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diff --git a/38809-8.txt b/38809-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ba2220 --- /dev/null +++ b/38809-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12392 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 9 +(of 12), by Robert G. Ingersoll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 9 (of 12) + Dresden Edition--Political + +Author: Robert G. Ingersoll + +Release Date: February 9, 2012 [EBook #38809] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF INGERSOLL *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + + + +THE WORKS OF ROBERT G. INGERSOLL + +"HE LOVES HIS COUNTRY BEST WHO STRIVES TO MAKE IT BEST." + +IN TWELVE VOLUMES, VOLUME IX. + +POLITICAL + +NEW YORK THE DRESDEN PUBLISHING CO., C. P. FARRELL + +DRESDEN EDITION + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME IX. + + +AN ADDRESS TO THE COLORED PEOPLE. + +(1867.) + +Slavery and its Justification by Law and Religion--Its Destructive +Influence upon Nations--Inauguration of the Modern Slave Trade by the +Portuguese Gonzales--Planted upon American Soil--The Abolitionists, +Clarkson, Wilberforce, and Others--The Struggle in England--Pioneers +in San Domingo, Oge and Chevannes--Early Op-posers of Slavery in +America--William Lloyd Garrison--Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, John +Brown--The Fugitive Slave Law--The Emancipation Proclamation--Dread of +Education in the South--Advice to the Colored People. + + +INDIANAPOLIS SPEECH. + +(1868.) + +Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus--Precedent Established by the +Revolutionary Fathers--Committees of Safety appointed by the +Continental Congress--Arrest of Disaffected Persons in Pennsylvania +and Delaware--Interference with Elections--Resolution of Continental +Congress with respect to Citizens who Opposed the sending of Deputies +to the Convention of New York--Penalty for refusing to take Continental +Money or Pray for the American Cause--Habeas Corpus Suspended during the +Revolution--Interference with Freedom of the Press--Negroes Freed and +allowed to Fight in the Continental Army--Crispus Attacks--An Abolition +Document issued by Andrew Jackson--Majority rule--Slavery and the +Rebellion--Tribute to General Grant. + + +SPEECH NOMINATING BLAINE. + +(1876.) + +Note descriptive of the Occasion--Demand of the Republicans of the +United States--Resumption--The Plumed Knight. + + +CENTENNIAL ORATION. + +(1876.) + +One Hundred Years ago, our Fathers retired the Gods from Politics--The +Declaration of Independence--Meaning of the Declaration--The Old Idea +of the Source of Political Power--Our Fathers Educated by their +Surroundings--The Puritans--Universal Religious Toleration declared by +the Catholics of Maryland--Roger Williams--Not All of our Fathers in +favor of Independence--Fortunate Difference in Religious Views--Secular +Government--Authority derived from the People--The Declaration and +the Beginning of the War--What they Fought For--Slavery--Results of +a Hundred Years of Freedom--The Declaration Carried out in Letter and +Spirit. + + +BANGOR SPEECH. + +(1876.) + +The Hayes Campaign--Reasons for Voting the Republican Ticket--Abolition +of Slavery--Preservation of the Union--Reasons for Not Trusting the +Democratic Party--Record of the Republican Party--Democrats Assisted +the South--Paper Money--Enfranchisement of the Negroes--Samuel J. +Tilden--His Essay on Finance. + + +COOPER UNION SPEECH, NEW YORK. + +(1876.) + +All Citizens Stockholders in the United States of America--The +Democratic Party a Hungry Organization--Political Parties +Contrasted--The Fugitive Slave Law a Disgrace to Hell in its Palmiest +Days--Feelings of the Democracy Hurt on the Subject of Religion--Defence +of Slavery in a Resolution of the Presbyterians, South--State of the +Union at the Time the Republican Party was Born--Jacob Thompson--The +National Debt--Protection of Citizens Abroad--Tammany Hall: Its Relation +to the Penitentiary--The Democratic Party of New York City--"What +Hands!"--Free Schools. + + +INDIANAPOLIS SPEECH. + +(1876.) + +Address to the Veteran Soldiers of the Rebellion--Objections to +the Democratic Party--The Men who have been Democrats--Why I am a +Republican--Free Labor and Free Thought--A Vision of War--Democratic +Slander of the Greenback--Shall the People who Saved the Country Rule +It?--On Finance--Government Cannot Create Money--The Greenback Dollar +a Mortgage upon the Country--Guarantees that the Debt will be Paid-'The +Thoroughbred and the Mule--The Column of July, Paris--The Misleading +Guide Board, the Dismantled Mill, and the Place where there had been a +Hotel, + + +CHICAGO SPEECH. + +(1876.) + +The Plea of "Let Bygones be Bygones"--Passport of the Democratic +Party--Right of the General Government to send Troops into Southern +States for the Protection of Colored People--Abram S. Hewitt's +Congratulatory Letter to the Negroes--The Demand for Inflation of the +Currency--Record of Rutherford B. Hayes--Contrasted with Samuel J. +Tilden--Merits of the Republican Party--Negro and Southern White--The +Superior Man--"No Nation founded upon Injustice can Permanently Stand." + + +EIGHT TO SEVEN ADDRESS. + +(1877.) + +On the Electoral Commission--Reminiscences of the Hayes-Tilden Camp-- +Constitution of the Electoral College--Characteristics of the Members-- +Frauds at the Ballot Box Poisoning the Fountain of Power--Reforms +Suggested--Elections too Frequent--The Professional Office-seeker--A +Letter on Civil Service Reform--Young Men Advised against Government +Clerkships--Too Many Legislators and too Much Legislation--Defect in the +Constitution as to the Mode of Electing a President--Protection of +Citizens by State and General Governments--The Dual Government in South +Carolina--Ex-Rebel Key in the President's Cabinet--Implacables and +Bourbons South and North--"I extend to you each and all the Olive Branch +of Peace." + + +HARD TIMES AND THE WAY OUT. + +(1878.) + +Capital and Labor--What is a Capitalist?--The Idle and the Industrious +Artisans--No Conflict between Capital and Labor--A Period of Inflation +and Speculation--Life and Fire Insurance Agents--Business done on +Credit--The Crash, Failure, and Bankruptcy--Fall in the Price of Real +Estate a Form of Resumption--Coming back to Reality--Definitions of +Money Examined--Not Gold and Silver but Intelligent Labor the Measure +of Value--Government cannot by Law Create Wealth--A Bill of Fare not +a Dinner--Fiat Money--American Honor Pledged to the Maintenance of the +Greenbacks--The Cry against Holders of Bonds--Criminals and Vagabonds to +be supported--Duty of Government to Facilitate Enterprise--More Men must +Cultivate the Soil--Government Aid for the Overcoming of Obstacles too +Great for Individual Enterprise--The Palace Builders the Friends of +Labor--Extravagance the best Form of Charity--Useless to Boost a Man +who is not Climbing--The Reasonable Price for Labor--The Vagrant and his +strange and winding Path--What to tell the Working Men. + + +SUFFRAGE ADDRESS. + +(1880.) + +The Right to Vote--All Women who desire the Suffrage should have +It--Shall the People of the District of Columbia Manage their Own +Affairs--Their Right to a Representative in Congress and an Electoral +Vote--Anomalous State of Affairs at the Capital of the Republic--Not the +Wealthy and Educated alone should Govern--The Poor as Trustworthy as the +Rich--Strict Registration Laws Needed. + + +WALL STREET SPEECH. + +(1880.) + +Obligation of New York to Protect the Best Interests of the +Country--Treason and Forgery of the Democratic Party in its Appeal to +Sword and Pen--The One Republican in the Penitentiary of Maine--The +Doctrine of State Sovereignty--Protection for American Brain and +Muscle--Hancock on the Tariff--A Forgery (the Morey letter) Committed +and upheld--The Character of James A. Garfield. + + +BROOKLYN SPEECH. + +(1880.) + +Introduced by Henry Ward Beecher (note)--Some Patriotic +Democrats--Freedom of Speech North and South--An Honest Ballot-- + + + + +AN ADDRESS TO THE COLORED PEOPLE. + + * An address delivered to the colored people at Galesburg, + Illinois, 1867. + + +FELLOW-CITIZENS--Slavery has in a thousand forms existed in all ages, +and among all people. It is as old as theft and robbery. + +Every nation has enslaved its own people, and sold its own flesh and +blood. Most of the white race are in slavery to-day. It has often been +said that any man who ought to be free, will be. The men who say this +should remember that their own ancestors were once cringing, frightened, +helpless slaves. + +When they became sufficiently educated to cease enslaving their own +people, they then enslaved the first race they could conquer. If they +differed in religion, they enslaved them. If they differed in color, +that was sufficient. If they differed even in language, it was enough. +If they were captured, they then pretended that having spared their +lives, they had the right to enslave them. This argument was worthless. +If they were captured, then there was no necessity for killing them. If +there was no necessity for killing them, then they had no right to +kill them. If they had no right to kill them, then they had no right to +enslave them under the pretence that they had saved their lives. + +Every excuse that the ingenuity of avarice could devise was believed to +be a complete justification, and the great argument of slaveholders in +all countries has been that slavery is a divine institution, and thus +stealing human beings has always been fortified with a "Thus saith the +Lord." + +Slavery has been upheld by law and religion in every country. The word +Liberty is not in any creed in the world. Slavery is right according to +the law of man, shouted the judge. It is right according to the law of +God, shouted the priest. Thus sustained by what they were pleased to +call the law of God and man, slaveholders never voluntarily freed the +slaves, with the exception of the Quakers. The institution has in all +ages been clung to with the tenacity of death; clung to until it sapped +and destroyed the foundations of society; clung to until all law became +violence; clung to until virtue was a thing only of history; clung to +until industry folded its arms--until commerce reefed every sail--until +the fields were desolate and the cities silent, except where the poor +free asked for bread, and the slave for mercy; clung to until the slave +forging the sword of civil war from his fetters drenched the land in the +master's blood. Civil war has been the great liberator of the world. + +Slavery has destroyed every nation that has gone down to death. It +caused the last vestige of Grecian civilization to disappear forever, +and it caused Rome to fall with a crash that shook the world. After +the disappearance of slavery in its grossest forms in Europe, Gonzales +pointed out to his countrymen, the Portuguese, the immense profits that +they could make by stealing Africans, and thus commenced the modern +slave-trade--that aggregation of all horror--that infinite of all +cruelty, prosecuted only by demons, and defended only by fiends. And +yet the slave-trade has been defended and sustained by every civilized +nation, and by each and all has been baptized "Legitimate commerce," in +the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost: + +It was even justified upon the ground that it tended to Christianize the +negro. + +It was of the poor hypocrites who had used this argument that Whittier +said, + + "They bade the slaveship speed from coast to coast, + Fanned by the wings of the Holy Ghost." + +Backed and supported by such Christian and humane arguments slavery was +planted upon our soil in 1620, and from that day to this it has been +the cause of all our woes, of all the bloodshed--of all the +heart-burnings--hatred and horrors of more than two hundred years, and +yet we hated to part with the beloved institution. Like Pharaoh we would +not let the people go. He was afflicted with vermin, with frogs--with +water turned to blood--with several kinds of lice, and yet would not let +the people go. We were afflicted with worse than all these combined--the +Northern Democracy--before we became grand enough to say, "Slavery +shall be eradicated from the soil of the Republic." When we reached this +sublime moral height we were successful. The Rebellion was crushed and +liberty established. + +A majority of the civilized world is for freedom--nearly all the +Christian denominations are for liberty. The world has changed--the +people are nobler, better and purer than ever. + +Every great movement must be led by heroic and self-sacrificing +pioneers. In England, in Christian England, the soul of the abolition +cause was Thomas Clarkson. To the great cause of human freedom he +devoted his life. He won over the eloquent and glorious Wilberforce, +the great Pitt, the magnificent orator, Burke, and that far-seeing and +humane statesman, Charles James Fox. + +In 1788 a resolution was introduced in the House of Commons declaring +that the slave trade ought to be abolished. It was defeated. Learned +lords opposed it. They said that too much capital was invested by +British merchants in the slave-trade. That if it were abolished the +ships would rot at the wharves, and that English commerce would be swept +from the seas. Sanctified Bishops--lords spiritual--thought the scheme +fanatical, and various resolutions to the same effect were defeated. + +The struggle lasted twenty years, and yet during all those years in +which England refused to abolish the hellish trade, that nation had the +impudence to send missionaries all over the world to make converts to +a religion that in their opinion, at least, allowed man to steal his +brother man--that allowed one Christian to rob another of his wife, his +child, and of that greatest of all blessings--his liberty. It was not +until the year 1808 that England was grand and just enough to abolish +the slave-trade, and not until 1833 that slavery was abolished in all +her colonies. + +The name of Thomas Clarkson should be remembered and honored through all +coming time by every black man, and by every white man who loves liberty +and hates cruelty and injustice. + +Clarkson, Wilberforce, Pitt, Fox, Burke, were the Titans that swept the +accursed slaver from that highway--the sea. + +In St. Domingo the pioneers were Oge and Chevannes; they headed +a revolt; they were unsuccessful, but they roused the slaves to +resistance. They were captured, tried, condemned and executed. They were +made to ask forgiveness of God, and of the King, for having attempted to +give freedom to their own flesh and blood. They were broken alive on the +wheel, and left to die of hunger and pain. The blood of these martyrs +became the seed of liberty; and afterward in the midnight assault, in +the massacre and pillage, the infuriated slaves shouted their names +as their battle-cry, until Toussaint, the greatest of the blacks, gave +freedom to them all. + +In the United States, among the Revolutionary fathers, such men as John +Adams, and his son John Quincy--such men as Franklin and John Jay were +opposed to the institution of slavery. Thomas Jefferson said, speaking +of the slaves, "When the measure of their tears shall be full--when +their groans shall have involved heaven itself in darkness--doubtless a +God of justice will awaken to their distress, and by diffusing light +and liberality among their oppressors, or at length by his exterminating +thunder manifest his attention to the things of this world, and that +they are not left to the guidance of a blind fatality." + +Thomas Paine said, "No man can be happy surrounded by those whose +happiness he has destroyed." And a more self-evident proposition was +never uttered. + +These and many more Revolutionary heroes were opposed to slavery and +did what they could to prevent the establishment and spread of this most +wicked and terrible of all institutions. + +You owe gratitude to those who were for liberty as a principle and not +from mere necessity. You should remember with more than gratitude that +firm, consistent and faithful friend of your downtrodden race, Wm. +Lloyd Garrison. He has devoted his life to your cause. Many years ago in +Boston he commenced the publication of a paper devoted to liberty. +Poor and despised--friendless and almost alone, he persevered in that +grandest and holiest of all possible undertakings. He never stopped, or +stayed, or paused until the chain was broken and the last slave could +lift his toil-worn face to heaven with the light of freedom shining down +upon him, and say, I am a Free Man. + +You should not forget that noble philanthropist, Wendell Phillips, and +your most learned and eloquent defender, Charles Sumner. + +But the real pioneer in America was old John Brown. Moved not by +prejudice, not by love of his blood, or his color, but by an infinite +love of Liberty, of Right, of Justice, almost single-handed, he attacked +the monster, with thirty million people against him. His head was wrong. +He miscalculated his forces; but his heart was right. He struck the +sublimest blow of the age for freedom. It was said of him that, he +stepped from the gallows to the throne of God. It was said that he +had made the scaffold to Liberty what Christ had made the cross to +Christianity. The sublime Victor Hugo declared that John Brown was +greater than Washington, and that his name would live forever. + +I say, that no man can be greater than the man who bravely and +heroically sacrifices his life for the good of others. No man can be +greater than the one who meets death face to face, and yet will not +shrink from what he believes to be his highest duty. If the black people +want a patron saint, let them take the brave old John Brown. And as the +gentleman who preceded me said, at all your meetings, never separate +until you have sung the grand song, + + "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, + But his soul goes marching on." + +You do not, in my opinion, owe a great debt of gratitude to many of the +white people. + +Only a few years ago both parties agreed to carry out the Fugitive +Slave Law. If a woman ninety-nine one-hundredths white had fled from +slavery--had traveled through forests, crossed rivers, and through +countless sufferings had got within one step of Canada--of free +soil--with the light of the North Star shining in her eyes, and her babe +pressed to her withered breast, both parties agreed to clutch her and +hand her back to the dominion of the hound and lash. Both parties, as +parties, were willing to do this when the Rebellion commenced. + +The truth is, we had to give you your liberty. There came a time in +the history of the war when, defeated at the ballot box and in the +field--driven to the shattered gates of eternal chaos--we were forced +to make you free; and on the first day of January, 1863, the justice so +long delayed was done, and four millions of people were lifted from +the condition of beasts of burden to the sublime heights of freedom. +Lincoln, the immortal, issued, and the men of the North sustained the +great proclamation. + +As in the war there came a time when we were forced to make you free, so +in the history of reconstruction came a time when we were forced to make +you citizens; when we were forced to say that you should vote, and that +you should have and exercise all the rights that we claim for ourselves. + +And to-day I am in favor of giving you every right that I claim for +myself. + +In reconstructing the Southern States, we could take our choice, either +give the ballot to the negro, or allow the rebels to rule. We preferred +loyal blacks to disloyal whites, because we believed liberty safer in +the hands of its friends than in those of its foes. + +We must be for freedom everywhere. Freedom is progress--slavery is +desolation, cruelty and want. + +Freedom invents--slavery forgets. The problem of the slave is to do the +least work in the longest space of time. The problem of free men is to +do the greatest amount of work in the shortest space of time. The free +man, working for wife and children, gets his head and his hands in +partnership. + +Freedom has invented every useful machine, from the lowest to the +highest, from the simplest to the most complex. Freedom believes in +education--the salvation of slavery is ignorance. + +The South always dreaded the alphabet. They looked upon each letter as +an abolitionist, and well they might. With a scent keener than their own +bloodhounds they detected everything that could, directly or indirectly, +interfere with slavery. They knew that when slaves begin to think, +masters begin to tremble. They knew that free thought would destroy +them; that discussion could not be endured; that a free press would +liberate every slave; and so they mobbed free thought, and put an end to +free discussion and abolished a free press, and in fact did all the +mean and infamous things they could, that slavery might live, and that +liberty might perish from among men. + +You are now citizens of many of the States, and in time you will be +of all. I am astonished when I think how long it took to abolish the +slave-trade, how long it took to abolish slavery in this country. I am +also astonished to think that a few years ago magnificent steamers went +down the Mississippi freighted with your fathers, mothers, brothers, +and sisters, and maybe some of you, bound like criminals, separated from +wives, from husbands, every human feeling laughed at and outraged, sold +like beasts, carried away from homes to work for another, receiving for +pay only the marks of the lash upon the naked back. I am astonished +at these things. I hate to think that all this was done under the +Constitution of the United States, under the flag of my country, under +the wings of the eagle. + +The flag was not then what it is now. It was a mere rag in comparison. +The eagle was a buzzard, and the Constitution sanctioned the greatest +crime of the world. + +I wonder that you--the black people--have forgotten all this. I wonder +that you ask a white man to address you on this occasion, when the +history of your connection with the white race is written in your blood +and tears--is still upon your flesh, put there by the branding-iron and +the lash. + +I feel like asking your forgiveness for the wrongs that my race has +inflicted upon yours. If, in the future, the wheel of fortune should +take a turn, and you should in any country have white men in your power, +I pray you not to execute the villainy we have taught you. + +One word in conclusion. You have your liberty--use it to benefit your +race. Educate yourselves, educate your children, send teachers to the +South. Let your brethren there be educated. Let them know something of +art and science. Improve yourselves, stand by each other, and above all +be in favor of liberty the world over. + +The time is coming when you will be' allowed to be good and useful +citizens of the Great Republic. This is your country as much as it is +mine. You have the same rights here that I have--the same interest +that I have. The avenues of distinction will be open to you and your +children. Great advances have been made. The rebels are now opposed +to slavery--the Democratic party is opposed to slavery, _as they say_. +There is going to be no war of races. Both parties want your votes in +the South, and there will be just enough negroes without principle to +join the rebels to make them think they will get more, and so the rebels +will treat the negroes well. And the Republicans will be sure to treat +them well in order to prevent any more joining the rebels. + +The great problem is solved. Liberty has solved it--and there will be no +more slavery. On the old flag, on every fold and on every star will be +liberty for all, equality before the law. The grand people are marching +forward, and they will not pause until the earth is without a chain, and +without a throne. + + + + +SPEECH AT INDIANAPOLIS. + + * Hon. Robert G. Ingersoll, Attorney-General of Illinois, + spoke at the Rink last night to a large and appreciative + audience among whom were many ladies. The distinguished + speaker was escorted to the Rink by the battalion of the + Fighting Boys in Blue. Col. Ingersoll spoke at a great + disadvantage in having so large a hall to fill, but he has a + splendid voice and so overcame the difficulty. The audience + liberally applauded the numerous passages of eloquence and + humor in Col. Ingersoll's speeeh, and listened with the best + attention to his powerful argument, nor could they have done + otherwise, for the speaker has a national reputation and did + himself full justice last night--The Journal, Indianapolis, + Indiana, September 23, 1868. + + +GRANT CAMPAIGN + +THE Democratic party, so-called, have several charges which they make +against the Republican party. They give us a variety of reasons why the +Republican party should no longer be entrusted with the control of this +country. Among other reasons they say that the Republican party +during the war was guilty of arresting citizens without due process of +law--that we arrested Democrats and put them in jail without indictment, +in Lincoln bastiles, without making an affidavit before a Justice +of the Peace--that on some occasions we suspended the writ of _habeas +corpus_, that we put some Democrats in jail without their being +indicted. I am sorry we did not put more. I admit we arrested some +of them without an affidavit filed before a Justice of the Peace. I +sincerely regret that we did not arrest more. I admit that for a few +hours on one or two occasions we interfered with the freedom of the +press; I sincerely regret that the Government allowed a sheet to exist +that did not talk on the side of this Government. + +I admit that we did all these things. + +It is only proper and fair that we should answer these charges. +Unless the Republican party can show that they did these things +either according to the strict letter of law, according to the highest +precedent, or from the necessity of the case, then we must admit that +our party did wrong. You know as well as I that every Democratic +orator talks about the fathers, about Washington and Jackson, Madison, +Jefferson, and many others; they tell us about the good old times when +politicians were pure, when you could get justice in the courts, when +Congress was honest, when the political parties differed, and differed +kindly and honestly; and they are shedding crocodile tears day after +day--praying that the good old honest times might return again. They +tell you that the members of this radical party are nothing like the men +of the Revolution. Let us see. + +I lay this down as a proposition, that we had a right to do anything to +preserve this Government that our fathers had a right to do to found +it. If they had a right to put Tories in jail, to suspend the writ of +_habeas corpus_, and on some occasions _corpus_, in order to found this +Government, we had a right to put rebels and Democrats in jail and to +suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ in order to preserve the Government +they thus formed. If they had a right to interfere with the freedom of +the press in order that liberty might be planted upon this soil, we had +a right to do the same thing to prevent the tree from being destroyed. +In a word, we had a right to do anything to preserve this Government +which they had a right to do to found it. + +Did our fathers arrest Tories without writs, without indictments--did +they interfere with the personal rights of Tories in the name of +liberty--did they have Washington bastiles, did they have Jefferson +jails--did they have dungeons in the time of the Revolution in which +they put men that dared talk against this country and the liberties of +the colonies? I propose to show that they did--that where we imprisoned +one they imprisoned a hundred--that where we interfered with personal +liberty once they did it a hundred times--that they carried on a war +that _was_ a war--that they knew that when an appeal was made to +force that was the end of law--that they did not attempt to gain their +liberties through a Justice of the Peace or through a Grand Jury; that +they appealed to force and the God of battles, and that any man who +sought their protection and at the same time was against them and their +cause they took by the nape of the neck and put in jail, where he ought +to have been. + +The old Continental Congress in 1774 and 1776 had made up their minds +that we ought to have something like liberty in these colonies, and the +first step they took toward securing that end was to provide for the +selection of a committee in every county and township, with a view to +examining and finding out how the people stood touching the liberty of +the colonies, and if they found a man that was not in favor of it, the +people would not have anything to do with him politically, religiously, +or socially. That was the first step they took, and a very sensible step +it was. + +What was the next step? They found that these men were so lost to every +principle of honor that they did not hurt them any by disgracing them. + +So they passed the following resolution which explains itself: + +_Resolved_. That it be recommended to the several provincial assemblies +or conventions or councils, or committees of safety, to arrest and +secure every person in their respective colonies whose going at +large, may, in their opinion, endanger the safety of the colony or the +liberties of America.--Journal of Congress, vol. 1, page 149. + +What was the Committee of Safety? Was it a Justice of the Peace? No. Was +it a Grand Jury? No. It was simply a committee of five or seven persons, +more or less, appointed to watch over the town or county and see that +these Tories were attending to their business and not interfering with +the rights of the colonies. Whom were they to thus arrest and secure? +Every man that had committed murder--that had taken up arms against +America, or voted the Democratic or Tory ticket? No. "Every person whose +going at large might in their opinion, endanger the safety of the +colony or the liberties of America." It was not necessary that they +had committed any overt act, but if in the opinion of this council of +safety, it was dangerous to let them run at large they were locked up. +Suppose that we had done that during the last war? You would have had to +build several new jails in this county. What a howl would have gone up +all over this State if we had attempted such a thing as that, and yet we +had a perfect right to do anything to preserve our liberties, which our +fathers had a right to do to obtain them. + +What more did they do? In 1777 the same Congress that signed the +immortal Declaration of Independence (and I think they knew as much +about liberty and the rights of men as any Democrat in Marion county) +adopted another resolution: + +_Resolved_. That it be recommended to the Executive powers of the +several States, forthwith to apprehend and secure all persons who have +in their general conduct and conversation evinced a disposition inimical +to the cause of America, and that the persons so seized be confined in +such places and treated in such manner as shall be consistent with their +several characters and security of their persons.---Journal of Congress, +vol. 2, p. 246. + +If they had talked as the Democrats talked during the late war--if +they had called the soldiers, "Washington hirelings," and if when they +allowed a few negroes to help them fight, had branded the struggle for +liberty as an abolition war, they would be "apprehended and confined +in such places and treated in such manner as was consistent with their +characters and security of their persons," and yet all they did was to +show a disposition inimical to the independence of America. If we had +pursued a policy like that during the late war, nine out of ten of the +members of the Democratic party would have been in jail--there would +not have been jails and prisons enough on the face of the whole earth to +hold them. . + +Now, when a Democrat talks to you about Lincoln bastiles, just quote +this to him: + +_Whereas_, The States of Pennsylvania and Delaware are threatened with +an immediate invasion from a powerful army, who have already landed at +the head of Chesapeake Bay; and whereas, The principles of sound +policy and self-preservation require that persons who may be reasonably +suspected of aiding or abetting the cause of the enemy may be prevented +from pursuing measures injurious to the general weal, + +_Resolved_, That the executive authorities of the States of Pennsylvania +and Delaware be requested to cause all persons within their respective +States, notoriously disaffected, to be apprehended, disarmed and secured +until such time as the respective States think they may be released +without injury to the common cause.---Journal of Congress, vol. 2, p. +240. + +That is what they did with them. When there was an invasion threatened +the good State of Indiana, if we had said we will imprison all men who +by their conduct and conversation show that they are inimical to our +cause, we would have been obliged to import jails and corral Democrats +as we did mules in the army. Our fathers knew that the flag was never +intended to protect any man who wanted to assail it. + +What more did they do? There was a man by the name of David Franks, who +wrote a letter and wanted to send it to England. In that letter he gave +it as his opinion that the colonies were becoming disheartened and sick +of the war. The heroic and chivalric fathers of the Revolution violated +the mails, took the aforesaid letter and then they took the aforesaid +David Franks by the collar and put him in jail. Then they passed +a resolution in Congress that inasmuch as the said letter showed a +disposition inimical to the liberties of the United States, Major +General Arnold be requested to cause the said David Franks to be +forthwith arrested, put in jail and confined till the further order of +Congress. (Jour. Cong., vol. 3, p. 96 and 97.) + +How many Democrats wrote letters during the war declaring that the North +never could conquer the South? How many wrote letters to the soldiers in +the army telling them to shed no more fraternal blood in that suicidal +and unchristian war? It would have taken all the provost marshals in the +United States to arrest the Democrats in Indiana who were guilty of that +offence. And yet they are talking about our fathers being such good men, +while they are cursing us fordoing precisely what they did, only to a +less extent than they did. + +We are still on the track of the old Continental Congress. I want you to +understand the spirit that animated those men. They passed a resolution +which is particularly applicable to the Democrats during the war: + +With respect to all such unworthy Americans as, regardless of their duty +to their Creator, their country, and their posterity, have taken part +with our oppressors, and, influenced by the hope or possession of +ignominious rewards, strive to recommend themselves to the bounty of +the administration by misrepresenting and traducing the conduct and +principles of the friends of American liberty, and opposing every +measure formed for its preservation and security, + +_Resolved_, That it be recommended to the different assemblies, +conventions and committees or councils of safety in the United Colonies, +by the most speedy and effectual measures, to frustrate the mischievous +machinations and restrain the wicked practices of these men. And it is +the opinion of this Congress that they ought to be disarmed and the +more dangerous among them either kept in safe custody or bound with +sufficient sureties for their good behavior. + +And in order that the said assemblies, conventions, committees or +councils of safety may be enabled with greater ease and facility to +carry this resolution into execution, + +_Resolved_, That they be authorized to call to their aid whatever +Continental troops stationed in or near their respective colonies +that may be conveniently spared from their more immediate duties, and +commanding officers of such troops are hereby directed to afford the +said assemblies, conventions, committees or councils of safety, all such +assistance in executing this resolution as they may require, and which, +consistent with the good of the service, may be supplied--Journal of +Congress, vol. i, p. 22, + +Do you hear that, Democrat? The old Continental Congress said to these +committees and councils of safety: "Whenever you want to arrest any +of these scoundrels, call on the Continental troops." And General +Washington, the commander-in-chief of the army, and the officers under +him, were directed to aid in the enforcement of all the measures adopted +with reference to disaffected and dangerous persons. And what had these +persons done? Simply shown by their conversation, and letters directed +to their friends, that they were opposed to the cause of American +liberty. They did not even spare the Governors of States. They were not +appalled by any official position that a Tory might hold. They simply +said, "If you are not in favor of American liberty, we will put you +'where the dogs won't bite you.'" One of these men was Governor Eden of +Maryland. Congress passed a resolution requesting the Council of Safety +of Maryland to seize and secure his person and papers, and send such of +them as related to the American dispute to Congress without delay. At +the same time the person and papers of another man, one Alexander Ross, +were seized in the same manner. Ross was put in jail, and his papers +transmitted to Congress. + +There was a fellow by the name of Parke and another by the name of +Morton, who presumed to undertake a journey from Philadelphia to New +York without getting a pass. Congress ordered them to be arrested and +imprisoned until further orders. They did not wait to have an affidavit +filed before a Justice of the Peace. They took them by force and put +them in jail, and that was the end of it. So much for the policy of the +fathers, in regard to arbitrary arrests. + +During the war there was a great deal said about our occasionally +interfering with the elections. Let us see how the fathers stood upon +that question. + +They held a convention in the State of New York in Revolutionary times, +and there were some gentlemen in Queens County that were playing the +role of Kentucky--they were going to be neutral--they refused to vote to +send deputies to the convention--they stood upon their dignity just as +Kentucky stood upon hers--a small place to stand on, the Lord knows. +What did our fathers do with them? They denounced them as unworthy to be +American citizens and hardly fit to live. Here is a resolution adopted +by the Continental Congress on the 3d of January, 1776: + +_Resolved_, That all such persons in Queens County aforesaid as voted +against sending deputies to the present Convention of New York, and +named in a list of delinquents in Queens County, published by the +Convention of New York, be put out of the protection of the United +Colonies, and that all trade and intercourse with them cease; that none +of the inhabitants of that county be permitted to travel or abide in any +part of these United Colonies out of their said colony without a +certificate from the Convention or Committee of Safety of the Colony of +New York, setting forth that such inhabitant is a friend of the American +cause, and not of the number of those who voted against sending deputies +to the said Convention, and that such of the inhabitants as shall be +found out of the said county without such certificate, be apprehended +and imprisoned three months. + +_Resolved_, That no attorney or lawyer ought to commence, prosecute or +defend any action at law of any kind, for any of the said inhabitants of +Queens County, who voted against sending deputies to the Convention +as aforesaid, and such attorney or lawyer as shall countenance this +revolution, are enemies to the American cause, and shall be treated +accordingly. + +What had they done? Simply voted against sending delegates to the +convention, and yet the fathers not only put them out of the protection +of law, but prohibited any lawyer from appearing in their behalf in a +court. Democrats, don't you wish we had treated you that way during the +war? + +What more did they do? They ordered a company of troops from +Connecticut, and two or three companies from New Jersey, to go into the +State of New York, and take away from every person who had voted against +sending deputies to the convention, all his arms, and if anybody refused +to give up his arms, they put him in jail. Don't you wish you had lived +then, my friend Democrat? Don't you wish you had prosecuted the war as +our fathers prosecuted the Revolution? + +I now want to show you how far they went in this direction. A man by the +name of Sutton, who lived on Long Island, had been going around giving +his constitutional opinions upon the war. They had him arrested, and +went on to resolve that he should be taken from Philadelphia, pay the +cost of transportation himself, be put in jail there, and while in jail +should board himself. Wouldn't a Democrat have had a hard scramble for +victuals if we had carried out that idea? Just see what outrageous and +terrible things the fathers did. And why did they do it? Because they +saw that in order to establish the liberties of America it was necessary +they should take the Tory by the throat just as it was necessary for us +to take rebels by the throat during the late war. + +They had paper money in those days--shin-plasters--and some of the +Democrats of those times had legal doubts about this paper currency. One +of these Democrats, Thomas Harriott, was called before a Committee of +Safety of New York, and there convicted of having refused to receive in +payment the Continental bills. The committee of New York conceiving that +he was a dangerous person, informed the Provincial Congress of the facts +in the case, and inquired whether Congress thought he ought to go at +large. Upon receipt of this information by Congress an order for the +imprisonment of the offender was passed, as follows: + +_Resolved_, That the General Committee of the city of New York be +requested and authorized, and are hereby requested and authorized to +direct that Thomas Harriott be committed to close jail in this city, +there to remain until further orders of this Congress.--Amer. Archives, +4th series, vol. 6, P. i, 344. + +And yet all that he had done was to refuse to take Continental money. +He had simply given his opinion on the legal tender law, just as the +Democrats of Indiana did in regard to greenbacks, and as a few circuit +judges decided when they declared the Legal Tender Act unconstitutional. +It would have been perfectly proper and right that they, every man of +them, should be, like Thomas Harriott, "committed to close jail, there +to remain until further orders." + +Did our forefathers ever interfere with religion? Yes, they did with +a preacher by the name of Daniels, because he would not pray for the +American cause. He thought he could coax the Lord to beat us. They said +to him, "You pray on our side, sir." He would not do it, and so they put +him in jail and gave him work enough to pray himself out, and it took +him some time to do it. They interfered with a _lack_ of religion. They +believed that a Tory or traitor in the pulpit was no better than anybody +else. That is the way I have sometimes felt during the war. I have +thought that I would like to see some of those white cravatted gentlemen +"snaked" right out of the pulpits where they had dared to utter their +treason, and set to playing checkers through a grated window. + +It is not possible that our fathers ever interfered with the writ of +_habeas corpus_, is it? Yes sir. Our fathers advocated the doctrine +that the good of the people is the supreme law of the land. They also +advocated the doctrine that in the midst of armies law falls to the +ground; the doctrine that when a country is in war it is to be governed +by the laws of war. They thought that laws were made for the protection +of good citizens, for the punishment of citizens that were bad, when +they were not too bad or too numerous; then they threw the law-book down +while they took the cannon and whipped the badness out of them; that is +the next step, when the stones you throw, and kind words, and grass have +failed. They said, why did we not appeal to law? We did; but it did no +good. A large portion of the people were up in arms in defiance of law, +and there was only one way to put them down, and that was by force of +arms; and whenever an appeal is made to force, that force is governed by +the law of war. + +The fathers suspended the writ in the case of a man who had committed +an offence in the State of New York. They sent him to the State of +Connecticut to be confined, just as men were sent from Indiana to Fort +Lafayette. The attorneys came before the convention of New York to hear +the matter inquired into, but the committee of the convention to whom +the matter was referred refused to inquire into the original cause of +commitment--a direct denial of the authority of the writ. The writ of +_habeas corpus_ merely brings the body before the judge that he may +inquire why he is imprisoned. They refused to make any such inquiry. +Their action was endorsed by the convention and the gentleman was sent +to Connecticut and put in jail. They not only did these things in one +instance, but in a thousand. They took men from Maryland and put them in +prison in Pennsylvania, and they took men from Pennsylvania and confined +them in Maryland, Whenever they thought the Tories were so thick at +one point that the rascals might possibly be released, they took them +somewhere else. + +They did not interfere with the freedom of the press, did they? Yes, +sir. They found a gentleman who was speaking and writing against the +liberties of the colonies, and they just took his paper away from him, +and gave it to a man who ran it in the interest of the colonies, using +the Tory's type and press. [A voice--That was right.] Right! of course +it was right. What right has a newspaper in Indiana to talk against the +cause for which your son is laying down his life on the field of battle? +What right has any man to make it take thousands of men more to crush a +rebellion? What right has any man protected by the American flag to do +all in his power to put it in the hands of the enemies of his country? +The same right that any man has to be a rascal, a thief and traitor--no +other right under heaven. Our fathers had sense enough to see that, and +they said, "One gentleman in the rear printing against our noble cause, +will cost us hundreds of noble lives at the front." Why have you a right +to take a rebel's horse? Because it helps you and weakens the enemy. +That is by the law of war. That is the principle upon which they seized +the Tory printing press. They had the right to do it. And if I had had +the power in this country, no man should have said a word, or written a +line, or printed anything against the cause for which the heroic men of +the North sacrificed their lives. I would have enriched the soil of this +country with him before he should have done it. A man by the name of +James Rivington undertook to publish a paper against the country. They +would not speak to him; they denounced him, seized his press, and made +him ask forgiveness and promise to print no more such stuff before they +would let him have his sheet again. No person but a rebel ever thought +that was wrong. There is no common sense in going to the field to fight +and leaving a man at home to undo all that you accomplish. + +Our fathers did not like these Tories, and when the war was over they +confiscated their estates--took their land and gave it over to good +Union men. + +How did they do it? Did they issue summons, and have a trial? No, sir. +They did it by wholesale--they did it by resolution, and the estates of +hundreds of men were taken from them without their having a day in court +or any notice or trial whatever. They said to the Tories: "You cast +your fortunes with the other side, let them pay you. The flag you fought +against protects the land you owned and it will prevent you from having +it." Nor is that all. They ran thousands of them out of the country away +up into Nova Scotia, and the old blue-nosed Tories are there yet. + +In his letter to Governor Cooke of Rhode Island, Washington enumerates +an act of that colony, declaring that "none should speak, write, or act +against the proceedings of Congress or their Acts of Assembly, under +penalty of being disarmed and disqualified from holding any office, +and being further punished by imprisonment," as one that met his +approbation, and which should exist in other colonies. There is the +doctrine for you Democrats. So I could go on by the hour or by the +day. I could show you how they made domiciliary visits, interfered +with travel, imprisoned without any sort of writ or affidavit--in other +words, did whatever they thought was necessary to whip the enemy and +establish their independence. + +What next do they charge against us? That we freed negroes. So we did. +That we allowed those negroes to fight in the army. Yes, we did, +That we allowed them to vote. We did that too. That we have made them +citizens. Yes, we have, and what are you Democrats going to do about it? + +Now, what did our fathers do? Did they free any of the negroes? Yes, +sir. Did they allow any of them to fight in the army? Yes, sir. Did they +permit any of them to vote? Yes, sir. Did they make them citizens? Yes, +sir. Let us see whether they did or not. + +Before we had the present Constitution we had what were called Articles +of Confederation. The fourth of those articles provided that every +free inhabitant of the colony should be a citizen. It did not make any +difference whether he was white or black; and negroes voted by the side +of Washington and Jefferson. Just here the question arises, if negroes +were good enough in 1787 and 1790 to vote by the side of such men, +whether rebels and their sympathizers are good enough now to vote +alongside of the negro. + +Did they let any of these negroes fight? In 1750, when Massachusetts had +slaves, there appeared in the Boston Gazette the following notice: + +"Ran away from his master, Wm. Brown, of Framingham, on the 30th +September last, a mulatto fellow, about 27 years of age, named Crispus, +about 6 feet high, short curly hair, had on a light colored bear-skin +coat, brown jacket, new buckskin breeches, blue yarn stockings and check +woolen shirt," etc. + +This "mulatto fellow" did not come back, and so they advertised the next +week and the week following, but still the toes of the blue yarn socks +pointed the other way. That was in 1750. 