty — perhaps too generous. I know better than any body else that my administra- tion has not been perfect. The Interior Department is not only the most difficult, it is also the most dangerous, department of the Government. It is so cumbrous and overgrown an accumulation of hete- MR. SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 2 1 rogeneous subjects, all of importance ; the interests in its care offer such attractions and temptations to those who strive to overreach the Government by- dishonest means, and the branches of the public ser- vice under its control are scattered over an extent of ground so extremely difficult to watch, that it re- quires a long and intense application on the part of its head to understand its different branches and all the places of danger, and to master its machinery. I think I am not exaggerating when I say that the Interior Department devolves as much labor and responsibility upon its head personally as any other two departments impose upon their chiefs combined. Under such circumstances, knowing the department as I do, I shall always be disposed to make ample allowance for extraordinary difficulties in passing judgment upon the success of a Secretary of the Interior, and to be very careful in charging upon him direct personal responsibility for occasional ac- cidents, mistakes, or failures. All that I am willing to claim for my own administration of that depart- ment — and a great part of that credit belongs to the able and faithful subordinate officers who aided me — is a certain measure of improvement upon the condition of things as I found them ; and I should be the last man to say that my successor may not find occasion for improvement upon the condition of things which I leave to him. He is a man of high character, just impulses, and great practical experi- ence and sagacity ; and one of the best wishes I can 22 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. offer him is, that in the execution of his honest purposes he may find as kind a public judgment as you are giving me. I am sure that the honorable chairman has not mentioned the recent controversy about the Indian question for the purpose of continuing it here, and certainly I do not mean to do so. While it may be necessary sometimes to repel attacks in self-defence, I am always ready to give to every honest critic of my acts the same credit for good intentions which I claim for myself. Among those who have the public good in view, differences of opinion should not be permitted too easily to degenerate into impeachment of motives. You are certainly right in thinking that I could not possibly have spent four years of my public life in maliciously plotting the oppression of a poor Indian tribe. You may safely assume that no man at the head of the Interior Department, unless he be a corrupt and depraved wretch, will ever be inclined wilfuly to maltreat the Indians. But the management of Indian affairs has to deal with complications of difficulties of which nobody has any clear conception who is not personally con- versant with its details. It may easily happen that those charged with responsibility, and having the whole field in view, find themselves forced to resort to expedients of which those who direct their atten- tion only to one point of the intricate problem do not appreciate the necessity and bearing; and thus MR. SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 23 it happens that even honest criticism, while trying to be just to one side, may become flagrantly unjust to the other. As to my own administration of Indian Affairs, I am perfectly content to leave it to public judgment, even to the judgment of its critics, when the heat of unnecessary controversy shall have subsided. I know that my conduct has grown from just and humane purposes ; that my naturally kind feelings for the Indians have, by direct intercourse with them, ripened into a personal friendship, and that that friendship is reciprocated by most of the Indians with whom I have had personal contact, and who sometimes express their feelings in delicate and tender manifestations of attachment and gratitude. For I may assure you that the Indian is by no means devoid of such impulses and feelings. I think also that the policy followed by me during my administration, — the policy of promoting the transformation of the Indians from shiftless paupers into thrifty and orderly workers, as agriculturists, herdsmen, traders, and mechanics ; of extending their educational facilities, so as to teach them how to learn and how to live ; of stimulating their desire to become individual owners of land, and of other property, like white men : a policy, in a word, of pre- paring them for their ultimate absorption into the great body of American citizenship, with all its rights and duties, — has been as successfully carried on as four years of hard and conscientious work in an ex- 24 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. ecutive department could make it ; and that a wise and vigorous pursuit of the same ends will finally solve that Indian problem which in the past has so often proved a trouble, and also sometimes a dis- grace, to the American people. Not as a matter of justice, but as a matter of fact, the rapid development of the country puts before the Indians the stern alternative of civilization, or destruction by conflict. Wise and human states- manship will see to it that the Indians do not stand in the way of that development, but become part of it, and benefited by it. This is the" " Indian prob- lem " in a nutshell. And I do not hesitate to de- clare my firm conviction, — a conviction springing from much study and some practical experience, — that the Indians can be civilized, at least sufficiently to secure an orderly, harmonious, and prosperous neighborhood with the white race. But to bring about this result all over the country requires not only the proclamation of general prin- ciples, but steady and judicious work in detail. To this work I have been devoted for four years, and the warm interest I take in the Indian race will in- duce me to aid it in whatever way I can, as a private citizen, as long as I live. It is a singular thing, but not a rare one, that we are impugned in our best motives and actions by those whom an identity of general purpose should make our friends. The most discordant sounds are produced by different people playing the same mel- MR. SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 25 ody at the same time in different keys ; and so I have had to suffer attack not only from a reckless border sentiment, bent on war and destruction, but from some of those who speak in the name of phil- anthropy. I suppose I am not the first who has had to endure this, and shall not be the last. But now the so-called Ponca question appears to be happily disposed of. Congress has appropriated a liberal sum to indemnify the Poncas for their loss, and to settle them comfortably according to their wishes. The Poncas in the Indian Territory are content to stay there ; the Poncas in Dakota are content to stay there. The provision made for them is all they ask for. The Poncas are satisfied, the Government is satisfied, the American public at large seem to be satisfied ; and it is to be hoped that soon to that general satisfaction there will be no exception, and that honest philanthropy will find for this unity of purpose also once more harmony of action. A few days ago I had the pleasure of addressing a public meeting in New York in behalf of the enlargement of facilities of Indian education at the Hampton school, — a most worthy and important object. That meeting in New York was very suc- cessful, and I hope that the same movement will commend itself with equal success to the philan- thropic citizens of Boston. Let us join hands in it, and do something of immediate practical impor- tance for the Indians; and let us hope that in such 26 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. useful efforts the old Ponca quarrel may no longer divide us. But as the Ponca question was not the whole In- dian problem, so the Indian problem is only a small part of our national concerns. Our honorable chair- man has touched upon many topics, and opened a large field ; and you will pardon me if, for a moment, I follow him. I venture to say that no inhabitant of this coun- try can survey the condition of things in the world abroad without congratulating himself with pride and gratitude upon being an American citizen, and upon living in this great and happy republic. While on the other side of the Atlantic we see Eng- land perplexed by the Irish problem, — that problem having assumed almost a revolutionary character, — and by a far-off war, rendered odious not only by occasional disasters, but still more so by the conscious injustice of its cause ; while we see the nations of the European continent groaning under the terrible burdens of an armed and precarious peace, disquieted by social restlessness, political fac- tion, and economic disorder ; while we see the assassination of an emperor spreading general con- sternation, and an uncertain, threatening future hanging over all Europe like a gloomy thunder cloud : while we observe all these portentous signs there, the only question which immediately troubles us is, whether we shall or shall not have an extra session of Congress to enable the Government to MR. SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 27 fund our national bonds at a rate of interest less than four per cent! We justify once more the old saying, " Happy the country that has no history!" We make but little history at the present moment ; we should, perhaps, be more comfortable if we made still less. Indeed, never since the close of our civil war has our condition — economic, social, and political — been so generally satisfactory as it is now. Of our material prosperity I need not speak. It is felt in every sphere of society, in every branch of industry and commerce. It is the envy of the world. The animosities of our great civil conflict have, in a great measure, subsided. Prosperous activity in the South has accelerated the healing of old sores, and the people of the two sections are more and more drawn together again by the conscious- ness of common rights, common duties, common aims, and a common destiny ; in short, by the inspi- ration of a common patriotism. Our National Government has, I think, suc- ceeded in proving once more the falsity of the old assertion, that corruption is an inevitable concomi- tant of democratic institutions. Whatever mistakes may have been made by the late administration, — and I frankly admit that they were not a few, — it is generally conceded that it has demonstrated the possibility of honest, business-like, and morally- respected government in this republic ; and the 28 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. new administration, I have no doubt, means to do no less, but will endeavor to do more. Upon these things we may all congratulate our- selves ; but even under such happy circumstances we should not permit our optimism to carry us so far as to think that everything is, and will remain, just as it ought to be. As to our material prosperity, we ought to see to it that the spirit of enterprise and speculation do not run away with our judgment. Perhaps we are already going at a rate of speed which taxes the whole endurance of our energies. We are inclined to boast of the soundness of our money system ; but we should take care that we may not find ourselves some day with a quantity of silver money on our hands which will drive out our gold, and leave us with all the disadvantages of an inferior currency in the great commerce of the world. We should con- sider that our excellent banking system, which is, in a business point of view, one of the most valuable legacies of the war, — in fact, the best banking sys- tem this country ever had, and, I think, the best which any country has to-day, — will be of no less value to the business of the country in prosperous times than in times of depression, and should not be lightly jeoparded for some comparatively trifling and apparent advantage. In this respect the best policy emphatically is, to let well enough alone. As to the formerly hostile sections of the coun- try, I am sure the number of those in the North