Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 6.djvu/457

Rh any man in the world that can give a strong impetus, a real propulsive force to such a movement, you are that man. Your position is unique. I cannot remember any head of a state in history who could exercise so powerful and persuasive an influence not only upon foreign peoples, but upon foreign Governments, as you now can, not by armies and navies, but by your extraordinary record as a peacemaker, by the universal confidence in the unselfishness of your purposes in international dealings and by the character of the great Republic you represent. The very fact that you are well known to have zealously urged the construction of a great war-fleet for the United States (and of all countries ours is financially the ablest to build up and maintain such a fleet) and the consequent self-denial which your leadership in a movement for gradual disarmament would involve, would give to that leadership a peculiar moral force in the struggle with obstacles which to the ordinary mind under ordinary circumstances might seem insuperable.

I hope you will not look upon this letter as a presumptuous intrusion. Old as I am, with at best only a few years before me, I see an exceptional opportunity for an inestimable and much needed benefaction to be conferred upon mankind; I see a man in a position of almost unexampled moral power peculiarly fitted to become a most potent, if not the decisive, factor in an effort to accomplish that benefaction; and I see reason to apprehend that, for a long time to come, there will not be another man similarly fitted by nature or by circumstance. I may, therefore, be pardoned if, carried away by the ardent wish still to witness in my day at least a hopeful beginning of so great and beneficent a work, I submit these suggestions to you while your well-earned laurels as a champion of the world's peace are still fresh.