The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-25

INN
CARL sCHURZ.
As a specimen of compactness ard lucid
fly the sketch is something remarkable.
Once read, an adequate conception of Lin
coins career, of the elements which made
the strength Of his character as well as the
circumstances which illustrate its weaker
side, are obtained by the reader. The
sketch has all Of the wonderful precision,
sharpness of outline and completeness
which are to be found in some of the 1tal-
ian canoes. In these respects Mr.. Schurz's
work is model. No one can read it with
out knowing all that it is really essential
to know of Abraham Lincoln. At the
same time the critical spirit is shown, so
that we have what in some respects is a
new view of Mr.. Lincoln, offered to US by
a man capable of Analysing motives; one
who also had personal acquaintance with
Lincoln and has always been possessed by
the profoundest admiration for that great
character.
Had General Schurz been so disposed he
might have contributed from his personal
experience many anecdotes of Lincoln.
The time has come when anything that
may be told Of personal experience with
Lincoln is worth printing and worth read
Ing. Even Guo DlOSG IElhldh
readily find their place in the public press.
Mr.. Lincoln seems to have been attracted
early to General Schurz although at that
time Schurz was very young man. He
had brought with him from Germany the
romance of association with the revolution
of 1S46, and of adventurous and dramatic
participation in that queer and spasmodic
effort. His brilliant talents, his remarfa-
aIo r1,flT fhn rrrifh hI1h
he conquered our language and the readi-
ness with which he made himself in spirit,
as well as profession, an American citizen,
had made him a power in the new Repub-
lican party. Lincoln recognized this, and
sent him as our minister to Spain. This
of itself suggested a dramatic contrast to
the early experiences Of Schurz, and it was
an illustration to the Old World of the pos
sibilities which were offered in the New
World TO men of Schurz's character and
ability. He had fed. few years before, a
political refugee with a price on his head,
from Europe, and he was returned as the
representative of the United States to the
court of a nation once brilliant, and at
that timee especially important to hold in
friendly relations with the United States.
1t was at Lincoln's wish also, partly,
that General Schurz was assigned an inn
portant command in the Union armies,
and his service there, though conspicuous,
has been partly forgotten in the subsequent
brilliancy of Mr.. Schurz's political career.
He met Lincoln many times. He was not
30 amazed, as were many Americans, at
the peculiar manneriSms and at the lack
of conventionalfty which astonished and
chagrined so many of the cultivated men
of the east, who could not see through this
outward crust, formed by Lincoln's early
life of poverty and hardship, to the soul of
the man which was beyond. General
Schurz did see the manner of man Lincoln
was far sooner than many Of the Ameri-
cans, and he was one of the first to appre-
ciate that the lack of those mannerisms
and conventionahties, which are the stamp
of good breeding and early cultivation, did
not go To the heart of the man, and that
he was one of natures true gentlemen.
A recent writer in most critical publ
cation-a standard London weekly-has
pointed out what so many Americans have
not yet recognized-that Lincoln was, in
spite of certain defects of manner, one of
the truest gentlemen that ever lived. And
the announcement has been received in
this country with some qualification, as
though it were a new but accurate sugges-
ton. Yet General Schurz years before had
uttered the same truth, and had boldly de-
clared that Abraham Lincoln was a finer
gentleman even than most of those who
were associated with him.
Schurz's article on Lincoln will be likely
to revive discussion respecting the writer's
literary powers. 1t has seemed 20 those
who have always admired Carl Schurz's
literary talent that it was misfortune to
letters that he had practically abandoned
literature and become one Of those who are
busted in trade and commerce. While he
has, it is true, seemed 10 be wholly alb
sorbed in the exCitements of commercial
life of recent years, this essay shows that
he has lost none of his great power rs a
writer who uses the English language as q
vehicle We have no authors of Ameri-
can birth whose command of English
Is more accurate or fluent, or who ex-
presses ideas with greater lucidity, and yet
with that simplicity which is the highest
art. And when we remember that Carl
SchUrz had reached mans estate before he
knew a word of the language, tins power
of his seems all the more remarkable. He
might well be chosen as model for those
who desire to study composition that they
may discover wherein the secret of a per
feet style is to be found.
II is said that Mr. Schurz has other liter
sry works in view, the completion Of which
will depend upon the time he can spare
from his daily business; and cultivated
persons will be sure TO hope that he will
find these intervals so frequent and so long
that the fruits of his scholarship will rs
early given 10 the public
E !. EDWARDS