Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 3.djvu/427

Rh open only when you have a good hold on the confidence of the Southern people. 



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I should have answered your last very kind letter long before this, had I not been kept at the bedside of my old mother who last week died at my house after an illness of a fortnight. The last twelve months have been full of mourning to me and mine.

I must confess that I feel somewhat alarmed by certain indications of probable Cabinet appointments. Read the enclosed slip. Would not the appointment of either of the three men last mentioned be a staggering blow to the cause of reform? Would Governor Hayes, who means to adopt a liberal Southern policy, be able to gain the confidence of those Southern men who are now willing to join him, with such elements in his Cabinet? There seems to be real danger in this respect, and I wish to suggest to you that you make a direct effort, as I have done, to prevent a false start, which may at once deprive the new Administration of that popular confidence so needful to it after all that has happened. Governor Hayes certainly means well, but I fear the possibility of