The OHIO
HISTORICAL Quarterly
VOLUME 65 ?? NUMBER
4 ?? OCTOBER 1956
Carl Schurz and
Rutherford B. Hayes
By CARL WITTKE*
The German Revolution of 1848 ended in
the emigration of
large numbers of political refugees to
the United States. Among
them were men of substance, social
standing, and education: young
intellectual radicals fresh from the
universities, and older, more
reserved agitators for reform, whose
dreams of a united, republican
Germany were shattered by the military
might of reactionary rulers.
In America, a land of liberty and
opportunity, they provided an
intellectual leaven which made the
cultural contributions of the
German element the most significant in
the history of American
immigration.1 Many of these
"argonauts seeking the golden fleece
of liberty" were the spiritual
heirs of Germany's golden age of
liberalism and among them none was more
successful or dis-
tinguished than Carl Schurz, the
foremost German-American.
This son of the Rhineland, reared in the
Catholic tradition, had
abandoned his university career at Bonn
to take part in futile
revolutionary skirmishes in the
Palatinate. His daring rescue of his
former professor, Gottfried Kinkel, from
the fortress prison of
Spandau, near Berlin, won him world-wide
fame. With his teacher,
young Schurz escaped to London, where he
married the daughter
* Carl Wittke is chairman of the
department of history and dean of the graduate
school at Western Reserve University.
1 Carl
Wittke, Refugees of Revolution: The German Forty-eighters in America
(Philadelphia, 1952).
338
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of a well-to-do Hamburg businessman. In
1852 Schurz arrived in
New York. He did not waste time looking
for "mountains of gold,"
but went to work immediately to master
the English tongue and
to become completely bilingual. The Nation
called him "the greatest
master" of rhetoric in the United
States, and Charles A. Dana
referred to the "red-bearded
Teuton" as having "the eloquence of
Demosthenes and the fire of
Kossuth." Unlike many of his fellow
Forty-eighters, he quickly "tired
of the doings of the refugees" and
resolved to adjust to the American way
of life. Schurz realized that
the United States was Anglo-Saxon in
language and tradition. He
advised his fellow immigrants to
amalgamate with other groups
and shun all "separate, special
interests in politics," and he likened
the United States to "a great
stream into which many streams flow."2
After Schurz had been in the United
States eight years, Karl Heinzen,
a fellow refugee who never became
completely acclimated in
America, wrote of his compatriot,
"The Germans feel that he has
become an American; no American feels
that he has remained a
German."3
Schurz joined the westward movement and
settled in Wisconsin,
where he became a builder of the new
Republican party. As chair-
man of the Wisconsin delegation to the
convention of 1860, he
wrote the famous "Dutch plank"
for the party platform, and he
was a member of the national committee
in charge of the foreign-
language section. Lincoln called him
"the foremost among the
Republican orators of the nation."
In 1861 Schurz was minister to Spain,
but he resigned to become
one of the many "political
generals" of the Union army. In 1868
he was elected to the United States
Senate from Missouri. In a letter
to his wife he referred to his election
as "the beginning of a new
era in Germanism in America," and
with pardonable pride he added,
"How I should like to take my old
mother and father to the gallery
of the Senate and let them look upon
their son in the highest
position which a foreign-born person can
reach in this country, and
2 Wachter am Erie (Cleveland), March 22, 1872.
3 Carl Wittke, Against the Current:
The Life of Karl Heinzen (Chicago, 1945),
127.
SCHURZ AND HAYES 339
which no German before has
attained."4 Seven years later Schurz
sat opposite Rutherford B. Hayes at the
cabinet table in Washington
as a respected advisor of the president.
Contemptuously referred to
as a "literary fellow" by
so-called practical politicians, Schurz was
something of a bookish doctrinaire, and
he offered advice to every
president from Lincoln to Theodore
Roosevelt, oftentimes un-
solicited. He bolted the Republican
party in 1872 to lead the battle
against the corruption of the Grant
regime, and stalwart Republicans
never forgave the "Hessian
Dutchman," the "Dutch viper," the
"Mephistopheles in whiskers,"
for his apostasy. As early as 1860 the
Cleveland Plain Dealer had called him a "red republican, save for
his heart, which is black."5
In 1872 Thomas Nast, cartoonist for
Harper's Weekly, pictured him at the piano playing Mein Herz ist
am Rhein, with Uncle Sam looking over his shoulder and telling
him
there was no law "to compel him to
stay" here.
This was the political maverick whom
Hayes had the courage to
invite into his cabinet five years
later. Hayes must have sympathized
with the Liberal Republican movement,
and one of his closest
friends, Stanley Matthews, played a
prominent role in it. Yet Hayes
was an astute politician in 1872, and
too good a party man to
desert the organization. At the
Philadelphia convention of 1872,
which he attended as a delegate, he
voted to nominate Grant for a
second term.
