United States senator then he would not have been elected president and if he had not been, what the condition of our country would be today we cannot imagine.

No, my friends, Abraham Lincoln was always a great man in my estimation, from my first acquaintance. He was great in his boyhood, in the cabin homes of his father. was, I think, born great, and grew in greatness all his life.

He

A brother-in-law of mine, now dead, said to me a few years since, when standing in Statuary Hall in the capitol at Washington, and looking at the statue of Abraham Lincoln by Vinnie Ream, "Thomas, the more I study the life and character of Lincoln, and compare him with the other great men of history, the more I think he is one of the most remarkable men of all ages." And such, I think, as the ages go by, will be the judgment of mankind.

But I have rambled long enough, and must close, with many thanks for your kind attention.

Address by Honorable George Schneider

OF CHICAGO.

Mr. Davis, the president of the Historical Society, introduced Mr. Schneider, who spoke as follows:

Ladies and Gentlemen: I came here without any preparation to address you on such an important subject as the foundation of the Republican party in Illinois, and as I might say, in the United States. Your president made the remark, that the elements out of which the new party had been formed, consisted of members of the old Whig party with antislavery tendencies; of the Democratic party with even more radical views, and represented by such men as my distinguished friend, General Palmer; the American or Know-Nothing party; and the Germans, with the most advanced, anti-slavery feelings of all of them. My friend, Mr. Paul Selby, gave you the history of the Decatur convention where all these factions were represented.

Here the most difficult task did fall to me as the editor of a German paper and as a member of that convention. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise created a storm in the affairs of the country such as was never before witnessed since the foundation of the republic. The south had been made bold and defiant by the success in the affairs of the nation since the adoption of the so-called 'compromise measures.' The attempt of the nationalization of the institution. of slavery, and of a most rigid Fugitive Slave law with all its horrors, had aroused the sleeping conscience of the nation.

George Schneider was born at Pirmasens, Bavaria, December 13, 1823; liberally educated; took part in German revolution, 1848; was condemned to death, escaped to the United States; with his brother established an anti-slavery German paper at St. Louis, Mo.; 1851, moved to Chicago and became the editor of the StaatsZeitung, which he made a daily and the leading German newspaper of the northwest; called the first anti-Nebraska meeting in the United States; member of editorial conven ion of February, 1856, and of the convention of May 29, 1856, and of the national Republican conventions of 1856 and 1860; presidential elector, 1880; appointed by President Lincoln to confidential mission to Denmark and Germany, 1861; internal revenue collector, 1861 and 1865; member of Chicago Union Defense Committee, 1861 and 1865: appointed minister to Switzerland, 1876: twenty-five years engaged in banking in Chicago; the confidential adviser of every Republican president, from Lincoln to McKinley. (See Biographical Dic. and Poř. Gal., Ill. Ed. p.30.)

When Senator Douglas introduced his bill to repeal the Missouri Compromise, this was the signal for the volcanic out-break of the pent up feelings, of the citizens of the Republic who had preserved their love of humanity, right and justice. This was particularly the case with the adopted citizens of the German nationality.

The revolution of 1848 and 1849 in Germany for the unification of the Fatherland, and the failure of this great effort, sent thousands of the best men of Germany,—men of culture and strong will power, to this country, who were placed at the head of many of the best newspapers printed in the German language. From New York to the great west, their influence was felt at once and a great revival began amongst them. The principal places of this new uprising in thought and action were New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis. All the principal papers in these cities opposed at once the extension of slavery in the new territories, and in fact, slavery itself.

Our state was in advance of all of them and nearly every paper published in the German language in the state opposed the Nebraska bill. But here appeared most suddenly, a black cloud on the political horizon which seemed to assume such proportions and threatening form, as to not only dampen the fire of the new movement against slavery, but to drive the Germans from the ranks of the party to be formed. I refer to the so-called American, or Know-Nothing party. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, and several other important states were controlled by the new party, and this movement swept even the shores of all the middle and northwestern states. The Germans, who had just entered the new party with the only desire to oppose slavery, were in a most unpleasant and critical position, and their political future seemed dark.

I entered the Decatur convention with a resolution in opposition to this movement and I had resolved to fight with all my might and win or go down, and with me, perhaps the new party. My friend, Paul Selby, who has appeared before

you with his excellent and true historical address on the Decatur convention, placed me on the committee of resolutions and I had to help form a platform containing a paragraph against the proscriptive doctrines of the so-called American party. This portion of the platform raised a storm of opposition and in utter despair I proposed submitting it to Mr. Lincoln, who had appeared in the convention, and abide by his decision. Mr. Lincoln, after carefully reading the paragraph, made the following remark:

"Gentlemen: The resolution introduced by Mr. Schneider is nothing new. It is already contained in the Declaration of Independence and you cannot form a new party on proscriptive principles.'

This declaration of Mr. Lincoln's saved the resolution and in fact, helped to establish the new party on the most liberal democratic basis. It was adopted at the Bloomington convention and next, at the great, and the first, national Republican convention at Philadelphia on the 18th of June, 1856. And in connection with this I wish to say that the delegation from Illinois followed the lead of General Palmer, the real 'grand old man' from Illinois. He drew up the plan of operations; he had the negotiations with President Lane and secured the proper committee on resolutions and the great success was due to his fearless and at the same time prudent and statesman-like action. The great majority of the Germans in all the states of the north. and even in some portions of the south, entered the new party that had made Lincoln president, and made it possible to carry on the war with success against slavery, and create, in fact, a new Union. The new light which appeared at Decatur and Bloomington, spread its rays over the whole of the United States, and so the regeneration of the Union and the downfall of slavery dated from Bloomington; and the convention of which we hold today this memorial convocation of the few survivors, makes one of the great epochs in the history of the country; and with all this we must think of the man who has been sent by Providence to carry this nation through the agi