The riper years of Carl Schurz are so generally identified with the
peaceful and progressive things that are the fruits of the rostrum
of the orator and the sanctum of the editor that it seems hard to
associate him with the stormy and romantic incidents that crowded
his youth. Born in Liblar, Rhenish Prussia, on March 2, 1829, he was
educated at the Cologne gymnasium, and at the age of seventeen entered
the University of Bonn. When, in 1848, the revolutionary spirit became
actively in evidence, he, together with Gottfried Kinkel, a professor
of the university, started a liberal newspaper. As the consequence,
the young men were forced to flee from Bonn. Later, Schurz received
a commission as adjutant in the revolutionary army, and upon the fall
of Badstadt was compelled to fly to Switzerland. His friend Kinkel was
captured and sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment. Schurz, however,
did not desert his friend, but returning to Germany, by the exercise
of marvelous courage and ingenuity, liberated Kinkel, and went with
him to Scotland. Subsequently, and in Paris, Mr. Schurz entered the
journalistic profession. In 1855 he, accompanied by his young wife,
whom he had married while under the ban of the German authorities, came
to America and settled in Philadelphia. Afterward he went to Madison,
Wisconsin, where he became identified with local political affairs. He
soon became a prominent figure in state politics. In the interval he
had been admitted to the bar and now opened an office in Milwaukee. In
1860 he was a member of the national republican convention, and when
Lincoln became president he was made minister to Spain. During the
Civil war he served with distinction under General Franz Sigel, who
had been his old commander in Germany. In 1866 he was made Washington
correspondent of the New York Tribune. Later he established the Detroit
Post. He disposed of his interest in it, and in 1867 removed to St.
Louis, where he became editor of the Westliche Post. In January, 1869,
Mr. Schurz was made United States senator for Missouri. He has taken
an active and even strenuous part in presidential campaigns for many
years. In 1884, 1888 and 1892 he supported Mr. Cleveland. When he
visited Europe, in 1888, he was cordially received by Prince Bismarck
and other German leaders. He is an author, having published several
books, including a life of Henry Clay and an essay on Abraham Lincoln.
His screeds are often seen in periodical literature.