In 1875 Schurz was on a visit to
Germany, where he received a
flattering welcome. Before he left New
York, friends had given
him a farewell dinner at Delmonico's,
which was attended by such
distinguished Americans as Whitelaw Reid
and William Cullen
Bryant. By the end of the summer his
friends begged him to return
and campaign for Hayes in Ohio, whom he
had never met and who
was running for a third term as governor
in a bitter battle over
the currency issue. "Fog Horn"
Bill Allen, a veteran Democrat of
Jackson's time, was Hayes's opponent,
and he succeeded in making
4 Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, translated and edited by Joseph Schafer (Madison,
1928), 467-468. The best biography is Claude M. Fuess, Carl
Schurz, Reformer (New
York, 1932). See also Chester A. Easum, The
Americanization of Carl Schurz (Chicago,
1929).
5 See Wachter am Erie, October 3,
1860.
340
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
inflation and "rag money" a
popular issue with thousands who were
suffering from the panic and depression
of 1873.
Schurz always was a sound-money man. The
Ohio campaign in-
volved issues which transcended state
lines and which were likely to
affect the attitude of the major parties
in the next presidential
campaign. Charles Francis Adams, Jr.,
Murat Halstead of the Cin-
cinnati Commercial, young Henry Cabot Lodge, Whitelaw Reid,
Charles Nordhoff, and others appealed to
Schurz to cut short his
European trip and corral the German vote
in Ohio for Hayes. Schurz
returned in the fall to make nine
speeches in Ohio, beginning with a
major address on the currency question
in the German Turner Hall of
Cincinnati. Leading German newspapers,
like the Cincinnati Freie
Presse and the Volksblatt, and the Cleveland Wachter
am Erie,
joined in his plea to support Hayes and
sound money, and Hayes
won by so small a margin that the German
vote may well have been
decisive. Adams congratulated Schurz on
the victory, happy in the
knowledge that "old Bill Allen's
gray and gory scalp was safely
dangling at your girdle."6
Schurz and Hayes were utterly different
in temperament, back-
ground, and early training, but as far
as their political programs
were concerned, they had much in common.
Both were forthright
champions of sound money, and each was
horrified by the mush-
rooming effects of the spoils system and
convinced of the need for
reform in filling public offices.
Apparently the two men met for the first
time on July 1, 1876,
when Schurz passed through Columbus on a
Saturday evening on
his way to St. Louis. Governor Hayes and
ex-Governor Edward F.
Noyes met him at the depot for a short
conversation.7 A week earlier
Schurz had begun what developed into a
lifelong correspondence
with Hayes, by writing him a long letter
full of comments and sug-
gestions on the issues of the day.
In the spring of 1876 Schurz and other
distinguished Americans,
including Bryant and President Theodore
D. Woolsey of Yale, had
called a conference of
"Independents" in New York to draft an
6 See F. W. Clonts, "The Political
Campaign of 1875 in Ohio," Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly, XXXI (1922), 38-95.
7 Ohio State Journal, July 3, 1876.
SCHURZ AND HAYES 341
address to the American people. The
gathering marked the beginning
of an "Independent Movement"
in American politics which was
destined to play an important role to
the end of the century. The
convention was well attended, by
college professors, clergymen,
men of letters, philanthropists, and
others who were disgusted with
the Grant administration and the
deplorable state of partisan
politics. Woolsey presided and Schurz
drafted a set of principles
calling for reform and announcing the
group's determination to
oppose any "stalwart" who
might be nominated by either party
for the presidency. Benjamin H.
Bristow, who had embarrassed
Grant by exposing the "Whisky
Ring," was the favorite of the
Independents. Hayes at the time was the
"favorite son" of Ohioans,
but had little chance for the
nomination except as a "dark horse"
in case of a deadlock in the
convention.
Elected to a third term as governor of
Ohio in 1875, Hayes could
not help thinking of 1876, but he
resolved against an active campaign
for the nomination. "The
melancholy thing in our public life," he
wrote, "is the insane desire to
get higher. There should be no
political hereafter -- it is for us to
do well in the present."8 His
secretary, however, Captain A. E. Lee,
wrote to various people to
explain his chief's attitude on leading
public issues, and as early
as February 1876 Schurz received a
letter setting forth Hayes's
views on the currency, civil service
reform, and a new southern
policy.9
Hayes was nominated by the Republicans
in 1876. In a letter of
June 21, 1876, Schurz made it clear
that the nominee must make
finance and civil service reform the
major issues of the campaign if
he expected his support, and that of
other Independents who were
bitterly disappointed because Bristow
had failed to win the nom-
ination. Schurz was not satisfied with
the platform promise of
reform, but insisted that Hayes, in his
letter of acceptance, be
specific about the evils of the spoils
system, advocate civil service
reform in unequivocal terms, and
outline a southern policy which
would reunite the country, guarantee
the enforcement of the
8 Quoted in Ellis P. Oberholtzer, A
History of the United States Since the Civil
War (New York, 1926), III, 253.
