Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-10-09
Carl schurz to the Democracy.

nc IOllOWlnB IL Tue CLOSING appeal oil
Carl Schurz TO the Democracy in his great
Chicago speech
Democrats of the North, last appeal to
you. Not for ourselves will speak, but
to you | will say word for the poor
South, whose friends you profess to be.
Did you ever consider what your friend
ship has made of that unfortunate country 7
For more than generation you have ex-
cited and stimulated the worst pro.slavery
passions In the Southern people You,
children of the free North, could not love
slavery for its own sake; you could not
believe that so fragrant an abomination
could successfully resist the progressive
spirit OF the nineteenth century, and yet,
did you not encourage that insane resist.
ance--resistance to thelast---with your in.
sldious acCamations and promises of aid ?
Is II not true, that but for that artful en-
couragement the Southern people would
have recognized the impossibility of per-
petuaung slavery, and that, abandoning
their false hopes, they might have long
ago commenced, by a gradual and peace.
able reform, to accomplish that which has
now been accomplished by the terrors of
revolution and wary That the peaceable
and salutary course of reform was not
commenced in timo-you Northern Dem
ocrats are responsible for 1t. But more :
Brave rs the Southern people may be,
they would scarcely have dared to raise
their hands in rebellion against this Re
public had they not been assured that the
people of the North would not fight, or II
they did, that there would be Northern
people enough to rise in aid of that rebel
lion. You, Northern Democrats, caused
them to indulge in this fatal delusion; you
goaded them on to the path of rebellion,
blood and destruction. But still more.
In 1864, when the back of the rebellion
was already broken, and when speedy
submission might have spared us many
grievous sacrifices, you, Northern Demo
Gratis, then declared the war to be failure
on our. sidei you then encouraged the
Southern people to persevere, to hope, to
fight on. And thus the slaughter and de
| struction continued. But still more. At
last the rebellion was vanqulshed, and
the Southern people lay PROSTATE at the
feet OF the conquerof, exhausted, impoyer.
ished, lacerated, bleeding. So far your
friendship had brought them. There was
! but one way for them TO rise to new life,
peace, and prosperity. II was by giving
up all those old wild dreams of sectional
power; by abandoning all thought of the
possibility of reaction; by accepting
readily all the new order of things would
bring; by deyoting themselves without
looking back, to the reparation of their
losses; by avorting their eyes from the
past and turning them full upon the future,
And who will deny that after the first stun
ming effect of their defeat such was their
disposition, and that this disposition would
have been strengthened by a firm and un-
compromising attitude ON the part of the
NArIhe fHhtNo Nhat. a..
been quickly healed, and their life restored
to health and vigor But what did you do,
Northern Democrats No sooner was
there a chance for their regeneration than
you fastened again to pour into their
minds the poison Of false hopes. You
stimulated their pride with flattery. You
stirred up their feverish maginations by
showing them the deceitful picture Of a
possible reaction. BY wild harangues
you excited them 10 stubborn resistance
to the new order of things. You inilamod
their worst passions by appealing to their
worst prejudlces, and, alas, they believed
| you once more. And now see what YOU
have done. The South is in a new attack
Of that deliIium which the defeat OF
the rebellion had happily abated, and
the repulsive manifestations of which
you yourselves now vainly endeaVor
to restrain; the old terrorism, the
old violence, the old mania for the exercise
Of unrighteous power And thus, three
years since the end of the war have been
wantonly sQuandered, three years which
might have given them peace, but for you
Aud yet IL you are not blind 70 the signs
OF the times, you know that all the hopes
you have excited are vain. You know
what they are struggling for can never be
restored, and what they are struggling
against Is bound TO come You must know
that this will be a Republic of free labor
and equal rights Applause And yet
you are still pouring oil into the flame OF
their madness-nay, you are urging the
sword into their hands, which YOU know
they can raise only for selfdestruction
Democrats of the North, are your con,
sciences deadg Have you no hearts, nc
| pity for your Southern Viotimsy Have
their destroyed cities, their devastated
fields, have the hundreds Of thousands OF
their sons whose blood they have sacrificed
AZ your instigation, not yet given you your
| hur Shall the agony OF those whom you
have goaded on from error 10 error, from
crime 10 crime, from disaster to disaster,
be continued forever Will you never
| give them chance 10 return 90 reason
What have the poor Southern people done
TO you, that you should never cease 10
persecute them with your cruel, relentless,
murderous, hendlsh friendships Tire.
mendous applause Is ii not as II the
policy OF your party were born Of the love
OF mischief for miSchiefs sakei When
contemplating this appalling spectacle,
does IL not appear quesiilnable 10 your.
{ alves which was the most terrible curse
Tor the South, the institution of slavery or
the friendship of the Democratic party ,
Is there NO human feeling in your hearts
which moves You, no voice of conscience
which oompels you 10 desist from this most