Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/379

Rh past events so short that you could believe it? You certainly remember the time, in the first year of the war, when emancipation and negro-arming were not spoken of; nay, when the slaveholder was scrupulously, although very unwisely, protected in the possession of his property. You certainly remember it. If emancipation and negro-arming are the only obstacle in the way of reunion, why, then, did the rebels not come back while emancipation and negro-arming were not spoken of? Can you tell? And that was the time when the rebels dealt us the heaviest blows. You remember the time when the rebellion broke out; Mr. Lincoln could not yet have irritated the rebels with his emancipation policy, for Mr. Buchanan was still President, and he certainly did not think of emancipating and arming the negroes. [Laughter.] If, then, emancipation and negro-arming are the only obstacles in the way of reunion, why did not the rebels return then, or rather, why did they go off at all? Can you tell? And it was just then that they committed the first acts of hostility by taking our forts and arsenals; it was then that they swore, with such terrible emphasis, they would never come back under any circumstances. And still your leaders accuse us of having shut and looked the gates of peace and reconciliation? Will any one of them answer the question: Why, if the emancipation policy of the Government was the only obstacle to reconciliation, why did not the rebels lay down their arms at the time when they might have had peace without emancipation and negro-arming? And still your leaders persist in asserting that the emancipation policy was the only thing that prevented peace? They may be impudent enough to assert it, but can you be foolish enough to believe it? Will you permit them to reckon with impunity upon your being as ignorant and stupid as they are impudent? [Great applause.]

I might now close this review of the arguments by which