Seventy years ago the people of Wisconsin were deeply stirred over the issues connected with the framing of a constitution and admission to statehood. In the Wisconsin Banner, the first German newspaper in the state, was printed on March 20, 1847, a metrical argument of 168 lines in favor of “Die Constitution.” The recent posture of public affairs seems to render apposite the reprinting of a portion of this poem, which affords a fair idea of the attitude of Wisconsin Germans of the forties toward certain questions which the whirligig of time has again brought to the fore. We print the selection in the original German and in English translation. For making the latter, acknowledgement is due Dr. Charles Giessing, of Princeton, formerly of the University of Wisconsin.
“Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland?
Wo Eide schwört ein Druck der Hand!
Wo Treue hell vom Auge blitzt,
Und Liebe warm im Herzen sitzt!”
So sang ein Mann im Hochgefühl der Kraft,
Der hat kein Herz, den dieses Lügen straft.
Was treibt den Deutschen über Land und Meere?
Sagt, warum kämpft er für die Union?
Stirbt auf dem Feld des Ruhmes und der Ehre,