movement created a hotbed of social discontent in the
West, which became a permanent menace to the politi-
cal stability embodied in the traditional parties. The
anti-Protectionist movement took the form mainly of a
propaganda of free trade ideas, and became in its turn
a centre for free political thought, which attracted
prominent men and independent minds from both
parties, and constituted a training-school for the greater
part of the staff that was to lead, during the next
quarter of the century, all the campaigns for reform
and liberty.

At the head of the movement was a naturalized Ger-
man, Carl Schurz. When almost a stripling he took a
part, and a romantic one, in the revolutionary events of
1848 in Germany. Having escaped from prison, he ar-
rived, after a few halts, in the United States. Bred on
the generous diet of the sentiments which inspired the
men of 1848, Schurz married his exuberant young life
to that of the American democracy. In a compara-
tively short time he became a figure in the political
world, a diplomatist, a general in the army of the North
during the Civil War, a senator, a remarkable orator,

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