Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/431

Rh bondholder approaches a Northern doughface in this wise: “Sir, I offer you a million dollars in Confederate bonds at one cent on the dollar, the payment to be made by you ten days after the assumption of the Confederate debt by the United States. Now, sir, I offer you this as a fair business transaction, and not as a bribe.” Suppose this offer be made, is it not probable that a good many of those who are willing to sell their souls for a post-office will take it and vote for the assumption of the Confederate debt? To refuse anything to a Southern man is already a task of tremendous difficulty to a Northern doughface; but to refuse that something with a million dollars attached to it, would not that appear to most of our Johnson men an unjustifiable act of vindictiveness, calculated to alienate the hardly reconciled feelings of our erring, but now so sweetly repentant brethren?

It is true a Northern representative, after having voted for such a measure, would never again be able to confront his constituents; but what of that? With a million or so in his pocket, a Northern doughface who never could stand up against the frown of his Southern masters, will feel quite independent in the face of the contempt of his countrymen. He is accustomed to it anyhow, and the money will sweeten the sensation. Here is a premonitory symptom of what is to come; no sooner had the news of the Philadelphia Johnson Convention reached the Stock Exchange of London than there was an immediate rise in Confederate bonds. Who is stupid enough not to understand this? And what would be the consequence of assumption? Every augmentation of our National debt will proportionately diminish the value of our securities. The assumption of the rebel debt will be equivalent to the repudiation of at least half of our National obligations; our National creditors will be robbed of their just dues; our National faith will be broken; and the Republic