Page:Visit of the Hon. Carl Schurz to Boston, March 1881.pdf/99

86 striven to deserve it, however, was true. The praise was a continuous spurring on to him to do honor to the German and American names. We dwell, said he, in a grand country, and among a great and a noble folk. No one present could be prouder than he of his German blood; but no man could also feel prouder than he did of his American citizenship. No people on earth had made greater voluntary sacrifices for human liberty and for national existence than the American. Not only had they in the late war sent many hundreds of thousands of their sons to the battle-fields, but, aside from taxes, they had voluntarily contributed untold millions to ease the sufferings of our wounded. In all history there was to be found no people which would have made such offerings. Much had been said about American politics and American corruption. There was much truth in what was thus said; but it was also true that the American people were a just people, and that when their eyes were opened to such corruption, they always overthrew those responsible for it. And so it would ever be, as long as the people understood the value of their freedom. Looking at Europe, it was not too much to say that America stood as the only free country on earth. In closing, he called upon all to empty their glasses with a hoch for the American Republic,—the greatest republic that ever was, the greatest that is, and, he believed, the greatest that ever would be. Mr. Schurz' remarks were followed with hearty cheers.

Hon. Leopold Morse was called upon. He began his remarks in German, but begged the privilege of being allowed to continue in English, long use of the adopted tongue having made him more able to express himself in it. There was no man whom he felt more proud to honor than their guest. Mr. Schurz had gained his high place in the nation's councils not be wealth, but by his energy and the force of his brains. He spoke of the high services of Mr. Schurz in the Cabinet, and approved heartily his atti-