9 The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (New York, 1908), III, 368.
342
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
amendments, and respect "the
constitutional rights of local
self-government." Given such specific
pledges, Schurz believed he could rally
the Independents, and the
German vote. On June 23 Schurz wrote
again to ask for "personal
assurances of reform."10
To these insistent demands Hayes replied
on June 27. He agreed to
make civil service "the issue of
the canvass," but he believed it un-
necessary, in view of his well-known
stand on currency matters, to
say anything further about the plank in
the platform which promised
the resumption of specie payment. Hayes
agreed to discuss a new
southern policy, but rejected Schurz's
reference to "local self-
government" in that connection,
because it smacked "of the bowie
knife and revolver." Hayes favored
"reconciliation," but he was
disturbed because the southern states
were well on the way to
nullifying all three of the Civil War
amendments. It was in this
letter also that Hayes expressed his
thoughts about serving only
one term, if elected, because he thought
he could "do more
good . . . if untrammelled by the belief
that he was fixing things
for his election to a second
term."11
On July 5, shortly after their first
meeting, Schurz submitted a
statement on civil service reform for
inclusion in Hayes's letter
of acceptance, and reiterated his
arguments that something must be
said also on the currency and the one
term decision. Four days later
Schurz wrote joyfully to Adams that
Hayes's letter of acceptance
"will be an agreeable surprise to
you, if it comes out as it was
determined upon Friday evening. It is
our platform in every word,
with the pledge of an honest man . . .
attached to it." In the same
letter he disposed of Samuel J. Tilden,
the Democratic candidate,
as a "demagogue . . . wirepuller
and machine politician."12 Schurz
told Hayes that his letter of acceptance
had produced "an excellent
10 Schurz to Hayes, June 23, 1876; also
June 21, 1876. All letters, unless otherwise
identified, are from the collection of
Hayes materials in the Rutherford B. Hayes
Library of Fremont, Ohio. They have been
made available to me by the director,
Watt P. Marchman.
11 Speeches, Correspondence and
Political Papers of Carl Schurz, selected
and edited
by Frederic Bancroft (New York, 1913),
III, 253-255. Cited hereafter as Bancroft,
Speeches.
12 Bancroft, Speeches, III,
258-259.
SCHURZ AND HAYES 343
effect," and had brought even the Nation,
"in its cool way," to his
support.
Thus the rebel of 1872 had returned to
the Republican fold in
1876. Not only his German following,
but many others, were amazed
by his political somersault and accused
him of seeking political
rewards. "Our principal
leader," wrote Henry Adams, "has returned
to his party traces."13
Charles Francis Adams was undecided, but
Lodge supported Tilden, and such
prominent German leaders as
Gustav Koerner of Illinois, Judge
Bernhard Stallo of Cincinnati,
and Oswald Ottendorfer, publisher of
the New Yorker Staatszeitung,
endorsed the Democratic candidate.
Schurz's brother-in-law, Edmund
Jussen, supported Tilden, and so did
Frederick Hassaurek of Cin-
cinnati and Jakob Mueller of Cleveland,
leaders in the field of
German-language journalism. The
Cleveland Wachter am Erie
lamented the apostasy of "Old
Karl" and pointed out the incon-
sistencies in his position, and the
Dayton Volkszeitung characterized
Schurz as an opportunist who had
degenerated into "a paid stump
speaker."14
Schurz wrote an open letter to
Ottendorfer of the Staatszeitung,
which had accused him of "treading
under foot" all his convictions,
in which he tried to justify his choice.
The letter made the rounds
of the German-language press. Schurz
repeated the same arguments,
at greater length, in a speech on
"Hayes versus Tilden," delivered
in Cincinnati, August 31, 1876. He
maintained that the Republican
platform was "sounder" on the
money question than the Democratic;
that the vice presidential candidate of
the Democratic party was
an inflationist; and that Hayes was
"a man of scrupulous integrity,
of a strong feeling of honor, of a
quiet energy." He pointed out
that Grant had been offended by Hayes's
letter of acceptance; in-
sisted that his candidate would really
reform the civil service, and
that Tilden and the Democrats could not
be trusted on this issue.
Hayes was pleased with the letter to
Ottendorfer, and wrote Schurz
to tell him "it is doing
good."15
13 Fuess, Schurz, 228.
14 Wachter am Erie, July 8, 14, 28, August 25, September 4, 1876.
15 Bancroft, Speeches, III, 261-280, 284-285,
290-337.
344
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
There were a number of developments in
the campaign of 1876
which Schurz intensely disliked. He was
incensed when Zachariah
Chandler, chairman of the national
committee, levied campaign
assessments on officeholders, and he
induced Hayes to write a letter
to the secretary of the committee,
asking that the practice be dis-
couraged. Although Schurz wanted a
stronger statement, he appar-
ently was satisfied. In the course of
the campaign Hayes was falsely
accused of making improper tax returns,
and he wrote promptly
to Schurz to explain and refute the
accusation. Hayes conducted a
dignified campaign from his desk in
Columbus, but with the vote
likely to be close, Hayes wrote Blaine
to sanction the use of "bloody
shirt" tactics in discussions of
the southern question. "Our strong
ground," he said, "is the
dread of a solid South, rebel rule, etc., etc."
