In view of the signal blessings you enjoy, it is your duty to take an active, personal, vital interest in the welfare of your country. You should glory in her prosperity and be concerned at every adversity that may befall her. You should hold up the arms of those who are charged with the administration of public affairs, as the children of Israel held up the hands of Moses while he interceded for them before the Lord. The inspired word of God enjoins this loyalty to country, and reverence for its rulers. The religion you profess demands this fealty. The constitutions of your respective societies uphold it; and I am sure that there is not a single fibre of your heart which does not pulsate with a genuine, undivided love for the Republic and its sacred traditions. I venture to say that every member of your society is a loyal citizen. Every citizen a patriot; every patriot a soldier; every soldier a hero; and every hero would be a martyr, to die if need be for his country. There are some pessimistic prophets who are in the habit of predicting the downfall of our Republic. They are more frequently heard on the eve of a presidential election. I have been listening to these dire forebodings for over fifty years; but on the morning after the election we find the prophets sounded a false alarm. For my part I have an abiding faith in the endurance of the Republic. I might base my hope on the intelligence and patriotism of the American people. I might base my confidence on the wisdom of our statesmen and the heroism of our soldiers. I might place my reliance on our standing armies and dreadnoughts. And surely these are all elements of strength to be reckoned with. But, my friends, if the Republic is to endure it must rest on a stronger foundation than the intelligence and patriotism of our citizens, the wisdom of our statesmen, the heroism of our soldiers, our armies, and dreadnaughts. It must rest on the eternal principles of truth and justice and righteousness and downright honesty in our relations with foreign nations. It must rely on our firm belief in an overruling Providence who created all things by His power, governs all things by His wisdom, and who controls the affairs of nations as well as of men. THE RULE OF HONOR FOR THE REPUBLIC CARL SCHURZ [From an address at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, January 2, 1896, at New York City.] WHAT is the rule of honor to be observed by a power so strong and so advantageously situated as this Republic is? Of course, I do not expect it meekly to pocket real insults if they should be offered to it. But, surely, it should not, as our boyish jingoes wish it to do, swagger about among the nations of the world, with a chip on its shoulder, and shaking its fist in everybody's face. Of course, it should not tamely submit to real encroachments upon its rights. But, surely, it should not, whenever its own notions of right or interest collide with the notions of others, fall into hysterics and act as if it really feared for its own security and its very independence. As a true gentleman, conscious of his strength and his dignity, it should be slow to take offense. In its dealings with other nations it should have scrupulous regard, not only for their rights, but also for their self-respect. With all its latent resources for war, it should be the great peace power of the world. It should never forget what a proud privilege and what an inestimable blessing it is not to need and not to have big armies or navies to support. It should seek to influence mankind, not by heavy artillery, but by good example and wise counsel. It should see its highest glory, not in battles won, but in wars prevented. It should be so invariably just and fair, so trustworthy, so good tempered, so conciliatory, that other nations would instinc tively turn to it as their mutual friend and the natural adjuster of their differences, thus making it the greatest preserver of the world's peace. This is not a mere idealistic fancy. It is the natural rôle of this great Republic among the nations of the earth. It is its noblest vocation, and it will be a glorious day for the United States when the good sense and the self-respect of the American people see in this their "manifest destiny." It all rests upon peace. Is not this peace with honor? There has of late been much loose speech about "Americanism." Is not this good Americanism? It is surely to-day the Americanism of those who love their country most. And I fervently hope that it will be and ever remain the Americanism of our children and our children's children. CARL SCHURZ [From an address at the Schurz memorial meeting, New York City, November 21, 1906; reprinted in Mr. Choate's American Addresses, The Century Company, 1911.] I HEARD Mr. Lincoln at the Cooper Institute in 1860 say: "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us dare to do our duty as we understand it." Search all the books in our libraries, and you can find no better statement of Mr. Schurz's rule of life than this. Truth, right, duty, and freedom were the four corners of his chart of life, with which all his speech and conduct squared. And so it was from the beginning to the end. In the first freshness of youth he left the university and joined the Revolution of 1848, and fought to break oppression and maintain constitutional liberty. In that marvelous achievement of daring and devotion by which, at the deadly peril of his own life, he rescued his old teacher and comrade from the fortress in which he had been condemned for life to pick oakum for the Prussian government, he furnished to the world a heroic romance, worthy to be immor talized by a new Schiller, a miracle long since celebrated, and always to be celebrated in German poetry and song. A refugee from hopeless tyranny, he came here into exile and made America his home. He was himself the choicest example of that splendid host of Germans who have enriched and strengthened and fertilized our native stock, to produce that composite creature, the latest result of time, the blending of all the Caucasian races the New American.. ... When the war broke out and it became manifest that the Gordian knot of slavery could be cut only by the sword, he resigned the lazy post of Minister to Spain, and on many a bloody field — at Manassas, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Chattanooga with dauntless skill and courage he fought for freedom here as he had fought for it at home. As a Senator, I think he made the noblest record of his noble life. There his genius, his courage, his humanity, and his patriotism had full play. There politics, patronage, the chance of reëlection were nothing to him. He was there not to serve his state only, but the whole country. . . . ... Politics As a Cabinet Minister, too, his record is a noble one. and politicians he turned "neck and heels" out of his department, and made tenure of office there depend only upon merit and fitness. Frauds and plunderers found in him their most dangerous foe. He was a real father to the Indian tribes, and fought in defence of our vast forest domains that were then already falling victims to robbers. . . . A fearless foe of every wrong, an independent champion of every wise reform, setting personal consequences always at defiance where public service was concerned, he has left to the young Americans of the present and the future an example of honesty, courage, and patriotism; a richer legacy than if he had been able to transmit to them, or to each of them, the combined wealth of all the millionaires of the land. Truly, to recall again the words of Lincoln, he had faith that right makes might, and he dared to the end to do his duty as he understood it. MEMORIAL DAY, 1917 WOODROW WILSON [These words were spoken by the President at Arlington to the veterans of both the Federal and Confederate armies. Mingling with the old soldiers were men in khaki who were soon to carry to the battlefields of France the spirit of America.] ANY Memorial Day of this sort is, of course, a day touched with sorrowful memory, and yet I for one do not see how we can have any thought of pity for the men whose memory we honor to-day. I do not pity them. I envy them, rather, because theirs is a great work for liberty accomplished and we are in the midst of a work unfinished, testing our strength where their strength already has been tested. There is a touch of sorrow, but there is a touch of reassurance also in a day like this, because we know how the men of America have responded to the call of the cause of liberty, and it fills our minds with a perfect assurance that that response will come again in equal measure, with equal majesty, and with a result which will hold the attention of all mankind. When you reflect upon it, these men who died to preserve the Union died to preserve the instrument which we are now using to serve the world a free nation espousing the cause of human liberty. In one sense the great struggle into which we have now entered is an American struggle, because it is in defence of American honor and American rights, but it is something even greater that that; it is a world struggle. It is a struggle of men who love liberty everywhere, and in this cause America will show herself greater than ever because she will rise to a greater thing. We have said in the beginning that we planned this great Government that men who wish freedom might have a place of refuge and a place where their hope could be realized, and now, having established such a Government, having preserved such a Government, having vindicated the power of such a Government, we are saying |