Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 2.djvu/293

Rh the peace and honor of the people, and the general decay of Constitutional notions, do not constitute, in their inevitable consequences, as great a danger, and perhaps even greater, than any now within sight. And when I am tauntingly reminded by pliable partisans that the people do not care much about these Constitutional questions, I answer that, if there are many who do not care about the integrity of their republican institutions, this constitutes only a stronger reason why those who do care should make themselves heard, and act with determination. I am frequently told that declarations like those I have made are apt to prove ruinous to a public man. Be it so, I take the risk, for I am in earnest, and I am sure the day will come when many of those who now shrug their shoulders at my protests and predictions will, to their sorrow, admit that I was right, unless this tendency be speedily arrested.

But this is not all. You will tell me that the usurpations of the Executive do not constitute the only danger in this direction; that local self-government is exposed to grievous encroachments, and that you want your rights. And I tell you there are many millions of men at the North who respond that you shall have your rights—all the rights which they possess, and are determined to claim and maintain. Their rights shall be yours, as yours shall be theirs. Let us understand one another.

It is certainly true that local self-government has been invaded by measures adopted by the General Government, but I do not admit, what has frequently been asserted on the Democratic side, that a fatal blow at local self-government was struck by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution. On the contrary, I assert that, under the Constitution as amended, local self-government can be maintained, and can develop all its blessings more successfully even than ever before. I have