II
THE LIBERAL REPUBLICAN
IN the national Liberal Republican movement of 1872 Mr. Schurz was from the outset the leading spirit. His non-partisan success in Missouri, his brilliant achievements in the Senate, and both the moral tone and the intellectual quality of his appeals to public opinion, whether as journalist or as popular orator, had won him the applause of thinking men in all parts of the country; while tens of thousands of the best German-Americans had long regarded him with pride and welcomed his friendly political counsel.
During the recess of Congress in the summer and autumn of 1871, he varied the quiet course of his editorial occupation in St. Louis with political addresses, notably at Chicago early in August and at Nashville late in September. The spirit and purpose underlying these speeches are best expressed in a long, confidential letter to Sumner, of September 30th:
“Grant and his faction carry at present everything before them by force majeure. The organization of the Republican party is almost entirely in the hands of the office-holders and ruled by selfish interest. In all you say about Grant, you are unquestionably right. You ask me, what can be done to avert the calamity of another four years of such rule? I answer, we must act with energy. I am fully determined not to sit still. I doubt now whether we can prevent his nomination. The men who surround him stop at nothing. But I shall not support him. Neither shall I support the Democrats. Far
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