For a
generation
or more the
## p.
## p.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v22 - Sac to Sha
"
## p. 12971 (#401) ##########################################
OLIVE SCHREINER
12971
She said, "Is there no bridge ? »
He answered, "None. "
She said, "Is the water deep? "
He said, "Deep. "
She said, "Is the floor worn? »
He said, "It is.
may be lost. "
She said, "Have any crossed already? "
He said, "Some have tried! »
She said, "Is there a track to show where the best fording
is ? »
Your foot may slip at any time, and you
He said, "It has to be made. "
She shaded her eyes with her hands; and she said, "I will go. "
And he said, "You must take off the clothes you wore in the
desert: they are dragged down by them who go into the water
so clothed. "
And she threw from her gladly the mantle of Ancient-received-
opinions she wore, for it was worn full of holes. And she took
the girdle from her waist that she had treasured so long, and the
moths flew out of it in a cloud. And he said, "Take the shoes
of Dependence off your feet. "
And she stood there naked, but for one white garment that
clung close to her.
And he said, "That you may keep. So they wear clothes in
the Land of Freedom. In the water it buoys; it always swims. "
And I saw on its breast was written Truth; and it was white:
the sun had not often shone on it,-the other clothes had cov-
ered it up. And he said, "Take this stick; hold it fast. In that
day when it slips from your hand you are lost. Put it down
before you; feel your way: where it cannot find a bottom do
not set your foot. "
And she said, "I am ready; let me go. "
And he said, "No-but stay: what is that-in your breast? "
She was silent.
He said, "Open it, and let me see. "
And she opened it. And against her breast was a tiny thing,
who drank from it, and the yellow curls above his forehead pressed
against it; and his knees were drawn up to her, and he held her
breast fast with his hands.
And Reason said, "Who is he, and what is he doing here? »
## p. 12972 (#402) ##########################################
OLIVE SCHREINER
12972
And she said, "See his little wings-"
And Reason said, "Put him down. "
And she said, "He is asleep, and he is drinking! I will carry
him to the Land of Freedom. He has been a child so long, so
long, I have carried him. In the Land of Freedom he will be a
We will walk together there, and his great white wings
will overshadow me. He has lisped one word only to me in
the desert-'Passion! ' I have dreamed he might learn to say
'Friendship' in that land. "
man.
And Reason said, "Put him down! "
And she said, "I will carry him so
the other I will fight the water. "
He said, "Lay him down on the ground. When you are in
the water you will forget to fight, you will think only of him.
Lay him down. " He said, "He will not die. When he finds you
have left him alone he will open his wings and fly. He will be
in the Land of Freedom before you. Those who reach the Land
of Freedom, the first hand they see stretching down the bank
to help them shall be Love's. He will be a man then, not a child.
In your breast he cannot thrive: put him down that he may
grow. "
―
- with one arm, and with
And she took her bosom from his mouth, and he bit her, so
that the blood ran down on to the ground. And she laid him
down on the earth; and she covered her wound. And she bent
and stroked his wings. And I saw the hair on her forehead
turned white as snow, and she had changed from youth to age.
And she stood far off on the bank of the river. And she
said, "For what do I go to this far land which no one has ever
reached? Oh, I am alone! I am utterly alone! »
And Reason, that old man, said to her, "Silence! what do you
hear? »
And she listened intently, and she said, "I hear a sound of
feet, a thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands,
and they beat this way! "
He said, "They are the feet of those that shall follow you.
Lead on! make a track to the water's edge! Where you stand
now, the ground will be beaten flat by ten thousand times ten
thousand feet. " And he said, "Have you seen the locusts how
they cross a stream? First one comes down to the water-edge,
and it is swept away, and then another comes, and then another,
## p. 12973 (#403) ##########################################
OLIVE SCHREINER
12973
and then another; and at last with their bodies piled up a bridge
is built, and the rest pass over. "
She said, "And of those that come first, some are swept away,
and are heard of no more; their bodies do not even build the
bridge ? »
"And are swept away, and are heard of no more- and what
of that? " he said.
"And what of that » she said.
"They make a track to the water's edge. "
"They make a track to the water's edge—» And she said,
"Over that bridge which shall be built with our bodies, who will
pass?
>>>
He said, "The entire human race. "
And the woman grasped her staff.
And I saw her turn down that dark path to the river.
And I awoke; and all about me was the yellow afternoon
light: the sinking sun lit up the fingers of the milk-bushes; and
my horse stood by me quietly feeding. And I turned on my
side, and I watched the ants run by thousands in the red sand.
I thought I would go on my way now - the afternoon was cooler.
Then a drowsiness crept over me again, and I laid back my head
and fell asleep.
-
And I dreamed a dream.
I dreamed I saw a land. And on the hills walked brave
women and brave men, hand in hand. And they looked into
each other's eyes, and they were not afraid.
And I saw the women also hold each other's hands.
And I said to him beside me, "What place is this? "
And he said, "This is heaven. "
And I said, "Where is it? "
And he answered, "On earth. "
And I said, "When shall these things be? "
And he answered, "IN THE FUTURE. "
And I awoke, and all about me was the sunset light; and ɔn
the low hills the sun lay, and a delicious coolness had crept over
everything; and the ants were going slowly home. And I walked
towards my horse, who stood quietly feeding Then the sun
passed down behind the hills; but I knew that the next day he
would arise again.
## p. 12974 (#404) ##########################################
12974
CARL SCHURZ
CARL SCHURZ
(1829-)
BY JAMES FORD RHODES
N 1848, that year of upheaval, the love of liberty and the
spirit of revolution came to Carl Schurz, then nineteen
years old (for he was born March 2d, 1829, at Liblar near
Cologne, Prussia), a student at the University of Bonn. In union with
other noble and bold spirits he endeavored to secure by force a
freer government and constitutional rule. For his part in an attempt
to promote an insurrection he was forced
to flee from his university city; he went to
the Palatinate and joined the revolutionary
army.
The revolutionists were defeated.
In their failure the high aspirations of many
liberty-loving men went down. Schurz es-
caped to Switzerland, which afforded an
asylum for large numbers of the German
political exiles. A year in Paris as a cor-
respondent of German newspapers, a year
in London as a teacher, brought him to
1852, when he came to the United States.
Residing in Philadelphia and visiting Wash-
ington, he studied law, political institutions,
and public men. He went to Wisconsin,
and was admitted to the bar; but his enthusiastic interest in the
antislavery movement drew him into politics. As a consequence of
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the moral and political strug-
gle against slavery had practically become one. The Republican
party had been formed. The Northwest, which had been Democratic,
took ground against the extension of slavery; and one of the factors
in its conversion was the support which the party of freedom re-
ceived from the large population of Germans. Schurz threw himself
into that contest with ardor, advocated without ceasing the Repub-
lican cause, and then laid the foundation for his influence politically
over his countrymen, which he has never lost, and which has been of
true service to the republic. He spoke for Lincoln in the memorable
senatorial campaign of 1858 against Douglas, and made the personal
acquaintance of the man with whom the points of contact became
## p. 12975 (#405) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
*
12975
closer as the irrepressible conflict developed from the strife of words.
into the clash of arms. As the chairman of the Wisconsin delega-
tion to the Republican national convention of 1860, held in Chicago,
he advocated the nomination of Seward for President; but he did not
feel, as some of the friends of Seward in the bitterness of their disap-
pointment felt, that by the action of the delegates the cause had been
betrayed and lost. From the debates with Douglas he had measured
the ability and character of Lincoln: and when he gave an account
of his stewardship to the Republicans of Wisconsin, it was no par-
tisan opportunist who spoke, but an orator whose convictions were
decided, whose words were sincere; he told them that their candi-
date was a "pure and patriotic statesman," "eminently fitted by the
native virtues of his character, the high abilities of his mind, and a
strong honest purpose," for the solution of the "problem before him. ”
During the canvass of 1860 he was constantly on the stump, speaking
in both English and German. Receiving the appointment of minis-
ter to Spain, and entering upon the duties of his mission, his heart
remained in America: he watched with painful anxiety, as Motley did
from Vienna, the progress of the war. He wrote a dispatch to the
State department, giving an accurate and comprehensive account of
European sentiment in reference to our civil conflict, and urging that
the Government take steps toward the abolition of slavery, to “place
the war against the rebellious slave States upon a higher moral basis,
and thereby give us control of public opinion in Europe. " Concern-
ing the effect abroad his judgment was sound; but the President
had to take into account the feeling of the plain people at home, and
issued his 'Proclamation of Emancipation' at the earliest moment
that it would have been sustained by the public, which Mr. Schurz
inferentially in his essay on Lincoln admits. "It would have been a
hazardous policy," he writes, "to endanger, by precipitating a demon-
strative fight against slavery, the success of the struggle for the
Union. "
Late in 1861 he returned to the United States, and served with
credit as a general in the field. After the war he became a journal-
ist. For a while he was the Washington correspondent of the New
York Tribune; then founded a newspaper in Detroit, and later became
the editor of a St. Louis journal. In 1869 Missouri sent him to the
United States Senate, where his service was both solid and brilliant.
He favored universal amnesty to the men of the South; he opposed
President Grant's scheme for the annexation of San Domingo, and
was one of the senators and leaders of public opinion who gave ex-
pression to the profound disappointment and dissatisfaction of many
Republicans with the general drift of Grant's administration. Thus
he became more than any other one man the head and front of the
## p. 12976 (#406) ##########################################
12976
CARL SCHURZ
movement of Liberal Republicans of 1872, whose convention at Cin-
cinnati, under the influence of some manipulation and a wave of
curious enthusiasm, nominated Horace Greeley for President. Schurz's
choice was Charles Francis Adams, who represented logically the op-
position to Grant, and whose candidature, whether defeat or victory
came, would have been dignified, and might have laid the foundations
for a new party capable of enduring good.
During the financial crisis of 1873, the popular remedy for the
distress, which had able and powerful advocates in Congress, was the
issue of more greenbacks. Schurz fought in the Senate a bill pro-
viding for such an inflation of the currency. In 1875 the contest
was transferred to Ohio. Meanwhile the Republicans in Congress
had committed themselves to the resumption of specie payments; and
Hayes, who was nominated for governor of Ohio, advocated unequiv-
ocally the doctrine of sound money. The Democrats put forward
William Allen, and demanded that "the volume of currency be made
and kept equal to the wants of trade,”. a declaration satisfactory
to the generality of Democrats, and to many Republicans in finan-
cial straits. Then ensued a wholesome and momentous canvass.
