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victim of misplaced confidence. When, some time ago, Mr. asked me whether I would accept an invitation to dine with some friends on or about my seventieth birthday, I gladly consented, expecting a quiet evening with a small circle of intimates. Gradually I learned that the matter was assuming formidable proportions; but then it was too late to retract. And now I find myself here in the presence of hundreds, and my whole biography is mercilessly thrown at me in public, while I have no fair opportunity for defending myself. I am accustomed to the discussion of public questions, but not to the discussion of my personal concerns. Being, in a sense, called upon to do this, the situation is to me extremely embarrassing. If I accepted all this praise, it would be egotism; if I declined it, it would be an ungracious criticism of the partiality of my friends. [Applause.] I can, therefore, only thank you, all and each of you, for these honors, and all those who, from far and near, to-day have fairly overwhelmed me with their kindness; and that I do from the very bottom of my heart.
 * I stand here as a

Some of the things I have heard to-night about myself can be said with safety of any man only when he is dead and gone, and the sum of his life has been judicially struck after a proper review of the evidence.