LETTER FROM MR. FRANCIS PARKMAN.
Hon. Charles R. Codman.
My Dear Sir,—I regret that the state of my health
will prevent my attendance at the dinner to Mr. Schurz;
and doubly regret it because his high distinction has been
earned, not by arts of political management, but by the
knowledge and practice of good government.
He has been beset with many difficulties. One of the questions with which he has had to deal is complicated to the last degree and full of perplexing alternatives, partly through inherent causes, and partly through the faults of the past. The nation has had much to answer for in its relations with the Indians, and it is a matter of hearty congratulation that some signs of compunction begin at last to appear. Perhaps it is natural for us, under the circumstances, to try to find a scapegoat; but it is hardly fair to choose our best citizens to bear the burden of our iniquities. Justice should be just on both sides. High character and eminent services have their rights; and among them is the right of not being pelted with hard names without convincing proof that they are deserved. We are much too good-natured toward those who deserve ill of the country, and we have fallen into a bad way of condoning vices, both public and private. It will be worse for us still if we learn to ignore the virtues and talents of public men, and suffer the noblest record to pass for nothing. To do so is not only a wrong to one man, but an injury to society itself.
Yours very truly,
