Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 2.djvu/306

286 the minds of thousands of men. I have a simple answer to it. If a combination of the good, honest, law-abiding and progressive men of both parties can give peace, order, security and good government to these States; if it can close our useless and distracting struggles about the results of the war; if it can overcome the spirit which sows distrust and mischief; if it can allay old animosities and revive fraternal feeling in the whole country; if it can serve the great cause of local self-government and sound Constitutional principles—then I solemnly declare, I do not care how it will affect the chances and interests of any of the existing parties; it will be utterly indifferent to me whose political fortunes it may advance. And I am sure it can do all these things; and it is furthermore my deliberate conviction, that in no other way these great objects can be so efficiently promoted. I have frequently expressed the opinion that neither the Democratic nor the Republican party, as they now stand in most of the Southern States, can give them peace and good order, and restore that confidence, inside of these States and outside, which your interests so imperatively demand. The Democratic party can not, because it is, in too great a measure, influenced by the reactionary and violent element of society; and the Republican party can not, because, having been in too many of the Southern States, under the lead of unscrupulous and rapacious men, it has too many sins to answer for and too many resentments to encounter, and can not command sufficient moral power; but a combination of the good and well-intentioned men can, and the time has at last arrived when selfish party spirit should no longer be permitted to stand in the way of the great interests of the people. Never were circumstances more urgent than after a great civil war and social revolution, when the sudden transition from one order of things to another has unsettled so many