Schurz was called from a well-earned rest in Switzerland to take part
in it. He spoke constantly all over the State in English and in
German; with a power never before equaled, I think, of placing
cogently before men who labored with their hands, the elementary
truths of sound finance. It is unquestionably true that Schurz's and
John Sherman's speeches, their campaign of education, carried the
State for the Republicans; though so hard fought was the contest
that Hayes's plurality was but 5,544. That Ohio election made Hayes
President, and Schurz Secretary of the Interior. As Secretary he
served with honor, and he had an opportunity to put into practice
his principles of reform in the civil service. He supported Cleve-
land in 1884, 1888, and 1892. In 1896 he canvassed the principal cities
of the middle West; opposing the election of Bryan, speaking for
sound finance in this great educational campaign as he had spoken
in 1875, and being so persuasive a teacher that the sagacious chair-
man of the Republican National Committee distributed 1,500,000
pamphlet copies of his principal speech, besides a large quantity of
so-called "Schurz Nuggets. "
Such is a brief account of an active life. With George William
Curtis, Mr. Schurz stands as the representative of the Independent in
politics. No other man in this country, outside of a few who hold
high office, has the political influence which he possesses. Wher-
ever intelligent business men, college professors, advanced students,
and political reformers gather together, there will you find the seed
germinating which through many years and under different party
――
## p. 12977 (#407) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12977
banners he has sown. The eagerness with which his work on the
stump is at different times sought for alike by Republican and Dem-
ocratic campaign managers, is proof of his large influence with the
mass of voters. Many well-meaning men accuse him of inconsist-
ency, for the reason that he has changed so frequently his party asso-
ciations; but if consistency means adherence through the years to
the same principles, he may challenge comparison on this ground
with the strongest partisan in the land. He has also been accused
of unsteadiness, from his frequent change of residence and occupation.
We all know the benefit of attachment to family and location, which
we see so clearly in Virginia and Massachusetts: such a feeling
causes men to take root in the soil, and redounds to the safety of the
State. But in our great republic, there is room for the cosmopolitan,
for the citizen who has no attachment to any State, whose love is for
the nation. Mr. Schurz, while pre-eminently a citizen of the world in
society, literature, and art, is as true an American as any man born
on American soil.
It is a remark of Bagehot that the men who know most, rarely
have the time or the training to write books. Let it be noted then
in the calendar, when a man of Mr. Schurz's varied life becomes a
distinguished member of the republic of letters. His 'Life of Henry
Clay' is one of the best biographies ever written. The view is purely
objective. He had no manuscript material, no unprinted private let-
ters which would of themselves present his hero in a new light. His
material was books and speeches accessible to every one. The merit of
the biography lies in the thorough assimilation of the facts, the power
of telling a story, the bringing to bear upon the subject the wealth of
his experiences, and the fusion of the whole into a form grateful to
literary art. It seemed strange perhaps that the editor of the 'Ameri-
can Statesmen' series selected him who was a strenuous advocate of
a tariff for revenue only, to write the life of Clay, the father of the
principle of protection to home industries. But John T. Morse, Jr. ,
the editor, chose wisely. Mr. Schurz treats the tariff question and
Clay's relation to it with absolute candor. In truth, had he been in
public life contemporary with Clay, he would probably have taken
the opposite side, on nearly every public question, from his hero; yet
such is his impartiality and sympathy that all who read the book
must end it with loving Henry Clay. The historical part
of great
value, and I question whether one who had not been Senator and
Cabinet minister could have given to it such animation.
Mr. Schurz wrote an essay on Abraham Lincoln, originally pub-
lished in the Atlantic Monthly. More has been written about Lin-
coln than about any other man in our history; but our author, by his
power of generalization, and his presentment of the orderly unfolding
XXII-812
## p. 12978 (#408) ##########################################
12978
CARL SCHURZ
of this great life, has thrown new light on the character and work
of the martyr President. To say that the essay is a classic is praise
none too high.
After his retirement from public life, Mr. Schurz was one of the
editors of the Evening Post, in association with E. L. Godkin and
Horace White. On the death of George William Curtis, he became
the writer of the leading political article of Harper's Weekly. At
first his contributions appeared unsigned, but in 1897 they began to
be printed over his own signature. He discusses, for his audience of
several hundred thousand, domestic and foreign politics, with an in-
telligence, acumen, and incisive literary style that certainly are not
surpassed in America or in England. He writes English with accu-
racy, clearness, and vigor, and is never dull. A French writer has
said: "To acquire a few tongues is the task of a few years. To be
eloquent in one is the labor of a life. " In language the work of Mr.
Schurz is that of two lives, for he is eloquent in both English and
German.
James Fad Rhudes
CLAY THE CITIZEN
From the Life of Henry Clay. ' Copyright 1887, by Carl Schurz. Published
by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
T THE period when Henry Clay arrived in Kentucky, in 1797,
the population exceeded 180,000, about one-fifth of whom
were slaves; the later immigrants having come from the
same quarter as the earlier.
Α'
The original stock consisted of the hardiest race of backwoods-
men.
The forests of Kentucky were literally wrested from the
Indians by constant fighting. The question whether the aborigi-
nes had any right to the soil seems to have been utterly foreign
to the pioneer's mind. He wanted the land, and to him it was a
matter of course that the Indian must leave it. The first settle-
ments planted in the virgin forest were fortified with stockades
and block-houses; which the inmates, not seldom for months at
a time, could not leave without danger of falling into an Indian
ambush and being scalped. No part of the country has there-
fore more stories and traditions of perilous adventures, bloody
fights, and hairbreadth escapes.
For a generation or more the
## p. 12979 (#409) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12979
hunting-shirt, leggins, and moccasins of deerskin more or less
gaudily ornamented, and the long rifle, powder-horn, and hunting-
knife formed the regular "outfit" of a very large proportion of
the male Kentuckians. We are told of some of the old pioneers,
who, many years after populous towns had grown up on the sites
of the old stockades, still continued the habit of walking about
in their hunter's garb, with rifle and powder-horn, although the
deer had become scarce, and the Indian had long ago disappeared
from the neighborhood. They were loath to make up their minds
to the fact that the old life was over. Thus the reminiscences
and the characteristic spirit and habits left behind by that wild
life were still fresh among the people of Kentucky at the period
of which we speak. They were an uncommonly sturdy race of
men, most of them fully as fond of hunting, and perhaps also
of fighting, as of farming; brave and generous, rough and reck-
less, hospitable and much given to boisterous carousals, full of a
fierce love of independence, and of a keen taste for the confused
and turbulent contests of frontier politics. Slavery exercised its
peculiar despotic influence there as elsewhere, although the num-
ber of slaves in Kentucky was comparatively small.
But among
freemen a strongly democratic spirit prevailed. There was as yet
little of that relation of superior and inferior between the large
planter and the small tenant or farmer which had existed, and
was still to some extent existing, in Virginia. As to the white
population, society started on the plane of practical equality.
Where the city of Lexington now stands, the first block-house
was built in April 1775 by Robert Patterson, "an early and
meritorious adventurer, much engaged in the defense of the
country. " A settlement soon formed under its protection, which
was called Lexington, in honor of the Revolutionary battle then
just fought in Massachusetts. The first settlers had to maintain
themselves in many an Indian fight on that "finest garden spot
in all Kentucky," as the Blue Grass region was justly called. In
an early day it attracted "some people of culture" from Vir-
ginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. In 1780 the first school
was built in the fort; and the same year the Virginia legislat-
ure- for Kentucky was at that time still a part of Virginia-
chartered the Transylvania Seminary to be established there. In
1787 Mr. Isaac Wilson, of the Philadelphia College, opened the
"Lexington grammar school," for the teaching of Latin, Greek,
" and the different branches of science. " The same year saw the
## p. 12980 (#410) ##########################################
12980
CARL SCHURZ
organization of a "society for promoting useful knowledge,” and
the establishment of the first newspaper. A year later, in 1788,
the ambition of social refinement wanted and got a dancing-
school, and also the Transylvania Seminary was fairly ready to
receive students: "Tuition five pounds a year, one half in cash,
the other in property; boarding, nine pounds a year, in property,
pork, corn, tobacco, etc. " In ten years more the seminary, hav-
ing absorbed the Kentucky Academy established by the Presby-
terians, expanded into the "Transylvania University," with first
an academical department, and the following year adding one of
medicine and another of law. Thus Lexington, although still a
small town, became what was then called "the literary and intel-
lectual centre west of the Alleghanies," and a point of great
attraction to people of means and of social wants and pretensions.
It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that it was a quiet
and sedate college town like those of New England. Many years
later, in 1814, a young Massachusetts Yankee, Amos Kendall,
who had drifted to Lexington in pursuit of profitable employ-
ment, and was then a private teacher in Henry Clay's family,
wrote in his diary: "I have, I think, learned the way to be pop-
ular in Kentucky, but do not as yet put it in practice. Drink
whisky and talk loud, with the fullest confidence, and you will
hardly fail of being called a clever fellow. " This was not the
only "way to be popular," but was certainly one of the ways.
When the Lexington of 1797, the year of Clay's arrival there, is
spoken of as a "literary and intellectual centre," the meaning is
that it was an outpost of civilization, still surrounded, and to a
great extent permeated, by the spirit of border life. The hunter
in his fringed buckskin suit, with long rifle and powder-horn, was
still a familiar figure on the streets of the town. The boisterous
hilarity of the bar-room, and the excitement of the card table,
accorded with the prevailing taste better than a lecture on ancient
history; and a racing-horse was to a large majority of Lexing-
tonians an object of far greater interest than a professor of
Greek. But compared with other Western towns of the time, Lex-
ington did possess an uncommon proportion of educated people;
and there were circles wherein the social life displayed, together
with the freedom of tone characteristic of a new country, a lib-
eral dash of culture.
This was the place where Henry Clay cast anchor in 1797.
