[Speech of Carl Schurz at a banquet given by the Chamber of
Commerce of the State of New York, New York City, November 5, 1881,
in honor of the guests of the Nation, the French diplomatic
representatives in America, and members of the families descended
from our foreign sympathizers and helpers, General Lafayette, Count
de Rochambeau, Count de Grasse, Baron von Steuben, and others, who
were present at the centennial celebration of the victory at
Yorktown. The chairman, James M. Brown, Vice-President of the
Chamber of Commerce, proposed the toast, "The Old World and the
New," to which Carl Schurz was called upon for a response.]
MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE:--If you
had been called upon to respond to the toast: "The Old World and the
New" as frequently as I have, you would certainly find as much
difficulty as I find in saying anything of the Old World that is new or
of the New World that is not old. [Applause.]
And the embarrassment grows upon me as I grow older, as it would upon
all of you, except perhaps my good friend, Mr. Evarts, who has
determined never to grow old, and whose witty sayings are always as good
as new. [Laughter.] Still, gentlemen, the scenes which we have been
beholding during the last few weeks have had something of a fresh
inspiration in them. We have been celebrating a great warlike event--not
great in the number of men that were killed in it, but very great in the
number of people it has made happy. It has made happy not only the
people of this country who now count over fifty millions, but it has
made happier than they were before the nations of the Old World, too;
who, combined, count a great many more. [Applause.]
American Independence was declared at Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, by
those who were born upon this soil, but American Independence was
virtually accomplished by that very warlike event I speak of, on the
field of Yorktown, where the Old World lent a helping hand to the New.
[Applause.] To be sure, there was a part of the Old World consisting of
the British, and I am sorry to say, some German soldiers, who strove to
keep down the aspirations of the New, but they were there in obedience
to the command of a power which they were not able to resist, while that
part of the Old World which fought upon the American side was here of
its own free will as volunteers. [Cheers.]
It might be said that most of the regular soldiers of France were here
also by the command of power, but it will not be forgotten that there
was not only Lafayette, led here by his youthful enthusiasm for the
American cause, but there was France herself, the great power of the Old
World appearing as a volunteer on a great scale. [Cheers.] So were there
as volunteers those who brought their individual swords to the service
of the New World. There was the gallant Steuben, the great organizer who
trained the American army to victory, a representative of that great
nation whose monuments stand not only upon hundreds of battle-fields of
arms, but whose prouder monuments stand upon many more battle-fields of
thought. [Cheers.] There was Pulaski, the Pole, and DeKalb who died for
American Independence before it was achieved. And there were many more
Frenchmen, Germans, Swedes, Hollanders, Englishmen even, who did not
obey the behests of power. [Cheers.] And so it may be said that the
cause of the New World was the cause of the volunteers of the Old. And
it has remained the cause of volunteers in peace as well as in war, for
since then we have received millions of them, and they are arriving now
in a steady stream, thousands of them every week; I have the honor to
say, gentlemen, that I am one of them. [Cheers.]
Nor is it probable that this volunteering in mass will ever stop, for it
is in fact drawn over here by the excitement of war as much as by the
victories of peace. It was, therefore, natural that the great
celebration of that warlike event should have been turned or rather that
it should have turned itself into a festival of peace on the old field
of Yorktown--peace illustrated by the happy faces of a vast multitude,
and by all the evidence of thrift and prosperity and well-being; peace
illustrated by the very citizen-soldiery who appeared there to ornament
as a pageant, with their brilliant bayonets that peaceful festival;
peace illustrated by the warmth of a grand popular welcome offered to
the honored representatives of the Old World; peace illustrated, still
more, by their friendly meeting upon American soil whatever their
contentions at home may have been; peace glorified by what has already
been so eloquently referred to by Dr. Storrs and Mr. Evarts; that solemn
salute offered to the British flag, to the very emblem of the old
antagonism of a hundred years ago; and that salute, echoing in every
patriotic American heart, to be followed as the telegraph tells us now,
by the carrying of the American flag in honor in the Lord Mayor's
procession in London--all this a cosmopolitan peace festival, in which
the Old World sent its representatives to join in rejoicing over the
prosperity and progress of the New. [Cheers.]
There could hardly have been a happier expression of this spirit of
harmony than was presented in the serenade offered to these
gentlemen--representatives of the honored name of Steuben on the evening
of their arrival in New York, the band playing first "The Watch on the
Rhine," followed by the "Marseillaise" and "God Save the Queen," and
then the martial airs of the Old World resolving themselves into the
peaceful strains of the crowning glory of "Hail, Columbia!" and "Yankee
Doodle." [Cheers.]
