Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Three).djvu/365

 well deplore the violent excitement by which many good citizens permitted themselves to be taken off their feet, and the dangerous proceedings which would have fitted a volcanic South American republic rather than ours; but in justice to the persons concerned we should not forget that immediately after so tremendous a civil conflict, and while the dearly bought results of that conflict were still trembling in the balance, being threatened by the conduct of the chief executive officer of the government, the political situation was a decidedly abnormal one, well apt to cause exaggerated apprehensions as to dangers calling for extraordinary measures of precaution. All the more praiseworthy was the attitude of the Republican Senators who under such circumstances preserved their equipoise and, at the evident risk of their whole political future, faithfully maintained their convictions of right and justice against partisan pressure of rare fierceness. At the same time it must not be forgotten that many of those who approved of the impeachment of President Johnson and who found him guilty, did so, not from mere obedience to popular clamor, but also from a sincere conviction of duty as to the necessities of the peculiar situation.

Not long after my return to St. Louis the Republican State Convention was held for the purpose of selecting delegates for the Republican National Convention which was to meet at Chicago on the 20th of May. I was appointed one of the delegates at large, and at its first meeting the Missouri delegation elected me its chairman. At Chicago, a surprise awaited me which is usually reckoned by men engaged in politics as an agreeable one. The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mr. Marcus L. Ward, informed me that his committee had chosen me to serve as the temporary chairman of the Republican National Convention. It was an entirely unexpected honor, which I accepted with due