Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/312

302 How magnificent a combination would be this: Horatio Seymour as Secretary of State and chief of the circumlocution office; Seymour, of Connecticut, as Secretary of the Navy; Vallandigham as Secretary of War; and Fernando Wood, in consideration of the peculiar lustre which his honesty sheds upon his talents, Secretary of the Treasury. [Peals of laughter.] And would such a combination, if bargain as a last refuge be resorted to, would it be more wonderful than the harmony of the Chicago Convention? Is not the support of all of them necessary?

No, no, I am not jesting. If the party be held together, and the Cabinet should be a complete Pandemonium, there would be nothing surprising in it. Such arrangements have been seen before, when things were working smoothly, and when there was no apparent conflict between platform and candidate. How, then, may it be now, when the necessities of the party are so pressing that they must resort to extreme remedies to save it? [Cheers.]

Meanwhile, you will see them walk from voter to voter and say, “Are you for war? So are we, my friend; here is our candidate!” or, “Are you for peace? So are we, my friend; here is our platform!” only in one thing treating all alike: in deceiving each other, and in deceiving all! For when they say, “We are for war,” may not the answer be, “You lie, for here is your platform!” Or, when they say, “We are for peace,” may not the answer be, “You lie, for here is your candidate!” [Cheers and applause.]

Americans, what a spectacle is this! How sad, how loathsome an exhibition! And it is in this way that a great nation is to decide of its future! In this gulf of deception and duplicity you would sink the fortunes of your country? From my inmost heart, from the very