Carl Schurz

“ Sir, the crack of the party whip has lost its power in these days of ours. Mere party cant lies stale and nauseating upon the stomach of the people. If you think that the movement which is now growing all over this land is a mere plot of politicians, you will soon discover your mistake. It is a new awakening of the public conscience. It is the reaction against the easy political morals and the spirit of jobbery which have grown and been developed in times of war and of great political excitement. It is an earnest uprising for an honest and pure government. ”

“ No, sir; if we mean to uphold the honest name of this Republic we absolutely must recognize the binding force of the duty of the Government to pay a dollar in gold for a dollar in its paper under its solemn promise, not at its arbitrary pleasure, but as soon as it is able to pay — that is, as soon as, by its own action, it may render itself able to pay. Every other doctrine is repudiation in a thin disguise, if disguise at all, and I trust the American people will repel it as it deserves to be repelled. ”

“ Has not the taking dishonest advantage of political power and influence for the acquisition of wealth become a thing which is judged by a great many with alarming leniency? When the offices of the Government are looked upon as spoils to be enjoyed, instead of duties to be performed, is it a wonder if in certain quarters the atrocious notion has gained currency, that he is a fool who in a political position is not knave enough to steal? Is it a wonder that under the spoils system the pursuit of politics should be looked upon as a trade of somewhat tainted character ”

“ Say not, sir, that I lack faith in the efficiency of republican institutions. No, I do not; for here I witness that efficiency with high appreciation. But, on the other hand, I trust we have lived too long and seen too much to believe that the mere absence of a king is sufficient to make a true republic, and that you have only to place the ballot in the hands of a multitude to make them citizens fit to sustain the fabric of self-government. Yes, sir, we have seen too much in our lives to indulge in such delusions, and the experiences which prove the contrary are crowding too densely around us. ”

“ I am convinced the inflation cry will be one of the most short-lived cries this country ever heard; and I am not much mistaken when I say that those who advocate inflation in this body must make hot haste to commit the Senate to that iniquitous doctrine, or the last semblance of popular support will drop away before the decision is reached. No, sir, it is not the people, it is the speculators and their deluded victims, who are continually dinning the cry of inflation into our ears, and so it will become manifest to every one who has eyes to see and ears to hear. ”

“ And, after all, is Congress powerless? Is the constitutional authority which was put in our hands by the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to provide for their enforcement by appropriate legislation — is that nothing? Do we doubt our power, or is there any reason to doubt our willingness to promptly pass all the laws necessary for that purpose? Is not the power of the national Government, wielded by a President such as we have, amply sufficient and strong enough to execute the laws with vigor and decision? ”

“ And here I do not hesitate to express my profoundest conviction: incorporate the tropics, with their population, with their natural influences, in our political system, and you introduce a poison into it which may become fatal to the very life of this Republic.
What, then, is the true American policy? It seems to me clear. Let the American people devote their great energies to the vast domain we possess, to that magnificent field of labor and of enterprise where the genius of our race, as I said before, is fed by the very atmosphere. Do we feel cramped in our domain? ”

“ In his cradle every American has learned to repeat by heart the grand old watchword, “Vigilance is the price of liberty.” Have the people so utterly forgotten it? But if the people had forgotten it, we as the guardians of the rights and liberties of the people, have no right to forget it. In view of a flagrant infraction of the Constitution of the Republic, of a usurpation of power, we have no right to be lulled by the confidence game. ”

“ If you really think that the peace and order of society in this country can no longer be maintained through the self-government of the people under the Constitution and the impartial enforcement of Constitutional laws; if you really think that this old machinery of free government can no longer be trusted with its most important functions, and that such transgressions on the part of those in power as now pass before us are right and necessary for the public welfare, then, gentlemen, admit that this Government of the people, for the people and by the people is a miscarriage. ”

“ There was a time, sir, when the American people were permitted to indulge in the exuberant dreams of youth, laughing away all suggestions of danger and delighting in those eagle flights of fancy, which showed to them nothing but continents and seas to be conquered, a world to be ruled, an infinite, incomprehensible destiny to be fulfilled. The American people have by this time outgrown their boyhood. ”

“ I ask you, Senators, has not the power of the Executive, through the immense patronage at his disposal, become alarmingly great already? Is it not to a fearful extent already encroaching on the independence of the Legislature of this Republic, and exercising a most dangerous influence upon the morality of our public life? Permit the Executive, in addition, to arrogate to itself the war-making authority, and you create a one-man power in the new world stronger and more dangerous in some respects than you find it in some of the constitutional monarchies of the old. ”

“ You are indulging in a dangerous, I might say a childish, delusion if you think that you have any power to prevent new issues from flowing exactly the same way the old issues have gone. Increase the volume of the stream, and you will make it flow only the faster, but not in a different direction. Quibble about it as you may, draw what fancy pictures you will, you cannot deny the stern fact which stares you in the face: an inflated irredeemable currency is not the people's money; it is the speculator's money. ”

“ You come here to Washington to witness the spectacle of the inauguration. You see the President standing in front of the Capitol, and before him an immense multitude, and you behold that grand and simple scene in which the President lays before the people of the United States those principles and views of policy which are to guide him in the administration of public affairs — a scene grand, simple and in imposing harmony with the nature of our institutions. ”

“ Have they considered what authority a State government is likely to wield the legality of whose power is rightfully denied by its enemies, and most seriously doubted, nay, more than doubted, even by its friends? Have they considered what it means to put into the hands of those who to-day are still under the ban of public opinion as rebels the formidable weapon of a cause which by ninety-nine hundredths of the American people will be admitted to be the cause of just constitutional principles? ”

“ But, sir, as the people of the North and of the South must live together as one people, and as they must be bound together by the bonds of a common National feeling, I ask you, will it not be well for us so to act, that the history of our great civil conflict, which cannot be forgotten, can neither be remembered by Southern men without finding in its closing chapter this irresistible assurance: that we, their conquerors, meant to be, and were, after all, not their enemies, but their friends? ”

“ I do not, indeed, indulge in the delusion that this act alone will remedy all the evils which we now deplore. No, it will not; but it will be a powerful appeal to the very best instincts and impulses of human nature; it will, like a warm ray of sunshine in springtime, quicken and call to light the germs of good intention wherever they exist; it will give new courage, confidence and inspiration to the well-disposed; it will weaken the power of the mischievous, by stripping of their pretexts and exposing in their nakedness the wicked designs they still may cherish ”