第 9 节
作者:朝令夕改      更新:2021-02-25 00:17      字数:9322
  us interests。 In the convention; and in the committee meetings; and in the incessant parleys which prepare the work of a convention; Roosevelt fought unwaveringly against Blaine。 The better element made Senator George F。 Edmunds their candidate; and Roosevelt urged his nomination on all comers。 When the convention met; Mr。 Lodge; of Massachusetts; nominated J。 R。 Lynch; a negro from Mississippi; to be temporary chairman; thereby heading off Powell Clayton; a veteran Republican 〃war…horse〃 and office…holder。 Roosevelt had the honorand it was an honor for so young a manto make a speech; which proved to be effective; in Lynch's behalf; and when the vote was taken; Lynch was chosen by 424 to 384。 This first victory over the Blaine Machine; the Edmunds men hailed as a good omen。
  Roosevelt was chairman of the New York State delegation。 The whirling days and nights at Chicago confirmed his position as a national figure; but he strove in vain in behalf of honesty。 The majority of the delegates would not be gainsaid。 They had come to Chicago resolved to elect James G。 Blaine; and no other; and they would not quit until they had accomplished this。 Pleas for morality and for party concord fell on deaf ears; as did warnings of the comfort which Blaine's nomination would give to their enemies。 His supporters packed the great convention hall; and when his name was put in nomination; there followed a riot of cheers; which lasted the better part of an hour; and foreboded his success。
  As had been predicted; Blaine's nomination split the Republican Party。 Many of the better element came out for Grover Cleveland; the Democratic candidate; who; as Governor of New York; had displayed unfailing courage; integrity; and intelligence。 Others again; disgusted with many of the principles and leaders of both parties; formed themselves into a special group or party of Independents。 They were hateful alike to the Bosses who controlled the Republican or Democratic organization; and Charles A。 Dana; of the New York Sun; who took care never to be 〃on the side of the angels;〃 derisively dubbed them 〃mugwumps〃a title which may carry an honorable meaning to posterity。
  I was one of these Independents; and if I cite my own case; it is not because it was of any importance to the public; but because it was typical。 During the days of suspense before the Chicago Convention met; the proposed nomination of Blaine weighed upon me like a nightmare。 I would not admit to myself that so great a crime against American ideals could be committed by delegates who represented the standard of any political party; and were drawn from all over the country。 I cherished; what seems to me now the sadly foolish dream; that with Roosevelt in the convention the abomination could not be done。 I thought of him as of a paladin against whom the forces of evil would dash themselves to pieces。 I thought of him as the young and dauntless spokesman of righteousness whose words would silence the special pleaders of iniquity。 I wrote him and besought him to stand firm。
  There followed the days of suspense when the newspapers brought news of the wild proceedings at the convention; and for me the shadow deepened。 Then the telegraph reported Blaine's triumphant nomination。 I waited; we all waited; to learn what the delegates who opposed him intended to do。 One morning a dispatch in the New York Tribune announced that Roosevelt would not bolt。 That very day I had a little note from him saying that he had done his best in Chicago; that the result sickened him; that he should; however; support the Republican ticket; but he intended to spend most of the summer and autumn hunting in the West。
  I was dumfounded。 I felt as Abolitionists felt after Webster's Seventh of March speech。 My old acquaintance; our trusted leader; whose career in the New York Assembly we had watched with an almost holy satisfaction; seemed to have strangely abandoned the fundamental principles which we and he had believed in; and he had so nobly upheld。 Whittier's poem 〃Ichabod〃 seemed to have been aimed at him; especially in its third stanza:
  〃Oh; dumb be passion's stormy rage; When he who might Have lighted up and led his age; Falls back in night。〃
  Amid the lurid gleams and heat of such a disappointment; men cannot see clearly。 They impute wrong motives; base motives; to the backslider。 In their wrath; they assume that only guilt can account for his defection。
