Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/381

Rh I defy you to show me in the English dictionary a term of opprobrium which has not, by your Democratic speakers, been most lavishly applied to the Government of this Republic! let your imagination invent a calumny, or an insult, that has not been thrown in the face of the President of the United States! And now, while saying with impunity all they do say, they complain that they cannot say what they please? [Bursts of laughter and cheering.] Again, do you read Democratic newspapers? tell me, are not, day after day, the President and all the members of the Government denounced and vilified as the meanest and most execrable villains in all Christendom? And now, while writing what they do write every day with impunity, they insist upon complaining that they cannot write what they please? [Repeated laughter and cheers.]

I invite to judge the character of these vile accusations from another and higher stand-point. Look into the annals of the world; scrutinize the history of every revolutionary movement from the first beginning of political organizations down to the present day and then show me one in the course of which a government was assailed so fiercely, was calumniated so savagely, was hampered and impeded in its action so unscrupulously, and in which the rights and liberties of the citizen were held so sacred? [Great applause.] I do not say this as if such a comparison could absolutely justify everything that has been done by the Administration; for, the question presenting itself purely and simply, I would not hesitate to declare my opposition to every encroachment upon civil rights and liberties that is not commanded by the most imperative necessity. But what I mean to say, is, that to the provocations springing from revolutionary circumstances, our Government has been yielding in a far less degree than any government history tells us of, and that the offences committed, however censurable in themselves, appear small when com-