MR. SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 29 who desire to keep alive old animosities for political purposes, or who think it politically profitable to do so, is daily growing less, and their influence on pub- lic opinion is decidedly declining. On the other hand, the wise and generous sentiment, that if we wish the South to be and remain loyal and patri- otic, we must frankly and cordially recognize and encourage every evidence of loyalty and patriotism on its part, is every day becoming more emphatic and preponderant. In fact, it is a great mistake on the part of our Southern brethren to believe that the people of the North are inclined to distrust them, and to deprive them of their share of political power, because they are Southern men; and that for this reason, and this reason alone, the majority of the Northern peo- ple discountenance a political organization in which the South has been striving to be a unit. I cer- tainly do not speak as a partisan, when I say that it is no sectional feeling which induces most of us to criticise and oppose political practices and theories which, with equal determination, we would criticise and oppose among ourselves, — such as encroach- ments upon the rights of voters, a dangerous finan- cial policy, and the like ; things detrimental to the principles of republican government, and to inter- ests common to the whole country, — South as well as North. In the same measure as Southern men show that they are willing to respect the rights of others as their own are respected; to treat living pub- 30 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. lie questions on their own merits, making their party divisions on those questions ; and that they value the interests they have in common with other parts of the Union above those which they have thought to be peculiar to the South, — the question of politi- cal power, as between the North and the South, will no longer have any force. When the South ceases to assert itself as a distinct section, different from others, the North will necessarily have to do the same thing; and sectionalism will be at an end. It is to be hoped that patriotic men, North and South, will work together to that effect; and I am sure that the enlightened people of Massachusetts have, on many occasions, shown their cheerful willingness to do so. ' As to the character and efficiency of the Govern- 1 ment in its different branches, something has been tried, and I think something has been accomplished, in the way of improvement. I highly value the com- pliment paid me by your chairman for my efforts in that direction ; but more remains to be done. In the administration of the Interior Department I have become convinced, more strongly than I ever was, that a thorough and systematic reform of our civil service in the methods of appointment, tenure, and removal is not only necessary, but also practicable. I am convinced that as our National Government grows with the growth of the country ; that as the questions it is to deal with become larger and more complicated, — the organization of the ad- MR. SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 31 ministrative machinery upon the principles of the old spoils system will show itself more and more to be a positive danger. It not only tends to render the service itself untrustworthy, in point of integrity and efficiency, but also to make political contests more struggles for power than for the realization of ideas ; and it enables and encourages public men to make themselves leaders of faction instead of leaders of opinion ; to rule the politics of the coun- try by the power of organization rather than by the power of ideas. While this is a dangerous thing under any cir- cumstances, it will be doubly so as the spoils mul- tiply, and the value of the interests acted upon by the Government grows larger and more tempting. The control of organized faction, held together in great part by the hope of spoils, — regarding prin- ciples and policies more or less as incidental to its aims, — is the natural outgrowth of this system. It cannot fail in the end to subject the body poli- tic to selfish ends, and to undermine republican institutions. To avert this clanger, the abolition of the spoils system and the systematic substitution therefor of a civil service, organized upon sound business princi- ples, is an absolute necessity. It is frequently said that this cannot be accomplished unless the people change their traditional notions and habits concern- ing this subject. This may be true. But I believe that the people are beginning to change their habits 32 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. and notions. What the country desires is an honest, wise, business-like administration of public affairs. It would have questions of public interest dis- cussed and decided upon their own merits. In order to have this, the offices of the Government must cease to be mere spoils of party warfare; and thus the spoils themselves must cease to be a great motive power in political contests. Many who did not see this yesterday see it to-day ; and many who do not see it to-day will see it to-morrow. I believe that there is a growing sentiment in favor of a thorough reform, and greater hope of its accom- plishment. What has been gained in that direction cannot be abandoned by either political party with impunity ; and each party will find itself obliged to move onward, if it be only from motives of self- preservation. When during the last session of Congress, cer- tain Democrats brought forward a proposition for the reform of the civil service, some Republicans dis- credited and ridiculed the effort. I regretted to see this. An effort in so good a direction should be welcomed, from whatever side it may come. If the Republicans are wise, they will not ridicule the Dem- ocratic reformers, but take them at their word. If there is any insincerity in their movement, it will then show itself. To gain the advantage of the Democrats, the Republicans will have to prove that they are more sincere in the work of reform than their opponents. They can do so by taking up the MR. SCHURZ' ADDRESS. 33 work more vigorously ; and I trust they will, for I know they can, having the largest reform element on their side. I do not speak here merely as a party man, but rather as one who has an object of great public in- terest in view. It has always been, and is now, my opinion that the public interest is best served when each political party must depend for its success upon its own virtues, and not upon the shortcom- ings of its opponents. As a member of a party, I have therefore always desired, not that the opposing party should be as bad, but that it should be as good, as possible. It would thereby oblige my party to elevate its aims and to do its best. Such are my feelings now. I hope that the Democrats will, in the reform of the civil service, as in all other respects, do the best they can. As a Republican, I hope that the Republicans will do still better. In this way we may accomplish something of lasting value between the two. At this moment the two political parties are pretty evenly balanced. In quiet times like ours that is, on the whole, a healthy condition. It reminds both parties that neither of them can venture upon mis- chief without seriously impairing its prospects for the future. Between them stands an element which is not con- trolled by the discipline of party organization, but acts upon its own judgment for the public interest. It is the independent element; which, in its best 3 34 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. sense and shape, may be defined as consisting of men who consider it more important that the govern- ment be well administered than that this or that set of men administer it. This independent element is not very popular with party politicians in ordinary times ; but it is very much in requisition when the clay of voting comes. It can render inestimable service to the cause of good government by wield- ing the balance of power it holds with justice and wisdom, and from purely patriotic motives. Ours must necessarily be, in a certain sense, a govern- ment of and by political parties ; but it will be all the better for the country if it is a party govern- ment tempered by an unselfish, enlightened, and patriotic independent opinion. I do not know of any period in our recent history so propitious for the treatment of public questions on their own merits, and for the reformation of ex- isting abuses, as the present. There are no issues involving the life or death of the nation before us ; there is no decision impending of such overshadow- ing and absorbing importance as to make us forget everything else. Unreasoning passion is out of place. We are on the whole in so favorable a con- dition that we can calmly consider the business in hand. A fair day is the best time for repairing the roof of our house. I trust that the American people will be mindful of this great opportunity. I am sure that the enlightened and patriotic citizens of Massa- chusetts will not let that opportunity pass unheeded. PRESIDENT ELIOT'S ADDRESS. 35 And thus I heartily thank you for this demon- stration which, while conferring such extraordinary honor upon me, illustrates once more the living, active sympathy existing between those who advo- cate the cause of just and good government in any- place, in any part of the country, and this grand old Commonwealth, — a leader in progressive ideas, whose monuments are upon so many battlefields of thought and of patriotic action. The Chairman. Gentlemen, we are honored to-night by the presence of several gentlemen distinguished among the literary men of Massachusetts. I ask you to listen for a few moments to one who officially and personally repre- sents them with great ability and character. I introduce to you the President of Harvard College. ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT CHARLES W. ELIOT. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, — My occupa- tion leads me to study the applications or exhibi- tions of disciplined mental and moral power in the various pursuits of men. One who had no clear conception what the powers are which an advocate, a physician, or a minister should have at command would be but a blind guide in directing the training of young men for those callings. So I have had occasion to consider what the needful qualities and powers of statesmen are; and in answer to your 3 6 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. summons, Mr. Chairman, I will say a few words on that theme. You will not imagine that I have any reference to that large class of public men who are described as office-brokers. That, gentlemen, is certainly the meanest business now anywhere done. The very word is an insult to an honest and useful trade which, I see, is honorably represented at these tables. The modern statesman needs, in the first place, the power of clear, forcible, and persuasive exposi- tion. Especially is this the case in a republic where millions of voters have to be instructed in matters of public policy, and crass ignorance is often to be found even in intelligent representative bodies. The statesman seldom deals with new principles or ideas ; his task is to show how to treat new cases by old rules ; his business is wisely to apply well- established principles under more or less novel con- ditions. Look at the speeches made by our dis- tinguished guest during the twenty years past, and you will find that they treat of well-worn themes, — such as slavery, executive usurpation of powers, discontented populations, international relations, public finance, currency, public works, and civil service. These subjects have all been treated with the utmost thoroughness, both theoretically and practically, in one nation or another, at one time or another, in the history of the modern world. Indeed, some of them have been repeatedly worked out to PRESIDENT ELIOT'S ADDRESS. 