Blaine hardly needed to be told "to
make these topics prominent"
in his speeches.16 Schurz
disliked such tactics intensely and believed
it was a mistake to revive them, but he
seemed satisfied to concentrate
his efforts on reform and sound money,
and the campaign to win
the German vote for Hayes on these
issues.
Democratic strategy in German areas
represented the Republican
candidate as a puritanical
"teetotaler" and a nativist. The southern
question had little interest for German
voters. By August, Schurz
thought the campaign was going badly
with the German and reform
element; and "Grantism" and
the record of the Republican stalwarts
proved a heavy load for Hayes to carry.17
General Franz Sigel, a
popular Forty-eighter, was making
speeches for Tilden, and it was
difficult to persuade a large section of
the German press that Hayes
was not tainted with nativism. Finally,
the governor authorized
Schurz to denounce the misrepresentation
of his position in a letter
in which he pointed out that he had
"always voted for naturalized
citizens" and appointed them to
office. "I was not a knownothing,"
he added, "when my political
associates generally ran off after that
ephemeral party." Hayes, however,
was honest enough to restate
his opposition to "Catholic
interference, or any sectarian interfer-
ence with politics, or the
schools."18
16 Quoted in Fuess, Schurz, 227.
17 Schurz to Hayes, August 7, 1876.
18 Hayes to Schurz, September 15, 1876.
SCHURZ AND HAYES 345
Schurz spoke to the Germans in
Cleveland, Milwaukee, and
Chicago; he invaded Indiana and New
York; covered the Ohio
cities thoroughly, and near the close of
the campaign, accepted ten
additional assignments in Ohio and
thirteen in Indiana. He was
worried about the results, and Hayes
urged him to cultivate a more
cheerful and optimistic frame of mind.
"I inherit a Presbyterian
fatalism," he added. "We shall
go through, if we are to do it."19
On October 31 Schurz reported from New
York that he had "closed
his labors" and now was certain
that the German vote would be
"as sound as ever."20 Hayes
thanked him for his help and was
sure he could find consolation even in
defeat.21
The results of the campaign, and the
bitter, prolonged controversy
over the twenty disputed electoral votes
on which the outcome
turned, and the proper method to settle
the conflicting claims, are
well known, and when Hayes entered the
White House, he was
known as "Old Eight to Seven"
and "His Fraudulency."22 Hayes
conducted himself in these trying months
with characteristic serenity.
"To be counted out would be a
relief," he told Schurz, although,
after listening to Sherman, Garfield,
and other Republican politicians
about the recount of votes in Louisiana
and Florida, he was per-
suaded that "we are justly and
legally entitled to the Presidency."23
Schurz was disgusted with the
proceedings in Louisiana, and
believed "the Republican party is
to-day morally very much weaker
than it was on the day of
election."24 He proposed that Hayes join
with Tilden to endorse a plan by which
the United States Supreme
Court would count the electoral vote and
declare the result. Hayes
thought this would require a
constitutional amendment, and he
demurred when congress created the
electoral commission, on the
19 Hayes to Schurz, July 24, 1876.
20 Schurz to Hayes, October 31, 1876.
21 Hayes to Schurz, November 3, 1876;
Bancroft, Speeches, III, 339.
22 See C. Vann Woodward, Reunion and
Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the
End of Reconstruction (Boston, 1951), and biographies such as Harry Barnard,
Rutherford B. Hayes and His America (Indianapolis, 1954); H. J. Eckenrode,
Rutherford B. Hayes, Statesman of
Reunion (New York, 1930); and Charles
R.
Williams, The Life of Rutherford
Birchard Hayes (Boston, 1914).
23 Bancroft, Speeches, III,
345-346.
24 Schurz to Hayes, December 4, 1876.
346
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ground that the action constituted a
usurpation of the president's
appointing power.25
So that he might be ready if counted in,
Hayes began in January
1877 to invite suggestions for an
inaugural address and for appoint-
ments to the cabinet. Schurz was one of
those consulted, and he
replied promptly with a long letter
stating in detail what he
thought must be included in an inaugural
address. He was con-
vinced that "the Republican
majority in the Senate will be so
small . . . that they cannot afford to
trifle with the Executive," and
that Hayes had a glorious opportunity to
become "the moral
regenerator of the Republic."26
Hayes and Schurz were agreed that a
major problem was to
reunite the nation and "soften
party passions." Hayes had written
earlier proposing "a wise and
liberal policy [which] will enable
us to divide the whites, and thus take
the first step to obliterate
the color line."27 Schurz
in his letter of January 25, 1877, used the
words, "you will serve the party
best by serving the public interest
best," phraseology strikingly like
the well-known admonition in
Hayes's inaugural address that "he
serves his party best who serves
his country best."
Schurz thought the inaugural should
stress economy, sound
measures for economic recovery, civil
service reform, and one term
for the president. On foreign policy, he
advised the "traditional
policy of non-interference and honorable
neutrality," arbitration,
and peace.28 Hayes
acknowledged the suggestions, and indicated
a desire to help the South get better
educational facilities and
internal improvements of a national
character, but Schurz objected
because he questioned whether the South
really wanted good public
schools, and he was afraid that internal
improvements would mean
a raid on the treasury. "It looks
almost," he added cynically, "as
if a railroad could not come within a
hundred miles of a legislative
body without corrupting it."29
On the matter of the presidency,
25 Schurz to Hayes, January 25, 1877.
26 Bancroft, Speeches, III,
361-362.