The society he found there was congenial to him, and he was
## p. 12981 (#411) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12981
congenial to it. A young man of uncommon brightness of intel-
lect, of fascinating address, without effort making the little he
knew pass for much more, of high spirits, warm sympathies, a
cheery nature, and sociable tastes,- he easily became a favorite
with the educated as a person of striking ability, and with the
many as a good companion, who, notwithstanding a certain dis-
tinguished air, enjoyed himself as they did. It was again as
a speaker that he first made his mark. Shortly after his arrival
at Lexington, before he had begun to practice law, he joined a
debating club, in several meetings of which he participated only
as a silent listener. One evening, when, after a long discussion,
the vote upon the question before the society was about to be
taken, he whispered to a friend, loud enough to be overheard,
that to him the debate did not seem to have exhausted the sub-
ject. Somebody remarked that Mr. Clay desired to speak, and
he was called upon. Finding himself unexpectedly confronting
the audience, he was struck with embarrassment; and as he
had done frequently in imaginary appeals in court, he began,
"Gentlemen of the jury! " A titter running through the audi-
ence increased his embarrassment, and the awkward words came
out once more. But then he gathered himself up; his nerves
became steady, and he poured out a flow of reasoning so lucid,
and at the same time so impassioned, that his hearers were
overcome with astonishment. Some of his friends who had been
present said, in later years, that they had never heard him make
a better speech. This was no doubt an exaggeration of the first
impression; but at any rate that speech stamped him at once as
a remarkable man in the community, and laid open before him
the road to success.
He had not come to Lexington with extravagant expecta-
tions. As an old man looking back upon those days, he said:
"I remember how comfortable I thought I should be if I could
make one hundred pounds a year, Virginia money, and with what
delight I received the first fifteen shillings fee. " He approached
with a certain awe the competition with what he called “a bar
uncommonly distinguished by eminent members. " But he did
not find it difficult to make his way among them. His practice
was, indeed, at first mostly in criminal cases; and many are the
stories told of the marvelous effects produced by his eloquence
upon the simple-minded Kentucky jurymen, and of the culprits
saved by him from a well-merited fate.
## p. 12982 (#412) ##########################################
12982
CARL SCHURZ
It was not long however that he remained confined to crimi-
nal cases. Soon he distinguished himself by the management of
civil suits also, especially suits growing out of the peculiar land
laws of Virginia and Kentucky. In this way he rapidly acquired
a lucrative practice and a prominent place at the bar of his
State. That with all his brilliant abilities he never worked his
way into the front rank of the great lawyers of the country
was due to his characteristic failing. He studied only for the
occasion, as far as his immediate need went. His studies were
never wide and profound. His time was too much occupied by
other things, not only by his political activity, which gradually
grew more and more exacting, but also by pleasure.
He was
fond of company, and in that period of his life not always care-
ful in selecting his comrades; a passion for cards grew upon
him, so much so indeed that he never completely succeeded in
overcoming it: and these tastes robbed him of the hours and of
the temper of mind without which the calm gathering of thought
required for the mastery of a science is not possible. Moreover,
it is not improbable that his remarkable gift of speaking, which
enabled him to make little tell for much and to outshine men
of vastly greater learning, deceived him as to the necessity for
laborious study. The value of this faculty he appreciated well.
He knew that oratory is an art, and in this art he trained
himself with judgment and perseverance. For many years, as a
young man, he made it a rule to read if possible every day in
some historical or scientific book, and then to repeat what he had
read in free, off-hand speech, "sometimes in a cornfield, at others
in the forest, and not unfrequently in a distant barn with the
horse and ox for auditors. " Thus he cultivated that facility and
affluence of phrase, that resonance of language, as well as that
freedom of gesture, which, aided by a voice of rare power and
musical beauty, gave his oratory, even to the days of declining
old age, so peculiar a charm.
Only a year and a half after his arrival at Lexington, in
April 1799, he had achieved a position sufficiently respected and
secure to ask for and to obtain the hand of Lucretia Hart, the
daughter of a man of high character and prominent standing in
the State. She was not a brilliant, but a very estimable woman,
and a most devoted wife to him. She became the mother of
eleven children. His prosperity increased rapidly; so that soon
he was able to purchase Ashland, an estate of some six hundred
## p. 12983 (#413) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12983
acres near Lexington, which afterward became famous as Henry
Clay's home.
Together with the accumulation of worldly goods he laid up a
valuable stock of popularity. Indeed, few men ever possessed in
greater abundance and completeness those qualities which attract
popular regard and affection. A tall stature; not a handsome face,
but a pleasing, winning expression; a voice of which some of his
contemporaries say that it was the finest musical instrument they
ever heard; an eloquence always melodious, and in turn majestic,
fierce, playful, insinuating, irresistibly appealing to all the feel-
ings of human nature, aided by a gesticulation at the same time
natural, vivid, large, and powerful; a certain magnificent grand-
eur of bearing in public action, and an easy familiarity, a never-
failing natural courtesy in private, which even in his intercourse
with the lowliest had nothing of haughty condescension in it; a
noble generous heart, making him always ready to volunteer
his professional services to poor widows and orphans who needed.
aid, to slaves whom he thought entitled to their freedom, to
free negroes who were in danger of being illegally returned to
bondage, and to persons who were persecuted by the powerful
and lawless, in serving whom he sometimes endangered his own
safety; a cheery sympathetic nature withal, of exuberant vitality,
gay, spirited, always ready to enjoy, and always glad to see oth-.
ers enjoy themselves,- his very faults being those of what was
considered good-fellowship in his Kentuckian surroundings; a
superior person, appearing indeed immensely superior at times,
but making his neighbors feel that he was one of them,- such a
man was born to be popular. It has frequently been said that
later in life he cultivated his popularity by clever acting, and
that his universal courtesy became somewhat artificial.
then he acted his own character as it originally was.
It is an
important fact that his popularity at home, among his neighbors,
indeed in the whole State, constantly grew stronger as he grew
older; and that the people of Kentucky clung to him with un-
bounded affection.
If so,
## p. 12984 (#414) ##########################################
12984
CARL SCHURZ
CLAY THE STATESMAN
From the Life of Henry Clay. ' Copyright 1887, by Carl Schurz. Published
by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
BⓇ
UT however incomplete, that record showed how large a place
Henry Clay had filled in the public affairs of the republic
during almost half a century of its existence. His most
potent faculty has left the most imperfect monuments behind
it. He was without question the greatest parliamentary ora-
tor, and one of the greatest popular speakers, America has ever
had. Webster excelled him in breadth of knowledge, in keen-
ness of reasoning, in weight of argument, and in purity of diction.
But Clay possessed in a far higher degree the true oratorical
temperament, that force of nervous exaltation which makes the
orator feel himself, and appear to others, a superior being, and
almost irresistibly transfuses his thoughts, his passions, and his
will into the mind and heart of the listener. Webster would
instruct and convince and elevate, but Clay would overcome his
audience. There could scarcely be a more striking proof of his
power than the immediate effect we know his speeches to have
produced upon those who heard them, compared with the impres-
sion of heavy tameness we receive when merely reading the
printed reports.
In the elements, too, which make a man a leader, Clay was
greatly the superior of Webster, as well as of all other contem-
poraries excepting Andrew Jackson. He had not only in rare
development the faculty of winning the affectionate devotion of
men, but his personality imposed itself without an effort so forci-
bly upon others that they involuntarily looked to him for direc-
tion, waited for his decisive word before making up their minds,
and not seldom yielded their better judgment to his will-power.
While this made him a very strong leader, he was not a
safe guide. The rare brightness of his intellect, and his fertile
fancy, served indeed to make himself and others forget his lack
of accurate knowledge and studious thought; but these brilliant
qualities could not compensate for his deficiency in that prudence
and forecast which are required for the successful direction of
political forces. His impulses were vehement, and his mind not
well fitted for the patient analysis of complicated problems and of
difficult political situations. His imagination frequently ran away
-
## p. 12985 (#415) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12985
with his understanding. His statesmanship had occasionally some-
thing of the oratorical character. Now and then he appeared to
consider it as important whether a conception or a measure would
sound well, as whether if put into practice it would work well.
He disliked advice which differed from his preconceived opin-
ions; and with his imperious temper and ardent combativeness he
was apt, as in the struggle about the United States Bank, to
put himself, and to hurry his party, into positions of great dis-
advantage. It is a remarkable fact that during his long career
in Congress he was in more or less pronounced opposition to all
administrations, even those of his own party; save that of Jeffer-
son, under which he served only one short session in the Senate,
and that of John Quincy Adams, of which he was a member.
During Madison's first term, Clay helped in defeating the re-
charter of the United States Bank recommended by Gallatin as
Secretary of the Treasury; and he became a firm supporter of
Madison's administration only when, as to the war against Great
Britain, it had yielded to his pressure. No fault can be found
with him for asserting in all important things the freedom of his
opinion; but a less impetuous statesman would have found it pos-
sible to avoid a conflict with Monroe, and to maintain harmonious
relations with General Taylor.
On the other hand, he never sought to organize or strengthen
his following by the arts of the patronage-monger. The thought
that a political party should be held together by the public
plunder, or that the party leader should be something like a
paymaster of a body of henchmen at the public expense, or that
a party contest should be a mere scramble for spoils, was entirely
foreign to his mind, and far below the level of his patriotic aspi-
rations.
It has been said that Clay was surrounded by a crowd of job-
bers and speculators eager to turn his internal-improvement and
tariff policies to their private advantage. No doubt those poli-
cies attracted such persons to him. But there is no reason for
suspecting that he was ever in the slightest degree pecuniarily
interested in any scheme which might have been advanced by his
political position or influence.
In no sense was he a money-
maker in politics. His integrity as a public man remained with-
out blemish throughout his long career. He preserved an equally
intact name in the conduct of his private affairs. In money mat-
ters he was always a man of honor, maintaining the principles
## p. 12986 (#416) ##########################################
12986
CARL SCHURZ
and the pride of a gentleman. The financial embarrassments
which troubled his declining days were caused, not by reckless
extravagance nor by questionable speculations, but by the ex-
penses inseparable from high public station and great renown,
and by engagements undertaken for others, especially his sons.
He was a kind husband and an indulgent father. There is ample
evidence of his warm solicitude as to the welfare of his children,
of his constant readiness to assist them with his counsel, and of
his self-sacrificing liberality in providing for their needs and in
aiding them in their troubles.