1760 came and 1770, and the +people of this continent began to talk about having their liberties. And +while wise and thoughtful men were talking about it, making petitions +for popular rights and laying them at the foot of the throne, the King's +troops were in Boston. One day they marched down King street, on their +way to arrest some citizen. The soldiery were attacked by a mob, and at +its head was a "mulatto fellow" who shouted "here they are," and it was +observed that this "mulatto fellow" was about six feet high--that his +knees were nearer together than common, and that he was about 47 years +of age. The soldiers fired upon the mob and he fell, shot through +with five balls--the first man that led a charge against British +aggression--the first martyr whose blood was shed for American liberty +upon this soil. They took up that poor corpse, and as it lay in Faneuil +Hall it did more honor to the place than did Daniel Webster defending +the Fugitive Slave Law. + +They allowed him to fight. Would our fathers have been brutal enough, +if he had not been killed, to put him back into slavery? No! They would +have said that a man who fights for liberty should enjoy it. If a man +fights for that flag it shall protect him. Perish forever from the +heavens the flag that will not defend its defenders, be they white or +black. + +Thus our fathers felt. They raised negro troops by the company and the +regiment, and gave his liberty to every man that fought for liberty. Not +only that, but they allowed them to vote. They voted in the Carolinas, +in Tennessee, in New York, in all the New England States. Our fathers +had too much decency to act upon the Democratic doctrine. + +In the war of 1812, negroes fought at Lake Erie and at New Orleans, and +then the fathers, as in the Revolution, were too magnanimous to turn +them back into slavery. You need not get mad, my Democratic friends, +because you hate Ben. Butler. Let me read you an abolition document. + +You will all say it is right; you cannot say anything else when you hear +it. Butler, you know, was down in New Orleans, and he made some of those +rebels dance a tune that they did not know, and he made them keep pretty +good time too: + +_To the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana:_ + +Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been deprived of a +participation in the glorious struggle for national rights in which our +country is engaged. This shall no longer exist. As sons of freedom +you are now called upon to defend our most inestimable blessing. As +Americans, your country looks with confidence to her adopted children +for a valorous support as a faithful return for the advantages enjoyed +under her mild and equitable government. As fathers, husbands and +brothers you are summoned to rally around the standard of the eagle--to +defend all which is dear in existence. Your country, although calling +for your exertions, does not wish you to engage in her cause without +amply remunerating you for the services rendered. Your intelligent minds +can not be led away by false representations. Your love of honor would +cause you to despise a man who should attempt to deceive you. In the +sincerity of a soldier and the language of truth I address you. To every +noble-hearted, generous free man of color volunteering to serve during +the present contest and no longer, there will be paid the same bounty in +money and lands now received by the white soldiers of the United +States, viz: $124 in money and one hundred and sixty acres of land. The +noncommissioned officers and privates will also be entitled to the +same monthly pay and daily rations and clothing furnished any American +soldier. + +On enrolling yourselves in companies, the Major General commanding will +select officers for your government from your white fellow-citizens. +Your non-commissioned officers will be appointed from among yourselves. +Due regard will be paid to their feelings as freemen and soldiers. +You will not by being associated with white men in the same corps, +be exposed to improper companions or unjust sarcasm. As a distinct +battalion or regiment pursuing the path of glory, you will undivided +receive the applause and gratitude of your countrymen. + +To assure you of the sincerity of my intentions and my anxiety to engage +your valuable services to our country, I have communicated my wishes +to the Governor of Louisiana, who is fully informed as to the manner of +enrollment, and give you every necessary information on the subject of +this address. + +This is a terrible document to a Democrat. Let us look back over it a +little. "Through a mistaken policy." We had not sense enough to let the +negroes fight during the first part of the war. "As sons of freedom" we +had got sense by this time. "Americans." Oh! shocking! Think of calling +negroes Americans. "Your country!" Is that not enough to make a Democrat +sick? "As fathers, husbands, brothers." Negro brothers. That is too +bad. "Your intelligent minds." Now, just think of a negro having an +intelligent mind. "Are not to be led away by false representations." +Then precious few of them will vote the Democratic ticket. "Your sense +of honor will lead you to despise the man who should attempt to deceive +you." Then how they will hate the Democratic party. Then he goes on to +say that the same bounty, money and land that the white soldiers receive +will be paid to these negroes. Not only that, but they are to have the +same pay, clothing and rations. Only think of a negro having as much +land, as much to eat and as many clothes to wear as a white man. Is +not this a vile abolition document? And yet there is not a Democrat in +Indiana that dare open his mouth against it, full of negro equality as +it is. Now, let us see when and by whom this proclamation was issued. +You will find that it is dated, "Headquarters 7th Military District, +Mobile, September 21st, 1814," and signed "Andrew Jackson, Major General +Commanding." + +Oh, you Jackson Democrats. You gentlemen that are descended from +Washington and Jackson--great heavens, what a descent! Do you think. +Jackson was a Democrat? He generally passed for a good Democrat; yet +he issued that abominable abolition proclamation and put negroes on an +equality with white men. That is not the worst of it, either; for after +he got these negroes into the army he made a speech to them, and what +did he say in that speech? Here it is in full: + +_To the Men of Color:_ + +Soldiers--From the shores of Mobile I called you to arms. I invited +you to share in the perils and to divide the glory with your white +countrymen. I expected much from you, for I was not uninformed of those +qualities which must render you so formidable to an invading foe. I knew +that you could endure hunger, thirst, and all the hardships of war. I +knew that you loved the land of your nativity, and that like ourselves +you had to defend all that is most dear to man. But you surpass +my hopes. I have found in you united to these qualities that noble +enthusiasm which impels to great deeds. Soldiers, the President of the +United States shall be informed of your conduct on the present occasion +and the voice of the representatives of the American nation shall +applaud your valor as your General now praises your ardor. The enemy +is near. His sails cover the lakes. But the brave are united, and if he +finds' us contending among ourselves, it will be only for the prize of +valor, its noblest reward. + +There is negro equality for you. There is the first man since the heroes +of the Revolution died that issued a proclamation and put negroes on an +equality with white men, and he was as good a Democrat as ever lived in +Indiana. I could go on and show where they voted, and who allowed them +to vote, but I have said enough on that question, and also upon the +question of their fighting in the army, and of their being citizens, and +have established, I think conclusively, this: + +_First_. That our fathers, in order to found this Government, arrested +men without warrant, indictment or affidavit by the hundred and by the +thousand; that we, in order to preserve the Government that they thus +founded, arrested a few people without warrant. + +_Second_. That our fathers, for the purpose of founding the Government, +suspended the writ of _habeas corpus_; that we, for the purpose of +preserving the same Government, did the same thing. + +_Third_. That they, for the purpose of inaugurating this Government, +interfered with the liberty of the press; that we, on one or two +occasions, for the purpose of preserving the Government, interfered with +the liberty of the press. + +_Fourth_. That our fathers allowed negroes to fight in order that they +might secure the liberties of America; that we, in order to preserve +those liberties, allow negroes to fight. + +_Fifth_. That our fathers, out of gratitude to the negroes in the +Revolutionary war, allowed them to vote; that we have done the same. +That they made them citizens, and we have followed their example. + +As far as I have gone, I have shown that the fathers of the Revolution +and the War of 1812 set us the example for everything we have done. +Now, Mr. Democrat, if you want to curse us, curse them too. Either quit +yawping about the fathers, or quit yawping about us. + +Now, then, was there any necessity, during this war, to follow the +example of our fathers? The question was put to us in 1861: "Shall +the majority rule?" and also the balance of that question: "Shall the +minority submit?" The minority said they would not. Upon the right of +the majority to rule rests the entire structure of our Government. Had +we, in 1861, given up that principle, the foundations of our Government +would have been totally destroyed. In fact there would have been no +Government, even in the North. It is no use to say the majority shall +rule if the minority consents. Therefore, if, when a man has been +duly elected President, anybody undertakes to prevent him from being +President, it is your duty to protect him and enforce submission to the +will of the majority. In 1861 we had presented to us the alternative, +either to let the great principle that lies at the foundation of our +Government go by the board, or to appeal to arms, and to the God of +battles, and fight it through. + +The Southern people said they were going out of the Union; we implored +them to stay, by the common memories of the Revolution, by an apparent +common destiny; by the love of man, but they refused to listen to +us--rushed past us, and appealed to the arbitrament of the sword; and +now I, for one, say by the decision of the sword let them abide. + +Now, I want to show how mean the American people were in 1861. The vile +and abominable institution of slavery had so corrupted us that we did +not know right from wrong. It crept into the pulpit until the sermon +became the echo of the bloodhound's bark. It crept upon the bench, +and the judge could not tell whether the corn belonged to the man that +raised it, or to the fellow that did not, but he rather thought it +belonged to the latter. We had lost our sense of justice. Even the +people of Indiana were so far gone as to agree to carry out the Fugitive +Slave Law. Was it not low-lived and contemptible? We agreed that if we +found a woman ninety-nine one hundredths white, who, inspired by the +love of liberty, had run away from her masters, and had got within +one step of free soil, we would clutch her and bring her back to the +dominion of the Democrat, the bloodhound and the lash. We were just mean +enough to do it. We used to read that some hundreds of years ago a lot +of soldiers would march into a man's house, take him out, tie him to a +stake driven into the earth, pile fagots around him, and let the +thirsty flames consume him, and all because they differed from him about +religion. We said it was horrible; it made our blood run cold to think +of it; yet at the same time many a magnificent steamboat floated down +the Mississippi with wives and husbands, fragments of families torn +asunder, doomed to a life of toil, requited only by lashes upon the +naked back, and branding irons upon the quivering flesh, and we thought +little of it. When we set out to put down the Rebellion the Democratic +party started up all at once and said, "You are not going to interfere +with slavery, are you?" Now, it is remarkable that whenever we were +going to do a good thing, we had to let on that we were going to do a +mean one. If we had said at the outset, "We will break the shackles from +four millions of slaves" we never would have succeeded. We had to come +at it by degrees. The Democrats scented it out. They had a scent keener +than a bloodhound when anything was going to be done to affect slavery. +"Put down rebellion," they said, "but don't hurt slavery." We said, "We +will not; we will restore the Union as it was and the Constitution as it +is." We were in good faith about it. We had no better sense then than +to think that it was worth fighting for, to preserve the cause of +quarrel--the bone of contention--so as to have war all the time. Every +blow we struck for slavery was a blow against us. The Rebellion was +simply slavery with a mask on. We never whipped anybody but once so long +as we stood upon that doctrine; that was at Donelson; and the victory +there was not owing to the policy, but to the splendid genius of the +next President of the United States. After a while it got into our +heads that slavery was the cause of the trouble, and we began to edge up +slowly toward slavery. When Mr. Lincoln said he would destroy slavery +if absolutely necessary for the suppression of the Rebellion, people +thought that was the most radical thing that ever was uttered. But the +time came when it was necessary to free the slaves, and to put muskets +into their hands. The Democratic party opposed us with all their might +until the draft came, and they wanted negroes for substitutes; and I +never heard a Democrat object to arming the negroes after that. + + [The speaker from this point presented the history of the + Republican policy of reconstruction, and touched lightly on + the subject of the national debt. He glanced at the + finances, reviewing in the most scathing manner the history + and character of Seymour, paid a most eloquent tribute to + the character and public services of General Grant, and + closed with the following words: ] + +The hero of the Rebellion, who accomplished at Shiloh what Napoleon +endeavored at Waterloo; who captured Vicksburg by a series of victories +unsurpassed, taking the keystone from the rebel arch; who achieved at +Missionary Ridge a success as grand as it was unexpected to the country; +who, having been summoned from the death-bed of rebellion in the West, +marched like an athlete from the Potomac to the James, the grandest +march in the history of the world. This was all done without the least +flourish upon his part. No talk about destiny--without faith in a +star--with the simple remark that he would "fight it out on that line," +without a boast, modest to bashfulness, yet brave to audacity, simple as +duty, firm as war, direct as truth--this hero, with so much common +sense that he is the most uncommon man of his time, will be, in spite of +Executive snares and Cabinet entanglements, of competent false witnesses +of the Democratic party, the next President of the United States. He +will be trusted with the Government his genius saved. + + + +SPEECH AT CINCINNATI.* + + + * The nomination of Blaine was the passionately dramatic + scene of the day. Robert G. Ingersoll had been fixed upon to + present Blaine's name to the Convention, and, as the result + proved, a more effective champion could not have been + selected in the whole party conclave. + + As the clerk, running down the list, reached Maine, an + extraordinary event happened. The applause and cheers which + had heretofore broken out in desultory patches of the + galleries and platform, broke in a simultaneous, thunderous + outburst from every part of the house. + + Ingersoll moved out from the obscure corner and advanced to + the central stage. As he walked forward the thundering + cheers, sustained and swelling, never ceased. As he reached + the platform they took on an increased volume of sound, and + for ten minutes the surging fury of acclamation, the wild + waving of fans, hats, and handkerchiefs transformed the + scene from one of deliberation to that of a bedlam of + rapturous delirium. Ingersoll waited with unimpaired + serenity, until he should get a chance to be heard. * * * + And then began an appeal, impassioned, artful, brilliant, + and persuasive. * * * + + Possessed of a fine figure, a face of winning, cordial + frankness, Ingersoll had half won his audience before he + spoke a word. It is the attestation of every man that heard + him, that so brilliant a master stroke was never uttered + before a political Convention. Its effect was indescribable. + The coolest-headed in the hall were stirred to the wildest + expression. The adversaries of Blaine, as well as his + friends, listened with unswerving, absorbed attention. + Curtis sat spell-bound, his eyes and mouth wide open, his + figure moving in unison to the tremendous periods that fell + in a measured, exquisitely graduated flow from the + Illinoisan's smiling lips. The matchless method and manner + of the man can never be imagined from the report in type. To + realize the prodigious force, the inexpressible power, the + irrestrainable fervor of the audience requires actual sight. + + Words can do but meagre justice to the wizard power of this + extraordinary man. He swayed and moved and impelled and + restrained and worked in all ways with the mass before him + as if he possessed some key to the innermost mechanism that + moves the human heart, and when he finished, his fine, frank + face as calm as when he began, the overwrought thousands + sank back in an exhaustion of unspeakable wonder and + delight.--Chicago Times, June 16, 1876. + + +SPEECH NOMINATING BLAINE. + +June 75, 1876. + +MASSACHUSETTS may be satisfied with the loyalty of Benjamin H. Bristow; +so am I; but if any man nominated by this convention can not carry the +State of Massachusetts, I am not satisfied with the loyalty of that +State. If the nominee of this convention cannot carry the grand old +Commonwealth of Massachusetts by seventy-five thousand majority, I would +advise them to sell out Faneuil Hall as a Democratic headquarters. I +would advise them to take from Bunker Hill that old monument of glory. + +The Republicans of the United States demand as their leader in the great +contest of 1876 a man of intelligence, a man of integrity, a man of +well-known and approved political opinions. They demand a statesman; +they demand a reformer after as well as before the election. They demand +a politician in the highest, broadest and best sense--a man of superb +moral courage. They demand a man acquainted with public affairs--with +the wants of the people; with not only the requirements of the hour, +but with the demands of the future. They demand a man broad enough to +comprehend the relations of this Government to the other nations of +the earth. They demand a man well versed in the powers, duties and +prerogatives of each and every department of this Government. They +demand a man who will sacredly preserve the financial honor of the +United States; one who knows enough to know that the national debt must +be paid through the prosperity of this people; one who knows enough to +know that all the financial theories in the world cannot redeem a single +dollar; one who knows enough to know that all the money must be made, +not by law, but by labor; one who knows enough to know that the people +of the United States have the industry to make the money, and the honor +to pay it over just as fast as they make it. + +The Republicans of the United States demand a man who knows that +prosperity and resumption, when they come, must come together; that +when they come, they will come hand in hand through the golden harvest +fields; hand in hand by the whirling spindles and the turning wheels; +hand in hand past the open furnace doors; hand in hand by the flaming +forges; hand in hand by the chimneys filled with eager fire, greeted and +grasped by the countless sons of toil. + +This money has to be dug out of the earth. You cannot make it by passing +resolutions in a political convention. + +The Republicans of the United States want a man who knows that this +Government should protect every citizen, at home and abroad; who knows +that any government that will not defend its defenders, and protect its +protectors, is a disgrace to the map of the world. They demand a man who +believes in the eternal separation and divorcement of church and school. +They demand a man whose political reputation is spotless as a star; +but they do not demand that their candidate shall have a certificate of +moral character signed by a Confederate congress. The man who has, in +full, heaped and rounded measure, all these splendid qualifications, is +the present grand and gallant leader of the Republican party--James G. +Blaine. + +Our country, crowned with the vast and marvelous achievements of its +first century, asks for a man worthy of the past, and prophetic of her +future; asks for a man who has the audacity of genius; asks for a man +who is the grandest combination of heart, conscience and brain beneath +her flag--such a man is James G. Blaine. + +For the Republican host, led by this intrepid man, there can be no +defeat. + +This is a grand year--a year filled with recollections of the +Revolution; filled with proud and tender memories of the past; with +the sacred legends of liberty--a year in which the sons of freedom will +drink from the fountains of enthusiasm; a year in which the people call +for the man who has preserved in Congress what our soldiers won upon +the field; a year in which they call for the man who has torn from the +throat of treason the tongue of slander--for the man who has snatched +the mask of Democracy from the hideous face of rebellion; for the man +who, like an intellectual athlete, has stood in the arena of debate and +challenged all comers, and who is still a total stranger to defeat. + +Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched +down the halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lance full +and fair against the brazen foreheads of the defamers of his country +and the maligners of his honor. For the Republican party to desert this +gallant leader now, is as though an army should desert their general +upon the field of battle. + +James G. Blaine is now and has been for years the bearer of the sacred +standard of the Republican party. I call it sacred, because no human +being can stand beneath its folds without becoming and without remaining +free. + +Gentlemen of the convention, in the name of the great Republic, the +only republic that ever existed upon this earth; in the name of all her +defenders and of all her supporters; in the name of all her soldiers +living; in the name of all her soldiers dead upon the field of battle, +and in the name of those who perished in the skeleton clutch of famine +at Andersonville and Libby, whose sufferings he so vividly remembers, +Illinois--Illinois nominates for the next President of this country, +that prince of parliamentarians--that leader of leaders--James G. +Blaine. + + + + +CENTENNIAL ORATION. + + * Delivered on the one hundredth Anniversary of the + Declaration of Independence, at Peoria, Ill., July 4, 1876. + + +July 4, 1876. + +THE Declaration of Independence is the grandest, the bravest, and +the profoundest political document that was ever signed by the +representatives of a people. It is the embodiment of physical and moral +courage and of political wisdom. + +I say of physical courage, because it was a declaration of war against +the most powerful nation then on the globe; a declaration of war by +thirteen weak, unorganized colonies; a declaration of war by a few +people, without military stores, without wealth, without strength, +against the most powerful kingdom on the earth; a declaration of war +made when the British navy, at that day the mistress of every sea, was +hovering along the coast of America, looking after defenceless towns and +villages to ravage and destroy. It was made when thousands of English +soldiers were upon our soil, and when the principal cities of America +were in the substantial possession of the enemy. And so, I say, all +things considered, it was the bravest political document ever signed by +man. And if it was physically brave, the moral courage of the document +is almost infinitely beyond the physical. They had the courage not only, +but they had the almost infinite wisdom, to declare that all men are +created equal. + +Such things had occasionally been said by some political enthusiast in +the olden time, but, for the first time in the history of the world, +the representatives of a nation, the representatives of a real, living, +breathing, hoping people, declared that all men are created equal. With +one blow, with one stroke of the pen, they struck down all the cruel, +heartless barriers that aristocracy, that priestcraft, that kingcraft +had raised between man and man. They struck down with one immortal blow +that infamous spirit of caste that makes a god almost a beast, and a +beast almost a god. With one word, with one blow, they wiped away and +utterly destroyed, all that had been done by centuries of war--centuries +of hypocrisy--centuries of injustice. + +One hundred years ago our fathers retired the gods from politics. + +What more did they do? They then declared that each man has a right to +live. And what does that mean? It means that he has the right to make +his living. It means that he has the right to breathe the air, to work +the land, that he stands the equal of every other human being beneath +the shining stars; entitled to the product of his labor--the labor of +his hand and of his brain. + +What more? That every man has the right to pursue his own happiness in +his own way. Grander words than these have never been spoken by man. + +And what more did these men say? They laid down the doctrine that +governments were instituted among men for the purpose of preserving the +rights of the people. The old idea was that people existed solely for +the benefit of the state--that is to say, for kings and nobles. + +The old idea was that the people were the wards of king and priest--that +their bodies belonged to one and their souls to the other. + +And what more? That the people are the source of political power. That +was not only a revelation, but it was a revolution. It changed the ideas +of people with regard to the source of political power. For the first +time it made human beings men. What was the old idea? The old idea was +that no political power came from, or in any manner belonged to, the +people. The old idea was that the political power came from the clouds; +that the political power came in some miraculous way from heaven; that +it came down to kings, and queens, and robbers. That was the old idea. +The nobles lived upon the labor of the people; the people had no rights; +the nobles stole what they had and divided with the kings, and the kings +pretended to divide what they stole with God Almighty. The source, then, +of political power was from above. The people were responsible to the +nobles, the nobles to the king, and the people had no political rights +whatever, no more than the wild beasts of the forest. The kings were +responsible to God; not to the people. The kings were responsible to the +clouds; not to the toiling millions they robbed and plundered. + +And our forefathers, in this Declaration of Independence, reversed this +thing, and said: No; the people, they are the source of political power, +and their rulers, these presidents, these kings are but the agents and +servants of the great sublime people. For the first time, really, in the +history of the world, the king was made to get off the throne and the +people were royally seated thereon. The people became the sovereigns, +and the old sovereigns became the servants and the agents of the people. +It is hard for you and me now to even imagine the immense results of +that change. It is hard for you and for me, at this day, to understand +how thoroughly it had been ingrained in the brain of almost every man, +that the king had some wonderful right over him; that in some strange +way the king owned him; that in some miraculous manner he belonged, body +and soul, to somebody who rode on a horse--to somebody with epaulettes +on his shoulders and a tinsel crown upon his brainless head. + +Our forefathers had been educated in that idea, and when they first +landed on American shores they believed it. They thought they belonged +to somebody, and that they must be loyal to some thief who could trace +his pedigree back to antiquity's most successful robber. + +It took a long time for them to get that idea out of their heads and +hearts. They were three thousand miles away from the despotisms of +the old world, and every wave of the sea was an assistant to them. The +distance helped to disenchant their minds of that infamous belief, and +every mile between them and the pomp and glory of monarchy helped to put +republican ideas and thoughts into their minds. Besides that, when +they came to this country, when the savage was in the forest and three +thousand miles of waves on the other side, menaced by barbarians on +the one hand and famine on the other, they learned that a man who had +courage, a man who had thought, was as good as any other man in the +world, and they built up, as it were, in spite of themselves, little +republics. And the man that had the most nerve and heart was the best +man, whether he had any noble blood in his veins or not. + +It has been a favorite idea with me that our forefathers were educated +by Nature, that they grew grand as the continent upon which they landed; +that the great rivers--the wide plains--the splendid lakes--the lonely +forests--the sublime mountains--that all these things stole into and +became a part of their being, and they grew great as the country in +which they lived. They began to hate the narrow, contracted views of +Europe. They were educated by their surroundings, and every little +colony had to be to a certain extent a republic. The kings of the old +world endeavored to parcel out this land to their favorites. But there +were too many Indians. There was too much courage required for them to +take and keep it, and so men had to come here who were dissatisfied with +the old country--who were dissatisfied with England, dissatisfied with +France, with Germany, with Ireland and Holland. The kings' favorites +stayed at home. Men came here for liberty, and on account of certain +principles they entertained and held dearer than life. And they were +willing to work, willing to fell the forests, to fight the savages, +willing to go through all the hardships, perils and dangers of a new +country, of a new land; and the consequence was that our country was +settled by brave and adventurous spirits, by men who had opinions of +their own and were willing to live in the wild forests for the sake of +expressing those opinions, even if they expressed them only to trees, +rocks, and savage men. The best blood of the old world came to the new. + +When they first came over they did not have a great deal of political +philosophy, nor the best ideas of liberty. We might as well tell the +truth. When the Puritans first came, they were narrow. They did not +understand what liberty meant--what religious liberty, what political +liberty, was; but they found out in a few years. There was one feeling +among them that rises to their eternal honor like a white shaft to the +clouds--they were in favor of universal education. Wherever they went +they built schoolhouses, introduced books and ideas of literature. They +believed that every man should know how to read and how to write, and +should find out all that his capacity allowed him to comprehend. That is +the glory of the Puritan fathers. + +They forgot in a little while what they had suffered, and they forgot +to apply the principle of universal liberty--of toleration. Some of +the colonies did not forget it, and I want to give credit where credit +should be given. The Catholics of Maryland were the first people on the +new continent to declare universal religious toleration. Let this be +remembered to their eternal honor. Let it be remembered to the disgrace +of the Protestant government of England, that it caused this grand law +to be repealed. And to the honor and credit of the Catholics of Maryland +let it be remembered that the moment they got back into power they +re-enacted the old law. The Baptists of Rhode Island also, led by Roger +Williams, were in favor of universal religious liberty. + +No American should fail to honor Roger Williams. He was the first grand +advocate of the liberty of the soul. He was in favor of the eternal +divorce of church and state. So far as I know, he was the only man at +that time in this country who was in favor of real religious liberty. +While the Catholics of Maryland declared in favor of religious +_toleration_, they had no idea of religious liberty. They would not +allow anyone to call in question the doctrine of the Trinity, or the +inspiration of the Scriptures. They stood ready with branding-iron and +gallows to burn and choke out of man the idea that he had a right to +think and to express his thoughts. + +So many religions met in our country--so many theories and dogmas came +in contact--so many follies, mistakes, and stupidities became acquainted +with each other, that religion began to fall somewhat into disrepute. +Besides this, the question of a new nation began to take precedence of +all others. + +The people were too much interested in this world to quarrel about the +next. The preacher was lost in the patriot. The Bible was read to find +passages against kings. + +Everybody was discussing the rights of man. Farmers and mechanics +suddenly became statesmen, and in every shop and cabin nearly every +question was asked and answered. + +During these years of political excitement the interest in religion +abated to that degree that a common purpose animated men of all sects +and creeds. + +At last our fathers became tired of being colonists--tired of writing +and reading and signing petitions, and presenting them on their bended +knees to an idiot king. They began to have an aspiration to form a new +nation, to be citizens of a new republic instead of subjects of an +old monarchy. They had the idea--the Puritans, the Catholics, the +Episcopalians, the Baptists, the Quakers, and a few Freethinkers, all +had the idea--that they would like to form a new nation. + +Now, do not understand that all of our fathers were in favor of +independence. Do not understand that they were all like Jefferson; that +they were all like Adams or Lee; that they were all like Thomas Paine +or John Hancock. There were thousands and thousands of them who were +opposed to American independence. There were thousands and thousands who +said: "When you say men are created equal, it is a lie; when you say the +political power resides in the great body of the people, it is false." +Thousands and thousands of them said: "We prefer Great Britain." But +the men who were in favor of independence, the men who knew that a new +nation must be born, went on full of hope and courage, and nothing could +daunt or stop or stay the heroic, fearless few. + +They met in Philadelphia; and the resolution was moved by Lee of +Virginia, that the colonies ought to be independent states, and ought to +dissolve their political connection with Great Britain. + +They made up their minds that a new nation must be formed. All nations +had been, so to speak, the wards of some church. The religious idea as +to the source of power had been at the foundation of all governments, +and had been the bane and curse of man. + +Happily for us, there was no church strong enough to dictate to the +rest. Fortunately for us, the colonists not only, but the colonies +differed widely in their religious views. There were the Puritans who +hated the Episcopalians, and Episcopalians who hated the Catholics, +and the Catholics who hated both, while the Quakers held them all in +contempt. There they were, of every sort, and color and kind, and how +was it that they came together? They had a common aspiration. They +wanted to form a new nation. More than that, most of them cordially +hated Great Britain; and they pledged each other to forget these +religious prejudices, for a time at least, and agreed that there should +be only one religion until they got through, and that was the religion +of patriotism. They solemnly agreed that the new nation should not +belong to any particular church, but that it should secure the rights of +all. + +Our fathers founded the first secular government that was ever founded +in this world. Recollect that. The first secular government; the first +government that said every church has exactly the same rights and no +more; every religion has the same rights, and no more. In other words, +our fathers were the first men who had the sense, had the genius, to +know that no church should be allowed to have a sword; that it should be +allowed only to exert its moral influence. + +You might as well have a government united by force with Art, or with +Poetry, or with Oratory, as with Religion. Religion should have the +influence upon mankind that its goodness, that its morality, its +justice, its charity, its reason, and its argument give it, and no more. +Religion should have the effect upon mankind that it necessarily has, +and no more. The religion that has to be supported by law is without +value, not only, but a fraud and curse. The religious argument that has +to be supported by a musket, is hardly worth making. A prayer that must +have a cannon behind it, better never be uttered. Forgiveness ought not +to go in partnership with shot and shell. Love need not carry knives and +revolvers. + +So our fathers said: "We will form a secular government, and under the +flag with which we are going to enrich the air, we will allow every man +to worship God as he thinks best." They said: "Religion is an individual +thing between each man and his creator, and he can worship as he pleases +and as he desires." And why did they do this? The history of the world +warned them that the liberty of man was not safe in the clutch and grasp +of any church. They had read of and seen the thumbscrews, the racks, and +the dungeons of the Inquisition. They knew all about the hypocrisy of +the olden time. They knew that the church had stood side by side with +the throne; that the high priests were hypocrites, and that the kings +were robbers. They also knew that if they gave power to any church, it +would corrupt the best church in the world. And so they said that power +must not reside in a church, or in a sect, but power must be wherever +humanity is--in the great body of the people. And the officers and +servants of the people must be responsible to them. And so I say again, +as I said in the commencement, this is the wisest, the pro-foundest, the +bravest political document that ever was written and signed by man. + +They turned, as I tell you, everything squarely about. They derived +all their authority from the people. They did away forever with the +theological idea of government. + +And what more did they say? They said that whenever the rulers abused +this authority, this power, incapable of destruction, returned to the +people. How did they come to say this? I will tell you. They were pushed +into it. How? They felt that they were oppressed; and whenever a man +feels that he is the subject of injustice, his perception of right and +wrong is wonderfully quickened. + +Nobody was ever in prison wrongfully who did not believe in the writ +of _habeas corpus_. Nobody ever suffered wrongfully without instantly +having ideas of justice. + +And they began to inquire what rights the king of Great Britain had. +They began to search for the charter of his authority. They began to +investigate and dig down to the bed-rock upon which society must be +founded, and when they got down there, forced there, too, by their +oppressors, forced against their own prejudices and education, they +found at' the bottom of things, not lords, not nobles, not pulpits, not +thrones, but humanity and the rights of men. + +And so they said, We are men; we are men. They found out they were men. +And the next thing they said, was, "We will be free men; we are weary of +being colonists; we are tired of being subjects; we are men; and these +colonies ought to be states; and these states ought to be a nation; and +that nation ought to drive the last British soldier into the sea." And +so they signed that brave Declaration of Independence. + +I thank every one of them from the bottom of my heart for signing +that sublime declaration. I thank them for their courage--for their +patriotism--for their wisdom--for the splendid confidence in themselves +and in the human race. I thank them for what they were, and for what +we are--for what they did, and for what we have received--for what they +suffered, and for what we enjoy. + +What would we have been if we had remained colonists and subjects? What +would we have been to-day? Nobodies--ready to get down on our knees and +crawl in the very dust at the sight of somebody that was supposed to +have in him some drop of blood that flowed in the veins of that mailed +marauder--that royal robber, William the Conqueror. + +They signed that Declaration of Independence, although they knew that it +would produce a long, terrible, and bloody war. They looked forward and +saw poverty, deprivation, gloom, and death. But they also saw, on the +wrecked clouds of war, the beautiful bow of freedom. + +These grand men were enthusiasts; and the world has been raised only +by enthusiasts. In every country there have been a few who have given +a national aspiration to the people. The enthusiasts of 1776 were the +builders and framers of this great and splendid Government; and they +were the men who saw, although others did not, the golden fringe of +the mantle of glory that will finally cover this world. They knew, they +felt, they believed that they would give a new constellation to +the political heavens--that they would make the Americans a grand +people--grand as the continent upon which they lived. + +The war commenced. There was little money, and less credit. The new +nation had but few friends. To a great extent each soldier of freedom +had to clothe and feed himself. He was poor and pure, brave and good, +and so he went to the fields of death to fight for the rights of man. + +What did the soldier leave when he went? + +He left his wife and children. + +Did he leave them in a beautiful home, surrounded by civilization, in +the repose of law, in the security of a great and powerful republic? + +No. He left his wife and children on the edge, on the fringe of the +boundless forest, in which crouched and crept the red savage, who was at +that time the ally of the still more savage Briton. He left his wife to +defend herself, and he left the prattling babes to be defended by their +mother and by nature. The mother made the living; she planted the corn +and the potatoes, and hoed them in the sun, raised the children, and, +in the darkness of night, told them about their brave father and the +"sacred cause." She told them that in a little while the war would be +over and father would come back covered with honor and glory. + +Think of the women, of the sweet children who listened for the footsteps +of the dead--who waited through the sad and desolate years for the dear +ones who never came. + +The soldiers of 1776 did not march away with music and banners. They +went in silence, looked at and gazed after by eyes filled with tears. +They went to meet, not an equal, but a superior--to fight five times +their number--to make a desperate stand to stop the advance of the +enemy, and then, when their ammunition gave out, seek the protection of +rocks, of rivers, and of hills. + +Let me say here: The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear +defeat without losing heart. That army is the bravest that can be +whipped the greatest number of times and fight again. + +Over the entire territory, so to speak, then settled by our forefathers, +they were driven again and again. Now and then they would meet the +English with something like equal numbers, and then the eagle of victory +would proudly perch upon the stripes and stars. And so they went on as +best they could, hoping and fighting until they came to the dark and +somber gloom of Valley Forge. + +There were very few hearts then beneath that flag that did not begin to +think that the struggle was useless; that all the blood and treasure had +been shed and spent in vain. But there were some men gifted with +that wonderful prophecy that fulfills itself, and with that wonderful +magnetic power that makes heroes of everybody they come in contact with. + +And so our fathers went through the gloom of that terrible time, and +still fought on. Brave men wrote grand words, cheering the despondent; +brave men did brave deeds, the rich man gave his wealth, the poor man +gave his life, until at last, by the victory of Yorktown, the old banner +won its place in the air, and became glorious forever. + +Seven long years of war--fighting for what? For the principle that +all men are created equal--a truth that nobody ever disputed except a +scoundrel; nobody, nobody in the entire history of this world. No man +ever denied that truth who was not a rascal, and at heart a thief; +never, never, and never will. What else were they fighting for? Simply +that in America every man should have a right to life, liberty, and the +pursuit of happiness. Nobody ever denied that except a villain; never, +never. It has been denied by kings--they were thieves. It has been +denied by statesmen--they were liars. It has been denied by priests, by +clergymen, by cardinals, by bishops, and by popes--they were hypocrites. + +What else were they fighting for? For the idea that all political power +is vested in the great body of the people. The great body of the people +make all the money; do all the work. They plow the land, cut down the +forests; they produce everything that is produced. Then who shall say +what shall be done with what is produced except the producer? + +Is it the non-producing thief, sitting on a throne, surrounded by +vermin? + +Those were the things they were fighting for; and that is all they +were fighting for. They fought to build up a new, a great nation; to +establish an asylum for the oppressed of the world everywhere. They knew +the history of this world. They knew the history of human slavery. + +The history of civilization is the history of the slow and painful +enfranchisement of the human race. In the olden times the family was a +monarchy, the father being the monarch. The mother and children were the +veriest slaves. The will of the father was the supreme law. He had the +power of life and death. It took thousands of years to civilize this +father, thousands of years to make the condition of wife and mother and +child even tolerable. A few families constituted a tribe; the tribe +had a chief; the chief was a tyrant; a few tribes formed a nation; the +nation was governed by a king, who was also a tyrant. A strong nation +robbed, plundered, and took captive the weaker ones. This was the +commencement of human slavery. + +It is not possible for the human imagination to conceive of the horrors +of slavery. It has left no possible crime uncommitted, no possible +cruelty unperpetrated. It has been practiced and defended by all nations +in some form. It has been upheld by all religions. It has been defended +by nearly every pulpit. From the profits derived from the slave trade +churches have been built, cathedrals reared and priests paid. Slavery +has been blessed by bishop, by cardinal, and by pope. It has received +the sanction of statesmen, of kings, and of queens. It has been defended +by the throne, the pulpit and the bench. Monarchs have shared in +the profits. Clergymen have taken their part of the spoils, reciting +passages of Scripture in its defence at the same time, and judges have +taken their portion in the name of equity and law. + +Only a few years ago our ancestors were slaves. Only a few years ago +they passed with and belonged to the soil, like the coal under it and +rocks on it. + +Only a few years ago they were treated like beasts of burden, worse far +than we treat our animals at the present day. Only a few years ago it +was a crime in England for a man to have a Bible in his house, a crime +for which men were hanged, and their bodies afterward burned. Only a few +years ago fathers could and did sell their children. Only a few +years ago our ancestors were not allowed to speak or write their +thoughts--that being a crime. Only a few years ago to be honest, at +least in the expression of your ideas, was a felony. To do right was a +capital offence; and in those days chains and whips were the incentives +to labor, and the preventives of thought. Honesty was a vagrant, +justice a fugitive, and liberty in chains. Only a few years ago men were +denounced because they doubted the inspiration of the Bible--because +they denied miracles, and laughed at the wonders recounted by the +ancient Jews. + +Only a few years ago a man had to believe in the total depravity of the +human heart in order to be respectable. Only a few years ago, people +who thought God too good to punish in eternal flames an unbaptized child +were considered infamous. + +As soon as our ancestors began to get free they began to enslave others. +With an inconsistency that defies explanation, they practiced upon +others the same outrages that had been perpetrated upon them. As soon +as white slavery began to be abolished, black slavery commenced. In this +infamous traffic nearly every nation of Europe embarked. Fortunes were +quickly realized; the avarice and cupidity of Europe were excited; all +ideas of justice were discarded; pity fled from the human breast; a +few good, brave men recited the horrors of the trade; avarice was deaf; +religion refused to hear; the trade went on; the governments of Europe +upheld it in the name of commerce--in the name of civilization and +religion. + +Our fathers knew the history of caste. They knew that in the despotisms +of the Old World it was a disgrace to be useful. They knew that a +mechanic was esteemed as hardly the equal of a hound, and far below +a blooded horse. They knew that a nobleman held a son of labor in +contempt--that he had no rights the royal loafers were bound to respect. + +The world has changed. + +The other day there came shoemakers, potters, workers in wood and iron, +from Europe, and they were received in the city of New York as though +they had been princes. They had been sent by the great republic of +France to examine into the arts and manufactures of the great republic +of America. They looked a thousand times better to me than the Edward +Alberts and Albert Edwards--the royal vermin, that live on the body +politic. And I would think much more of our Government if it would fete +and feast them, instead of wining and dining the imbeciles of a royal +line. + +Our fathers devoted their lives and fortunes to the grand work of +founding a government for the protection of the rights of man. The +theological idea as to the source of political power had poisoned the +web and woof of every government in the world, and our fathers banished +it from this continent forever. + +What we want to-day is what our fathers wrote down. They did not attain +to their ideal; we approach it nearer, but have not reached it yet. We +want, not only the independence of a State, not only the independence of +a nation, but something far more glorious--the absolute independence of +the individual. That is what we want. I want it so that I, one of the +children of Nature, can stand on an equality with the rest; that I can +say this is my air, my sunshine, my earth, and I have a right to live, +and hope, and aspire, and labor, and enjoy the fruit of that labor, as +much as any individual or any nation on the face of the globe. + +We want every American to make to-day, on this hundredth anniversary, a +declaration of individual independence. Let each man enjoy his liberty +to the utmost--enjoy all he can; but be sure it is not at the expense +of another. The French Convention gave the best definition of liberty +I have ever read: "The liberty of one citizen ceases only where the +liberty of another citizen commences." I know of no better definition. I +ask you to-day to make a declaration of individual independence. And +if you are independent be just. Allow everybody else to make his +declaration of individual independence. Allow your wife, allow your +husband, allow your children to make theirs. Let everybody be absolutely +free and independent, knowing only the sacred obligations of honesty and +affection. Let us be independent of party, independent of everybody and +everything except our own consciences and our own brains. Do not belong +to any clique. Have the clear title-deeds in fee simple to yourselves, +without any mortgage on the premises to anybody in the world. + +It is a grand thing to be the owner of yourself. It is a grand thing to +protect the rights of others. It is a sublime thing to be free and just. + +Only a few days ago I stood in Independence Hall--in that little room +where was signed the immortal paper. A little room, like any other; +and it did not seem possible that from that room went forth ideas, +like cherubim and seraphim, spreading their wings over a continent, and +touching, as with holy fire, the hearts of men. + +In a few moments I was in the park, where are gathered the +accomplishments of a century. Our fathers never dreamed of the things I +saw. There were hundreds of locomotives, with their nerves of steel and +breath of flame--every kind of machine, with whirling wheels and curious +cogs and cranks, and the myriad thoughts of men that have been wrought +in iron, brass and steel. And going out from one little building were +wires in the air, stretching to every civilized nation, and they could +send a shining messenger in a moment to any part of the world, and it +would go sweeping under the waves of the sea with thoughts and words +within its glowing heart. I saw all that had been achieved by this +nation, and I wished that the signers of the Declaration--the soldiers +of the Revolution--could see what a century of freedom has produced. +I wished they could see the fields we cultivate--the rivers we +navigate--the railroads running over the Alleghanies, far into what was +then the unknown forest--on over the broad prairies--on over the vast +plains--away over the mountains of the West, to the Golden Gate of the +Pacific. All this is the result of a hundred years of freedom. + +Are you not more than glad that in 1776 was announced the sublime +principle that political power resides with the people? That our fathers +then made up their minds nevermore to be colonists and subjects, but +that they would be free and independent citizens of America? + +I will not name any of the grand men who fought for liberty. All should +be named, or none. I feel that the unknown soldier who was shot down +without even his name being remembered--who was included only in a +report of "a hundred killed," or "a hundred missing," nobody knowing +even the number that attached to his august corpse--is entitled to as +deep and heartfelt thanks as the titled leader who fell at the head of +the host. + +Standing here amid the sacred memories of the first, on the golden +threshold of the second, I ask, Will the second century be as grand +as the first? I believe it will, because we are growing more and more +humane. I believe there is more human kindness, more real, sweet human +sympathy, a greater desire to help one another, in the United States, +than in all the world besides. + +We must progress. We are just at the commencement of invention. The +steam engine--the telegraph--these are but the toys with which science +has been amused. Wait; there will be grander things, there will be wider +and higher culture--a grander standard of character, of literature and +art. + +We have now half as many millions of people as we have years, and many +of us will live until a hundred millions stand beneath the flag. We are +getting more real solid sense. The schoolhouse is the finest building in +the village. We are writing and reading more books; we are painting +and buying more pictures; we are struggling more and more to get at +the philosophy of life, of things--trying more and more to answer +the questions of the eternal Sphinx. We are looking in every +direction--investigating; in short, we are thinking and working. Besides +all this, I believe the people are nearer honest than ever before. A few +years ago we were willing to live upon the labor of four million slaves. +Was that honest? At last, we have a national conscience. At last, we +have carried out the Declaration of Independence. Our fathers wrote +it--we have accomplished it. The black man was a slave--we made him a +citizen. We found four million human beings in manacles, and now the +hands of a race are held up in the free air without a chain. + +I have had the supreme pleasure of seeing a man--once a slave--sitting +in the seat of his former master in the Congress of the United States. +I have had that pleasure, and when I saw it my eyes were filled +with tears. I felt that we had carried, out the Declaration of +Independence--that we had given reality to it, and breathed the breath +of life into its every word. I felt that our flag would float over and +protect the colored man and his little children, standing straight in +the sun, just the same as though he were white and worth a million. +I would protect him more, because the rich white man could protect +himself. + +All who stand beneath our banner are free. Ours is the only flag that +has in reality written upon it: Liberty, Fraternity, Equality--the three +grandest words in all the languages of men. + +Liberty: Give to every man the fruit of his own labor--the labor of his +hands and of his brain. + +Fraternity: Every man in the right is my brother. + +Equality: The rights of all are equal: Justice, poised and balanced in +eternal calm, will shake from the golden scales in which are weighed the +acts of men, the very dust of prejudice and caste: No race, no color, no +previous condition, can change the rights of men. + +The Declaration of Independence has at last been carried out in letter +and in spirit. + +The second century will be grander than the first. + +Fifty millions of people are celebrating this day. To-day, the black man +looks upon his child and says: The avenues to distinction are open to +you--upon your brow may fall the civic wreath--this day belongs to you. + +We are celebrating the courage and wisdom of our fathers, and the glad +shout of a free people the anthem of a grand nation, commencing at the +Atlantic, is following the sun to the Pacific, across a continent of +happy homes. + +We are a great people. Three millions have increased to fifty--thirteen +States to thirty-eight. We have better homes, better clothes, better +food and more of it, and more of the conveniences of life, than any +other people upon the globe. + +The farmers of our country live better than did the kings and princes +two hundred years ago--and they have twice as much sense and heart. +Liberty and labor have given us all. I want every person here to believe +in the dignity of labor--to know that the respectable man is the useful +man--the man who produces or helps others to produce something of value, +whether thought of the brain or work of the hand. + +I want you to go away with an eternal hatred in your breast of +injustice, of aristocracy, of caste, of the idea that one man has more +rights than another because he has better clothes, more land, more +money, because he owns a railroad, or is famous and in high position. +Remember that all men have equal rights. Remember that the man who acts +best his part--who loves his friends the best--is most willing to +help others--truest to the discharge of obligation--who has the best +heart--the most feeling--the deepest sympathies--and who freely gives +to others the rights that he claims for himself is the best man. I am +willing to swear to this. + +What has made this country? I say again, liberty and labor. What would +we be without labor? I want every farmer when plowing the rustling corn +of June--while mowing in the perfumed fields--to feel that he is +adding to the wealth and glory of the United States. I want every +mechanic--every man of toil, to know and feel that he is keeping the +cars running, the telegraph wires in the air; that he is making the +statues and painting the pictures; that he is writing and printing the +books; that he is helping to fill the world with honor, with happiness, +with love and law. + +Our country is founded upon the dignity of labor--upon the equality +of man. Ours is the first real Republic in the history of the world. +Beneath our flag the people are free. We have retired the gods from +politics. We have found that man is the only source of political +power, and that the governed should govern. We have disfranchised the +aristocrats of the air and have given one country to mankind. + + + + +BANGOR SPEECH. + + * Yesterday was a glorious day for the Republicans of + Bangor. The weather was delightful and all the imposing + exercises of the day were conducted with a gratifying and + even inspiring success. + + The noon train from Waterville brought Gov. Connor, Col. + Ingersoll and Senator Blaine. + + At 3 p. m. the speakers arrived at the grounds and were + received with applause as they ascended the platform, where + a number of the most prominent citizens of Bangor and + vicinity were assembled. At this time the platform was + surrounded by a dense mass of people, numbering thousands. + The meeting was called to order by C. A. Boutelle, in behalf + of the Republican State Committee. As Col. Ingersoll was + introduced by Gov. Connor he was welcomed by tumultuous + cheers, which he gracefully acknowledged. + + As we said before, no report could do justice to such a + masterly effort as that of the great Western Orator, and we + have not attempted to convey any adequate impression of an + address which is conceded on all hands to be the most + remarkable for originality, power and eloquence ever heard + in this section. + + Such a speech by such a man--if there is another--must be + heard; the magnetism of the speaker must be felt; the + indescribable influence must be experienced, in order to + appreciate his wonderful power. The vast audience was + alternately swayed from enthusiasm for the grand principles + advocated, to indignation at the crimes of Democracy, as the + record of that party was scorched with his invective; from + laughter at the ludicrous presentment of Democratic + inconsistencies, to tears brought forth by the pathos and + eloquence of his appeals for justice and humanity. During + portions of his address there was moisture in the eyes of + every person in the audience, and from opening to close he + held the assemblage by a spell more potent than that of any + man we have ever heard speak. It was one of the grandest, + most cogent and thrilling appeals in behalf of the great + principles of liberty, loyalty and justice to all men, ever + delivered, and we wish it might have been heard by every + citizen of our beloved Republic. The Colonel was repeatedly + urged by the audience to go on, and he spoke for about two + hours with undiminished fervor. His hearers would gladly + have given him audience for two hours longer, but with a + splendid tribute to Mr. Blaine as the strongest tie between + New England and the West, he took his seat amid the ringing + cheers and plaudits of the assemblage.