Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/144

120 force bill the law of the land, whatever the consequences may be. Only its defeat can surely save us from this fate.

I cannot, without unduly taxing your patience, discuss here the flagrant failures of Mr. Harrison to redeem his solemn pledges with regard to the reform of the civil service. Our lamented friend, George William Curtis, passed just judgment upon that in his last address to the Civil Service Reform League, an address which no candid man can read without admiration and profit. And Mr. Curtis then knew nothing of the shameful use of official influence in packing the Minneapolis Convention with officeholders and the representatives of officeholders for the dispenser of patronage. Nor can I permit myself here to review President Harrison's conduct of our foreign affairs, a careful study of which has forced the conclusion upon me that in some of the most important cases, of which President Harrison seems inclined to speak with especial self-appreciation, the established principles of international law as well as the good traditions of our own diplomatic history were disregarded with—to call things by their right names—a demagogic recklessness compatible neither with the dignity nor with the safety of the Republic.

I have said enough to show that I cannot but consider it my duty as an American citizen, having the present and future welfare of the Republic at heart, to support Mr. Cleveland's candidacy in this contest and to advise my fellow-citizens to do the same. I know we are always, in a degree, taking chances when casting our ballots. We can only form our judgment conscientiously as to where the chances for the public welfare are best, and we must, above all things, be careful to subordinate things of less moment to those of a higher order of importance. Doing this, we shall, I trust, unite in the confident expectation that by the election of Mr. Cleveland to the Presidency of