The desire of so distinguished a political leader to be Presi-
dent was natural and legitimate. Even had he cherished it less
ardently, his followers would have more than once pushed him
forward. But no one can study Clay's career without feeling that
he would have been a happier and a greater man if he had never
coveted the glittering prize. When such an ambition becomes
chronic, it will be but too apt to unsettle the character and
darken the existence of those afflicted with it, by confusing their
appreciation of all else. As Cæsar said that the kind of death
most to be desired was "a sudden one," so the American states-
man may think himself fortunate to whom a nomination for the
Presidency comes, if at all, without a long agony of hope and
fear. During a period of thirty years-from the time when he
first aspired to be Monroe's successor until 1848-Clay unceas
ingly hunted the shadow whose capture would probably have
added nothing either to his usefulness or his fame, but the pur-
suit of which made his public life singularly restless and unsat-
isfactory to himself. Nor did he escape from the suspicion of
having occasionally modified the expression of his opinions accord-
ing to supposed exigencies of availability. The peculiar tone of
his speech against the Abolitionists before the campaign of 1840,
his various letters on the annexation of Texas in 1844, and some
equivocations on other subjects during the same period, illus-
trated the weakening influence of the Presidential candidate upon
the man; and even his oft-quoted word that he would rather
be right than be President" was spoken at a time when he was
more desirous of being President than sure of being right.
But on the whole, save his early change of position on the
subject of the United States Bank, Clay's public career appears
remarkably consistent in its main feature. It was ruled by the
idea that, as the binding together of the States in the Union and
## p. 12987 (#417) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12987
the formation of a constitutional government had been accom-
plished by the compromising of diverse interests, this Union and
this constitutional government had to be maintained in the same
way; and that every good citizen should consider it his duty,
whenever circumstances required it, to sacrifice something, not
only of his material advantages, but even of his sentiments and
convictions, for the peace and welfare of the common Republic.
Whatever Clay's weaknesses of character and errors in states-
manship may have been, almost everything he said or did was
illumined by a grand conception of the destinies of his country,
a glowing national spirit, a lofty patriotism. Whether he thun-
dered against British tyranny on the seas, or urged the recog-
nition of the South-American sister republics, or attacked the
high-handed conduct of the military chieftain in the Florida war,
or advocated protection and internal improvements, or assailed
the one-man power and spoils politics in the person of Andrew
Jackson, or entreated for compromise and conciliation regarding
the tariff or slavery; whether what he advocated was wise or
unwise, right or wrong, there was always ringing through his
words a fervid plea for his country, a zealous appeal in behalf of
the honor and the future greatness and glory of the republic, or
an anxious warning lest the Union, and with it the greatness and
glory of the American people, be put in jeopardy. It was a just
judgment which he pronounced upon himself when he wrote: “If
any one desires to know the leading and paramount object of my
public life, the preservation of this Union will furnish him the
key. "
――
TWO POPULAR LEADERS
From the Life of Henry Clay. ' Copyright 1887, by Carl Schurz. Published
by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
A
NDREW JACKSON, when he became President, was a man of
sixty-two. A life of much exposure, hardship, and excite-
ment, and also ill-health, had made him appear older than
he was.
His great military achievement lay fifteen years back in
the past, and made him the "old hero. " He was very ignorant.
In his youth he had mastered scarcely the rudiments of educa-
tion; and he did not possess that acquisitive intellectuality which
impels men, with or without preparation, to search for knowl-
edge and to store it up. While he had keen intuitions, he never
## p. 12988 (#418) ##########################################
12988
CARL SCHURZ
thoroughly understood the merits of any question of politics or
economics. But his was in the highest degree the instinct of a
superior will, the genius of command. If he had been on board
a vessel in extreme danger, he would have thundered out his
orders without knowing anything of seamanship, and been indig-
nantly surprised if captain and crew had not obeyed him. At
a fire, his voice would have made bystanders as well as firemen
promptly do his will. In war, he was of course made a general;
and without any knowledge of military science he, went out to
meet the enemy, made raw militia fight like veterans, and won
the most brilliant victory in the War of 1812. He was not only
brave himself: his mere presence infused bravery into others.
To his military heroship he owed that popularity which lifted
him into the Presidential chair; and he carried the spirit of the
warrior into the business of the government. His party was to
him his army; those who opposed him, the enemy. He knew not
how to argue, but how to command; not how to deliberate, but
how to act. He had that impulsive energy which always creates
dramatic conflicts, and the power of passion he put into them
made all his conflicts look tremendous. When he had been
defeated in 1825 by the influence of Clay, he made it appear as
if he were battling against all the powers of corruption, which
were threatening the life of the republic. We shall see him
fight Nicholas Biddle, of the United States Bank, as if he had to
defend the American people against the combined money power
of the world seeking to enslave them. In rising up against nul-
lification, and in threatening France with war to make her pay
a debt, we shall see him saving the Union from deadly peril,
and humiliating to the dust the insolence of the Old World.
Thus he appeared like an invincible Hercules, constantly meeting
terrible monsters dangerous to the American people, and slaying
them all with his mighty club.
This fierce energy was his nature. It had a wonderful fas-
cination for the popular fancy, which is fond of strong and bold
acts. He became the idol of a large portion of the people to
a degree never known before or since. Their belief was that
with him defeat was impossible; that all the legions of darkness
could not prevail against him; and that whatever arbitrary pow-
ers he might assume, and whatever way he might use them, it
would always be for the good of the country,- a belief which he
sincerely shared. His ignorance of the science of statesmanship,
## p. 12989 (#419) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12989
and the rough manner in which he crossed its rules, seemed to
endear him all the more to the great mass of his followers. In-
numerable anecdotes about his homely and robust sayings and
doings were going from mouth to mouth, and with delight the
common man felt that this potent ruler was "one of us. "
This popularity gave him an immense authority over the poli-
ticians of his party. He was a warm friend and a tremendous
foe. By a faithful friend he would stand to the last extremity.
But one who seriously differed from him on any matter that
was near his heart was in great danger of becoming an object of
his wrath. The ordinary patriot is apt to regard the enemies of
his country as his personal enemies. But Andrew Jackson was
always inclined, with entire sincerity, to regard his personal oppo-
nents as the enemies of his country. He honestly believed them
capable of any baseness, and it was his solemn conviction that
such nuisances must be abated by any power available for that
purpose. The statesmen of his party frequently differed from
him on matters of public importance; but they knew that they
had to choose between submission and his disfavor. His friends
would sometimes exercise much influence upon him in starting
his mind in a certain direction; but when once started, that mind
was beyond their control.
He
His personal integrity was above the reach of corruption
always meant to do right; indeed, he was always firmly con-
vinced of being right. His idea of right was not seldom ob-
scured by ignorance and prejudice, and in following it he would
sometimes do the most unjust or dangerous things. But his
friends, and the statesmen of his party, knowing that when he
had made up his mind, especially on a matter that had become
a subject of conflict between him and his "enemies," it was
absolutely useless to reason with him, accustomed themselves to
obeying orders, unless they were prepared to go to the rear or
into opposition. It was therefore not a mere invention of the
enemy, but sober truth, that when Jackson's administration was
attacked, sometimes the only answer left to its defenders, as well
as the all-sufficient one with the Democratic masses, was simply
a "Hurrah for Jackson! "
Henry Clay was, although in retirement, the recognized chief
of the National Republicans. He was then fifty-two years old,
and in the full maturity of his powers. He had never been an
arduous student; but his uncommonly vivacious and receptive
## p. 12990 (#420) ##########################################
12990
CARL SCHURZ
mind had learned much in the practical school of affairs. He
possessed that magnificent confidence in himself which extorts
confidence from others. He had a full measure of the temper
necessary for leadership, the spirit of initiative, but not always
the discretion that should accompany it. His leadership was not
of that mean order which merely contrives to organize a personal
following: it was the leadership of a statesman devoting himself
to the great interests of his country. Whenever he appeared in
a deliberative assembly, or in councils of his party, he would
as a matter of course take in his hands what important busi-
ness was pending, and determine the policy to be followed. His
friends, and some even among his opponents, were so accustomed
to yield to him that nothing seemed to them concluded without
the mark of his assent; and they involuntarily looked to him for
the decisive word as to what was to be done. Thus he grew
into a habit of dictation, which occasionally displayed itself in
a manner of peremptory command, and intolerance of adverse
opinion, apt to provoke resentment.
It was his eloquence that had first made him famous, and
that throughout his career mainly sustained his leadership. His
speeches were not masterpieces of literary art, nor exhaustive
dissertations. They do not offer to the student any profound
theories of government or expositions of economic science. They
will not be quoted as authorities on disputed points. Neither
were they strings of witty epigrams. They were the impassioned
reasoning of a statesman intensely devoted to his country and to
the cause he thought right. There was no appearance of artifice
in them. They made every listener feel that the man who uttered
them was tremendously in earnest, and that the thoughts he ex-
pressed had not only passed through his brain but also through his
heart. They were the speeches of a great debater; and as may
be said of those of Charles James Fox, cold print could never
do them justice. To be fully appreciated they had to be heard
on the theatre of action, in the hushed Senate chamber, or before
the eagerly upturned faces of assembled multitudes. To feel the
full charm of his lucid explanations, and his winning persuasive-
ness, or the thrill which was flashed through the nerves of his
hearers by the magnificent sunbursts of his enthusiasm, or the
fierce thunder-storms of his anger and scorn, one had to hear that
musical voice cajoling, flattering, inspiring, overawing, terrifying
in turn,-
a voice to the cadences of which it was a physical
## p. 12991 (#421) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12991
delight to listen; one had to see that face, not handsome but
glowing with the fire of inspiration, that lofty mien, that com-
manding stature constantly growing under his words, and the
grand sweep of his gesture, majestic in its dignity, and full of
grace and strength,- the whole man a superior being while he
spoke.
Survivors of his time, who heard him at his best, tell us of
the effects produced by his great appeals in the House of Rep-
resentatives or the Senate, the galleries trembling with excite-
ment, and even the members unable to contain themselves; or
in popular assemblies, the multitudes breathlessly listening, and
then breaking out in unearthly shouts of enthusiasm and delight,
weeping and laughing, and rushing up to him with overwhelming
demonstrations of admiring and affectionate rapture.
Clay's oratory sometimes fairly paralyzed his opponents. A
story is told that Tom Marshall, himself a speaker of uncommon
power, was once selected to answer Clay at a mass meeting; but
that he was observed, while Clay was proceeding, slowly to make
his way back through the listening crowd, apparently anxious to
escape. Some of his friends tried to hold him, saying, "Why,
Mr. Marshall, where are you going? You must reply to Mr.
Clay. You can easily answer all he has said. " "Of course I can
answer every point," said Marshall; "but you must excuse me,
gentlemen,- I cannot go up there and do it just now, after his
speech.
