Furthermore, what sort was the spirit which received them? Upon each one, without and within, that spirit has imprinted its seal. Concerning this spirit I shall speak later, but for the present I will only say, it is the spirit of common courage and common freedom! And from this unity I saw had developed a tremendous contribution as the work of this nation, a contribution to agriculture, to technology, and, as we of the German universities have known for several decades, an extraordinary contribution to science. And this contribution has been derived from a combination such as we in Europe cannot effect, of the good old traditional wisdom which has been brought down out of the history of Europe and a youthful courage, I might almost say, a childlike spirit. These two combined, this circumspection and at the same time this courage of youth, which I met everywhere and which has stamped itself upon all American work, is what I have admired.
And the second was the American hospitality!
Like a warm breeze, this hospitality surrounded me and my friends. Wherever we went we breathed the air of this friendship, indeed, it almost took away our powers of will, so thoroughly did it anticipate every plan and every need. Like parcels of friendship, we were sent from place to place, always the feeling that we had all known each other forever. That was an experience for which all of us—for who of us Germans who have come over here has not experienced it?—will be perpetually thankful. That will never be forgotten.
Friendship for Germany.
But beautiful and noble as that was, your nation has furnished ours with something still more unforgettable. In those horrible days of 1870, when a great number of Germans were shut up in unfortunate Paris, the American Ambassador assumed the care of them, and what America did at that time she is again doing for all of our country—men who, surprised in the enemy's country by the war, have been detained there. They are intrusted to the special care of the American Ambassador, and we know with as much certainty as though it were an actual fact already that that care will be the best and the most loyal. That, my friends, is true service of friendship, which is not mere convention but such as it is in the Catechism: "Give us our daily bread and good friends." They belong together.
But to answer the question why you are our good friends we must reflect a little for the answer which we might have given a few days ago—"You are our good friends as our blood relations"—alas! that answer no longer holds. That is over! God grant that in later days we may again be able to say it, but by a circumstance which has torn our very heartstrings it has been proved that blood is not thicker than water. But where then is the deep-lying reason for this friendship? Does it rest in the fact that we have so many Germans over there; that they have been received so cordially; that they have done so much for the building up of America, soul and body, or that we find friends in so many Americans on this side of the water? This is an important consideration, but it is not the ultimate cause we are seeking.
My friends, when it is a powerful relationship, imbedded in rock as it were, which is under consideration, then the matter is more than superficial, and that which is at the bottom of this deeper fact, history is at this very moment showing us as she writes in characters of bronze before our eyes; because we have a common spirit which springs from the very depths of our hearts, for that reason are we friends!
And what is that spirit? It is the spirit of the deep religious and moral culture which has possessed us through a succession of centuries and out of which this powerful American offshoot has sprung. To this culture belong three things, or, rather, it rests upon three pillars. The first pillar is the recognition of the eternal value of every human soul, consequently the recognition of personality and individuality. These are respected, nourished, striven for. Second is the recognition of the duty at any time to risk this human soul, which is to each one of us so dear, for that great ideal—"God, freedom, and the Fatherland." The dearer that human soul, that life, is prized by us, Germans and Americans, the more surely do we give it up willingly and joyously when a high cause demands it. And the third pillar is respect for law and therewith the capability for powerful organization in all lines and in all manner of communities.
A Different Culture.
But now before my eyes I see rising up against the culture which rests upon these three pillars—personality, duty to sacrifice all for ideals, law and organization—another culture, a culture of the horde whose Government is patriarchal, a civilization of the mob which is brought together and held together by despots, the Byzantine—I must extend it further—Mongolian-Muscovite culture.