--The Whig and + Courier, Bangor, Maine, August 25,1876. + + +HAYES CAMPAIGN + +1876. + +I HAVE the honor to belong to the Republican party; the grandest, the +sublimest party in the history of the world. This grand party is not +only in favor of the liberty of the body, but also the liberty of the +soul. This sublime party gives to all the labor of their hands and of +their brains. This party allows every person to think for himself and +to express his thoughts. The Republican party forges no chains for the +mind, no fetters for the souls of men. It declares that the intellectual +domain shall be forever free. In the free air there is room for every +wing. The Republican party endeavors to remove all obstructions on the +highway of progress. In this sublime undertaking it asks the assistance +of all. Its platform is Continental. Upon it there is room for +the Methodist, the Baptist, the Catholic, the Universalist, the +Presbyterian, and the Freethinker. There is room for all who are in +favor of the preservation of the sacred rights of men. + +I am going to give you a few reasons for voting the Republican ticket. +The Republican party depends upon reason, upon argument, upon education, +upon intelligence and upon patriotism. The Republican party makes no +appeal to ignorance and prejudice. It wishes to destroy both. + +It is the party of humanity, the party that hates caste, that honors +labor, that rewards toil, that believes in justice. It appeals to all +that is elevated and noble in man, to the higher instincts, to the +nobler aspirations. It has accomplished grand things. + +The horizon of the past is filled with the glory of Republican +achievement. The monuments of its wisdom, its power and patriotism crowd +all the fields of conflict. Upon the Constitution this party wrote +equal rights for all; upon every statute book, humanity; upon the flag, +liberty. The Republican party of the United States is the conscience of +the nineteenth century. It is the justice of this age, the embodiment +of social progress and honor. It has no knee for the past. Its face is +toward the future. It is the party of advancement, of the dawn, of the +sunrise. + +The Republican party commenced its grand career by saying that the +institution of human slavery had cursed enough American soil; that the +territories should not be damned with that most infamous thing; that +this country was sacred to freedom; that slavery had gone far enough. +Upon that issue the great campaign of 1860 was fought and won. The +Republican party was born of wisdom and conscience. + +The people of the South claimed that slavery should be protected; that +the doors of the territories should be thrown open to them and to their +institutions. They not only claimed this, but they also insisted that +the Constitution of the United States protected slave property, the same +as other property everywhere. The South was defeated, and then appealed +to arms. In a moment all their energies were directed toward the +destruction of this Government. They commenced the war--they fired upon +the flag that had protected them for nearly a century. + +The North was compelled to decide instantly between the destruction of +the nation and civil war. + +The division between the friends and enemies of the Union at once took +place. The Government began to defend itself. To carry on the war money +was necessary. The Government borrowed, and finally issued its notes and +bonds. The Democratic party in the North sympathized with the Rebellion. +Everything was done to hinder, embarrass, obstruct and delay. They +endeavored to make a rebel breastwork of the Constitution; to create +a fire in the rear. They denounced the Government; resisted the draft; +shot United States officers; declared the war a failure and an outrage; +rejoiced over our defeats, and wept and cursed at our victories. + +To crush the Rebellion in the South and keep in subjection the +Democratic party at the North, thousands of millions of money were +expended--the nation burdened with a fearful debt, and the best blood of +the country poured out upon the fields of battle. + +In order to destroy the Rebellion it became necessary to destroy +slavery. As a matter of fact, slavery was the Rebellion. As soon as +this truth forced itself upon the Government--thrust as it were into +the brain of the North upon the point of a rebel bayonet--the Republican +party resolved to destroy forever the last vestige of that savage and +cruel institution; an institution that made white men devils and black +men beasts. + +The Republican party put down the Rebellion; saved the nation; destroyed +slavery; made the slave a citizen; put the ballot in the hands of the +black man; forgave the assassins of the Government; restored nearly +every rebel to citizenship, and proclaimed peace to, and for each and +all. + +For sixteen years the country has been in the hands of that great party. +For sixteen years that grand party, in spite of rebels in arms--in spite +of the Democratic party of the North, has preserved the territorial +integrity, and the financial honor of the country. It has endeavored to +enforce the laws; it has tried to protect loyal men at the South; it has +labored to bring murderers and assassins to justice, and it is working +now to preserve the priceless fruits of its great victory. + +The present question is, whom shall we trust? To whom shall we give the +reins of power? What party will best preserve the rights of the people? + +What party is most deserving of our confidence? There is but one way +to determine the character of a party, and that is, by ascertaining its +history. + +Could we have safely trusted the Democratic party in 1860? No. And why +not? Because it was a believer in the right of secession--a believer +in the sacredness of human slavery. The Democratic party then solemnly +declared--speaking through its most honored and trusted leaders--that +each State had the right to secede. This made the Constitution a _nudum +pactum_, a contract without a consideration, a Democratic promise, a +wall of mist, and left every State free to destroy at will the fabric of +American Government--the fabric reared by our fathers through years of +toil and blood. + +Could we have safely trusted that party in 1864, when, in convention +assembled, it declared the war a failure, and wished to give up the +contest at a moment when universal victory was within the grasp of the +Republic? Had the people put that party in power then, there would have +been a Southern Confederacy to-day, and upon the limbs of four million +people the chains of slavery would still have clanked. Is there one man +present who, to-day, regrets that the Vallandigham Democracy of 1864 was +spurned and beaten by the American people? Is there one man present who, +to-day, regrets the utter defeat of that mixture of slavery, malice and +meanness, called the Democratic party, in 1864? + +Could we have safely trusted that party in 1868? + +At that time the Democracy of the South was trying to humble and +frighten the colored people or exterminate them. These inoffensive +colored people were shot down without provocation, without mercy. The +white Democrats were as relentless as fiends. They killed simply to +kill. They murdered these helpless people, thinking that they were in +some blind way getting their revenge upon the people of the North. No +tongue can exaggerate the cruelties practiced upon the helpless freedmen +of the South. These white Democrats had been reared amid and by slavery. +Slavery knows no such thing as justice, no such thing as mercy. Slavery +does not dream of governing by reason, by argument or persuasion. +Slavery depends upon force, upon the bowie-knife, the revolver, the +whip, the chain and the bloodhound. The white Democrats of the South had +been reared amid slavery; they cared nothing for reason; they knew of +but one thing to be used when there was a difference of opinion or a +conflict of interest, and that was brute force. It never occurred to +them to educate, to inform, and to reason. It was easier to shoot than +to reason; it was quicker to stab than to argue; cheaper to kill than +to educate. A grave costs less than a schoolhouse; bullets were cheaper +than books; and one knife could stab more than forty schools could +convert. + +They could not bear to see the negro free--to see the former slave +trampling on his old chains, holding a ballot in his hand. They could +not endure the sight of a negro in office. It was gall and wormwood +to think of a slave occupying a seat in Congress; to think of a negro +giving his ideas about the political questions of the day. And so these +white Democrats made up their minds that by a reign of terrorism they +would drive the negro from the polls, drive him from all official +positions, and put him back in reality in the old condition. To +accomplish this they commenced a system of murder, of assassination, +of robbery, theft, and plunder, never before equaled in extent and +atrocity. All this was in its height when in 1868 the Democracy asked +the control of this Government. + +Is there a man here who in his heart regrets that the Democrats failed +in 1868? Do you wish that the masked murderers who rode in the darkness +of night to the hut of the freedman and shot him down like a wild beast, +regardless of the prayers and tears of wife and children, were now +holding positions of honor and trust in this Government? Are you sorry +that these assassins were defeated in 1868? + +In 1872 the Democratic party, bent upon victory, greedy for office, with +itching palms and empty pockets, threw away all principle--if Democratic +doctrines can be called principles--and nominated a life-long enemy +of their party for President. No one doubted or doubts the loyalty +and integrity of Horace Greeley. But all knew that if elected he would +belong to the party electing him; that he would have to use Democrats as +his agents, and all knew, or at least feared, that the agents would own +and use the principal. All believed that in the malicious clutch of +the Democratic party Horace Greeley would be not a President, but a +prisoner--not a ruler, but a victim. Against that grand man I have +nothing to say. I simply congratulate him upon his escape from being +used as a false key by the Democratic party. + +During all these years the Democratic party prophesied the destruction +of the Government, the destruction of the Constitution, and the +banishment of liberty from American soil. + +In 1864 that party declared that after four years of failure to restore +the Union by the experiment of war, there should be a cessation of +hostilities. They then declared "that the Constitution had been violated +in every part, and that public liberty and private rights had been +trodden down." + +And yet the Constitution remained and still remains; public liberty +still exists, and private rights are still respected. + +In 1868, growing more desperate, and being still filled with the spirit +of prophecy, this same party in its platform said: "Under the repeated +assaults of the Republican party, the pillars of the Government are +rocking on their base, and should it succeed in November next, and +inaugurate its President, we will meet as a subjected and conquered +people, amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of the +Constitution." + +The Republican party did succeed in November, 1868, and did inaugurate +its President, and we did not meet as a subjected and conquered +people amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of +the Constitution. We met as a victorious people, amid the proudest +achievements of liberty, protected by a Constitution spotless and +stainless--pure as the Alpine snow thrice sifted by the northern blast. + +You must not forget the condition of the Government when it came into +the hands of the Republican party. Its treasury was empty, its means +squandered, its navy dispersed, its army unreliable, the offices filled +with rebels and rebel spies; the Democratic party of the North rubbing +its hands in a kind of hellish glee and shouting, "I told you so." + +When the Republican party came into power in 1861, it found the Southern +States in arms; it came into power when human beings were chained hand +to hand and driven like cattle to market; when white men were engaged +in the ennobling business of raising dogs to pursue and catch men and +women; when the bay of the bloodhound was considered as the music of the +Union. It came into power when, from thousands of pulpits, slavery was +declared to be a divine institution. It took the reins of Government +when education was an offence, when mercy, humanity and justice were +political crimes. + +The Republican party came into power when the Constitution of the United +States upheld the crime of crimes, a Constitution that gave the lie +direct to the Declaration of Independence, and, as I said before, when +the Southern States were in arms. + +To the fulfillment of its great destiny it gave all its energies. To the +almost superhuman task, it gave its every thought and power. For four +long and terrible years, with vast armies in the field against it; beset +by false friends; in constant peril; betrayed again and again; stabbed +by the Democratic party, in the name of the Constitution; reviled and +slandered beyond conception; attacked in every conceivable manner--the +Republican party never faltered for an instant. Its courage increased +with the difficulties to be overcome. Hopeful in defeat, confident +in disaster, merciful in victory; sustained by high aims and noble +aspirations, it marched forward, through storms of shot and shell--on to +the last fortification of treason and rebellion--forward to the shining +goal of victory, lasting and universal. + +During these savage and glorious years, the Democratic party of the +North, as a party, assisted the South. Democrats formed secret societies +to burn cities--to release rebel prisoners. They shot down officers who +were enforcing the draft; they declared the war unconstitutional; +they left nothing undone to injure the credit of the Government; they +persuaded soldiers to desert; they went into partnership with rebels +for the purpose of spreading contagious diseases through the North. They +were the friends and allies of persons who regarded yellow fever and +smallpox as weapons of civilized warfare. In spite of all this, the +Republicans succeeded. + +The Democrats declared slavery to be a divine institution; The +Republican party abolished it. The Constitution of the United States was +changed from a sword that stabbed the rights of four million people to a +shield for every human being beneath our flag. + +The Democrats of New York burned orphan asylums and inaugurated a reign +of terror in order to co-operate with the raid of John Morgan. Remember, +my friends, that all this was done when the fate of our country trembled +in the balance of war; that all this was done when the great heart of +the North was filled with agony and courage; when the question was, +"Shall Liberty or Slavery triumph?" + +No words have ever passed the human lips strong enough to curse the +Northern allies of the South. + +The United States wanted money. It wanted money to buy muskets and +cannon and shot and shell, it wanted money to pay soldiers, to buy +horses, wagons, ambulances, clothing and food. Like an individual, it +had to borrow this money; and, like an honest individual, it must pay +this money. Clothed with sovereignty, it had, or at least exercised, the +power to make its notes a legal tender. This quality of being a legal +tender was the only respect in which these notes differ from those +signed by an individual. As a matter of fact, every note issued was +a forced loan from the people, a forced loan from the soldiers in the +field--in short, a forced loan from every person that took a single +dollar. Upon every one of these notes is printed a promise. The belief +that this promise will be made good gives every particle of value to +each note that it has. Although each note, by law, is a legal tender, +yet if the Government declared that it never would redeem these +notes, the people would not take them if revolution could hurl such a +Government from power. So that the belief that these notes will finally +be paid, added to the fact that in the meantime they are a legal tender, +gives them all the value they have. And, although all are substantially +satisfied that they will be paid, none know at what time. This +uncertainty as to the time, as to when, affects the value of these +notes. + +They must be paid, unless a promise can be delayed so long as to amount +to a fulfillment. They must be paid. The question is, "How?" The answer +is, "By the industry and prosperity of the people." They cannot be paid +by law. Law made them; labor must pay them; and they must be paid out +of the profits of the people. We must pay the debt with eggs, not with +goose. In a terrible war we spent thousands of millions; all the bullets +thrown; all the powder burned; all the property destroyed, of every +sort, kind, and character; all the time of the people engaged--all these +things were a dead loss. The debt represents the loss. Paying the debt +is simply repairing the loss. When we, as a people, shall have made +a net amount, equal to the amount thrown, as it were, away in war, +or somewhere near that amount, we will resume specie payment; we will +redeem our promises. We promised on paper, we shall pay in gold and +silver. We asked the people to hold this paper until we got the money, +and they are holding the paper and we are getting the money. + +As soon as the slaves were free, the Republican party said, "They must +be citizens, not vagrants." The Democratic party opposed this just, this +generous measure. The freedmen were made citizens. The Republican party +then said, "These citizens must vote; they must have the ballot, to keep +what the bullet has won." The Democratic party said "No." The negroes +received the ballot. The Republican party then said, "These voters must +be educated, so that the ballot shall be the weapon of intelligence, not +of ignorance." The Democratic party objected. But schools were founded, +and books were put in the hands of the colored people, instead of whips +upon their backs. We said to the Southern people, "The colored men are +citizens; their rights must be respected; they are voters, they must +be allowed to vote; they were and are our friends, and we are their +protectors." + +All this was accomplished by the Republican party. + +It changed the organic law of the land, so that it is now a proper +foundation for a free government; it struck the cruel shackles from four +million human beings; it put down the most gigantic rebellion in the +history of the world; it expunged from the statute books of every +State, and of the Nation, all the cruel and savage laws that Slavery +had enacted; it took whips from the backs, and chains from the limbs, of +men; it dispensed with bloodhounds as the instruments of civilization; +it banished to the memory of barbarism the slave-pen, the auction block, +and the whipping-post; it purified a Nation; it elevated the human race. + +All this was opposed by the Democratic party; opposed with a bitterness, +compared to which ordinary malice is sweet. I say the Democratic party, +because I consider those who fought against the Government, in the +fields of the South, and those who opposed in the North, as +Democrats--one and all. The Democratic party has been, during all these +years, the enemy of civilization, the hater of liberty, the despiser of +justice. + +When I say the Democratic party sympathized with the Rebellion, I mean +a majority of that party. I know there are in the Democratic party, +soldiers who fought for the Union. I do not know why they are there, but +I have nothing to say against them. I will never utter a word against +any man who bared his breast to a storm of shot and shell, for the +preservation of the Republic. When I use the term Democratic party, I do +not mean those soldiers. + +There are others in the Democratic party who are there just because +their fathers were Democrats. They do not mean any particular harm. +Others are there because they could not amount to anything in the +Republican party. A man only fit for a corporal in the Republican ranks, +will make a leader in the Democratic party. By the Democratic party, +I mean that party that sided with the South--that believed in +secession--that loved slavery--that hated liberty--that denounced +Lincoln as a tyrant--that burned orphan asylums--that gloried in our +disasters--that denounced every effort to save the nation--they are the +gentlemen I mean, and they constitute a large majority of the Democratic +party. + +The Democrats hate the negro to-day, with a hatred begotten of a +well-grounded fear that the colored people are rapidly becoming their +superiors in industry, intellect and character. + +The colored people have suffered enough. They were and are our friends. +They are the friends of this country, and cost what it may they must +be protected. The white loyal man must be protected. They have been +ostracized, slandered, mobbed, and murdered. Their very blood cries from +the ground. + +These two things--payment of the debt and protection of loyal citizens, +are the things to be done. Which party can be trusted? + +Which will be the more apt to pay the debt? + +Which will be the more apt to protect the colored and white loyalist at +the South? + +Who is Samuel J. Tilden? + +Samuel J. Tilden is an attorney. He never gave birth to an elevated, +noble sentiment in his life. He is a kind of legal spider, watching in +a web of technicalities for victims. He is a compound of cunning and +heartlessness--of beak and claw and fang. He is one of the few men who +can grab a railroad and hide the deep cuts, tunnels and culverts in a +single night. He is a corporation wrecker. He is a demurrer filed by the +Confederate congress. He waits on the shores of bankruptcy to clutch the +drowning by the throat. He was never married. The Democratic party +has satisfied the longings of his heart. He has looked upon love as +weakness. He has courted men because women cannot vote. He has contented +himself by adopting a rag-baby, that really belongs to Mr. Hendricks, +and his principal business at present is explaining how he came to adopt +this child. + +Samuel J. Tilden has been for years without number a New York Democrat. + +New York has been, and still is, the worst governed city in the world. +Political influence is bought and sold like stocks and bonds. Nearly +every contract is larceny in disguise--nearly every appointment is a +reward for crime, and every election is a fraud. Among such men Samuel +J. Tilden has lived; with such men he has acted; by such men he has been +educated; such men have been his scholars, and such men are his friends. +These men resisted the draft, but Samuel J. Tilden remained their +friend. They burned orphan asylums, but Tilden's friendship never +cooled. They inaugurated riot and murder, but Tilden wavered not. They +stole a hundred millions, and when no more was left to steal--when the +people could not even pay the interest on the amount stolen--then these +Democrats, clapping their hands over their bursting pockets, began +shouting for reform. Mr. Tilden has been a reformer for years, +especially of railroads. The vital issue with him has been the issue +of bogus stock. Although a life-long Democrat, he has been an +amalgamationist--of corporations. While amassing millions, he has +occasionally turned his attention to national affairs. He left his +private affairs (and his reputation depends upon these affairs being +kept private) long enough to assist the Democracy to declare the war for +the restoration of the Union a failure; long enough to denounce Lincoln +as a tyrant and usurper. He was generally too busy to denounce the +political murders and assassinations in the South--too busy to say a +word in favor of justice and liberty; but he found time to declare the +war for the preservation of the country an outrage. He managed to spare +time enough to revile the Proclamation of Emancipation--time enough to +shed a few tears over the corpse of slavery; time enough to oppose +the enfranchisement of the colored man; time enough to raise his voice +against the injustice of putting a loyal negro on a political level with +a pardoned rebel; time enough to oppose every forward movement of the +nation. + +No man should ever be elected President of this country who raised his +hand to dismember and destroy it. No man should be elected President who +sympathized with those who were endeavoring to destroy it. No man should +be elected President of this great nation who, when it was in deadly +peril, did not endeavor to save it by act and word. No man should +be elected President who does not believe that every negro should be +free--that the colored people should be allowed to vote. No man +should be placed at the head of the nation--in command of the army +and navy--who does not believe that the Constitution, with all its +amendments, should be sacredly enforced. No man should be elected +President of this nation who believes in the Democratic doctrine of +"States Rights;" who believes that this Government is only a federation +of States. No man should be elected President of our great country +who aided and abetted her enemies in war--who advised or countenanced +resistance to a draft in time of war, who by slander impaired her +credit, sneered at her heroes, and laughed at her martyrs. Samuel J. +Tilden is the possessor of nearly every disqualification mentioned. + +Mr. Tilden is the author of an essay on finance, commonly called a +letter of acceptance, in which his ideas upon the great subject are +given in the plainest and most direct manner imaginable. All through +this letter or essay there runs a vein of honest bluntness really +refreshing. As a specimen of bluntness and clearness, take the following +extracts: + +How shall the Government make these notes at all times as good as +specie? It has to provide in reference to the mass which would be kept +in use by the wants of business a central reservoir of coin, adequate +to the adjustment of the temporary fluctuations of the international +balance, and as a guaranty against transient drains, artificially +created by panic or by speculation. It has also to provide for the +payment in coin of such fractional currency as may be presented +for redemption, and such inconsiderable portion of legal tenders as +individuals may from time to time desire to convert for special use, or +in order to lay by in coin their little store of money. To make the +coin now in the treasury available for the objects of this reserve, to +gradually strengthen and enlarge that reserve, and to provide for such +other exceptional demands for coin as may arise, does not seem to me a +work of difficulty. If wisely planned and discreetly pursued, it ought +not to cost any sacrifice to the business of the country. It should +tend, on the contrary, to the revival of hope and confidence. + +In other words, the way to pay the debt is to get the money, and the +way to get the money is to provide a central reservoir of coin to adjust +fluctuations. As to the resumption he gives us this: + +The proper time for the resumption is the time when wise preparation +shall have ripened into perfect ability to accomplish the object with +a certainty and ease that will inspire confidence and encourage the +reviving of business. + +The earliest time in which such a result can be brought about is best. +Even when preparations shall have been matured, the exact date would +have to be chosen with reference to the then existing state of trade and +credit operations in our own country, and the course of foreign commerce +and condition of exchanges with other nations. The specific measure and +actual date are matters of details, having reference to ever-changing +conditions. They belong to the domain of practical, administrative +statesmanship. The captain of a steamer, about starting from New York to +Liverpool, does not assemble a council over his ocean craft, and fix +an angle by which to lash the rudder for the whole voyage. A human +intelligence must be at the helm to discern the shifting forces of water +and winds. A human mind must be at the helm to feel the elements day by +day, and guide to a mastery over them. Such preparations are everything. +Without them a legislative command fixing a day--an official promise +fixing a day, are shams. They are worse. They are a snare and a delusion +to all who trust them. They destroy all confidence among thoughtful men +whose judgment will at last sway public opinion. An attempt to act on +such a command, or such a promise without preparation, would end in a +new suspension. It would be a fresh calamity, prolific of confusion, +distrust, and distress. + +That is to say, Congress has not sufficient intelligence to fix the +date of resumption. They cannot fix the proper time. But a Democratic +convention has human intelligence enough to know that the first day of +January, 1879, is not the proper date. That convention knew what the +state of trade and credit in our country and the course of foreign +commerce and the condition of exchanges with other nations would be on +the first day of January, 1879. Of course they did, or else they +never would have had the impudence to declare that resumption would be +impossible at that date. + +The next extract is more luminous still: + +The Government of the United States, in my opinion, can advance to a +resumption of specie payments on its legal tender notes by gradual and +safe processes tending to relieve the present business distress. If +charged by the people with the administration of the executive office, I +should deem it a duty so to exercise the powers with which it has or may +be invested by Congress, as the best and soonest to conduct the country +to that beneficent result. + +Why did not this great statesman tell us of some "gradual and safe +process"? He promises, if elected, to so administer the Government that +it will soon reach a beneficent result. How is this to be done? What is +his plan? Will he rely on "a human intelligence at the helm," or on "the +central reservoir," or on some "gradual and safe process"? + +I defy any man to read this letter and tell me what Mr. Tilden really +proposes to do. There is nothing definite said. He uses such general +terms, such vague and misty expressions, such unmeaning platitudes, that +the real idea, if he had one, is lost in fog and mist. + +Suppose I should, in the most solemn and impressive manner, tell +you that the fluctuations caused in the vital stability of shifting +financial operations, not to say speculations of the wildest character, +cannot be rendered instantly accountable to a true financial theory +based upon the great law that the superfluous is not a necessity, except +in vague thoughts of persons unacquainted with the exigencies of the +hour, and cannot, in the absence of a central reservoir of coin with +a human intelligence at the head, hasten by any system of convertible +bonds the expectation of public distrust, no matter how wisely planned +and discreetly pursued, failure is assured whatever the real result may +be. + +Must we wage this war for the right forever? Is there no time when the +soldiers of progress can rest? Will the bugles of the great army of +civilization never sound even a halt? It does seem as though there +can be no stop, no rest. It is in the world of mind as in the physical +world. Every plant of value has to be cultivated. The land must be +plowed, the seeds must be planted and watered. It must be guarded every +moment. Its enemies crawl in the earth and fly in the air. The sun +scorches it, the rain drowns it, the dew rusts it. He who wins it must +fight. But the weeds they grow in spite of all. Nobody plows for them +except accident. The winds sow the seeds, chance covers them, and they +flourish and multiply. The sun cannot burn them--they laugh at rain and +frost--they care not for birds and beasts. In spite of all they grow. It +is the same in politics. A true Republican must continue to grow, must +work, must think, must advance. The Republican party is the party of +progress, of ideas, of work. To make a Republican you must have schools, +books, papers. To make a Democrat, take all these away. Republicans are +the useful; Democrats the noxious--corn and wheat against the dog fennel +and Canada thistles. + +Republicans of Maine, do not forget that each of you has two votes in +this election--one in Maine and one in Indiana. + +Remember that we are relying on you. There is no stronger tie between +the prairies of Illinois and the pines of Maine--between the Western +States and New England, than James G. Blaine. + +We are relying on Maine for from twelve to fifteen thousand on the +12th of September, and Indiana will answer with from fifteen to twenty +thousand, and hearing these two votes the Nation in November will +declare for Hayes and Wheeler.* + + * This being a newspaper report, and never revised by the + author, is of necessity incomplete, but the publisher feels + that it should not be lost + + + + +COOPER UNION SPEECH, NEW YORK. + + *Col. Robert G. Ingersoll of Illinois last night, at Cooper + Union, spoke on the political issues of the day, at unusual + length, to the largest and most enthusiastic audience which, + during the last ten years, any single speaker has attracted. + His address was in his happiest epigrammatic style, and was + interrupted every few moments either by the most uproarious + laughter or enthusiastic cheering. It is no exaggeration to + say that the meeting was the largest Cooper Institute has + seen since the war. Not merely the main hall was filled, but + the wide corridor in Third Avenue, the entrance hall in + Eighth Street, and every Committee-room to which his voice + could reach, though the speaker was unseen, were crowded--in + fact, literally packed. Half an hour before the hour named + for the organization of the meeting, admission to the body + of the hall was almost impossible; and selected officers, + and the speaker of the evening himself had to beg their way + to the platform. The latter was as painfully crowded with + invited guests as the body of the hall; and ingress was + impossible after the speaker began, and egress was almost as + difficult owing to the pressure in the committee-room + through which the platform is approached. + + Not only in numbers alone, but in the prominence of the + persons present, was the meeting impressive. Besides the + usual large quota of active politicians always seen at such + meetings, there were seen numbers of leading merchants, + financiers, and lawyers of New York, prominent officials not + only of the City but the State and National Government. + + The speech was nearly two hours In length, but as the + interruptions were frequent, indeed almost continuous, it + seemed very short, and when Mr. Ingersoll concluded his fire + of epigrams, there were loud calls and appeals to him to go + on. There were suggestions by some of the managers, of other + speakers who might follow him, but the presiding officer + wisely decided to submit no other speaker to the too severe + test of speaking on the same occasion with Mr. Ingersoll. + + Chauncey M. Depew, on leaving the hall, remarked that it was + the greatest speech he ever heard, and numbers of old + campaigners were equally enthusiastic. At its conclusion, + the reception which Mr. Ingersoll held on the platform + lasted over half-an-hour, and when finally Commissioner + Wheeler piloted him through the crowd to his coach, three or + four hundred of the audience followed and gave him lusty + cheers as he drove off.--New York Tribune, September + 11,1876. + + +HAYES CAMPAIGN. + +1876. + +I AM just on my way home from the grand old State of Maine, and there +has followed me a telegraphic dispatch which I will read to you. If it +were not good, you may swear I would not read it: "Every Congressional +district, every county in Maine, Republican by a large majority. The +victory is overwhelming, and the majority will exceed 15,000." That +dispatch is signed by that knight-errant of political chivalry, James G. +Blaine. + +I suppose we are all stockholders in the great corporation known as the +United States of America, and as such stockholders we have a right to +vote the way we think will best subserve our own interests. Each one has +certain stock in this Government, whether he is rich, or whether he is +poor, and the poor man has the same interest in the United States of +America that the richest man in it has. It is our duty, conscientiously +and honestly, to hear the argument upon both sides of the political +question, and then go and vote conscientiously for the side that we +believe will best preserve our interest in the United States of America. +Two great parties are before you now asking your support--the Democratic +party and the Republican party. One wishes to be kept in power, the +other wishes to have a chance once more at the Treasury of the United +States. The Democratic party is probably the hungriest organization that +ever wandered over the desert of political disaster in the history of +the world. There never was, in all probability, a political stomach +so thoroughly empty, or an appetite so outrageously keen as the one +possessed by the Democratic party. The Democratic party has been howling +like a pack of wolves looking in with hungry and staring eyes at the +windows of the National Capitol, and scratching at the doors of the +White House. They have been engaged in these elegant pursuits for +sixteen long, weary years. Occasionally they have retired to some +convenient eminence and lugubriously howled about the Constitution. +The Democratic party comes and asks for your vote, not on account of +anything it has done, not on account of anything it has accomplished, +but on account of what it promises to do; the Democratic party can make +just as good a promise as any other party in the world, and it will +come farther from fulfilling it than any other party on this globe. The +Republican party having held this Government for sixteen years, proposes +to hold it for four years more. The Republican party comes to you with +its record open, and asks every man, woman and child in this broad +country to read its every word. And I say to you, that there is not a +line, a paragraph, or a page of that record that is not only an honor +to the Republican party, but to the human race. On every page of that +record is written some great and glorious action, done either for the +liberty of man, or the preservation of our common country. We ask every +body to read its every word. The Democratic party comes before you with +its record closed, recording every blot and blur, and stain and treason, +and slander and malignity, and asks you not to read a single word, but +to be kind enough to take its infamous promises for the future. + +Now, my friends, I propose to tell you, to-night, something that has +been done by the Democratic party, and then allow you to judge for +yourselves. Now, if a man came to you, you owning a steamboat on the +Hudson River, and he wished to hire out to you as an engineer, and you +inquired about him, and found he had blown up and destroyed and wrecked +every steamboat he had ever been engineer on, and you should tell him: +"I can't hire you; you blew up such an engine, you wrecked such a ship," +he would say to you, "My Lord! Mister, you must let bygones be bygones." +If a man came to your bank, or came to a solitary individual here to +borrow a hundred dollars, and you went and inquired about him and found +he never paid a note in his life, found he was a dead-beat, and you say +to him, "I cannot loan you money." "Why?" "Because, I have ascertained +you never pay your debts." "Ah, yes," he says, "you are no gentleman +going prying into a man's record," I tell you, my good friends, a good +character rests upon a record, and not upon a prospectus, a good record +rests upon a deed accomplished, and not upon a promise, a good character +rests upon something really done, and not upon a good resolution, and +you cannot make a good character in a day. If you could, Tilden would +have one to-morrow night. + +I propose now to tell you, my friends, a little of the history of the +Republican party, also a little of the history of the Democratic party. + +And first, the Republican party. The United States of America is a free +country, it is the only free country upon this earth; it is the only +republic that was ever established among men. We have read, we have +heard, of the republics of Greece, of Egypt, of Venice; we have heard of +the free cities of Europe. There never was a republic of Venice; there +never was a republic of Rome; there never was a republic of Athens; +there never was a free city in Europe; there never was a government not +cursed with caste; there never was a government not cursed with slavery; +there never was a country not cursed with almost every infamy, until the +Republican party of the United States made this a free country. It is +the first party in the world that contended that the respectable man was +the useful man; it is the first party in the world that said, without +regard to previous conditions, without regard to race, every human being +is entitled to life, to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and it is +the only party in the world that has endeavored to carry those sublime +principles into actual effect. Every other party has been allied to +some piece of rascality; every other party has been patched up with some +thieving, larcenous, leprous compromise. The Republican party keeps +its forehead in the grand dawn of perpetual advancement; the Republican +party is the party of reason; it is the party of argument; it is +the party of education; it believes in free schools, it believes in +scientific schools; it believes that the schools are for the public and +all the public; it believes that science never should be interfered with +by any sectarian influence whatever. + +The Republican party is in favor of science; the Republican party, as +I said before, is the party of reason; it argues; it does not mob; it +reasons; it does not murder; it persuades you, not with the shot gun, +not with tar and feathers, but with good sound reason, and argument. + +In order for you to ascertain what the Republican party has done for us, +let us refresh ourselves a little; we all know it, but it is well enough +to hear it now and then. Let us then refresh our recollection a little, +in order to understand what the grand and great Republican party has +accomplished in the land. + +We will consider, in the first place, the condition of the country when +the Republican party was born. When this Republican party was born there +was upon the statute books of the United States of America a law known +as the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, by which every man in the State of +New York was made by law a bloodhound, and could be set and hissed upon +a negro, who was simply attempting to obtain his birthright of freedom, +just as you would set a dog upon a wolf. That was the Fugitive Slave Law +of 1850. Around the neck of every man it put a collar as on a dog, but +it had not the decency to put the man's name on the collar. I said in +the State of Maine, and several other States, and expect to say it again +although I hurt the religious sentiment of the Democratic party, and +shocked the piety of that organization by saying it, but I did say then, +and now say, that the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 would have disgraced +hell in its palmiest days. + +I tell you, my friends, you do not know how easy it is to shock the +religious sentiments of the Democratic party; there is a deep and pure +vein of piety running through that organization; it has been for years +spiritually inclined; there is probably no organization in the world +that really will stand by any thing of a spiritual character, at least +until it is gone, as that Democratic party will. Everywhere I have been +I have crushed their religious hopes. You have no idea how sorry I am +that I hurt their feelings so upon the subject of religion. Why, I did +not suppose that they cared anything about Christianity, but I have been +deceived. I now find that they do, and I have done what no other man in +the United States ever did--I have made the Democratic party come to the +defence of Christianity. I have made the Democratic party use what +time they could spare between drinks in quoting Scripture. But +notwithstanding the fact that I have shocked the religious sentiment +of that party, I do not want them to defend Christianity any more; they +will bring it into universal contempt if they do. Yes, yes, they will +make the words honesty and reform a stench in the nostrils of honest +men. They made the words of the Constitution stand almost for treason, +during the entire war, and every decent word that passes the ignorant, +leprous, malignant lips of the Democratic party, becomes dishonored from +that day forth. + +At the same time, in 1850, when the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, in +nearly all of the Western States, there was a law by which the virtues +of pity and hospitality became indictable offences. There was a law by +which the virtue of charity became a crime, and the man who performed +a kindness could be indicted, imprisoned, and fined. It was the law of +Illinois--of my own State--that if one gave a drop of cold water, or a +crust of bread, to a fugitive from slavery, he could be indicted, fined +and imprisoned, under the infamous slave law of 1850, under the infamous +black laws of the Western States. + +At the time the Republican party was born, (and I have told this many +times) if a woman ninety-nine one-hundredths white had escaped from +slavery, carrying her child on her bosom, having gone through morass and +brush and thorns and thickets, had crossed creeks and rivers, and had +finally got within one step of freedom, with the light of the North +star shining in her tear-filled eyes--with her child upon her withered +breast--it would have been an indictable offence to have given her a +drop of water or a crust of bread; not only that, but under the slave +law of 1850, it was the duty of every Northern citizen claiming to be a +free man, to clutch that woman and hand her back to the dominion of her +master and to the Democratic lash. The Democrats are sorry that those +laws have been repealed. The Republican party with the mailed hand +of war tore from the statute books of the United States, and from the +statute books of each State, every one of those infamous, hellish laws, +and trampled them beneath her glorious feet. + +Such laws are infamous beyond expression; one would suppose they had +been passed by a Legislature, the lower house of which were hyenas, the +upper house snakes, and the executive a cannibal king. The institution +of slavery had polluted, had corrupted the church, not only in the +South, but a large proportion of the church in the North; so that +ministers stood up in their pulpits here in New York and defended the +very infamy that I have mentioned. Not only that, but the Presbyterians, +South, in 1863, met in General Synod, and passed two resolutions. + +The first resolution read, "Resolved, that slavery is a divine +institution" (and as the boy said, "so is hell"). + +_Second_, "Resolved, that God raised up the Presbyterian Church, South, +to protect and perpetuate that institution." + +Well, all I have to say is that, if God did this, he never chose a more +infamous instrument to carry out a more diabolical object. What more had +slavery done? At that time it had corrupted the very courts, so that in +nearly every State in this Union if a Democrat had gone to the hut of +a poor negro, and had shot down his wife and children before his very +eyes, had strangled the little dimpled babe in the cradle, there was no +court before which this negro could come to give testimony. He was not +allowed to go before a magistrate and indict the murderer; he was not +allowed to go before a grand jury and swear an indictment against the +wretch. Justice was not only blind, but deaf; and that was the idea +of justice in the South, when the Republican party was born. When the +Republican party was born the bay of the bloodhound was the music of the +Union; when this party was born the dome of our Capitol at Washington +cast its shadow upon slave-pens in which crouched and shuddered women +from whose breasts their babes had been torn by wretches who are now +crying for honesty and reform. When the Republican party was born, +a bloodhound was considered as one of the instrumentalities of +republicanism. When the Republican party was born, the church had made +the cross of Christ a whipping-post. When the Republican party was +born, courts of the United States had not the slightest idea of justice, +provided a black man was on the other side. When this party came into +existence, if a negro had a plot of ground and planted corn in it, and +the rain had fallen upon it, and the dew had lain lovingly upon it, and +the arrows of light shot from the exhaustless quiver of the sun, had +quickened the blade, and the leaves waved in the perfumed air of June, +and it finally ripened into the full ear in the golden air of autumn, +the courts of the United States did not know to whom the corn belonged, +and if a Democrat had driven the negro off and shucked the corn, and +that case had been left to the Supreme Court of many of the States in +this Union, they would have read all the authorities, they would have +heard all the arguments, they would have heard all the speeches, then +pushed their spectacles back on their bald and brainless heads and +decided, all things considered, the Democrat was entitled to that +corn. We pretended at that time to be a free country; it was a lie. We +pretended at that time to do justice in our courts; it was a lie, and +above all our pretence and hypocrisy rose the curse of slavery, like +Chimborazo above the clouds. + +Now, my friends, what is there about this great Republican party? It is +the party of intellectual freedom. It is one thing to bind the hands of +men; it is one thing to steal the results of physical labor of men, but +it is a greater crime to forge fetters for the souls of men. I am a free +man; I will do my own thinking or die; I give a mortgage on my soul to +nobody; I give a deed of trust on my soul to nobody; no matter whether I +think well or I think ill; whatever thought I have shall be my thought, +and shall be a free thought, and I am going to give cheerfully, gladly, +the same right to thus think to every other human being. + +I despise any man who does not own himself. I despise any man who does +not possess his own spirit. I would rather die a beggar, covered with +rags, with my soul erect, fearless and free, than to live a king in a +palace of gold, clothed with the purple of power, with my soul slimy +with hypocrisy, crawling in the dust of fear. I will do my own thinking, +and when I get it thought, I will say it. These are the splendid things, +my friends, about the Republican party; intellectual and physical +liberty for all. + +Now, my friends, I have told you a little about the Republican party. +Now, I will tell you a little more about the Republican party. When that +party came into power it elected Abraham Lincoln President of the United +States. I live in the State that holds within its tender embrace the +sacred ashes of Abraham Lincoln, the best, the purest man that was +ever President of the United States. I except none. When he was elected +President of the United States, the Democratic party said: "We will not +stand it;" the Democratic party South said: "We will not bear it;" and +the Democratic party North said: "You ought not to bear it." + +James Buchanan was then President. James Buchanan read the Constitution +of the United States, or a part of it, and read several platforms made +by the Democratic party, and gave it as his deliberate opinion that a +State had a right to go out of the Union. He gave it as his deliberate +opinion that this was a Confederacy and not a Nation, and when he said +that, there was another little, dried up, old bachelor sitting over in +the amen corner of the political meeting and he squeaked out: "That is +my opinion too," and the name of that man was Samuel J. Tilden. + +The Democratic party then and now says that the Union is simply a +Confederacy; but I want this country to be a Nation. I want to live in +a great and splendid country. A great nation makes a great people. Your +surroundings have something to do with it. Great plains, magnificent +rivers, great ranges of mountains, a country washed by two oceans--all +these things make us great and grand as the continent on which we live. +The war commenced, and the moment the war commenced the whole country +was divided into two parties. No matter what they had been +before, whether Democrats, Freesoilers, Republicans, old Whigs, or +Abolitionists--the whole country divided into two parties--the friends +and enemies of the country--patriots and traitors, and they so continued +until the Rebellion was put down. I cheerfully admit that thousands +of Democrats went into the army, and that thousands of Democrats were +patriotic men. I cheerfully admit that thousands of them thought more of +their country than they did of the Democratic party, and they came with +us to fight for the country, and I honor every one of them from the +bottom of my heart, and nineteen out of twenty of them have voted the +Republican ticket from that day to this. Some of them came back and went +to the Democratic party again and are still in that party; I have not +a word to say against them, only this: They are swapping off +respectability for disgrace. They give to the Democratic party all the +respectability it has, and the Democratic party gives to them all the +disgrace they have. + +Democratic soldier, come out of the Democratic party. There was a man in +my State got mad at the railroad and would not ship his hogs on it, so +he