## p. 12971 (#401) ##########################################
OLIVE SCHREINER
12971
She said, "Is there no bridge ? »
He answered, "None. "
She said, "Is the water deep? "
He said, "Deep. "
She said, "Is the floor worn? »
He said, "It is.
may be lost. "
She said, "Have any crossed already? "
He said, "Some have tried! »
She said, "Is there a track to show where the best fording
is ? »
Your foot may slip at any time, and you
He said, "It has to be made. "
She shaded her eyes with her hands; and she said, "I will go. "
And he said, "You must take off the clothes you wore in the
desert: they are dragged down by them who go into the water
so clothed. "
And she threw from her gladly the mantle of Ancient-received-
opinions she wore, for it was worn full of holes. And she took
the girdle from her waist that she had treasured so long, and the
moths flew out of it in a cloud. And he said, "Take the shoes
of Dependence off your feet. "
And she stood there naked, but for one white garment that
clung close to her.
And he said, "That you may keep. So they wear clothes in
the Land of Freedom. In the water it buoys; it always swims. "
And I saw on its breast was written Truth; and it was white:
the sun had not often shone on it,-the other clothes had cov-
ered it up. And he said, "Take this stick; hold it fast. In that
day when it slips from your hand you are lost. Put it down
before you; feel your way: where it cannot find a bottom do
not set your foot. "
And she said, "I am ready; let me go. "
And he said, "No-but stay: what is that-in your breast? "
She was silent.
He said, "Open it, and let me see. "
And she opened it. And against her breast was a tiny thing,
who drank from it, and the yellow curls above his forehead pressed
against it; and his knees were drawn up to her, and he held her
breast fast with his hands.
And Reason said, "Who is he, and what is he doing here? »
## p. 12972 (#402) ##########################################
OLIVE SCHREINER
12972
And she said, "See his little wings-"
And Reason said, "Put him down. "
And she said, "He is asleep, and he is drinking! I will carry
him to the Land of Freedom. He has been a child so long, so
long, I have carried him. In the Land of Freedom he will be a
We will walk together there, and his great white wings
will overshadow me. He has lisped one word only to me in
the desert-'Passion! ' I have dreamed he might learn to say
'Friendship' in that land. "
man.
And Reason said, "Put him down! "
And she said, "I will carry him so
the other I will fight the water. "
He said, "Lay him down on the ground. When you are in
the water you will forget to fight, you will think only of him.
Lay him down. " He said, "He will not die. When he finds you
have left him alone he will open his wings and fly. He will be
in the Land of Freedom before you. Those who reach the Land
of Freedom, the first hand they see stretching down the bank
to help them shall be Love's. He will be a man then, not a child.
In your breast he cannot thrive: put him down that he may
grow. "
―
- with one arm, and with
And she took her bosom from his mouth, and he bit her, so
that the blood ran down on to the ground. And she laid him
down on the earth; and she covered her wound. And she bent
and stroked his wings. And I saw the hair on her forehead
turned white as snow, and she had changed from youth to age.
And she stood far off on the bank of the river. And she
said, "For what do I go to this far land which no one has ever
reached? Oh, I am alone! I am utterly alone! »
And Reason, that old man, said to her, "Silence! what do you
hear? »
And she listened intently, and she said, "I hear a sound of
feet, a thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands,
and they beat this way! "
He said, "They are the feet of those that shall follow you.
Lead on! make a track to the water's edge! Where you stand
now, the ground will be beaten flat by ten thousand times ten
thousand feet. " And he said, "Have you seen the locusts how
they cross a stream? First one comes down to the water-edge,
and it is swept away, and then another comes, and then another,
## p. 12973 (#403) ##########################################
OLIVE SCHREINER
12973
and then another; and at last with their bodies piled up a bridge
is built, and the rest pass over. "
She said, "And of those that come first, some are swept away,
and are heard of no more; their bodies do not even build the
bridge ? »
"And are swept away, and are heard of no more- and what
of that? " he said.
"And what of that » she said.
"They make a track to the water's edge. "
"They make a track to the water's edge—» And she said,
"Over that bridge which shall be built with our bodies, who will
pass?
>>>
He said, "The entire human race. "
And the woman grasped her staff.
And I saw her turn down that dark path to the river.
And I awoke; and all about me was the yellow afternoon
light: the sinking sun lit up the fingers of the milk-bushes; and
my horse stood by me quietly feeding. And I turned on my
side, and I watched the ants run by thousands in the red sand.
I thought I would go on my way now - the afternoon was cooler.
Then a drowsiness crept over me again, and I laid back my head
and fell asleep.
-
And I dreamed a dream.
I dreamed I saw a land. And on the hills walked brave
women and brave men, hand in hand. And they looked into
each other's eyes, and they were not afraid.
And I saw the women also hold each other's hands.
And I said to him beside me, "What place is this? "
And he said, "This is heaven. "
And I said, "Where is it? "
And he answered, "On earth. "
And I said, "When shall these things be? "
And he answered, "IN THE FUTURE. "
And I awoke, and all about me was the sunset light; and ɔn
the low hills the sun lay, and a delicious coolness had crept over
everything; and the ants were going slowly home. And I walked
towards my horse, who stood quietly feeding Then the sun
passed down behind the hills; but I knew that the next day he
would arise again.
## p. 12974 (#404) ##########################################
12974
CARL SCHURZ
CARL SCHURZ
(1829-)
BY JAMES FORD RHODES
N 1848, that year of upheaval, the love of liberty and the
spirit of revolution came to Carl Schurz, then nineteen
years old (for he was born March 2d, 1829, at Liblar near
Cologne, Prussia), a student at the University of Bonn. In union with
other noble and bold spirits he endeavored to secure by force a
freer government and constitutional rule. For his part in an attempt
to promote an insurrection he was forced
to flee from his university city; he went to
the Palatinate and joined the revolutionary
army.
The revolutionists were defeated.
In their failure the high aspirations of many
liberty-loving men went down. Schurz es-
caped to Switzerland, which afforded an
asylum for large numbers of the German
political exiles. A year in Paris as a cor-
respondent of German newspapers, a year
in London as a teacher, brought him to
1852, when he came to the United States.
Residing in Philadelphia and visiting Wash-
ington, he studied law, political institutions,
and public men. He went to Wisconsin,
and was admitted to the bar; but his enthusiastic interest in the
antislavery movement drew him into politics. As a consequence of
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the moral and political strug-
gle against slavery had practically become one. The Republican
party had been formed. The Northwest, which had been Democratic,
took ground against the extension of slavery; and one of the factors
in its conversion was the support which the party of freedom re-
ceived from the large population of Germans. Schurz threw himself
into that contest with ardor, advocated without ceasing the Repub-
lican cause, and then laid the foundation for his influence politically
over his countrymen, which he has never lost, and which has been of
true service to the republic. He spoke for Lincoln in the memorable
senatorial campaign of 1858 against Douglas, and made the personal
acquaintance of the man with whom the points of contact became
## p. 12975 (#405) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
*
12975
closer as the irrepressible conflict developed from the strife of words.
into the clash of arms. As the chairman of the Wisconsin delega-
tion to the Republican national convention of 1860, held in Chicago,
he advocated the nomination of Seward for President; but he did not
feel, as some of the friends of Seward in the bitterness of their disap-
pointment felt, that by the action of the delegates the cause had been
betrayed and lost. From the debates with Douglas he had measured
the ability and character of Lincoln: and when he gave an account
of his stewardship to the Republicans of Wisconsin, it was no par-
tisan opportunist who spoke, but an orator whose convictions were
decided, whose words were sincere; he told them that their candi-
date was a "pure and patriotic statesman," "eminently fitted by the
native virtues of his character, the high abilities of his mind, and a
strong honest purpose," for the solution of the "problem before him. ”
During the canvass of 1860 he was constantly on the stump, speaking
in both English and German. Receiving the appointment of minis-
ter to Spain, and entering upon the duties of his mission, his heart
remained in America: he watched with painful anxiety, as Motley did
from Vienna, the progress of the war. He wrote a dispatch to the
State department, giving an accurate and comprehensive account of
European sentiment in reference to our civil conflict, and urging that
the Government take steps toward the abolition of slavery, to “place
the war against the rebellious slave States upon a higher moral basis,
and thereby give us control of public opinion in Europe. " Concern-
ing the effect abroad his judgment was sound; but the President
had to take into account the feeling of the plain people at home, and
issued his 'Proclamation of Emancipation' at the earliest moment
that it would have been sustained by the public, which Mr. Schurz
inferentially in his essay on Lincoln admits. "It would have been a
hazardous policy," he writes, "to endanger, by precipitating a demon-
strative fight against slavery, the success of the struggle for the
Union. "
Late in 1861 he returned to the United States, and served with
credit as a general in the field. After the war he became a journal-
ist. For a while he was the Washington correspondent of the New
York Tribune; then founded a newspaper in Detroit, and later became
the editor of a St. Louis journal. In 1869 Missouri sent him to the
United States Senate, where his service was both solid and brilliant.
He favored universal amnesty to the men of the South; he opposed
President Grant's scheme for the annexation of San Domingo, and
was one of the senators and leaders of public opinion who gave ex-
pression to the profound disappointment and dissatisfaction of many
Republicans with the general drift of Grant's administration. Thus
he became more than any other one man the head and front of the
## p. 12976 (#406) ##########################################
12976
CARL SCHURZ
movement of Liberal Republicans of 1872, whose convention at Cin-
cinnati, under the influence of some manipulation and a wave of
curious enthusiasm, nominated Horace Greeley for President. Schurz's
choice was Charles Francis Adams, who represented logically the op-
position to Grant, and whose candidature, whether defeat or victory
came, would have been dignified, and might have laid the foundations
for a new party capable of enduring good.
During the financial crisis of 1873, the popular remedy for the
distress, which had able and powerful advocates in Congress, was the
issue of more greenbacks. Schurz fought in the Senate a bill pro-
viding for such an inflation of the currency. In 1875 the contest
was transferred to Ohio. Meanwhile the Republicans in Congress
had committed themselves to the resumption of specie payments; and
Hayes, who was nominated for governor of Ohio, advocated unequiv-
ocally the doctrine of sound money. The Democrats put forward
William Allen, and demanded that "the volume of currency be made
and kept equal to the wants of trade,”. a declaration satisfactory
to the generality of Democrats, and to many Republicans in finan-
cial straits. Then ensued a wholesome and momentous canvass.
