/I /- E 664 S39C3 ^ '-"'^°'->«fCoogress Copy 2 V^ '/ CarllrliE^ \ CARL SCHURZ ADDRESSES IN MEMORY OF CARL SCHURZ CARNEGIE HALL NEW YORK NOVEMBER 21 1906 NEW YORK COMMITTEE OF THE . /_ CARL SCHURZ MEMORIAL iJjM, ^ y^ ARL SCHURZ died in New York City May 14, ^ 1 . 1906, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. On (cj ^— >^ June 8, a meeting of citizens of New York was ^ held at the Chamber of Commerce, to take measures to honor his memory. A committee was formed to cooperate with similar committees in other parts of the country in establishing a permanent public memorial to Mr. Schurz, and to hold in New York a fitting memorial meeting. This meeting was held at Carnegie Hall on the evening of Wednesday, November 21, 1906, the Honorable Joseph H. Choate, Chairman of the New York Committee, presiding. The speakers were the Honorable Grover Cleveland, former President of the United States; Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University; Professor Eugene Kuhnemann, of the University of Breslau ; the Honorable Charles J. Bonaparte, Secretary of the Navy ; Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, Editor of the Century Magazine ; Professor Hermann A Schumacher, of the University of Bonn; and Dr. Booker T. Wash- ington, of Tuskegee Institute. The music included choruses in German, sung by the Liederkranz and Arion societies, and the march from Die Gotterdammerung and the prelude to Die Meistersinger, by the New York Symphony Orchestra, led by Frank Damrosch. The full proceedings are printed in the pages following : In exchange MAY 16 19}^ ADDRESS OF THE HONORABLE JOSEPH H. CHOATE THIS great and brilliant company has assembled for no funereal rites, for no obituary service. We are here to do honor to the memory of a great citizen, to exult in his exalted virtues, and to learn the lesson of patriotism from his long and honorable life. A noble friend of mine, dying, said that his life seemed like the flight of a bird through a church from window to window, and at best it is " Short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun." And our sketches of Carl Schurz to-night must be short indeed if we would do justice to this splendid program, and enjoy the music which he loved so much better than words, however weighty. I heard Mr. Lincoln at the Cooper Institute in i860 say: "Let us have faith that right makes m.ight, and in that faith let us dare to do our duty as we understand it." Search all the books in all our libraries, and you can find no better statement of Mr. Schurz's rule of life than this. Truth, right, duty, freedom were the four corners of his chart of life, with which all his speech and conduct squared. And so it was from the beginning to the end. In the first freshness of youth he left the university and joined the Revolution of 1848, and fought to break oppres- sion and maintain constitutional liberty. In that marvelous achievement of daring and devotion by which at the deadly peril of his own life he rescued his old teacher and comrade from the fortress in which he had been condemned for life to pick oakum for the Prussian Government, he furnished to the world a heroic romance, worthy to be immortalized by a new Schiller, a miracle long since celebrated, and always to be celebrated in German poetry and song. A refugee from hopeless tyranny, he came here into exile and made America his home. He was himself [7] the choicest example of that splendid host of Germans who have enriched and strengthened and fertilized our native stock, to produce that composite creature, the latest result of time, the blending of all the Caucasian races — the New American. With intense devotion he applied himself to mastering the English language, that he might with free speech utter free thought to free men throughout the whole land of his adoption. The year before the arrival of Mr. Schurz I had heard Kossuth himself, who in a few months had learned the English language in an Austrian dungeon, deliver to a Harvard audience an ad- dress in our own tongue. But Mr. Schurz as a linguist surpassed even Kossuth, for he soon became one of our foremost orators, perhaps the most cogent and convincing debater of his time; and if his hearers shut their eyes and trusted only to their ears they might well believe that he had never spoken any language but our own. With an inherent instinct for freedom, he was at one with Lincoln, that *'a house divided against itself must fall, and that this government could not permanently endure half slave and half free," and so he took part in German in that great debate with Douglas, and made the vast hosts of his countrymen in the West familiar with the vital issue in that irrepressible conflict. In the convention of i860 that nominated Lincoln, he in- sisted successfully, with Curtis, upon incorporating in the plat- form the cardinal principles of the Declaration of Independence. When the war broke out, and it became manifest that the Gordian knot of slavery could be cut only by the sword, he re- signed the lazy post of Minister to Spain, and on many a bloody field — at