BISMARCK AND THE AMERICAN ARMY.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1
Sm,—In view of the insidious attempts of tho German Preis to minimize the importance of England's adoption of compulsory service, and to depreciate the value of the American Army, should circumstances bring the United States into the present war, it occurs to me that the testimony of Carl Schurz, one of the few German-Amoricana who ever rose to high official position in the United States, might interest your readers.
In the course of a conversation with Bismarck in Berlin in the spring of 1868, the Prussian statesman asked Schurz whether the stories ho had heard about the laxity of discipline prevailing in the United States were based on truth. " I had to admit that the American conception of military discipline would certainly horrify a Prussian officer ; and I gave him a few examples of the spirit of equality which the American carries into every sphere of life and which begets a certain free-and-easy familiarity between officers and men. These stories seemed to amuse Bismarck immensely. But his Prussian military pride fairly revolted when I added, that in spite of these drawbacks, the American soldier would, in my opinion, not only fight well, but, in a prolonged struggle with any European Army, against which he might at the first onset be at a disadvantage, after some practical experience, prove himself superior to all others." As Carl Schurz himself had fought with great distinction right through the American Secession War with the Northern Army, in which he became a General of brigade, he evidently knew what ho was talking about.
Bismarck then asked Schurz whether the Emperor Napoleon III. was popular in the United States, and whether, in the event of a war between Germany and France, American sympathies might be expected to be on his side. Schurz replied that Napoleon III. did not enjoy much consideration in the United States, but America would neverthe- less lean towards France in case Germany forced an unjust war upon her. Of significant interest this, at the present moment.
In the course of further conversation Bismarck mentioned the names of several German exiles of the year 1948 (Carl Schurz was one of those) who had since been allowed to return to Germany and had risen to high position in the Prussian service under condition-3 which did no violence to their political convictions. "Bismarck dwelt so em- phatically and repeatedly upon the last point that it sounded almost like an invitation to me to do as others had done. I deemed it, how. ever, best not to enter upon this matter, and only mentioned casually that my activity in the United States afforded mo full satisfaction, and that, besides, I felt bound to the North American Republic by a deep sense of gratitude for the distinction which it had so generously conferred upon me" (see Lebenserinnerungen, Carl Schurz, Berlin, 1907). Carl Schurz, I may say, had been United States Minister to Spain in 1861—a position he voluntarily resigned in order to take a part in the American Civil War. Subsequently, from 1877 to 1881, he hold the office of Minister of the Interior under President Hayes. Ho is the only German-born American who has occupied either office or hold so completely the confidence of the American people.
Here we have documentary evidence, at any rate, that in the year 1868 there was at least one upright German-American living, whose course of conduct was dictated by gratitude and loyalty towards the country which had received him as an emigrant and opened up to him the prospect of a distinguished career from which he would have been debarred in his native land. Probably there are to-day many German-Americans of whom the same might be said.—I am, Sir, &c.,
SIDNEY WHITMAN.
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