drove them to Chicago, and it took him so long to get them there that +the price had fallen; when he came back, they laughed at him, and said +to him, "You didn't make much, did you, driving your hogs to Chicago?" +"No," he said, "I didn't make anything except the company of the hogs on +the way." Soldier of the Republic, I say, with the Democratic party all +you can make is the company of the hogs on the way down. Come out, come +out and leave them alone in their putridity--in their rottenness. Leave +them alone. Do not try to put a new patch on an old garment. Leave them +alone. I tell you the Democratic party must be left alone; it must be +left to enjoy the primal curse, "On thy belly shalt thou crawl and dust +shalt thou eat all the days of thy life," O Democratic party. + +Now, my friends, I need not tell you how we put down the Rebellion. You +all know. I need not describe to you the battles you fought. I need not +tell you of the men who sacrificed their lives. I need not tell you of +the old men who are still waiting for footsteps that never will return. +I need not tell you of the women who are waiting for the return of their +loved ones. I need not tell you of all these things. You know we put +down the Rebellion; we fought until the old flag triumphed over every +inch of American soil redeemed from the clutch of treason. + +Now, my friends, what was the Democratic party doing when the Republican +party was doing these splendid things? When, the Republican party said +this was a nation; when the Republican party said we shall be free; +when the Republican party said slavery shall be extirpated from American +soil; when the Republican party said the negro shall be a citizen, and +the citizen shall have the ballot, and the citizen shall have the right +to cast that ballot for the government of his choice peaceably--what was +the Democratic party doing? + +I will tell you a few things that the Democratic party has done within +the last sixteen years. In the first place, they were not willing that +this country should be saved unless slavery could be saved with it. +There never was a Democrat, North or South--and by Democrat I mean the +fellows who stuck to the party all during the war, the ones that stuck +to the party after it was a disgrace; the ones that stuck to the party +from simple, pure cussedness--there never was one who did not think +more of the institution of slavery than he did of the Government of the +United States; not one that I ever saw or read of. And so they said to +us for all those years: "If you can save the Union with slavery, and +without any help from us, we are willing you should do it; but we do not +propose that this shall be an abolition war." So the Democratic +party from the first said, "An effort to preserve this Union is +unconstitutional," and they made a breastwork of the Constitution for +rebels to get behind and shoot down loyal men, so that the first charge +I lay at the feet of the Democratic party, the first charge I make in +the indictment, is that they thought more of slavery than of liberty and +of this Union, and in my judgment they are in the same condition this +moment. The next thing they did was to discourage enlistments in the +North. They did all in their power to prevent any man's going into the +army to assist in putting down the Rebellion. And that grand reformer +and statesman, Samuel J. Tilden, gave it as his opinion that the South +could sue, and that every soldier who put his foot on sacred Southern +soil would be a trespasser, and could be sued before a Justice of the +Peace. The Democratic party met in their conventions in every State +North, and denounced the war as an abolition war, and Abraham Lincoln +as a tyrant. What more did they do? They went into partnership with +the rebels. They said to the rebels just as plainly as though they had +spoken it: "Hold on, hold out, hold hard, fight hard, until we get the +political possession of the North, and then you can go in peace." + +What more? A man by the name of Jacob Thompson--a nice man and a good +Democrat, who thinks that of all the men to reform the Government Samuel +J. Tilden is the best man--Jacob Thompson had the misfortune to be +a very vigorous Democrat, and I will show you what I mean by that. A +Democrat during the war who had a musket--you understand, a musket--he +was a rebel, and during the war a rebel that did not have a musket was +a Democrat. I call Mr. Thompson a vigorous Democrat, because he had a +musket. Jacob Thompson was the rebel agent in Canada, and when he went +there he took between six and seven hundred thousand dollars for the +purpose of co-operating with the Northern Democracy. He got himself +acquainted with and in connection with the Democratic party in Ohio, in +Indiana, and in Illinois. The vigorous Democrats, the real Democrats, +in these States had organized themselves under the heads of "Sons of +Liberty," "Knights of the Golden Circle," "Order of the Star," and +various other beautiful names, and their object was to release rebel +prisoners from Camp Chase, Camp Douglass in Chicago, and from one camp +in Indianapolis and another camp at Rock Island. Their object was to +raise a fire in the rear, as they called it--in other words, to burn +down the homes of Union soldiers while they were in the front fighting +for the honor of their country. That was their object, and they put +themselves in connection with Jacob Thompson. They were to have an +uprising on the 16th of August, 1864. It was thought best to hold a few +public meetings for the purpose of arousing the public mind. They held +the first meeting in the city of Peoria, where I live. That was August +3rd, 1864. Here they came from every part of the State, and were +addressed by the principal Democratic politicians in Illinois. + +To that meeting Fernando Wood addressed a letter, in which he said that +although absent in body he should be present in spirit. George Pendleton +of Ohio, George Pugh of the same State, Seymour of Connecticut, and +various other Democratic gentlemen, sent acknowledgments and expressions +of regret to this Democratic meeting that met at this time for the +purpose of organizing an uprising among the Democratic party. I saw that +meeting, and heard some of their speeches. They denounced the war as an +abolition nigger war. They denounced Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant. They +carried transparencies that said, "Is there money enough in the land to +pay this nigger debt? Arouse, brothers, and hurl the tyrant Lincoln from +the throne." And the men that promulgated that very thing are running +for the most important political offices in the country, on the ground +of honesty and reform. And Jacob Thompson says that he furnished the +money to pay the expenses of that Democratic meeting. They were all paid +by rebel gold, by Jacob Thompson. He has on file the voucher from these +Democratic gentlemen in favor of Tilden and Hendricks. The next meetings +were held in Springfield, Illinois, and Indianapolis, Indiana, the +expenses of which were paid in the same way. They shipped to one town +these weapons of our destruction in boxes labeled Sunday school books! + +That same rebel agent, Jacob Thompson, hired a Democrat by the name +of Churchill to burn the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Thompson coolly +remarked: "I don't think he has had much luck, as I have only heard of a +_few_ fires." + +In Indianapolis a man named Dodds was arrested--a sound Democrat--so +sound that the Government had to take him by the nape of the neck and +put him in Fort Lafayette. The convention of Democrats then met in the +city of Chicago, and declared the war a failure. There never was a more +infamous lie on this earth than when the Democratic convention declared +in 1864 that the war was a failure. It was but a few days afterward that +the roar of Grants cannon announced that a lie. Rise from your graves, +Union soldiers, one and all, that fell in support of your country--rise +from your graves, and lift your skeleton hands on high, and swear that +when the Democratic party resolved that the war for the preservation +of your country was a failure, that the Democratic party was a vast +aggregated liar. Well, we grew magnanimous, and let Dodds out of Fort +Lafayette; and where do you suppose Dodds is now? He is in Wisconsin. +What do you suppose Dodds is doing? Making speeches. Whom for? Tilden +and Hendricks--"Honesty and reform!" This same Jacob Thompson, Democrat, +hired men to burn New York, and they did set fire in some twenty places, +and they used Greek fire, as he said in his letter, and ingenuously +adds: "I shall never hereafter advise the use of Greek fire." They +knew that in the smoke and ruins would be found the charred remains of +mothers and children, and that the flames leaping like serpents would +take the child from the mothers arms, and they were ready to do it to +preserve the infamous institution of slavery; and the Democratic party +has never objected to it from that day to this. They burned steamboats, +and many men with them, and the hounds that did it are skulking in the +woods of Missouri. While these things were going on, Democrats in the +highest positions said: "Not one cent to prosecute the war." + +The next question we have to consider is about paying the debt. This +is the first question. The second question is the protection of the +citizen, whether he is white or black. We owe a large debt. Two-thirds +of that debt was incurred in consequence of the action and the meanness +of the Democrats. There are some people who think that you can defer +the payment of a promise so long that the postponement of the debt will +serve in lieu of its liquidation--that you pay your debts by putting off +your creditors. + +The people have to support the Government; the Government cannot support +the people. The Government has no money but what it received from the +people. It had therefore to borrow money to carry on the war. Every +greenback that it issued was a forced loan. My notes are not a legal +tender, though if I had the power I might possibly make them so. We +borrowed money and we have to pay the debt. That debt represents the +expenses of war. The horses and the gunpowder and the rifles and the +artillery are represented in that debt--it represents all the munitions +of war. Until we pay that debt we can never be a solvent nation. Until +our net profits amount to as much as we lost during the war we can never +be a solvent people. If a man cannot understand that, there is no use in +talking to him on the subject. The alchemists in olden times who fancied +that they could make gold out of nothing were not more absurd than the +American advocates of soft money. They resemble the early explorers of +our continent who lost years in searching for the fountain of eternal +youth, but the ear of age never caught the gurgle of that spring. We +all have heard of men who spent years of labor in endeavoring to produce +perpetual motion. They produced machines of the most ingenious character +with cogs and wheels, and pulleys without number, but these ingenious +machines had one fault, they would not go. You will never find a way to +make money out of nothing. It is as great nonsense as the fountain of +perpetual youth. You cannot do it. + +Gold is the best material which labor has yet found as a measure of +value. That measure of value must be as valuable as the object it +measures. + +The value of gold arises from the amount of labor expended in producing +it. A gold dollar will buy as much labor as produced that dollar. + + [Here the speaker opened a telegram from Maine, which he + read to the audience amid a perfect tempest of applause. It + contained the following words:] "We have triumphed by an + immense majority, something we have not achieved since + 1868." [The speaker resumed.] And this despatch is signed by + the man who clutched the throats of the Democrats and held + them until they grew black in the face, James G. Blaine. *** + + +Now, gentlemen, to pass from the financial part of this, and I will say +one word before I do it. The Republican party intends to pay its debts +in coin on the 1st of January, 1879. Paper money means probably the +payment of the Confederate debt; a metallic currency, the discharge of +honest obligations. We have touched hard-pan prices in this country, and +we want to do a hard-pan business with hard money. + +We now come to the protection of our citizens. A government that cannot +protect its citizens, at home and abroad, ought to be swept from the map +of the world. The Democrats tell you that they will protect any citizen +if he is only away from home, but if he is in Louisiana or any other +State in the Union, the Government is powerless to protect him. I say +a government has a right to protect every citizen at home as well as +abroad, and the Government has the right to take its soldiers across +the State line, to take its soldiers into any State, for the purpose of +protecting even one man. That is my doctrine with regard to the power of +the Government. But here comes a Democrat to-day and tells me, (and +it is the old doctrine of secession in disguise), that the State of +Louisiana must protect its own citizens, and that if it does not, the +General Government has nothing to do unless the Governor of that State +asks assistance, no matter whether anarchy prevails or not. That is +infamous. The United States has the right to draft you and me into the +army and compel us to serve there, if its powers are being usurped. It +is the duty of this Government to see to it that every citizen has +all his rights in every State in this Union, and to protect him in the +enjoyment of those rights, peaceably if it can, forcibly if it must. + +Democrats tell us that they treat the colored man very well. I have +frequently read stories relating how two white men were passing along +the road when suddenly they were set upon by ten or twelve negroes, who +sought their lives; but in the fight which ensued, the ten or twelve +negroes were killed, and not a white man hurt. I tell you it is +infamous, and the Democratic press of the North laughs at it, and Mr. +Samuel J. Tilden does not care. He knows that many of the Southern +States are to be carried by assassination and murder, and he knows that +if he is elected it will be by assassination and murder. It is infamous +beyond the expression of language. Now, I ask you which party will be +the most likely to preserve the liberty of the negro--the party who +fought for slavery, or the men who gave them freedom? These are the +two great questions--the payment of the debt, and the protection of our +citizens. My friends, we have to pay the debt, as I told you, but it is +of greater importance to make sacred American citizenship. + +Now, these two parties have a couple of candidates. The Democratic +party has put forward Mr. Samuel J. Tilden. Mr. Tilden is a Democrat who +belongs to the Democratic party of the city of New York; the worst party +ever organized in any civilized country. I wish you could see it. The +pugilists, the prizefighters, the plug-uglies, the fellows that run with +the "masheen;" nearly every nose is mashed, about half the ears have +been chawed off; and of whatever complexion they are, their eyes are +nearly always black. They have fists like tea-kettles and heads like +bullets. I wish you could see them. I have been in New York every few +weeks for fifteen years; and whenever I am here I see the old banner of +Tammany Hall, "Tammany Hall and Reform;" "John Morrissey and Reform;" +"John Kelley and Reform;" "William M. Tweed and Reform;" and the +other day I saw the same old flag; "Samuel J. Tilden and Reform." +The Democratic party of the city of New York never had but two +objects--grand and petit larceny. Tammany Hall bears the same relation +to the penitentiary that the Sunday school does to the church. + +I have heard that the Democratic party got control of the city when it +did not owe a dollar, and have stolen and stolen until it owes a hundred +and sixty millions, and I understand that every election they have had +was a fraud, every one. I understand that they stole everything they +could lay their hands on; and what hands! Grasped and grasped and +clutched, until they stole all it was possible for the people to pay, +and now they are all yelling for "Honesty and Reform." + +I understand that Samuel J. Tilden was a pupil in that school, and that +now he is the head teacher. I understand that when the war commenced +he said he would never aid in the prosecution of that old outrage. I +understand that he said in 1860 and in 1861 that the Southern States +could snap the tie of confederation as a nation would break a treaty, +and that they could repel coercion as a nation would repel invasion. I +understand that during the entire war he was opposed to its prosecution, +and that he was opposed to the Proclamation of Emancipation, and +demanded that the document be taken back. I understand that he regretted +to see the chains fall from the limbs of the colored man. I understand +that he regretted when the Constitution of the United States was +elevated and purified, pure as the driven snow. I understand that he +regretted when the stain was wiped from our flag and we stood before the +world the only pure Republic that ever existed. This is enough for me +to say about him, and since the news from Maine you need not waste your +time in talking about him. + + [A voice: "How about free schools?"] + +I want every schoolhouse to be a temple of science in which shall be +taught the laws of nature, in which the children shall be taught actual +facts, and I do not want that schoolhouse touched, or that institution +of science touched, by any superstition whatever. Leave religion with +the church, with the family, and more than all, leave religion with each +individual heart and man. + +Let every man be his own bishop, let every man be his own pope, let +every man do his own thinking, let every man have a brain of his own. +Let every man have a heart and conscience of his own. + +We are growing better, and truer, and grander. And let me say, Mr. +Democrat, we are keeping the country for your children. We are keeping +education for your children. We are keeping the old flag floating for +your children; and let me say, as a prediction, there is only air enough +on this continent to float that one flag. + + Note.--This address was not revised by the author for + publication. + + + + +INDIANAPOLIS SPEECH. + + * Col. Ingersoll was introduced by Gen'l Noyes, who said: "I + have now the exquisite pleasure of introducing to you that + dashing cavalry officer, that thunderbolt of war, that + silver tongued orator, Col. Robert G. Ingersoll of Illinois." + The Journal, Indianapolis, Indiana. September 2lst, 1876. + + +HAYES CAMPAIGN. + +1876 + +Delivered to the Veteran Soldiers of the Rebellion. + +LADIES and Gentlemen, Fellow Citizens and Citizen Soldiers:--I am +opposed to the Democratic party, and I will tell you why. Every State +that seceded from the United States was a Democratic State. Every +ordinance of secession that was drawn was drawn by a Democrat. Every man +that endeavored to tear the old flag from the heaven that it enriches +was a Democrat. Every man that tried to destroy this nation was a +Democrat. Every enemy this great Republic has had for twenty years has +been a Democrat. Every man that shot Union soldiers was a Democrat. +Every man that denied to the Union prisoners even the worm-eaten crust +of famine, and when some poor, emaciated Union patriot, driven to +insanity by famine, saw in an insane dream the face of his mother, and +she beckoned him and he followed, hoping to press her lips once again +against his fevered face, and when he stepped one step beyond the dead +line the wretch that put the bullet through his loving, throbbing heart +was and is a Democrat. + +Every man that loved slavery better than liberty was a Democrat. The +man that assassinated Abraham Lincoln was a Democrat. Every man that +sympathized with the assassin--every man glad that the noblest President +ever elected was assassinated, was a Democrat. Every man that wanted the +privilege of whipping another man to make him work for him for nothing +and pay him with lashes on his naked back, was a Democrat. Every man +that raised bloodhounds to pursue human beings was a Democrat. Every man +that clutched from shrieking, shuddering, crouching mothers, babes from +their breasts, and sold them into slavery, was a Democrat. Every man +that impaired the credit of the United States, every man that swore we +would never pay the bonds, every man that swore we would never +redeem the greenbacks, every maligner of his country's credit, every +calumniator of his country's honor, was a Democrat. Every man that +resisted the draft, every man that hid in the bushes and shot at Union +men simply because they were endeavoring to enforce the laws of their +country, was a Democrat. Every man that wept over the corpse of slavery +was a Democrat. Every man that cursed Abraham Lincoln because he +issued the Proclamation of Emancipation--the grandest paper since the +Declaration of Independence--every one of them was a Democrat. Every man +that denounced the soldiers that bared their breasts to the storms of +shot and shell for the honor of America and for the sacred rights of +man; was a Democrat. Every man that wanted an uprising in the North, +that wanted to release the rebel prisoners that they might burn down +the homes of Union soldiers above the heads of their wives and children, +while the brave husbands, the heroic fathers, were in the front fighting +for the honor of the old flag, every one of them was a Democrat. I am +not through yet. Every man that believed this glorious nation of ours +is a confederacy, every man that believed the old banner carried by our +fathers over the fields of the Revolution; the old flag carried by our +fathers over the fields of 1812; the glorious old banner carried by our +brothers over the plains of Mexico; the sacred banner carried by +our brothers over the cruel fields of the South, simply stood for a +contract, simply stood for an agreement, was a Democrat. Every man who +believed that any State could go out of the Union at its pleasure, every +man that believed the grand fabric of the American Government could +be made to crumble instantly into dust at the touch of treason, was a +Democrat. Every man that helped to burn orphan asylums in New York, was +a Democrat; every man that tried to fire the city of New York, although +he knew that thousands would perish, and knew that the great serpent of +flame leaping from buildings would clutch children from their mothers' +arms--every wretch that did it was a Democrat. Recollect it! Every man +that tried to spread smallpox and yellow fever in the North, as the +instrumentalities of civilized war, was a Democrat. Soldiers, every scar +you have on your heroic bodies was given you by a Democrat. Every scar, +every arm that is lacking, every limb that is gone, is a souvenir of a +Democrat. I want you to recollect it. Every man that was the enemy of +human liberty in this country was a Democrat. Every man that wanted +the fruit of all the heroism of all the ages to turn to ashes upon the +lips--every one was a Democrat. + +I am a Republican. I will tell you why: This is the only free Government +in the world. The Republican party made it so. The Republican party took +the chains from four millions of people. The Republican party, with the +wand of progress, touched the auction-block and it became a schoolhouse. +The Republican party put down the Rebellion, saved the nation, kept the +old banner afloat in the air, and declared that slavery of every kind +should be extirpated from the face of this continent. What more? I am a +Republican because it is the only free party that ever existed. It is a +party that has a platform as broad as humanity, a platform as broad as +the human race, a party that says you shall have all the fruit of the +labor of your hands, a party that says you may think for yourself, a +party that says, no chains for the hands, no fetters for the soul.* + + * At this point the rain began to descend, and it looked as + if a heavy shower was impending. Several umbrellas were put + up. Gov. Noyes--"God bless you! What is rain to soldiers" + Voice--"Go ahead; we don't mind the rain." It was proposed + to adjourn the meeting to Masonic Hall, but the motion was + voted down by an overwhelming majority, and Mr. Ingersoll + proceeded. + +I am a Republican because the Republican party says this country is a +Nation, and not a confederacy. I am here in Indiana to speak, and I +have as good a right to speak here as though I had been born on this +stand--not because the State flag of Indiana waves over me--I would +not know it if I should see it. You have the same right to speak in +Illinois, not because the State flag of Illinois waves over you, but +because that banner, rendered sacred by the blood of all the heroes, +waves over you and me. I am in favor of this being a Nation. Think of a +man gratifying his entire ambition in the State of Rhode Island. We want +this to be a Nation, and you cannot have a great, grand, splendid people +without a great, grand, splendid country. The great plains, the sublime +mountains, the great rushing, roaring rivers, shores lashed by two +oceans, and the grand anthem of Niagara, mingle and enter, into the +character of every American citizen, and make him or tend to make him a +great and grand character. I am for the Republican party because it says +the Government has as much right, as much power, to protect its citizens +at home as abroad. The Republican party does not say that you have to go +away from home to get the protection of the Government. The Democratic +party says the Government cannot march its troops into the South to +protect the rights of the citizens. It is a lie. The Government claims +the right, and it is conceded that the Government has the right, to go +to your house, while you are sitting by your fireside with your wife and +children about you, and the old lady knitting, and the cat playing with +the yarn, and everybody happy and serene--the Government claims the +right to go to your fireside and take you by force and put you into the +army; take you down to the valley of the shadow of hell, put you by the +ruddy, roaring guns, and make you fight for your flag. Now, that being +so, when the war is over and your country is victorious, and you go back +to your home, and a lot of Democrats want to trample upon your rights, I +want to know if the Government that took you from your fireside and made +you fight for it, I want to know if it is not bound to fight for you. +The flag that will not protect its protectors is a dirty rag that +contaminates the air in which it waves. The government that will not +defend its defenders is a disgrace to the nations of the world. I am +a Republican because the Republican party says, "We will protect the +rights of American citizens at home, and if necessary we will march +an army into any State to protect the rights of the humblest American +citizen in that State." I am a Republican because that party allows +me to be free--allows me to do my own thinking in my own way. I am a +Republican because it is a party grand enough and splendid enough and +sublime enough to invite every human being in favor of liberty and +progress to fight shoulder to shoulder for the advancement of mankind. +It invites the Methodist, it invites the Catholic, it invites the +Presbyterian and every kind of sectarian; it invites the Freethinker; +it invites the infidel, provided he is in favor of giving to every other +human being every chance and every right that he claims for himself. +I am a Republican, I tell you. There is room in the Republican air +for every wing; there is room on the Republican sea for every sail. +Republicanism says to every man: "Let your soul be like an eagle; fly +out in the great dome of thought, and question the stars for yourself." +But the Democratic party says; "Be blind owls, sit on the dry limb of a +dead tree, and hoot only when that party says hoot." + +In the Republican party there are no followers. We are all leaders. +There is not a party chain. There is not a party lash. Any man that does +not love this country, any man that does not love liberty, any man that +is not in favor of human progress, that is not in favor of giving +to others all he claims for himself; we do not ask him to vote the +Republican ticket. You can vote it if you please, and if there is any +Democrat within hearing who expects to die before another election, +we are willing that he should vote one Republican ticket, simply as a +consolation upon his death-bed. What more? I am a Republican because +that party believes in free labor. It believes that free labor will give +us wealth. It believes in free thought, because it believes that free +thought will give us truth. You do not know what a grand party you +belong to. I never want any holier or grander title of nobility than +that I belong to the Republican party, and have fought for the liberty +of man. The Republican party, I say, believes in free labor. The +Republican party also believes in slavery. What kind of slavery? In +enslaving the forces of nature. + +We believe that free labor, that free thought, have enslaved the +forces of nature, and made them work for man. We make old attraction of +gravitation work for us; we make the lightning do our errands; we make +steam hammer and fashion what we need. The forces of nature are the +slaves of the Republican party. They have no backs to be whipped, +they have no hearts to be torn--no hearts to be broken; they cannot be +separated from their wives; they cannot be dragged from the bosoms of +their husbands; they work night and day and they never tire. You cannot +whip them, you cannot starve them, and a Democrat even can be trusted +with one of them. I tell you I am a Republican. I believe, as I told +you, that free labor will give us these slaves. Free labor will produce +all these things, and everything you have to-day has been produced by +free labor, nothing by slave labor. + +Slavery never invented but one machine, and that was a threshing machine +in the shape of a whip. Free labor has invented all the machines. We +want to come down to the philosophy of these things. The problem of free +labor, when a man works for the wife he loves, when he works for the +little children he adores--the problem is to do the most work in the +shortest space of time. The problem of slavery is to do the least work +in the longest space of time. That is the difference. Free labor, love, +affection--they have invented everything of use in this world. I am a +Republican. + +I tell you, my friends, this world is getting better every day, and the +Democratic party is getting smaller every day. See the advancement we +have made in a few years, see what we have done. We have covered this +nation with wealth, with glory and with liberty. This is the first free +Government in the world. The Republican party is the first party that +was not founded on some compromise with the devil. It is the first party +of pure, square, honest principle; the first one. And we have the first +free country that ever existed. + +And right here I want to thank every soldier that fought to make it +free, every one living and dead. I thank you again and again and again. +You made the first free Government in the world, and we must not forget +the dead heroes. If they were here they would vote the Republican +ticket, every one of them. I tell you we must not forget them. + +* The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are in the great +struggle for national life. We hear the sounds of preparation--the +music of boisterous drums--the silver voices of heroic bugles. We see +thousands of assemblages, and hear the appeals of orators. We see +the pale cheeks of women, and the flushed faces of men; and in those +assemblages we see all the dead whose dust we have covered with flowers. +We lose sight of them no more. We are with them when they enlist in the +great army of freedom. We see them part with those they love. Some are +walking for the last time in quiet, woody places, with the maidens they +adore. We hear the whisperings and the sweet vows of eternal love as +they lingeringly part forever. Others are bending over cradles, kissing +babes that are asleep. Some are receiving the blessings of old men. Some +are parting with mothers who hold them and press them to their +hearts again and again, and say nothing. Kisses and tears, tears and +kisses--divine mingling of agony and love! And some are talking with +wives, and endeavoring with brave words, spoken in the old tones, to +drive from their hearts the awful fear. We see them part. We see the +wife standing in the door with the babe in her arms--standing in the +sunlight sobbing. At the turn of the road a hand waves--she answers by +holding high in her loving arms the child. He is gone, and forever. + +We see them all as they march proudly away under the flaunting flags, +keeping time to the grand, wild music of war--marching down the streets +of the great cities--through the towns and across the prairies--down to +the fields of glory, to do and to die for the eternal right. + +We go with them, one and all. We are by their side on all the gory +fields--in all the hospitals of pain--on all the weary marches. We stand +guard with them in the wild storm and under the quiet stars. We are with +them in ravines running with blood--in the furrows of old fields. We are +with them between contending hosts, unable to move, wild with thirst, +the life ebbing slowly away among the withered leaves. We see them +pierced by balls and torn with shells, in the trenches, by forts, and +in the whirlwind of the charge, where men become iron, with nerves of +steel. + +We are with them in the prisons of hatred and famine; but human speech +can never tell what they endured. + +We are at home when the news comes that they are dead. We see the maiden +in the shadow of her first sorrow. We see the silvered head of the old +man bowed with the last grief. + +The past rises before us, and we see four millions of human beings +governed by the lash--we see them bound hand and foot--we hear the +strokes of cruel whips--we see the hounds tracking women through +tangled swamps. We see babes sold from the breasts of mothers. Cruelty +unspeakable! Outrage infinite! + +Four million bodies in chains--four million souls in fetters. All the +sacred relations of wife, mother, father and child trampled beneath +the brutal feet of might. And all this was done under our own beautiful +banner of the free. + +The past rises before us. We hear the roar and shriek of the bursting +shell. The broken fetters fall. These heroes died. We look. Instead of +slaves we see men and women and children. The wand of progress touches +the auction-block, the slave-pen, the whipping-post, and we see homes +and firesides and schoolhouses and books, and where all was want and +crime and cruelty and fear, we see the faces of the free. + +These heroes are dead. They died for liberty--they died for us. They +are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag +they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, +the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They, sleep beneath the +shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in +the windowless Palace of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars--they +are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they +found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living +and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead. + + * This poetic flight of oratory has since become universally + known as "A. Vision of War." + +Now, my friends, I have given you a few reasons why I am a Republican. I +have given you a few reasons why I am not a Democrat. Let me say another +thing. The Democratic party opposed every forward movement of the +army of the Republic, every one. Do not be fooled. Imagine the meanest +resolution that you can think of--that is the resolution the Democratic +party passed. Imagine the meanest thing you can think of--that is what +they did; and I want you to recollect that the Democratic party did +these devilish things when the fate of this nation was trembling in the +balance of war. I want you to recollect another thing; when they tell +you about hard times, that the Democratic party made the hard times; +that every dollar we owe to-day was made by the Southern and Northern +Democracy. + +When we commenced to put down the Rebellion we had to borrow money, and +the Democratic party went into the markets of the world and impaired the +credit of the United States. They slandered, they lied, they maligned +the credit of the United States, and to such an extent did they do this, +that at one time during the war paper was only worth about thirty-four +cents on the dollar. Gold went up to $2.90. What did that mean? It meant +that greenbacks were worth thirty-four cents on the dollar. What became +of the other sixty-six cents? They were lied out of the greenback, +they were slandered out of the greenback, they were maligned out of the +greenback, they were calumniated out of the greenback, by the Democratic +party of the North. Two-thirds of the debt, two-thirds of the burden +now upon the shoulders of American industry, were placed there by the +slanders of the Democratic party of the North, and the other third by +the Democratic party of the South. And when you pay your taxes keep an +account and charge two-thirds to the Northern Democracy and one-third to +the Southern Democracy, and whenever you have to earn the money to pay +the taxes, when you have to blister your hands to earn that money, pull +off the blisters, and under each one, as the foundation, you will find a +Democratic lie. + +Recollect that the Democratic party did all the things of which I have +told you, when the fate of our nation was submitted to the arbitrament +of the sword. Recollect that the Democratic party did these things when +your brothers, your fathers, and your chivalric sons were fighting, +bleeding, suffering, and dying upon the battle-fields of the South; when +shot and shell were crashing through their sacred flesh. Recollect that +this Democratic party was false to the Union when your husbands, your +fathers, and your brothers, and your chivalric sons were lying in the +hospitals of pain, dreaming broken dreams of home, and seeing fever +pictures of the ones they loved; recollect that the Democratic party was +false to the nation when your husbands, your fathers, and your brothers +were lying alone upon the field of battle at night, the life-blood +slowly oozing from the mangled and pallid lips of death; recollect that +the Democratic party was false to your country when your husbands, your +brothers, your fathers, and your sons were lying in the prison pens of +the South, with no covering but the clouds, with no bed but the frozen +earth, with no food except such as worms had re-p fused to eat, and with +no friends except Insanity and Death. Recollect it, and spurn that party +forever. + +I have sometimes wished that there were words of pure hatred out of +which I might construct sentences like snakes; out of which I might +construct sentences that had fanged mouths, and that had forked tongues; +out of which I might construct sentences that would writhe and hiss; +and then I could give my opinion of the Northern allies of the Southern +rebels during the great struggle for the preservation of the country. + +There are three questions now submitted to the American people. The +first is, Shall the people that saved this country rule it? Shall the +men who saved the old flag hold it? Shall the men who saved the ship +of State sail it, or shall the rebels walk her quarter-deck, give the +orders and sink it? That is the question. Shall a solid South, a united +South, united by assassination and murder, a South solidified by the +shot-gun; shall a united South, with the aid of a divided North, shall +they control this great and splendid country? We are right back where we +were in 1861. This is simply a prolongation of the war. This is the war +of the idea, the other was the war of the musket. The other was the war +of cannon, this is the war of thought; and we have to beat them in +this war of thought, recollect that. The question is, Shall the men who +endeavored to destroy this country rule it? Shall the men that said, +This is not a Nation, have charge of the Nation? + +The next question is, Shall we pay our debts? We had to borrow some +money to pay for shot and shell to shoot Democrats with. We found that +we could get along with a few less Democrats, but not with any less +country, and so we borrowed the money, and the question now is, will we +pay it? And which party is the more apt to pay it, the Republican party +that made the debt--the party that swore it was constitutional, or the +party that said it was unconstitutional? + +Every time a Democrat sees a greenback, it says to him, "I vanquished +you." Every time a Republican sees a greenback, it says, "You and I put +down the Rebellion and saved the country." + +Now, my friends, you have heard a great deal about finance. Nearly +everybody that talks about it gets as dry--as dry as if they had been in +the final home of the Democratic party for forty years. + +I will now give you my ideas about finance. In the first place +the Government does not support the people, the people support the +Government. + +The Government is a perpetual pauper. It passes round the hat, and +solicits contributions; but then you must remember that the Government +has a musket behind the hat. The Government produces nothing. It does +not plow the land, it does not sow corn, it does not grow trees. The +Government is a perpetual consumer. We support the Government. Now, the +idea that the Government can make money for you and me to live on--why, +it is the same as though my hired man should issue certificates of my +indebtedness to him for me to live on. + +Some people tell me that the Government can impress its sovereignty on +a piece of paper, and that is money. Well, if it is, what's the use of +wasting it making one dollar bills? It takes no more ink and no more +paper--why not make one thousand dollar bills? Why not make a hundred +million dollar bills and all be billionaires? + +If the Government can make money, what on earth does it collect taxes +from you and me for? Why does it not make what money it wants, take +the taxes out, and give the balance to us? Mr. Greenbacker, suppose the +Government issued a billion dollars to-morrow, how would you get any +of it? [A voice, "Steal it."] I was not speaking to the Democrats. You +would not get any of it unless you had something to exchange for it. The +Government would not go around and give you your aver-: age. You have to +have some corn, or wheat, or pork to give for it. + +How do you get your money? By work. Where from? You have to dig it out +of the ground. That is where it comes from. Men have always had a kind +of hope that something could be made out of nothing. The old alchemists +sought, with dim eyes, for something that could change the baser metals +to gold. With tottering steps, they searched for the spring of Eternal +Youth. Holding in trembling hands retort and crucible, they dreamed of +the Elixir of Life. The baser metals are not gold. No human ear has ever +heard the silver gurgle of the spring of Immortal Youth. The wrinkles +upon the brow of Age are still waiting for the Elixir of Life. + +Inspired by the same idea, mechanics have endeavored, by curious +combinations of levers and inclined planes, of wheels and cranks and +shifting weights, to produce perpetual motion; but the wheels and levers +wait for force. And, in the financial world, there are thousands now +trying to find some way for promises to take the place of performance; +for some way to make the word dollar as good as the dollar itself; for +some way to make the promise to pay a dollar take the dollar's place. +This financial alchemy, this pecuniary perpetual motion, this fountain +of eternal wealth, are the same old failures with new names. Something +cannot be made out of nothing. Nothing is a poor capital to, carry on +business with, and makes a very unsatisfactory balance at your bankers. + +Let me tell you another thing. The Democrats seem to think that you can +fail to keep a promise so long that it is as good as though you had kept +it. They say you can stamp the sovereignty of the Government upon paper. + +I saw not long ago a piece of gold bearing the stamp of the Roman +Empire. That Empire is dust, and over it has been thrown the mantle of +oblivion, but that piece of gold is as good as though Julius Cæsar were +still riding at the head of the Roman Legions. + +Was it his sovereignty that made it valuable? Suppose he had put it upon +a piece of paper--it would have been of no more value than a Democratic +promise. + +Another thing, my friends: this debt will be paid; you need not worry +about that. The Democrats ought to pay it. They lost the suit, and they +ought to pay the costs. But we in our patriotism are willing to pay our +share. + +Every man that has a bond, every man that has a greenback dollar has +a mortgage upon the best continent of land on earth. Every one has a +mortgage on the honor of the Republican party, and it is on record. +Every spear of grass; every bearded head of golden wheat that grows upon +this continent is a guarantee that the debt will be paid; every field of +bannered corn in the great, glorious West is a guarantee that the debt +will be paid; every particle of coal laid away by that old miser the +sun, millions-of years ago, is a guarantee that every dollar will be +paid; all the iron ore, all the gold and silver under the snow-capped +Sierra Nevadas, waiting for the miners pick to give back the flash of +the sun, every ounce is a guarantee that this debt will be paid; and all +the cattle on the prairies, pastures and plains which adorn our broad +land are guarantees that this debt will be paid; every pine standing +in the sombre forests of the North, waiting for the woodman's axe, is a +guarantee that this debt will be paid; every locomotive with its muscles +of iron and breath of flame, and all the boys and girls bending over +their books at school, every dimpled babe in the cradle, every honest +man, every noble woman, and every man that votes the Republican ticket +is a guarantee that the debt will be paid--these, all these, each and +all, are the guarantees that every promise of the United States will be +sacredly fulfilled. + +What is the next question? The next question is, will we protect the +Union men in the South? I tell you the white Union men have suffered +enough. It is a crime in the Southern States to be a Republican. It is +a crime in every Southern State to love this country, to believe in the +sacred rights of men. + +The colored people have suffered enough. For more than two hundred years +they have suffered the fabled torments of the damned; for more than two +hundred years they worked and toiled without reward, bending, in the +burning sun, their bleeding backs; for more than two hundred years, +babes were torn from the breasts of mothers, wives from husbands, and +every human tie broken by the cruel hand of greed; for more than two +hundred years they were pursued by hounds, beaten with clubs, burned +with fire, bound with chains; two hundred years of toil, of agony, of +tears; two hundred years of hope deferred; two hundred years of +gloom and shadow and darkness and blackness; two hundred years of +supplication, of entreaty; two hundred years of infinite outrage, +without a moment of revenge. + +The colored people have suffered enough. They were and are our friends. +They are the friends of this country, and, cost what it may, they must +be protected. + +There was not during the whole Rebellion a single negro that was not our +friend. We are willing to be reconciled to our Southern brethren when +they will treat our friends as men. When they will be just to the +friends of this country; when they are in favor of allowing every +American citizen to have his rights--then we are their friends. We are +willing to trust them with the Nation when they are the friends of the +Nation. We are willing to trust them with liberty when they believe in +liberty. We are willing to trust them with the black man when they cease +riding in the darkness of night, (those masked wretches,) to the hut of +the freedman, and notwithstanding the prayers and supplications of his +family, shoot him down; when they cease to consider the massacre of +Hamburg as a Democratic triumph, then, I say, we will be their friends, +and not before. + +Now, my friends, thousands of the Southern people and thousands of the +Northern Democrats are afraid that the negroes are going to pass them in +the race of life. And, Mr. Democrat, he will do it unless you attend +to your business. The simple fact that you are white cannot save you +always. You have to be industrious, honest, to cultivate a sense of +justice. If you do not the colored race will pass you, as sure as you +live. I am for giving every man a chance. Anybody that can pass me is +welcome. + +I believe, my friends, that the intellectual domain of the future, as +the land used to be in the State of Illinois, is open to pre-emption. +The fellow that gets a fact first, that is his; that gets an idea +first, that is his. Every round in the ladder of fame, from the one that +touches the ground to the last one that leans against the shining summit +of human ambition, belongs to the foot that gets upon it first. + +Mr. Democrat, (I point down because they are nearly all on the first +round of the ladder) if you can not climb, stand one side and let the +deserving negro pass. + +I must tell you one thing. I have told it so much, and you have all +heard it fifty times, but I am going to tell it again because I like it. +Suppose there was a great horse race here to-day, free to every horse +in the world, and to all the mules, and all the scrubs* and all the +donkeys. + +At the tap of the drum they come to the line, and the judges say "it is +a go." Let me ask you, what does the blooded horse, rushing ahead, with +nostrils distended, drinking in the breath of his own swiftness, with +his mane flying like a banner of victory, with his veins standing out +all over him, as if a network of life had been cast upon him--with his +thin neck, his high withers, his tremulous flanks--what does he care how +many mules and donkeys run on that track? But the Democratic scrub, +with his chuckle-head and lop-ears, with his tail full of cockle-burrs, +jumping high and short, and digging in the ground when he feels the +breath of the coming mule on his cockle-burr tail, he is the chap that +jumps the track and says, "I am down on mule equality." + +I stood, a little while ago, in the city of Paris, where stood the +Bastile, where now stands the Column of July, surmounted by a figure of +liberty. In its right hand is a broken chain, in its left hand a +banner; upon its glorious forehead the glittering and shining star of +progress--and as I looked upon it I said: "Such is the Republican party +of my country." + +The other day going along the road I came to a place where the road had +been changed, but the guide-board did not know it. It had stood there +for twenty years pointing deliberately and solemnly in the direction of +a desolate field; nobody ever went that way, but the guide-board thought +the next man would. Thousands passed, but nobody heeded the hand on the +guide-post, and through sunshine and storm it pointed diligently into +the old field and swore to it the road went that way; and I said to +myself: "Such is the Democratic party of the United States." + +The other day I came to a river where there had been a mill; a part +of it was there still. An old sign said: "Cash for wheat." The old +water-wheel was broken; it had been warped by the sun, cracked and split +by many winds and storms. There had not been a grain of wheat ground +there for twenty years. + +The door was gone, nobody had built a new dam, the mill was not worth a +dam; and I said to myself: "Such is the Democratic party." + +I saw a little while ago a place on the road where there had once been +an hotel. But the hotel and barn had burned down and there was nothing +standing but two desolate chimneys, up the flues of which the fires of +hospitality had not roared for thirty years. The fence was gone, and the +post-holes even were obliterated, but in the road there was an old sign +upon which were these words: "Entertainment for man and beast." The old +sign swung and creaked in the winter wind, the snow fell upon it, the +sleet clung to it, and in the summer the birds sang and twittered and +made love upon it. Nobody ever stopped there, but the sign swore to it, +the sign certified to it! "Entertainment for man and beast," and I said +to myself: "Such is the Democratic party of the United States," and +I further said, "one chimney ought to be called Tilden and the other +Hendricks." + +Now, my friends, I want you to vote the Republican ticket. I want you +to swear you will not vote for a man who opposed putting down the +Rebellion. I want you to swear that you will not vote for a man opposed +to the Proclamation of Emancipation. I want you to swear that you will +not vote for a man opposed to the utter abolition of slavery. + +I want you to swear that you will not vote for a man who called the +soldiers in the field, Lincoln hirelings. I want you to swear that you +will not vote for a man who denounced Lincoln as a tyrant. I want you +to swear that you will not vote for any enemy of human progress. Go and +talk to every Democrat that you can see; get him by the coatcollar, +talk to him, and hold him like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, with your +glittering eye; hold him, tell him all the mean things his party ever +did; tell him kindly; tell him in a Christian spirit, as I do, but tell +him. Recollect, there never was a more important election than the +one you are going to hold in Indiana. I tell you we must stand by the +country. It is a glorious country. It permits you and me to be free. +It is the only country in the world where labor is respected. Let us +support it. It is the only country in the world where the useful man is +the only aristocrat. The man that works for a dollar a day, goes home +at night to his little ones, takes his little boy on his knee, and he +thinks that boy can achieve anything that the sons of the wealthy man +can achieve. The free schools are open to him; he may be the richest, +the greatest, and the grandest, and that thought sweetens every drop +of sweat that rolls down the honest face of toil. Vote to save that +country. + +My friends, this country is getting better every day. Samuel J. Tilden +says we are a nation of thieves and rascals. If that is so he ought to +be the President. But I denounce him as a calumniator of my country; +a maligner of this nation. It is not so. This country is covered with +asylums for the aged, the helpless, the insane, the orphans and wounded +soldiers. Thieves and rascals do not build such things. In the cities +of the Atlantic coast this summer, they built floating hospitals, great +ships, and took the little children from the sub-cellars and narrow, +dirty streets of New York City, where the Democratic party is the +strongest--took these poor waifs and put them in these great hospitals +out at sea, and let the breezes of ocean kiss the roses of health back +to their pallid cheeks. Rascals and thieves do not so. When Chicago +burned, railroads were blocked with the charity of the American people. +Thieves and rascals do not so. + +I am a Republican. The world is getting better. Husbands are treating +their wives better than they used to; wives are treating their husbands +better. Children are better treated than they used to be; the old whips +and clubs are out of the schools, and they are governing children by +love and by sense. The world is getting better; it is getting better in +Maine, in Vermont. It is getting better in every State of the North, and +I tell you we are going to elect Hayes and Wheeler and the world will +then be better still. I have a dream that this world is growing better +and better every day and every year; that there is more charity, more +justice, more love every day. I have a dream that prisons will not +always curse the land; that the shadow of the gallows will not always +fall upon the earth; that the withered hand of want will not always +be stretched out for charity; that finally wisdom will sit in the +legislatures, justice in the courts, charity will occupy all the +pulpits, and that finally the world will be governed by justice and +charity, and by the splendid light of liberty. That is my dream, and +if it does not come true, it shall not be my fault. I am going to do my +level best to give others the same chance I ask for myself. Free thought +will give us truth; Free labor will give us wealth. + + + + +CHICAGO SPEECH. + + * Col. Robert G. Ingersoll spoke last night at the + Exposition Building to the largest audience ever drawn by + one man In Chicago. From 6.30 o'clock the sidewalks fronting + along the building were jammed. At every entrance there were + hundreds, and half-an-hour later thousands were clamoring + for admittance. So great was the pressure the doors were + finally closed, and the entrances at either end cautiously + opened to admit the select who knew enough to apply In those + directions. Occasionally a rush was made for the main door, + and as the crowd came up against the huge barricade they + were swept back only for another effort. Wabash Avenue, + Monroe, Adams, Jackson, and Van Buren Streets were jammed + with ladies and gentlemen who swept into Michigan Avenue and + swelled the sea that surged around the building. + + At 7.30 the doors were flung open and the people rushed in. + Seating accommodations supposed to be adequate to all + demands, had been provided, but in an Instant they were + filled, the aisles were jammed and around the sides of the + building poured a steady stream of humanity, Intent only + upon some coign of vantage, some place, where they could see + and where they could hear. Prom the fountain, beyond which + the building lay in shadow to the northern end, was a + swaying, surging mass of people. + + Such another attendance of ladies has never been known at a + political meeting in Chicago. They came by the hundreds, and + the speaker looked down from his perch upon thousands of + fair upturned faces, stamped with the most intense interest + in his remarks. + + The galleries were packed. The frame of the huge elevator + creaked, groaned, and swayed with the crowd roosting upon + it. The trusses bore their living weight. The gallery + railings bent and cracked. The roof was crowded, and the sky + lights teemed with heads. Here and there an adventurous + youth crept out on the girders and braces. Towards the + northern end of the building, on the west side, is a smaller + gallery, dark, and not particularly strong-looking. It was + fairly packed--packed like a sardine-box--with men and boys. + Up in the organ-loft around the sides of the organ, + everywhere that a human being could sit, stand or hang, was + pre-empted and filled. + + It was a magnificent, outpouring, at east 50,000 In number, + a compliment alike to the principle it represented, and the + orator.