Manassas, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Chatta- nooga — with dauntless skill and courage he fought for freedom here as he had fought for it at home. As a senator I think he made the noblest record of his noble life. There his genius, his courage, his humanity, and his pa- triotism had full play. There politics, patronage, the chance of re-election were nothing to him. He was there not to serve his State only, but the whole country, in the true spirit of Burke's letter to the electors of Bristol. With exhaustless energy he [8] mastered every important question, and led in a great debate, and regarded the foundations of the Constitution as of vastly greater importance than any ephemeral question of the day, how- ever burning. He always stood by these great landmarks, that the executive should keep within its constitutional limits, and not invade by one hair's breadth the functions of the legislature or judiciary, and that they should do the like by it, and above all that the Federal power should not encroach upon the State power, nor this upon that, but each keep within its own limits, that the delicate balance of our dual system, which has justly excited the wonder and admiration of the world, might not be disturbed. Oh, for such a senator now! What would not this great Empire State give for one such man — for two such men, if happily they could be found! As a Cabinet Minister, too, his record is a noble one. Politics and politicians he turned "neck and heels " out of his depart- ment, and made tenure of office there depend only upon merit and fitness. Frauds and plunderers found in him their most dangerous foe. He was a real father to the Indian tribes and fought in defence of our vast forest domains that were then already falling victims to robbers. In short, it is sufficient to say of him that his administration of the department of the Interior is only equalled by that of his distinguished successor, Mr. Hitchcock, who now after six years of service is retiring, carrying with him imperishable laurels. Compelled by the exigencies of our political system to abstain from holding public office during the last twenty years of his life, his independence, his courage, his rpotless character, and bound- less knowledge of affairs have been of vast service to his country. Taking up the reins of the Civil Service Reform from the dying hands of one who in this city and in such a company as this will ever be held in fond remembrance — George William Curtis — he carried it to its present advanced state, and has thereby done inestimable good. A fearless foe of every wrong, an independent champion of every wise reform, setting personal consequence always at defiance where public service was concerned, he has left to the young Americans of the present and the future an [9] example of honesty, courage, and patriotism ; a richer legacy than if he had been able to transmit to them, or to each of them, the combined wealth of all the millionaires of the land. Truly, to recall again the words of Lincoln, he had faith that right makes might, and he dared to the end to do his duty as he under- stood it. The Chairman: Ladies and Gentlemen, I have now the rare felicity of pre- senting to you the foremost citizen of our Republic: [id] ADDRESS OF THE HONORABLE GROVER CLEVELAND WHATEVER death may be to the dead, to the living it always means a loss. The enforcement of its inex- orable decrees reaches humanity in every corner of the globe; and the hearts of all who live bear in painful scars the sad record of its visitations. The widow and the fatherless are always with us; and we see on every hand the dearest ties of love and friendship wrenched and broken by the insatiate foe of mortality. But we know this is our common fate, and that Divine mercy will heal and comfort these personal afflictions. And those who devoutly study the ways of God with man will gain a conception of the Infinite wisdom which has ordained that the wounds and losses inevitably and universally inflicted by death upon our individual lives, shall be the clarifying and purifying solvents which balance and strengthen the complex elements of human nature, by chastening with "the sabler tints of woe " the activities and delights of our existence. These reflections are merely a suggestive background for the sentiments that befit this occasion. There are lives that occupy a larger area than that of individual association, and there are men who not only embrace within their affections all who need help, but whose course of life points out the way to honor and usefulness, and illustrates the grandeur of a career devoted for the public good. In our Republic the death of such a man is a direct loss to good citizenship and a hurt to our nationality — a loss more irreparable than kinship can suffer, and a hurt more grievous than personal sorrow can inflict. It is the apprehension of this truth that has drawn together here to-night the intimate friends of Carl Schurz, who have brought tender recollections of his affectionate traits, and also many others who knew him less intimately but loved him none the