The Writings of Carl Schurz/To L. S. Metcalf, August 13th, 1888
TO L. S. METCALF
| Hans Forsteck, Kiel, Germany, Aug. 13, 1888. |
I have received your cable message and answer it by letter, as I cannot put all I wish to say into a telegraphic despatch.
The friendly contact I have had with Prince Bismarck and other German statesmen, while on the one hand giving me much information about German affairs, has on the other hand greatly embarrassed me in writing out my experiences and views for publication. They have spoken to me with such frankness and confidence that I feel myself under great restraint. No sooner had my interviews with Prince Bismarck got into the papers than I was flooded with requests to write about them. One newspaper offered me as much as five hundred dollars for one single column; another one hundred dollars each for a series of letters on German affairs which I might make as long or as short as I pleased. And so on. Whatever of temptation there might have been in such offers, I resisted for the very reason above suggested. When the requests were repeated with increased urgency, I replied to one and all that I would certainly not write anything about German affairs until after my return to the United States, if at all. And I have not written a line for publication, accordingly.
When I shall be in New York again I cannot yet tell. For the last six weeks my eldest son has been in a private hospital here suffering from a dangerous illness. . . .