That is unforgettable. But however beautiful and great this was, your nation has done for ours something still less forgettable. In those terrible days of the year 1870, when so many Germans were imprisoned in unlucky Paris, the American Ambassador undertook to look after them. And what America did at that time, it is doing again to-day for all our fellow-citizens, who, surprised by the war, are kept in the enemy's country. They are entrusted to the care of the American Ambassador, and we know full well, as if it had already been done, that he will take the best, the most faithful care of them. This, my friends, is a service of friendship, which is not conventional, but of the kind to which the catechism alludes when it interprets: "Give us our daily bread and good friends." They belong together.

But now, before answering the question, why you are our good friends, we must reflect a while, for the answer which but a few days ago we should probably have given: you are our good friends because you are our blood-relations-that answer no longer holds good. That is past and gone. May God grant that in future days this may be said again, but in the case which just now has torn our hearts, it has been proven that blood is not thicker than water. But where is the deep foundation of this friendship? Does it consist in what I have alluded to, that we have so many fellow-countrymen on the other side, that they have been received so kindly, that they have done much for the upbuilding of the body and spirit of America or that we see here so many American friends? That is certainly important but not the last reason.

Ladies and gentlemen! The roots of a strong and firm relationship lie still much deeper. And history shows us at this moment one fact and writes it with burning letters into our souls, that we have a common spirit, which penetrates to the depth of our hearts. Yes, because we have a common spirit that penetrates into the depth of our hearts, therefore we are friends. And what sort of a spirit is it? It is the spirit of that deep religious and moral civilization which we acquired during a series of centuries, and from which this strong American shoot has arisen.

Three things belong to this civilization, or rather, it rests upon three pillars. One pillar is the recognition of the immense value of every human soul, hence the recognition of personality and individuality. These two are respected, nurtured, and desired. This is the one pillar of our civilization. And the second is the recognition of the duty of sacrificing this dear life for every great ideal, "God, liberty, fatherland," at any time. Though we, Americans and Germans, value life highly, this human life, yet we lay it down willingly and cheerfully whenever a great cause demands it. And the third pillar is the respect of what is right and just and the great power of organization on all lines and in all communities. But in the face of this civilization resting on its three pillars: personality, self-sacrificing duty, and organized right, there arises now before my eyes another civilization, the civilization of the tribe with its patriarchal organization, the civilization of the horde that is gathered and kept together by despots, the Byzantine—I have to go back far-the Mongolian-Moscovite civilization.

ET

Ladies and gentlemen! This once was a civilization; but that was long ago. This civilization could not endure the light of the eighteenth century, still less the light of the nineteenth century, and now in the twentieth century it breaks loose and threatens us—this unorganized Asiatic mass. Like the desert with its sand, it wants to cover up our fields of grain. We know it. We are just now experiencing it. Also the Americans know it, for everybody must know it that stands on the foundation of our culture and observes the present time with sharp eyes. They all know that it is the question of: "Peoples of Europe, take care of your most sacred possessions!"

This civilization of ours, the most precious possession of the human race was principally entrusted to three peoples, yes, to them alone! To us, to the Americans and to the English! That is all I will say. I cover up my head! Two of the three are left; they must stand together so much more closely as it is the question of defending the flag of this civilization. The whole is at stake, our intellectual existence, and the Americans must know that this means also their existence. We have a civilization in common as well as the duty of defending it!

But, citizens of America, we give you our sacred word that we shall stake the last penny of our money and the last drop of our blood on this civilization. After having made this vow, shall I repeat to you what the Oberburgermeister assured you of in such simple but sincere terms, namely, that, as a matter of course, we shall protect you and do everything for you while you are living

on our soil? After we have promised the greater thing, you will be sure that we shall look after these trifles.

But you, my dear fellow-countrymen, men and women, every day and now at this hour we are intensely aware of what surrounds us. It is a very serious but a glorious time. How much did we experience during these last few days? None of us any longer stands beside life as a satiated or critical spectator, but everyone stands in life, in a higher life. In the very midst of it! All at once God has lifted us out of the misery of our daily life and placed us upon a height where we never stood before. But, ladies and gentlemen, wherever life arises, higher life or life in general, wherever it is a delight to live, there life is surrounded by death, as at every birth when something new comes to life, and just so when the dearest possessions have to be defended -there Death stands close by Life. But we also know this: whenever in this way life and death are entwined, the highest life and bodily death, then every fear of death ceases, then there is only life, and alive we go into death and through death. This reminds me of an old song, a mighty song in which our fathers celebrated their victories:

"Es war ein wunderbarer Krieg,

Da Tod und Leben rungen.
Das Leben, das behielt den Sieg,
Es hat den Tod verschlungen.

Die Schrift hat verkündet das,
Wie ein Tod da den andern frass,
Ein Spott aus dem Tod ist worden!"

It was a wonderful fight

When Death and Life were wrestling.

Life obtained the victory

And swallowed up Death.

The scriptures have proclaimed
That one death ate the other

And death became a mockery!

The death that is undergone voluntarily, kills the great death and secures the higher life. It makes free: thus speaks Luther!

In conclusion, let me say one more thing. In critical hours there arises before us all a picture, and beneath it we see these simple words: "He was obedient unto death, yea unto death on the cross!" Well, the great obedience has only just begun for us, that great obedience for whose sake other nations, our neighbours, so often have railed us. Look, those are the obedient Germans, those men that do everything at the word of command and with such obedient exactness. Now they will see that this great obedience was and is not blind discipline, but also will! They will see that this great obedience is not smallness and death, but strength and life.

From the East, I repeat, the sand of the desert approaches us, from the West we are attacked by old enemies and faithless friends. How soon will we Germans be able to pray and confess again:

"Gottes ist der Orient,
Gottes ist der Occident,

Nord- und südliches Gelände

Ruh'n im Frieden seiner Hände."

The Orient is God's,

The Occident is God's,

Northern and Southern lands

Rest in the peace of his hands.