less for what he was and what he did within the sphere of patriotic endeavor. And we are all here to do honor to his memory, and in this way to likewise honor ourselves and mani- fest our appreciation of pure and unselfish love of country. It would by no means be entirely out of keeping with the occasion to e.xtol the courage of battlefields where patriotism exacts the giving up of human lives for country's sake. But this physical courage is so much a part of our national character that its recognition is universal and its stimulation is not among our country's needs. What our nation needs — and sorely needs — is more of the patriotism that is born of moral courage — the courage that attacks abuses, and struggles for civic reforms single handed, without counting opposing numbers or measuring opposing forces. It is this kind of courage, and the great public service that has been rendered under its inspiration, that we memorialize to-night; and an undisturbed contemplation of its heroism and saving attributes are most in sympathy with the spirit that should pervade this assemblage, I believe that the man whose memory we honor never knew moral fear, and never felt the sickening weakness of moral cowardice. With him it was only to see what he believed to be injustice or error, to hurl himself upon its defences with the impetuosity of a zealot and the endurance of a martyr. He did not shun politics; but in his conception, political activity was valuable and honorable only as it led the way to the performance of civic duty and had for its end and purpose the advancement of principles and the enforcement of practices that best promoted the public good. He had no toleration for the over-nice foppery that drives many who claim patriotic impulses away from politics through fear of contaminating defilement. He entered politics because he saw his duty there; and he found immunity from de- filement in cleansing and purifying his political surroundings. In recognition of the affirmation that ours is a government by party, he did not disparage political organization, or hold himself aloof from party affiliation. He assumed party relationship as an arrangement for united effort in the accomplishment of pur- l)0scs which his judgment approved; but he never conceded to party allegiance the infallible guidance of political thought, nor the unquestioned dictatorship of political conduct. He believed there was a higher law for both, and the din of party could not deafen his ears to the still small voice of conscience. Thus it happened that when party commands were most imperious and when punishment for party disobedience was most loudly threatened, he defiantly proclaimed under the sanction of conscience, untrammelled political thought and unfettered political action; and thus in the propaganda of political individ- ualism he became a leader, and taught by precept and example the meaning and intent of independent voting. Many are willing to defer to party control and guidance, and many are willing for the sake of party to subordinate their per- sonal judgment and belief. Some are so prejudiced by the bigotry of sheer partisanship that they find it impossible to con- done insubordination to party discipline. These conditions should not be too readily condemned. They may be largely attributable to temperament and environment. But no intelli- gently patriotic citizen can be blind to the fact, very recently more conclusively established than ever, that the political inde- pendence declared and illustrated by Carl Schurz has become a defence and safeguard of the people against the evils that result from the unchallenged growth of irresponsive party manage- ment. Political organizations will always be a factor in the equip- ment and conduct of our government, and as long as parties exist there wili be party leaders. But every thoughtful man who loves his country ought to realize in this time of political awakening that the public welfare demands that parties should be in purpose and mission something better than mere machines to serve selfishness and the ends of low and perverted partisan- ship; nor should any fail to detect the humiliation and disgrace that attaches to those who follow party leadership after it has grown to partisan dictatorship and become a thing of proprietary control, prostituted to the uses of base bargaining and treach- erous schemes. No one can know so little of partisan human nature as to suppose that an honest voter thus threatened with betrayal or disgrace in his party relationship can save his honor and political integrity by any less radical remedy than loud protest or open desertion. These things are easily said; and they are easily accepted, as long as they only flatter a self-complacent idleness of political virtue. It is not the mere slothful acceptance of righteous political ideas, but the call to action for their enforcement and application that tests the endurance and moral courage of men. He who sees the emergency and moves to the front where blows are given and taken must expect that but few of the thousands who speak bravely