27 Hayes to Schurz, January 4, 1877; Bancroft, Speeches, III, 355.
28 Bancroft, Speeches, III,
366-376.
29 Schurz to Hayes, February 2, 1877;
Bancroft, Speeches, III, 384-387.
SCHURZ AND HAYES 347
Hayes wanted a constitutional amendment
to establish a six-year
term, with no possibility of reelection.30
On January 30 Schurz wrote from St.
Louis to suggest names for
the cabinet, and warned Hayes against
appointing anyone who had
aspirations for the presidency. For
secretary of state, Schurz pro-
posed William M. Evarts or George W.
Curtis; for the treasury,
Benjamin H. Bristow, the idol of the
reformers. For the interior
department, he suggested General Jacob
D. Cox of Ohio if he could
be spared from congress, ex-Senator John
B. Henderson of Missouri,
and several others. Senator G. F.
Edmunds was his first choice for
the justice department, although Schurz
realized he probably would
be needed in the senate. For the war
department, he proposed
General James Hawley of Connecticut or
Benjamin Harrison of
Indiana. Congressman Henry L. Pierce of
Boston was his choice
for navy. The post office he would entrust
either to Governor
Marshall Jewell of Connecticut or G. A.
Grow, late speaker of
the Pennsylvania house. Schurz added
that it would be a "good
stroke of policy" to appoint one
southerner -- a matter which was
already being rumored in the press.31
Hayes considered the sug-
gestions carefully, and asked Schurz's
opinion about other men such
as J. M. Forbes, the Boston capitalist;
Senator Frederick
Frelinghuysen of New Jersey; John M.
Harlan of Kentucky; and
John Sherman of Ohio.32
There is a memorandum from the
president's son, Webb C.
Hayes, in the collection at Fremont to
the effect that Schurz's
"advocacy of honest money and a
civil service based solely on merit
led my father to make him the first
tender of a position in his
cabinet." General Cox believed that
Hayes had Schurz in mind for
a cabinet post as early as December
1876.33 By the middle of
February 1877 Murat Halstead reported to
Schurz that he was being
considered for the cabinet, and
volunteered the suggestion that "the
Interior would give the best field for
work.34 Schurz pointed out
30 Hayes to Schurz, January 29, 1877;
Bancroft, Speeches, III, 376.
31 Bancroft,
Speeches, III, 376-383.
32 Hayes to Schurz, February 2, 1877.
33 Reminiscences of Carl Schurz, III,
374.
34 Bancroft, Speeches, III, 388.
348
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
that he had "staked his whole
public credit" on Hayes, and ap-
parently thought he was entitled to some
recognition. Although he
believed he was best fitted for the
state or treasury departments, he
wanted Evarts and Bristow in these
posts. He was willing to accept
the interior, but thought the post would
not be "very interesting . . .
as I have never given much attention to
the Indians, patents,
pensions and public lands."35 Halstead
seems to have had some
misgivings whether Schurz would be a
"disturbing element" in the
cabinet, but he spent three hours with
the governor in Columbus
urging his selection. Joseph Medill of
the Chicago Tribune also
supported Schurz.36
On February 24, 1877, Hayes offered Schurz
a choice between
the interior and the post office, and
told him that he had decided
upon Evarts for the state department and
Sherman for the treasury.
Two days later Schurz replied that he
preferred to become secretary
of the interior.37
Schurz received congratulations on his
appointment from many
prominent Americans, including Samuel
Bowles of the Springfield
Republican, Bristow, and Charles Francis Adams. Even Karl Heinzen,
Schurz's most caustic critic among the
Germans, was pleased, and
published Schurz's annual reports, with
favorable comments, in his
Pionier. Bowles wanted Henry Cabot Lodge appointed as assistant
secretary and expressed his displeasure
when the appointment was
not offered him. He was certain Lodge
would have accepted, and
he believed "just such men"
were needed in the government,
"fellows who have the working
temperament . . . who have high
patriotic purposes, and while
independent of their salaries, will
abundantly earn them."38 Schurz
introduced Lodge to the president
as a man of whom he "might say a great
many very good things,"
and asked Hayes to "lend him a
willing ear," but that seems to
have ended the matter.
Schurz made his department a model of
good administration.
35 Bancroft, Speeches, III,
397-399.
36 Ibid., III, 402-403.
37 Schurz to Hayes, February 26, 1877. See Bancroft, Speeches, III,
389-397, 403-
405.
38 Bancroft, Speeches, III,
413-414.
SCHURZ AND HAYES 349
With the support of the president he
introduced civil service exam-
inations, reformed the Indian service,
and made a beginning in the
conservation of our forest resources.
