Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 6.djvu/332

308 connection with the Presidential office. When a man speaks of something “binding his conscience,” it should mean something. 



&emsp; You misapprehend me if you think that I would rather “bear the ills we have” than accept Gray. The question with me is not as between Gray and the present incumbent, but between Gray and a better Democrat for the nomination—of course not Bryan nor Gorman.

I am sorry to conclude from your letter that you have had losses from the floods in the West. But those who have much can lose much without suffering. I have given up troubling myself about money so long as I have enough for my daily needs, which are modest. I have found this to be the true philosophy of life.

&emsp; The report on Philippine affairs written by Mr. Doherty is the most instructive and important paper on that subject I have ever read. Mr. Doherty is evidently a keen observer and what he says bears the mark of candor and conscientiousness. The views he opens of the manner in which the Filipinos are treated by the constabulary are startling in the highest degree. As you are aware, I am a Forty-eighter. When I look back upon the things which drove us into revolution in Germany at that period, I can only say that they were as nothing compared with the police-despotism to which the Filipinos are subjected under our flag.

The observations of Mr. Doherty on the administration of justice, on the character of the American population