--Chicago Tribune., October 21st, 1876. + + +HAYES CAMPAIGN. + +1876. + +LADIES and Gentlemen:--Democrats and Republicans have a common interest +in the United States. We have a common interest in the preservation of +good order. We have a common interest in the preservation of a common +country. And I appeal to all, Democrats and Republicans, to endeavor +to make a conscientious choice; to endeavor to select as President and +Vice-President of the United States the men and the parties, which, in +your judgment, will best preserve this nation, and preserve all that is +dear to us either as Republicans or Democrats. + +The Democratic party comes before you and asks that you will give this +Government into its hands; and you have a right to investigate as to the +reputation and character of the Democratic organization. The Democratic +party says, "Let bygones be bygones." I never knew a man who did a +decent action that wanted it forgotten. I never knew a man who did some +great and shining act of self-sacrifice and heroic devotion who did +not wish that act remembered. Not only so, but he expected his loving +children would chisel the remembrance of it upon the marble that marked +his last resting place. But whenever a man does an infamous thing; +whenever a man commits some crime; whenever a man does that which +mantles the cheeks of his children with shame; he is the man that says, +"Let bygones be bygones." The Democratic party admits that it has a +record, but it says that any man that will look into it, any man that +will tell it, is not a gentleman. I do not know whether, according to +the Democratic standard, I am a gentleman or not; but I do say that in a +certain sense I am one of the historians of the Democratic party. + +I do not know that it is true that a man cannot give this record and be +a gentleman, but I admit that a gentleman hates to read this record; +a gentleman hates to give this record to the world; but I do it, not +because I like to do it, but because I believe the best interests +of this country demand that there shall be a history given of the +Democratic party. + +In the first place, I claim that the Democratic party embraces within +its filthy arms the worst elements in American society. I claim that +every enemy that this Government has had for twenty years has been and +is a Democrat; every man in the Dominion of Canada that hates the great +Republic, would like to see Tilden and Hendricks successful. Every +titled thief in Great Britain would like to see Tilden and Hendricks the +next President and Vice-President of the United States. + +I say more; every State that seceded from this Union was a Democratic +State. Every man who hated to see bloodhounds cease to be the +instrumentalities of a free government--every one was a Democrat. In +short, every enemy that this Government has had for twenty years, every +enemy that liberty and progress has had in the United States for twenty +years, every hater of our flag, every despiser of our Nation, every man +who has been a disgrace to the great Republic for twenty years, has been +a Democrat. I do not say that they are all that way; but nearly all who +are that way are Democrats. + +The Democratic party is a political tramp with a yellow passport. This +political tramp begs food and he carries in his pocket old dirty scraps +of paper as a kind of certificate of character. On one of these papers +he will show you the ordinance of 1789; on another one of those papers +he will have a part of the Fugitive Slave Law; on another one some +of the black laws that used to disgrace Illinois; on another Governor +Tilden's Letter to Kent; on another a certificate signed by Lyman +Trumbull that the Republican party is not fit to associate with--that +certificate will be endorsed by Governor John M. Palmer and my friend +Judge Doolittle. He will also have in his pocket an old wood-cut, +somewhat torn, representing Abraham Lincoln falling upon the neck of +S. Corning Judd, and thanking him for saving the Union as +Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Liberty. This political tramp will +also have a letter dated Boston, Mass., saying: "I hereby certify that +for fifty years I have regarded the bearer as a thief and robber, but +I now look upon him as a reformer. Signed, Charles Francis Adams." +Following this tramp will be a bloodhound; and when he asks for food, +the bloodhound will crouch for employment on his haunches, and the drool +of anticipation will run from his loose and hanging lips. Study the +expression of that dog. + +Translate it into English and it means "Oh! I want to bite a nigger!" +And when the dog has that expression he bears a striking likeness to his +master. The question is, Shall that tramp and that dog gain possession +of the White House? + +The Democratic party learns nothing; the Democratic party forgets +nothing. The Democratic party does not know that the world has advanced +a solitary inch since 1860. Time is a Democratic dumb watch. It has not +given a tick for sixteen years. The Democratic party does not know that +we, upon the great glittering highway of progress, have passed a single +mile-stone for twenty years. The Democratic party is incapable of +learning. The Democratic party is incapable of anything but prejudice +and hatred. Every man that is a Democrat is a Democrat because he hates +something; every man that is a Republican is a Republican because he +loves something. + +The Democratic party is incapable of advancement; the only stock that +it has in trade to-day is the old infamous doctrine of Democratic State +Rights. There never was a more infamous doctrine advanced on this +earth, than the Democratic idea of State Rights. What is it? It has its +foundation in the idea that this is not a Nation; it has its foundation +in the idea that this is simply a confederacy, that this great +Government is simply a bargain, that this great splendid people have +simply made a trade, that the people of any one of the States are +sovereign to the extent that they have the right to trample upon the +rights of their fellow-citizens, and that the General Government cannot +interfere. The great Democratic heart is fired to-day, the Democratic +bosom is bloated with indignation because of an order made by General +Grant sending troops into the Southern States to defend the rights of +American citizens! Who objects to a soldier going? Nobody except a man +who wants to carry an election by fraud, by violence, by intimidation, +by assassination, and by murder. + +The Democratic party is willing to-day that Tilden and Hendricks should +be elected by violence; they are willing to-day to go into partnership +with assassination and murder; they are willing to-day that every man in +the Southern States, who is a friend of this Union, and who fought for +our flag--that the rights of every one of these men should be trampled +in the dust, provided that Tilden and Hendricks be elected President +and Vice-President of this country. They tell us that a State line is +sacred; that you never can cross it unless you want to do a mean thing; +that if you want to catch a fugitive slave you have the right to cross +it; but if you wish to defend the rights of men, then it is a sacred +line, and you cannot cross it. Such is the infamous doctrine of the +Democratic party. Who, I say, will be injured by sending soldiers into +the Southern States? No one in the world except the man who wants to +prevent an honest citizen from casting a legal vote for the Government +of his choice. For my part, I think more of the colored Union men of the +South than I do of the white disunion men of the South. For my part, I +think more of a black friend than I do of a white enemy. For my part, I +think more of a friend black outside, and white in, than I do of a man +who is white outside and black inside. For my part, I think more of +black justice, of black charity, and of black patriotism, than I do of +white cruelty, than I do of white treachery and treason. As a matter +of fact, all that is done in the South to-day, of use, is done by the +colored man. The colored man raises everything that is raised in the +South, except hell. And I say here to-night that I think one hundred +times more of the good, honest, industrious black man of the South than +I do of all the white men together that do not love this Government, and +I think more of the black man of the South than I do of the white man of +the North who sympathizes with the white wretch that wishes to trample +upon the rights of that black man. + +I believe that this is a Government, first, not only of power, but that +it is the right of this Government to march all the soldiers in the +United States into any sovereign State of this Union to defend the +rights of every American citizen in that State. If it is the duty of the +Government to defend you in time of war, when you were compelled to go +into the army, how much more is it the duty of the Government to defend +in time of peace the man who, in time of war, voluntarily and gladly +rushed to the rescue and defence of his country; and yet the Democratic +doctrine is that you are to answer the call of the Nation, but the +Nation will be deaf to your cry, unless the Governor of your State makes +request of your Government. Suppose the Governors and every man trample +upon your rights, is the Nation then to let you be trampled upon? Will +the Nation hear only the cry of the oppressor, or will it heed the cry +of the oppressed? I believe we should have a Government that can hear +the faintest wail, the faintest cry for justice from the lips of the +humblest citizen beneath the flag. But the Democratic doctrine is that +this Government can protect its citizens only when they are away from +home. This may account for so many Democrats going to Canada during the +war. I believe that the Government must protect you, not only abroad but +must protect you at home; and that is the greatest question before the +American people to-day. + +I had thought that human impudence had reached its limit ages and ages +ago. I had believed that some time in the history of the world impudence +had reached its height, and so believed until I read the congratulatory +address of Abram S. Hewitt, Chairman of the National Executive +Democratic Committee, wherein he congratulates the negroes of the South +on what he calls a Democratic victory in the State of Indiana. If human +impudence can go beyond this, all I have to say is, it never has. What +does he say to the Southern people, to the colored people? He says to +them in substance: "The reason the white people trample upon you is +because the white people are weak. Give the white people more strength, +put the white people in authority, and, although they murder you now +when they are weak, when they are strong they will let you alone. Yes; +the only trouble with our Southern white brethren is that they are in +the minority, and they kill you now, and the only way to save your lives +is to put your enemy in the majority." That is the doctrine of Abram S. +Hewitt, and he congratulates the colored people of the South upon the +Democratic victory in Indiana. There is going to be a great crop of +hawks next season--let us congratulate the doves. That is it. The +burglars have whipped the police--let us congratulate the bank. That +is it. The wolves have killed off almost all the shepherds--let us +congratulate the sheep. + +In my judgment, the black people have suffered enough. They have +been slaves for two hundred years, and more than all, they have been +compelled to keep the company of the men that owned them. Think of that! +Think of being compelled to keep the society of the man who is stealing +from you! Think of being compelled to live with the man that sold your +wife! Think of being compelled to live with the man that stole your +child from the cradle before your very eyes! Think of being compelled +to live with the thief of your life, and spend your days with the white +robber, and be under his control! The black people have suffered enough. +For two hundred years they were owned and bought and sold and branded +like cattle. For two hundred years every human tie was rent and torn +asunder by the bloody, brutal hands of avarice and might. They have +suffered enough. During the war the black people were our friends not +only, but whenever they were entrusted with the family, with the wives +and children of their masters, they were true to them. They stayed at +home and protected the wife and child of the master while he went into +the field and fought for the right to sell the wife and the right to +whip and steal the child of the very black man that was protecting him. +The black people, I say, have suffered enough, and for that reason I am +in favor of the Government protecting them in every Southern State, if +it takes another war to do it. We can never compromise with the South +at the expense of our friends. We never can be friends with the men that +starved and shot our brothers. We can never be friends with the men +that waged the most cruel war in the world; not for liberty, but for +the right to deprive other men of their liberty. We never can be their +friends until they are the friends of our friends, until they treat the +black man justly; until they treat the white Union man respectfully; +until Republicanism ceases to be a crime; until to vote the Republican +ticket ceases to make you a political and social outcast. We want no +friendship with the enemies of our country. The next question is, who +shall have possession of this country--the men that saved it,--or the +men that sought to destroy it? The Southern people lit the fires of +civil war. They who set the conflagration must be satisfied with the +ashes left. The men that saved this country must rule it. The men +that saved the flag must carry it. This Government is not far from +destruction when it crowns with its highest honor in time of peace, the +man that was false to it in time of war. This Nation is not far from +the precipice of annihilation and destruction when it gives its highest +honor to a man false, false to the country when everything we held +dear trembled in the balance of war, when everything was left to the +arbitrament of the sword. + +The next question prominently before the people--though I think the +great question is, whether citizens shall be protected at home--the +next question I say, is the financial question. With that there is no +trouble. We had to borrow money, and we have to pay it. That is all +there is of that, and we are going to pay it just as soon as we make +the money to pay it with, and we are going to make the money out of +prosperity. + +We have to dig it out of the earth. You cannot make a dollar by law. You +cannot redeem a cent by statute. You cannot pay one solitary farthing by +all the resolutions, by all the speeches ever made beneath the sun. + +If the greenback doctrine is right, that evidence of national +indebtedness is wealth, if that is their idea, why not go another step +and make every individual note a legal tender? Why not pass a law that +every man shall take every other man's note? Then I swear we would have +money in plenty. No, my friends, a promise to pay a dollar is not a +dollar, no matter if that promise is made by the greatest and most +powerful nation on the globe. A promise is not a performance. An +agreement is not an accomplishment and there never will come a time when +a promise to pay a dollar is as good as the dollar, unless everybody +knows that you have the dollar and will pay it whenever they ask for it. +We want no more inflation. We want simply to pay our debts as fast as +the prosperity of the country allows it and no faster. Every speculator +that was caught with property on his hands upon which he owed more +than the property was worth, wanted the game to go on a little longer. +Whoever heard of a man playing poker that wanted to quit when he was +a loser? He wants to have a fresh deal. He wants another hand, and he +don't want any man that is ahead to jump the game. It is so with the +speculators in this country. They bought land, they bought houses, they +bought goods, and when the crisis and crash came, they were caught with +the property on their hands, and they want another inflation, they +want another tide to rise that will again sweep this driftwood into the +middle of the great financial stream. That is all. Every lot in this +city that was worth five thousand and that is now worth two thousand--do +you know what is the matter with that lot? It has been redeeming. It has +been resuming. That is what is the matter with that lot. Every man that +owned property that has now fallen fifty per cent., that property has +been resuming; and if you could have another inflation to-morrow, the +day that the bubble burst would find thousands of speculators who paid +as much for property as property was worth, and they would ask for +another tide of affairs in men. They would ask for another inflation. +What for? To let them out and put somebody else in. + +We want no more inflation. We want the simple honest payment of the +debt, and to pay out of the prosperity of this country. But, says the +greenback man, "We never had as good times as when we had plenty of +greenbacks." + +Suppose a farmer would buy a farm for ten thousand dollars and give +his note. He would buy carriages, horses, wagons and agricultural +implements, and give his note. He would send Mary, Jane and Lucy to +school. He would buy them pianos, and send them to college, and would +give his note, and the next year he would again give his note for the +interest, and the next year again his note, and finally they would come +to him and say, "We must settle up; we have taken your notes as long as +we can; we want money." "Why," he would say to the gentleman, "I never +had as good a time in my life as while I have been giving those notes. +I never had a farm until the man gave it to me for my note. My children +have been clothed as well as anybody's. We have had carriages; we have +had fine horses; and our house has been filled with music, and laughter, +and dancing; and why not keep on taking those notes?" So it is with the +greenback man; he says, "When we were running in debt we had a jolly +time--let us keep it up." But, my friends, there must come a time when +inflation would reach that point when all the Goverment notes in the +world would not buy a pin; when all the Government notes in the world +would not be worth as much as the last year's Democratic platform. I +have no fear that these debts will not be paid. I have no fear that +every solitary greenback dollar will not be redeemed; but, my friends, +we shall have some trouble doing it. Why? Because the debt is a great +deal larger than it should have been. In the first place, there should +have been po debt. If it had not been for the Southern Democracy there +would have been no war. If it had not been for the Northern Democracy +the war would not have lasted one year. + +There was a man tried in court for having murdered his father and +mother. He was found guilty, and the judge asked him, "What have you to +say that sentence of death shall not be pronounced on you?" "Nothing in +the world Judge," said he, "only I hope your Honor will take pity on me +and remember that I am a poor orphan." + +I have no doubt that this debt will be paid. We have the honor to pay +it, and we do not pay it on account of the avarice or greed of the +bondholder. An honest man does not pay money to a creditor simply +because the creditor wants it. The honest man pays at the command of his +honor and not at the demand of the creditor. + +The United States will pay its debts, not because the creditor demands, +but because we owe it. + +The United States will liquidate every debt at the command of its honor, +and every cent will be paid. War is destruction, war is loss, and all +the property destroyed, and the time that is lost, put together, amount +to what we call a national debt. When in peace we shall have made as +much net profit as there was wealth lost in the war, then we shall be a +solvent people. The greenback will be redeemed, we expect to redeem +it on the first day of January, 1879. We may fail; we will fail if the +prosperity of the country fails; but we intend to try to do it, and if +we fail, we will fail as a soldier fails to take a fort, high upon the +rampart, with the flag of resumption in our hands. We will not say that +we cannot pay the debt because there is a date fixed when the debt is to +be paid. I have had to borrow money myself; I have had to give my note, +and I recollect distinctly that every man I ever did give my note to +insisted that somewhere in that note there should be some vague hint +as to the cycle, as to the geological period, as to the time, as to +the century and date when I expected to pay those little notes. I never +understood that having a time fixed would prevent my being industrious; +that it would interfere with my honesty; or with my activity, or with my +desire to discharge that debt. And if any man in this great country owed +you one thousand dollars, due you the first day of next January, and he +should come to you and say: "I want to pay you that debt, but you must +take that date out of that note." "Why?" you would say. "Why," he would +reply in the language of Tilden, "I have to make wise preparation." +"Well," you would say, "why don't you do it?" "Oh," he says, "I cannot +do it while you have that date in that note." "Another thing," he says, +"I have to get me a central reservoir of coin." And do you know I have +always thought I would like to see the Democratic party around a central +reservoir of coin. + +Suppose this debtor would also tell you, "I want the date out of that +note, because I have to come at it by a very slow and gradual process." +"Well," you would say, "I do not care how slow or how gradual you are, +provided that you get around by the time the note is due." + +What would you think of a man that wanted the date out of the note? You +would think he was a mixture of rascal and Democrat. That is what you +would think. + +Now, my friends, the Democratic party (if you may call it a party) +brings forward as its candidate Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. I am +opposed to him, first, because he is an old bachelor. In a country like +ours, depending for its prosperity and glory upon an increase of the +population, to elect an old bachelor is a suicidal policy. Any man that +will live in this country for sixty years, surrounded by beautiful women +with rosy lips and dimpled cheeks, in every dimple lurking a Cupid, with +pearly teeth and sparkling eyes--any man that will push them all aside +and be satisfied with the embraces of the Democratic party, does not +even know the value of time. I am opposed to Samuel J. Tilden, because +he is a Democrat; because he belongs to the Democratic party of the city +of New York; the worst party ever organized in any civilized country. + +No man should be President of this Nation who denies that it is a +Nation. Samuel J. Tilden denounced the war as an outrage. No man should +be President of this country that denounced a war waged in its defence +as an outrage. To elect such a man would be an outrage. + +Samuel J. Tilden said that the flag stands for a contract; that it +stands for a confederation; that it stands for a bargain. But the great, +splendid Republican party says, "No! That flag stands for a great, +hoping, aspiring, sublime Nation, not for a confederacy." + +I am opposed, I say, to the election of Samuel J. Tilden for another +reason. If he is elected he will be controlled by his party, and his +party will be controlled by the Southern stockholders in that party. +They own nineteen-twentieths of the stock, and they will dictate the +policy of the Democratic Corporation. + +No Northern Democrat has the manliness to stand up before a Southern +Democrat. Every Democrat, nearly, has a face of dough, and the Southern +Democrat will swap his ears, change his nose, cut his mouth the other +way of the leather, so that his own mother would not know him, in +fifteen minutes. If Samuel J. Tilden is elected President of the +United States, he will be controlled by the Democratic party, and the +Democratic party will be controlled by the Southern Democracy--that is +to say, the late rebels; that is to say, the men that tried to destroy +the Government; that is to say, the men who are sorry they did not +destroy the Government; that is to say, the enemies of every friend of +this Union; that is to say, the murderers and the assassins of Union men +living in the Southern country. + +Let me say another thing. If Mr. Tilden does not act in accordance with +the Southern Democratic command, the Southern Democracy will not allow +a single life to stand between them and the absolute control of this +country. Hendricks will then be their man. I say that it would be an +outrage to give this country into the control of men who endeavored to +destroy it, to give this country into the control of the Southern rebels +and haters of Union men. + +And on the other hand, the Republican party has put forward Rutherford +B. Hayes. He is an honest man. The Democrats will say, "That is +nothing." Well, let them try it. Rutherford B. Hayes has a good +character. + +Rutherford B. Hayes, when this war commenced, did not say with Tilden, +"It is an outrage." He did not say with Tilden, "I never will contribute +to the prosecution of this war." But he did say this, "I would go into +this war if I knew I would be killed in the course of it, rather than +to live through it and take no part in it." During the war Rutherford +B. Hayes received many wounds in his flesh, but not one scratch upon his +honor. Samuel J. Tilden received many wounds upon his honor, but not +one scratch on his flesh. Rutherford B. Hayes is a firm man; not an +obstinate man, but a firm man; and I draw this distinction: A firm man +will do what he believes to be right, because he wants to do right. He +will stand firm because he believes it to be right; but an obstinate +man wants his own way, whether it is right or whether it is wrong. +Rutherford B. Hayes is firm in the right, and obstinate only when he +knows he is in the right. If you want to vote for a man who fought for +you, vote for Rutherford B. Hayes. If you want to vote for a man +that carried our flag through the storm of shot and shell, vote for +Rutherford B. Hayes. If you believe patriotism to be a virtue, vote for +Rutherford B. Hayes. If you believe this country wants heroes, vote for +Rutherford B. Hayes. If you want a man who turned against his country in +time of war, vote for Samuel J. Tilden. If you believe the war waged for +the salvation of our Nation was an outrage, vote for Samuel J. Tilden. +If you believe it is better to stay at home and curse the brave men in +the field, fighting for the sacred rights of man, vote for Samuel J. +Tilden. If you want to pay a premium upon treason, if you want to pay a +premium upon hypocrisy, if you want to pay a premium upon chicanery, +if you want to pay a premium upon sympathizing with the enemies of your +country, vote for Samuel J. Tilden. + +If you believe that patriotism is right, if you believe the brave +defender of liberty is better than the assassin of freedom, vote for +Rutherford B. Hayes. + +I am proud that I belong to the Republican party. It is the only party +that has not begged pardon for doing right. It is the only party that +has said: "There shall be no distinction on account of race, on account +of color, on account of previous condition." It is the only party that +ever had a platform broad enough for all humanity to stand upon. + +It is the first decent party that ever lived. The Republican party made +the first free government that was ever made. The Republican party made +the first decent constitution that any nation ever had. The Republican +party gave to the sky the first pure flag that was ever kissed by the +waves of air. The Republican party is the first party that ever said: +"Every man is entitled to liberty," not because he is white, not because +he is black, not because he is rich, not because he is poor, but because +he is a man. + +The Republican party is the first party that knew enough to know that +humanity is more than skin deep. It is the first party that said, +"Government should be for all, as the light, as the air, is for all." + +And it is the first party that had the sense to say, "What air is to the +lungs, what light is to the eyes, what love is to the heart, liberty is +to the soul of man." The Republican party is the first party that ever +was in favor of absolute free labor, the first party in favor of giving +to every man, without distinction of race or color, the fruits of the +labor of his hands. The Republican party said, "Free labor will give us +wealth, free thought will give us truth." The Republican party is the +first party that said to every man, "Think for yourself, and express +that thought." I am a free man. I belong to the Republican party. This +is a free country. I will think my thought. I will speak my thought or +die. I say the Republican party is for free labor. + +Free labor has invented all the machines that ever added to the power, +added to the wealth, added to the leisure, added to the civilization of +mankind. Every convenience, everything of use, everything of beauty in +the world, we owe to free labor and to free thought. Free labor, free +thought! + +Science took the thunderbolt from the gods, and in the electric spark, +freedom, with thought, with intelligence and with love, sweeps under all +the waves of the sea; science, free thought, took a tear from the cheek +of unpaid labor, converted it into steam, and created the giant that +turns, with tireless arms, the countless wheels of toil. + +The Republican party, I say, believes in free labor. Every solitary +thing, every solitary improvement made in the United States has been +made by the Republican party. Every reform accomplished was inaugurated, +and was accomplished by the great, grand, glorious Republican party. + +The Republican party does not say: "Let bygones be bygones." The +Republican party is proud of the past and confident of the future. The +Republican party brings its record before you and implores you to read +every page, every paragraph, every line and every shining word. On the +first page you will find it written: "Slavery has cursed American soil +long enough;" on the same page you will find it written: "Slavery +shall go no farther." On the same page you will find it written: "The +bloodhounds shall not drip their gore upon another inch of American +soil." On the second page you will find it written: "This is a Nation, +not a Confederacy; every State belongs to every citizen, and no State +has a right to take territory belonging to any citizens in the United +States and set up a separate Government." On the third page you will +find the grandest declaration ever made in this country: "Slavery shall +be extirpated from the American soil." On the next page: "The Rebellion +shall be put down." On the next page: "The Rebellion has been put down." +On the next page: "Slavery has been extirpated from the American soil." +On the next page: "The freedmen shall not be vagrants; they shall be +citizens." On the next page: "They are citizens." On the next page: "The +ballot shall be put in their hands;" and now we will write on the next +page: "Every citizen that has a ballot in his hand, by the gods! shall +have a right to cast that ballot." That in short, that in brief, is the +history of the Republican party. The Republican party says, and it means +what it says: "This shall be a free country forever; every man in it +twenty-one years of age shall have the right to vote for the Government +of his choice, and if any man endeavors to interfere with that right, +the Government of the United States will see to it that the right of +every American citizen is protected at the polls." + +Now, my friends, there is one thing that troubles the average Democrat, +and that is the idea that somehow, in some way, the negro will get to be +the better man. It is the trouble in the South to-day. And I say to my +Southern friends (and I admit that there are a great many good men in +the South, but the bad men are in an overwhelming majority; the great +mass of the population is vicious, violent, virulent and malignant; the +great mass of the population is cruel, revengeful, idle, hateful,) and +I tell that population: "If you do not go to work, the negro, by his +patient industry, will pass you." In the long run, the nation that is +honest, the people who are industrious, will pass the people who are +dishonest, and the people who are idle, no matter how grand an ancestry +they may have had, and so I say, Mr. Northern Democrat, look out! + +The superior man is the man that loves his fellow-man; the superior man +is the useful man; the superior man is the kind man, the man who lifts +up his down-trodden brothers; and the greater the load of human sorrow +and human want you can get in your arms, the easier you can climb +the great hill of fame. The superior man is the man who loves his +fellow-man. And let me say right here, the good men, the superior +men, the grand men are brothers the world over, no matter what their +complexion may be; centuries may separate them, yet they are hand in +hand; and all the good, and all the grand, and all the superior men, +shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, are fighting the great battle for +the progress of mankind. + +I pity the man, I execrate and hate the man who has only to boast that +he is white. Whenever I am reduced to that necessity, I believe shame +will make me red instead of white. I believe another thing. If I cannot +hoe my row, I will not steal corn from the fellow that hoes his row. If +I belong to the superior race, I will be so superior that I can make my +living without stealing from the inferior. I am perfectly willing that +any Democrat in the world that can, shall pass me. I have never seen one +yet, except when I looked over my shoulder. But if they can pass I shall +be delighted. + +Whenever we stand in the presence of genius, we take off our hats. +Whenever we stand in the presence of the great, we do involuntary homage +in spite of ourselves. Any one who can go by is welcome, any one in the +world; but until somebody does go by, of the Democratic persuasion, +I shall not trouble myself about the fact that may be, in some future +time, they may get by. The Democrats are afraid of being passed, because +they are being passed. + +No man ever was, no man ever will be, the superior of the man whom he +robs. No man ever was, no man ever will be, the superior of the man he +steals from. I had rather be a slave than a slave-master. I had rather +be stolen from than be a thief. I had rather be the wronged than the +wrong-doer. And allow me to say again to impress it forever upon every +man that hears me, you will always be the inferior of the man you wrong. +Every race is inferior to the race it tramples upon and robs. There +never was a man that could trample upon human rights and be superior +to the man upon whom he trampled. And let me say another thing: No +government can stand upon the crushed rights of one single human being; +and any compromise that we make with the South, if we make it at the +expense of our friends, will carry in its own bosom the seeds of its +own death and destruction, and cannot stand. A government founded upon +anything except liberty and justice cannot and ought not to stand. All +the wrecks on either side of the stream of time, all the wrecks of the +great cities and nations that have passed away--all are a warning that +no nation founded upon injustice can stand. From sand-enshrouded Egypt, +from the marble wilderness of Athens, from every fallen, crumbling stone +of the once mighty Rome, comes as it were a wail, comes as it were the +cry, "No nation founded upon injustice can permanently stand." We must +found this Nation anew. We must fight our fight. We must cling to our +old party until there is freedom of speech in every part of the United +States. We must cling to the old party until I can speak in every State +of the South as every Southerner can speak in every State of the North. +We must vote the grand old Republican ticket until there is the same +liberty in every Southern State that there is in every Northern, Eastern +and Western State. We must stand by the party until every Southern man +will admit that this country belongs to every citizen of the United +States as much as to the man that is born in that country. One more +thing. I do not want any man that ever fought for this country to vote +the Democratic ticket. You will swap your respectability for disgrace. +There are thousands of you--great, grand, splendid men--that have fought +grandly for this Union, and now I beseech of you, I beg of you, do not +give respectability to the enemies and haters of your country. Do not +do it. Do not vote with the Democratic party, of the North. Sometimes +I think a rebel sympathizer in the North worse than a rebel, and I will +tell you why. The rebel was carried into the rebellion by public opinion +at home,--his father, his mother, his sweetheart, his brother, and +everybody he knew; and there was a kind of wind, a kind of tornado, a +kind of whirlwind that took him into the army. He went on the rebel side +with his State. The Northern Democrat went against his own State; went +against his own Government; and went against public opinion at home. The +Northern Democrat rowed up stream against wind and tide. The Southern +rebel went with the current; the Northern rebel rowed against the +current from pure, simple cussedness. + +And I beg every man that ever fought for the Union, every man that ever +bared his breast to a storm of shot and shell, that the old flag might +float over every inch of American soil redeemed from the clutch of +treason; I beg him, I implore him, do not go with the Democratic party. +And to every young man within the sound of my voice I say, do not tie +your bright and shining prospects to that old corpse of Democracy. You +will get tired of dragging it around. Do not cast your first vote +with the enemies of your country. Do not cast your first vote with the +Democratic party that was glad when the Union army was defeated. Do not +cast your vote with that party whose cheeks flushed with the roses of +joy when the old flag was trailed in disaster upon the field of battle. +Remember, my friends, that that party did every mean thing it could, +every dishonest and treasonable thing it could. Recollect that that +party did all it could to divide this Nation, and destroy this country. + +For myself I have no fear; Hayes and Wheeler will be the next President +and Vice-President of the United States of America. Let me beg of +you--let me implore you--let me beseech you, every man, to come out on +election day. Every man, do your duty; every man do his duty with regard +to the State ticket of the great and glorious State of Illinois. + +This year we need Republicans; this year we need men that will vote for +the party; and I tell you that a Republican this year, no matter what +you have against him, no matter whether you like him or do not like him, +is better for the country, no matter how much you hate him, he is better +for the country than any Democrat Nature can make, or ever has made. + +We must, in this supreme election, we must at this supreme moment, vote +only for the men who are in favor of keeping this Government in +the power, in the custody, in the control of the great, the sublime +Republican party. + +Ladies and gentlemen, if I were insensible to the honor you have done me +by this magnificent meeting--the most magnificent I ever saw on earth--a +meeting such as only the marvelous City of Pluck could produce; if I +were insensible of the honor, I would be made of stone. I shall remember +it with delight; I shall remember it with thankfulness all the days of +my life. And I ask in return of every Republican here to remember all +the days of his life, every sacrifice made by this nation for liberty; +every sacrifice made by every private soldier, every sacrifice made by +every patriotic man and patriotic woman. + +I do not ask you to remember in revenge, but I ask you never, never to +forget. As the world swings through the constellations year after year, +I want the memory, I want the patriotic memory of this country to sit +by the grave of every Union soldier, and, while her eyes are filled with +tears, to crown him again and again with the crown of everlasting +honor. I thank you, I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, a thousand times. +Good-night. + + Note:--There was no full report made of this speech, the + above are simply extracts. + + + + +EIGHT TO SEVEN ADDRESS. + +(On the Electoral Commission.) + + * The reputation of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll had taken + possession of the Boston mind to such an extent that his + expected address was spoken of as "The Lecture." People + talked about going to it, as If on that night all other + places were to be closed, and the whole population of the + City turned into Tremont Temple. Long before the appointed + hour a rare audience, for even lecture loving Boston, had + assembled. Col. Ingersoll stepped upon the platform preceded + by Governor Rice, and followed by William Lloyd Garrison, + James T. Fields and others. After the presentation of two + large and exquisite bouquets Governor Rice introduced + Colonel Ingersoll, and the audience, the most acute and + determined looking I ever saw In Boston, poured out their + welcome! It seemed as if all the cheers that had been + suppressed between the first of November and the decision of + the Electoral Commission, found vent at that moment and the + vigorous clapping was renewed and prolonged until it became + an unmistakable salute to the recent brilliant campaigning + of the great Western orator. It is hardly possible to speak + in too high terms of the lecture which, under the title of + "8 to 7," contained a witty, philosophical and intensely + patriotic review of the political contest preceding and + following the recent election, with wise and timely + suggestions for preventing similar perils in the future.-- + Boston, October 22nd,1877. + + +1877. + +I HAVE sometimes wondered whether our country was to be forever governed +by parties full of hatred, full of malice, full of slander. I have +sometimes wondered whether or not in the future there would not be +discovered such a science as the science of government. I do not know +what you think, but what little I do know, and what little experience +has been mine, is, I must admit, against it. We have passed through the +most remarkable campaign of our history--a campaign remarkable in every +respect. + +It was bitter, passionate, relentless and desperate, and I admit, for +one, that I added to its bitterness and relentlessness. I told, and +frankly told, my real, honest opinion of the Democratic party of the +North. I told, and cheerfully told, my opinion of the Democratic party +of the South. And I have nothing to take back. But, to show you that my +heart is not altogether wicked; I am willing to forgive and do forgive +with all my heart, every person and every party that I ever said +anything against. I believe that the campaign of 1876 was the +turning-point, the midnight in the history of the American Republic. + +I believe, and firmly believe, that if the Democratic party had swept +into power, it would have been the end of progress, and the end of what +I consider human liberty, beneath our flag. I felt so, and I went into +the campaign simply because the rights of American citizens in at least +sixteen States of the Union were trampled under foot. I did what little +I could. I am glad I did it. We had, as I say, a wonderful campaign, and +each party said and did about all that could be said and done. Everybody +attended to politics. Business was suspended. Everything was given +over to processions and torches, and flags and transparencies; and +resolutions and conventions and speeches and songs. Old arguments were +revamped. Old stories were pressed into service. The old story of +the Rebellion was told again and again. The memories of the war were +revived. The North was arrayed against the South as though upon the +field of battle. Party cries were heard on every hand. Each party leaped +like a tiger upon the reputation of the other, and tore with tooth and +claw, with might and main, to the very end of the campaign. + +I felt that it was necessary to arouse the North. I felt that it was +necessary to tell again the story of the Rebellion, from Bull Run to +Appomattox. I felt that it was necessary to describe what the Southern +people were doing with Union men, and with colored men; and I felt it +necessary so to describe it that the people of the North could hear the +whips, and could hear the drops of blood as they fell upon the withered +leaves. I did all I could to arouse the people of the North. I did all I +could to prevent the Democratic party from getting into power. The first +morning after the election, the Democracy had a banquet of joy, but +all through the feast they saw sitting at the head of the table the +dim outline of the skeleton of defeat. And, when the tide turned, +Republicans rejoiced with a face ready at any moment to express the +profoundest grief. Then came despatches and rumors, and estimated +majorities, and vague talk about Returning Boards, and intimidating +voters, and stuffed ballot boxes, and fraudulent returns, and bribed +clerks, and injunctions, and contempts of courts, and telegrams in +cipher, and outrages, and octoroon balls in which reverend Senators +were whirled in love's voluptuous waltz. Everybody discussed the +qualifications of Electors and the value of Governors' certificates, and +how to get behind returns, and how to buy an Elector, and who had the +right to count; and persons expecting offices of trust, honor and profit +began to threaten war and extermination, calls were made for a hundred +thousand men, and there were no end of meetings, and resolutions and +denunciations, and the downfall of the country was prophesied; and yet, +notwithstanding all this, the name of the person who really was elected +remained unknown. The last scene of this strange, eventful history, so +far as the election by the people was concerned, was Cronin. I see him +now as he leaves the land "where rolls the Oregon and hears no sound +save his own dashings." Cronin, the last surviving veteran of the grand +army of "honesty and reform." Cronin, a quorum of one. Cronin, who +elected the two others by a plurality of his own vote. + +I see him now, armed with Hoadley's opinion and Grover's certificate, +trudging wearily and drearily over the wide and wasted saleratus deserts +of the West, with a little card marked "S. J. T. i5 G. P." + +Then came the great question of who shall count the electoral vote. The +Vice-President being a Republican, it was generally contended, at least +by me, that he had a right to count that vote. My doctrine was, if the +Vice-President would count the vote right, he had the right to count it. + +The Vice-President not being a Democrat, the members of that party +claimed that the House could prevent the Vice-President from counting +it, and this was simply because the House was not Republican. Nearly all +decided according to their politics. The Constitution is a little blind +on this point, and where anything is blind I always see it my way. +It was about this time that some of the Democrats began to talk about +bringing one hundred thousand unarmed men to Washington to superintend +the count. Others, however, got up a scheme to create, a court in the +United States where politics should have no earthly influence. Nothing +could be easier, they thought, after we had gone through such a hot and +exciting campaign, than to pick out men who have no prejudices whatever +on the subject. Finally a bill was passed creating a tribunal to count +the vote, if any, and hear testimony, if any, and declare what man had +been elected President, if any. This tribunal consisted of fifteen men, +ten being chosen on account of their politics--five from the Senate +and five from the House,--and they chose four judges from purely +geographical considerations. I was there, and I know exactly how it was. +Those four men were picked with a map of the United States in front of +the pickers. The Democrats chose Justice Field, not because he was a +Democrat, but because he lived on the Pacific slope. They chose Justice +Clifford, not because he was a Democrat, but because he lived on the +Eastern slope; that was fair. Thereupon the Republicans chose Justice +Strong, not because he was a Republican, but because he lived on the +Eastern slope. You can see the point. The Republicans chose Justice +Miller, not because he was a Republican, but because he represented the +great West. They then allowed these four to select a fifth man. + +Well, it was impossible to select the fifth man from geographical +considerations, you can see that yourselves. There was nothing left to +choose between, you know, as far as geography was concerned. They then +agreed that they would not take a Justice from any State in which the +candidate for President lived. They left out Justice Hunt, from New +York, and Justice Swayne, from Ohio. They knew of course that that would +not influence them, but they did that simply--well, they did not want +them there; that was all, and it would be unhandy to pick one man out of +four. So they left Swayne and Hunt out. And then they would pick one +man as between Justice Bradley and Justice Davis. Just at that time the +people of the State of Illinois happened to be out of a Senator, and +Judge Davis was there and expressed a willingness to go to the Senate. +And the people of the State of Illinois elected him, and therefore +there was nobody to choose from except Justice Bradley, and he was a +Republican. + +Now, you know this runs in families. His record was good--by marriage. +He married a daughter of Chief Justice Hornblower, of New Jersey. Now, +Hornblower was what you might call a partisan. Do you know they went to +him--it was in the old times, and he was a kind of Whig,--they went to +him with a petition, in the State of New Jersey, a petition addressed to +the Legislature for the abolition of capital punishment, and Hornblower +said, "I'll be damned if I sign it while there is a Democrat in the +State of New Jersey." + +As a matter of fact, however, I believe that Justice Bradley and all the +other Justices, and all other persons on that tribunal decided as they +honestly thought was right. + +Judge Davis is as broad mentally as he is physically; he has an +immensity of common sense, and as much judgment as any one man ever +needs to use, and, in my judgment, he would have come to the same +conclusion as Judge Bradley, precisely. These men were appointed--it +was a Democratic scheme, and I am glad they got it up--and during that +entire investigation, so much were the members of that party controlled +by old associations and habits, and by partisan feeling that there was +not a solitary one of the seven Democrats that ever once voted on the +Republican side. And, as a necessity, the Republicans had to stand +together. And so, notwithstanding the seven Democrats voted constantly +together, the eight Republicans kept having a majority of one, until the +last disputed State was given against the great party of "honesty and +reform." And, finally, when they found they were defeated, they made +up their minds to prevent the counting of the vote. They made up their +minds to wear out the session and prevent the election of a President. +Just at that point, for a wonder, (nothing ever astonished me more), the +members from the South said: "We do not want any more war; we have had +war enough and we say that a President shall be peacefully elected, and +that he shall be peacefully inaugurated!" As soon as I heard that I felt +under a little obligation to the Democracy of the South, and when they +stood in the gap and prevented the Democracy of the North from plunging +this Government into the hell of civil war, I felt like taking them by +the hand and saying, "We have beaten the enemy once, let us keep on. Let +us join hands." I felt like saying to the Democracy of the South, "You +never will have a day's prosperity in the South until you join the +great, free, progressive party of the North--never!" And they never +will. + +Now, I say, I felt as though I were under a certain obligation to these +people. They prevented this thing, and they made it possible for the +Vice-President to declare Rutherford B. Hayes President of the United +States. Now, right here, I want you to observe that this shows the real +defects in our system of government. In the first place, our Government +is being governed by fraud. If the very fountain of power is poisoned by +fraud, then the whole Government is impure. We must find out some way +to prevent fraudulent voting in the United States or our Government is +a failure. Great cities were the mothers of election frauds. They +inaugurated violence and intimidation. They produced the repeaters +and the false boxes. They invented fan-tail tickets and pasters, and +gradually these delightful and patriotic arts and practices have spread +over almost the entire country. + +Unless something is done to preserve the purity of the ballot-box our +form of government must cease. The fountain of power is poisoned. +The sovereignty of the people is stolen and destroyed. The Government +becomes organized fraud, and all respect will soon be lost for the +laws and decisions of the courts. The legislators are elected in many +instances by fraud. The judges are in many instances chosen by fraud. +Every department of the Government becomes tainted and corrupt. It is +no longer a Republic, unless something can be devised to ascertain with +certainty the really honest will of the sovereign people. + +For the accomplishment of this object the good and patriotic men of all +parties should most heartily unite. To cast an illegal vote should +be considered by all as a crime. We must if possible get rid of the +mob--the vagrants, the vagabonds who have no home and who take no +interest in the cities where they vote. We must get rid of the rich +mob too; and by the rich mob I mean the men who buy up these vagabonds. +Various States have passed laws for the registration of voters; but they +all leave wide open all the doors of fraud. Men are allowed to vote if +they have been for one year in the State, and thirty or sixty days in +the ward or precinct; and when they have failed to have their names +registered before the day of election, they can avoid the effect of +this neglect by making a few affidavits, certified to by reputable +householders. Of course all necessary affidavits are made, with hundreds +and thousands to spare. My idea is that the period of registration, in +the first place, is too short, and, in the second place, no way +should be given by which they can vote unless they have been properly +registered, affidavit or no affidavit. Every man, when he goes into a +ward or precinct, should be registered. It should be his duty to see +that he is registered. Officers should be kept for that purpose, and he +should never be allowed to cast a vote until he has been registered +at least one year. Sixty days, say, or thirty days--sixty would be +better--sixty days before the election the registry lists should be +corrected, and every citizen should have the right to enter a complaint +or objection as against any name found upon that list. Thirty days, +or twenty days before the election, that list should be published +and should be exposed in several public places in each ward and each +precinct, and upon the day of election no man should be allowed to +vote whose name was not upon the registry list. Our wards and precincts +should be made smaller, so that people can vote without violence, +without wasting an entire day, so that the honest business man that +wishes to cast his ballot for the Government of his choice can walk +to the polls like a gentleman and deposit his vote and go about his +affairs. Allow me to say that unless some such plan is adopted in +the United States, there never will be another fair election in this +country. During the last campaign all the arts and artifices of the +city, all the arts and artifices of the lowest wards were spread over +this entire country, and unless something is done to preserve the purity +of the ballot-box, and guard the sovereign will of the people, we will +cease to be a Republican Government. + +Another thing--and I cannot say it too often--fraud at the ballot-box +undermines all respect in the minds of the people for the Government. +When they are satisfied that the election is a fraud they despise the +officers elected. When they are satisfied it is a fraud, they despise +the law made by the legislators. When they are satisfied it is a fraud, +they hold in utter contempt the decisions of our highest and most august +tribunals. + +Another trouble in this country is that our terms of office are too +short. Our elections are too frequent. They interfere with the business +of our country. When elections are so frequent, men make a business +of politics. If they fail to get one office they immediately run for +another, and they keep running until the people elect them for the +simple purpose of getting rid of the annoyance. Lengthen the terms, +purify the ballot, and the present scramble for office will become +contests for principles. A man who cannot get a living--unless he +has been disabled in the service of his country or from some other +cause--without holding office, is not fit for an office. + +A professional office-seeker is one of the meanest, and lowest, and +basest of human beings--a little higher than the lower animals and a +little lower than man. He has no earthly or heavenly independence; not a +particle; not a particle. A successful office-seeker is like the center +of the earth; he weighs nothing himself, and draws all things towards +the office he wants. He has not even a temper. You cannot insult him. +Shut the door in his face, and, so far as he is concerned, it is left +wide open, and you are standing on the threshold with a smile, extending +the hand of welcome. He crawls and cringes and flatters and lies and +swaggers and brags and tells of the influence he has in the ward he +lives in. We cannot too often repeat that splendid saying, "The office +should seek the man, not man the office." If you will lengthen the +term of office it will be so long between meals that he will have to do +something else or starve. Adopt the system of registration, as I have +suggested; have small and convenient election districts, so that, as I +said before, the honest, law-abiding, and peaceable citizen can attend +the polls; so that he will not be compelled to risk his life to deposit +his ballot that will be stolen or thrown out, or forced to keep the +company of ballots caused by fraudulent violence. Lengthen the term of +office, drive the professional hunter and seeker of office from the +field, and you will go far toward strengthening and vivifying and +preserving the fabric of the Constitution. That is the kind of civil +service reform I am in favor of, and as I am on that subject, I will say +a word about it. There is but one vital question--but one question of +real importance--in fact I might say in the whole world, and that is +the great question of Civil Service Reform. There may be some others +indirectly affecting the human race, and in which some people take a +languid kind of interest, but the only question worth discussing and +comprehending in all its phases is the one I have mentioned. This great +question is in its infancy still. The doctrine as yet has been applied +only to politics.