Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/503

Rh but a retreating cause; and let us not forget that while a strong, aggressive movement commands esteem and acquiescence, a halting, retreating one invites contempt and attack.

The spoilsmen see more. They understand perfectly who those are whom you dismiss as “impracticable friends” and men of “misguided zeal.” They remember well that this is the same taunt those men had to hear from the Republican side, when they threw their political fortunes to the winds, repudiated Blaine, turned their backs upon their party and supported you who promised to be the champion of their common principles. And the spoilsmen eagerly believe that the spirit which inspires that taunt now, cannot be very different from that which inspired it on the other side two years ago. In this new departure they will see a fresh incitement to redouble their energies. Is there any hope that the power of resistance will grow in proportion to the increased vigor of the assault?

Nothing can be more certain than this. You cannot sacrifice the reform cause to your party without at the same time sacrificing your party to the worst element in it. This surely you do not mean to do. But I warned you more than once that your principal danger was to sit down between two chairs. I am afraid you are virtually there now. Only a heroic policy can extricate you from that situation. But it must be adopted soon, for it grows more difficult every day; the time is not far off when even the most heroic policy may no longer suffice to save your party, although it may be all the more necessary to save your honor.

Do not believe that I fail to appreciate the many good things you have done. Nobody values them more highly. Nobody rejoiced more than I at the enthusiastic reception you had at Cambridge a few weeks ago, and nobody can