973.7L63 
 
 GBi.i5a 
 
 Bemstcrff, Johann von 
 
 Abraham Lincoln as the Germans 
 reo&rded him. 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
ABRAHM£ LINCOLN AS THE GSRIillllTS 
 
 REGARDED HIM 
 
 - ADDRESS - 
 
 DeliTered at Springfield, 111^, 
 February 12th, 1913* 
 
 By 
 OOimT J > BEHHSTORFF 
 German Ambassador to the 
 Baited States* 
 
^o 
 
 
 Ihen Goethe had attained a very 
 X high age and had reached the summit 
 -.^^ of his fame> the wittj and sarcastic 
 r4 remark was once iiiade with regard to 
 
 him, that even Cicero would not have 
 "been* sufficiently impudent to deliver 
 a panegyric on such a man* This re- 
 mark would seem to apply to me if I 
 ventured to eulogize Abraham Lincoln 
 before a representative assembly of 
 Americans, who are much more fsimiliar 
 with the history of this great hero 
 tha.n I am* All the more so as I have 
 not the least claim to being a Gicero 
 
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when I speak in a language which is 
 not siy own and to the beauty of which 
 I cainnot do full justice* Ks you, 
 however, have honored me by asking me 
 to speak at this anniversary, I will 
 venture to make a few remarks on 
 Abraham Lincoln as he appeared to the 
 Germans of his day and of the later 
 generations. The election of Lincoln 
 In 1860 was a product of the movement 
 largely supported by the citizens of 
 German birth and extraction, that had 
 led to the foundation, four years 
 previous, of a new national party. 
 
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Idncoln^s personality as shown in his 
 honesty of piirpose, the courage of his 
 convictions, and last but not least* 
 "by his big heart, whose every throb 
 was for the whole people, strongly 
 appealed to the German sentiment* 
 At this day, as we look back to the 
 time of Lincoln anji recall the trials 
 with which he was confronted and 
 which he successfully overcame, we 
 can realize what a strong man he 
 was. He was a born leader, in truth 
 the savior of your country. Though 
 he must ctfiti^Ui have been at the end of 
 his resources, he always displayed an 
 
 -^S- 
 
inspiring confidence, and in his was 
 highly developed that rare characteristic 
 of winning men to his side. Such a hero 
 would naturally have a strong attraction 
 for the American citizens of German "birth 
 of his time, most of whom • I need only 
 mention the greatest among them, Carl 
 Schurz • were so consumed with the 
 passion of liberty that they came here 
 in search of freedom, after the political 
 movement of 1848 had failed to give aur 
 own nation the unity and liberal insti- 
 tutions which we now enjoy. It will 
 always be a proud boast of the American 
 
 • 4 • 
 
citizens of German extraction that in 
 taeir ancestors the immortal Lincoln 
 had as strong supporters as ever cham- 
 pioned the cause of a leader* 
 
 When Lincoln had, to use his own 
 words, to accept war for a worthy sub- 
 Ject, he found the same support on the 
 part of the Americans of German birth. 
 During the Civil War there were> 
 according to the records of the American 
 Sanitary Commission, 187,158 Germans, 
 born in Germany, enlisted in the 
 different regiments of the northern 
 states. "When Abraham Lincoln called 
 
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on Missouri for her quota of soldiers^ 
 the Governor replied defiantly, that 
 Missouri never would furnish soldiers 
 to fight her sister states • But 
 that Governor had overlooked the fact 
 that long before the outbreak of the 
 Rebellion the Germans in St. Louis 
 and other places, had drilled the 
 members of their atheletic clubs in 
 the manual of arms for the defence of 
 the Union. Their strength and their 
 influence saved Missouri for the Union. 
 At the close of the Civil War, Missouri 
 had contributed more soldiers to the 
 
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Uorthern Ariay tJian Massachusetts, the 
 so-called rock of Anti-Slavery ♦ I 
 recently read with great pleasure the 
 vivid description which Mr, Winston 
 Churchill has given of this episode 
 of the Civil War in his brilliant novel, 
 •^The Crisis*^. 
 
 In acting as they did, these 
 Germans only showed the same sentiments 
 which were prevalent in their old 
 home. The influence of such men as 
 Lieber and the fact of a German emigra- 
 tion to America of a highly intellectual 
 quality since 1848 were circumstances 
 
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undoubtedly influential in establishing 
 in the mother country sympathy for the 
 northern cause. Andrew !)• White, the 
 distinguished Ambassador to Germany on 
 his visit to Europe at tkat time found 
 friends among all classes of Germans* 
 In one of his later public speeches 
 he saidr ^Of one thing I then and 
 always reminded m^ hearers - namely, 
 that during our Civil ¥ar, when our 
 national existence was trembling in 
 the balance and our foreign friends 
 were few, the German press and people 
 were steadily at our side* Germans 
 
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everywhere recognized the real question 
 at issue in the American struggle. 
 Everywhere on German soil was a deep 
 detestation of human bondage ♦ 
 Frankfort-^on-the-Main became a most 
 beneficial center of financial influ- 
 ences, and from the first to last 
 Germany stood firmly by us. 
 
