Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/54

44 the lowest child of the people from having a will and convictions of his own, and from expressing them freely. Every one is the sovereign master of his own self. And yet how many are there who immolate their consciences, their convictions, all their moral independence, on the altar of a savage idol, whose name is “Party!” [Great cheers.] How many submit to a thraldom, which is the more shameful as it is unsupported by force, and rests only on the slavish propensities of its devotee! [Applause.]

Is it not so? Are not the real feelings of the masses trampled upon with impunity, and public opinion treated with contempt? Are not the most atrocious constitutional doctrines imposed upon the people with as much arbitrariness as that with which the despots of the old world impose ukases on their subjects? And yet the rank and file of “the party” stifle the warning voice of conscience, and obey, obey, obey! [Loud applause.] Do not call that rebellion, which recently broke out in the camp, an indication of moral independence. What is it, but that one pretender rises against another, each eager to wield the rod of command alone? What is it, but that, as in the play of Capuletti and Montechi, the house of Douglas rises against the house of Buchanan, the white rose fights the red, an antipope fighting against the pope, but both trying to rule their clients and followers with the same rule, and to whip them in with the same whip? Who is the greater despot of the two? Does not Douglas, on the one side, dictate principles in the same absolute way that Buchanan does on the other? It is nothing but double-headed despotism. [Loud cheers.] Those who were sincerely fighting for principle will have to leave the party. The South will soon declare her sovereign pleasure, the greedy courtiers will crowd the antechamber of the victor, and order will reign in Warsaw. [Applause.]

Such is the party which has stood so long at the helm