37 their ultimate issues in this country ; and repeatedly have the discussions and the experience, with all their lessons, been forgotten by the people. Take, for example, the subject of irredeemable paper money, and you will not find a better statement of the evils of that currency than was given by the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Appleton, pastor of the First Church in Cambridge, in his second sermon preached on a special Fast Day in January, 1747, from the text, " And he looked for judgment, but behold op- pression ; for righteousness, but behold a cry." The reverend preacher spoke from his own observation, and the bitter experience of his contemporaries. The fact is that paper money, clipped coin, prohibi- tory tariffs, sumptuary laws, usurpations, repudiation, and corruption are not new sins or follies, but very old ones. The statesman must be constantly giving the most elementary lessons in public policy and public righteousness ; but to give those lessons well — with lucidity, ample illustration, and logical acu- men — is a worthy task for the keenest and best trained intellect. I need not say that this power of luminous exposition is a gift of exceeding rarity, which always commands our admiration ; but when the gift is exercised and exhibited in a language not the mother tongue, it may well excite our admi- ration to the highest decree. There is another great power which the statesman must constantly exercise, not only in legislative as- semblies, but in committees, administrative coun- 38 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. cils, and even in private meetings, — I mean the power of debate. You will not suppose that I have in mind the wretched art of making a smart rejoin- der or a sarcastic retort, still less the truly diaboli- cal art of enraging one's opponents by taunts and sneers. I mean the power of fairly meeting the heavy shock of a worthy opponent's argument, of parrying the keen, quick thrust of an interpolated objection, of turning against one's adversary his own guns, of summoning from the reserves of a well- stored mind prompt reinforcements of fact, figure, and illustration, — and all this on a sudden, perhaps before a hostile audience, or when the truth which is to be defended is ungrateful. The strong debater, in this sense, on large subjects is a very rare person- age, remarkable not only for the power of his word, but for the amplitude of his knowledge. Anybody with a fair memory can deliver a prepared speech, if only he has adequate notice. Nowadays any Congressman of average ability can make what is called a sfreat effort. He can hire a hack to write it for him ; or he can get the latent person whose axe is to be ground to supply the copious stream of speech. The hospitality of the " Congressional Rec- ord " is wide indeed. But, gentlemen, the genuine debate in Senate Chamber, committee room, or Cab- inet, for the purpose of arriving at sound conclu- sions and shaping wise action, — that is one of the most striking exhibitions of disciplined mental power which the world affords. We have here to-night a genuine debater. PRESIDENT ELIOT'S ADDRESS. 39 But I would not lay too much stress upon the mental powers of the true statesman ; for his moral qualities are more important. I cannot speak of them all, for what high trait does he not need ? He needs courage, the love of justice, and a supreme pa- tience. It was Pitt, I think, who said that the most needful virtue in administration is patience. The real lags so exasperatingly behind the ideal ! Let me single out two moral qualities which the Ameri- can statesman especially needs, — independence and highmindedness. Independence of character! that sturdy, inflexible, and self-reliant force of will which enables a statesman to follow the dictates of his own judgment and conscience, in opposition to party passion or the fury of the multitude, if need be to his own injury ; and highmindedness ! that elevation of soul, founded on self-respect, which manifests itself in his avoidance of personal or petty alterca- tions, in the whole tone of his public speech, and in his steadfast respect for the people. Universal suffrage engenders a peculiarly revolting kind of sycophant ; namely, the flatterer of the multitude. To flatter and cajole a few eminent personages un- der despotic forms of government is not so mean a task as to flatter and cajole masses of men under republican forms. A deified emperor was but a transitory delusion ; a deified populace, flattered with such appellations as " imperial " and " sovereign," is a much more durable and dangerous idol. Many of our public men manifest in the surest of all ways an 4-0 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. utter contempt for the people, — they constantly ap- peal to their prejudices, their cupidity, and their passions. The independent and highminded states- man appeals to the reason of the people ; he tries with all his might to enlighten, persuade, and con- vince them ; he believes that their history has an intelligible voice ; he never flatters them ; he teaches — I borrow some noble words spoken years ago by our guest — that the reason, the good sense, the conscience, and the enlightened will of the people are their destiny, and urges them to acknowledge no other. No nation is long grateful to a public man who urges them, or permits them, if he can help it, to do a mean thing, — such as to break their promises, to clip their coin, or to maltreat their servants. The statesmen who are remembered with honor are they who respect themselves, respect the people, and on every issue urge the people to do what is just and magnanimous. Now, that is what our honored guest has done through all the twenty years of his public life. He has proved himself, during this long pe- riod of conspicuous public service, to possess in an eminent degree the intellectual powers and the moral qualities which are needed in an American statesman. DR. ELLIS'S ADDRESS. 41 The Chairman. Gentlemen, the committee have re- ceived several letters from distinguished gentlemen, two of which I propose to read; the others will appear in the morning papers. [He then read the letters from ex-Presi- dent Hayes and ex-Secretary Sherman, printed on pp. 74. 75-] Gentlemen, I am now going to call for testimony for the Indians from a gentleman who knows something of their feelings. I ask you to listen to the Rev. Dr. George E. Ellis. ADDRESS BY THE REV. GEORGE E. ELLIS, D.D. This occasion of welcome and respect to our g Ues t — a distinguished statesman and public ser- vant — reminds me of a scene where last I was in his company, when he was treated with like honor and grateful regard. It was quite unlike this scene, and yet there is an intimate relation between them. It was nearly a year ago, when, with the honored President of the nation, and a marvellous concourse of people, he attended what we may call the Com- mencement Day at the Hampton Normal Institu- tion for Negroes and Indians. It was in Virginia Hall. The pupils are called blacks and red men ; but they seemed of every color, even some of the prismatic ones. When our guest rose to speak to them, there was a greeting which interpreted itself. It was not boisterous or noisy; but its sounds and gestures, the gaze of eyes, the attent of ears, all ex- pressed its heartiness, its depth, and fulness of feel- ing. The Indians recognized in him their wise and 4 2 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. kind friend, — their benefactor ; the one leading man who had proposed and put on trial at last the one hopeful method for future experiment by our nation, for justice, mercy, and peace between us and the native tribes. Our guest has honorably and nobly linked his name and repute with this new policy. He has the sympathy and confidence of all the hu- mane and right-minded of our whole people in it. The nation may be won to it. And there is every reasonable prospect that it may prove to be the means of redressing the fearful sum of wrongs and treacheries chargeable upon the nation in its deal- ings with the aborigines. Yet I think that a word of explanation — though not of palliation — may be spoken for our Government. I had shared to the full the popular impression which has so often found a sharp and stinging utterance, that the course of our Government, through its full century, toward the Indians, has been treacherous, unscrupulous, malignant, and in- human. A weary course of thorough study and investigation for a special purpose, pursued through the whole mass of State documents, — for nearly a hundred volumes of which I have been indebted to our guest, — has led me to qualify and relieve that bitter judgment, so far, at least, as any set object, or planning, or intent of wrong is concerned. I grant that, in fact, in effect, and with painful accumula- tions of evidence, such has been the humiliating and often unscrupulous and cruel character of the DR. ELLIS'S ADDRESS. 43 dealings of our Government with the Indians. But it has not been so in intent, in premeditated or de- liberate defiance of humane methods. Far other- wise. Very easily might a mass of evidence be spread before us, with testimony from documents, messages of Presidents, beginning with those of Washington, acts and resolves of Congress, schemes, appropriations, and all sorts of public measures de- vised by our Government and the constituency behind it, — all showing an honorable intention to treat the aborigines, as a whole and in their tribes, with mercy, humanity, and a lavish generosity. And these righteous aims have been complemented by an infinite succession of philanthropic, mission- ary, and educational enterprises, undertaken by in- dividuals and associations. Sums of money, which would have covered any estimate which the Indians themselves would have made of the value of what have been regarded as their lands, have been paid for ends of peace with them, to say nothing of the cost of fighting them. Yet all these humane and kindly purposes have been thwarted, and the actual results are humiliating to us ; convicting us of grievous wrong ; seeming fully to justify the stinging reproaches against our Government. Possibly, those reproaches may be somewhat lightened by a candid statement of the means and causes through which just intentions have in effect yielded to injustice and treachery. These good purposes have faltered, and have then 44 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. been overridden by circumstances unforeseen, but resisting, by obstacles, complications, incidental and temporary contingencies, defying even, the power as well as the deliberate intentions of the Govern- ment. There have been three principal and obsti- nate agencies of this mischief which have started up, unforeseen and unprovided for, and before which the Government has yielded. i. We must recognize that spring and source of so much of our national trouble, — the conflict be- tween the Federal and State jurisdictions, by which, as in the first signal case of Georgia, paralleled ever since down to our own times, the Government pledged to Indians territory which afterward came under the sway of local Legislatures. 2. The rapid opening and occupation of vast regions for improvement by the whites, so that in decades of years the frontier lines have encroached on Indian domains, — the lines changing like an horizon, while the settlements of the Pacific coast have griped the central wilderness, tightening its borders and reducing its extent. 3. The enterprises of exploration, of mail routes, of telegraphs, and mining by the people, who are stronger than the Government ; before whom the Government has quailed, temporized, and then broken its solemn pledges. Nor in this century of public faithlessness and inhumanity, of oppression and cruelty, have our people been merely the inflictors of wrong. Suffer- DR. ELLIS'S ADDRESS. 