will be at his side. Mr. Schurz had the keenest possible apprehension of this and of all else that he would meet in the path he had entered upon. He was able to meet with calm defiance the denunciation and ostracism of partisanship; and he was able to meet with undis- guised contempt the abuse and threats of party sordidness and self-seeking. But he was obliged to suffer acutely and in silent resignation from the misconception of his efforts and even his motives by friends he loved, and from the distrustful misgivings of those whose judgment he greatly valued. And still he held his way — brave beyond the reach of moral fear, and confident beyond the reach of discouragement. Those of us who boast that we are Americans by heredity should not forget that he who thus wrought for the betterment of our nation's political ideas and practice was of foreign birth. And let us remember, too, with admiring appreciation, that while he never allowed his loving memory of his fatherland to fade, he at the same time earned imperishable honor in his newer citizen- ship, and added lustre to the patriotism of his nature by unre- served devotion and fidelity to his American allegiance. If his noble example and service suggest a home-thrusting contrast, they should especially incite to better duty and more political solicitude those claiming by birthright an advanced place in our citizenship. And all of us should take to heart the broad and impressive lesson taught to every American citizen by the life and career of Carl Schurz. It is the lesson of moral courage, of intelligent and conscientious patriotism, of independent political thought, of unselfish political affiliation, and of constant political vigilance. The Chairman: As you know, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Schurz was an adopted son of Harvard, an institution which conferred upon him its highest honor, and to which he sent both his sons to be educated, v/here he v;as the President of the Germanic Museum Society, and whose classic shades he loved to visit. I can assure you that the respect and esteem was more than fully recipro- cated, and I have the very great pleasure of presenting to you President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University: [15] ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT CHARLES W. ELIOT CARL SCHURZ'S temperament was buoyant, ardent, and hopeful. He was an enthusiast; but his enthusiastic faith carried him straight into fitting deeds. He was a philosopher; but he seized every opportunity to apply his phil- osophy in action. This noble temperament characterized his whole life, from youth to age. His formal or systematic edu- cation was short, but effective. He was only seventeen years old when he entered the University of Bonn to study philosophy and history — two subjects which, according to present educa- tional views, require a good deal of mental maturity. At twenty he was an adjutant in a considerable body of revolutionary troops. At twenty-one he had rescued his friend and teacher Kinkel from the prison of Spandau and brought him safely to England — an achievement which required courage, ingenuity, patience, and good judgment. He was already possessed of two means of winning an independent livelihood — good proof of his capacity and of the effectiveness of his education. One was giving music lessons, and the other was writing letters from abroad for German newspapers. While he was earning $36 a month as a newspaper correspondent in Paris he learned to write and speak French with ease and delicacy, thus giving a striking illustration of his remarkable powers in language. At twenty-three he came with his wife of eighteen to the United States, seeking freedom in a land where political freedom had been a natural growth. Switzerland had been liis first refuge, England his second, and republican France — soon to bccfjme imperial France — his third; America was henceforth his country, and what led him thither was the passion for liberty. Neither he nor his wife could understand spoken English when [■6] they landed in New York. He immediately began to read news- papers and novels, historical and political essays, and Black- stone's Commentaries, using the dictionary incessantly, but making little use of an English grammar. He also followed a method strikingly like that which Benjamin Franklin devised for acquiring a thorough knowledge of a language — even of the mother tongue. He translated many of the Letters of Junius into German and back again into English, and compared this retranslation with the English original. He wrote diligently in English, always reading over and revising what he had written. In less than six months he could talk easily in English and write a good letter. This achievement was the more remarkable because he and his wife associated chiefly with recently immigrated Germans. He was also studying industriously the political history and institutions of the country and its social conditions. His contemporary observations on American con- ditions of life show remarkable insight and sagacity. He saw clearly that political