Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-05-18
Extract from a Washington Diary.
From the Janesville Gazette.

a group Ut friends, discussing. in ,
quiet way, The personal history ano
perSonRt of the distinguished mer
who are grouped before us. our eve,
fall upon the ele,,a It form and classic
features "f the representative Ger
man of America = Msjor Genera.
Carl Schurz, now United States
senator from Missouri Having
known him intimately and we'll for q
dozen years. my thoughts naturally
wandered back along the checkered
and crooked pathway in which he
has walked since ne first set foot up,
on rhe friendly soil of Wisconsin, -
The first time saw him was at the
Republican State Convention. in the
fall of 1857, at the time Randall was
first nominated for Governor, and
Schurz for Lieutenant Governor
He was then a resident of Water
town and was not only personally
unknown TO but very few of the
leading men of the party, but most
of those who had made acquaintance
were not at all aware of the brilliant
abilities which the young German
stranger possessed, Mr.. S. III. Booth,
then editor of the Milwaukee Free
Democrat, bad met Schurz on one or
two occasions, and saw at once that
the young foreigner only needed the
opportunity to make his way rapidly
to distinction and eminence. So, at
the proper time, ina neatiittle speech,
Booth nominated Carl Schurz as a
suitable candidate for Lieutenant
Governor The convention was con-
siderably astonished, { : while most
everybody knew Booth ard at that
Time relied upon his Judgment, but
few had ever seen the man whom
they were asked to place second up
on their ticket One or two others
who had seen Schurz, spoke briefly
in his favor, endorsing his fitness for
the position, and the necessity of
given the Republican Germans q
place on tho ticket, and he was
nominated. A call was made for the
new nominee, not SO much for the
purpose of having him make o speech,
because nobody in that convention
believed that he could make speech
at all, but they wished to see the man
who was to stand as the representa-
tive of the Germans upon our ticket.
He responded briefly in q strong
German accent, evidently struggling
more with English idioms than with
ideas. but Indicated with sufficient
clearness bis love of liberty, and his
admiration for our republican insti-
buttons. Schurz was beaten in that
contest, as tho reader will remem Der,
by Campbell, Of La Cro~s SO, the
Democratic nominee for Lieutenant
Governor = the Republicans only
electing a portion of their State
ticket. Two years later he was re-
nominated for Lieutenant Governor
hut declined to nccep' the u0mina-
zion Since then his career and his
his nri have heen ~ well known to
Wi>coai ii psopl. - If h. hal con
ti1 tel :. reside omoug Us Now. !
the eio"e that sa> r,jec:e,. by he |
nni;'isr- ha- hec"m he chief Of the |
corner. and Is 49, yopde" in the seat |
Of Banton. one u he youngest, hui
w!edged 10 he one If the |
.bl.si publc men Of our times The |
G enan student OF As " h. fed from |
his native land To save his life, has
found a caontry where the love off
liberty is not "a crime, and where the |
rights of man arc more sacreu IMAM
any constitution written upon parch
ment.
None of the New Senator'S have
melted so much interest among all
classes, as Schurz and Carpenter,-
the first political philosopher, the
other an astute lawyer; both great
orators, but as unlike as William Writ
and John c. Calhoun. If it were
not for Ross and Sprague one might
think the giants were coming back
again to resume their old places in
the Senate, but when they and the
like of them speak, our pride is huns
bled and our hopes of the future
strike like a clod upon the dead level
of the present. Won't Rhode Island
and Kansas take pity n us and de-
liver us from the body of this in
telleetual death? Must you manu-.
facture shoddy forever, o mills of
Rhode Island
Parson Brownlow looks like per
feet wreck, and it is absolutely pains
full to see him sitting in his seat
quaking as an aspen. His hands are
never still but keep up an 'incessant
twitching which makes the beholden
nervous to look upon, and his Whole
appearance impresses one with the
fraility of human nature. His ser,
want assists him in and out of the
Senate, and during the sittings is
constantly by his side and often
gives his vote upon call of the ayes
and noes. But it is only the physical
system that has given way under the
high pressure and exciting mode of
life that the blunt old Tennesscan
has led. His iutellual faculties are
not at all clouded by his physical in
frmities, and his written speeches,
which be always sends to the clerks
desk to BIO read, are as full of fiery
eloquence and fierce denunciation as
of yore. His philippe the other day
against the confirmation of Long
street, was sublime and terrible
piece of Senatorial thunder, but the
lightning was not sufficient to smite
the exrebel General out of sight
Longstreet went in and | doubt not
the ministerial Senator, INDUCED in
reflections quite like some of King
David's fuIminations against his
enemies.