Harper's Weekly/Mr. Schurz in Germany

by Harper's Weekly

MR. SCHURZ IN GERMANY.

The banquet to Mr. Schurz in Berlin was an honorable tribute to a distinguished American citizen of German birth, who, as true now as ever to the republican principles which he brought to his chosen country, is perfectly just to the greatness and to the modern progress of his native land. His speeeh upon the late German Emperor showed the generous catholicity of his political view, as his speeches always show a wise and comprehensive grasp of great principles, and try men and parties by their fidelity to such principles.

Mr. Schurz's career in this country has illustrated both the power and the penalty of political independence. There is no man who has been more bitterly denounced by party spirit. But there are few men in either of the great parties who rival him in sound political thinking, or who exercise so deep and strong an influence upon the political action of intelligent and patriotic young Americans. Mr. Schurz is peculiarly a public man, however his resolute independence may interfere with party relations, and that a man thrown out of such relations, yet with unabated interest in public affairs, still maintains his moral ascendancy in politics, is one of the happy signs of the times.

Perhaps the best illustration of Mr. Schurz's political perception and sense of justice as well as of his signal ability, is his biography of Henry Clay, which seems to us to be the best of our political biographies, as it is by far the best general and brief manual of American politics for the first half of this century. Its breadth, candor, acuteness, and intelligence are delightful, and the work, like all such works when well done, is a public service. There is probably many an old Henry Clay Whig, now become a Republican, who heartily dislikes Mr. Schurz, but who would find in his story of Clay a more sympathetic and complete comprehension of him than has yet been shown.

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