Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Three).djvu/532

 to see Cleveland renominated, Schurz naturally recurred to the familiar device of a pre-convention demonstration by the Independents. His faith in the efficiency of this procedure was, however, less strong than it had once been; and after much deliberation the plan was abandoned. There were many informal discussions and much correspondence with influential Democrats and Independents. Ex-Secretary Whitney, who was looking after the Cleveland interests in New York, sought Schurz for consultation as early as February, 1892; and he carried in his pocket to the Chicago convention in June, an address and a sheaf of resolutions drafted by Schurz for use, in case of need, to commit various State delegations irrevocably to Cleveland. In a letter of July 8th, thanking Schurz for his aid, Whitney explained why the drafts were not used:

“One has to feel the atmosphere to know whether it is wise to do any certain thing. I had the address signed by the New Jersey delegation and ready to be passed by Connecticut, when we got Indiana, and I felt that we were then in danger of crowding the two little States too far into the front. The silent weight of the three was such that I was afraid of my prepared machinery—so with the resolutions, which I read to my colleagues and had ready to adopt in case we called our forces together. We did not dare to call them for fear we should count up less than two-thirds and give them a chance to howl. So I decided to let the current run and crowd them with the rush of our claims and the popular strength we were developing.

“It wasn't a fight at all. We hadn't to swear fealty to each other.

“It was a grand, mad, enthusiastic rush over the whole field. You never saw anything like it before.”

But the machine politicians of New York were not in