45 ing and vengeance have been returned upon them in full measure. Twelve white persons certainly — some intelligent estimates assure us twenty — have died in battle, ambush, or torture, for every single Indian life that has been extinguished in the long- contested struggle between the races on this conti- nent. And the cost of killing each Indian has been set at a million dollars. As to their extermination in this process, our most careful authorities tell us that there are as many Indians now on our so-called domain as there were when the whites first came. The relations of the whites with the aborigines on this continent having begun in wrong, have been resented and resisted by them, after their own modes of wile and warfare, to such effect as to persuade the whites that they had to deal with incarnate fiends. This conviction, which has been stamped afresh upon the dreads and perils of those who have advanced our frontiers over each successive western valley, river, and mountain range, has perpetuated the belief that the right of civilization against bar- barism involves the right of extermination. Yet humanity and righteousness protest against that gigantic outrage. Still, there is only one effectual alternative to extermination, — and that is the asser- tion by the natives of the rights and privileges of civilization. From them must come the evidence that they are not wild beasts, prowling through thickets and plains, but entitled to the rights of hu- man beings, — to homes and fields of their own. 46 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. We must face the simple and rigid condition that not until the Indians break up their tribal relations, and occupy, in severalty by families, as farms, tracts of regions which heretofore they have only roamed over and skimmed, — only then will the whites allow them to be owners of the soil, and treat them as such. And in exacting that condition the whites will claim that they follow the law of all civilized people, and even the law of Nature. The reason why no individual, tribe, people, or nation can assert and hold dominion over any portion of the high seas or ocean, is because no permanent occu- pancy or improvement can be set up there. All are free to course them or to fish them ; but they have no owners. By the same test, however, in councils and treaties with tribes of Indians, our Government may have shammed a recognition of their territorial rights. It has been but a sham. From the first coming here of the whites they have never honestly held — yielding all that followed the admission — that any tribe of Indians found in occupancy of a portion of territory had a bona fide title of owner- ship of it. Though they might, after first getting a footing in it through conquest or vacancy, amid an incessant internecine warfare, have hunted over it for two or three generations, still it was not theirs as against any rival roamers. They had merely skinned vast spaces of it of its natural productions ; they set up no tokens of possession, with bounds and fencings and improvements. These are the DR. ELLIS'S ADDRESS. 47 white man's credentials for title and possession ; and not till the Indian copies them and holds by them will he be treated otherwise than as the vermin of the soil. While we find cause of satisfaction and encour- agement in the adoption of an Indian policy for the future which will rectify our errors and wrongs, we must not imagine that we are thus to relieve a most serious and perplexing duty of its difficulties and embarrassments. The Indian question will be a troublesome one to our Government and people so long as there are Indians. And there will be spe- cial race characteristics about it, in many respects unlike those which invest a wise dealing with the blacks and the Chinese. Some of us have charita- bly tried to interpret the remark attributed to our great General, that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian," as simply meaning that the Indian element or quality must be suppressed, overruled, or killed out of a man, before he will be a safe or promising subject to deal with. If this be a fair construction of the stern sentence, it will find multitudes to ac- cord with it. We need only to remind ourselves what dreads and disgusts are stirred up by the presence and prowling of a tramp around our best-guarded rural homesteads, to conceive what apprehensions will threaten the inhabitants of fron- tiers on the border lines of civilization and savagery, in the neighborhood of Indians, even while they are advancing in the early stages of fixed residences and farming. 48 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. Another fact which we must recognize and allow is this : Whatever course our Government pursues toward the Indians, be it the very wisest and most humane, will have about it the essential element of arbitrariness, dictation, and compulsion. If we con- sult the Indians about it, as with a purpose of hav- ing their consent or approval, it will be under the implication that they have got to yield to it. We are not ready to assume that they are competent judges as to what is best for them. Our judgment in the case will have sway, whether they accord with it or not. And when in wisdom and humanity our plans for them are decided, they will be compelled to comply. This element of arbitrariness is unavoid- able, because it is our judgment in the case, though it may or may not be theirs. And something more than human in generosity and unselfishness would be expected of us, if in planning and deciding as to what is the best disposal to be made of the Indians, we are not largely influenced by considerations of our own security and interest. The greeting which our honored guest received from the Indians at Hampton is but the first note of the eulogies which will extend through the centuries to come, for the initiation of his Indian policy. DR. CLARKE'S ADDRESS. 49 The Chairman. I will now call, gentlemen, upon one of the most independent of Massachusetts politicians ; a gentleman who sometimes goes to conventions, but who is never conventional, — the Rev. James Freeman Clarke. ADDRESS BY REV. JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE, D.D. These, Sir, are the methods of European despot- isms ! Gentlemen come together to have a pleasant dinner in each other's society, and they suddenly find themselves called upon by your arbitrary authority to make a speech. But, Sir, I am equal to the occa- sion. I suspected how it might be. When I knew that we were to have for our guest this evening a gentleman guilty of the crime of having been born in Europe, and whose early life, as is well known, was spent in the service of emperors and kings, I thought that we might have introduced here some of the dark and cruel methods of imperial govern- ments. I therefore carefully wrote out a speech and put it in my pocket; and, to save time, I will now read it. I think, Sir, that though Boston has done several good things during her brief existence, she has sel- dom honored herself in a more graceful way than by her reception to-night of our distinguished friend. The invitation which has brought him here was signed by leading men of every party, sect, and way of thinking, — conservatives and radicals, statesmen, divines, men of business, men of literature, — rep- 4 50 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. resenting every phase and form of the best Massa- chusetts life. And why have these men asked Carl Schurz to meet us here ? Because they consider him to stand prominent among the statesmen of this coun- try for that which they most esteem and honor, — for purity in politics ; for the best republican prin- ciples ; for human progress ; for the union of liberty and law; for honest, clean administration. The men who signed that invitation have not done it hastily or ignorantly. They have known you long, Sir. They are familiar with your course. They re- member your struggles and sufferings in the cause of liberty abroad. They saw you an exile, on foreign shores, coming among a people of another race and language, mastering the resources of that language as few to whom it is native have done, and becom- ing a power for liberty here as there. You have guided the vast body of German voters in our land, and united them against slavery. You represent to our minds the best elements of both nations. We owe it greatly to your efforts that we obtained the last four years of a good administration, and we are largely indebted to you for whatever it has done in the cause of civil service reform and pure adminis- tration. The government of President Hayes has seemed a folly and a failure to the trading Republi- can politician on whose brazen forehead is written the motto, " To the victors belong the spoils." But we see in it four years of successful progress in the DR. CLARKE'S ADDRESS. 51 rio-ht direction, and believe that history will mark it as the turning point from demoralization to purity. Sneer at it as they may, denounce it as they will, they know that it is honored by the nation, and will re- main a permanent obstacle to all attempts to restore the system of personal government, — that is, govern- ment for the benefit of certain persons, and not for the good of the whole people. Our gratitude for the past is joined with that other kind of gratitude, which has been cynically defined as " the sense of favors to come." We look for your support and help in the great duties of the hour before us, — the permanent reform by law of the civil service, the industrial regen- eration of the South, revision of the tariff, and, above all, ample protection for the freedom and purity of the ballot box, that palladium of American freedom. The civil service will become what we need, when no one is appointed to office but the man best fitted to do its duties, no one kept in office who does not perform its duties, and no one removed from office so long as he faithfully and ably fulfills its duties. And the rights of the people in elections will be vin- dicated, when law and public opinion concur to make it a crime of the blackest dye to obtain nominations by trickery, votes by bribery, or to tamper in any way with the returns. Such is the work before us, to which we trust our friend will lend his important influence. This is by no means the first time that the people of Boston see his face, and hear his voice, and sym- 5 2 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. pathize with his work. They heard him in Faneuil Hall in 1859, and listened gladly to one who having fought against tyranny in his own land, and passed through adventures there as strange as those of Baron Trenck, was now as ardent a champion here for the rights of all. We have known him as the friend and supporter of Lincoln, as one who gave up the emoluments, ease, and dignity of a foreign em- bassy to fight in the war of Union and Freedom. We have known him as the intimate friend of Charles Sumner, and are grateful that in the last, somewhat lonely, hours of that noble life, Charles Sumner had in Carl Schurz a friend in whose devo- tion and affection he could wholly trust ; and we listened with gratitude to the voice which in Music Hall recounted the great services and defended the spotless fame of our own great Senator. Those of us who have known all this have not found it necessary to examine very critically any charges against the fidelity of such a man. After observing such a career, we either know a man or we do not know him. If we know him, we also know that he is incapable of anything dishonora- ble. For those who do not know Carl Schurz it is, perhaps, well that his vindication has been so com- plete ; and that the best friends of the Indians, like Bishop Whipple and General Armstrong, should have hastened to testify that they never knew a pub- lic officer more ready to hear and inquire into the wrongs done to the Indians, and to redress those MR. PIERCE'S ADDRESS. 