The Pennsylvania Germans, an Address Delivered at the Dedication of Palatinate College, Myerstown, Pa., Dec. 23, 1875

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THE PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS. _A.

IsT

J^ ID ID K.

ESS

DELIVERED AT THE DEDICATIOX '

or

-

PALATLNATE COLLEGE Myekstoavn, Pa., Dkc. BY

GEORGE

23,

1875,

.

F.

973.0^,

BAER.

J S /'^C

V13,fl3 14-6

UNIVERSITY-

Of PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARIES

::

Reading, Pa., Dec. 30th, 1S75.

GEO.

Dear Sir cr

n

Esq.,

— At

the

late

meeting of the Board of Trustees

Palatinate College, the following was unanimonslg agreed to

of

.-

Besolved, That we tender Geo- F. Baer, Esq., our hearty ihanlis for the timely, able and eloquent address drUuered this day, on the occasion of Palatinate College dedication. Resolved, That we respectfully solicit a copy of the in the " Merccrshury

Wc

same for

jiuhlication

Heview," and in pamphlet form.

sinccrehj hope you

will

Wc

comply with the request.

arc

sure that the facts therein set forth, and the kind spirit in whicJi they arc clothed, are calculated to do

much

good,

and should he

generally read.

Very truly, yours, &c.,

H.

MOSSER, Sec^y of the Board.

Rev.

II.

MOSSER,

Dear Sir

— In

Secretary, &c.

compliance with the wisltes of the Board of " address " at your disposed. It was hur-

Trustees, I place the

"1

\

BAER,

F.

riedly written, in the midst of arduous profcs:]ional labors, hut I

give

it

to

you far what

sufficient general

interest

it

is

to

worth.

The subject ought

to he

atone for any short comings .

in

h'calment.

Yours, truly, li

GEO.

F.

BAER.

of its

\

TIIJ^]

PENNSYLYAxNIA GERMANS.

Ladies anj) Gentlemen: tine, I

count

— A descendant of a

a higli privilege to

it

]*ala-

meet with you at

the dedication of Palatinate College.

Most

lieailily

do I wish the part assigned to nie had fallen to soauj

more worthy representative

my

interest

and

zeal for wliatcver concerns the

my

sylvania Germans, offset of thorough

is

unfitness,

lot

Penn-

my want

and

be atoned for by a heart

preparation

whose every pulsation speaks well

But

of our people.

true to

for the future of

my own

people.

our people that here

It in

Eastern Pennsylvania a college should be four.ded

and named Palatinate.

The impulse

us to honor our ancestors, naturi}.

Next

is

vvdiich

prom])ls

one of the noblest of our

to the Cliristian

priiiciple

which

re-

quires our walk and conversation to be perfect bofoio

the liord, there

is

no greater conservator of public

morality, nor stricter censor of private action, than

the reflection that a given line of conduct will be un-

worthy of our ancestors, and bring disgrace on our children, even

beyond the fourth generation

'I'his

respect

mand

was

Honor thy thy days may be long

of the decalogue, "

mother, that

Lord thy God giveth If

it

their

father

and thy

in the

land the

theo."

be true that the departed dead can look from

mansions in the skies upon the abodes of mortal

men, there

and

beginning implied in the com-

in the very

will be joy in heaven, that after a century

a half of neglect of,

of the pious

and indifference

Germans, who

som as the rose, commemoration

fame

for the sake of religious

freedom, and rest and peace from settled these lands,

to the

and made

strife

and war,

this wilderness to blos-

their descendants, in recognition

of their trials

dedicate a college

named

in

and

and merits, meet

to

honor of them.

Iso people are so little understood as the Pennsyl-

They have never been given their They and the history of this continent.

vania Germans. true place in their

descendniits

who have migrated

to

different

parts of the United States, constitute a large pro})ortion of the population of this country

histories fail to give

any

fair

but the written

account of them.

are cither completely ignored, or tlie

;

most casual way, and too

if

mentioned,

often

They it is

in

Avith the sneers

and the gibes of narrow-minded men \vho can see no merit in the

The of

German

stories of Pl^Miiouth

New Amsterdam,

words,

people.

all

Rock, of Jamo?town, and

are as familiar as household

over the land.

Their minutest details have

been carefully preserved and recorded. in poetry

In history,

and song, in school-books, on every national

fast or festival, in the halls of legislation, at the hust-

and

ings,

fathers

is

told

tions, a little

:

How, because

band

of religious

of oppressed English Christians

of the great

deep, and

day on Plymouth Rock w^ere wasted

;

being storm-

after

tossed and tempest-driven, landed on

and want,

persecu-

and from thence ventured on the

fled to IFolland,

bossom

Pilgrim

the pulpit the story of the

in

how they

a-

bleak, wintry

suffered privation

by famine and consumed by

braved the ferocity of savages, bore untold

fevers,

hardships, to find freedom to worship God, to found

an asylum

for tlie

oppressed of the earth

Grand, sublimely grand, was the heroism of the

men, and grander

still

the fortitude of the

women

and children who composed that Pilgrim band

bow

in

respectful deference

to the

memory

!

