Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/476

452 anomaly. That New York ought to have such an orchestra—indeed, that in order to perform its function as the greatest center of civilization in America, it must have such an orchestra—seems to be self-evident. And why should it not? It has the musicians and it has the money. The only thing needed is that the public spirit of some of its wealthy citizens should be turned into that channel. And I confidently hope that the persuasive enthusiasm of the ladies who have taken this task in hand will soon succeed in accomplishing it. 



The honor of a person, in the general sense of the term, is his moral dignity. To offend or wound a person's honor means to deny or impeach his moral dignity so as to lower it in the estimation of others, and perhaps also in his own self-respect. To forfeit one's honor means to do something, or to permit something to be done, which is incompatible with one's moral dignity. This applies to nations as well as to individuals. What true honor consists in, what constitutes an offense to one's honor and how the offended honor can or should be vindicated or restored, are questions which in different places and at different times have received different answers, according to the different conventional conceptions of honor or the different states of civilization there and then prevailing.

Whatever divergences of opinion on these points may still exist in this country, no American capable of sober reflection can seriously hold the belief that considerations of National honor would require, or even that its moral