53 wrongs by every means in his power. But those of us who are familiar with his history scarcely needed any such evidence. Some things may be taken for 0-ranted ; and one is that the man who has devoted his life to the cause of humanity, justice, and univer- sal freedom will not suddenly change into a tyrant and oppressor. Every man has a right to have his actions judged by his character and whole career. " Judge the people by their actions " is a rule we often get ; " Judge the actions by their people " is a wiser maxim yet ; Let the mere outside observer note appearance as he can, We, more righteous judgment passing, test each action by its man. The Chairman. Assembled as we are to do honor to a kindred spirit, our thoughts irresistibly turn to the great name and fame of Charles Sumner. I ask you to listen to his friend and biographer, Edward L. Pierce. ADDRESS BY EDWARD L. PIERCE, ESQ. Amone living- statesmen, I know no one to whom I would more gladly pay a tribute of respect than to the honorable guest whom we now welcome. He has had the felicity to cover with his life a great period, and to fasten his name to it in both hemi- spheres. Fresh and vigorous he comes to us, his features still youthful, his locks not as yet silvered, and, as we believe, with opportunities and honors 54 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. before him not less than those in retrospect. While yet a student, he became the partisan of popular rights in 1848, — a year which witnessed the revival of the spirit of liberty both in Europe and the United States. He is remembered in Germany for his chivalrous rescue from the fortress of Spandau of the patriot Johann Gottfried Kinkel, — now a Professor of the History of Art at Zurich, whom it was my privilege to meet two years ago in that city, at the house of my friend Mr. Guyer, where we had much discourse on the noble career of our guest. After a year's residence in London he came to this country, in 1S52 ; and in six years or less from that time he was able to address audiences in Eng- lish, using our language with a facility, a vigor of expression, and a keen sense of idioms which belong to but few with whom it is the vernacular. No foreigner, unless it be Kossuth, has been his rival in this regard. In his speeches, he showed from the beginning not only breadth of vision and capacity for applying the methods of philosophy to political questions, which might have been expected from one of his gifts and nationality, but as well a vivid per- ception of the details of our history, early and later, and a delicate appreciation of the local and national spirit which has informed its successive epochs. Among our public men, to-day, where will you find another so accomplished, so well equipped on all sides for public service, — speaking and thinking in three languages, and in each easily and well ; a stu- MR. PIERCE'S ADDRESS. 55 dent of all political science from the start, and not forced to cram for some new question or current of opinion ; matching senators in debate, and instruct- ing with marvellous skill popular audiences on ab- struse subjects of political economy; and, with all this, energetic and practical in. the management of public business ? There is not time this evening to review in detail the services of Mr. Schurz on the platform, in the field, the senate, and the cabinet ; but some leading points in his career may be recalled. In 1858 he was active in the senatorial canvass in Illinois which gave Mr. Lincoln a national reputation, and led to his nomination two years later for the Presidency ; and in the same year he aided effectively in a Repub- lican success in Wisconsin. No man in i860 did so much as he to carry the German vote, — a vote which was essential to Mr. Lincoln's election ; and in that most important canvass of our history he was the peer, before audiences of English-speaking citi- zens, of Seward, Sumner, and Chase. In our civil war, months before the issue of the proclamation of emancipation, at a time when our Government dis- owned an Antislavery policy, he sought a discharge from our diplomatic service in Spain, unwilling to remain longer a distant spectator of the struggle ; and on his return he forecasted the future in his re- markable speech in March, 1862, at the Cooper Insti- tute, entitled " Reconciliation by Emancipation," — maintaining that a mere victory of arms would 56 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. be but half a victory, and that there could be no assured peace without a new society at the South founded on equality of rights, filled with new hopes and aspirations, and harmonizing at once with the spirit of our institutions and the spirit of the age. In our recent financial controversy, which is destined to be of perpetual historic interest, many men in public and private life rendered eminent service ; but here, again, in the foremost rank of public benefac- tors Mr. Schurz will have a place. Though living in a section of the country strangely infected with false theories of currency, he never wavered a mo- ment, never yielded an iota to popular clamor. The critical period of that contest was the election in Ohio in the autumn of 1875. If the result had then been different, we should probably be struggling to- day with an irredeemable currency, shifting in val- ues, obstructing business, impairing the public credit, and corrupting the morals of the people. In the summer of that year some gentlemen — Governor Hayes among them — met at Cincinnati to confer as to the exigency ; and there it was determined to send a telegram to Mr. Schurz, then in Switzerland, urg- ing him to come home at once and participate in the canvass. He came, obedient to the summons ; and what service he rendered, and with what effect, is known to all. Later, when here in Massachusetts a similar issue was pending, his speech in Tremont Temple, distinguished for its force of statement and lucidity of illustration, was the one which was spread MR. PIERCE'S ADDRESS. 57 in great numbers by the State Committee in every village of the Commonwealth. And now he has just laid aside the duties of a high public trust, in which he has proved a capacity for administration equal to that which he had already shown in the discussion of public questions. He has presided over that department of the National Government which, though attracting less than those of finance and foreign affairs the popular in- terest and imagination, exacts greater labor, em- braces more miscellaneous duties, and requires the application of more various powers than any other, — covering agriculture, patents, the census, public lands, national education, and the Indian tribes. In all this he has done well. He has been so clear in his office that intemperate criticism has been unable to impeach his integrity and honor. He leaves be- hind no acts to be investigated. He has deserved well of the Republic by his persistence and success in purging the Indian service of the scandals and abuses which have been traditional with it. He has uniformly applied to his department the same sys- tem of admissions and promotions which prevails in all well-conducted commercial business, and which ought to prevail without favoritism in the business of government. He has done for the civilization of the Indian what no predecessor has done, testing his fidelity in responsible trusts and his capacity for higher education, promoting as never before his in- dividual ownership of the soil, and thus preparing the 58 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. way for the time, — not far distant let us hope, — when like the African, who is no longer slave or freed- man, the Indian, dropping his exceptional status, shall be registered only as an American citizen. On the Indian question there is one pre-eminent authority, — Bishop Whipple. With him this is no new sensation, no fresh topic of declamation. He has known the Indian for a quarter of a century, not afar off, but by immediate intercourse in camp and wigwam. He has been quick to see the red man's wrongs, and fearless in denouncing them. By his consecration to the work he reminds us of kindred services to aboriginal races rendered, within our memory, by Selwyn and Patteson on a distant conti- nent. Says this distinguished expert on the Indian question : — " It is due to Mr. Schurz that I should say, that, in twen- ty-one years' intercourse with this department, I have never found an officer of the government more ready to examine into the wrongs done to the Indians ; whenever proof has been submitted, he has tried to redress the wrong. He has shown a courage and fidelity in the discharge of duty which called out my hearty gratitude. To him we owe the estab- lishment of Indian police, the employment of Indian freight- ers, the removal of bad white men for immorality, and many other reforms." To my mind the testimony of this saintly bishop is worth more than that of the critics whose new- born zeal for the Indian has behind it no toils and sacrifices in his behalf. MR. PIERCE'S ADDRESS. 59 The ex-Secretary will remember how, from his earliest connection with his department, I have said to him with reiteration : " Let no temptation of honor or service elsewhere draw you, let no calum- nies ever drive you, from your post ; but remain there till your chief closes his administration. Attest your capacity for affairs, and carry into effect the opin- ions and policies you have developed in speech." And now I gladly join, when his work is finished, in the " Well done, good and faithful servant !" with which this city and State salute him at the close of his official term. Our guest has sometimes, in the pleasantry of so- cial intercourse, said that I "invented" him. If, indeed, I am entitled to the credit of having in any way called public attention to him at an early period of his career, I esteem myself fortunate. I may per- haps be allowed a moment to explain this reference by Mr. Schurz to the manner of his original intro- duction to this community. In April, 1859, a few of us were engaged in an effort to defeat a constitu- tional amendment which discriminated against citi- zens of foreign nativity. Meeting Senator Wilson on the steps of the State House, I called his atten- tion to the movement. He said that he had just received a letter from the most eloquent German in the country, stating how prejudicial to the Republi- can cause in the coming national election of i860 would be the success of that proposition. He gave 60 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. the name of the writer, then unknown to me, and I wrote it as he spelled it. It was the name of our guest. The same day I posted a letter to Mr. Schurz, asking him for some expression of opinion on the question which might be publicly used, and adding incidentally that I wished he could be pres- ent at a dinner soon to be given in this city com- memorative of the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, where it was proposed to emphasize that statesman's well-known sympathies with all who sought among us an asylum from foreign oppression. It happened to be convenient for Mr. Schurz to make the journey hither; and, accepting the invitation, he arrived just as the guests were about to enter the dining hall at Parker's. It was a notable occasion. Ex-Governor Boutvvell, as chairman, spoke with deliberation on the place of Jefferson in our history. Other speakers were Henry Wilson, John P. Hale, Erastus Hopkins, and John A. Andrew, the last being one of the ac- tive managers of the festivity. Letters of sympathy were read from William C. Bryant, William H. Se- ward, and Abraham Lincoln, — Mr. Lincoln's being remarkable for its sententious statement of the issues of that period. But among the incidents of the day Mr. Schurz' speech was the most noted. He was then thirty years of age. Of those present few had ever heard of him, and probably only Senator Wilson had ever met him before. His brief remarks interested and charmed all, and, though the season was late, there was a general demand that he should MR. PIERCE'S ADDRESS. 6 1 speak in some public place in Boston ; and Faneuil Hall was secured for the purpose. It fell to me to call the meeting to order with some preliminary remarks, and then to introduce Senator Wilson, who presided. Mr. Schurz' speech, which he prepared in the few intervening days after he arrived here, was published in full in the Boston and New York journals. It established his rank as an orator of the first order, and from that time he was in great request m the Eastern States as a lecturer before lyceums and a speaker in political contests. Twenty-two years ago he came to us unknown; but he now comes to us with a fame for eloquence and beneficent service which has become a part of American history. With every visit to Boston he has found an ever-widening circle of friends, while those he has known the long- est are as fast bound to him as ever. My last word must be of a tender tone. Mr. Schurz became a senator in 1869, when Mr. Sumner was serving his last term. It was the period in the ca- reer of our Massachusetts Senator in which he suf- fered much, — pain of body intense and prolonged, the antagonisms of political associates, the with- drawal of some he had counted as friends, the hand of power laid heavily upon him, the censure of the Commonwealth he had served so long (happily re- canted before it was too late), — a period closed by death. In all this our guest was a loyal friend, sym- pathetic in private intercourse, tender at the bedside 62 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. and in the last offices, chivalrous and valiant in pub- lic defence. As we recognize by this public festivity the character and services of a statesman, it is a grateful thought that we are also doing justice and honor to Sumner's faithful friend. The Chairman. Gentlemen, the English race from which we are sprung is the result of a mixture of races, — the Briton, the Saxon, the Dane, and the Norman. The English race transplanted to this country has had a still greater admixture, — an admixture which will give it strength, and which will make America the greater Eng- land. We have a representative to-night, in our honored guest, of that great German family which is becoming so prominent in the politics of our country. I ask you now to give your attention to another gentleman, German by birth and American by adoption, — a gentlemen well known in this city for his professional skill and manly character. I introduce to you Dr. de Gersdorfif. ADDRESS BY DR. E. B. de GERSDORFF. Mr. President and Gentlemen. — I am thank- ful for the privilege of welcoming our distinguished guest in behalf of his German countrymen. We recognize him as a statesman superior to many, in- asmuch as he has always endeavored to keep him- self in a position above party politics. This, at least, is what the Germans especially honor in the character and the public career of Mr. Schurz ; and DR. de GERSDORFF'S ADDRESS. 