freedom means freedom to be feeble, foolish, and sinful in public affairs, as well as freedom to be strong, wise, and good. He saw that the object of political freedom is to develop character in millions of free men through the suffering which follows mistakes and crimes, and through the satisfaction and improvement which follows on public wisdom and righteousness. He saw clearly the product- iveness of freedom through the spontaneous cooperation of private citizens. He saw how freedom to do something awakens the desire and develops the capacity to do it. In short, this sanguine young foreigner, who had no experience whatever of democracy at work, saw clearly that a republic is not an ideal state, but a state in which good contends with evil, and the people themselves, and not a few masters of the people do the fighting, and so get instruction both from defeats through folly and vice and from victories through good sense and virtue. He saw that the actual political, industrial, and social conditions in a republic might, like the actual issue of a single individual's struggles, often be far below ideal conditions, and yet freedom to do wrong or to do right would remain the best possible atmosphere, indeed [^7] the only atmosphere, for national as for individual growth in virtue. He also perceived that democratic government could be various and elastic, and that it had indefinite recuperative power after disaster. The whole of his subsequent career as a public man was based on these convictions of his youth. Thirty-five years later appeared his " Life of Henry Clay," his largest piece of literary work. It is much more than a life of Clay, being also a powerful delineation in rapid outlines of the political history of fifty pregnant years. Its style is simple, clear, and fluent, its judgment of men and public acts temperate and impartial, and its moral teaching always both lofty and attractive. No biog- raphy of an American public man has been written with greater discernment, candor, and fairness. That it was written by a Germ.an who came to this country at twenty-three years of age, after practical experience of the crude and visionary revolution- ism of F.urope in 1848, and then entered on the study of the English language and of American political principles, is an intellectual and moral marvel. It demonstrates the consistency and continuity of Carl Schurz's own principles of political action from youth to age. Schurz at once attached himself to the liberal or progressive side in American politics, and in the first instance to the anti- slavery cause. What gave him power to serve greatly the cause of freedom was his gift of genuine oratory, both in English and in German. His command of English for purposes of public speech was extraordinary. I have listened to many scholars and lecturers of foreign birth speaking in English after years of familiar use of the English tongue, but I have never heard one who approached Carl Schurz in the accuracy, variety, and idio- matic quality of his English speech. In his essays and speeches one may find occasionally a word which a native would hardly use in the sense in which he uses it, but the most attentive critic will fail to find ungrammatical phrases or misused idioms. Now and then a sentence will recall by its length the German style; but its order, inflection, and rhythm will be English. His ora- tory was never florid or rhetorical as distinguished from logical. On the contrary, it was compact, simple, and eminently moderate [.8] in form and rational in substance. He could be severe, but he was never vituperative; bold, but never reckless; he was always firm, with a strength based on full inquiry and knowledge. On every subject which he treated before the public he took the utmost pains to be well informed, to acquaint himself with his adversaries' opinions and feelings, and to be prepared alike for direct advocacy and for rebuttal. At twenty-seven years of age he was already making political speeches in German — speeches which contributed to carrying Wisconsin for Fremont. He was not thirty years old when he made his first political speech in English. He contributed to the first election of Lincoln by many speeches in German and in English — a service which brought him at thirty-two years of age the appointment as Minister to Spain. After his three years' service in the army during the civil war he returned for a time to the calling of his youth — writing for the daily press, both in Ger- man and English, an occupation in which his gifts had full play. A new theatre for his oratorical powers was opened to him when he took his seat in the Senate of the United States in March, 1869, as Senator from Missouri. Here he proved his readiness as a debater as well as his power as an orator. Debate often brings out a fine quality which the oratorical monologue does not develop — namely, fairness combined with aggressiveness. The most persuasive debater is always the fairest debater, be- cause the listener who is not already a partisan is only too apt to be unreasonably repelled from the side which