Page:Visit of the Hon. Carl Schurz to Boston, March 1881.pdf/75

62 and in the last offices, chivalrous and valiant in public defence. As we recognize by this public festivity the character and services of a statesman, it is a grateful thought that we are also doing justice and honor to Sumner's faithful friend. 

 . Gentlemen, the English race from which we are sprung is the result of a mixture of races,—the Briton, the Saxon, the Dane, and the Norman. The English race transplanted to this country has had a still greater admixture,—an admixture which will give it strength, and which will make America the greater England. We have a representative to-night, in our honored guest, of that great German family which is becoming so prominent in the politics of our country. I ask you now to give your attention to another gentleman, German by birth and American by adoption,—a gentlem e a n well known in this city for his professional skill and manly character. I introduce to you Dr. de Gersdorff.

,—I am thankful for the privilege of welcoming our distinguished guest in behalf of his German countrymen. We recognize him as a statesman superior to many, inasmuch as he has always endeavored to keep himself in a position above party politics. This, at least, is what the Germans especially honor in the character and the public career of Mr. Schurz; and