Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/302

268 of national affairs,” we may recall the fact that so far not one of his pledges has remained unfulfilled. Indeed, a man with just such a public record and just such qualities might be seen in the Presidential chair without alarm, whatever party name he may bear; for he need only follow his own example in order to adopt from any party what is good, and to reject, even coming from his own party, what is bad. He would be especially what the hour demands: The representative of courageous conscience in the administration of public affairs.

You will admit, therefore, my Republican friends, that if a change of party in power must come sometime, the present time is an exceedingly propitious one, considering the safety with which the inevitable transition can now be effected. You can scarcely hope to find a man more peculiarly adapted to the occasion.

But, let me repeat, even if it were not so, even if greater risks were to be taken and real perils to be feared, the duty of the hour would always remain the same. It is to defeat a candidate whose election to the Presidency would be a proclamation to all the world that a high sense of official honor is no longer required in the Government of the United States, and that the American people consider a man who has offered for prostitution his official power to make money as still worthy of the highest honors of the Republic, to be held up as a model for emulation to this and coming generations.

Republicans, I yield to none of you in pride of the spirit and the great achievements of the Republican party in the past. There are undoubtedly men before me who took an active part in the great Republican campaign of 1860. I know you will feel your pulse beat quicker when you remember the joyous glow with which the enthusiastic consciousness of a noble cause filled our hearts; with what eagerness we went into the conflict, having nothing to