* + + * Colonel Ingersoll then read the following letter, of which + he was the author. + + +My Dear Sir:--In the olden times, during the purer days of the Republic, +the motto was, "To the victors belong the spoils." The great object of +civil service reform is to reverse this motto. Our people are thoroughly +disgusted with machine politics, and demand politics without any +machine. + +In every precinct and ward there are persons going about lauding one +party and crying down the other. They make it their business to attend +to the affairs of the Nation. They call conventions, pass resolutions; +they put notices in papers of the times and places of meetings; they +select candidates for office, and then insist upon having them elected; +they distribute papers and political documents; they crowd the mails +with newspapers, platforms, resolutions, facts and figures, and with +everything calculated to help their party and hurt the other. In short, +they are the disturbers of the public peace. + +They keep the community in a perpetual excitement. In the last campaign, +wherever they were was turmoil. They fired cannon, carried flags, +torches and transparencies; they subsidized brass bands, and shouted and +hurrahed as though the world had gone insane. They were induced to do +these things by the hope of success and office. Take away this hope and +there will be peace once more. This thing is unendurable. The staid, +the quiet and respectable people, the moderate and conservative men who +always have an idea of joining the other side just to show their candor, +are heartily tired of the entire performance. These gentlemen demand +a rest. They are not adventurers; they have incomes; they belong to +families; they have monograms and liveries. They have succeeded, and +they want quiet. Growth makes a noise; development, as they call it, +is nothing but disturbance. We want stability, we want political +petrifaction, and we therefore demand that these meetings shall be +dismissed, that these processions shall halt, that these flags shall be +furled. But these things never will be stopped until we stop paying men +with office for making these disturbances. You know that it has been +the habit for men elected to bestow political favors upon the men +who elected them. This is a crying shame. It is a kind of bribery and +corruption. Men should not work with the expectation of reward and +success. The frightful consequences of rewarding one's friends cannot be +contemplated by a true patriot without a shudder. Exactly the opposite +course is demanded by the great principle of civil service reform. There +is no patriotism in working for place, for power and success. The true +lover of his country is stimulated to action by the hope of defeat, +and the prospect of office for his opponent. To such an extent has the +pernicious system of rewarding friends for political services gone in +this country, that until very lately it was difficult for a member of +the defeated party to obtain a respectable office. + +The result of all this is, that the country is divided, that these +divisions are kept alive by these speakers, writers and convention +callers. The great mission of civil service reform is not to do +away with parties, but with conflicting opinion, by taking from all +politicians the hope of reward. There is no other hope for peace. What +do the people know about the wants of the nation? There are in every +community a few quiet and respectable men, who know all about the wants +of the people--gentlemen who have retired from business, who take no +part in discussion and who are therefore free from prejudice. Let these +men attend to our politics. They will not call conventions, except +in the parlors of hotels. They will not put out our eyes with flaring +torches. They will not deafen us with speeches. They will carry on a +campaign without producing opposition. They will have elections but no +contests. All the offices will be given to the defeated party. This of +itself will insure tranquillity at the polls. No one will be deprived of +the privilege of casting a ballot. When campaigns are conducted in this +manner a gentleman can engage in politics with a feeling that he is +protected by the great principle of civil service reform. But just so +long as men persist in rewarding their friends, as they call them, just +so long will our country be cursed with political parties. Nothing can +be better calculated to preserve the peace than the great principle of +rewarding those who have confidence enough in our institutions to keep +silent while peace will sit with folded wings upon the moss-covered +political stump of a ruder age. I am satisfied that to civil service +reform the Republican party is indebted for the last great victory. Upon +this question the enthusiasm of the people was simply unbounded. In +the harvest field, the shop, the counting-room, in the church, in the +saloon, in, the palace and in the hut, nothing was heard and nothing +discussed except the great principle of civil service reform. + +Among the most touching incidents of the campaign was to see a few +old soldiers, sacred with scars, sit down, and while battles and +hair-breadth escapes, and prisons of want, were utterly forgotten, +discuss with tremulous lips and tearful eyes the great question of civil +service reform. + +During the great political contest I addressed several quite large +and intelligent audiences, and no one who did not has or can have the +slightest idea of the hold that civil service reform had upon the +very souls of our people. Upon all other subjects the indifference was +marked. I dwelt upon the glittering achievements of my party, but they +were indifferent. I pictured outrages perpetrated upon our citizens, but +they did not care. All this went idly by, but when I touched upon +civil service reform, old men, gray-haired and strong, broke down +utterly--tears fell like rain. The faces of women grew ashen with the +intensity of anguish, and even little children sobbed as though their +hearts would break. To one who has witnessed these affecting scenes, +civil service reform is almost a sacred thing. Even the speeches +delivered upon this subject in German affected to tears thousands of +persons wholly unacquainted with that language. In some instances those +who did not understand a word were affected even more than those who +did. Surely there must be something in the subject itself, apart from +the words used to explain it, that can under such circumstances lead +captive the hearts of men. During the entire campaign the cry of civil +service reform was heard from one end of our land to the other. The +sailor nailed those words to the mast. The miner repeated them between +the strokes of the pick. Mothers explained them to their children. +Emigrants painted them upon their wagons. They were mingled with the +reaper's song and the shout of the pioneer. Adopt this great principle +and we can have quiet and lady-like campaigns, a few articles in monthly +magazines, a leader or two in the "Nation," in the pictorial papers +wood-cuts of the residences of the respective candidates and now and +then a letter from an old Whig would constitute all the aggressive +agencies of the contest. I am satisfied that this great principle +secured us our victories in Florida and Louisiana, and its effect on +the High Joint Commission was greater than is generally supposed. It was +this that finally decided the action of the returning boards. + +Cronin is the only man upon whom this great principle was an utter +failure. Let it be understood that friends are not to be rewarded. +Let it be settled that political services are a barrier to political +preferment, and my word for it, machine politics will never be heard of +again. + +Yours truly,---- + + +I do not believe in carrying civil service reform to the extent that +you will not allow an officer to resign. I do not believe that that +principle should be insisted upon to that degree that there would only +be two ways left to get out of office--death or suicide. I believe, +other things being equal, any party having any office within its gift +will give that office to the man that really believes in the principles +of that party, and who has worked to give those principles ultimate +victory. That is human nature. The man that plows, the man that sows, +and the man that cultivates, ought to be the man that reaps. But we have +in this country a multitude of little places, a multitude of clerkships +in Washington; and the question is whether on the incoming of a new +administration, these men shall all be turned out. In the first place, +they are on starvation salaries, just barely enough to keep soul and +body together, and respectability on the outside; and if there is a +young man in this audience, I beg of him: + +Never accept a clerkship from this Government. Do not live on a little +salary; do not let your mind be narrowed; do not sell all the splendid +possibilities of the future; do not learn to cringe and fawn and crawl. + +I would rather have forty acres of land, with a log cabin on it and the +woman I love in the cabin--with a little grassy winding path leading +down to the spring where the water gurgles from the lips of earth +whispering day and night to the white pebbles a perpetual poem--with +holly-hocks growing at the corner of the house, and morning-glories +blooming over the low latched door--with lattice work over the window +so that the sunlight would fall checkered on the dimpled babe in +the cradle, and birds--like songs with wings hovering in the summer +air--than be the clerk of any government on earth. + +Now, I say, let us lengthen the term of office--I do not care much how +long--send a man to Congress at least for five years. And it would be a +great blessing if there were not half as many of them sent. + +We have too many legislators and too much legislation; too little about +important matters, and too much about unimportant matters. Lengthen the +term of office so that the man can turn his attention to something else +when he gets in besides looking after his re-election. There is another +defect we must remedy in our Constitution, in my judgment, and that is +as to the mode of electing a President. I believe it of the greatest +importance that the Executive should be entirely independent of the +legislative and judicial departments of the country. I do not believe +that Congress should have the right to create a vacancy which it can +fill. I do not believe that the Senate of the United States, or the +lower house of Congress, by a simple objection, should have the right to +deprive any State of its electoral vote. Our Constitution now provides +that the electors chosen in each State shall meet in their respective +States upon a certain day and there cast their votes for President and +Vice-President of the United States. They shall properly certify to the +votes which are cast, and shall transmit lists of them, together with +the proper certificates, to the Vice-President of the United States. +And it is then declared that upon a certain day in the presence of both +houses of Congress, the Vice-President shall open the certificates and +the votes shall then be counted. It does not exactly say who shall count +these votes. It does not in so many words say the Vice-President shall +do it, or may do it, or that both houses of Congress shall do it, or may +do it, or that either house can prevent a count of the votes. It leaves +us in the dark, and, to a certain degree, in blindness. I believe there +is a way, and a very easy way, out of the entire trouble, and it is +this: I do not care whether the electors first meet in their respective +States or not, but I want the Constitution so amended that the electors +of all the States shall meet on a certain day in the city of Washington, +and count the votes themselves; to allow that body to be the judge of +who are electors, to allow it to choose a chairman, and to allow +the person so chosen to declare who is the President, and who is the +Vice-President of the United States. The Executive is then entirely +free and independent of the legislative department of Government. The +Executive is then entirely free from the judicial department, and I tell +you, it is a public calamity to have the ermine of the Supreme Court +of the United States touched or stained by a political suspicion. In +my judgment, this country can never stand such a strain again as it has +now. + +Now, my friends, all these questions are upon us and they have to be +settled. We cannot go on as we have been going. We cannot afford to live +as we have lived--one section running against the other. We cannot go +along that way. It must be settled, either peaceably or there must again +be a resort to the boisterous sword of civil war. + +The people of the South must stop trampling on the rights of the colored +men. It must not be a crime in any State of this Union to be a lover of +this country. I have seen it stated in several papers lately that it is +the duty of each State to protect its own citizens. Well, I know that. +Suppose that the State does not do it; what then I say? Well, then, say +these people, the Governor of the State has the right to call on the +General Government for assistance. But suppose the Governor will not +call for assistance, what then? Then, they tell us, the Legislature can +do so by a joint resolution. But suppose the Legislature will not do it, +what then? Then, say these people, it is a defect in the Constitution. +In my judgment, that is the absurdest kind of secession. If the State of +Illinois must protect me, if I have no right to call for the protection +of the General Government, all I have to say is that my allegiance must +belong to the Government that protects me. If Illinois protects me, and +the General Government has not the power, then my first allegiance is +due to Illinois; and should Illinois unsheathe the sword of civil war, +I must stand by my State, if that doctrine is true. I say, my first +allegiance is due to the General Government, and not to the State of +Illinois, and if the State of Illinois goes out of the Union, I swear to +you that I will not. What does the General Government propose to give +me in exchange for my allegiance? The General Government has a right to +take my property. The General Government has a right to take my body +in its necessary defence. What does that Government propose to give in +exchange for that right? Protection, or else our Government is a fraud. +Who has a right to call for the protection of the United States? I say, +the citizen who needs it. Can our Government obtain information only +through the official sources? Must our Government wait until the +Government asks the proofs, while the State tramples upon the rights of +the citizens? Must it wait until the Legislature calls for assistance +to help it stop robbing and plundering citizens of the United States? Is +that the doctrine and the idea of the Northern Democratic party? It is +not mine. A Government that will not protect its citizens is a +disgrace to humanity. A Government that waits until a Governor calls--a +Government that cannot hear the cry of the meanest citizen under its +flag when his rights are being trampled upon, even by citizens of a +Southern State--has no right to exist. + +It is the duty of the American citizen to see to it that every State +has a Government, not only republican in form, but it is the duty of the +United States to see to it that life, liberty and property are protected +in each State. If they are not protected, it is the duty of the United +States to protect them, if it takes all her military force both upon +land and upon the sea. The people whose Government cannot always hear +the faintest wail of the meanest man beneath its flag have no right to +call themselves a nation. The flag that will not protect its protectors +and defend its defenders is a rag that is not worth the air in which it +waves. + +How are we going to do it? Do it by kindness if you can; by conciliation +if you can, but the Government is bound to try every way until it +succeeds. Now, Rutherford B. Hayes was elected President. The Democracy +will say, of course, that he never was elected, but that does not make +any difference. He is President to-day, and all these things are about +him to be settled. + +What shall we do? What can we do? There are two Governors in South +Carolina and two Legislatures and not one cent of taxes has been +collected by either. A dual government would seem to be the most +economical in the world. Now, the question for us to decide, the +question to be decided by this administration is, how are we to +ascertain which is the legal Government of the State, and what +department of the Government has a right to ascertain that fact? Must it +be left to Congress? Has the Senate alone the right to determine it? +Can it be left in any way to the Supreme Court, or shall the Executive +decide it himself? I do not say that the Executive has the power to +decide that question for himself. I do not say he has not, but I do not +say he has. The question, so far as Louisiana and South Carolina are +concerned--that question is now in the Senate of the United States. +Governor Kellogg is asking for admission as a Senator from the State +of Louisiana, and the question is to be decided by the Senate first, +whether he is entitled to his seat, and that question of course, rests +upon the one fact--was the Legislature that elected him the legal +Legislature of the State of Louisiana? It seems to me that when that +question is pending in the Senate of the United States the President has +not the right, or at least it would be improper for him to decide it on +his own motion, and say this or that Government is the real and legal +Government of the State of Louisiana. But some mode must be adopted, +some way must be discovered to settle this question, and to settle it +peacefully. We are an enlightened people. Force is the last thing that +civilized men should resort to. As long as courts can be created, as +long as courts of arbitration can be selected, as long as we can reason +and think, and urge all the considerations of humanity upon each other, +there should be no appeal to arms in the United States upon any question +whatever. What should the President do? He could only spare twenty-five +hundred men from the Indian war--that is the same army that has so +long been trampling on the rights of the South, the same army that +the Democratic Congress wished to reduce, and that army of twenty-five +hundred men is all he has to spare to protect American citizens in the +Southern States. Is there any sentiment in the North that would uphold +the Executive in calling for volunteers? Is there any sentiment here +that would respond to a call for twenty, fifty, or a hundred thousand +men? Is there any Congress to pass the necessary act to pay them if +there was? + +And so the President of the United States appreciated the situation, and +the people of the South came to him and said, "We have had war enough, +we have had trouble enough, our country languishes, we have no trade, +our pockets are empty, something must be done for us, we are utterly and +perfectly disgusted with the leadership of the Democratic party of the +North. Now, will you let us be your friends?" And he had the sense to +say, "Yes." The President took the right hand of the North, and put it +into the right hand of the South and said "Let us be friends. We parted +at the cannon's mouth; we were divided by the edge of the glittering +sword; we must become acquainted again. We are equals. We are all +fellow-citizens. In a Government of the people, by the people and for +the people, there shall not be an outcast class, whether white or +black. To this feast, every child of the Republic shall be invited and +welcomed." It was a grand thing grandly done. If the President succeeds +in his policy, it will be an immense compliment to his brain. If he +fails, it will be an equal compliment to his heart. He has opened the +door; he has advanced; he has extended his hand, he has broken the +silence of hatred with the words of welcome. Actuated by this broad and +catholic spirit he has selected his constitutional advisors, and +allow me to say right here, the President has the right to select his +constitutional advisors to suit himself, and the idea of men endeavoring +to force themselves or others into the Cabinet of the President, +against, as it were, his will, why I would as soon think of circulating +a petition to compel some woman to marry me. + +He has gathered around him the men he considers the wisest and the best, +and I say, let us give them a fair chance. I say, let us be honest with +the President of the United States and his Cabinet, and give his policy +a fair and honest chance. In order to show his good faith with the +South he chose as a member of his Cabinet an ex-rebel from Tennessee. +I confess, when I heard of it I did not like it. It did not seem to +be exactly what I had been making all this fuss about. But I thought I +would be honest about it, and I went and called on Mr. Key, and really +he begins already to look a good deal like a Republican. A real honest +looking man. And then I said to myself that he had not done much more +harm than as though he had been a Democrat at the North during those +four years, and had cursed and swore instead of fought about it. And so +I told him "I am glad you are appointed." + +And I am. Give him a chance, and so far as the whole Cabinet is +concerned--I have not the time to go over them one by one now, it is +perfectly satisfactory to me. The President made up his mind that to +appoint that man would be to say to the South: "I do not look upon you +as pariahs in this Government. I look upon you as fellow-citizens; I +want you to wipe forever the color line, or the Union line, from the +records of this Government on account of what has been done heretofore." +What are you now? is the only question that should be asked. It was +a strange thing for the President to appoint that man. It was an +experiment. It is an experiment. It has not yet been decided, but I +believe it will simply be a proof of the President's wisdom. I can stand +that experiment taken in connection with the appointment of Frederick +Douglass as Marshal of the District of Columbia. I was glad to see +that man's appointment. He is a good, patient, stern man. He has been +fighting for the liberty of his race, and at the same time for our +liberty. This man has done something for the freedom of my race as well +as his own. This is no time for war. War settles nothing except the mere +question of strength. That is all war ever did settle. You cannot shoot +ideas into a man with a musket, or with cannon into one of those old +Bourbon Democrats of the North. You cannot let prejudices out of a man +with a sword. + +This is the time for reason, for discussion, for compromise. This is the +time to repair, to rebuild, to preserve. War destroys. Peace creates. +War is decay and death. Peace is growth and life,--sunlight and air. War +kills men. Peace maintains them. Artillery does not reason; it asserts. +A bayonet has point enough, but no logic. When the sword is drawn, +reason remains in the scabbard. It is not enough to win upon the field +of battle, you must be victor within the realm of thought. There must be +peace between the North and South some time; not a conquered peace, but +a peace that conquers. The question is, can you and I forget the past? +Can we forget everything except the heroic sacrifices of the men who +saved this Government? Can we say to the South, "Let us be brothers"? +Can we? I am willing to do it because, in the first place, it is right, +and in the second place, it will pay if it can be carried out. We have +fought and hated long enough. Our country is prostrate. Labor is in +rags. Energy has empty hands. Industry has empty pockets. The wheels of +the factory are still. In the safe of prudence money lies idle, locked +by the key of fear. Confidence is what we need--confidence in each +other; confidence in our institutions; confidence in our form of +government; in the great future; confidence in law, confidence in +liberty, confidence in progress, and in the grand destiny of the Great +Republic. Now, do not imagine that I think this policy will please +every body. Of course there are men South and North who can never be +conciliated. They are the Implacables in the South--the Bourbons in the +North. + +Nothing will ever satisfy them. The Implacables want to own negroes +and whip them; the Bourbons never will be satisfied until they can help +catch one. The Implacables with violent hands drive emigration from +their shores. They are poisoning the springs and sources of prosperity. +They dine on hatred and sup on regret. They mourn over the lost cause +and partake of the communion of revenge. They strike down the liberties +of their fellow-citizens and refuse to enjoy their own. They remember +nothing but wrongs, and they forget nothing but benefits. Their bosoms +are filled with the serpents of hate. No one can compromise with them. +Nothing can change them. They must be left to the softening influence +of time and death. The Bourbons are the allies of the Implacables. A +Bourbon in the majority is an Implacable in the minority. An Implacable +in the minority is a Bourbon. We do not appeal to, but from these men. +But there are in the South thousands of men who have accepted in good +faith the results of the war; men who love and wish to preserve this +nation, men tired of strife--men longing for a real Union based upon +mutual respect and confidence. These men are willing that the colored +man shall be free--willing that he shall vote, and vote for the +Government of his choice--willing that his children shall be +educated--willing that he shall have all the rights of an American +citizen. These men are tired of the Implacables and disgusted with the +Bourbons. These men wish to unite with the patriotic men of the North in +the great work of reestablishing a government of law. For my part, call +me of what party you please, I am willing to join hands with these men, +without regard to race, color or previous condition. + +With a knowledge of our wants--with a clear perception of our +difficulties, Rutherford B. Hayes became President. + +Nations have been saved by the grandeur of one man. Above all things a +President should be a patriot. Party at best is only a means--the good +of the country, the happiness of the people, the only end. + +Now, I appeal to you Democrats here--not a great many, I suppose--do +not oppose this policy because you think it is going to increase the +Republican strength. If it strengthens the Government, no matter whether +it is Republican or Democratic, it is for the common good. + +And you Republicans, you who have had all these feelings of patriotism +and glory, I ask you to wait and let this experiment be tried. Do not +prophesy failure for it and then work to fulfill the prophecy. Give the +President a chance. I tell you to-night that he is as good a Republican +as there is in the United States; and I tell you that if this policy is +not responded to by the South, Rutherford B. Hayes will change it, +just as soon and as often as is necessary to accomplish the end. The +President has offered the Southern people the olive branch of peace, +and so far as I am concerned, I implore both the Southern people and +the Northern people to accept it. I extend to you each and all the olive +branch of peace. Fellow-citizens of the South, I beseech you to take it. +By the memory of those who died for naught; by the charred remains of +your remembered homes; by the ashes of your statesman dead; for the sake +of your sons and your daughters and their fair children yet to be, +I implore you to take it with loving and with loyal hands. It will +cultivate your wasted fields. It will rebuild your towns and cities. It +will fill your coffers with gold. It will educate your children. It +will swell the sails of your commerce. It will cause the roses of joy +to clamber and climb over the broken cannon of war. It will flood the +cabins of the freedman with light, and clothe the weak in more than coat +of mail, and wrap the poor and lowly in "measureless content." Take it. +The North will forgive if the South will forget. Take it! The negro +will wipe from the tablet of memory the strokes and scars of two hundred +years, and blur with happy tears the record of his wrongs. Take it! It +will unite our nation. It will make us brothers once again. Take it! And +justice will sit in your courts under the outspread wings of Peace. Take +it! And the brain and lips of the future will be free. Take it! It will +bud and blossom in your hands and fill your land with fragrance and with +joy. + + + + +HARD TIMES AND THE WAY OUT. + + * Boston, October 20, 1878. + +LADIES and Gentlemen:--The lovers of the human race, the +philanthropists, the dreamers of grand dreams, all predicted and all +believed that when man should have the right to govern himself, when +every human being should be equal before the law, pauperism, crime, and +want would exist only in the history of the past. They accounted +for misery in their time by the rapacity of kings and the cruelty of +priests. Here, in the United States, man at last is free. Here, man +makes the laws, and all have an equal voice. The rich cannot oppress the +poor, because the poor are in a majority. The laboring men, those who +in some way work for their living, can elect every Congressman and every +judge; they can make and interpret the laws, and if labor is oppressed +in the United States by capital, labor has simply itself to blame. +The cry is now raised that capital in some mysterious way oppresses +industry; that the capitalist is the enemy of the man who labors. What +is a capitalist? Every man who has good health; every man with good +sense; every one who has had his dinner, and has enough left for supper, +is, to that extent, a capitalist. Every man with a good character, who +has the credit to borrow a dollar or to buy a meal, is a capitalist; and +nine out of ten of the great capitalists in the United States are simply +successful workingmen. There is no conflict, and can be no conflict, in +the United States between capital and labor; and the men who endeavor +to excite the envy of the unfortunate and the malice of the poor are the +enemies of law and order. + +As a rule, wealth is the result of industry, economy, attention +to business; and as a rule, poverty is the result of idleness, +extravagance, and inattention to business, though to these rules there +are thousands of exceptions. The man who has wasted his time, who has +thrown away his opportunities, is apt to envy the man who has not. For +instance, there are six shoemakers working in one shop. One of them +attends to his business. You can hear the music of his hammer late and +early. He is in love with some girl on the next street. He has made up +his mind to be a man; to succeed; to make somebody else happy; to have +a home; and while he is working, in his imagination he can see his own +fireside, with the firelight falling upon the faces of wife and child. +The other five gentlemen work as little as they can, spend Sunday in +dissipation, have the headache Monday, and, as a result, never advance. +The industrious one, the one in love, gains the confidence of his +employer, and in a little while he cuts out work for the others. The +first thing you know he has a shop of his own, the next a store; because +the man of reputation, the man of character, the man of known integrity, +can buy all he wishes in the United States upon a credit. The next thing +you know he is married, and he has built him a house, and he is happy, +and his dream has been realized. After awhile the same five shoemakers, +having pursued the old course, stand on the corner some Sunday when he +rides by. He has a carriage, his wife sits by his side, her face covered +with smiles, and they have two children, their eyes beaming with joy, +and the blue ribbons are fluttering in the wind. And thereupon, these +five shoemakers adjourn to some neighboring saloon and pass a resolution +that there is an irrepressible conflict between capital and labor. + +There is, in fact, no such conflict, and the laboring men of the United +States have the power to protect themselves. In the ballot-box the +vote of Lazarus is on an equality with the vote of Dives; the vote of +a wandering pauper counts the same as that of a millionaire. In a land +where the poor, where the laboring men have the right and have the power +to make the laws, and do, in fact, make the laws, certainly there should +be no complaint. In our country the people hold the power, and if any +corporation in any State is devouring the substance of the people, +every State has retained the power of eminent domain, under which it +can confiscate the property and franchise of any corporation by +simply paying to that corporation what such property is worth. And yet +thousands of people are talking as though the rich combined for the +express purpose of destroying the poor, are talking as though there +existed a widespread conspiracy against industry, against honest toil; +and thousands and thousands of speeches have been made and numberless +articles have been written to fill the breasts of the unfortunate with +hatred. + +We have passed through a period of wonderful and unprecedented +inflation. For years we enjoyed the luxury of going into debt, the +felicity of living upon credit. We have in the United States about +eighty thousand miles of railway, more than enough to make a treble +track around the globe. Most of these miles were built in a period of +twenty-five years, and at a cost of at least five thousand millions +of dollars. Think of the ore that had to be dug, of the iron that was +melted; think of the thousands employed in cutting bridge timber and +ties, and giving to the wintry air the music of the axe; think of the +thousands and thousands employed in making cars, in making locomotives, +those horses of progress with nerves of steel and breath of flame; think +of the thousands and thousands of workers in brass and steel and iron; +think of the numberless industries that thrived in the construction +of eighty thousand miles of railway, of the streams bridged, of the +mountains tunneled, of the plains crossed; and think of the towns and +cities that sprang up, as if by magic, along these highways of iron. + +During the same time we had a war in which we expended thousands of +millions of dollars, not to create, not to construct, but to destroy. +All this money was spent in the work of demolition, and every shot and +every shell and every musket and every cannon was used to destroy. All +the time of every soldier was lost. An amount of property inconceivable +was destroyed, and some of the best and bravest were sacrificed. During +these years the productive power of the North was strained to the +utmost; every wheel was in motion; there was employment for every kind +and description of labor, and for every mechanic. There was a constantly +rising market--speculation was rife, and it seemed almost impossible +to lose. As a consequence, the men who had been toiling upon the farm +became tired. It was too slow a way to get rich. They heard of their +neighbor, of their brother, who had gone to the city and had suddenly +become a millionaire. They became tired with the slow methods of +agriculture. The young men of intelligence, of vim, of nerve became +disgusted with the farms. On every hand fortunes were being made. A +wave of wealth swept over the United States; huts became houses; houses +became palaces with carpeted floors and pictured walls; tatters became +garments; rags became robes; and for the first time in the history of +the world, the poor tasted of the luxuries of wealth. We wondered how +our fathers could have endured their poor and barren lives. + +Every business was pressed to the snow line. Old life insurance +associations had been successful; new ones sprang up on every hand. +The agents filled every town. These agents were given a portion of the +premium. You could hardly go out of your house without being told of the +uncertainty of life and the certainty of death. You were shown pictures +of life insurance agents emptying vast bags of gold at the feet of a +disconsolate widow. You saw in imagination your own fatherless children +wiping away the tears of grief and smiling with joy. + +These agents insured everybody and everything. They would have insured a +hospital or consumption in its last hemorrhage. + +Fire insurance was managed in precisely the same way. The agents +received a part of the premium, and they insured anything and +everything, no matter what its danger might be. They would have insured +powder in perdition, or icebergs under the torrid zone with the same +alacrity. And then there were accident companies, and you could not +go to the station to buy your ticket without being shown a picture of +disaster. You would see there four horses running away with a stage, and +old ladies and children being thrown out; you would see a steamer being +blown up on the Mississippi, legs one way and arms the other, heads +one side and hats the other; locomotives going through bridges, good +Samaritans carrying off the wounded on stretchers. + +The merchants, too, were not satisfied to do business in the old way. It +was too slow; they could not wait for customers. They filled the country +with drummers, and these drummers convinced all the country merchants +that they needed about twice as many goods as they could possibly sell, +and they took their notes on sixty and ninety days, and renewed them +whenever desired, provided the parties renewing the notes would take +more goods. And these country merchants pressed the goods upon their +customers in the same manner. Everybody was selling, everybody was +buying, and nearly all was done upon a credit. No one believed the day +of settlement ever would or ever could come. Towns must continue to +grow, and in the imagination of speculators there were hundreds of +cities numbering their millions of inhabitants. Land, miles and miles +from the city, was laid out in blocks and squares and parks; land that +will not be occupied for residences probably for hundreds of years to +come, and these lots were sold, not by the acre, not by the square +mile, but by so much per foot. They were sold on credit, with a partial +payment down and the balance secured by a mortgage. + +These values, of course, existed simply in the imagination; and a deed +of trust upon a cloud or a mortgage upon a last year's fog would have +been just as valuable. Everybody advertised, and those who were not +selling goods and real estate were in the medicine line, and every rock +beneath our flag was covered with advice to the unfortunate; and I have +often thought that if some sincere Christian had made a pilgrimage +to Sinai and climbed its venerable crags, and in a moment of devotion +dropped upon his knees and raised his eyes toward heaven, the first +thing that would have met his astonished gaze would in all probability +have been: + + "St. 1860 X Plantation Bitters." + +Suddenly there came a crash. Jay Cooke failed, and I have heard +thousands of men account for the subsequent hard times from the fact +that Cooke did fail. As well might you account for the smallpox by +saying that the first pustule was the cause of the disease. The failure +of Jay Cooke & Co. was simply a symptom of a disease universal. + +No language can describe the agonies that have been endured since 1873. +No language can tell the sufferings of the men that have wandered over +the dreary and desolate desert of bankruptcy. Thousands and thousands +supposed that they had enough, enough for their declining years, +enough for wife and children, and suddenly found themselves paupers and +vagrants. + +During all these years the bankruptcy law was in force, and whoever +failed to keep his promise had simply to take the benefit of this law. +As a consequence, there could be no real, solid foundation for business. +Property commenced to decline; that is to say, it commenced to resume; +that is to say, it began to be rated at its real instead of at its +speculative value. + +Land is worth what it will produce, and no more. It may have speculative +value, and, if the prophecy is fulfilled, the man who buys it may become +rich, and if the prophecy is not fulfilled, then the land is simply +worth what it will produce. Lots worth from five to ten thousand dollars +apiece suddenly vanished into farms worth twenty-five dollars per acre. +These lots resumed. The farms that before that time had been considered +worth one hundred dollars per acre, and are now worth twenty or thirty, +have simply resumed. Magnificent residences supposed to be worth one +hundred thousand dollars, that can now be purchased for twenty-five +thousand, they have simply resumed. The property in the United States +has not fallen in value, but its real value has been ascertained. The +land will produce as much as it ever would, and is as valuable to-day +as it ever was; and every improvement, every invention that adds to the +productiveness of the soil or to the facilities for getting that product +to market, adds to the wealth of the nation. + +As a matter of fact, the property kept pace with what we were pleased to +call our money. As the money depreciated, property appreciated; as the +money appreciated, property depreciated. The moment property began to +fall speculation ceased. There is but little speculation upon a falling +market. The stocks and bonds, based simply upon ideas, became worthless, +the collaterals became dust and ashes. + +At the close of the war, when the Government ceased to be such a vast +purchaser and consumer, many of the factories had to stop. When the +crash came the men stopped digging ore; they stopped felling the forest; +the fires died out in the furnaces; the men who had stood in the glare +of the forge were in the gloom of want. There was no employment for +them. The employer could not sell his product; business stood still, +and then came what we call the hard times. Our wealth was a delusion and +illusion, and we simply came back to reality. Too many men were doing +nothing, too many men were traders, brokers, speculators. There were not +enough producers of the things needed; there were too many producers of +the things no one wished. There needed to be a re-distribution of men. + +Many remedies have been proposed, and chief among these is the remedy +of fiat money. Probably no subject in the world is less generally +understood than that of money. So many false definitions have been +given, so many strange, conflicting theories have been advanced, that +it is not at all surprising that men have come to imagine that money +is something that can be created by law. The definitions given by the +hard-money men themselves have been used as arguments by those who +believe in the power of Congress to create wealth. We are told that gold +is an instrumentality or a device to facilitate exchanges. We are told +that gold is a measure of value. Let us examine these definitions. + +"_Gold is an instrumentality or device to facilitate exchanges._" + +That sounds well, but I do not believe it. Gold and silver +are commodities. They are the products of labor. They are not +instrumentalities; they are not devices to facilitate exchanges; they +are the things exchanged for something else; and other things are +exchanged for them. The only device about it to facilitate exchanges is +the coining of these metals. Whenever the Government or any government +certifies that in a certain piece of gold or silver there are a certain +number of grains of a certain fineness, then he who gives it knows that +he is not giving too much, and he who receives, that he is receiving +enough, so that I will change the definition to this: + +The _coining_ of the precious metals is a device to facilitate +exchanges. + +The precious metals themselves are property; they are merchandise; they +are commodities, and whenever one commodity is exchanged for another it +is barter, and gold is the last refinement of barter. + +The second definition is: + +"_Gold is the measure of value_." + +We are told by those who believe in fiat money that gold is a measure of +value just the same as a half bushel or a yardstick. + +I deny that gold is a measure of value. The yardstick is not a measure +of value; it is simply a measure of quantity. It measures cloth worth +fifty dollars a yard precisely as it does calico worth four cents. It +is, therefore, not a measure of value, but of quantities. The same with +the half bushel. The half bushel measures wheat precisely the same, +whether that wheat is worth three dollars or one dollar. It simply +measures quantity; not quality, or value. The yardstick, the half +bushel, and the coining of money are all devices to facilitate +exchanges. The yardstick assures the man who sells that he has not sold +too much; it assures the man who buys that he has received enough; and +in that way it facilitates exchanges. The coining of money facilitates +exchange, for the reason that were it not coined, each man who did any +business would have to carry a pair of scales and be a chemist. + +It matters not whether the yardstick or half bushel are of gold, silver, +or wood, for the reason that the yardstick and half bushel are not the +things bought. We buy not them, but the things they measure. + +If gold and silver are not the measure of value, what is? I +answer--intelligent labor. Gold gets its value from labor. Of course, I +cannot account for the fact that mankind have a certain fancy for gold +or for diamonds, neither can I account for the fact that we like certain +things better than others to eat. These are simply facts in nature, and +they are facts, whether they can be explained or not. The dollar in gold +represents, on the average, the labor that it took to dig and mint it, +together with all the time of the men who looked for it without finding +it. That dollar in gold, on the average, will buy the product of the +same amount of labor in any other direction. + +Nothing ever has been money, from the most barbarous to the most +civilized times, unless it was a product of nature, and a something to +which the people among whom it passed as money attached a certain value, +a value not dependent upon law, not dependent upon "fiat" in any degree. + +Nothing has ever been considered money that man could produce. + +A bank bill is not money, neither is a check nor a draft. These are all +devices simply to facilitate business, but in or of themselves they have +no value. + +We are told, however, that the Government can create money. This I deny. +The Government produces nothing; it raises no wheat, no corn; it digs no +gold, no silver. It is not a producer, it is a consumer. + +The Government cannot by law create wealth. And right here I wish to +ask one question, and I would like to have it answered some time. If +the Government can make money, if it can create money, if by putting +its sovereignty upon a piece of paper it can create absolute money, why +should the Government collect taxes? We have in every district +assessors and collectors; we have at every port customhouses, and we are +collecting taxes day and night for the support of this Government. Now, +if the Government can make money itself, why should it collect taxes +from the poor? Here is a man cultivating a farm--he is working among the +stones and roots, and digging day and night; why should the Government +go to that man and make him pay twenty or thirty or forty dollars taxes +when the Government, according to the theory of these gentlemen, could +make a thousand-dollar fiat bill quicker than that man could wink? Why +impose upon industry in that manner? Why should the sun borrow a candle? + +And if the Government can create money, how much should it create, and +if it should create it who will get it? Money has a great liking for +money. A single dollar in the pocket of a poor man is lonesome; it never +is satisfied until it has found its companions. Money gravitates towards +money, and issue as much as you may, as much as you will, the time will +come when that money will be in the hands of the industrious, in the +hands of the economical, in the hands of the shrewd, in the hands of the +cunning; in other words, in the hands of the successful. + +The other day I had a conversation with one of the principal gentlemen +upon that side, and I told him, "Whenever you can successfully palm off +on a man a bill of fare for a dinner, I shall believe in your doctrine; +and when I can satisfy the pangs of hunger by reading a cook-book, I +shall join your party." Only that is money which stands for labor. Only +that is money which will buy, on the average, in all other directions +the result of the same labor expended in its production. As a matter +of fact, there is money enough in the country to transact the business. +Never before in the history of our Government was money so cheap; that +is to say, was interest so low; never. There is plenty of money, and we +could borrow all we wished had we the collaterals. We could borrow +all we wish if there was some business in which we could embark that +promised a sure and reasonable return. If we should come to a man who +kept a ferry, and find his boat on a sandbar and the river dry, what +would he think of us should we tell him he had not enough boat? He would +probably reply that he had plenty of boat, but not enough water. We have +plenty of money, but not enough business. The reason we have not enough +business is, we have not enough confidence, and the reason we have not +confidence is because the market is slowly falling, and the reason it is +slowly falling is that things have not yet quite resumed; that we have +not quite touched the absolute bedrock of valuation. Another reason is +because those that left the cultivation of the soil have not yet all +returned, and they are living, some upon their wits, some upon their +relatives, some upon charity, and some upon crime. + +The next question is: Suppose the Government should issue a thousand +millions of fiat money, how would it regulate the value thereof? Every +creditor could be forced to take it, but nobody else. If a man was in +debt one dollar for a bushel of wheat, he could compel the creditor to +take the fiat money; but if he wished to buy the wheat, then the owner +could say, "I will take one dollar in gold or fifty dollars in fiat +money, or I will not sell it for fiat money at any price." What will +Congress do then? In order to make this fiat money good it will have to +fix the price of every conceivable commodity; the price of painting +a picture, of trying a lawsuit, of chiseling a statue, the price of a +day's work; in short, the price of every conceivable thing. This even +will not be sufficient. It will be necessary, then, to provide by +law that the prices fixed shall be received, and that no man shall be +allowed to give more for anything than the price fixed by Congress. +Now, I do not believe that any Congress has sufficient wisdom to tell +beforehand what will be the relative value of all the products of labor. + +When the volume of currency is inflated it is at the expense of the +creditor class; when it is contracted it is contracted at the expense +of the debtor class. In other words, inflation means going into debt; +contraction means the payment of the debt. + +A gold dollar is a dollar's worth of gold. + +A real paper dollar is a dollar's worth of paper. + +Another remedy has been suggested by the same persons who advocate fiat +money. With a consistency perfectly charming, they say it would have +been much better had we allowed the Treasury notes to fade out. Why +allow fiat money to fade out when a simple act of Congress can make it +as good as gold? When greenbacks fade out the loss falls upon the chance +holder, upon the poor, the industrious, and the unfortunate. The rich, +the cunning, the well-informed manage to get rid of what they happen to +hold. When, however, the bills are redeemed, they are paid by the +wealth and property of the whole country. To allow them to fade out +is universal robbery; to pay them is universal justice. The greenback +should not be allowed to fade away in the pocket of the soldier or in +the hands of his widow and children. It is said that; the Continental +money faded away. It was and is a disgrace to our forefathers. When the +greenback fades away there will fade with it honor from the American +heart, brain from the American head, and our flag from the air of +heaven. + +A great cry has been raised against the holders of bonds. They have been +denounced by every epithet that malignity can coin. During the war our +bonds were offered for sale and they brought all that they then appeared +to be worth. They had to be sold or the Rebellion would have been a +success. To the bond we are indebted as much as to the greenback. The +fact is, however, we are indebted to neither; we are indebted to the +soldiers. But every man who took a greenback at less than gold committed +the same crime, and no other, as he who bought the bonds at less than +par in gold. These bonds have changed hands thousands of times. They +have been paid for in gold again and again. They have been bought at +prices far above par; they have been laid away by loving husbands +for wives, by toiling fathers for children; and the man who seeks to +repudiate them now, or to pay them in fiat rags, is unspeakably cruel +and dishonest. If the Government has made a bad bargain it must live up +to it. If it has made a foolish promise the only way is to fulfill it. + +A dishonest government can exist only among dishonest people. + +When our money is below par we feel below par. + +We cannot bring prosperity by cheapening money; we cannot increase +our wealth by adding to the volume of a depreciated currency. If the +prosperity of a country depends upon the volume of its currency, and if +anything is money that people can be made to think is money, then the +successful counterfeiter is a public benefactor. The counterfeiter +increases the volume of currency; he stimulates business, and the money +issued by him will not be hoarded and taken from the channels of trade. + +During the war, during the inflation--that is to say, during the years +that we were going into debt--fortunes were made so easily that people +left the farms, crowded to the towns and cities. Thousands became +speculators, traders, and merchants; thousands embarked in every +possible and conceivable scheme. They produced nothing; they simply +preyed upon labor and dealt with imaginary values. These men must +go back; they must become producers, and every producer is a paying +consumer. Thousands and thousands of them are unable to go back. To a +man who begs of you a breakfast you cannot say, "Why don't you get +a farm?" You might as well say, "Why don't you start a line of +steamships?" To him both are impossibilities. They must be helped. + +We should all remember that society must support all of its members, all +of its robbers, thieves, and paupers. Every vagabond and vagrant has +to be fed and clothed, and society must support in some way all of its +members. It can support them in jails, in asylums, in hospitals, in +penitentiaries; but it is a very costly way. We have to employ judges +to try them, juries to sit upon their cases, sheriffs, marshals, and +constables to arrest them, policemen to watch them, and it may be, +at last, a standing army to put them down. It would be far cheaper, +probably, to support them all at some first-class hotel. We must either +support them or help them support themselves. They let us go upon the +one hand simply to take us by the other, and we can take care of them as +paupers and criminals, or, by wise statesmanship, help them to be honest +and useful men. Of all the criminals transported by England to Australia +and Tasmania, the records show that a very large per cent.