  We see plainly enough now that we misjudged Roosevelt。 We assumed that because he was with us in the crusade for pure politics; he agreed with us in the estimate we put on party loyalty。 Independents and mugwumps felt little reverence and set even less value on political parties; which we regarded simply as instruments to be used in carrying out policies。 If a party pursued a policy contrary to our own; we left it as we should leave a train which we found going in the wrong direction。 There was nothing sacred in a political party。
  In assuming that Roosevelt must have coincided with us in these views; we did him wrong。 For he held then; and had held since he first entered politics; that party transcended persons; and that only in the gravest case imaginable was one justified in bolting his party because one disapproved of its candidate。 He did not respect Blaine; on the contrary; he regarded Blaine as a bad man: but he believed that the future of the country would be much safer under the control of the Republican Party than under the Democratic。 This doctrine exposes its adherents to obvious criticism; if not to suspicion。 It enables persons of callous consciences to support bad platforms and bad candidates without blushing; but after all; who shall say at what point you are justified in bolting your party? The decision must rest with the individual。 And although it was hard for the bolting Independents in 1884 to accept the tenet that party transcends persons; it was Roosevelt's reason; and with him sincere。 Some of his colleagues in the better element who had struggled as he had to defeat Blaine; and then; almost effusively; exalted Blaine as their standard…bearer; were less fortunate than he in having their sincerity doubted。 George William Curtis; Carl Schurz; Charles Francis Adams; and other Independents of their intransigent temper formed a Mugwump Party and this turned the scale in electing Grover Cleveland President。
  There used to be much discussion as to who persuaded Roosevelt; although he detested Blaine; to stand by the Republicans in 1884。 Those were the days when very few of his critics understood that; in spite of his youth; he had already thought for himself on politics and had reached certain conclusions as to fundamental principles。 These critics assumed that he must have been won over by Henry Cabot Lodge; with whom he had been intimate since his Harvard days; and who was supposed to be his political mentor。 The truth is; however; that Roosevelt had formed his own opinion about bolting; and that he and Lodge; in discussing possibilities before they went to the Chicago Convention; had independently agreed that they must abide by the choice of the party there。 They held; and a majority of men in similar position still hold; that delegates cannot in honor abandon the nominee chosen by the majority in a convention which they attend as delegates。 If the rule; 〃My man; or nobody;〃 were to prevail; there would be no use in holding conventions at all。 And after that of 1884; George William Curtis; one of the chief leaders of the Independents; admitted that Roosevelt; in staying with the Republican Party; played the game fairly。 While Curtis himself bolted and helped to organize the Mugwumps; Roosevelt; after his trip to the West; returned to New York and took a vigorous part in the campaign。 Nevertheless; Roosevelt's decision; in 1884; to cleave to the Republican Party disappointed many of us。 We thought of him as a lost leader。 Some critics in their ignorance were inclined to impute false motives to him; but in time; the cloud of suspicion rolled away and his action in that crisis was not laid up against him。 The election of Cleveland relieved him of seeming perfunctorily to uphold Blaine。
  CHAPTER IV。 NATURE THE HEALER
  A perfect biography would show definitely the interaction between mind and body。 At present we can only guess what this interaction may be。 In some cases the relations are evident; but in most they are vague and often unsuspected。 The psychologists; whose pretensions are so great and whose actual results are still so small; may perhaps lead; an age or two hence; to the desired knowledge。 But the biographer of today must beware of adopting the unripe formulas of any immature science。 Nevertheless; he must watch; study; and record all the facts pertaining to his subject; although he cannot explain them。 Theodore Roosevelt was a wonderful example of the partnership of mind and body; and any one who writes his biography in detail will do well to pay great heed to this intricate interlocking。 I can do no more than allude to it here。 We have seen that Roosevelt from his earliest days had a quick mind; happily not precocious; and a weak body which prevented him from taking part in normal physical activity and the play and sport of