63 I do not know but the whole nation has lately in- clined to that way of thinking, since it has selected for the highest offices men, not so much known to be thorough-going partisans, as thoroughly pure men of honesty and principle. When I make use of the word countrymen, I mean to do it in more senses than one ; for first, of course, Mr. Schurz is by birth the countryman of us Germans, and we are proud of him ; but, what is of more importance, he is, secondly, our countryman here and now as a nat- uralized citizen. In fact, he is the countryman of every man in this hall ; for if naturalization does not make a countryman of any man in the country in which he lives, it means nothing. What the rights and the duties of a naturalized citizen are no one has better taught us by words and example than our honored guest; and it is only natural that the man who has laid down the principles of justice which enable the newly-arrived European immi- grant to have his rights preserved, both in the country of his adoption and that of his birth, so that in due time he will, according to his intrinsic value, find, as it were, his specific gravity in the so- cial scale, — that man, I say, will treat with the same humanity and justice the aborigines, and will allow them, according to their merits and capacity, to con- tribute their share to the development of the new history of mankind on this side of the Atlantic. Let me take this occasion to assure Mr. Schurz that here, in the little German community of Bos- 64 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. ton, we have acknowledged and profited by his teachings. I mean to say that in this New-England corner, here by the side of the old cradle of English liberty ; here, surrounded by an enormous majority of English and Irish descendants, — even here the Teutonic element has held its own. We have be- come, in the true sense of the word, naturalized and nationalized. This naturalization is a peculiar pro- cess ; it works both ways, — on the new and on the old settlers. We have clone here what Germans do wherever they go ; whether as humble immigrants, or as conquerors with sword in hand, — we have both learned and taught, given and taken. We have im- parted to our new fellow-citizens some of our ways of thinking and living; of our knowledge, habits, and arts. And we have gradually acquired some of their prominent achievements and qualities ; and both parties, I think, have been the gainers. But, Mr. President, there exists another bond between our guest and some of his countrymen here, which I cannot omit to mention. We are not only coun- trymen as Germans, — fellow-citizens of this great Republic, — but we are also fellow-citizens in the republic of German letters represented by the Ger- man universities. Cives academici fuimus atque ad hue sumus. I cannot forego the pleasure of reminding Mr. Schurz of that happy era in his life, and greet him with a hearty vivas ! crescas ! Thirty odd years ago, when some of us frequented, as happy stu- DR. de GERSDORFF'S ADDRESS. 65 dents, the classic halls of Berlin, Leipsic, or Jena, the University of Bonn on the Rhine counted Mr. Schurz among her academic citizens. There it was that his future career began to shape itself ; and there he first lifted up his voice for liberty with an eloquence presaging future renown, and flashing on his fellow-citizens with a brilliancy comparable only to that of a young Phillips forty years ago in Boston. And I call upon our guest to bear me out, when I contend that these seats of learning in Ger- many were, and always have been, at the same time also the hearths and the nurseries of liberty; for these German high schools have what no other schools in any other country ever had to that ex- tent, — namely, that great treasure of strength, that proud distinction of German universities, — academic liberty : a liberty superior to political freedom ; a higher, a philosophical, and critical liberty of the mind and conscience ; a liberty in teaching and learning uncontrolled, untamed by despotism, un- tramelled by church interference or protection, un- contaminated by any schemes for gain. And thus only they were able to produce and educate men who again and again have saved the liberties of the German nation. But enough of this ; pardon, gentlemen, my fond attachment to German schools. In politics I am a contented American citizen. Our honored friend and guest will sympathize with me. My hope and wish would be, that in his future career his work 5 66 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. may lie in a direction which shall lead to the founda- tion of independent universities, — of which we have in Boston and Harvard the promise, if not the very beginning. Now, once more, welcome, our guest, our German countryman ! first German senator and Presidential councilor! Welcome, the man of civil reform, the financial adviser ! Welcome, the German student of old ! May he ever remain young ! The Chairman. Gentlemen, we want now to wind up this demonstration ; and we want a man to do it who will do it with dignity, with grace, with humor, and with intel- ligence, — and that man is Colonel Theodore Lyman. ADDRESS BY COLONEL THEODORE LYMAN. Your suggestion, Mr. President, that I should wind up this demonstration, reminds me of a coun- try organist in Germany, of whom it is said that Handel one day went up into his organ loft and took a seat beside him. When the minister had pronounced the benediction, Handel said, " If you will allow me, I will play the organ while the con- srreeation ^oes out." This the organist very gladly allowed him to do. Needless to say, as soon as Handel began to play, the congregation all sat down again ; and there they remained glued to their seats. After that had gone on for some time, and the min- ister in the pulpit began to look rather cross, for his COLONEL LYMAN'S ADDRESS. 67 dinner hour pressed, the organist somewhat rudely removed Handel from the seat, and said, "You don't know how to do it ; listen to me : I can play them out." Now, Mr. President, you have picked me out, with a great deal of judgment, to " play them out." The sight of our guest to-night makes me feel like an old man ; because it suggests one of those events of years and years ago which mark the per- spective of life, — just as some fine and great trees in an avenue exaggerate its length. It was in the year 1848 that I found myself, a long-legged Yankee boy, in the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main, where the then celebrated German Assembly, or Diet as it was called, was holding its session. Political ques- tions had come to a head ; and the very day I arrived, there was a rising. At midnight a consid- erable mob attacked the hotel where we were, with the laudable purpose of drawing forth an obnoxious deputy, to make an example of him. And this they might have succeeded in doing, had it not been for an enormous Englishman, who at that moment was sleeping in an upper chamber. I am not aware that this large Englishman had any precise notions on abstract politics ; but he strongly objected to being waked out of a comfortable sleep by any body of men, whether Republicans or Legitimists. He de- scended in extreme wrath, six steps at a time ; appeared on the ground floor, literally stripped for action, and fell upon the mob like a pile-driver, just as they were breaking through the porte cocJiere. 68 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. Some of them he grievously hit with his fist ; and some of them, seizing by the nape of the neck and what Oliver Wendell Holmes has described as the ampler part of the pantaloons, he cast forth. The struggle was still progressing, when the town guard arrived, and, charging bayonets, drove the crowd out of the square. I remember that I pulled a rouleau of Napoleons out of my boot, in which I had pru- dently placed them, and went to sleep again. The farce of the night was, I regret to state, fol- lowed by a tragedy. The next day the " Reds " rose ; pulled up the pavements, confiscated omni- buses, and made barricades. As by magic the city was filled with troops. Those scenes of our youth are pretty vivid to us all through life ; and I can hear now, as I did then, the measured, heavy tramp of the Prussian infantry in their coal-scuttle hel- mets, and that of the Austrians in their white coats, as they marched steadily up the high street to the attack ; and the sound of the platoon firing in the upper part of the town, and the rapid spattering shots from the barricades are still in my ears. In those remote days, Mr. President, we had no very high opinion of the German Liberals; and there was some reason in this, for this very Diet whereof I speak, which in the beginning had the power of all Germany between its finger and thumb, instead of proceeding to any organization of govern- ment, began to consider the abstract rights of man- kind ; and, if I recollect right, their first essays were COLONEL LYMAN'S ADDRESS. 69 on the system of ballot in the second Egyptian dynasty ! By the time they had got down as far as the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the crowned heads, having from their delay taken heart of grace, came with bayonets and put an extinguisher on the whole thing. And another reason we had for undervalu- ing them was not a reason, but the good old-fash- ioned British prejudice which we had drunk in with our mother's milk, to look upon all foreigners as outside barbarians ; for it is well known that, until a very recent time, our English cousins regarded the Prussians simply as a mob who looked on while the British won the battle of Waterloo. Since then, it has been discovered that the Prussians can not only look on, but, if necessary, take a hand. See how the wheel of time brings up strange events ! One of the young men who then took the Liberal side, and of whom we thought very little, has come to this country to give us the model of all future officers of the Interior, — a man who at that time was ignorant of our language, every word of which is pronounced as it ought not to be pro- nounced, and every construction of which is entirely against all preconceived ideas ; a man who had no knowledge of our government, or, what is quite as important, of our misgovernment, — he came hither and has done all this. There is a lesson to us here, seriously and philosophically, Mr. President, when we think how we used to talk in Know-Nothing times. I suppose most of the gentlemen present are 7 o VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. too young to recollect that there ever were Know Nothings : perhaps, however, taking the Greek trans- lation, the Agnostics of to-day are their descend- ants. We who remember the Know Nothings see what an enormous change has taken place. People used to say that Americans must govern New Eng- land. The Puritan English have done great things for this country, and they will continue to as long as it is a country; but the field needs millions of laborers more than the Puritans can ever give to it, and we must have them from all nations. And when you come to talk of a foreigner, what is a foreigner? I am aware that our old ethnology used to speak of Aryans and Basques and Celts, — which some studious ladies pronounced " Kelts," — and of other strange people. But now comes Virchow and says this is all bosh ; there is no such thing as a pure Aryan, or a pure Basque, or a pure anybody; we are all mixed up together, and have been since the neolithic age. And so, whether we like it or not, the Americans of the future will be — as in- deed they are to-day — a mixed race of English, Irish, Germans, Welsh, and Scandinavians. There- fore we owe a great debt of gratitude to Mr. Carl Schurz for having shown that a foreigner, born abroad and coming to this country, can, in a high office, not only be a useful man, but even a blessing to the country. III. LETTERS. INVITATION TO EX-ATTORNEY GENERAL DEVENS. Equitable Building, Boston, March 8, 1881. DEAR Sir, — The committee having charge of the invi- tations to the dinner to be given to the Hon. Carl Schurz in Boston, on Tuesday, March 22, cordially extend to you an invitation to attend the dinner, and to share with Mr. Schurz the appreciation which citizens of Massachusetts entertain for the satisfactory manner in which the Cabinet officers of the last Administration performed their mani- fold and laborious duties. It is especially the wish of the Committee that the Massachusetts representative in the last Cabinet should receive the honors due to his faithful and able perform- ances ; and you are therefore placed first on the list of in- vited guests to the dinner. Very sincerely yours, Francis Parkman. Edward Atkinson. Alfred D. Chandler. Hon. Charles Devens, Washington. 