--something +over ninety--became useful and decent people. In Australia they found +homes; hope again spread its wings in their breasts. They had different +ambitions; they were removed from vile and vicious associations. They +had new surroundings; and, as a rule, man does not morally improve +without a corresponding improvement in his physical condition. +One biscuit, with plenty of butter, is worth all the tracts ever +distributed. + +Thousands must be taken from the crowded streets and stifling dens, away +from the influences of filth and want, to the fields and forests of the +West and South. They must be helped to help themselves. + +While the Government cannot create gold and silver, while it cannot +by its fiat make money, it can furnish facilities for the creation +of wealth. It can aid in the distribution of products, and in the +distribution of men; it can aid in the opening of new territories; +it can aid great and vast enterprises that cannot be accomplished by +individual effort. The Government should see to it that every facility +is offered to honorable adventure, enterprise and industry. Our ships +ought to be upon every sea; our flag ought to be flying in every port. +Our rivers and harbors ought to be improved. The usefulness of the +Mississippi should be increased, its banks strengthened, and its channel +deepened. At no distant day it will bear the commerce of a hundred +millions of people. That grand river is the great guaranty of +territorial integrity; it is the protest of nature against disunion, and +from its source to the sea it will forever flow beneath one flag. + +The Northern Pacific Railway should be pushed to completion. In this +way labor would be immediately given to many thousands of men. Along +the line of that thoroughfare would spring up towns and cities; new +communities with new surroundings; and where now is the wilderness there +would be thousands and thousands of happy homes. + +The Texas Pacific should also be completed. A vast agricultural and +mineral region would be opened to the enterprise and adventure of the +American people. Probably Arizona holds within the miserly clutches of +her rocks greater wealth than any other State or territory of the world. +The construction of that road would put life and activity into a hundred +industries. It would give employment to many thousands of people, and +homes at last to many millions. It would cause the building of thousands +of miles of branches to open, not only new territory, but to connect +with roads already built. It would double the products of gold and +silver, open new fields to trade, create new industries, and make it +possible for us to supply eight millions of people in the Republic of +Mexico with our products. The construction of this great highway will +enable the Government to dispense with from ten to fifteen regiments of +infantry and cavalry now stationed along the border. People enough will +settle along this line to protect themselves. It will permanently settle +the Indian question, saving the people millions each year. It will +effectually destroy the present monopoly, and in this way greatly +increase production and consumption. It will double our trade with +China and Japan, and with the Pacific States as well. It will settle +the Southern question by filling the Southern States with immigrants, +diversifying the industries of that section, changing and rebuilding the +commercial and social fabric; it will do away with the conservatism of +regret and the prejudice born of isolation. It will transmute to wealth +the unemployed muscle of the country. It will rescue California from +the control of a single corporation, from the government of an oligarchy +united, watchful, despotic, and vindictive. It will liberate the +farmers, the merchants, and even the politicians of the Pacific coast. +Besides, it must not be forgotten so to frame the laws and charters that +Congress shall forever have the control of fares and freights. In this +way the public will be perfectly protected and the Government perfectly +secured. + +Look at the map, and you will see the immense advantages its +construction will give to the entire country, not only to the South, but +to the East and West as well. It is one hundred and fifty miles nearer +from Chicago to San Diego than to San Francisco. You will see that the +whole of Texas, a State containing two hundred and ten thousand square +miles; a State four times as large as Illinois, five times as large +as New York, capable of supporting a population of twenty millions of +people, is put in direct and immediate communication with the whole +country. Territory to the extent of nearly a million square miles +will be given to agriculture, trade, commerce, and mining, by the +construction of this line. + +Let this road be built, and we shall feel again the enthusiasm born +of enterprise. In the vast stagnation there will be at last a current. +Something besides waiting is necessary to secure, or to even hasten, the +return of prosperity. Secure the completion of this line and extend the +time for building the Northern Pacific, and confidence and employment +will return together. + +More men must cultivate the soil. In the older States lands are too +high. It requires too much capital to commence. There are so many +failures in business; so many merchants, traders, and manufacturers have +been wrecked and stranded upon the barren shores of bankruptcy, that +the people are beginning to prefer the small but certain profits of +agriculture to the false and splendid promises of speculation. We must +open new territories; we must give the mechanics now out of employment +an opportunity to cultivate the soil--not as day-laborers but as owners; +not as tenants, but as farmers. Something must be done to develop the +resources of this country. With the best lands of the world; with a +population intellectual, energetic, and ingenious far beyond the average +of mankind; with the richest mines of the globe; with plenty of capital; +with a surplus of labor; with thousands of arms folded in enforced +idleness; with billions of gold asking to be dug; with millions of acres +waiting for the plow, thousands upon thousands are in absolute want. + +New avenues must be opened. All our territory must be given to +immigration. Greater facilities must be offered. Obstacles that cannot +be overcome by individual enterprise must be conquered by the Government +for the good of all. Every man out of employment is impoverishing the +country. Labor transmutes muscle into wealth. Idleness is a rust that +devours even gold. For five years we have been wasting the labor of +millions--wasting it for lack of something to do. Prosperity has been +changed to want and discontent. On every hand the poor are asking for +work. That is a wretched government where the honest and industrious +beg, unsuccessfully, for the right to toil; where those who are willing, +anxious, and able to work, cannot get bread. If everything is to be left +to the blind and heartless working of the laws of supply and demand, why +have governments? If the nation leaves the poor to starve, and the weak +and unfortunate to perish, it is hard to see for what purpose the nation +should be preserved. If our statesmen are not wise enough to foster +great enterprises, and to adopt a policy that will give us prosperity, +it may be that the laboring classes, driven to frenzy by hunger, the +bitterness of which will be increased by seeing others in the midst of +plenty, will seek a remedy in destruction. + +The transcontinental commerce of this country should not be in the +clutch and grasp of one corporation. All sections of the Union should, +as far as possible, be benefited. Cheap rates will come, and can be +maintained only by competition. We should cultivate commercial relations +with China and Japan. Six hundred millions of people are slowly awaking +from a lethargy of six thousand years. In a little while they will have +the wants of civilized men, and America will furnish a large proportion +of the articles demanded by these people. In a few years there will be +as many ships upon the Pacific as upon the Atlantic. In a few years our +trade with China will be far greater than with Europe. In a few years +we will sustain the same relation to the far East that Europe once +sustained to us. America for centuries to come will supply six hundred +millions of people with the luxuries of life. A country that expects to +control the trade of other countries must develop its own resources to +the utmost. We have pursued a small, a mean, and a penurious course. +Demagogues have ridden into office and power upon the cry of economy, +by opposing every measure looking to the improvement of the country, by +endeavoring to see how cheaply nothing could be done. A government, like +an individual, should live up to its privileges; it should husband its +resources, simply that it may use them. A nation that expects to control +the commerce of half a world must have its money equal with gold and +silver. It must have the money of the world. + +Whenever the laboring men are out of employment they begin to hate the +rich. They feel that the dwellers in palaces, the riders in carriages, +the wearers of broadcloth, silk, and velvet have in some way been +robbing them. As a matter of fact, the palace builders are the friends +of labor. The best form of charity is extravagance. When you give a man +money, when you toss him a dollar, although you get nothing, the man +loses his manhood. To help others help themselves is the only real +charity. There is no use in boosting a man who is not climbing. Whenever +I see a splendid home, a palace, a magnificent block, I think of the +thousands who were fed--of the women and children clothed, of the +firesides made happy. + +A rich man living up to his privileges, having the best house, the +best furniture, the best horses, the finest grounds, the most beautiful +flowers, the best clothes, the best food, the best pictures, and all the +books that he can afford, is a perpetual blessing. + +The prodigality of the rich is the providence of the poor. + +The extravagance of wealth makes it possible for the poor to save. + +The rich man who lives according to his means, who is extravagant in the +best and highest sense, is not the enemy of labor. The miser, who lives +in a hovel, wears rags, and hoards his gold, is a perpetual curse. He is +like one who dams a river at its source. + +The moment hard times come the cry of economy is raised. The press, the +platform, and the pulpit unite in recommending economy to the rich. In +consequence of this cry, the man of wealth discharges servants, sells +horses, allows his carriage to become a hen-roost, and after taking +employment and food from as many as he can, congratulates himself that +he has done his part toward restoring prosperity to the country. + +In that country where the poor are extravagant and the rich economical +will be found pauperism and crime; but where the poor are economical and +the rich are extravagant, that country is filled with prosperity. + +The man who wants others to work to such an extent that their lives are +burdens, is utterly heartless. The toil of the world should continually +decrease. Of what use are your inventions if no burdens are lifted from +industry--if no additional comforts find their way to the home of labor; +why should labor fill the world with wealth and live in want? + +Every labor-saving machine should help the whole world. Every one should +tend to shorten the hours of labor. + +Reasonable labor is a source of joy. To work for wife and child, to toil +for those you love, is happiness; provided you can make them happy. But +to work like a slave, to see your wife and children in rags, to sit at +a table where food is coarse and scarce, to rise at four in the morning, +to work all day and throw your tired bones upon a miserable bed at +night, to live without leisure, without rest, without making those you +love comfortable and happy--this is not living--it is dying--a slow, +lingering crucifixion. + +The hours of labor should be shortened. With the vast and wonderful +improvements of the nineteenth century there should be not only the +necessaries of life for those who toil, but comforts and luxuries as +well. + +What is a reasonable price for labor? I answer: Such a price as will +enable the man to live; to have the comforts of life; to lay by a little +something for his declining years, so that he can have his own home, his +own fireside; so that he can preserve the feelings of a man. + +Every man ought to be willing to pay for what he gets. He ought to +desire to give full value received. The man who wants two dollars' worth +of work for one is not an honest man. + +I sympathize with every honest effort made by the children of labor +to improve their condition. That is a poorly governed country in which +those who do the most have the least. There is something wrong when men +are obliged to beg for leave to toil. We are not yet a civilized people; +when we are, pauperism and crime will vanish from our land. + +There is one thing, however, of which I am glad and proud, and that is, +that society is not, in our country, petrified; that the poor are not +always poor. + +The children of the poor of this generation may, and probably will, be +the rich of the next. The sons of the rich of this generation may be the +poor of the next; so that after all, the rich fear and the poor hope. + +I sympathize with the wanderers, with the vagrants out of employment; +with the sad and weary men who are seeking for work. When I see one of +these men, poor and friendless--no matter how bad he is--I think that +somebody loved him once; that he was once held in the arms of a mother; +that he slept beneath her loving eyes, and wakened in the light of her +smile. I see him in the cradle, listening to lullabies sung soft and +low, and his little face is dimpled as though touched by the rosy +fingers of Joy. + +And then I think of the strange and winding paths, the weary roads he +has traveled from that mother's arms to vagrancy and want. + +There should be labor and food for all. We invent; we take advantage of +the forces of nature; we enslave the winds and waves; we put shackles +upon the unseen powers and chain the energy that wheels the world. These +slaves should release from bondage all the children of men. + +By invention, by labor--that is to say, by working and thinking--we +shall compel prosperity to dwell with us. + +Do not imagine that wealth can be created by law; do not for a moment +believe that paper can be changed to gold by the fiat of Congress. + +Do not preach the heresy that you can keep a promise by making another +in its place that is never to be kept. Do not teach the poor that the +rich have conspired to trample them into the dust. + +Tell the workingmen that they are in the majority; that they can make +and execute the laws. + +Tell them that since 1873 the employers have suffered about as much as +the employed. + +Tell them that the people who have the power to make the laws should +never resort to violence. Tell them never to envy the successful. Tell +the rich to be extravagant and the poor to be economical. + +Tell every man to use his best efforts to get him a home. Without a +home, without some one to love, life and country are meaningless words. +Upon the face of the patriot must have fallen the firelight of home. + +Tell the people that they must have honest money, so that when a man has +a little laid by for wife and child, it will comfort him even in death; +so that he will feel that he leaves something for bread, something that, +in some faint degree, will take his place; that he has left the coined +toil of his hands to work for the loved when he is dust. + +Tell your representatives in Congress to improve our rivers and harbors; +to release our transcontinental commerce from the grasp of monopoly; +to open all our territories, and to build up our trade with the whole +world. + +Tell them not to issue a dollar of fiat paper, but to redeem every +promise the nation has made. + +If fiat money is ever issued it will be worthless, for the folly that +would issue has not the honor to pay when the experiment fails. + +Tell them to put their trust in work. Debts can be created by law, but +they must be paid by labor. + +Tell them that "fiat money" is madness and repudiation is death. + + + + +SUFFRAGE ADDRESS. + + * This address was delivered at a Suffrage Meeting in + Washington, D. C., January 24,1880 + + +1880. + +LADIES and Gentlemen: I believe the people to be the only rightful +source of political power, and that any community, no matter where, in +which any citizen is not allowed to have his voice in the making of +the laws he must obey, that community is a tyranny. It is a matter of +astonishment to me that a meeting like this is necessary in the Capital +of the United States. If the citizens of the District of Columbia are +not permitted to vote, if they are not allowed to govern themselves, +and if there is no sound reason why they are not allowed to govern +themselves, then the American idea of government is a failure. I do not +believe that only the rich should vote, or that only the whites should +vote, or that only the blacks should vote. I do not believe that +right depends upon wealth, upon education, or upon color. It depends +absolutely upon humanity. I have the right to vote because I am a man, +because I am an American citizen, and that right I should and am willing +to share equally with every human being. There has been a great deal +said in this country of late in regard to giving the right of suffrage +to women. So far as I am concerned I am willing that every woman in the +nation who desires that privilege and honor shall vote. If any woman +wants to vote I am too much of a gentleman to say she shall not. She +gets her right, if she has it, from precisely the same source that I get +mine, and there are many questions upon which I would deem it desirable +that women should vote, especially upon the question of peace or war. +If a woman has a child to be offered upon the altar of that Moloch, a +husband liable to be drafted, and who loves a heart that can be entered +by the iron arrow of death, she surely has as much right to vote for +peace as some thrice-besotted sot who reels to the ballot-box and +deposits a vote for war. I believe, and always have, that there is +only one objection to a woman voting, and that is, the men are not +sufficiently civilized for her to associate with them, and for several +years I have been doing what little I can to civilize them. The only +question before this meeting, as I understand it, is, Shall the people +of this District manage their own affairs--whether they shall vote their +own taxes and select their own officers who are to execute the laws they +make? and for one, I say there is no human being with ingenuity enough +to frame an argument against this question. It is all very well to say +that Congress will do this, but Congress has a great deal to do +besides. There is enough before that body coming from all the States and +Territories of the Union, and the numberless questions arising in the +conduct of the General Government. I am opposed to a government where +the few govern the many. I am opposed to a government that depends upon +suppers, and upon flattery; upon crooking the hinges of the knee; upon +favors, upon subterfuges. We want to be manly men in this District. We +must direct and control our own affairs, and if we are not capable of +doing it, there is no part of the Union where they are capable. It is +said there is a vast amount of ignorance here. That is true; but that +is also true of every section of the United States. There is too much +ignorance and there will continue to be until the people become great +enough, generous enough, and splendid enough to see that no child shall +grow up in their midst without a good, common-school education. The +people of this District are capable of managing their educational +affairs if they are allowed to do so. The fact is, a man now living in +the District lives under a perpetual flag of truce. He is nobody. He +counts for nothing. He is not noticed except as a suppliant. Nothing as +a citizen. That day should pass away. It will be a perpetual education +for this people to govern themselves, and until they do they cannot +be manly men. They say, though, that there is a vast rabble here. Very +well. Make your election laws so as to exclude the vast rabble. Let it +be understood that no man shall vote who has not lived here at least one +year. + +Let your registration laws prohibit any man from voting unless he has +been registered at least six months. We do not want to be governed by +people who have no abode here--who are political Bedouins of the desert. +We want to be governed by people who live with us--who live somewhere +among us, and whom somebody knows, and if a law is properly framed there +will be no trouble about self-government in the District of Columbia. +Let the experiment be tried here of a perfect, complete and honest +registration; let every man, no matter who he is or where he comes from, +vote only by strict compliance with a good registry law. We can have a +fair election, and wherever there is a fair election there will be +good government. Our Government depends for its stability upon honest +elections. The great principle underlying our system of government is +that the people have the virtue and the patriotism to govern themselves. +That is the foundation stone, the corner and the base of our edifice, +and upon it our Government is on trial to-day. And until a man is +considered infamous who casts an illegal vote, our Government will not +be safe. Whoever casts an illegal vote knowingly is a traitor to the +principle upon which our Government is founded. And whoever deprives a +citizen of his right to vote is also a traitor to our Government. When +these things are understood; when the finger of public scorn shall be +pointed at every man who votes illegally, or unlawfully prevents an +honest vote, then you will have a splendid Government. It is humiliating +for one hundred and seventy-five thousand people to depend simply upon +the right of petition. The few will disregard the petition of the many. + +I have not one word to say against the officers of the District. Not a +word. But let them do as well as they can; that is no justification. It +is no justification of a monarchy that the king is a good man; it is no +justification of a tyranny that the despot does justice. There may come +another who will do injustice; and a free people like ours should not be +satisfied to be governed by strangers. They would better have bad men +of their own choosing than to have good men forced upon them. You +have property here, and you have a right to protect it, and a right to +improve it. You have life and liberty and the right to protect it. You +have a right to say what money shall be assessed and collected and paid +for that protection. You have laws and you have a right to have them +executed by officers of your own selection, and by nobody else. In my +judgment, all that is necessary to have these things done is to have the +subject properly laid before Congress, and let that body thoroughly +and perfectly understand the situation. There is no member there, +who rightly understanding our wishes, will dare continue this +disfranchisement of the people. We have the same right to vote that +their constituents have, precisely--no more and no less. + +This District ought to have one representative in Congress, a +representative with a right to speak--not a tongueless dummy. The idea +of electing a delegate who has simply the privilege of standing around! +We ought to have a representative who has not only the right to +talk, but who will talk. This District has the right to a vote in the +committees of Congress, and not simply the privilege of receiving a +little advice. And more than that, this District ought to have at least +one electoral vote in a selection of a President of the United States. +A smaller population than yours is represented not only in Congress, but +in the Electoral College. If it is necessary to amend the Constitution +to secure these rights let us try and have it amended; and when +that question is put to the people of the whole country they will be +precisely as willing that the people of the District of Columbia shall +have an equal voice as that they themselves should have a voice. + +Let us stop at no half-way ground, but claim, and keep claiming all +our rights until somebody says we shall have them. And let me tell you +another thing: Once have the right of self-government recognized here, +have a delegate in Congress, and an electoral vote for President, +and thousands will be willing to come here and become citizens of +the District. As it is, the moment a man settles here his American +citizenship falls from him like dead leaves from a tree. From that +moment he is nobody. Every American citizen wants a little political +power--wants to cast his vote for the rulers of the nation. He wants to +have something to say about the laws he has to obey, and they are not +willing to come here and disfranchise themselves. The moment it is known +that a man is from the District he has no influence, and no one cares +what his political opinions may be. Now, let us have it so that we can +vote and be on an equality with the rest of the voters of the United +States. This Government was founded upon the idea that the only +source of power is the people. Let us show at the Capital that we have +confidence in that principle; that every man should have a vote and +voice in the South, in the North, everywhere, no matter how low his +condition, no matter that he was a slave, no matter what his color is, +or whether he can read or write, he is clothed with the right to +name those who make the laws he is to obey. While the lowest and most +degraded in every State in this Union have that right, the best and most +intelligent in the District have not that right. It will not do. There +is no sense in it--there is no justice in it--nothing American in it. +If this were the case in some of the capitals of Europe we would not be +surprised; but here in the United States, where we have so much to say +about the right of self-government, that two hundred thousand people +should not have the right to say who shall make, and who shall execute +the laws is at least an anomaly and a contradiction of our theory of +government, and for one, I propose to do what little I can to correct +it. It has been said that you had once here the right of self-government. +If I understand it, the right you had was to elect somebody to some +office, and all the other officers were appointed. You had no control +over your Legislature; you had very little control over your other +officers, and the people of the District were held responsible for what +was actually done by the appointing power. We want no appointing power. +If it is necessary to have a police magistrate, I say the people are +competent to elect that magistrate; and if he is not a good man they +are qualified to select another in his place. You ought to elect your +judges. I do not want the office of the Judiciary so far from the people +that it may feel entirely independent. I want every officer in this +District held-accountable to the people, and, unless he discharges his +duties faithfully, the people will put him out, and select another in +his stead. + +I want it understood that no American citizen can be forced to pay +a dollar in a State or in the district where he lives who is not +represented, and where he has not the right to vote. It is all tyranny, +and all infamous. The people of the United States wonder to-day that you +have submitted to this outrage as long as you have. + +Neither do I believe that only the rich should have the right to vote; +that only they should govern; or that only the educated should govern. +I have noticed among educated men many who did not know enough to +govern themselves. I have known many wealthy men who did not believe +in liberty, in giving the people the same rights they claimed for +themselves. I believe in that government where the ballot of Lazarus +counts as much as the vote of Dives. Let the rich, let the educated, +govern the people by moral suasion and by example and by kindness, and +not by brute force. And in a community like this, where the avenues to +distinction are open alike to all, there will be many more reasons for +acting like men. When you can hold any position, when every citizen can +have conferred upon him honor and responsibility, there is some stimulus +to be a man. But in a community where but the few are clothed with power +by appointment, no incentive exists among the people. If the avenues to +distinction and honor are open to all, such a government is beneficial +on every hand, and the poorest man in the community may say to himself, +"If I pursue the right course the very highest place is open to me." And +the poorest man, with his little tow-headed boy on his knee, can say, +"John, all the avenues are open to you; although I am poor, you may be +rich, and while I am obscure, you may become distinguished." + +That idea sweetens every hour of toil and renders holy every drop of +sweat that rolls down the face of labor. I hate tyranny in every form. +I despise it, and I execrate a tyrant wherever he may be, and in every +country where the people are struggling for the right of self-government +I sympathize with them in their struggle. Wherever the sword of +rebellion is drawn in favor of human rights I am a rebel. I sympathize +with all the people in Europe who are endeavoring to push kings from +thrones and struggling for the right to govern themselves. America ought +to send greeting to every part of the world where such a struggle is +pending, and we of the District of Columbia ought to be able to join +in the greeting, but we never shall be until we have the right of +self-government ourselves. No man who is a good citizen can have any +objection to self-government here. No man can be opposed to it who +believes that our people have enough wisdom, enough virtue, enough +patriotism to govern themselves. The man who doubts the right of the +people to govern themselves casts a little doubt upon the question, +simply because he is not man enough himself to believe in liberty. I +would trust the poor of this country with our liberties as soon as I +would the rich. I will trust the huts and hovels, just as soon as I will +the mansions and palaces. I will trust those who work by the day in the +street as soon as I will the bankers of the United States. I will trust +the ignorant--even the ignorant. Why? Because they want education, and +no people in this country are so anxious to have their children educated +as those who are not educated themselves. I will trust the ignorant with +the liberties of this country quicker than I would some of the educated +who doubt the principles upon which our Government is founded. But +let the intelligent do what they can to instruct the ignorant. Let the +wealthy do what they can to give the blessings of liberty to the poor, +and then this Government will remain forever. The time is passing away +when any man of genius can be respected who will not use that genius +in elevating his fellow-man. The time is passing away when men, however +wealthy, can be respected unless they use their millions for the +elevation of mankind. The time is coming when no man will be called an +honest man who is not willing to give to every other man, be he white or +black, every right that he asks for himself. + +For my part, I am willing to live under a government where all govern, +and am not willing to live under any other. I am willing to live where +I am on an equality with other men, where they have precisely my rights, +and no more; and I despise any government that is not based upon this +principle of human equality. Now, let us go just for that one +thing, that we have the same right as any other people in the +United States--that is, to govern this District ourselves. Let us be +represented in the lawmaking power, and let us advocate a change in the +fundamental law so that the people of this District shall be entitled +to one vote as to who shall be President of the United States. And when +that is done and our people are clothed with the panoply of citizenship, +you will find this District growing not to two hundred thousand, but +in a little while one million of people will live here. Now, for one, I +have not the slightest feeling against members of Congress for what +has been done. I believe when this matter is laid before them fully and +properly you will find few men in that august body who will vote against +the proposition. They have had trouble enough. They do not understand +our affairs. They never did, never will, never can. No one who does not +live here will. The public interests are so many and so conflicting, and +touch the sides of so many, that the people must attend to this matter +themselves. They know when they want a market, a judge, or a collector +of taxes, and nobody else does and nobody else has a right to. + +And instead of going up to Congress and standing around some +committee-room with a long petition in your hands, begging somebody to +wait just one moment, it will be far better that you should go to the +polls and elect your representative, who can attend to your interests in +Congress. But above all things, I want to warn you, charge you, beseech +you, that in any legislation upon this subject you must secure a +registration law that will prevent the casting of an illegal vote. +Do this before it is known whether the District is Republican or +Democratic. I do not care. No matter how much of a Republican I am, +absolutely, I would rather be governed by Democrats who live here than +by Republicans who do not. And now, while it is not known whether this +is a Democratic or Republican community, let us get up a registration +that no one can violate; because the moment you have an election, and +it is ascertained to be either Democratic or Republican, the victorious +party may be opposed to any registration or any legislation that will +put in jeopardy their power. I have lived long enough to be satisfied +that any State in this Union, no matter whether Democratic or +Republican, will be safe as long as the people have the right to vote, +and to see that the ballots will be counted. This country is now upon +trial. In nearly every State in this Union there is liable to happen +just the same thing that only the other day happened in Maine. + +In every State there can be two legislatures, one in the State-house and +the other on the fence. Let us in this District so guard the right +to vote and the counting of the ballots, that we shall know after the +election who has been elected and know with certainty the men who have +been elected by the legal voters of the District. + +It becomes us all, whether Republicans or Democrats, to unite in +securing such a law. Let us act together, Democrats and Republicans, +black and white, rich and poor, educated and ignorant--let us all unite +upon the principle that we have the right to govern ourselves. Then +it will make no difference whether the District of Columbia shall be +Democratic or Republican, provided it is the will of a legal majority of +her people. + +Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you. + + + + +WALL STREET SPEECH. + + * A political demonstration was made in Wall Street + yesterday afternoon that stands without a rival among the + many out-door meetings in that place, which for years have + been memorable features of Presidential campaigns. + + Bankers and brokers, members of the Produce Exchange, and + dry goods merchants assembled at their respective rendezvous + and marched in Imposing processions to the open space in + front of the Sub-Treasury building, from the steps of which + Col. Ingersoll delivered an address. Written words are + entirely inadequate to describe this demonstration of Wall + Street business men. It never was equaled in point of + numbers, respectability or enthusiasm, even during the + excitement caused by the outbreak of the Rebellion. + Throughout the day the business houses, banking offices and + public buildings down town were gay with flags and bunting. + Business was practically suspended all day, and the + principal topic of conversation on the Exchanges and m + offices and stores was the coming meeting. Long before the + hour set, well-dressed people began to gather near the Sub- + Treasury Building and by two o'clock Wall Street, from Broad + and Nassau half way down to William, was passable only with + difficulty. While the crowd was fast gathering on every + hand, Graiulla's band, stationed upon the corner buttress + near the Sub-Treasury, struck up a patriotic air, and in a + few minutes the throngs had swelled to such proportions that + the police had all they could do to maintain a thoroughfare. + A few minutes more ana the distant strains of another band + attracted all eyes toward Broadway, where the head of the + procession was seen turning into Wall Street. Ten abreast + and every man a gentleman, they marched by. At this time + Wall street from half way to William Street to half way to + Broadway, Nassau Street half way to Pine, and Broad Street + as far as the eye could reach, were densely packed with + people from side to side. Everything else, except the + telegraph-poles and the tops of the lamp-posts, was hidden + from view. Every window, roof, stoop, and projecting point + was covered. The Produce Exchange men finding Broad Street + impassable made a detour to the east and marched up Wall + Street, filling that thoroughfare to William. It was a + tremendous crowd In point of numbers, and its composition + was entirely of gentlemen--men with refined, intelligent + faces--bankers, brokers, merchants of all kinds--real + business men. Thousands of millions of dollars were + represented in It. On the left of the Sub-Treasury steps a + platform had been erected, with a sounding board covering + the rear and top. A national flag floated from its roof, and + its railing was draped with other flags. After the arrival + of the several organizations the banners they bore were hung + at the sides by way of further ornamentation. Mr. Jackson S. + Schultz then introduced Col. Ingersoll, the speaker of the + day. The cheering was terrific for several minutes. Raising + his hand for silence, Col. Ingersoll then delivered his + address.--New York Times, October 29th, 1880. + + +N.Y. CITY. + +(Garfield Campaign.) + +1880. + +FELLOW-CITIZENS of the Great City of New York: This is the grandest +audience I ever saw. This audience certifies that General James A. +Garfield is to be the next President of the United States. This audience +certifies that a Republican is to be the next mayor of the city of +New York. This audience certifies that the business men of New York +understand their interests, and that the business men of New York are +not going to let this country be controlled by the rebel South and the +rebel North. In 1860 the Democratic party appealed to force; now it +appeals to fraud. In 1860 the Democratic party appealed to the sword; +now it appeals to the pen. It was treason then, it is forgery now. The +Democratic party cannot be trusted with the property or with the honor +of the people of the United States. + +The city of New York owes a great debt to the country. Every man that +has cleared a farm has helped to build New York; every man that helped +to build a railway helped to build up the palaces of this city. Where +I am now speaking are the termini of all the railways in the United +States. They all come here. New York has been built up by the labor of +the country, and New York owes it to the country to protect the best +interests of the country. + +The farmers of Illinois depend upon the merchants, the brokers and the +bankers, upon the gentlemen of New York, to beat the rabble of New York. +You owe to yourselves; you owe to the great Re public; and this city +that does the business of a hemisphere--this city that will in ten years +be the financial centre of this world--owes it to itself, to be true to +the great principles that have allowed it to exist and flourish. + +The Republicans of New York ought to say that this shall forever be a +free country. The Republicans of New York ought to say that free speech +shall forever be held sacred in the United States. The Republicans of +New York ought to see that the party that defended the Nation shall +still remain in power. The Republicans of New York should see that +the flag is safely held by the hands that defended it in war. The +Republicans of New York know that the prosperity of the country depends +upon good government, and they also know that good government +means protection to the people--rich and poor, black and white. The +Republicans of New York know that a black friend is better than a white +enemy. They know that a negro while fighting for the Government, is +better than any white man who will fight against it. + +The Republicans of New York know that the colored party in the South +which allows every man to vote as he pleases, is better than any white +man who is opposed to allowing a negro to cast his honest vote. A black +man in favor of liberty is better than a white man in favor of slavery. +The Republicans of New York must be true to their friends. This +Government means to protect all its citizens, at home and abroad, or it +becomes a byword in the mouths of the nations of the world. + +Now, what do we want to do? We are going to have an election next +Tuesday, and every Republican knows why he is going to vote the +Republican ticket; while every Democrat votes his without knowing why. +A Republican is a Republican because he loves something; a Democrat is a +Democrat because he hates something. A Republican believes in progress; +a Democrat in retrogression. A Democrat is a "has been." He is a "used +to be." The Republican party lives on hope; the Democratic on memory. +The Democrat keeps his back to the sun and imagines himself a great man +because he casts a great shadow. Now, there are certain things we want +to preserve--that the business men of New York want to preserve--and, +in the first place, we want an honest ballot. And where the Democratic +party has power there never has been an honest ballot. You take the +worst ward in this city, and there is where you will find the greatest +Democratic majority. You know it, and so do I. + +There is not a university in the North, East or West that has not in it +a Republican majority. There is not a penitentiary in the United States +that has not in it a Democratic majority--and they know it. Two +years ago, about two hundred and eighty-three convicts were in +the penitentiary of Maine. Out of that whole number there was one +Republican, and only one. [A voice--"Who was the man?"] Well, I do +not know, but he broke out. He said that he did not mind being in the +penitentiary, but the company was a little more than he could stand. + +You cannot rely upon that party for an honest ballot. Every law that +has been passed in this country in the last twenty years, to throw +a safeguard around the ballot-box, has been passed by the Republican +party. Every law that has been defeated has been defeated by the +Democratic party. And you know it. Unless we have an honest ballot the +days of the Republic are numbered; and the only way to get an honest +ballot is to beat the Democratic party forever. And that is what we are +going to do. That party can never carry its record; that party is loaded +down with the infamies of twenty years; yes, that party is loaded down +with the infamies of fifty years. It will never elect a President in +this world. I give notice to the Democratic party to-day that it will +have to change its name before the people of the United States will +change the administration. You will have to change your natures; you +will have to change your personnel, and you will have to get enough +Republicans to join you and tell you how to run a campaign. If you want +an honest ballot--and every honest man does--then you will vote to keep +the Republican party in power. What else do you want? You want honest +money, and I say to the merchants and to the bankers and to the brokers, +the only party that will give you honest money is the party that resumed +specie payments. The only party that will give you honest money is the +party that said a greenback is a broken promise until it is redeemed +with gold. You can only trust the party that has been honest in +disaster. From 1863 to 1879--sixteen long years--the Republican party +was the party of honor and principle, and the Republican party saved the +honor of the United States. And you know it. + +During that time the Democratic party did what it could to destroy our +credit at home and abroad. + +We are not only in favor of free speech, and an honest ballot and honest +money, but we are for law and order. What part of this country believes +in free speech--the South or the North? The South would never give free +speech to the country; there was no free speech in the city of New York +until the Republican party came into power. The Democratic party has +not intelligence enough to know that free speech is the germ of this +Republic. The Democratic party cares little for free speech because it +has no argument to make--no reasons to offer. Its entire argument is +summed up and ended in three words--"Hurrah for Hancock!" The Republican +party believes in free speech because it has something to say; because +it believes in argument; because it believes in moral suasion; because +it believes in education. Any man that does not believe in free speech +is a barbarian. Any State that does not support it is not a civilized +State. + +I have a right to express my opinion, in common with every other human +being, and I am willing to give to every other human being the right +that I claim for myself. Republicanism means justice in politics. +Republicanism means progress in civilization. Republicanism means that +every man shall be an educated patriot and a gentleman. I want to say to +you to-day that it is an honor to belong to the Republican party. It +is an honor to have belonged to it for twenty years; it is an honor to +belong to the party that elected Abraham Lincoln President. And let +me say to you that Lincoln was the greatest, the best, the purest, the +kindest man that has ever sat in the presidential chair. It is an honor +to belong to the Republican party that gave four millions of men the +rights of freemen; it is an honor to belong to the party that broke the +shackles from four millions of men, women and children. It is an honor +to belong to the party that declared that bloodhounds were not the +missionaries of civilization. It is an honor to belong to the party that +said it was a crime to steal a babe from its mother's breast. It is an +honor to belong to the party that swore that this is a Nation forever, +one and indivisible. It is an honor to belong to the party that elected +U. S. Grant President of the United States. It is an honor to belong to +the party that issued thousands and thousands of millions of dollars +in promises--that issued promises until they became as thick as the +withered leaves of winter; an honor to belong to the party that issued +them to put down a rebellion; an honor to belong to the party that put +it down; an honor to belong to the party that had the moral courage +and honesty to make every one of the promises made in war, as good +as shining, glittering gold in peace. And I tell you that if there is +another life, and if there is a day of judgment, all you need say upon +that solemn occasion is, "I was in life and in my death a good square +Republican." + +I hate the doctrine of State Sovereignty because it fostered State +pride; because it fostered the idea that it is more to be a citizen of a +State than a citizen of this glorious country. I love the whole country. +I like New York because it is a part of the country, and I like the +country because it has New York in it. I am not standing here to-day +because the flag of New York floats over my head, but because that flag +for which more heroic blood has been shed than for any other flag that +is kissed by the air of heaven, waves forever over my head. That is the +reason I am here. + +The doctrine of State Sovereignty was appealed to in defence of the +slave-trade; the next time in defence of the slave trade as between the +States; the next time in defence of the Fugitive Slave Law; and if +there is a Democrat in favor of the Fugitive Slave Law he should be +ashamed--if not of himself--of the ignorance of the time in which he +lived. + +That Fugitive Slave Law was a compromise so that we might be friends of +the South. They said in 1850-52: "If you catch the slave we will be your +friend;" and they tell us now: "If you let us trample upon the rights of +the black man in the South, we will be your friend." I do not want their +friendship upon such terms. I am a friend of my friend, and an enemy +of my enemy. That is my doctrine. We might as well be honest about +it. Under that doctrine of State Rights, such men as I see before +me--bankers, brokers, merchants, gentlemen--were expected to turn +themselves into hounds and chase a poor fugitive that had been lured by +the love of liberty and guided by the glittering North Star. + +The Democratic party wanted you to keep your trade with the South, no +matter to what depths of degradation you had to sink, and the Democratic +party to-day says if you want to sell your goods to the Southern people, +you must throw your honor and manhood into the streets. The patronage of +the splendid North is enough to support the city of New York. + +There is another thing: