Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/59

Rh eyes, ten times more damnable if he pretends to be a Republican. [Loud applause.] Although you may not be perfect, yet you will show by your acts that you are honestly endeavoring to do your best, while, on the other side, corruption stalks abroad with the disgusting impudence of a prostitute who delights in exhibiting her vices naked to the world. I repeat it, and I cannot impress it upon your minds too strongly, or too solemnly: our liberties and the honor and prestige of this Republic cannot be preserved, unless you raise the standard of political morals, and this is the way to do it. In the place of every hypocrite unmasked, of every rascal struck down by your hands, ten honest men will flock to your banner. [Loud applause.]

This is the policy which our principles demand. If we follow it sincerely and faithfully, then the light of truth will soon pierce even the thickest darkness of Egypt. [Cheers.] The revolution has begun, and I greet its first symptoms with heartfelt satisfaction; whether it will have an unimpeded progress depends in a large measure upon those who, by these first upheavings of the popular spirit, have been carried into responsible positions.

Let me entreat our R epublican legislators elect, never to forget that they have not been elected by a strict party vote; that they are, indeed, expected to stand true to their party, but only so long as the party is true to the cause of liberty and honesty. [Loud applause.] Let them never forget that the trust imposed upon them is of unusual importance; upon their shoulders rest the destinies of a State, whose reputation is tainted by venal legislatures and administrations, and whose credit is ruined by legislative blunders. Let them never forget that in a society organized like ours, stability of legislation is the principal safeguard of public credit, [Cheers.]