I

of the

Pilgrim fathers.

Happy Ilem'ans,

They have had such pooty such orators as Webster to perpetuate Pilgrims!

words that shall never be

and

if

fame defect,

lost, their

as in

undying fauie;

the truth of history itself be not sufficient, the of their great orator

and accomplish and

tion that,

"It

shall yet

will

supply the

his

proud predic-

if tlic

three luiudrod

fullill

go hard

surely

millions of people of China shall not one day hoar and

know something

of the rock of

Plymouth

too."

6 1

would not take one

leaf

from the proud

cLtiplot,

the sons of 'Nqw England have woven for their Puritan fathers.

can forget their faults, their short-

I

comings, their inconsistencies, their crimes, when 1

remember

hovv-

much

their descendants

have done

to

build up and defend our great fabric of Constitutional

American

man

such

liberty,

great public services of one

''j'he

as Webster,

more than a propitiation

is

for

a century of mistakes and errors of the people from •.

whom

he sprang.

But there

is

untold by the

story

a

historian,

neglected by the poet, forgotten by the many, per-

verted by the few, of a people whose descendants

outnumber the Puritans, which, when truthfully is

told,

worthy of no mean place alongside the story of

Plymouth Kock.

I

audience

the glorious record of a noble peo-

ple,

;

for

it is

need not hesitate

you may well exult

to call

ti"ave

liives

your ancestors.

German

It starts with the great

I

need not dwell on the

scene.? of that tirst great struggle.

centuries those noble old

llcforination tJuit

Plere at least history

birth to Protestantism,

no uncertain sound.

to tell it to this

German

For ahoost two

heroes, with a faith

in i\o(\ that

never faltered, defended the faith and

];rinci]^les of

Protestantism with their lives and prop-

erty.

The records

fane, con.tain no

vations,

of histor}',

whether sacred or pro-

more heart-rending accounts of

suiVerings,

persecutions,

pri-

and niartyrdoms,

than those which

to the lot of the defenders of

fell

Protestantism in Germany, France and Switzerland.

All the snfterings and persecutions the Anglo-Saxons of

England

inflicted

light as air,"

human

upon the Puritans, were "

compared

tortures

trifles

the beastly violence, in-

witli

and fiendish

cruelties

inflicted

by

Spanish and Freneli fanaticism on the followers of the Reformers.

The

punishments pagan im-

direst

agination could create, as the criminals, were in

fit

doom

of the greatest

by the

actual practice exceeded

religious fanaticism of the people

who sought

to ex-

terminate Protestantism in the countries of the Rhine.

The armies

of

France

Louis

after

XIV revoked the

edict of jSTantes (1G85,) were let loose

testants

to

terrify

them

into

upon the Pro-

Whole

conversion.

troops of dissolute soldiers were allowed to practice the most revolting cruelties and frightful barbarities. 'Not only

were the French provinces subjected

these barbarities, but the Palatinate was

to

over-run,

and her devoted people treated in the same way.

The French army on duce everything

to

the Rhein was oi'dered to re-

ashes.

"The

Frcncli

generals

v/ho dared not refuse to obey," writes Voltaire, " wove

then obliged to drive out in the middle of winter the unfortunate inhabitants of the Palatinate and

neighboring provinces. ing the reign of Louis

It

the

was the second time dur-

XIV

this beautiful country

was rendered desolate; but the

fires

with

which

8

Turenne had burnt ten

cities

and twenty villages of

the Palatinate were but sparks in comparison with

Worms,

Spires,

this last conflagration.

Heidelberg,

Manheim, and a multitude of burghs and villages were 2:1 veil to the flames. The Palatinate, the Electorate of Treves and the 'Margravate of

covered with ruins.

'

IS

Baden

w^cre

ever had the Vandals, wdio at

a former epoch passed over this country, committed

such awful atrocities.".

The whole country was

])ii!:iged

;

houses were burnt

and crops destroyed; men, women and children were left

they stripped of to

Not only were

without homes, food or shelter.

earthly possessions and reduced

all

beggary and starvation, but they were denied the

God

right in their distress to call upon

and help

in the only

modes

of worship

for protection

and forms

of

prayer their tongues knew, or their souls could pour

The peace

forth.

of Utrecht

(1713),

(1714), brought only partial relief.

a decree prohibited Catecjiism in

The loved then as

tlic

tlie

1719

Heidelberg

Palatinate.

to tlio

it still is

'^iJie

the use of

entircl}'

late as

fatherland, the Rhine, as dear to

held of battle

made

As

and Rastadt

and

Wachi

in

Am

German

them

hearts, who, on the

the councils of State, have Ilhciii'^

resound through the

world, and liave wiped out centuries

of

and reproach, had no home, no

rest,

no peace,

future for them.

they

SA^iei'o

shall

contumely

go?

no

Europe

:

9 offered no

asylum

the space to give

England had the

;

homes

still

redeemed from barbarism

to be

and made the home of

forty years'

men.

civilized

turned their longing eyes.

