Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/286

252 once. Accordingly I voluntarily decided, while I waited in Nashville, to assume direction of a recruiting-camp in order not to be idle. The Government had nothing to do with this. When I finally requested permission to report at Washington, the Government immediately placed a command at my disposal which was much larger than my former one. There are two reasons which prompted me to decline this offer; in the first place, my wife s health made it desirable that I remain with my family for a time; and furthermore, the political situation was such that I had a more important field of action here than any where else. Therefore, I am where I am, voluntarily. That these matters have been misrepresented in German newspapers, is not surprising. This gives me no concern. I never think of publicly refuting such misrepresentations. However, even if there had been ground for complaint, my acts would have been the same. In times like these, more important matters than individual interests or sensitiveness are at stake. He who cannot rise above them, should content himself with selling peanuts. I feel myself so uplifted by the splendid and hopeful trend of affairs that I could make far greater sacrifices than those which fate has demanded of me. This is a great people and this is their time of greatest trial. We are in the smelting-furnace, and the metal flows richly while the dross turns to ashes. We shall have a great future. But I must not begin this chapter. 



&emsp; I should have written yesterday if I had been able to shake off the gloom that has settled upon me since the