Page:Schurz Birthday 45.JPG

 imposed on hundreds and thousands of our public men, best in brain and heart, who, in former years, had been the counsellors and leaders of our people. So that, with an enlarged suffrage of ignorance on the one hand, and a restricted availability of intelligence on the other, the political and social conditions in the Southern States were fast becoming unendurable.

At this juncture of affairs, Mr. was one of those who dared to speak kindly and magnanimous words, at least, to the extent of removing the political disabilities of all our citizens. The first general amnesty declaration made by a national party after the war was that embodied in the platform of the Democrats in 1868, and my information is, that this provision was written by Mr. . [Applause.] [Here the Chairman's gavel fell, on expiration of ten minutes.] May I ask unanimous consent to proceed two minutes. [Cries of “yes.”]

In 1872, when a member of the United States Senate, he delivered a speech before that body in favor of general amnesty, which, for elegance of style, cogency of reasoning, keen insight into the motives and spring of human action, and persuasive appeal to the nobler sentiments of his hearers, stands out in marked contrast to much of the coarse and brutal haranguing of that period. I read this extract from that speech:

“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 spring time, quicken and call to light the germs of good