Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/394

384 triumphant assurance to the American Republic, which had undertaken the solution of the great problem, and had, at least, lasted its seventy years. But the answer was ready: “You will see! The aristocracy of the slaveholding South, governed by the ambitious instincts common to all aristocracies, will one day make a bold stroke for the permanent possession of supreme power in the Republic; the Republic will be involved in a fierce conflict of antagonistic elements; the democratic society of the North will either not have strength enough to resist the attempt of the Southern aristocracy, and the whole character of their government and institutions will thus be changed, or, in endeavoring to resist it, the democratic North will soon be distracted by conflicting counsel, and the government will sink in helpless impotency in the confused struggle of restless and uncontrollable factions.” Such was the prophecy. Americans, one part of it has become true. Shall the other become true also? [“No, no!”] Shall it be written in the history of the world, that, while there was power of cohesion in the slaveholding aristocracy of the South, the democratic society of the North, distracted by the treacherous schemes of unscrupulous demagogues, unable to unite upon a common plan of action, disarmed itself in the struggle for national existence? Shall it be written: the Northern people were so demoralized by the effects of democratic life, that, when neither the resources of the country nor the fortunes of war failed them, they basely abandoned themselves, and that thus the great problem of democratic government on a grand scale was doomed to the everlasting stigma of failure? [Cries of “No! no!”]

Democrats, look over the old world. As far as mankind walks in the light of modern civilization, as far as the tidings of our great struggle have penetrated palace and cottage, there is not a single friend of despotism who