The cordiality of feeling which binds the Old and the New World
together, and which found so touching, so tender, so wonderful an
expression in the universal heartfelt sorrow of all civilized mankind at
the great national bereavement, which recently has befallen us [the
assassination of President Garfield], can hardly fail to be strengthened
by this visit of the Old World guests whom we delight to honor.
[Cheers.]
They have seen now something of our country, and our people; most of
them, probably, for the first time, and I have no doubt they have
arrived at the conclusion that the country for which Lafayette and
Steuben and Rochambeau fought is a good country, inhabited by a good
people [cheers]; a good country and a good people, worthy of being
fought for by the noblest men of the earth; and I trust also when these
gentlemen return to their own homes they will go back with the assurance
that the names of their ancestors who drew their swords for American
liberty stand in the heart of every true American side by side with the
greatest American names, and that, although a century has elapsed since
the surrender of Yorktown, still the gratitude of American hearts is as
young and fresh and warm to-day as it was at the moment when Cornwallis
hauled down his flag. [Applause.]
It seems to me also, gentlemen, that we have already given some
practical evidence of that gratitude. The independence they helped to
achieve has made the American nation so strong and active and prosperous
that when the Old World runs short of provisions, the New stands always
ready and eager even, to fill the gap, and by and by we may even send
over some products of other industries for their accommodation.
[Applause.]
In fact, we have been so very liberal and generous in that respect, that
some of our friends on the other side of the sea are beginning to think
that there may be a little too much of a good thing, and are talking of
shutting it off by tricks of taxation. [Laughter.] However, we are not
easily baffled. Not content with the contribution of our material
products, we even send them from time to time, some of our wisdom, as,
for instance, a few months ago, our friend, Mr. Evarts, went over there
to tell them about the double standard--all that we knew and a good deal
more. [Laughter.] We might even be willing to send them all the
accumulated stock of our silver, if they will give us their gold for it.
[Cheers.] It is to be apprehended that this kind of generosity will not
be fittingly appreciated and in that respect they may prefer the wisdom
of the Old World to that of the New. [Laughter.]
However, we shall not quarrel about that, for seriously speaking, the
New and the Old World must and will, in the commercial point of view, be
of infinite use one to another as mutual customers, and our commercial
relations will grow more fruitful to both sides from year to year, and
from day to day, as we remain true to the good old maxim: "Live and let
live." [Cheers.] Nor is there the least speck of danger in the horizon
threatening to disturb the friendliness of an international
understanding between the Old World and the New. That cordial
international understanding rests upon a very simple, natural, and solid
basis. We rejoice with the nations of the Old World in all their
successes, all their prosperity, and all their happiness, and we
profoundly and earnestly sympathize with them whenever a misfortune
overtakes them. But one thing we shall never think of doing, and that
is, interfering in their affairs. [Cheers.]
On the other hand they will give us always their sympathy in good and
evil as they have done heretofore, and we expect that they will never
think of interfering with our affairs on this side of the ocean. [Loud
cheers.] Our limits are very distinctly drawn, and certainly no just or
prudent power will ever think of upsetting them. The Old World and the
New will ever live in harmonious accord as long as we do not try to jump
over their fences and they do not try to jump over ours. [Cheers.]
This being our understanding, nothing will be more natural than
friendship and good-will between the nations of the two sides of the
Atlantic. The only danger ahead of us might be that arising from
altogether too sentimental a fondness for one another which may lead us
into lovers' jealousies and quarrels. Already some of our honored guests
may feel like complaining that we have come very near to killing them
with kindness; at any rate, we are permitted to hope that a hundred
years hence our descendants may assemble again to celebrate the memory
of the feast of cordial friendship which we now enjoy, and when they do
so, they will come to an American Republic of three hundred millions of
people, a city of New York of ten million inhabitants, and to a
Delmonico's ten stories high with a station for airships running between
Europe and America on the top of it [cheers], and then our guests may
even expect to find comfortable hotels and decent accommodations at the
deserted village of Yorktown. [Laughter and cheers.]
But, in the meantime, I am sure our Old World guests who to-night
delight us with their presence, will never cease to be proud of it that
the great names of which they are the honored representatives are
inscribed upon some of the most splendid pages of the New World's
history, and will live forever in the grateful affection of the New
World's heart. [Loud applause.]