Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/549

Rh proposed by the very men who openly declared their hostility to the removal of political disabilities; and when thus the maneuvers of the spoilsmen and proscriptionists had resulted in a decided triumph, then it was clear to us that, as good citizens and faithful Republicans, we could no longer sit in that convention, and that it was our solemn duty to take our own honor and that of the Republican party into our own hands; there was no other remedy left; for, as Lieutenant Governor Stanard, who after an ineffectual attempt of his friends for reconciliation, turned away from the rump-convention and came over to us, said with indignant emphasis: “We have worked with a determination to create harmony, but we have failed; there was a party of men who had such a greed for office, such a determination to have the spoils, that they would not listen to reason.”

Missourians: Having faithfully discharged our duty, we confidently submit our conduct to the intelligent and patriotic judgment of the people. We are well aware that our purposes will be unscrupulously misrepresented. We are already denounced as enemies of the Republican Party. There is our platform; scrutinize it. Is there one iota of the great principles the Republican Party fought for given up? Is there a single one of the great results of the war compromised in the least? Not one. But we do insist that the great pledge of the Republican party to guarantee equal rights to all as soon as the public danger is past must be kept sacred. We do insist upon the honest performance of our whole duty, while the proscriptionists recoil from that part of it, the discharge of which may not redound to their personal benefit. Weigh the difference and you will find that we are the consistent advocates of the true Republican faith, and not they.

Look at our candidates. Is there a single one whose past conduct is not identified with the great achievements of which the Republican party is so justly proud? But,