Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1860-06-08
Speech Of Carl sohurs.

w c0neSOAy evening lASt. Lie elOQueuI UcT-
man orator, Carl Schurz made thrilling
speech, from which we make the following
extracts:
BY the Partially Of our delegation ! was
placed upon the committee on platforms and
committee was that the standard of Republi-
canism should not be lowered one single inch.
(Grcat applause.) We endeavored to lift the
creed of the party far above the level of mere
eFpositional party. The platform gives it a
positive character. The Republicans stand
before the country, not only as the anti-sla.
very party, but cmphatically, as the party of
free labor. cloud cheers.) While penning
up slave labor within the limits which the
legislation Of sovereign States has assigned to
it, we propose to plant free labor in the Ter
ritories by the Homestead bill, and to promote
free labor all over the land by the encourage
aent Of home industry. (Applause.) In
throwing its shield over the eternal principles
of human rights, the platform presents the
anti-slavery policy Of the party in its logical
connection with the great material interests
of the country "To man, his birthright;
to labor, freedom; to him that works, his
dues" That is the Republican platform
cloud and prolonged cheering.)
1t affords me special satisfaction to state
that the resolutions the passage of which was
recommended by the Republican State Con-
yention Of " !. ;;sScoS,i5ii-i mean those concern.
ing the Homestead bill and the rights of nat
uralizcd citizens, were successfully advocated,
and form part Of our national creed. Gap
plause.)
Our platform, adopted without opposition
and almost without discussion, adopted amidst
the most spontaneous and sublime outbursts
of enthusiasm human eyes ever witnessed, is
before the people. 1t is the boldest plain
est, the most liberal ever pres nted to the ma
ton by political party, and the enthusiastic
shouts of millions from Maine to the Rocky
Mountains have already sanctioned it with
their approval .(Checrs.)
Mr.. President, l had the honor to be
member of that committee who were to carry
to Mr.. Lincoln the official announcement Of
his nomination. The enthusiasm with which
we were received at Springfield was bound
less There We saw Mr. Lincoln's neighbors,
and it became at once apparent that those
who new him best, loved and esteemed him
most (Cheers.) And then saw Mr.. Lin
coin again; for had met him before in that
memorable Senatorial campaign in Illinois,
when he as man of true and profound con-
victions, although discountenanced and dis
couraged by many leading Republicans, who
thought it good policy to let Mr. Douglas re-
turn to the Senate without opposition, threw
himself forward for the imperilled purity Of
our principles, graspcd with bold hand the
Republican banner, which was in danger Of
sinking into the mire of compromise and un-
natural combinations, and held it up proudly
aloft in one Of the ficrcest struggles the coun-
try ever witnessed. (Great appause.)
L.. 80 1,n
he bearded the lion of dcmagogueism in his
den, when the brilliant sallies of his wit and
sarcasm drew shouts of delight from the null
ratified triumphantly against the brazen front
Of Stephen A. Douglas, applause y when the
lucid, unanswerable logic Of his arguments
inspired every patriotic heart with new con-
fidcnce in the Justice Of our cause, and when
under his powerful blows the large Democrat
ic majority of Illinois dwindled down to moth
ing. There l saw him do what perhaps no
other man in the nation would have DONE
Then learned to confide in the patriot and
the defender of profound convictions, to es-
teen the statesman, and to love the man.
(Great applausc.)
And now saw him again, surrounded by
the Committee of the National Convention,
who had como to lay into his hands the high
est honor and the greatest trust which a po-
litical party had to bestow, an honor he had
not thought of in his hard-fought battles
which he had not cravcd and had hardly been
sanguine enough to expect. There he stood,
silently listening to the address Of our chair
man, his eyes downcast, in his soul, perhaps,
a feeling of just pride struggling with the
overawing consciousness of responsibility.
Then he answered, thanking for the honors
bestowed upon him, and accepting the leader
ship in the great struggle, not with the eXul-
tant tone of one who has achieved personal
triumph, not with the pompous airs and arti-
fetal dignity of one who is conscious of stand
ing upon the great stage of the world, but
with that unaffected, modest simplicity of a
man, who is strong in the consciousness Of his
ability, and his honest intention to do right
(Applause.)
Many of those who now surrounded him
had voted for other candidates in the Convcn-
ton, and some, still laboring under a feeling
of personal disappointment, had come there,
not without some prejudice unfavorable to
Mr. Lincoln. But when they saw the man
who had worked his way from the hambest
station in life to his present eminence not by
fast speculations or adventurous efforts, not
on the wing Of good luck, but by quiet, steady
labor, answering fidelity to principle and
his private and public duties, by the vigor of
his genius and the energy Of his character--
the man who had won the confidence of the
people and was now lifted upon the shield of
great national party not by ingenious
combinations and adroit management, but by
the popular instinct-unfettered by promises,
unpledged by anybody and anything but the
people and the welfare of the country his
hands free to carry out the honest dictates of
his pure conscience, life behind him, not
only above reproach, but above suspicion, a
problem before him, for the solution of which
he was eminently fitted by the native virtues
of his character, the high abilities of his mind,
and a strong honest purpose, then they all
felt, that with this pure and patriotic states
man, all those good qualities would return to
the White House, which makes Republican
government what it ought to be--a govern
ment founded upon vir.uc. Enthusiastic
cEeers.) And an eastern delegate who voted
against him in the Convention, whispered TO