CARL SCHURZ'S POLITICAL CAREER
tentions gave him his greatest pleasures, for they were indeed
demonstrations of “the esteem of those whose respect is worth
something”: they marked his success and enlarged the audience
willing to hear “what I honestly believe to be true and
what I can reasonably prove to be true.” Here he spoke with
frankness of the Hayes administration and also formally
renewed his confession of faith as an Independent. “Our
National Government has, I think, succeeded in proving once
more the falsity of the old assertion, that corruption is an
inevitable concomitant of democratic institutions. Whatever
mistakes may have been made by the late administration,—and
I frankly admit that they were not a few,—it is generally
conceded that it has demonstrated the possibility of honest,
business-like, and morally-respectable government in this republic;
and the new administration, I have no doubt, means to do no
less, but will endeavor to do more.”
He described the opportunity of the Independent in these words: “At this moment the two political parties are pretty evenly balanced. In quiet times like ours, that is, on the whole, a healthy condition. It reminds both parties that neither of them can venture upon mischief without seriously impairing its prospects for the future. Between them stands an element which is not controlled by the discipline of party organization, but acts upon its own judgment for the public interest. It is the Independent element; which, in its best sense and shape, may be defined as consisting of men who consider it more important that the government be well administered than that this or that set of men administer it. This Independent element is not very popular with party politicians in ordinary times; but it is very much in requisition when the day of voting comes. It can render inestimable service to the cause of good government by wielding the balance of power it holds with justice
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