 Germany gave not only her sjrmpathy, 
 but her gold, in defense of the Union 
 and the purchase of United States bonds 
 in the German financial centres contri- 
 buted very largely toward sustaining the 
 Union in the long struggle which the 
 
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Government was forced to make against 
 the powerful Southern Confederacy • 
 
 Ihat the Ciermans most admired in 
 Abraham Lincoln, and what I believe 
 made him the greatest leader in the 
 greatest crisis of your national life, 
 was that in him '^The native hue of 
 resolutions*' was not ♦^sickled o*er 
 with the pale cast of thought." 
 
 He did not indulge in the delu- 
 sion, that the Union could be main- 
 tained or restored \'?ithout a conflict 
 of arms. Although he abhorred war 
 for any purpose, the firmness of his 
 
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moral courage enabled Mm to take the 
 great responsibility of leading the 
 nation into a wax for xmion and freedom 
 and through weary years of alternating 
 success and disaster ♦ He did not waver 
 for a moment when many anti-eoereion 
 meetings were held and a cry for peace 
 at any price arose on all sides. The 
 confidence he felt he expressed in the 
 words: '^Let us have the faith that 
 right makes might and in that faith 
 let us to the en± do our duty as we 
 understand it. *^ 
 
 In our days there is a strong 
 
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 UNIVERSIDf OF lUJNtNS 
 
Peace movement sweeping Qlrer all coun- 
 tries, and who will deny that it seems 
 a beautiful idea to save the world 
 forever from the mighty scourge of 
 war. On the other hand, we must not 
 forget that peace should never "be 
 bought at the price of sacrificing 
 our ideals. There is always a danger 
 that we might regard material pros- 
 perity as our chief aim and object. 
 Svery man should be ready to give his 
 life for something beyond his selfish 
 interests. I have often heard it 
 said at peace meetings that all the 
 
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wars in the course of history could 
 have been prevented if the leaders 
 of the nations had been more filled 
 with the milk of human kindness when 
 they approached the questions at 
 is sue • Seldom has any of the rulers 
 of men been more kind-hearted than 
 Abraham Lincoln, He hated to see 
 any creature suffer, and nevertheless 
 he was under the moral obligation to 
 decide for war instead of peace. He 
 felt and said that: how the question 
 of slavery was decided '*did not mean 
 much to a man of fifty, but a great 
 
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deal to the posterity of the people 
 in all coming time, because thought- 
 ful men must feel that the fate of 
 civilization in this country was 
 involved in the issue of the contest ••* 
 
 The unity of your nation could 
 not have been maintained without 
 war, just as 90 years before the 
 colonies could not have gained 
 their independence without fight- 
 ing. 
 
 The history of my own country 
 tells the safiie tale* Religious free- 
 dom in Germany would not have been 
 
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won if tlie nation had not been ready 
 to sacrifice its material prosperity 
 during the thirty years of one of the 
 most terrible wars of all history. 
 Likewise the unity of the German 
 nation, which had been its constant 
 hope and ideal for nearly 100 years, 
 could never have been restored, if 
 the people had not been ready to 
 suffer the terrible ordeal of three 
 wars in 1813, 1866, and 1870, The 
 craving of the soul of the German 
 nation for unity is the last but not 
 least reason I should mention which 
 
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influenced our people in their sympathy 
 v;ith Abraham Lincoln and his policy. 
 In those days the United States 
 was represented in Berlin by George 
 Bancroft, one of your most eminent 
 historians and statesmen.. It is a 
 great pleasure to read the exceedingly 
 interesting letters he wrote from 
 Berlin, the most significent of which 
 have been published not long ago. 
 Bancroft brought a true sympathy and 
 understanding to the observation and 
 to the direction of the relations with 
 Germany. His attitude assured him a 
 
 -. le - 
 
Again and again Bancroft states that 
 Bismarck and the king were true to 
 the Union during the Civil War and 
 averse to any recognition of the 
 independence of the Southern Confed*- 
 eracy, whenever such proposals were 
 put forward from other quarters* In 
 another letter we hear that Mbltke 
 said to Bancroftr •*The Americans at 
 lea-st are truly our friends •** Under 
 a later date Bancroft tells us of a 
 dinner he gave the day of the inaugura- 
 tion of General Grant as President of the 
 United States. Bismarck was anaong the 
 
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cordial acceptance in Berlin^ he was 
 received into the inner circles of 
 scholarly social and political life* 
 and formed habits of friendship with 
 Bismarck and Soitlce. The political 
 situation of Europe Tsas such that 
 Bancroft regarded the unitarian 
 tendencies in "both coiHitries as 
 correlating^ In one letter he writes 
 The inhabitants of Germany are tho- 
 roughly friendly to us» And well 
 they may be* But for the triumph 
 of the Union in America, it could 
 not have succeeded in Germany. 
 
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guests and held a short speech* After 
 referring to the time of Frederick 
 the G-reat, Bismarck continued: ♦•As 
 to the subsequent rela^tions between 
 the two countries, it gives me the 
 greatest pleasure to be able to state 
 as a fact not only from m^ personal 
 experience as a minister of Prussia, 
 but from the archives of its history, 
 that the cordial understanding, so 
 happily inaugurated by Washington and 
 Frederick, has never suffered even 
 the slightest jar^ Hot only has no 
 difficulty ever arisen between the 
 
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two countries, nothing has ever 
 occurred "between them whick so much 
 as called for an explanation* ♦' 
 
 I will close my address ?/ith 
 the fervent wish, that such relations 
 of friendship between our tv/o coun- 
 tries may always continue • 
 
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 973.7L63GB45A C001 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS THE GERMANS REGARDED 
 
 3 0112 031817593 
 
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