manifests unfair- ness, and to be sympathetically attracted toward the other side. The ordinary defects of American speaking — bombast, excess in simile and metaphor, exaggeration, and playing to the gallery — Carl Schurz invariably shunned. His oratory was always high- minded and dignified, although it ranged through all human moods, and could be either forcible or gentle, plain and calm, or dramatic and passionate. Schurz was always a leader of the people, because he was an independent thinker and a student, and because he himself faithfully followed ideals which had not yet become the ideals of the masses. In how true a sense he was a pioneer we shall [19] realize if we recall the dates of some of his great speeches. In a speech on civil service reform, delivered in the Senate in Janu- ary, 1S71, he laid down in the clearest and most impressive man- ner all the fundamental principles and objects of the reform — principles which have not yet been fully incorporated in public law — and to the close of his life he was a devoted servant of this great reform. Three years later he made two memorable speeches in the Senate on banking and against inflation of the currency, his admirable teaching being inspired not so much by his belief in the material or industrial advantages of a sound cur- rency as by his conviction that an unsound currency caused both public and private dishonesty. The country has not yet put in practice the whole of Schurz's doctrine on honest banking and honest money. When he was Secretary of the Interior for four years he proved that he was a pioneer not only in the theory of reform, but in the practice also. The solidity of Carl Schurz's information, his independence, and his quality as a leader of '.bought are well illustrated by his early dealings with the subject of forestry. When he was Secretary of the Interior it was part of his business to make himself acquainted with the American forests and with the rapacious commercial organizations which were rapidly destroying them. He came into actual conflict with some of these organizati')ns, and during his tenure of the Secre- taryship he set on foot the resistance to this wanton destruction which has since gathered force and is beginning to be effective. In an adm.irable address delivered before the American Forestry Association in October, 1889, Carl Schurz expounded clearly and completely the true doctrine of forest protection and preserva- tion, anticipating public opinion by many years, at a time when an advocate of such views had nothing to expect but ridicule and abuse. The nature of the other public causes in which he labored testifies to the same virtue in him of leadership based on idealism. In his later years he became an ardent advocate of arbitration in international disputes, and hence an expounder of the atrocities oS war, of its demoralizing subsequent effects, and of its frequent futility in settling disputes. In his latest years he lent the whole [20I force of his reputation and his eloquence to the feeble minority which opposed the extension of the sovereignty of the United States over conquered peoples. Again he was true to his ideals and to the ideals of Washington and Lincoln. Like Washington he urged his adopted country to "observe good faith and justice toward all nations." Like Lincoln he believed that " our defence is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men in all lands." Carl Schurz was a thinker, a writer, an orator, and a doer — all four; and he loved liberty. St. James describes him perfectly in his General Epistle: "Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." This freeman, truly blessed in his deeds throughout a long and busy life, is the greatest American citizen of German birth. The Liederkranz Chorus, which had volunteered its services, then sang, under the direction of Mr. Arthur Claasen, its leader, Engelsberg's Meine Muttersprache. The Chairman: This occasion does not belong to New York, or to America, alone; Germany is entitled to, and claims, her fair share in it, and in token of that, I have the great honor of presenting to you Professor Eugene Kuhnemann, of the University of Breslau, now happily a visiting professor at Harvard, who will address you in his own and Carl Schurz's native tongue: [21] ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR EUGENE KUHNEMANN m fin er[te§ SQSort an biefer ©tefle mu| etn SBort beS 3)an!eg [ein, eine§ 2)an!e§, ber, luie id^ glaube, Don aflen beutfc^en Siammesgenojlen gefiifjlt rtirb. 