Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/219

Rh I arraign him for having broken the plighted faith of the people by the repeal of the compromise of 1820.

I arraign him for having upheld the most atrocious violations of the ballot-box; for having trampled upon the most sacred rights of the people of Kansas, so long as the struggle between freedom and slavery was doubtful.

I arraign him for having committed a fraud upon the people by forging and adulterating the principle of popular sovereignty, and making it the machinery of slavery propagandism.

I arraign him for having deserted the cause of free Kansas, when the people, having complied with all reasonable conditions, applied for admission into the Union.

I arraign him for having repeatedly made the attempt to disturb the system of Constitutional checks and balances, by placing the war-making power in the hands of the President.

I arraign him for having attempted, by his conspiracy bill, a thing more outrageous than the sedition law of 1798, to put the liberties of speech and press at the mercy of a political inquisition, and to make judicial persecution for opinions' sake a permanent system of policy.

I arraign him, lastly, for having attempted to pass off upon the people a doctrine of political philosophy, which is an insult to the popular understanding. No, I beg your pardon, I do not arraign him for that, for this is a free country, where everybody has a right to make himself as ridiculous as be pleases, “subject only to the Constitution of the United States.” [Loud laughter.] And, yet, I arraign him for that also, for I protest that he has no right to make the Republic ridiculous with himself. [Applause.]

Here is the charge. It is for the people to give the verdict.

Gentlemen, will you have patience enough to listen to