He vigorously supported the
president's sound-money policies at
cabinet meetings. He insisted
that officers in the interior
department must refrain from "the
management of political organizations,
canvasses, conventions or
election campaigns," and resign
from campaign committees or lose
their jobs, and he forbade campaign
assessments on pain of dismissal.
He resisted congressmen who tried to
dictate appointments; he
vigorously supported the president in
cleaning up the scandals at the
New York Custom House, where the spoils
system flourished under
Chester A. Arthur and Alonzo B.
Cornell; and he believed the merit
system should be applied throughout the
government service, save
in a few cases "where in the
regular line of duty the political
views and aims of the Administration
[party in power] are to be
represented."39
Although the president occasionally
sent notes to Schurz to intro-
duce men who he thought deserved
consideration for appointments,
and Schurz was besieged for jobs from
many directions, including his
German followers, he and the president
faithfully adhered to their
promises of reform. To stalwarts like
Blaine, Schurz was a political
renegade, who was undermining American
democracy by introducing
"Prussian methods." Hayes
regarded his appointment of Evarts and
Schurz as the opening gun in his war
against corruption and the
spoils system. Three years after his
retirement he wrote in his
Diary: "If the boss system is to
go down, as now seems probable,
I can say I struck the first and the
most difficult blows. It is based
on Congressional patronage and
Senatorial prerogative, or
courtesy . . . . Any reform was at the
expense of the power of the
Senator and the Representative."40
Initially the relationship between
Schurz and Hayes was one
based on agreement on certain
fundamental public issues. During
the White House days it developed into
deep mutual respect and
39 An undated memorandum in Schurz's
handwriting, in Rutherford B. Hayes
Library.
40 Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, edited by
Charles R. Williams
(Columbus, 1922), IV, 149-150. Hereafter
cited as Hayes Diary.
350
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
sincere friendship. Schurz, an
unattached male (his wife died in
1876) was much in demand for social
occasions, and dined out
frequently. Mrs. Hayes invited him to
the White House, where he
endeared himself to the whole Hayes
family, for he was a man
of charming social qualities. He
accompanied the president on his
tour of the South in September 1877, and
went with him to visit
Montpelier, President Madison's old home
in Virginia. He and his
daughter attended the "silver
wedding party" at the White House,41
and in the summer of 1880 Schurz made
plans to take Webb Hayes
on a hunting trip to Yellowstone Park.42
The secretary of the interior
was the go-between when Indian chiefs
came to the interior depart-
ment, and wanted to shake the
president's hand before leaving for
home. In 1879 Schurz sent Hayes a copy
of Leo Lesquereux's new
book on Tertiary Flora, for his
personal use.43
Probably the most interesting phase in
this new relationship with
the president was Schurz's participation
in the musical soirees at
the White House on Sunday evenings.
Schurz was a good musician
and played the piano well, but American
gospel hymns had never
been part of his repertoire. The Hayes
family observed prayers and
Bible reading every morning at the White
House, and on Sunday
evenings the family and their guests
frequently gathered around
the piano for group singing. On such
occasions, Schurz, whom
Grant called an "infidel and
atheist,"44 and who clearly belonged in
the "freethinker," agnostic
tradition of the German radicals, played
such favorites as "Jesus, Lover of
My Soul," "Tell Me the Old, Old
Story," and "Blessed Be the
Tie That Binds."
On March 6, 1881, Schurz said goodbye to
the president. "We
exchanged but few words when we
parted," he commented, but
in a farewell note he thanked Hayes for
his friendship and con-
fidence, and assured him that their
official relations "had ripened
into a warm personal attachment."
He specifically mentioned his
pleasure in having won the "esteem
and friendship" of Mrs. Hayes.45
41 Schurz to Hayes, December 26, 1877.
42 Schurz to Webb C. Hayes, September
23, 1880.
43 Schurz to Hayes, February 12, 1879.
44 W. B. Hesseltine, Ulysses S. Grant, Politician (New York, 1935),
206.
45 Schurz to Hayes, March 6, 1881.
SCHURZ AND HAYES 351
Hayes wrote a gracious reply from
Fremont, where he soon was
"snug as a bug in a rug," and
invited Schurz to visit the family at
Spiegel Grove. "Your interests,
your career, your family," he con-
cluded, "will be in my thoughts and
heart. Let it be so and let us
enjoy it."46
The year 1885 saw the inauguration of
the first Democratic
president since the Civil War. Hayes had
criticized Blaine sharply,
and had likened him as a political
opportunist to Stephen A.
Douglas. "Clay would rather be
right than President, Blaine would
gladly be wrong to be President."47
Nevertheless, after Blaine had
been "fairly nominated" in
1884, Hayes voted for the man whom
he once described as "a scheming
demagogue, selfish and reckless."
Cleveland narrowly defeated Blaine in a
contest marked by unusual
mud-slinging. Toward the close of the
campaign Cleveland's
irregular relations with a widow were
brought to light. The liaison
had resulted in an offspring for whom
Cleveland assumed full
responsibility, although the paternity
of the child was never estab-
lished beyond reasonable doubt.