Schurz was called from a well-earned rest in Switzerland to take part
in it. He spoke constantly all over the State in English and in
German; with a power never before equaled, I think, of placing
cogently before men who labored with their hands, the elementary
truths of sound finance. It is unquestionably true that Schurz's and
John Sherman's speeches, their campaign of education, carried the
State for the Republicans; though so hard fought was the contest
that Hayes's plurality was but 5,544. That Ohio election made Hayes
President, and Schurz Secretary of the Interior. As Secretary he
served with honor, and he had an opportunity to put into practice
his principles of reform in the civil service. He supported Cleve-
land in 1884, 1888, and 1892. In 1896 he canvassed the principal cities
of the middle West; opposing the election of Bryan, speaking for
sound finance in this great educational campaign as he had spoken
in 1875, and being so persuasive a teacher that the sagacious chair-
man of the Republican National Committee distributed 1,500,000
pamphlet copies of his principal speech, besides a large quantity of
so-called "Schurz Nuggets. "
Such is a brief account of an active life. With George William
Curtis, Mr. Schurz stands as the representative of the Independent in
politics. No other man in this country, outside of a few who hold
high office, has the political influence which he possesses. Wher-
ever intelligent business men, college professors, advanced students,
and political reformers gather together, there will you find the seed
germinating which through many years and under different party
――
## p. 12977 (#407) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12977
banners he has sown. The eagerness with which his work on the
stump is at different times sought for alike by Republican and Dem-
ocratic campaign managers, is proof of his large influence with the
mass of voters. Many well-meaning men accuse him of inconsist-
ency, for the reason that he has changed so frequently his party asso-
ciations; but if consistency means adherence through the years to
the same principles, he may challenge comparison on this ground
with the strongest partisan in the land. He has also been accused
of unsteadiness, from his frequent change of residence and occupation.
We all know the benefit of attachment to family and location, which
we see so clearly in Virginia and Massachusetts: such a feeling
causes men to take root in the soil, and redounds to the safety of the
State. But in our great republic, there is room for the cosmopolitan,
for the citizen who has no attachment to any State, whose love is for
the nation. Mr. Schurz, while pre-eminently a citizen of the world in
society, literature, and art, is as true an American as any man born
on American soil.
It is a remark of Bagehot that the men who know most, rarely
have the time or the training to write books. Let it be noted then
in the calendar, when a man of Mr. Schurz's varied life becomes a
distinguished member of the republic of letters. His 'Life of Henry
Clay' is one of the best biographies ever written. The view is purely
objective. He had no manuscript material, no unprinted private let-
ters which would of themselves present his hero in a new light. His
material was books and speeches accessible to every one. The merit of
the biography lies in the thorough assimilation of the facts, the power
of telling a story, the bringing to bear upon the subject the wealth of
his experiences, and the fusion of the whole into a form grateful to
literary art. It seemed strange perhaps that the editor of the 'Ameri-
can Statesmen' series selected him who was a strenuous advocate of
a tariff for revenue only, to write the life of Clay, the father of the
principle of protection to home industries. But John T. Morse, Jr. ,
the editor, chose wisely. Mr. Schurz treats the tariff question and
Clay's relation to it with absolute candor. In truth, had he been in
public life contemporary with Clay, he would probably have taken
the opposite side, on nearly every public question, from his hero; yet
such is his impartiality and sympathy that all who read the book
must end it with loving Henry Clay. The historical part
of great
value, and I question whether one who had not been Senator and
Cabinet minister could have given to it such animation.
Mr. Schurz wrote an essay on Abraham Lincoln, originally pub-
lished in the Atlantic Monthly. More has been written about Lin-
coln than about any other man in our history; but our author, by his
power of generalization, and his presentment of the orderly unfolding
XXII-812
## p. 12978 (#408) ##########################################
12978
CARL SCHURZ
of this great life, has thrown new light on the character and work
of the martyr President. To say that the essay is a classic is praise
none too high.
After his retirement from public life, Mr. Schurz was one of the
editors of the Evening Post, in association with E. L. Godkin and
Horace White. On the death of George William Curtis, he became
the writer of the leading political article of Harper's Weekly. At
first his contributions appeared unsigned, but in 1897 they began to
be printed over his own signature. He discusses, for his audience of
several hundred thousand, domestic and foreign politics, with an in-
telligence, acumen, and incisive literary style that certainly are not
surpassed in America or in England. He writes English with accu-
racy, clearness, and vigor, and is never dull. A French writer has
said: "To acquire a few tongues is the task of a few years. To be
eloquent in one is the labor of a life. " In language the work of Mr.
Schurz is that of two lives, for he is eloquent in both English and
German.
James Fad Rhudes
CLAY THE CITIZEN
From the Life of Henry Clay. ' Copyright 1887, by Carl Schurz. Published
by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
T THE period when Henry Clay arrived in Kentucky, in 1797,
the population exceeded 180,000, about one-fifth of whom
were slaves; the later immigrants having come from the
same quarter as the earlier.
Α'
The original stock consisted of the hardiest race of backwoods-
men.
The forests of Kentucky were literally wrested from the
Indians by constant fighting. The question whether the aborigi-
nes had any right to the soil seems to have been utterly foreign
to the pioneer's mind. He wanted the land, and to him it was a
matter of course that the Indian must leave it. The first settle-
ments planted in the virgin forest were fortified with stockades
and block-houses; which the inmates, not seldom for months at
a time, could not leave without danger of falling into an Indian
ambush and being scalped. No part of the country has there-
fore more stories and traditions of perilous adventures, bloody
fights, and hairbreadth escapes.
For a generation or more the
## p. 12979 (#409) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12979
hunting-shirt, leggins, and moccasins of deerskin more or less
gaudily ornamented, and the long rifle, powder-horn, and hunting-
knife formed the regular "outfit" of a very large proportion of
the male Kentuckians. We are told of some of the old pioneers,
who, many years after populous towns had grown up on the sites
of the old stockades, still continued the habit of walking about
in their hunter's garb, with rifle and powder-horn, although the
deer had become scarce, and the Indian had long ago disappeared
from the neighborhood. They were loath to make up their minds
to the fact that the old life was over. Thus the reminiscences
and the characteristic spirit and habits left behind by that wild
life were still fresh among the people of Kentucky at the period
of which we speak. They were an uncommonly sturdy race of
men, most of them fully as fond of hunting, and perhaps also
of fighting, as of farming; brave and generous, rough and reck-
less, hospitable and much given to boisterous carousals, full of a
fierce love of independence, and of a keen taste for the confused
and turbulent contests of frontier politics. Slavery exercised its
peculiar despotic influence there as elsewhere, although the num-
ber of slaves in Kentucky was comparatively small.
But among
freemen a strongly democratic spirit prevailed. There was as yet
little of that relation of superior and inferior between the large
planter and the small tenant or farmer which had existed, and
was still to some extent existing, in Virginia. As to the white
population, society started on the plane of practical equality.
Where the city of Lexington now stands, the first block-house
was built in April 1775 by Robert Patterson, "an early and
meritorious adventurer, much engaged in the defense of the
country. " A settlement soon formed under its protection, which
was called Lexington, in honor of the Revolutionary battle then
just fought in Massachusetts. The first settlers had to maintain
themselves in many an Indian fight on that "finest garden spot
in all Kentucky," as the Blue Grass region was justly called. In
an early day it attracted "some people of culture" from Vir-
ginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. In 1780 the first school
was built in the fort; and the same year the Virginia legislat-
ure- for Kentucky was at that time still a part of Virginia-
chartered the Transylvania Seminary to be established there. In
1787 Mr. Isaac Wilson, of the Philadelphia College, opened the
"Lexington grammar school," for the teaching of Latin, Greek,
" and the different branches of science. " The same year saw the
## p. 12980 (#410) ##########################################
12980
CARL SCHURZ
organization of a "society for promoting useful knowledge,” and
the establishment of the first newspaper. A year later, in 1788,
the ambition of social refinement wanted and got a dancing-
school, and also the Transylvania Seminary was fairly ready to
receive students: "Tuition five pounds a year, one half in cash,
the other in property; boarding, nine pounds a year, in property,
pork, corn, tobacco, etc. " In ten years more the seminary, hav-
ing absorbed the Kentucky Academy established by the Presby-
terians, expanded into the "Transylvania University," with first
an academical department, and the following year adding one of
medicine and another of law. Thus Lexington, although still a
small town, became what was then called "the literary and intel-
lectual centre west of the Alleghanies," and a point of great
attraction to people of means and of social wants and pretensions.
It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that it was a quiet
and sedate college town like those of New England. Many years
later, in 1814, a young Massachusetts Yankee, Amos Kendall,
who had drifted to Lexington in pursuit of profitable employ-
ment, and was then a private teacher in Henry Clay's family,
wrote in his diary: "I have, I think, learned the way to be pop-
ular in Kentucky, but do not as yet put it in practice. Drink
whisky and talk loud, with the fullest confidence, and you will
hardly fail of being called a clever fellow. " This was not the
only "way to be popular," but was certainly one of the ways.
When the Lexington of 1797, the year of Clay's arrival there, is
spoken of as a "literary and intellectual centre," the meaning is
that it was an outpost of civilization, still surrounded, and to a
great extent permeated, by the spirit of border life. The hunter
in his fringed buckskin suit, with long rifle and powder-horn, was
still a familiar figure on the streets of the town. The boisterous
hilarity of the bar-room, and the excitement of the card table,
accorded with the prevailing taste better than a lecture on ancient
history; and a racing-horse was to a large majority of Lexing-
tonians an object of far greater interest than a professor of
Greek. But compared with other Western towns of the time, Lex-
ington did possess an uncommon proportion of educated people;
and there were circles wherein the social life displayed, together
with the freedom of tone characteristic of a new country, a lib-
eral dash of culture.
This was the place where Henry Clay cast anchor in 1797.
