The Writings of Carl Schurz/From Henry Cabot Lodge, July 14th, 1884

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FROM HENRY CABOT LODGE

East Point, Nahant, July 14, 1884.

Dear Mr. Schurz: I received your kind letter this evening. It touched and gratified me very deeply as a mark of interest which you would not have shown unless you had felt a most sincere friendship for me. I am very much indebted to you for it and I appreciate it very highly. It is too late for me to alter my course even if I wished to. By the time you receive this I shall have spoken at the meeting to be held to-morrow evening. I did not conclude on this course without a great deal of very painful reflection. I regard my action as the only honorable one to take. If I had announced to the Massachusetts Convention that if Mr. Blaine were nominated I should bolt him they never would have sent me to Chicago. I took the position with my eyes open. The understanding was clear and binding even if tacit. I made up my mind that if Blaine were nominated I should have to abide by the result and not bolt. Mr. Curtis on the floor of the Convention declared that we, the Edmunds men, came there in good faith. I assented to that statement and to it I can give but one interpretation. Again no protest was made on the floor of the Convention and the nomination was made unanimous without objection. Under these circumstances for me to bolt or do anything like it especially as I went to Chicago as the head of the Republican organization in this State, seems to me simply dishonorable. I may be wrong but I am firmly convinced on this point. I shall speak at the meeting to-morrow, announce my formal adhesion to the ticket and make a short party speech. Next week I shall resign the chairmanship of the committee. I am not likely to please anybody in this business. The Blaine Republicans will think me lukewarm and are as likely as not to defeat my nomination for Congress. If that nomination comes to me (and I shall not lift a finger to get it), as I feel now I shall accept it. I do not look on that matter as you do. I should announce my own principles and run on my own feet. I should be entirely free and my own master. Colonel Lyman ran on the Butler ticket, was elected by Butler votes and by a combination with the Butler party. Every Independent in the State applauded the result. Why should it be so suddenly wicked in me to run on the Blaine ticket after freely declaring my own independent views? If every man who votes the Republican ticket is to be branded, the Independent movement will die of narrowness and prejudice.

Moreover, I have fought the Democracy in this State during the past year and I have a very bad opinion of it. Despite the nomination of Blaine I firmly believe that to the masses of the Republican party we must look for progress and reform in public affairs.

Besides considering this subject deeply myself I have consulted some men in whom I have confidence and they advise me to adopt my present course. This is the advice of John and Charles Adams and of Roosevelt. Roosevelt not only advises it but means to return and vote for Blaine himself and has offered to speak in my district. I speak of running for Congress only as it looks to me now. Matters may of course change. One thing in your letter and only one surprised and pained me. That was your intimation that my friends would leave me and my position be affected. If social ostracism is to be attempted in this business, I confess a feeling of revolt would master me completely. My people have lived here for generations. I have been born and brought up here. I never have done a mean, dishonorable or cowardly thing in my life, so far as I know. I have never injured a man or wronged a woman. If I am to be banned because I vote according to what I believe conscientiously to be the dictates of honor, then have the old anti-slavery days indeed come again and I will fight against such treatment with all my strength. But I have no fear of this. Except for a few extremists and a few envious men, the community which has known me all my days will do me justice in the end. Moreover, in my district here there are scores of men who have stood by me and followed me and worked for me and they beg me now to stand by them. There is an obligation here which I cannot overlook although it would not be of itself decisive, perhaps.

I am fully aware that I shall at this time be accused of the worst motives but I must make the best of it. If I cannot answer and remove it by my life and acts then I am much mistaken. On mere grounds of expediency it seems to me that no party was ever founded on opposition to a single man or ever will be. Whatever the result of the election the parties will remain. By staying in the party I can be of some use. By going out I destroy all the influence and power for good I may possess. I have written you at great length, my dear Mr. Schurz, and with entire frankness and of course in the most absolute confidence. I wished you to know just why I act as I do. I want you to realize that however mistaken I may be I act from a sense of duty and from a conviction that I have a debt of honor which I must pay no matter how disagreeable and distasteful it is. Believe me that I am sincerely grateful for your letter and your kind interest. I shall never forget either and am, most truly yours,

H. C. Lodge.