Year: 1859

|


Shurz, on &c True and False Anaericanisn"


will speak of Americanism as the great rep


Tesentative of the reformatory age, as the great


champion OF the dignity of human nature, as the
great repository of the last hopes of suffering


mankind. will speak of the ideal mission of


this country and of this people


You may tell me that these views are visionary,


that the destiny of this country is less exalted,


that the American people are less great than |


think they are, or ought to be. l answer, ideals


are like stars, you will not succeed to touch them


with your hands. But like the seafaring man on


the desert of waters, you choose them as YOUR


guides, and following them you will reach YOUR


destiny. invite you to ascend with me to the


Watchtower OF history; overlooking the grand
| panorama OF the development of human affairs,


in which the American Republic stands in so bold


and prominent relief.


| He who reviews the past of this country in con-


nectlon with the history of the world besides,


cannot fail to discover a wonderful coincidence of
| great events and fortunate circumstances which


were destined to produce everlasting results, un-


less recklessly thrown away by imbecile genera
| tiOns.


Look back with me four or five centuries The


dark period of the middle ages is drawing near its
| close. The accidental explosion of that mysteri-


GUS black powder discovered by an obscure Ger


man monk is the first flash of lightning preluding
|


the edifee of feudal society to pieces. The in
vention of the gunpowder strips the feudal lord


OF his prestige a I0arriOr; another discovery is
| to strip him of his prestige as a man. Gutten-
burg, another obscure German, inVents the print


ing press, and as the gunpowder blows the castles


OF the small feudal tyrants into the air, the for


mldable artillery of printed letters batters down
the citadels of ignorance and superstition. Loud
| Applause. Soul and body take up arms and pre-


pare themselves for the great battle of the Reform


alton. How the mighty volcano of the German


mind bursts the crust of Incidence which covered
1t. Luthers triumphant thunder rattles against


the holy see of Rome. [Applause.l The world


is ablaze all the elements of society are rising up
In boiling cOmmotiOn-twO ages are battling
against each other.


That was the time when the regeneration of the
old world was to take place. But the old order
of things, fortified in customs and prejudices and
deeply-roOted institutions, did not surrender at


the first blast of trumpets. The grand but fearful
struggle of the reformatory movement plunges all
Europe into endless confusion. The very wheel
OF progress seems to grind and crush one genera


tion after another. The ideas which concerned
the highest and most sacred relations Of humanity,
seem at the same time to call into their service
the basest and most violent passions of the human
heart, and in all Europe the wars of great prinei-
Piles degenerate into wars of general devastation.


But meanwhile new country has opened its
boundless fields to those great ideas, for the real


ization of which the old world seems no longer to
be wide enough. 1t is as though the earth her
self had taken part in the general revolution and
had thrown up from her sea-cOyered womb new
battle ground for the spirit of the new era. That
is America. Not only the invention of the gun
powder and of the printing press, but also the
discovery of America inaugurated the modern age.


There is the new and immense continent. The
most restless and enterprisng elements of Euro
pean society direct their looks toward it. First
the greediness of the gold-hunting adventurer
pounces upon the new conquest but his lnordl-
nate appetite being disappointed, he gradually
abandons the field to men, in whose hearts the fu-
ture of the new world is sleeping unborn.


While the Coast Of Virginia is settled by mot
ley immigration led and ruled by men of ideas and
enterprise, the sturdiest champions of principle
descend upon the stony shores of New England.
lApplause. While the Southern colonies are set
tied under the auspices of lordly merchants and
propretaries, original democracy plants its stern
banner upon Plymouth Rock. Applause. Mer-
camille speculation, aristOcratic ambition and
stern virtue, that seeks freedom and nothing but
freedom, lead the most different classes of people,
different in origin, habits and persuasion upon the
virgin soil, and intrust to them the task of real
izng the great principles of the age. Nor is this
privilege confined to one nationality alone. While
the Anglo-SaxOn takes possession of New England,
Virginia and Pennsylvania, the Frenchman plants
his colonies on the soil of French Florida and the
Interior of the continent; the HOllander locates
New -Netherland on the banks of the Hudson the
Swede, led there by the great mind of Oxenstiern,
occupies the banks of the Delaware; the Spaniard
maintains himself in Peninsuar Florida, and a
numerous immigration of Germans, who follow the
call of religious freedom, and of Irishmen, gradu-
ally flowing in, scatters itself all over this vast
extent of country. Soon all the social and ma
tional elements Of the civilized world are repre-
sented in the new land. Every people, every
creed every class of society have contributed their
share to that wonderful mixture out Of which is
to grow the great nation of the new world. 1t is
true, the Anglo-Saxon establishes and maintains
his ascendancy, but without absolutely absorbing
the other national elements. They modify each
other and their peculiar characteristics to be
blended together by the all-assimlating power of
freedom. This is the origin of the American ma
tionality, which did not spring from one family,
one tribe one country, but incorporates the vigOr
Gus elements of all civilized nations on earth.
Applause.


This fact is not without great Importance. 1t
is an essential link in the chain of historical
development. The student of history cannot fail
to notice that when new periods of civilization
break upon humanity, the people OF the earth
cannot maintain their national relations New |
ideas are to be carried out by young nations.
From time to time, violent Irresistible hurricanes
sweep over the world, DIoWIbg the most uinerehS
elements of the human family together, which, by
ninglng, renvigorate each other, and the general
confusion then becomes the starting-point of
new period of progress. Nations which have
long subsisted exclusively on their resources,
will gradually lose their original vigor and die
the death of decrepitude. But mankind becomes
young again by its different elements being shaken
together, by crossing race and mind penstrat-
ing mind. Applause.


The oldest traditions of history speak of such |
great revulsions and general migrations, and if |
We could but lift the veil, which covers the re-
hottest history of Asatic tribes we would dIseov-
sr the first scenes and acts of the drama, of which
The downfall of the Roman empire is portion. |
When that empire had exhausted its natural vital
ty, the dark forests of the North poured forth |
but vigorous multitude, who trampled
sl,o lao. oo;e IF Roman