Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 2.djvu/315

Rh and, secondly, republican government being essentially a government of public opinion, carried on through the instrumentality of parties, in its general and also its local operations, the opinion even of those who succumbed in the civil conflict is as much as possible to be reconciled to those results, so as to permit their peaceable and successful working. The first of these two tasks can, of course, only be performed by the party which was victorious in the conflict, for it is the only one whose views and purposes are sufficiently identified with its results. This must be evident to every fair-minded man. But the second task, which is essentially one of reconciliation, and whose main object is gradually to put in the place of reactionary desires a disposition to accept without reserve, and to develop in good faith the new order of things, requires the employment of moral influences, which possibly both the existing parties, as they issue from the struggle, may not have at their command. The defeated party, which, in the great conflict, struggled against the changes which ensued, can not perform that task, as long as it has not made the people forget its past career and purposes by so completely and unequivocally identifying itself with the new order of things that its success and advent to power would not in the least excite or encourage any reactionary tendency; or, in other words, unless the task were already virtually accomplished. The victorious party will be fitted better for it in so far as the maintenance of the new order of things already forms part of its policy; but it will not succeed unless, by a policy that is just, generous and unselfish as well as firm, it contrives to disarm the prejudices and gain the confidence of its defeated opponent; to divert their minds from the memory of that which they have lost by demonstrating and developing the advantages of what has been gained; to engage their attention in the promotion of common