Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/74

40 know and have taken no pains to ascertain. As for me, I am wavering whether I shall let the thing go on or cut it short by publicly declaring that I shall not be a candidate. Allow me to consider you my confidential friend, to tell you my thoughts and to ask your advice. To be governor of this State, honorable as the position may be, is really not the object of my ambition. My political standing is such that I can do without any official station. The thing has only one charm for me, and that is, that a success of this kind would give me a powerful influence over the German population of the Northern States, which would tell in 1860. Beyond this the governorship has little value for me personally.

Among the reasons which would induce me to decline a nomination, the first is, that Harvey of Rock [county] is likely to be a candidate before the convention. I owe him much; he brought me forward for lieutenant-governor last year, and he has always been a warm and consistent friend of mine. I should not like to stand in the way of his aspirations. Something is due to him, and I feel I ought not to destroy his chances. The second reason is, that I have not got the money for carrying on an electoral contest, especially a hard one as this will be; and the third is, that I cannot afford to suffer another defeat, either before a convention or before the people. This, however, I do not fear much, for I think I can carry the State more easily than most others, provided no side issues are brought up in the contest. At all events, a nomination carried by a bare majority would not do for me. If I cannot be nominated by a nearly unanimous vote, I would prefer to withdraw altogether. But then I have to do it at once, of my own free will, so that our opponents have no right to say that I was but yielding to outside pressure. I should not like to appear to be obliged to do it. Meanwhile some Democratic papers