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SPEECH OF THE HONORABLE CARL SCHURZ, THE GUEST OF THE EVENING.
Mr. Chairman and Friends: I stand here as a
victim of misplaced confidence. When, some time ago,
Mr. Schwab asked me whether I would accept an
invitation to dine with some friends on or about my seventieth
birthday, I gladly consented, expecting a quiet
evening with a small circle of intimates. Gradually I
learned that the matter was assuming formidable
proportions; but then it was too late to retract. And now
I find myself here in the presence of hundreds, and my
whole biography is mercilessly thrown at me in public,
while I have no fair opportunity for defending myself.
I am accustomed to the discussion of public questions,
but not to the discussion of my personal concerns.
Being, in a sense, called upon to do this, the situation is
to me extremely embarrassing. If I accepted all this
praise, it would be egotism; if I declined it, it would be
an ungracious criticism of the partiality of my friends.
[Applause.] I can, therefore, only thank you, all and
each of you, for these honors, and all those who, from
far and near, to-day have fairly overwhelmed me with
their kindness; and that I do from the very bottom
of my heart.
Some of the things I have heard to-night about myself can be said with safety of any man only when he is dead and gone, and the sum of his life has been judicially struck after a proper review of the evidence.