Ministers of the Gospel referred
to Cleveland as "a self-confessed
adulterer" who would make the
White House into a "bachelor's
hall," but Hayes's reaction was
surprisingly charitable. "I have no
prejudice against Cleveland.
Indeed, I have a good deal of faith in
him," he remarked in a
letter to Schurz. "The admitted
scandal does not disqualify him.
We know scores of men with that habit
who are upright, patriotic
and in all other respects, all we could
wish." He was convinced
that the country would rally to
Cleveland's support if he would
"stand by the reform of the civil
service."48
Schurz gave reassurances that the new
president could be trusted,
and asked Hayes's permission to convey
his sentiments to
Cleveland.49 Hayes watched
the new administration closely from his
home in Fremont. A talk with Cleveland
in the summer of 1885
gave him a favorable impression of his
"sense of firmness." Never-
46 Hayes to Schurz, March 10, 1881;
Bancroft, Speeches, IV, 115; also Hayes to
Schurz, February 9, 1882.
47 Hayes Diary, IV, 146.
48 Hayes to Schurz, November 28, 1884.
49 Schurz to Hayes, December 2, 1884.
352
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
theless, he was alarmed by the sniping
at civil service in the name
of "offensive partisanship,"
and as a dues-paying member of the
Civil Service Reform League, he reported
his concern to Schurz.
Shortly after the election he asked
Schurz "to say a good word" to
President-elect Cleveland for the
retention of some of the clerks in
the executive branch who had been there
since Lincoln.50
The correspondence between Hayes and
Schurz, after both men
had left Washington, contained less and
less of a political nature.
In 1888 Hayes changed the salutation in
his letters from "my dear
General" to "my dear
friend." In 1883 Hayes asked Schurz to come
to Ohio to make speeches to help defeat
George Hoadly for
governor, but Schurz did not come.
Hoadly, originally a Democrat,
had turned Republican, then joined the
Liberal Republican revolt
of 1872, and now was back in the
Democratic fold. Hayes considered
him "a loose tongued chatterbox . .
. fond of retailing malicious
gossip about public men," and a
spoilsman at heart.51 In 1884
Hayes wrote immediately to deny a report
in the Dayton Journal
to the effect that he had referred to
Schurz as "a chronic bolter."52
Four years later, when he was profoundly
disturbed by the mounting
class struggle, Hayes added a postscript
to a letter to Schurz in which
he said: "The trouble is not with
the poor rascals. The rich rascal
is the enemy to watch. So far the men
who own or control vast
wealth are wholly responsible, and are
at the bottom of the larger
part of the so-called "Labor
Troubles."53
In 1881, when Schurz became editor of
the New York Evening
Post, Hayes promptly subscribed for the paper, because both
he and
his wife wanted to read all he wrote,
and Schurz sent him all back
numbers that contained anything from his
pen.54 That fall, while
in New York, Hayes called at the
newspaper office, and the two
friends took a ride together to the end
of the Sixth Avenue elevated,
to get "the best possible view of
the growth of the city."55 In 1882
50 Hayes to Schurz, November 28, 1884.
See also, Hayes to Schurz, August 26 and
31, 1885.
51 Hayes to Schurz, August 31, 1883.
52 Hayes to Schurz, June 23, 1884.
53 Hayes to Schurz, March 25, 1888.
54 Hayes to Schurz, June 1, 1881;
Bancroft, Speeches, IV, 115-116.
55 Hayes Diary, IV, 44-45.
SCHURZ AND HAYES 353
they met at a dinner of the trustees of
the John F. Slater Fund, in
which Hayes was greatly interested.
Slater, a Connecticut man-
ufacturer, had endowed a fund to foster
education in the South,
especially for Negroes, and Hayes was
the first president of the
organization.56 Late in 1884
Hayes visited Schurz "at the elegant
residence of Dr. [Abraham] Jacobi,"
once a defendant in the "red
trial" at Cologne during the German
revolution, and now a dis-
tinguished American pediatrician and
founder of the American
Journal of Obstetrics. Hayes and Schurz had "a long good con-
versation on politics," and Schurz
read aloud "an elaborate letter"
which he had just sent Cleveland about
civil service reform, "the
test measure of the new
Administration."57
In November 1886 Hayes was in New York
to attend the funeral
of President Arthur. When he called on
Schurz, he found him
engaged upon a sketch of President
Hayes's career for Appleton's
Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Hayes furnished him with data
and pictures of the family and Spiegel
Grove, and requested a dozen
reprints of the article.58 In
April 1892, when Hayes was in the city
for another meeting of the Slater Fund
trustees, he spent the after-
noon at Schurz's home and stayed for
dinner with the family. He
found the house filled with "a
crowd of ladies listening to a lecture
in German on poetry."59
Over the years the two friends sent each
other their speeches or
articles. In 1881 Schurz received a copy
of a Fourth of July address
by the ex-president, and later, an
advance copy of what he intended
to say at Clyde, Ohio, which Schurz
promptly published in the
Evening Post. Hayes congratulated Schurz on his Phi Beta Kappa
oration at Harvard in 1882, read it
aloud to his wife, and used
parts of it in one of his own speeches.60
Early in 1883 Hayes sent
Schurz a copy of his presidential
messages and "other documents
56 He was instrumental in getting a
fellowship for W. E. B. Du Bois, historian
and vigorous champion of Negro rights.