The

migration.

Across the mighty ocean

There was but one hope. a continent was

large a

so

to

heart, but not

Thither they

speak

I

wanderings of the

it

reverently

Israelites in the

wilderness were not years of greater trial for (God by miracles provided for and protected them), than the

German

years of suffering and privation our

fathers endured between the repeal of the

them

transplanted

by day nor

fire

by night guided

fail to discern, witli

God

in guiding

come a goodly

and persecuting tion the

tanism.

terrible.

though

and were

Roman

;

but who

to a province destined to be-

they were

who dared

itself.

burning witches

still

from or ques-

to differ

rigid, stern

and

frigid Puri-

freedom

there

than the scalping knife of the savage

The

to their credit

tolerant,

pillar of cloud

their path

prospect for religious

less inviting

was

all

a

the eye of faith, the finger of

narrow tenets of "J'he

Xo

inheritance, an empire within

New England

In

was

them

across

land,

this

to

mightier water than the Jordan.

can

edict of

and the beginning of that great migration

]N^antcs,

which

fore-

Uoman be

were not

it

to

Catholic.

promised a sure and safe

settlements,

Catliolic

spoken, the most liberal

be trusted,

The province retreat.

becau.-iO

of

they

Penn alone

Thither

th.ey fled

10

They

by the thousaiuls.

^

settled the " back part^

the province."

On

the 17th September, 1717^ the Lieutenant-Gov-

ernor "observed to the Board that great numbers of forciiiiiers

and

from Germaiiv, strano-ers

constitutions,

province."

have

l>itely

to our laniiuaire

been imported into this

In the proceedings of the Council between

the Indians and the

Government

of Pennsylvania,

held at Conestoga on the Xoth day of ]March, 1721, the lact that the Palatines undertook to furnish the

corn to be presented to the Indians

They experienced great

tioned. to

titles

claimed

the lands

men-

specially

trouble in securing

they improved.

An Act

title.

is

The Indians

General Assembly,

of the

passed in 1700, prohibited the buying of lands of the

The proprietary agents treated them unand refused to sell them lands. In 1724 they

natives.

kindly,

foriiiall}^

tliey

petitioned the governor

'"Would recommend them

and Council that (Palatines),

to

the

favorable usage of the projn'ieiaries' agents, and that

they

might bo allowed

to

purchase lands in this

province."

in 1726, Logan, the Secretary of the Province, v/rites,

mciiiy

"

We

sliall

soon

have a German colony, so

thousands of Palatines are already

country.

They say the proprietary

in

the

invited peojile to

co2ne and settle his country." 'J'iic

extent of

11: is

gi-cat

exodus from the P;datina.te

to these shores niay be gathered

from a report

to the

11

made in 1731, wliich gives Uie number of Reformed members of ttie oppressed inhab-

Synod

of Ilollaiul,

Germany, particularly out

itants of

of

tlic

Palatinate,

already here, as 15,000, and there were perhaps as

many more

Lutherans.

Exiles from the

home

of their

birth,

martyrs to

Protestantism, they only asked permission to settle

They had known

the back parts of l*enn's province. all

the horrors of war, of famine, of torture, of oppres-

They had

sion.

and they were

wrong

to

Him

in

But they

their fellow-men,

the savage tribes of the

They should have been kindly welcomed, for their own sakes, of

ingenuity of

perfectly willing to risk finding peace

among

rest

that the

all

men could invent

civilized

and

suffered

new world.

received and heartily as well as for the sake

whose cause thoy had suffered so much.

For many years they were sub-

v.ere not.

jected to great annoyances at the hands of the Govern-

ment

officials of

Here vania.

the province.

is

the action of the

It

speaks for

itself:

Government

At

of Pennsyl-

a meeting of Council,

held on the 14th September, 1727, at Phiiad'-lphia,

"The Governor called

there

acquainted

them togothor is

at tliis

lately ariived

hundred Palatines, as

the Board that he had

time

to

inform

from IToiland,

a.

ship

tlioiti

that

v.'ith

four

and that he has

infor-

nnation tln^y will very soon be followed by a

much

greater

numlxn-,

who

'tis

said,

design to settle in

tJje

back

12 parts of this province,

'"'

*

^\

and

it

would be highly

necessary to concert proper measures for the peace

and security g-er-ed

of the province,

may

which

be endan-

by such numbers of strangers daih' poured

in,

who, being ignorant of our language and laws, and

body together, make as

settling in a

it

were a

dis-

tinct 2)eople froni^j^^^^ii«i«^sty's subject?,"

"The Board, taking

the

same

into their

serious

considerations, observe, as these people pretended at first

that they lly hither on the score of their religious

liberties,

and come under the

Majesty,

its

requisite

of

His

place

they

protection

that in the

first

should take the Oath of Allegiance, or some equivalent to

to Ilis Majesty,

it,

and promise

fidelity to the

Proprietor and obedience to our established constitution

;

therefore, 7mtil some ])yo2)€r remedi/ can he

and

had from home,

to

^jrfu