Page:Visit of the Hon. Carl Schurz to Boston, March 1881.pdf/65

52 pathize with his work. They heard him in Faneuil Hall in 1859, and listened gladly to one who having fought against tyranny in his own land, and passed through adventures there as strange as those of Baron Trenck, was now as ardent a champion here for the rights of all. We have known him as the friend and supporter of Lincoln, as one who gave up the emoluments, ease, and dignity of a foreign embassy to fight in the war of Union and Freedom. We have known him as the intimate friend of Charles Sumner, and are grateful that in the last, somewhat lonely, hours of that noble life, Charles Sumner had in Carl Schurz a friend in whose devotion and affection he could wholly trust; and we listened with gratitude to the voice which in Music Hall recounted the great services and defended the spotless fame of our own great Senator.

Those of us who have known all this have not found it necessary to examine very critically any charges against the fidelity of such a man. After observing such a career, we either know a man or we do not know him. If we know him, we also know that he is incapable of anything dishonorable. For those who do not know Carl Schurz it is, perhaps, well that his vindication has been so complete; and that the best friends of the Indians, like Bishop Whipple and General Armstrong, should have hastened to testify that they never knew a public officer more ready to hear and inquire into the wrongs done to the Indians, and to redress those