Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/511

On the other hand, I am sure I express the feelings of the Radical party of Missouri when I say—and here again I am only amplifying what I stated a few days ago—that it is a sense of necessity and justice which moves us, and not rankling hate or desire for revenge. While we do not approve of the kind of forgiveness to the late enemies of the Republic which consists of forgetfulness of its friends, we mean to show that the dark fanaticism which will never forgive is foreign to our hearts, and that it is not our desire to humiliate but to improve and bring back to their duty those who have gone astray. I repeat again the words of General Grant: “We cannot go to them; they must come to us; but when they do come as improved men, we must not repel them.” More than that, we must invite and encourage them to improve and come. Let us make them understand that they have only to do full justice to all the friends of the Union, and they may count upon full mercy to themselves; that they have only to come to us as men sincerely loyal to the new order of things and we shall meet them with the open hand of welcome. Let us convince them that although we detest treason as heartily as ever we shall hail with shouts of gladness the day when the rights of all will be safe under the custody of all and when the last of the rebels can be received back into the communion of the loyal people. Let them be convinced of this, and I am confident that, although there may be many who, with dogged infatuation, will continue to hug their old idols, yet thousands of the young and vigorous, especially those who during the conflict never swerved from the way of honorable warfare, will soon be glad to recognize the opportunity to regain their own rights by respecting the rights of others, and to serve their own interests by serving the interests of all. Let us not indiscriminately condemn the well-disposed with the incorrigible, and thus force them to remain