Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/494

470 for these great aims, these high ideals; he was ready to give his life for them, and whatever his mistakes or his foolhardiness the German people have every reason to be proud of him instead of scoffing at the “mad year.” It is to be wished that in the youth of to-day a living spark of that same self-sacrificing idealism might be kindled and that this spark might never be choked and extinguished by a puerile ambition for personal aggrandizement.

Surely no one will deny that those German representatives of the movement of '48 who have sought and found a new home in America have always been good and conscientious citizens of their new fatherland. The intellectual freshness and vivacity which they brought with them greatly stimulated at the time the political and social life of the Germans in America, and when, with the movement of secession, danger threatened the new fatherland, the German '48ers, each in his way, were among the first who, with self-sacrificing devotion, rushed to the defense of the Union and liberty. Most of them have proved that the revolutionary agitators of 1848 could become reliable and conservative citizens under a free government. I believe that public opinion will on the whole give them a good character—and if it does not we will give it to ourselves.

Now we have dwindled to a very small band and again we find ourselves facing a crisis which makes special demands on the patriotism of the citizens of this Republic. You, Mr. Chairman, have already pointed out that there is a great difference of opinion as to the cause and the expediency of the present war, but that now, since the war has actually begun, we must all, man for man, stand together in the defense of our common country. Gentlemen, not only is this quite self-evident, but I go even further in saying that the man who now most eagerly advocates peace must, under the circumstances,