2)iefe ^eier teran[talten 2Imerifaner einem \f)xn gri3feten SSiir^ get. (5arl (5cf)ur3 ^at [einen ©tolj barein ge[€^t, nid)t§ anbere§ al§ ein treuer unb ftaljrer atnerifani[d)er Siirger 3U fein. 5Iber au§ bem beutfctien SSaterlanbe ftammte bod^ bie 5lraft, bie er im 2)ien|te ^ImerifaS cntfaltet f)at. 2)arum liegt fo bid feine 2Biirbigung barin, bafe gu feiner (5^re an biefex ©tefle ein SDeutf-^er in feiner beut[rf)en 5]^ulterfpracl)e 3U ^^nen reben barf. 2)a§ beut[d}e £ieb gum ^teig ber DJ^utterfpracfie ift au&or er!Iiingen, auc^ bieg in feinftem S^etftanbniS feiner Geele, bie in ber DU^ufi! lebte unb bie beutfc^c Gprac^e aB bie ©prarfie be§ 2iebe§ geliebt fjat. 3ugleic^ fommt barin bie ganjc ©efrf)ic^te be§ 5Jianne§ 3um 5Iu§brurf, ber imi SSelten ange^brte unb ein HJieifter gn^eier ©pracficn mar. 2)ie§ mar feine ©rbfee unb fein Gcf)ic!fal, fein ©liid unb biefleic^t ein menig and) fein ©cfimerj, fein o bie eble Sraube gUif)t; luo ber Dlienfd) frof> ift, aud) o^nc 3U miff en marum; mo ba§ beutfd)e Cieb boppelt poetifd) tlingt; mo bom 5^icbcrmalb bag Sitb ber fiegljaften ©er mania fo trotjig iiber bie ©ren3e blidt; an ba§ fd)i5ne licbe £anb, oon bem jeber ^ufe breit ung tf)euer ift." (5r mar ein ilinb be§ 93oIte3 unb [22J Ijai ba§ ge[talten^ unb farbenteid)e Silb be§ beut[cf)en S3o(fe§ iener 3eit in bte !inblidf)e ©eele begierig aufgenommen. 5Ro(f) lebten bie ^elbeniiberlieferungen be§ 23efreiungSfriege§. Uiib an ben ©efprdc^en fluger Wdmtx am §erbfeuer entmicfelte ficf) ber erftc p{)anta[iet)oae 5rntr)eit an ber gro^en 3BeIt. 5lii§ bcm Witnbe be§ S3ater§ prte er 3um erften SO^ale don 20a[^ington al§ bem ebelften §elben ber ®e= fd)tc!)te. ©r ging burrf) bie beuifcfie ©c^ulersiefjung mit ifirer ©riinb* Iicf)!eit unb il^rer uielfettigen 5tnregung [elb[tftdnbiger Seftrebungen. er n^urbe alg einer ber geiirtg|ten ergriffen Don ben golbenen §off= nungen be§ S3bI!erfru^Iing§ unb tebte „bcm gro^en (grmedunggjafire", n?ie er e§ genannt I)at, freubig entgegen. ©o murbe bie gauge (Seek be§ flei^igen jungen ©tubenten erfiiflt bon bem ©ebanfen an fein SSoIf unb feine ^rei^eit. (5§ mar, al§ mUk ber ©laube l^riebric^ (5d)iner§ t)iniiber mirfen in§ politifc^e fieben. 5Iber ©dfiura errt?ie§ aud) ben ©rnft, bie STufopferung, ben 3JJutI). (S§ tear !etn ®lau6e ber SOSorte, fonbern ber siiaten. (5r {)at bie Sffiaffen ergriffen unb in ber rebolutionaren ^Irmee ge!ampft fiir bie 2SoI!§frei^eit, njie er fte dcrftanb. 2Bie ein §elbenlieb lefen fic^ jene ^apilel feine§ £eben5 mit ber tounberbaren ^luc^t au§ ber ^^^eftung Staftatt. ^n Sa^ren ber (Srniid^terung mu^te er ba§ entfagenbe Ceben be§ gliicf)t(ing§ fUf)ren. 5Iber bie Dpfertreue fiir ben ^^reunb gait i^m me^r aB ba§ eigene fieben. 2)ut(f) bie 23efreiung ^tn!el§ au§ bem 3ud^tf)au§ ern^arb er europdifcfien JRul^m, ben Sfiu^m, ben bie menj(i)Iic^ guten, aufopfernben S^aten geben, unb mufete boc^ fdin^er genug [ic^ meiter miifien urn fetne (Sjiftena. 2Sie ift bie§ S""S^i"9^^^^^" ^^'^^ °" ^^^ f(f)13nften gieid}t^um ber ^ugenb: ber igingabe be§ ganjen 2eben§ an eine begeifternbe ^bee. ^ie 5Rot^ be§ 23aterlanbe§ tjai \t)m fein ^u^ genbleben gu einem fiinrei^enben ©ebid^te gemac^t. 2)ag beutf(^e SSoI! ^e^ bamal§ noc^ ba§ 2SoI! ber 2)ic^ter unb 2)enfer. G^ura aber erfcfieint un§ aB ein etf)ter ©ic^teriungling, ber in feinem Ceben, in feinen S^aten birfitet. Unb iiber bie rautjen ©tlD^e ber SOSirHidi^eit l^intoeg trdgt if)n bie ©unft ber mn\t, bie feine ©eele eriefen ^at. ©einer §elbent()at banlte er bie Cicbe bc§ S03eibe§, ba§ i^m fein Ceben fdjenfte. ^n bie neue ^eimatf] feiner mal}\, nad) 5tmeri!a brad)te er bie beutfdie ©Idubigfeit. 3f)m mar e§ ba§ golbene Canb ber biirgerlid)en ^^rei^eit. ©eine beutf(^e S3il- [23] bung ermbglicftte if)m ba§ fcfinelle (?ingef)cn in bte frembe SSelt ber englifc^en ©prarfie, 2)ic be!r)eglirf)e germanifc^e (Sd^bpferfraft lien if)n ein neue§ 2eben finben in ben ©ebanfen grower bffentlic^er 2Biri= [am!eit fiir ba§ amerifanifi^e 23oI{. 5Reib(D» erfennen niir 2)eutfd)e, Jnie er[t ba§ neue 2]aterlanb i()m bie grofien 5]lbglid)feiten bot fiir bie bolle Sntfaltung feiner ungeiDb^nlid^en Hriifte. (Sr rourbe einer ber er[ten unter ben ^iifirern feineg SSoIfey. (Seine gan3e politifrfie 2Bir!fam!eit in ^merifa roar getragen uon feinem beutfd)en ^bcaliemuS. ^fmerifa follte [ein, fc irie er e§ glaubte unb liebte, ba§ Canb ber 5Re(f)tyd)affenf)eit unb @e[e^tic!)feit, bie biirgerlid)e 9tepu6Iif ber allgemeinen unb iDa^ren ^rei^eit, rt)ie Cincoln e§ in feinem fiieblingSftiorte auSgebriidt: „bie SRegierung be§ SSoHeg, burc^ ba§ 33oI!, fiir ba§ 2SoI!." DJio^te man i^n einen Srdu= mer fd^elten, er rief 3uriid: „SbeaIe finb glcid) ben ©ternen. 2)u mirft fie nic^t mit ber ipanb beriit)ren, aber gleid) bem ©eefa{)rer auf ben 3Siiften ber SQSaffer mdl^Ift bu fie at§ l^ii^rer, folgft ifinen unb er- reid)ft beine Seftimmung." 2)iefer ^bealiSmuS er^eugte feinen 53?ut^, ber, n^ie er fagte, ba§ erfte grforberni^ fiir bie 5iif)rerfd)aft in einer gro^en (Ba^t ift. (5r erl^iett i^m bie Unabf^dngigteit, bie ba§ JRei^t aflein 3um fieitftern nafjui unb f)bf)er ad)tete aU bie ^orberungen ber ^artei. 