72 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. LETTER FROM EX-ATTORNEY GENERAL DEVENS. Washington, March 13, ISSi. GENTLEMEN, — I am much obliged by the invitation to attend the dinner to be given to the Hon. Carl Schurz on March 22. I regret that I cannot answer definitely that I will be present on the occasion, as it is barely possible that some engagements, personal and professional, already made, may interfere ; but I shall expect and hope to be with you at the time named. Whether present or absent, I shall always render most willing testimony to the ability and fidelity with which your distinguished guest has performed his arduous duties during the last four years. For your kind association of my labors in the last Cabi- net with his, and your more than courteous mention of them, and for the position you assign me among the invited guests, I am more than grateful. Very sincerely yours, Charles Devens. Francis Parkman, Edward Atkinson, Alfred D. Chandler. LETTERS. SECOND LETTER FROM EX-ATTORNEY GENERAL DEVENS. Washington D. C, March 15, 188 1. GENTLEMEN, — In my note of the 13th inst. I suggested that it was possible that a professional engagement might deprive me of the pleasure of accepting your invitation to the dinner to be given to the Hon. Carl Schurz. At that time I had a case specially assigned for Wednes- day of the present week in the Supreme Court here. The illness of Judge Bradley has compelled that court to ad- journ for a week, and the case in question was reassigned by the court for Monday, the 2ist inst. It is one which I consented to argue after considerable urgency, and, al- though private in its character, involves public considera- tions of great interest in connection with the construction of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. I can- not, therefore, honorably abandon it; although, if I alone were to determine the matter, I should feel that my associ- ate with whom I have prepared the brief could satisfactorily present it to the court without my assistance. I must, under these circumstances, decline the invitation tendered to me; but, in so doing, I beg to render my most cordial tribute to the ability, care, and fidelity with which your guest has performed his important duties as Secre- tary of the Interior, and the pleasure which I have had in four years of intimate personal and official association with him. With thanks for your courteous invitation, believe me, gentlemen, your obedient servant, Charles Devens. Francis Parkman, Edward Atkinson, Alfred D. Chandler. 74 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. LETTER FROM EX-PRESIDENT HAYES. Fremont, Ohio, 14 March, 1881. GENTLEMEN, — I regret that I cannot accept your kind invitation to the dinner to be given to Mr. Schurz in Boston on the 22d. It is a personal gratification to know the ap- preciation which citizens of Massachusetts entertain for the character and services of Mr. Schurz. I would be glad to unite with them in doing him honor. Sincerely, R. B. HAYES. Francis Parkman, Edward Atkinson, Alfred D. Chandler. LETTER FROM EX-SECRETARY EVARTS. 1507 K Street, Washington, March 12, 1881. GENTLEMEN, — I have had the honor to receive your kind invitation to attend the dinner to be given in Boston to Mr. Schurz on the 22d inst. I have supposed that it might be in my power, as it cer- tainly is my desire, to take part in this testimony to the public character and services of Mr. Schurz ; but the pres- sure of engagements, in the short interval before I am obliged to sail for Europe, will not permit me to do so. You may be sure that Mr. Schurz' associates in the late administration not only share the general esteem in which his fellow-citizens regard him and his conduct of affairs, but feel a personal gratification in every demonstration in his honor. With my thanks for the attention of your invitation, and my great regret that circumstances preclude my accepting it, I am, gentlemen, very truly yours, Wm. M. Evarts. Francis Parkman, Edward Atkinson, Alfred D. Chandler, Committee. LETTERS. 75 LETTER FROM EX-SECRETARY SHERMAN. Washington, March 10, 1881. Messrs. Francis Parkman and others, Boston, Mass. Gentlemen, — I should be delighted to accept your invitation to a dinner to be given to the Hon. Carl Schurz on Tuesday, March 22 ; but my official duties will prob- ably require me to be in the Senate at that time. My acquaintance with General Schurz was first formed when we were both members of the Senate ; but the more intimate acquaintance with him by four years' association in the Cabinet impressed me more than ever with the admira- ble qualities of head and heart which he possesses. His wonderful acquirements as a linguist and an orator, and his clear judgment and perception as to the truth of all political questions, made him an admirable Cabinet officer, and secured the discharge of all the duties imposed upon the Interior Department with fidelity and integrity. The citizens of Boston do well to honor General Schurz, and he is deserving of all that you can bestow upon him. Very respectfully, John Sherman. 76 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. LETTER FROM GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS, ESQ. West New Brighton, Staten Island, N.Y., iS March, 1S81. Francis Parkman, Esq., for the Committee. Dear Sir, — I am very much honored by the invitation to the dinner to be given to Mr. Schurz, and I regret sin- cerely that engagements which I cannot disregard nor post- pone prevent my acceptance. I should most gladly unite in your tribute to the "eminent ability, the marked fidelity, and the approved success " of his official conduct. Mr. Schurz has many claims to honora- ble distinction, but not the least of them is that he brought a firm, efficient, and purifying hand to the administration of a department in which the most intricate and wide-spread abuses of many kinds had been, at least, suspected ; and from the evil system of minor appointment and removal in the Department itself, to the vast public interests involved in its exterior operations, his energy, sagacity, and fidelity have been most beneficially felt. Should Mr. Schurz' views, and the recommendations of ex-President Hayes in accord- ance with them, be adopted by Congress, a great National wrong will be corrected ; and a truly just and humane In- dian policy will date from his administration of the Interior Department. That great public services should be attended by great and unmerited hostility is an incident too familiar to be sur- prising. But when time has healed the wounds of personal feeling, and the character and results of his political and official action are dispassionately estimated, it will be seen, I think, that, since Albert Gallatin, no American citizen not born upon our soil has performed more honorable public service, or merits public respect more truly, than Carl Schurz. Very truly yours, George William Curtis. LETTERS. J? LETTER FROM MR. FRANCIS PARKMAN. Boston, March 21, 1881. Hon. Charles R. Codman. My Dear Sir, — I regret that the state of my health will prevent my attendance at the dinner to Mr. Schurz ; and doubly regret it because his high distinction has been earned, not by arts of political management, but by the knowledge and practice of good government. He has been beset with many difficulties. One of the questions with which he has had to deal is complicated to the last degree and full of perplexing alternatives, partly through inherent causes, and partly through the faults of the past. The nation has had much to answer for in its relations with the Indians, and it is a matter of hearty con- gratulation that some signs of compunction begin at last to appear. Perhaps it is natural for us, under the circum- stances, to try to find a scapegoat; but it is hardly fair to choose our best citizens to bear the burden of our iniquities. Justice should be just on both sides. High character and eminent services have their rights ; and among them is the right of not being pelted with hard names without convinc- ing proof that they are deserved. We are much too good- natured toward those who deserve ill of the country, and we have fallen into a bad way of condoning vices, both public and private. It will be worse for us still if we learn to ignore the virtues and talents of public men, and suffer the noblest record to pass for nothing. To do so is not only a wrong to one man, but an injury to society itself. Yours very truly, Francis Parkman. IV. RECEPTION GERMAN CITIZENS. On Wednesday evening, March 23, Mr. Schurz was en- tertained at the Turn Halle by the German citizens of Boston, who tendered their distinguished countryman an enthusiastic reception. After orchestral music by the Germania band, and a part song by the singing section of the Turnverein, the chairman of the reception committee, Captain MAGNITZKY, announced that Professor Krauss would make the introductory address. The proceedings were in German. Professor KRAUSS said, substantially — That he felt highly honored by having been re- quested by the committee to greet, in the name of the Germans of Boston, that man to whom the Ger- mans of the whole Union looked up with the highest esteem, with pride, and admiration. Then, address- ing Mr. Schurz, he said that he did not greet him as general or minister, senator or secretary, for these titles he shared with many others ; but in the whole 80 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. United States there was only one Carl Schurz, — and to him, to the man for whom these titles were only garbs, the greeting of the Germans of Boston was tendered. The fact that he had risen to the highest honors open to a foreigner in this country had filled the German population of America with pride ; but the warm feeling and admiration which they entertained for him were not called forth by the mere fact that he was senator and secretary, but by the manner in which he acquitted himself of his duties as such. Even as citizens of Massachusetts they owed him thanks for the assistance he had ren- dered them a few years ago by his speech in Tre- mont Temple, when the struggle was to be fought against the party that aimed at the depreciation of our national currency and credit. His activity in the Senate had been an uninterrupted contest against wrong and corruption, — even against members of his own party, he for some time standing almost alone with the great Senator of Massachusetts, Charles Sumner. The speaker praised President Hayes for his sagacity and courage in calling Mr. Schurz into his cabinet in the face of party hostility. Though Mr. Schurz was now returning to private life, his countrymen hoped he would continue to fight for the noble principles he had advocated here- tofore, as in the present state of politics a man of his ability, experience, and firmness could not be spared. After assuring Mr. Schurz of the warmest love and sincere admiration of the Germans of Bos- RECEPTIONS. 