Barnard, Hayes, 506. See also, Curtis W.
Garrison, "Slater Fund Beginnings:
Letters from General Agent Atticus G. Haywood
to Rutherford B. Hayes," Journal
of Southern History, V (1939), 223-245; and Hayes
Diary, IV, 76-77.
57 Hayes Diary, IV, 179-180.
58 Schurz to Hayes, November 1, 1886;
Hayes to Schurz, December 11, 1886.
59 Hayes Diary, V, 76. See also, IV, 345.
60 Hayes to Schurz, July 13, October 12, 1882.
354
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
while we were together in
Washington," which he had bound in
Toledo. He asked Schurz to transmit an
autographed copy to the
German historian Hermann von Hoist at
Freiburg, and added, "I
have no fears as to the standing of the
Hayes administration, with
impartial writers."61
Several years later Schurz began a
biography of Henry Clay for
the American Statesmen Series. Hayes was
greatly interested in the
project, for he had a special fondness
for Clay, whom he described
as a man of "prodigious magnetism,
grace and eloquence -- a
unique character."62 Schurz
asked Hayes to send him a copy of a
letter written by Clay in 1844, which
was in his possession, and he
promptly complied.63 The
biography so completely absorbed Schurz
that he declined an invitation to spend
several days as a guest at
Fremont.64 In 1887 Hayes
urged his friend to write "a full auto-
biography," and received the news
by return mail that the project
was already well under way.65 In
1891 Hayes wrote in praise of
Schurz's article on Lincoln which
appeared in the June Atlantic.66
On another occasion Hayes described his
pleasant experiences at
the Dramatic Festival in Cincinnati.67
In 1885, while in New York
to attend Grant's funeral, he called on
Schurz and was disappointed
to find him out of town. Schurz had
never believed that an excellent
general would make a good president,68
but he was pleased by the
"many manifestations of popular
gratitude and regard for the
Civil War hero in his last days, and
wrote to Hayes to tell him so.69
When Lucy Hayes died, Schurz wrote an
affectionate letter of con-
dolence.70 Early in 1893 the
correspondence came to an end with
the death of the ex-president. Schurz
wired his sympathy to Webb,
61 Hayes to Schurz, February 26, 1883.
62 Hayes to Schurz, July 2, 1887. For
Hayes's interest in literary matters, see Lyon
N. Richardson, "Men of Letters and
the Hayes Administration," New England
Quarterly, XV (1942), 110-141.
63 Schurz to Hayes, September 6, 1885.
64 Schurz to Hayes, July 23, 1885.
65 Hayes to Schurz, July 2, 7, 1887.
66 Hayes to Schurz, May 29, 1891.
67 Hayes to Schurz, May 8, 1883.
68 Bancroft, Speeches, IV,
18.
69 Schurz to Hayes, July 23, 1885.
70 Schurz to Hayes, June 26,
1889.
SCHURZ AND HAYES 355
and telegraphed again the next day to
say how disappointed he was
that his physician would not let him
come to the funeral. He pre-
dicted that Hayes's reputation as a
patriotic statesman would steadily
rise "in popular affection as time
passes on."
Opposed by leaders of his own party and
forced to work with an
obstreperous Democratic majority in
congress, Hayes cannot be held
responsible for the dearth of
legislation added to the statute books
during his term of office. His
conscientious devotion to the duties
of his high office was more important
than legislative enactments.
He made reform respected, restored faith
in his party and in the
government, and demonstrated that he was
an honest Republican.
In a tribute to his old chief, in Harper's
Weekly of January 28, 1893,
Schurz stressed how Hayes had
"infused a new spirit of purity and
conscience into our public life."
Hayes gave his verdict on Schurz's
career for the last time in 1890.
This distinguished foreign-born American
understood the spirit and
history of our institutions better than
many native-born citizens.71
He held public office for ten years only
in a long career that extended
to 1906. What is especially noteworthy
is the influence he exercised
as a private citizen simply because
Americans trusted his integrity
and independence.
In the Hayes collection there is an
unaddressed letter, evidently
prepared for a German group which had
asked the ex-president for
an "estimate of the German
element" in the United States, to be
used at a celebration of the two
hundredth anniversary of the be-
ginning of German immigration to
America. In it, Hayes referred
to "the transcendent merit" of
the German intellectuals, to be found
in "all the higher walks of
life," and to "the thrift, industry,
economy and contentment" of the
"plain people." Turning to
Schurz and his services in the cabinet,
he concluded: "Too inde-
pendent of party for present popularity,
those who know him will
always think of him as a gentleman of
the purest character, and as
an able, patriotic, and scholarly
statesman."72
71 See Charles Francis Adams' comment in
the New York Times, May 9, 1872,
quoted in Oberholtzer, History of the
U. S., III, 1.
72 Hayes Diary, IV, 609-610.