The society he found there was congenial to him, and he was
## p. 12981 (#411) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12981
congenial to it. A young man of uncommon brightness of intel-
lect, of fascinating address, without effort making the little he
knew pass for much more, of high spirits, warm sympathies, a
cheery nature, and sociable tastes,- he easily became a favorite
with the educated as a person of striking ability, and with the
many as a good companion, who, notwithstanding a certain dis-
tinguished air, enjoyed himself as they did. It was again as
a speaker that he first made his mark. Shortly after his arrival
at Lexington, before he had begun to practice law, he joined a
debating club, in several meetings of which he participated only
as a silent listener. One evening, when, after a long discussion,
the vote upon the question before the society was about to be
taken, he whispered to a friend, loud enough to be overheard,
that to him the debate did not seem to have exhausted the sub-
ject. Somebody remarked that Mr. Clay desired to speak, and
he was called upon. Finding himself unexpectedly confronting
the audience, he was struck with embarrassment; and as he
had done frequently in imaginary appeals in court, he began,
"Gentlemen of the jury! " A titter running through the audi-
ence increased his embarrassment, and the awkward words came
out once more. But then he gathered himself up; his nerves
became steady, and he poured out a flow of reasoning so lucid,
and at the same time so impassioned, that his hearers were
overcome with astonishment. Some of his friends who had been
present said, in later years, that they had never heard him make
a better speech. This was no doubt an exaggeration of the first
impression; but at any rate that speech stamped him at once as
a remarkable man in the community, and laid open before him
the road to success.
He had not come to Lexington with extravagant expecta-
tions. As an old man looking back upon those days, he said:
"I remember how comfortable I thought I should be if I could
make one hundred pounds a year, Virginia money, and with what
delight I received the first fifteen shillings fee. " He approached
with a certain awe the competition with what he called “a bar
uncommonly distinguished by eminent members. " But he did
not find it difficult to make his way among them. His practice
was, indeed, at first mostly in criminal cases; and many are the
stories told of the marvelous effects produced by his eloquence
upon the simple-minded Kentucky jurymen, and of the culprits
saved by him from a well-merited fate.
## p. 12982 (#412) ##########################################
12982
CARL SCHURZ
It was not long however that he remained confined to crimi-
nal cases. Soon he distinguished himself by the management of
civil suits also, especially suits growing out of the peculiar land
laws of Virginia and Kentucky. In this way he rapidly acquired
a lucrative practice and a prominent place at the bar of his
State. That with all his brilliant abilities he never worked his
way into the front rank of the great lawyers of the country
was due to his characteristic failing. He studied only for the
occasion, as far as his immediate need went. His studies were
never wide and profound. His time was too much occupied by
other things, not only by his political activity, which gradually
grew more and more exacting, but also by pleasure.
He was
fond of company, and in that period of his life not always care-
ful in selecting his comrades; a passion for cards grew upon
him, so much so indeed that he never completely succeeded in
overcoming it: and these tastes robbed him of the hours and of
the temper of mind without which the calm gathering of thought
required for the mastery of a science is not possible. Moreover,
it is not improbable that his remarkable gift of speaking, which
enabled him to make little tell for much and to outshine men
of vastly greater learning, deceived him as to the necessity for
laborious study. The value of this faculty he appreciated well.
He knew that oratory is an art, and in this art he trained
himself with judgment and perseverance. For many years, as a
young man, he made it a rule to read if possible every day in
some historical or scientific book, and then to repeat what he had
read in free, off-hand speech, "sometimes in a cornfield, at others
in the forest, and not unfrequently in a distant barn with the
horse and ox for auditors. " Thus he cultivated that facility and
affluence of phrase, that resonance of language, as well as that
freedom of gesture, which, aided by a voice of rare power and
musical beauty, gave his oratory, even to the days of declining
old age, so peculiar a charm.
Only a year and a half after his arrival at Lexington, in
April 1799, he had achieved a position sufficiently respected and
secure to ask for and to obtain the hand of Lucretia Hart, the
daughter of a man of high character and prominent standing in
the State. She was not a brilliant, but a very estimable woman,
and a most devoted wife to him. She became the mother of
eleven children. His prosperity increased rapidly; so that soon
he was able to purchase Ashland, an estate of some six hundred
## p. 12983 (#413) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12983
acres near Lexington, which afterward became famous as Henry
Clay's home.
Together with the accumulation of worldly goods he laid up a
valuable stock of popularity. Indeed, few men ever possessed in
greater abundance and completeness those qualities which attract
popular regard and affection. A tall stature; not a handsome face,
but a pleasing, winning expression; a voice of which some of his
contemporaries say that it was the finest musical instrument they
ever heard; an eloquence always melodious, and in turn majestic,
fierce, playful, insinuating, irresistibly appealing to all the feel-
ings of human nature, aided by a gesticulation at the same time
natural, vivid, large, and powerful; a certain magnificent grand-
eur of bearing in public action, and an easy familiarity, a never-
failing natural courtesy in private, which even in his intercourse
with the lowliest had nothing of haughty condescension in it; a
noble generous heart, making him always ready to volunteer
his professional services to poor widows and orphans who needed.
aid, to slaves whom he thought entitled to their freedom, to
free negroes who were in danger of being illegally returned to
bondage, and to persons who were persecuted by the powerful
and lawless, in serving whom he sometimes endangered his own
safety; a cheery sympathetic nature withal, of exuberant vitality,
gay, spirited, always ready to enjoy, and always glad to see oth-.
ers enjoy themselves,- his very faults being those of what was
considered good-fellowship in his Kentuckian surroundings; a
superior person, appearing indeed immensely superior at times,
but making his neighbors feel that he was one of them,- such a
man was born to be popular. It has frequently been said that
later in life he cultivated his popularity by clever acting, and
that his universal courtesy became somewhat artificial.
then he acted his own character as it originally was.
It is an
important fact that his popularity at home, among his neighbors,
indeed in the whole State, constantly grew stronger as he grew
older; and that the people of Kentucky clung to him with un-
bounded affection.
If so,
## p. 12984 (#414) ##########################################
12984
CARL SCHURZ
CLAY THE STATESMAN
From the Life of Henry Clay. ' Copyright 1887, by Carl Schurz. Published
by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
BⓇ
UT however incomplete, that record showed how large a place
Henry Clay had filled in the public affairs of the republic
during almost half a century of its existence. His most
potent faculty has left the most imperfect monuments behind
it. He was without question the greatest parliamentary ora-
tor, and one of the greatest popular speakers, America has ever
had. Webster excelled him in breadth of knowledge, in keen-
ness of reasoning, in weight of argument, and in purity of diction.
But Clay possessed in a far higher degree the true oratorical
temperament, that force of nervous exaltation which makes the
orator feel himself, and appear to others, a superior being, and
almost irresistibly transfuses his thoughts, his passions, and his
will into the mind and heart of the listener. Webster would
instruct and convince and elevate, but Clay would overcome his
audience. There could scarcely be a more striking proof of his
power than the immediate effect we know his speeches to have
produced upon those who heard them, compared with the impres-
sion of heavy tameness we receive when merely reading the
printed reports.
In the elements, too, which make a man a leader, Clay was
greatly the superior of Webster, as well as of all other contem-
poraries excepting Andrew Jackson. He had not only in rare
development the faculty of winning the affectionate devotion of
men, but his personality imposed itself without an effort so forci-
bly upon others that they involuntarily looked to him for direc-
tion, waited for his decisive word before making up their minds,
and not seldom yielded their better judgment to his will-power.
While this made him a very strong leader, he was not a
safe guide. The rare brightness of his intellect, and his fertile
fancy, served indeed to make himself and others forget his lack
of accurate knowledge and studious thought; but these brilliant
qualities could not compensate for his deficiency in that prudence
and forecast which are required for the successful direction of
political forces. His impulses were vehement, and his mind not
well fitted for the patient analysis of complicated problems and of
difficult political situations. His imagination frequently ran away
-
## p. 12985 (#415) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12985
with his understanding. His statesmanship had occasionally some-
thing of the oratorical character. Now and then he appeared to
consider it as important whether a conception or a measure would
sound well, as whether if put into practice it would work well.
He disliked advice which differed from his preconceived opin-
ions; and with his imperious temper and ardent combativeness he
was apt, as in the struggle about the United States Bank, to
put himself, and to hurry his party, into positions of great dis-
advantage. It is a remarkable fact that during his long career
in Congress he was in more or less pronounced opposition to all
administrations, even those of his own party; save that of Jeffer-
son, under which he served only one short session in the Senate,
and that of John Quincy Adams, of which he was a member.
During Madison's first term, Clay helped in defeating the re-
charter of the United States Bank recommended by Gallatin as
Secretary of the Treasury; and he became a firm supporter of
Madison's administration only when, as to the war against Great
Britain, it had yielded to his pressure. No fault can be found
with him for asserting in all important things the freedom of his
opinion; but a less impetuous statesman would have found it pos-
sible to avoid a conflict with Monroe, and to maintain harmonious
relations with General Taylor.
On the other hand, he never sought to organize or strengthen
his following by the arts of the patronage-monger. The thought
that a political party should be held together by the public
plunder, or that the party leader should be something like a
paymaster of a body of henchmen at the public expense, or that
a party contest should be a mere scramble for spoils, was entirely
foreign to his mind, and far below the level of his patriotic aspi-
rations.
It has been said that Clay was surrounded by a crowd of job-
bers and speculators eager to turn his internal-improvement and
tariff policies to their private advantage. No doubt those poli-
cies attracted such persons to him. But there is no reason for
suspecting that he was ever in the slightest degree pecuniarily
interested in any scheme which might have been advanced by his
political position or influence.
In no sense was he a money-
maker in politics. His integrity as a public man remained with-
out blemish throughout his long career. He preserved an equally
intact name in the conduct of his private affairs. In money mat-
ters he was always a man of honor, maintaining the principles
## p. 12986 (#416) ##########################################
12986
CARL SCHURZ
and the pride of a gentleman. The financial embarrassments
which troubled his declining days were caused, not by reckless
extravagance nor by questionable speculations, but by the ex-
penses inseparable from high public station and great renown,
and by engagements undertaken for others, especially his sons.
He was a kind husband and an indulgent father. There is ample
evidence of his warm solicitude as to the welfare of his children,
of his constant readiness to assist them with his counsel, and of
his self-sacrificing liberality in providing for their needs and in
aiding them in their troubles.
