The Writings of Carl Schurz/To John B. Henderson, July 5th, 1884
TO JOHN B. HENDERSON
Yesterday I received your kind letter of the 1st inst. I shall, of course, always be glad to meet you as a friend and to talk with you about whatever it may be, including the present campaign. You will, therefore, be very welcome when you come here. But in justice to you as well as to myself, I cannot have you under the impression as if there were any prospect of a change of attitude on my part with regard to Mr. Blaine's candidacy. Let me assure you, it is not a pleasant thing to me to embark in a movement of opposition to my party. I know too well what that implies, and I should not do it without necessity.
I cannot look upon Mr. Blaine as a mere jolly Prince Hal who has lived through his years of indiscretion and of whom the Presidency will certainly make a new man. Neither do I think that, even if something like such a change were possible, it would much lessen the evil effect which the mere fact of his election would inevitably produce.
A campaign like this is extremely distasteful to me. Some things yet unpublished have come to my knowledge which strongly confirm my opinion of Mr. Blaine. But the public record to which, in discussing his career and qualifications, I am disposed to confine myself, is bad enough—quite sufficiently so to determine my position.
I wish the whole thing were over and you and I could stand in the same line again.