8 1 ton, who were conscious that no other man had brought the Germans of America such honor as he, the speaker, in conclusion, turned to the audi- ence and invited them to join him in giving Mr. Schurz a heartfelt welcome as their German coun- tryman, their American fellow-citizen, and their highly honored guest. An inspiriting scene followed, — the hall resounding with the pleasant sound of joyful shouts, which did not subside until Mr. Schurz had stood speechless for some time, silently bowing his acknowledgments. He then spoke as follows : — ADDRESS BY THE HON. CARL SCHURZ. Ladies and Gentlemen, — I thank you more than I can express for this welcome. I may truth- fully say that I have never had a more hearty reception, nor kinder words than those of your honored spokesman. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Public life, it is thought, has many roses ; but there are no roses without thorns. Pub- lic life has, perhaps, more of the latter than the ordinary proportion. There are but few occasions in it from which he who devotes himself to it de- rives real satisfaction. I have often said to friends who congratulate me upon the official position I held, that there are two great moments of pleasure in connection with such a place. One is when the new minister ascends the steps of the department building, looking forward to great opportunities to accomplish 6 82 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. something for the public good, but still unaware of the greatness of the difficulties to be met and the responsibilities to be borne. The other is, when after the close of his official career he descends the same steps, looking back upon something accom- plished. I have known both these moments; and speak from experience, when I say that the last is the best. And if there is anything truly satisfactory and delightful at the close of such a period of ser- vice, it is when, stepping back into private life, he hears such voices of public approval as I have heard to-night. For this I thank you sincerely. When the Germans landed on the American shores, we came as a foreign element. A foreign element we should not remain. It is not for us to live a one-sided life in the American Republic. What we are and should be here is American citi- zens, — American citizens in the best sense of the term, with our whole hearts and our best efforts. We are not to form a separate class, and consider our own interests as different and distinct from those of the great people of whom we form a part. It is our duty to identify ourselves with the com- mon national life, and to do all we can to promote the greatness and prosperity of the country that has adopted us. It is our duty to bring the best of German character into unity with the best of Amer- ican life. It is in this way that we can render to our Fatherland the most efficient service. I have never forgotten in my public career, that in a cer- RECEPTIONS. 83 tain way the honor of the German name was laid in my hands ; and it has been my constant effort not to bring discredit upon it. I have been told by a member of your committee, that my coming to Boston and meeting you in this reception has had one remarkable effect, — to bring about German unity in Boston. I am glad of it ; and you have honored me by thus coming together in so hearty a way. The speaker who has just ad- dressed me, in your name, alluded with kind words to several things which I have done or endeavored to accomplish in public life. I may confess, as other public men have to confess, that what I have done has not always come up to my own intentions and hopes ; but I have endeavored to represent the best tendencies of the German mind and heart. The German citizens of America may feel proud of the fact, that in some of the greatest emergencies of our history they stood firmly united as the best of Americans. At the time when the Republic was in danger, and the drum-call summoned to battle, the German element, as one man, was true to the Republic. And later, when the cause of honest money and of the public faith was at stake, the Germans stood solidly under the banner of sound doctrines, of the national honor, and honest gov- ernment. So I have a right to say that when I spoke and worked in this cause, I uttered only what was in the heart of all good German-American citizens. 84 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTON. Our government must, in a certain sense, be a government of political parties ; but I have always held to the doctrine, that it is the duty of a good citizen to be first a patriot before he is a Republican or a Democrat; that parties are organized only to serve certain great public ends ; that when they serve these ends honestly and well, they have a right to the support of the citizen ; but when they cease to give such service, they are no longer enti- tled to call upon the people to follow their lead. In other words, there are certain things which should be beyond the control of party, — the cause of right, of justice, the welfare of the country. There is one thing which no good patriot should ever yield to party discipline, — his own con- science. So I may say that in my own political life I have never called on my German fellow-citizens to follow me, simply because I went this way or that. I have never said to them, " Follow this party, simply be- cause it is the party which I follow." But the duty I have sought to impress upon them was this : Let every citizen examine, in his own conscience, what is best for the common good. After careful exam- ination, if he finds clearly that the reasons I give for my own faith are good, I shall be glad ; let him act accordingly. But in every case let him be man enough to follow the dictates of his conscience. I repeat, it is through political parties, in a certain sense, that this government must be carried on ; but RECEPTIONS. 85 when political party organizations know that there is a large force of citizens who will follow conscientious convictions, and not blindly obey the command of party drill-masters, these parties will learn to respect and follow conscience themselves. And now, fellow-countrymen, after these fewwords, allow me once more to give you my heartfelt thanks for this cordial welcome ; and to say to you that few hours in my public life have been as happy and enjoyable as this in which I have been so heartily received by the Germans of Boston. The close of Mr. Schurz' address was greeted with ap- plause as hearty as that at the beginning. Another vocal selection closed the public exercises. A German Nachtessen, or supper, after the style of the Fatherland, was then served in the banquet hall below, where plates were laid for about two hundred guests. Mr. Henry H. Rueter presided, having Mr. Schurz at his right, and near him were Professor Krauss, Hon. Leopold Morse, S. B. Schlesinger, and other well-known German citizens. Mr. Rueter's introductory remarks alluded to the Ger- man reception to Kossuth in the Meionaon over twenty- five years ago, and his address to them in their own lan- guage, when he spoke of the importance of the influence they would have on the institutions of their adopted coun- try. He compared them to the salt of the earth. Mr. Rueter said that Kossuth's idea of the importance of the German influence in America had been realized in Carl Schurz ; for whom he called a dreimal hoch. It was given with a vim. Mr. Schurz responded and said, substantially, that whether he had deserved all that had been said about him in such pleasant words was doubtful; that he had 86 VISIT OF MR. SCHURZ TO BOSTOxN. striven to deserve it, however, was true. The praise was a continuous spurring on to him to do honor to the Ger- man and American names. We dwell, said he, in a grand country, and among a great and a noble folk. No one present could be prouder than he of his German blood ; but no man could also feel prouder than he did of his Amer- ican citizenship. No people on earth had made greater voluntary sacrifices for human liberty and for national exist- ence than the American. Not only had they in the late war sent many hundreds of thousands of their sons to the battle-fields, but, aside from taxes, they had voluntarily contributed untold millions to ease the sufferings of our wounded. In all history there was to be found no people which would have made such offerings. Much had been said about American politics and American corruption. There was much truth in what was thus said ; but it was also true that the American people were a just people, and that when their eyes were opened to such corruption, they always overthrew those responsible for it. And so it would ever be, as long as the people understood the value of their freedom. Looking at Europe, it was not too much to say that America stood as the only free country on earth. In closing, he called upon all to empty their glasses with a hoch for the American Republic, — the greatest republic that ever was, the greatest that is, and, he believed, the greatest that ever would be. Mr. Schurz' remarks were followed with hearty cheers. Hon. Leopold Morse was called upon. He began his remarks in German, but begged the privilege of being allowed to continue in English, long use of the adopted tongue having made him more able to express himself in it. There was no man whom he felt more proud to honor than their guest. Mr. Schurz had gained his high place in the nation's councils not by wealth, but by his energy and the force of his brains. He spoke of the high services of Mr. Schurz in the Cabinet, and approved heartily his atti- RECEPTIONS. 87 tude toward office-seekers. Mr. Morse declared strongly in favor of legalized civil-service reform ; and said that the only way to do the business of a country, as of a private concern, was to do it on business principles. He spoke of the grand tribute of such a reception as that of the previ- ous evening; and said that to deserve such, he himself would be willing to live and die a poor man. Pastor Schwarz said that he felt like Saul among the prophets ; he was here among the political prophets. Their guest had head, heart, and conscience in the right place ; and such a man was at home in any party. Dr. de Gersdorff made a highly humorous speech ; and gave reminiscences of the old German days in Boston. Dr. Conrad Wesselhoeft read an amusing poem in Knittel- verse. Mr. Charles L. Rothenberg, of the " New England Staten Zeitung," made a spirited response for the German press of Boston. Mr. S. B. Schlesinger, German consul, spoke briefly, and sang "Die Zwei Grenadier" with such effect that another song was demanded. Mr. Louis C. Elson spoke for the young German Americans, and, like Mr. Morse, began in German and continued in English ; and other remarks were made by Professor Krauss, Mr. Carl Eberhardt, Mr. Louis Prang, Max Fischacher, Esq., and Godfrey Morse, Esq. V. RECEPTIONS ST. BOTOLPH CLUB, ORPHEUS CLUB, AND OTHERS. FROM the time of the arrival of Mr. SCHURZ in Boston on Monday, March 21, till his departure on Friday, the 25th, he received constant attention at the hands of prom- inent citizens. On Wednesday following the dinner at the Hotel Vendome, Mr. Schurz received a number of visitors ; and among them the executive committee of the Civil Service Reform Association. Mr. Schurz and his daughter, Miss Schurz, were then given a reception at the house of the Hon. Martin Brimmer on Beacon Street. During his visit, — which was too short to enable Mr. Schurz to accept more than a few of the proposed attentions, — he enjoyed the hospitalities of Professor LONGFELLOW, the poet, at his residence in Cambridge, and was given a dinner at the Union Club, by Mr. Edward Atkinson. He also attended receptions in his honor by the St. BOTOLPH Club, and by the Orpheus Club ; was the recipient of other attentions and receptions of a private nature, and was called upon by many leading citizens. KD- 12 4 ft) - I BD- i * -a ■ffir "* ^ NT'S ^> J> c o « o , <& .0* % ** \£ l / » *£" A v*- ** % *-SB ; /\ l ™ : ** v \ • o « o «<> ts , »£>• .V >j. r ^„ ^ A :$