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tion wherever they exist; it will give new courage, confidence and inspiration to the well-disposed; it will weaken the power of the mischievous, by stripping of their pretext, and exposing in their nakedness, the wicked designs they still may cherish; it will light anew the beneficent glow of fraternal feeling and of national spirit; for, sir, your good sense, as well as your heart, must tell you that when this is truly a people of citizens equal in their political rights, it will then be easier to make it also a people of brothers.” [Great applause.]
These were noble words, creditable alike to the head and the heart of the Senator, when they were uttered, and truly prophetic in the light of recent events, which have proved to a doubting world that the Northern man and the Southern man are one under the flag of the Union, [great applause,] and can never be whipped except by one another. [Applause.]
Being in advance of the public opinion of his day, it was natural that Mr. Schurz should be severely criticized. Changing his party affiliations as he did, it was inevitable that he should be roundly abused. Had he lived in the palmy days of Greece, I think he would have been called a high-minded statesman. Living as he did in a transition stage of American politics, he was called a “Mugwump,” [laughter and applause,] a name given in derision but worn in honor; a name applied to a class of men, many of whom, at least, are both high-minded and independent; a class of men who will yet have many a glorious opportunity to serve their country by throwing their votes into the wavering balance according to the dictates of patriotism, giving the victory to that one of the contending parties whose principles