2;enn nad} if)m n^ar e§ ftet§ ber unabl)dngige ©eift, ber Sldeg ii6ern.iinbenbe 8inn fiir ^flid]t, ber ben 203eg brad) fiir jeben grofjen ^ortfdiritt ber amertfanifclien (3efd)ii^te. „2Bei)e ber 3Repu= bli!, iDenn fie dergebenS Umfdiau f)ielte nad) DUcdnnern, bie bie SSaf)r{)eit fudien o^nc SSorurt^eile, bie 2Bal)rf)eit fagen Df)ne ^urc^t, mie fie fie berfteficn, mag bie SQiielt fie ^bren nDoflen ober nic^t." ©o mar fein ganjeS bffentlid)e§ Ceben ein einjiger Sienft ber fittlid)en 3bee, in ber er 5(merifa'§ ©rbj^e unb 3u!unft faf), ein Sienft, ber nid)t erlaf)mte, auc^ menn e§ burd) (Sdimer^en, Sinfamfeit unb ©nt= tdufd)ung ging. Go Don feinem Gintreten fiir Cincoln, feiner 5(rbeit fiir bie GHatenbefreiung, feinen 5Jiiil)en um ben 2Bieberauf6au be§ (2iiben§ an bi§ ju bem 5lampf gegen bie 50^nnge( ber 23ermattung unb gegen Seftrebungen in bie j^erne, bon bencn er fd)(imme 20ir= !ungen fiir bie biirgerlid^e SRepubti! befiirditete. lln§ 5)eutfd}e riibrt inmitten ader biefer T)inge bie Sorge um bie !23dlbcr, au§ tcr bie innige !Jiaturliebe be§ beutfd)en 5JJanne§ iDie bie ^i^orauSfic^t beS iriei= [H] fen S3oIfSroirtI)$5 fpridit. (Sr mar ftc^ felber treu unb ba§ f)ic^ bei i^m, er mar feinen ^beaten treu. Go iranbten ficf) bie Dteben be^ grofeen 9lebner§ in aiuei ©prad)en, mie Gcfjiller e§ Don bem S3olf§= erjie^er derlangte, an ba§ SBefte ber menfdilic^en 5J?atur. 2)ie 2J^en= [(i)en befttmmen ^te^ fiir i^n: bie aJien[d)en i)eben. Unb aud) bon if)m gilt, ma§ er Don feinem ^Jfreunbe Sumner gefagt f)at: „iQinter anem, ma§ er fagte unb tf)at, ftanb bie prdrf)tige 5J^dnnlid)teit, bie man unfef)tbar t)inburrf) empfanb." gmifciien Cincoln unb SiSmard ftefjt fiir un§ biefer gro^e 2)eutfd)= 5Imeri!aner al§ gmifdien ben grbfeten 33oIf§= unb ©taatgfii^rern neuerer 3eiten unb in ber gri3feten gefd)id)tlid)en SlrifiS beiber SSiilfer. ^iir £incoIn uub mit if)m I)at er gearbeitet, in 23i§mard ^at er bie freilid) munberfame unb unermartete ©rfiiffung feiner ^iinglingStrdume er= lebt. ^ber fein alte§ blirgerlicb; liberates §er3 fc^Iug bod) fiir 2in= coin mef)r, „ben 5J^ann, ber nic^t nur Dom niebrigften Urfprung mar, fonbern aud^ ber einfac^fte unb anfprui^iofefte ber SSiirger blieb unb erp^t marb gu einer 5!Jiad)tfteIIung ofine ©Ieid}en in ber amerifani= fd)en ©efd)ic^te, ber, ber fanftefte ber (5terbliii)en, !eine £reatur Ici= ben fel^en tonnte ofine Qualen ber eigenen 33ruft, unb ber fid) prd^Iicb be= rufen fanb, ben blutigften Rrieg gu fii^ren, ber bie g^egierungSgemalt lenfte, a\§> erbarmungSlofe ©tar!e ba§ ©efe^ be§ SageS mar, unb ber bann 23oI!§geift unb SSoIfg^erg gemann unb leitete bur(^ bie garten ©i)mpatf)ien feiner ?iatur, ber borfidjtig^onferbatid Don temperament unb @emDf)n^eit bie plii^Iic^fte unb alleS fortfc^memmenbe fociale iRe^ solution unferer 3ett gu leiten befam, ber bie einfad)e ©prad^e unb lanblic^e SDSeife in ber pd^ften (SteHung jcner Specie beibe^ielt unb ben ©pott ber guten ©efeHfdjaft erregte, unb ber bann bie ©eele ber 2JJenfd)^eit ergittern mad^te mit 5teu^erungen bon munberboller (5d)Iin= ^eit unb ®ri3fee, ber, in feinem igergen ber befte ^reunb be§ befiegten ©iibenS, ermorbet murbe, meil ein ma^nftnniger f^^anatiter if)n fiir feinen graufamften ?5?einb nal^m, ber in feiner DO^ai^t iiber alleS Tlaa^ oerfpottet unb berf)I3f)nt murbe ton gegnerifd)er Seibenfd)aft unb auf= geregtem 5parteigeift unb um beffen ©rab ^reunb unb f^einb fid) fam= metten, \^n %n preifen, ma§ fie feitbem niemalS aufgef)i3rt l^aben ju tf)un, al§ einen ber grb^ten 5(meri!aner unb ben beften ber DJ^cn- fd^en." Sn 93i§mard'§ S^aten ^at ©d^ura biefleid^t me^r mit ber ^^an= [^5] iafic beg 2)icf)ter§ ba§ berau[d)enbe iQeIbengebicf)t ge[el)en. „2)a§ wax ein Scfiaufpiel, luie ber ein[t [o berfpottete beutfd)e DJJic^el plofe^ lief) au» bem (5d}lafe erluadite; mie er bie gemaltigen ©Ueber redte; mic er [einen ©c^ilb [c^iittelte, bafe er tiang trie aUe 2)Dnner be§ ^irmamentg; irie ba§ Stampfen feine§ ^uf^e§ ben Soben (5uropn§ erjittern mac^te; irie er mit mdd)tigeni (£d)mert[rf)Iag ben iibermutf)igen O^einb box \\dj in ben ©taub irarf; trie er mit ^ofauneni'timme au§rie[: M^^ ganje 3)eut[d;Ianb fofl e§ fein"; unb irie bie DJienfd^^eit ftaunenb aufMidte an ber riefigen §elbenge[talt." Ob in bern JBerfialtnife 3U SiSmard dieOeidji bie 2rennung liegt gmifdjen ber jungen ©eneration 2)eut[c^(anb3 unb if)m, unb ob e§ eine Srennung genau ber gleidjen *2Irt ift, bie ifjn con ben jiingeren SSeftrebungen 5tmeri!a§ fdiieb, mollen mx nur e^r= furd)tig fragen. Un§ fd^eint ba§ ganje CebenSgefuI)! be§ 2)euifc^en beranbert, feit mir im 3Reid)e Icben al§ einer ©ro^mad)! unb gleic^= bered)tigt neben bie f)err[c^enben Dflationen ber (Srbe getreten [inb. SSielleid)! erneuert fid] baburc^ auc^ ba§ 25er:^altni& ber SUrger beut= fd)en ©tammeS ju if^rem amerifani[c^en $lCa^IbaterIanbe. 2)od) bleibt Sari (5d)ur3 ber gro^e 5tu§brud ber £eben§gemeinfd)att amifdien ^Tmerifa unb ^eutfdilanb, er, ber ein i^Iaffifer in ben (Spradien bei= ber £dnber n^ar. Bie !einer voax er jum iQiiter unb 2]or[prec^er afler Seugniffe biefer £eben§gemeinf^aft berufen. 2)ag germani= fd]e 5]^ufeum in (Eambribge 3df)(t if)n mit [tol^eftem SRedit aU ben erften feiner ^rdfibenten unb gebentt mit greube [einer SegriifeungS^ njorte bei ber (5inn)eif)ung. ^n feinem gro^en ©innc rie[ er bie 2)eutfd}en ^merifaS auf, bie§ 2Ber! ju {)egen unb 3U entiuideln. Un- berminbert blieb bie beut[d]e ^nnigfeit [eine§ ©efu^lS. ^2n§ beut- fcf)er 2)id)ter fiat er fein Ceben befc^Ioffen. 2)enn bie Srinnerun^ gen feiner ^ugenb, bie englifd) 3U fdireiben ifim unmbglid) mar, gef)bren ju ben fd)bnften ^rofabid)tungen in beutfd)cr (SpTad)c. ^Tn bem ©rabe bon 6arl ©d^urs reidien Die beiben S3bl!er in ber gfeidien 2rauer fid) bie .janb, ober fie Icqen bcioe bie