The desire of so distinguished a political leader to be Presi-
dent was natural and legitimate. Even had he cherished it less
ardently, his followers would have more than once pushed him
forward. But no one can study Clay's career without feeling that
he would have been a happier and a greater man if he had never
coveted the glittering prize. When such an ambition becomes
chronic, it will be but too apt to unsettle the character and
darken the existence of those afflicted with it, by confusing their
appreciation of all else. As Cæsar said that the kind of death
most to be desired was "a sudden one," so the American states-
man may think himself fortunate to whom a nomination for the
Presidency comes, if at all, without a long agony of hope and
fear. During a period of thirty years-from the time when he
first aspired to be Monroe's successor until 1848-Clay unceas
ingly hunted the shadow whose capture would probably have
added nothing either to his usefulness or his fame, but the pur-
suit of which made his public life singularly restless and unsat-
isfactory to himself. Nor did he escape from the suspicion of
having occasionally modified the expression of his opinions accord-
ing to supposed exigencies of availability. The peculiar tone of
his speech against the Abolitionists before the campaign of 1840,
his various letters on the annexation of Texas in 1844, and some
equivocations on other subjects during the same period, illus-
trated the weakening influence of the Presidential candidate upon
the man; and even his oft-quoted word that he would rather
be right than be President" was spoken at a time when he was
more desirous of being President than sure of being right.
But on the whole, save his early change of position on the
subject of the United States Bank, Clay's public career appears
remarkably consistent in its main feature. It was ruled by the
idea that, as the binding together of the States in the Union and
## p. 12987 (#417) ##########################################
CARL SCHURZ
12987
the formation of a constitutional government had been accom-
plished by the compromising of diverse interests, this Union and
this constitutional government had to be maintained in the same
way; and that every good citizen should consider it his duty,
whenever circumstances required it, to sacrifice something, not
only of his material advantages, but even of his sentiments and
convictions, for the peace and welfare of the common Republic.
Whatever Clay's weaknesses of character and errors in states-
manship may have been, almost everything he said or did was
illumined by a grand conception of the destinies of his country,
a glowing national spirit, a lofty patriotism. Whether he thun-
dered against British tyranny on the seas, or urged the recog-
nition of the South-American sister republics, or attacked the
high-handed conduct of the military chieftain in the Florida war,
or advocated protection and internal improvements, or assailed
the one-man power and spoils politics in the person of Andrew
Jackson, or entreated for compromise and conciliation regarding
the tariff or slavery; whether what he advocated was wise or
unwise, right or wrong, there was always ringing through his
words a fervid plea for his country, a zealous appeal in behalf of
the honor and the future greatness and glory of the republic, or
an anxious warning lest the Union, and with it the greatness and
glory of the American people, be put in jeopardy. It was a just
judgment which he pronounced upon himself when he wrote: “If
any one desires to know the leading and paramount object of my
public life, the preservation of this Union will furnish him the
key. "
――
TWO POPULAR LEADERS
From the Life of Henry Clay. ' Copyright 1887, by Carl Schurz. Published
by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
A
NDREW JACKSON, when he became President, was a man of
sixty-two. A life of much exposure, hardship, and excite-
ment, and also ill-health, had made him appear older than
he was.
His great military achievement lay fifteen years back in
the past, and made him the "old hero. " He was very ignorant.
In his youth he had mastered scarcely the rudiments of educa-
tion; and he did not possess that acquisitive intellectuality which
impels men, with or without preparation, to search for knowl-
edge and to store it up. While he had keen intuitions, he never
## p. 12988 (#418) ##########################################
12988
CARL SCHURZ
thoroughly understood the merits of any question of politics or
economics. But his was in the highest degree the instinct of a
superior will, the genius of command. If he had been on board
a vessel in extreme danger, he would have thundered out his
orders without knowing anything of seamanship, and been indig-
nantly surprised if captain and crew had not obeyed him. At
a fire, his voice would have made bystanders as well as firemen
promptly do his will. In war, he was of course made a general;
and without any knowledge of military science he, went out to
meet the enemy, made raw militia fight like veterans, and won
the most brilliant victory in the War of 1812. He was not only
brave himself: his mere presence infused bravery into others.
To his military heroship he owed that popularity which lifted
him into the Presidential chair; and he carried the spirit of the
warrior into the business of the government. His party was to
him his army; those who opposed him, the enemy. He knew not
how to argue, but how to command; not how to deliberate, but
how to act. He had that impulsive energy which always creates
dramatic conflicts, and the power of passion he put into them
made all his conflicts look tremendous. When he had been
defeated in 1825 by the influence of Clay, he made it appear as
if he were battling against all the powers of corruption, which
were threatening the life of the republic. We shall see him
fight Nicholas Biddle, of the United States Bank, as if he had to
defend the American people against the combined money power
of the world seeking to enslave them. In rising up against nul-
lification, and in threatening France with war to make her pay
a debt, we shall see him saving the Union from deadly peril,
and humiliating to the dust the insolence of the Old World.
Thus he appeared like an invincible Hercules, constantly meeting
terrible monsters dangerous to the American people, and slaying
them all with his mighty club.
This fierce energy was his nature. It had a wonderful fas-
cination for the popular fancy, which is fond of strong and bold
acts. He became the idol of a large portion of the people to
a degree never known before or since. Their belief was that
with him defeat was impossible; that all the legions of darkness
could not prevail against him; and that whatever arbitrary pow-
ers he might assume, and whatever way he might use them, it
would always be for the good of the country,- a belief which he
sincerely shared. His ignorance of the science of statesmanship,
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12989
and the rough manner in which he crossed its rules, seemed to
endear him all the more to the great mass of his followers. In-
numerable anecdotes about his homely and robust sayings and
doings were going from mouth to mouth, and with delight the
common man felt that this potent ruler was "one of us. "
This popularity gave him an immense authority over the poli-
ticians of his party. He was a warm friend and a tremendous
foe. By a faithful friend he would stand to the last extremity.
But one who seriously differed from him on any matter that
was near his heart was in great danger of becoming an object of
his wrath. The ordinary patriot is apt to regard the enemies of
his country as his personal enemies. But Andrew Jackson was
always inclined, with entire sincerity, to regard his personal oppo-
nents as the enemies of his country. He honestly believed them
capable of any baseness, and it was his solemn conviction that
such nuisances must be abated by any power available for that
purpose. The statesmen of his party frequently differed from
him on matters of public importance; but they knew that they
had to choose between submission and his disfavor. His friends
would sometimes exercise much influence upon him in starting
his mind in a certain direction; but when once started, that mind
was beyond their control.
He
His personal integrity was above the reach of corruption
always meant to do right; indeed, he was always firmly con-
vinced of being right. His idea of right was not seldom ob-
scured by ignorance and prejudice, and in following it he would
sometimes do the most unjust or dangerous things. But his
friends, and the statesmen of his party, knowing that when he
had made up his mind, especially on a matter that had become
a subject of conflict between him and his "enemies," it was
absolutely useless to reason with him, accustomed themselves to
obeying orders, unless they were prepared to go to the rear or
into opposition. It was therefore not a mere invention of the
enemy, but sober truth, that when Jackson's administration was
attacked, sometimes the only answer left to its defenders, as well
as the all-sufficient one with the Democratic masses, was simply
a "Hurrah for Jackson! "
Henry Clay was, although in retirement, the recognized chief
of the National Republicans. He was then fifty-two years old,
and in the full maturity of his powers. He had never been an
arduous student; but his uncommonly vivacious and receptive
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CARL SCHURZ
mind had learned much in the practical school of affairs. He
possessed that magnificent confidence in himself which extorts
confidence from others. He had a full measure of the temper
necessary for leadership, the spirit of initiative, but not always
the discretion that should accompany it. His leadership was not
of that mean order which merely contrives to organize a personal
following: it was the leadership of a statesman devoting himself
to the great interests of his country. Whenever he appeared in
a deliberative assembly, or in councils of his party, he would
as a matter of course take in his hands what important busi-
ness was pending, and determine the policy to be followed. His
friends, and some even among his opponents, were so accustomed
to yield to him that nothing seemed to them concluded without
the mark of his assent; and they involuntarily looked to him for
the decisive word as to what was to be done. Thus he grew
into a habit of dictation, which occasionally displayed itself in
a manner of peremptory command, and intolerance of adverse
opinion, apt to provoke resentment.
It was his eloquence that had first made him famous, and
that throughout his career mainly sustained his leadership. His
speeches were not masterpieces of literary art, nor exhaustive
dissertations. They do not offer to the student any profound
theories of government or expositions of economic science. They
will not be quoted as authorities on disputed points. Neither
were they strings of witty epigrams. They were the impassioned
reasoning of a statesman intensely devoted to his country and to
the cause he thought right. There was no appearance of artifice
in them. They made every listener feel that the man who uttered
them was tremendously in earnest, and that the thoughts he ex-
pressed had not only passed through his brain but also through his
heart. They were the speeches of a great debater; and as may
be said of those of Charles James Fox, cold print could never
do them justice. To be fully appreciated they had to be heard
on the theatre of action, in the hushed Senate chamber, or before
the eagerly upturned faces of assembled multitudes. To feel the
full charm of his lucid explanations, and his winning persuasive-
ness, or the thrill which was flashed through the nerves of his
hearers by the magnificent sunbursts of his enthusiasm, or the
fierce thunder-storms of his anger and scorn, one had to hear that
musical voice cajoling, flattering, inspiring, overawing, terrifying
in turn,-
a voice to the cadences of which it was a physical
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delight to listen; one had to see that face, not handsome but
glowing with the fire of inspiration, that lofty mien, that com-
manding stature constantly growing under his words, and the
grand sweep of his gesture, majestic in its dignity, and full of
grace and strength,- the whole man a superior being while he
spoke.
Survivors of his time, who heard him at his best, tell us of
the effects produced by his great appeals in the House of Rep-
resentatives or the Senate, the galleries trembling with excite-
ment, and even the members unable to contain themselves; or
in popular assemblies, the multitudes breathlessly listening, and
then breaking out in unearthly shouts of enthusiasm and delight,
weeping and laughing, and rushing up to him with overwhelming
demonstrations of admiring and affectionate rapture.
Clay's oratory sometimes fairly paralyzed his opponents. A
story is told that Tom Marshall, himself a speaker of uncommon
power, was once selected to answer Clay at a mass meeting; but
that he was observed, while Clay was proceeding, slowly to make
his way back through the listening crowd, apparently anxious to
escape. Some of his friends tried to hold him, saying, "Why,
Mr. Marshall, where are you going? You must reply to Mr.
Clay. You can easily answer all he has said. " "Of course I can
answer every point," said Marshall; "but you must excuse me,
gentlemen,- I cannot go up there and do it just now, after his
speech.
