The Writings of Carl Schurz/Introduction

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Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz
Carl Schurz and others, edited by Frederic Bancroft

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New York City: G. P. Putnam's Sons, pages iii–iv

3267153Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz — IntroductionFrederic BancroftCarl Schurz and others

INTRODUCTION

Soon after its formation in 1906, the Carl Schurz Memorial Committee agreed that it could perform no greater service than to collect and publish the writings and public addresses of Mr. Schurz. That he, above all others, personified that extraordinary stream of German immigration which enriched the United States in the years immediately following the revolution of 1848, has been universally recognized. That he was an able, albeit modest general, a diplomat and statesman, a wise journalistic commentator upon political affairs and a public man whose utterances were of far-reaching importance in many a campaign, has also been widely appreciated. Few can, however, have had any true conception of the remarkable range of his interests, as evidenced by his correspondence, or of the extent and value of his public addresses. They form a vital contribution to the history of Carl Schurz's adopted country, beginning almost with the day upon which he set foot upon its shores. They are the more remarkable when it is considered how brief was the period in which Mr. Schurz—with the exception of Hamilton and Gallatin the greatest of the foreign-born statesmen of the country—actually held office. But Mr. Schurz needed no passing official authority to assure himself an audience or to lend vigor and weight to his utterances. Based on sound political principle and on unyielding loyalty to American institutions, his works must be his truest monument. They cannot fail to be of high value to all who would meet the political problems of the future by a study of the utterances of the past of those public men of unshaken courage, who knew no such thing as compromise on a principle, who never lost faith in American self-government; and particularly of one whose belief in liberty and democracy was as fresh and as ardent in his last years as in his youth when he risked his life to battle with absolutism. It is to the memory of this faith and this courage, and in gratitude for a lifetime of unselfish and patriotic service, that these volumes are dedicated.

THE CARL SCHURZ MEMORIAL COMMITTEE.
By	George McAneny,
	William R. Corwine,
	Oswald Garrison Villard, Chairman,
	the Sub-Committee on Publication.