Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/49

Rh program of foreign policy. He took a few steps in that direction. But hardly had the Cabinet been formed and the other offices filled, before the corruption of the old parties involved him in a lot of petty yet exhausting fights, which a character like Jackson would have crushed with prompt energy, but with which the weak Pierce was wholly unable to cope. He saw no other course than to seek refuge in the Nebraska bill, which was the product of the unscrupulous ambition of Douglas; and immediately the entire attention of the nation was diverted from foreign politics and concentrated upon the slavery question. Accordingly the Administration lost its natural program and was at the mercy of all the evil influences which the compromise of 1850 has cast about all the political parties. The Nebraska bill burst the moral bonds, and the struggle started again from the beginning. Minds became agitated and responsive to these influences. This condition of public sentiment was utilized by the native Americans for the purpose of advancing their political interests. This essentially weak, nativistic faction joined the majority which has its strongest basis in the Nebraska question. Thus the Know-Nothings suddenly attained enormous influence, which was all the more powerful because of the fact that they conceal their true power beneath the veil of a secret society. While the anti-Nebraska movement has carried away the entire North, and the admixture of the nativistic spirit is perceptible in all these victories, and is clouding the triumph of freedom, the slavery question and the foreign elements are the two points of view from which all political matters are regarded at present—and herein lies the confusion of the situation. What is favorable to the rights of the foreigners, is unfavorable to slavery; and yet, not only are the rights of slavery to be limited, but the influence of the foreigners is to be destroyed as well. That is the problem through which