Why is this city filled with palaces, covered +with wealth? Because American labor has been protected. I am in favor +of protection to American labor, everywhere. I am in favor of protecting +American brain and muscle; I am in favor of giving scope to American +ingenuity and American skill. We want a market at home, and the only +way to have it is to have mechanics at home; and the only way to have +mechanics is to have protection; and the only way to have protection is +to vote the Republican ticket. You, business men of New York, know that +General Garfield understands the best interests not only of New York, +but of the entire country. And you want to stand by the men who will +stand by you. What does a simple soldier know about the wants of the +city of New York? What does he know about the wants of this great and +splendid country? If he does not know more about it than he knows about +the tariff he does not know much. I do not like to hit the dead. My +hatred stops with the grave, and I tell you we are going to bury the +Democratic party next Tuesday. The pulse is feeble now, and if that +party proposes to take advantage of the last hour, it is time it should +go into the repenting business. Nothing pleases me better than to see +the condition of that party to-day. What do the Democrats know on the +subject of the tariff? They are frightened; they are rattled. + +They swear their plank and platform meant nothing. They say in effect: +"When we put that in we lied; and now having made that confession we +hope you will have perfect confidence in us from this out." Hancock says +that the object of the party is to get the tariff out of politics. That +is the reason, I suppose, why they put that plank in the platform. I +presume he regards the tariff as a little local issue, but I tell you +to-day that the great question of protecting American labor never will +be taken out of politics. As long as men work, as long as the laboring +man has a wife and family to support, just so long will he vote for the +man that will protect his wages. + +And you can no more take it out of politics than you can take the +question of Government out of politics. I do not want any question +taken out of politics. I want the people to settle these questions for +themselves, and the people of this country are capable of doing it. If +you do not believe it, read the returns from Ohio and Indiana. There +are other persons who would take the question of office out of politics. +Well, when we get the tariff and office both out of politics, then, I +presume, we will see two parties on the same side. It will not do. + +David A. Wells has come to the rescue of the Democratic party on the +tariff, and shed a few pathetic tears over scrap iron. But it will not +do. You cannot run this country on scraps. + +We believe in the tariff because it gives skilled labor good pay. +We believe in the tariff because it allows the laboring man to have +something to eat. We believe in the tariff because it keeps the hands +of the producer close to the mouth of the devourer. We believe in the +tariff because it developed American brain; because it builds up our +towns and cities; because it makes Americans self-supporting; because it +makes us an independent Nation. And we believe in the tariff because the +Democratic party does not. + +That plank in the Democratic party was intended for a dagger to +assassinate the prosperity of the North. The Northern people have become +aroused and that is the plank that is broken in the Democratic platform; +and that plank was wide enough when it broke to let even Hancock +through. + +Gentlemen, they are gone. They are gone--honor bright. Look at the +desperate means that have been resorted to by the Democratic party, +driven to the madness of desperation. Not satisfied with having worn the +tongue of slander to the very tonsils, not satisfied with attacking the +private reputation of a splendid man, not satisfied with that, they +have appealed to a crime; a deliberate and infamous forgery has been +committed. That forgery has been upheld by some of the leaders of +the Democratic party; that forgery has been defended by men calling +themselves respectable. Leaders of the Democratic party have stood by +and said that they were acquainted with the handwriting of James A. +Garfield; and that the handwriting in the forged letter was his, when +they knew that it was absolutely unlike his. They knew it, and no man +has certified that that was the writing of James A. Garfield who did not +know that in his throat of throats he told a falsehood. + +Every honest man in the city of New York ought to leave such a party +if he belongs to it. Every honest man ought to refuse to belong to the +party that did such an infamous crime. + +Senator Barnum, chairman of the Democratic Committee, has lost control. +He is gone, and I will tell you what he puts me in mind of. There was an +old fellow used to come into town every Saturday and get drunk. He had a +little yoke of oxen, and the boys out of pity used to throw him into the +wagon and start the oxen for home. Just before he got home they had +to go down a long hill, and the oxen, when they got to the brow of it, +commenced to run. Now and then the wagon struck a stone and gave the old +fellow an awful jolt, and that would wake him up. After he had looked +up and had one glance at the cattle he would fall helplessly back to +the bottom, and always say, "Gee a little, if anything." And that is the +only order Barnum has been able to give for the last two weeks--"Gee a +little, if anything." I tell you now that forgery makes doubly sure the +election of James A. Garfield. The people of the North believe in honest +dealing; the people of the North believe in free speech and an honest +ballot. The people of the North believe that this is a Nation; the +people of the North hate treason; the people of the North hate forgery; +the people of the North hate slander. The people of the North have made +up their minds to give to General Garfield a vindication of which any +American may be forever proud. + +James A. Garfield is to-day a poor man, and you know that there is not +money enough in this magnificent street to buy the honor and manhood of +James A. Garfield. Money cannot make such a man, and I will swear to you +that money cannot buy him. James A. Garfield to-day wears the glorious +robe of honest poverty. He is a poor man; I like to say it here in Wall +Street; I like to say it surrounded by the millions of America; I like +to say it in the midst of banks and bonds and stocks; I love to say it +where gold is piled--that although a poor man, he is rich in honor; in +integrity he is wealthy, and in brain he is a millionaire. I know him, +and I like him. So do you all, gentlemen. Garfield was a poor boy, he +is a certificate of the splendid form of our Government. Most of these +magnificent buildings have been built by poor boys; most of the success +of New York began almost in poverty. You know it. The kings of this +street were once poor, and they may be poor again; and if they are fools +enough to vote for Hancock they ought to be. Garfield is a certificate +of the splendor of our Government, that says to every poor boy, "All the +avenues of honor are open to you." I know him, and I like him. He is a +scholar; he is a statesman; he is a soldier; he is a patriot; and above +all, he is a magnificent man; and if every man in New York knew him as +well as I do, Garfield would not lose a hundred votes in this city. + +Compare him with Hancock, and then compare General Arthur with William +H. English. If there ever was a pure Republican in this world, General +Arthur is one. + +You know in Wall Street, there are some men always prophesying disaster, +there are some men always selling "short." That is what the Democratic +party is doing to-day. You know as well as I do that if the Democratic +party succeeds, every kind of property in the United States will +depreciate. You know it. There is not a man on the street, who if he +knew Hancock was to be elected would not sell the stocks and bonds of +every railroad in the United States "short." I dare any broker here to +deny it. There is not a man in Wall or Broad Street, or in New York, +but what knows the election of Hancock will depreciate every share +of railroad stock, every railroad bond, every Government bond, in the +United States of America. And if you know that, I say it is a crime to +vote for Hancock and English. + +I belong to the party that is prosperous when the country is prosperous. +I belong to the party that believes in good crops; that is glad when a +fellow finds a gold mine; that rejoices when there are forty bushels of +wheat to the acre; that laughs when every railroad declares dividends, +that claps both its hands when every investment pays; when the rain +falls for the farmer, when the dew lies lovingly on the grass. I belong +to the party that is happy when the people are happy; when the laboring +man gets three dollars a day; when he has roast beef on his table; when +he has a carpet on the floor; when he has a picture of Garfield on the +wall. I belong to the party that is happy when everybody smiles, when +we have plenty of money, good horses, good carriages; when our wives +are happy and our children feel glad. I belong to the party whose banner +floats side by side with the great flag of the country; that does not +grow fat on defeat. + +The Democratic party is a party of famine; it is a good friend of an +early frost, it believes in the Colorado beetle and the weevil. When the +crops are bad the Democratic mouth opens from ear to ear with smiles of +joy; it is in partnership with bad luck; a friend of empty pockets; rags +help it. I am on the other side. The Democratic party is the party of +darkness. I believe in the party of sunshine; and in the party that even +in darkness believes that the stars are shining and waiting for us. + +Now, gentlemen, I have endeavored to give you a few reasons for voting +the Republican ticket; and I have given enough to satisfy any reasonable +man. And you know it. Do not go with the Democratic party, young man. +You have a character to make. + +You cannot make it, as the Democratic party does, by passing a +resolution. + +If your father voted the Democratic ticket, that is disgrace enough for +one family. Tell the old man you can stand it no longer. Tell the old +gentleman that you have made up your mind to stand with the party of +human progress; and if he asks you why you cannot vote the Democratic +ticket you tell him: "Every man that tried to destroy the Government, +every man that shot at the holy flag in heaven, every man that starved +our soldiers, every keeper of Libby, Andersonville and Salisbury, every +man that wanted to burn the negro, every one that wanted to scatter +yellow fever in the North, every man that opposed human liberty, that +regarded the auction-block as an altar and the howling of the bloodhound +as the music of the Union, every man who wept over the corpse of +slavery, that thought lashes on the naked back were a legal tender for +labor performed, every one willing to rob a mother of her child--every +solitary one was a Democrat." + +Tell him you cannot stand that party. Tell him you have to go with the +Republican party, and if he asks you why, tell him it destroyed slavery, +it preserved the Union, it paid the national debt; it made our credit as +good as that of any nation on the earth. + +Tell him it makes every dollar in a four per cent, bond worth a +dollar and ten cents; that it satisfies the demands of the highest +civilization. Tell the old man that the Republican party preserved the +honor of the Nation; that it believes in education; that it looks upon +the schoolhouse as a cathedral. Tell him that the Republican party +believes in absolute intellectual liberty; in absolute religious +freedom; in human rights, and that human rights rise above States. +Tell him that the Republican party believes in humanity, justice, human +equality, and that the Republican party believes this is a Nation and +will be forever and ever; that an honest ballot is the breath of the +Republic's life; that honest money is the blood of the Republic; +and that nationality is the great throbbing beat of the heart of the +Republic. Tell him that. And tell him that you are going to stand by +the flag that the patriots of the North carried upon the battle-field of +death. Tell him you are going to be true to the martyred dead; that you +are going to vote exactly as Lincoln would have voted were he living. +Tell him that if every traitor dead were living now, there would issue +from his lips of dust, "Hurrah for Hancock!" that could every patriot +rise, he would cry for Garfield and liberty; for union and for human +progress everywhere. Tell him that the South seeks to secure by the +ballot what it lost by the bayonet; to whip by the ballot those who +fought it in the field. But we saved the country; and we have the heart +and brains to take care of it. I will tell you what we are going to do. +We are going to treat them in the South just as well as we treat the +people in the North. Victors cannot afford to have malice. The North is +too magnanimous to have hatred. We will treat the South precisely as we +treat the North. There are thousands of good people there. Let us give +them money to improve their rivers and harbors; I want to see the sails +of their commerce filled with the breezes of prosperity; their fences +rebuilt; their houses painted. I want to see their towns prosperous; I +want to see schoolhouses in every town; I want to see books in the hands +of every child, and papers and magazines in every house; I want to see +all the rays of light, of civilization of the nineteenth century, enter +every home of the South; and in a little while you will see that country +full of good Republicans. We can afford to be kind; we cannot afford to +be unkind. + +I will shake hands cordially with every believer in human liberty; I +will shake hands with every believer in Nationality; I will shake hands +with every man who is the friend of the human race. That is my doctrine. +I believe in the great Republic; in this magnificent country of ours. +I believe in the great people of the United States. I believe in the +muscle and brain of America, in the prairies and forests. I believe in +New York. I believe in the brains of your city. I believe that you +know enough to vote the Republican ticket. I believe that you are grand +enough to stand by the country that has stood by you. But whatever +you do, I never shall cease to thank you for the great honor you have +conferred upon me this day. + + Note.--This being a newspaper report it is necessarily + incomplete. + + + + +BROOKLYN SPEECH. + + * The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Colonel Robert G. + Ingersoll spoke from the same platform last night, and the + great preacher introduced the great orator and free-thinker + to the grandest political audience that was ever assembled + in Brooklyn. The reverend gentleman presided over the + Republican mass meeting held in the Academy of Music. When + he introduced Ingersoll he did it with a warmth and + earnestness of compliment that brought the six thousand + lookers-on to their feet to applaud. When the expounder of + the Gospel of Christ took the famous atheist by the hand, + and shook it fervently, saying that while he respected and + honored him for the honesty of his convictions and his + splendid labors for patriotism and the country, the + enthusiasm knew no bounds, and the great building trembled + and vibrated with the storm of applause. With such a scene + to harmonize the multitude at the outstart it is not strange + that the meeting continued to the end such a one as has no + parallel even in these days of feverish political excitement + and turmoil. The orator spoke in his best vein and his + audience was responsive to the wonderful magical spell of + his eloquence. And when his last glowing utterance had lost + its echo in the wild storm of applause that rewarded him at + the close, Mr. Beecher again stepped forward and, as if to + emphasize the earnestness of his previous compliments, + proposed a vote of thanks to the distinguished speaker. The + vote was a roar of affirmation, whose voice was not stronger + when Mr. Ingersoll in turn called upon the audience to give + three cheers for the great preacher. They were given, and + repeated three times over. Men waved their ats and + umbrellas, ladies, of whom there were many hundreds present, + waved their handkerchiefs, and men, strangers to each other, + shook hands with the fervency of brotherhood. It was indeed + a strange scene, and the principal actors in it seemed not + less than the most wildly excited man there to appreciate + its peculiar import and significance. Standing at the front + of the stage, underneath a canopy of nags, at either side + great baskets of flowers, they clasped each other's hands, + and stood thus for several minutes, while the excited + thousands cheered themselves hoarse and applauded wildly. + + As Mr. Beecher began to speak, however, the applause that + broke out was deafening. + + In substance Mr. Beecher spoke as follows:--"I am not + accustomed to preside at meetings like this; only the + exigency of the times could induce me to do It. I am not + here either to make a speech, but more especially to + introduce the eminent orator of the evening. * * * I stand + not as a minister, but as a man among men, pleading the + cause of fellowship and equal rights. We are not here as + mechanics, as artists, merchants, or professional men, but + as fellow-citizens. The gentleman who will speak to-night is + in no Conventicle or Church. He is to speak to a great body + of citizens, and I take the liberty of saying that I respect + him as the man that for a full score and more of years has + worked for the right in the great, broad field of humanity, + and for the cause of human rights. I consider it an honor to + extend to him, as I do now, the warm, earnest, right hand of + fellowship." (As Mr. Beecher said this he turned to Mr. + Ingersoll and extended his hand. The palms of the two men + met with a clasp that was heard all over the house, and was + the signal for tumultuous cheering and applause, which + continued for several minutes.) + + "I now introduce to you," continued Mr. Beecher, leading Mr. + Ingersoll forward, "a man who--and I say it not + flatteringly--is the most brilliant speaker of the English + tongue of all men on this globe. But as under the brilliancy + of the blaze or light we find the living coals of fire, + under the lambent flow of his wit and magnificent antithesis + we find the glorious flame of genius and honest thought. + Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Ingersoll."--New York Herald, + October 81st, 1880. + + +(Garfield Campaign.) + +1880. + +LADIES and Gentlemen: Years ago I made up my mind that there was no +particular argument in slander. I made up my mind that for parties, as +well as for individuals, honesty in the long-run is the best policy. +I made up my mind that the people were entitled to know a man's honest +thoughts, and I propose to-night to tell you exactly what I think. And +it may be well enough, in the first place, for me to say that no party +has a mortgage on me. I am the sole proprietor of myself. No party, no +organization, has any deed of trust on what little brains I have, and as +long as I can get my part of the common air I am going to tell my honest +thoughts. One man in the right will finally get to be a majority. I am +not going to say a word to-night that every Democrat here will not know +is true, and, whatever he may say, I will compel him in his heart to +give three cheers. + +In the first place, I wish to admit that during the war there were +hundreds of thousands of patriotic Democrats. I wish to admit that if it +had not been for the War Democrats of the North, we never would have put +down the Rebellion. Let us be honest. I further admit that had it +not been for other than War Democrats there never would have been a +rebellion to put down. War Democrats! + +Why did we call them War Democrats? Did you ever hear anybody talk about +a War Republican? We spoke of War Democrats to distinguish them from +those Democrats who were in favor of peace upon any terms. + +I also wish to admit that the Republican party is not absolutely +perfect. While I believe that it is the best party that ever existed, +while I believe it has, within its organization, more heart, more brain, +more patriotism than any other organization that ever existed beneath +the sun, I still admit that it is not entirely perfect. I admit, in its +great things, in its splendid efforts to preserve this nation, in its +grand effort to keep our flag in heaven, in its magnificent effort to +free four millions of slaves, in its great and sublime effort to save +the financial honor of this Nation, I admit that it has made some +mistakes. In its great effort to do right it has sometimes by mistake +done wrong. And I also wish to admit that the great Democratic party, +in its effort to get office has sometimes by mistake done right. You see +that I am inclined to be perfectly fair. + +I am going with the Republican party because it is going my way; but if +it ever turns to the right or left, I intend to go straight ahead. + +In every government there is something that ought to be preserved, in +every government there are many things that ought to be destroyed. +Every good man, every patriot, every lover of the human race, wishes to +preserve the good and destroy the bad; and every one in this audience +who wishes to preserve the good will go with that section of our common +country--with that party in our country that he honestly believes will +preserve the good and destroy the bad. It takes a great deal of trouble +to raise a good Republican. It is a vast deal of labor. The Republican +party is the fruit of all ages--of self-sacrifice and devotion. The +Republican party is born of every good thing that was ever done in +this world. The Republican party is the result of all martyrdom, of +all heroic blood shed for the right. It is the blossom and fruit of the +great world's best endeavor. In order to make a Republican you have to +have schoolhouses. You have to have newspapers and magazines. A good +Republican is the best fruit of civilization, of all there is of +intelligence, of art, of music and of song. If you want to make +Democrats, let them alone. The Democratic party is the settlings of +this country. Nobody hoes weeds. Nobody takes especial pains to raise +dog-fennel, and yet it grows under the very hoof of travel, The seeds +are sown by accident and gathered by chance. But if you want to raise +wheat and corn you must plough the ground. You must defend and you must +harvest the crop with infinite patience and toil. It is precisely that +way--if you want to raise a good Republican you must work. If you wish +to raise a Democrat give him wholesome neglect. The Democratic party +flatters the vices of mankind. That party says to the ignorant man, "You +know enough." It says to the vicious man, "You are good enough." + +The Republican party says, "You must be better next year than you are +this." A Republican takes a man by the collar and says, "You must do +your best, you must climb the infinite hill of human progress as long as +you live." Now and then one gets tired. He says, "I have climbed enough +and so much better than I expected to do that I do not wish to travel +any farther." Now and then one gets tired and lets go all hold, and he +rolls down to the very bottom, and as he strikes the mud he springs upon +his feet transfigured, and says: "Hurrah for Hancock!" + +There are things in this Government that I wish to preserve, and there +are things that I wish to destroy; and in order to convince you that you +ought to go the way that I am going: it is only fair that I give to +you my reasons. This is a Republic founded upon intelligence and +the patriotism of the people, and in every Republic it is absolutely +necessary that there should be free speech. Free speech is the gem of +the human soul. Words are the bodies of thought, and liberty gives to +those words wings, and the whole intellectual heavens are filled with +light. In a Republic every individual tongue has a right to the general +ear. In a Republic every man has the right to give his reasons for the +course he pursues to all his fellow-citizens, and when you say that a +man shall not speak, you also say that others shall not hear. When +you say a man shall not express his honest thought you say his +fellow-citizens shall be deprived of honest thoughts; for of what use +is it to allow the attorney for the defendant to address the jury if the +jury has been bought? Of what use is it to allow the jury to bring in a +verdict of "not guilty," if the defendant is to be hung by a mob? I ask +you to-night, is not every solitary man here in favor of free speech? Is +there a solitary Democrat here who dares say he is not in favor of free +speech? In which part of this country are the lips of thought free--in +the South or in the North? Which section of our country can you trust +the inestimable gem of free speech with? Can you trust it to the +gentlemen of Mississippi or to the gentlemen of Massachusetts? Can you +trust it to Alabama or to New York? Can you trust it to the South or +can you trust it to the great and splendid North? Honor bright--honor +bright, is there any freedom of speech in the South? There never was and +there is none to-night--and let me tell you why. + +They had the institution of human slavery in the South, which could +not be defended at the bar of public reason. It was an institution that +could not be defended in the high forum of human conscience. No man +could stand there and defend the right to rob the cradle--none to defend +the right to sell the babe from the breast of the agonized mother--none +to defend the claim that lashes on a bare back are a legal tender for +labor performed. Every man that lived upon the unpaid labor of another +knew in his heart that he was a thief. And for that reason he did not +wish to discuss that question. Thereupon the institution of slavery +said, "You shall not speak; you shall not reason," and the lips of free +thought were manacled. You know it. Every one of you. Every Democrat +knows it as well as every Republican. There never was free speech in the +South. + +And what has been the result? And allow me to admit right here, because +I want to be fair, there are thousands and thousands of most excellent +people in the South--thousands of them. There are hundreds and hundreds +of thousands there who would like to vote the Republican ticket. And +whenever there is free speech there and whenever there is a free ballot +there, they will vote the Republican ticket. I say again, there are +hundreds of thousands of good people in the South; but the institution +of human slavery prevented free speech, and it is a splendid fact in +nature that you cannot put chains upon the limbs of others without +putting corresponding manacles upon your own brain. When the South +enslaved the negro, it also enslaved itself, and the result was an +intellectual desert. No book has been produced, with one exception, that +has added to the knowledge of mankind; no paper, no magazine, no poet, +no philosopher, no philanthropist, was ever raised in that desert. Now +and then some one protested against that infamous institution, and +he came as near being a philosopher as the society in which he lived +permitted. Why is it that New England, a rock-clad land, blossoms like a +rose? Why is it that New York is the Empire State of the great Union? +I will tell you. Because you have been permitted to trade in ideas. +Because the lips of speech have been absolutely free for twenty years. + +We never had free speech in any State in this Union until the Republican +party was born. That party was rocked in the cradle of intellectual +liberty, and that is the reason I say it is the best party that ever +existed in the wide, wide world. I want to preserve free speech, and, as +an honest man, I look about me and I say, "How can I best preserve +it?" By giving it to the South or North; to the Democracy or to the +Republican party? And I am bound, as an honest man, to say free speech +is safest with its earliest defenders. Where is there such a thing as +a Republican mob to prevent the expression of an honest thought? Where? +The people of the South are allowed to come to the North; they are +allowed to express their sentiments upon every stump in the great East, +the great West, and in the great Middle States; they go to Maine, to +Vermont, and to all our States, and they are allowed to speak, and we +give them a respectful hearing, and the meanest thing we do is to answer +their arguments. + +I say to-night that we ought to have the same liberty to discuss these +questions in the South that Southerners have in the North. And I say +more than that, the Democrats of the North ought to compel the Democrats +of the South to treat the Republicans of the South as well as the +Republicans of the North treat them. We treat the Democrats well in the +North; we treat them like gentlemen in the North; and yet they go into +partnership with the Democracy of the South, knowing that the Democracy +of the South will not treat Republicans in that section with fairness. A +Democrat ought to be ashamed of that. + +If my friends will not treat other people as well as the friends of the +other people treat me, I'll swap friends. + +First, then, I am in favor of free speech, and I am going with that +section of my country that believes in free speech; I am going with +that party that has always upheld that sacred right. When you stop +free speech, when you say that a thought shall die in the womb of the +brain,--why, it would have the same effect upon the intellectual world +that to stop springs at their sources would have upon the physical +world. Stop the springs at their sources and they cease to gurgle, +the streams cease to murmur, and the great rivers cease rushing to the +embrace of the sea. So you stop thought. Stop thought in the brain in +which it is born, and theory dies; and the great ocean of knowledge to +which all should be permitted to contribute, and from which all should +be allowed to draw, becomes a vast desert of ignorance. + +I have always said, and I say again, that the more liberty there is +given away, the more you have. I endeavor to be consistent in my life +and action. I am a believer in intellectual liberty, and wherever the +torch of knowledge burns the whole horizon is filled with a glorious +halo. I am a free man. I would be less than a man if I did not wish +to hand this flame to my child with the flame increased rather than +diminished. + +Whom will we trust to take care of free speech? Let us consider and be +honest with one another. The gem of the brain is the innocence of the +soul. + +I am not only in favor of free speech, but I am also in favor of an +absolutely honest ballot. There is only one emperor in this country; +there is one czar; only one supreme crown and king, and that is the +will, the legally expressed will of the majority. Every American citizen +is a sovereign. The poorest and humblest may wear that crown, the beggar +holds in his hand that sceptre equally with the proudest and richest, +and so far as his sovereignty is concerned, the poorest American, he +who earns but one dollar a day, has the same voice in controlling the +destiny of the United States as the millionaire. The man who casts an +illegal vote, the man who refuses to count a legal vote, poisons the +fountain of power, poisons the springs of justice, and is a traitor +to the only king in this land. The Government is upon the edge of +Mexicanization through fraudulent voting. The ballot-box is the throne +of America; the ballot-box is the ark of the covenant. Unless we see to +it that every man who has a right to vote, votes, and unless we see +to it that every honest vote is counted, the days of this Republic are +numbered. + +When you suspect that a Congressman is not elected; when you suspect +that a judge upon the bench holds his place by fraud, then the people +will hold the law in contempt and will laugh at the decisions of courts, +and then come revolution and chaos. + +It is the duty of every good man to see to it that the ballot-box is +kept absolutely pure. It is the duty of every patriot, whether he is +a Democrat or Republican--and I want further to admit that I believe +a large majority of Democrats are honest in their opinions, and I know +that all Republicans _must_ be honest in their opinions. It is the duty, +then, of all honest men of both parties to see to it that only honest +votes are cast and counted. Now, honor bright, which section of this +Union can you trust the ballot-box with? + +Do you wish to trust Louisiana, or do you wish to trust Alabama that +gave, in 1872, thirty-four thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight +Republican majority and now gives ninety-two thousand Democratic +majority? And of that ninety-two thousand majority, every one is a lie! +A contemptible, infamous lie! Because if every voter had been allowed +to vote, there would have been forty thousand Republican majority. +Honor bright, can you trust it with the masked murderers who rode in +the darkness of night to the hut of the freedman and shot him down, +notwithstanding the supplication of his wife and the tears of his babe? +Can you trust it to the men who since the close of our war have killed +more men, simply because those men wished to vote, simply because they +wished to exercise a right with which they had been clothed by the +sublime heroism of the North--who have killed more men than were killed +on both sides in the Revolutionary war; than were killed on both sides +during the War of 1812; than were killed on both sides in both wars? +Can you trust them? Can you trust the gentlemen who invented the +tissue ballot? Do you wish to put the ballot-box in the keeping of the +shot-gun, of the White-Liners, of the Ku Klux? Do you wish to put the +ballot-box in the keeping of men who openly swear that they will not be +ruled by a majority of American citizens if a portion of that majority +is made of black men? And I want to tell you right here, I like a black +man who loves this country better than I do a white man who hates it. I +think more of a black man who fought for our flag than for any white man +who endeavored to tear it out of heaven! + +I say, can you trust the ballot-box to the Democratic party? Read the +history of the State of New York. Read the history of this great and +magnificent city--the Queen of the Atlantic--read her history and tell +us whether you can implicitly trust Democratic returns? Honor bright! + +I am not only, then, for free speech, but I am for an honest ballot; +and in order that you may have no doubt left upon your minds as to which +party is in favor of an honest vote, I will call your attention to this +striking fact. Every law that has been passed in every State of this +Union for twenty long years, the object of which was to guard the +American ballot-box, has been passed by the Republican party, and in +every State where the Republican party has introduced such a bill for +the purpose of making it a law; in every State where such a bill has +been defeated, it has been defeated by the Democratic party. That ought +to satisfy any reasonable man to satiety. + +I am not only in favor of free speech and an honest ballot, but I am in +favor of collecting and disbursing the revenues of the United States. I +want plenty of money to collect and pay the interest on our debt. I want +plenty of money to pay our debt and to preserve the financial honor of +the United States. I want money enough to be collected to pay pensions +to widows and orphans and to wounded soldiers. And the question is, +which section in this country can you trust to collect and disburse that +revenue? Let us be honest about it. Which section can you trust? In the +last four years we have collected four hundred and sixty-eight million +dollars of the internal revenue taxes. We have collected principally +from taxes upon high wines and tobacco, four hundred and sixty-eight +million dollars, and in those four years we have seized, libeled and +destroyed in the Southern States three thousand eight hundred and +seventy-four illicit distilleries. And during the same time the Southern +people have shot to death twenty-five revenue officers and wounded +fifty-five others, and the only offence that the wounded and dead +committed was an honest effort to collect the revenues of this country. +Recollect it--don't you forget it. And in several Southern States +to-day every revenue collector or officer connected with the revenue is +furnished by the Internal Revenue Department with a breech-loading +rifle and a pair of revolvers, simply for the purpose of collecting the +revenue. + +I don't feel like trusting such people to collect the revenue of my +Government. + +During the same four years we have arrested and have indicted seven +thousand and eighty-four Southern Democrats for endeavoring to defraud +the revenue of the United States. Recollect--three thousand eight +hundred and seventy-four distilleries seized. Twenty-five revenue +officers killed, fifty-five wounded, and seven thousand and eighty-four +Democrats arrested. Can we trust them? + +The State of Alabama in its last Democratic convention passed a +resolution that no man should be tried in a Federal Court for a +violation of the revenue laws--that he should be tried in a State Court. +Think of it--he should be tried in a State Court! Let me tell you how it +will come out if we trust the Southern States to collect this revenue. A +couple of Methodist ministers had been holding a revival for a week, and +at the end of the week one said to the other that he thought it time to +take up a collection. When the hat was returned he found in it pieces of +slate-pencils and nails and buttons, but not a single solitary cent--not +one--and his brother minister got up and looked at the contribution, and +said, "Let us thank God!" And the owner of the hat said, "What for?" And +the brother replied, "Because you got your hat back." If we trust the +South we shan't get our hats back. + +I am next in favor of honest money. I am in favor of gold and silver, +and paper with gold and silver behind it. I believe in silver, because +it is one of the greatest of American products, and I am in favor of +anything that will add to the value of an American product. But I want +a silver dollar worth a gold dollar, even if you make it or have to make +it four feet in diameter. No government can afford to be a clipper of +coin. A great Republic cannot afford to stamp a lie upon silver or gold. +Honest money, an honest people, an honest Nation. When our money is only +worth eighty cents on the dollar, we feel twenty per cent, below par. +When our money is good we feel good. When our money is at par, that is +where we are. I am a profound believer in the doctrine that for nations +as well as men, honesty is the best policy, always, everywhere, and +forever. + +What section of this country, what party, will give us honest +money--honor bright--honor bright? I have been told that during the war, +we had plenty of money. I never saw it. I lived years without seeing a +dollar. I saw promises for dollars, but not dollars. And the greenback, +unless you have the gold behind it, is no more a dollar than a bill +of fare is a dinner. You cannot make a paper dollar without taking a +dollar's worth of paper. We must have paper that represents money. I +want it issued by the Government, and I want behind every one of these +dollars either a gold or silver dollar, so that every greenback under +the flag can lift up its hand and swear, "I know that my redeemer +liveth." + +When we were running into debt, thousands of people mistook that for +prosperity, and when we began paying they regarded it as adversity. Of +course we had plenty when we bought on credit. No man has ever starved +when his credit was good, if there were no famine in that country. As +long as we buy on credit we shall have enough. The trouble commences +when the pay-day arrives. And I do not wonder that after the war +thousands of people said, "Let us have another inflation." Which party +said, "No, we must pay the promise made in war"? Honor bright! The +Democratic party had once been a hard money party, but it drifted from +its metallic moorings and floated off in the ocean of inflation, and you +know it. They said, "Give us more money;" and every man that had bought +on credit and owed a little something on what he had purchased, when the +property went down commenced crying, or many of them did, for inflation. +I understand it. + +A man, say, bought a piece of land for six thousand dollars; paid five +thousand dollars on it; gave a mortgage for one thousand dollars, and +suddenly, in 1873, found that the land would not pay the other thousand. +The land had resumed, and then he said, looking lugubriously at his note +and mortgage, "I want another inflation." And I never heard a man call +for it that did not also say, "If it ever comes, and I don't unload, you +may shoot me." + +It was very much as it is sometimes in playing poker, and I make this +comparison knowing that hardly a person here will understand it. I have +been told that along toward morning the man that is ahead suddenly +says, "I have got to go home. The fact is, my wife is not well." And the +fellow who is behind says, "Let us have another deal; I have my opinion +of the fellow that will jump a game." And so it was in the hard times +of 1873. They said: "Give us another deal; let us get our driftwood back +into the centre of the stream." And they cried out for more money. +But the Republican party said: "We do want more money, but not more +promises. We have got to pay this first, and if we start out again +upon that wide sea of promise we may never touch the shore." A thousand +theories were born of want; a thousand theories were born of the fertile +brain of trouble; and these people said, "After all, what is money? Why, +it is nothing but a measure of value, just the same as a half bushel or +yardstick." True; and consequently it makes no difference whether your +half bushel is of wood or gold or silver or paper; and it makes no +difference whether your yardstick is gold or paper. But the trouble +about that statement is this: A half bushel is not a measure of value; +it is a measure of quantity, and it measures rubies, diamonds and pearls +precisely the same as corn and wheat. The yardstick is not a measure of +value; it is a measure of length, and it measures lace worth one hundred +dollars a yard precisely as it does cent tape. And another reason why it +makes no difference to the purchaser whether the half bushel is gold or +silver, or whether the yardstick is gold or paper, you do not buy the +yardstick; you do not get the half bushel in the trade. And if it were +so with money--if the people that had the money at the start of the +trade, kept it after the consummation of the bargain--then it would not +make any difference what you made your money of. But the trouble is the +money changes hands. And let me say to-night, money is a thing--it is a +product of nature--and you can no more make a "fiat" dollar than you +can make a fiat star. I am in favor of honest money. Free speech is the +brain of the Republic; an honest ballot is the breath of its life, and +honest money is the blood that courses through its veins. + +If I am fortunate enough to leave a dollar when I die, I want it to be +a good one. I do not wish to have it turn to ashes in the hands of +widowhood, or become a Democratic broken promise in the pocket of the +orphan; I want it money. I want money that will outlive the Democratic +party. They told us--and they were honest about it--they said, "When +we have plenty of money, we are prosperous." And I said, "When we are +prosperous, we have plenty of money." When we are prosperous, then we +have credit, and credit inflates the currency. Whenever a man buys a +pound of sugar and says, "Charge it," he inflates the currency; whenever +he gives his note, he inflates the currency; whenever his word takes the +place of money, he inflates the currency. The consequence is that when +we are prosperous, credit takes the place of money, and we have what we +call "plenty." + +But you cannot increase prosperity simply by using promises to pay. +Suppose you should come to a river that was about dry, so dry that the +turtle had to help the catfish over the shoals, and there you would see +the ferryboat, and the gentleman who kept the ferry, up on the sand, +high and dry, and the cracks all opening in the sun, filled with +loose oakum, looking like an average Democratic mouth listening to a +constitutional argument, and you should say to him, "How is business?" +And he would say, "Dull." And then you would say to him, "Now, what you +want is more boat." He would probably answer, "If I had a little more +water I could get along with this one." + +Suppose I next came to a man running a railroad, complaining of hard +times. "Why," said he, "I did a million dollars' worth of business the +first year and used five hundred thousand dollars' worth of grease. The +second year I did five hundred thousand dollars' worth of business and +used four hundred thousand dollars' worth of grease." "Well," said +I, "the reason your road fell off was because you did not use enough +grease." + +But I want to be fair, and I wish to-night to return my thanks to the +Democratic party. You did a great and splendid work. You went all over +the United States and you said upon every stump that a greenback was +better than gold. You said, "We have at last found the money of the poor +man. Gold loves the rich; gold haunts banks and safes and vaults; but we +have money that will go around inquiring for a man that is dead broke. +We have finally found money that will stay in a pocket with holes in +it." But, after all, do you know that money is the most social thing +in this world? If a fellow has one dollar in his pocket, and he meets +another with two, do you know that dollar is absolutely homesick until +it gets where the other two are? And yet the Greenbackers told us that +they had finally invented money that would be the poor mans friend. They +said, "It is better than gold, better than silver," and they got so many +men to believe it that when we resumed and said, "Here is your gold for +your greenback," the fellows who had the greenback said, "We don't want +it. The greenbacks are good enough for us." Do you know, if they had +wanted it we could not have given it to them? And so I return my thanks +to the Greenback party. But allow me to say in this connection, the days +of their usefulness have passed forever. + +Now, I am not foolish enough to claim that the Republican party resumed. +I am not silly enough to say that John Sherman resumed. But I will tell +you what I do say. I say that every man who raised a bushel of corn or a +bushel of wheat or a pound of beef or pork for sale helped to resume. I +say that the gentle rain and the loving dew helped to resume. The soil +of the United States impregnated by the loving sun helped to resume. The +men that dug the coal and the iron and the silver and the copper and the +gold helped to resume. And the men upon whose foreheads fell the light +of furnaces helped to resume. And the sailors who fought with the waves +of the seas helped to resume. + +I admit to-night that the Democrats earned their share of the money +to resume with. All I claim is that the Republican party furnished the +honesty to pay it over. That is what I claim; and the Republican party +set the day, and the Republican party worked to the promise. That is +what I say. And had it not been for the Republican party this Nation +would have been financially dishonored. I am for honest money, and I am +for the payment of every dollar of our debt, and so is every Democrat +now, I take it. But what did you say a little while ago? Did you say we +could resume? No; you swore we could not, and you swore our bonds would +be worthless as the withered leaves of winter. And now when a Democrat +goes to England and sees an American four per cent, quoted at one +hundred and ten he kind of swells up, and says: "That's the kind of man +I am." In that country he pretends he was a Republican in this. And I do +not blame him. I do not begrudge him enjoying respectability when away +from home. The Republican party is entitled to the credit for keeping +this Nation grandly and splendidly honest. I say, the Republican party +is entitled to the credit of preserving the honor of this Nation. + +In 1873 came the crash, and all the languages of the world cannot +describe the agonies suffered by the American people from 1873 to 1879. +A man who thought he was a millionaire came to poverty; he found +his stocks and bonds ashes in the paralytic hand of old age. Men who +expected to live all their lives in the sunshine of joy found themselves +beggars and paupers. The great factories were closed, the workmen were +demoralized, and the roads of the United States were filled with tramps. +In the hovel of the poor and the palace of the rich came the serpent +of temptation and whispered in the American ear the terrible word +"Repudiation." But the Republican party said, "No; we will pay every +dollar. No; we have started toward the shining goal of resumption and we +never will turn back." And the Republican party struggled until it had +the happiness of seeing upon the broad shining forehead of American +labor the words "Financial Honor." + +The Republican party struggled until every paper promise was as good +as gold. And the moment we got back to gold then we commenced to rise +again. We could not jump until our feet touched something that they +could be pressed against. And from that moment to this we have been +going, going, going higher and higher, more prosperous every hour. And +now they say, "Let us have a change." When I am sick I want a change; +when I am poor I want a change; and if I were a Democrat I would have a +personal change. We are prosperous to-day, and must keep so. We are back +to gold and silver. Let us stay there; and let us stay with the party +that brought us there. + +Now, I am not only in favor of free speech and an honest ballot-box and +an honest collection of the revenue of the United States, and an honest +money, but I am in favor of the idea, of the great and splendid +truth, that this is a Nation one and indivisible. I deny that we are a +confederacy bound together with ropes of cloud and chains of mist. This +is a Nation, and every man in it owes his first allegiance to the grand +old flag for which more brave blood was shed than for any other flag +that waves in the sight of heaven. There is another thing; we all want +to live in a land where the law is supreme. We desire to live beneath a +flag that will protect every citizen beneath its folds. We desire to be +citizens of a Government so great and so grand that it will command +the respect of the civilized world. Most of us are convinced that our +Government is the best upon this earth. It is the only Government +where manhood, and manhood alone, is not made simply a condition of +citizenship, but where manhood, and manhood alone, permits its possessor +to have his equal share in control of the Government. It is the only +Government in the world where poverty is upon an exact equality with +wealth, so far as controlling the destiny of the Republic is concerned. +It is the only Nation where the man clothed in rags stands upon an +equality with the one wearing purple. It is the only country in the +world where, politically, the hut is upon an equality with the palace. + +For that reason every poor man should stand by this Government, and +every poor man who does not is a traitor to the best interests of his +children; every poor man who does not is willing his children should +bear the badge of political inferiority; and the only way to make this +Government a complete and perfect success is for the poorest man to +think as much of his manhood as the millionaire does of his wealth. A +man does not vote in this country simply because he is rich; he does +not vote in this country simply because he has an education; he does +not vote simply because he has talent or genius; we say that he votes +because he is a man, and that he has his manhood to support; and we +admit in this country that nothing can be more valuable to any human +being than his manhood, and for that reason we put poverty on an +equality with wealth. We say in this country manhood is worth more than +gold. We say in this country that without Liberty the Nation is not +worth preserving. Now, I appeal to-day to every poor man; I appeal +to-day to every laboring man, and I ask him, is there another country on +this globe where you can have equal rights with others? There is another +thing; do you want a Government of law or of brute force? In which part +of this country do you find law supreme? In which part of this country +can a man find justice in the courts; in the North or in the South? +Where is crime punished? Where is innocence protected, in the North or +in the South? Which section of this country will you trust? + +You can tell what a man is by the way he treats persons in his power, +and the man that will sneak and crawl in the presence of greatness, will +trample the weak when he gets them in his power. What class of people +does the State have in its power? Criminals and creditors; and you +can judge of a State by the way it treats its criminals and creditors. +Georgia is the best State in the South. They have a penitentiary system +by which they hire out their convict labor. Only two years ago the whole +thing was examined by a friend of mine, Col. Allston. He had been in the +rebel army and was my good friend. He used to come to my house day after +day to see me. He got converted and had the grit to say so. Being +a member of the Legislature, he had a committee of investigation +appointed. Now, in order that you may understand the difference, you +must know that in the Northern penitentiaries the average annual death +rate is one per cent.; that is, of one thousand convicts, ten will +die in a year, on the average. That low death rate is because we are +civilized, because we do not kill; but in the Georgia penitentiary it +was as high as fifteen, twenty-seven and forty-seven per cent., at a +time when there was no typhoid or yellow fever, or epidemic of any kind. +They died for four months at a rate of ten per cent, per month. They +crowded the convicts in together, regardless of sex. They treated them +precisely as wild beasts, and many of them were shot down. Persons high +in authority, Senators of the United States, held interests in those +contracts, and Robert Allston denounced them. When on a visit he said, +"I believe when I get home I shall be killed." I told him not to go +back to Georgia, but to stay in the civilized North; but no, he would go +back, and on the very day of his arrival he was murdered in cold blood. +Do you want to trust such men? * * * + +The Southern people say this is a Confederacy and they are honest in it. +They fought for it, they believed it. They believe in the doctrine of +State Sovereignty, and many Democrats of the North believe in the same +doctrine. No less a man than Horatio Seymour--standing it may be at the +head of Democratic statesmen--said, if he has been correctly reported, +only the other day, that he despised the word "Nation." I bless that +word. I owe my first allegiance to this Nation, and it owes its first +protection to me. I am talking here to-night, not because I am protected +by the flag of New York. I would not know that flag if I should see it. +I am talking here, and have the right to talk here, because the flag of +my country is above us. I have the same right as though I had been born +upon this very platform. I am proud of New York because it is a part of +my country. I am proud of my country because it has such a State as +New York in it, and I will be prouder of New York on a week from next +Tuesday than ever before in my life. I despise the doctrine of State +Sovereignty. I believe in the rights of the States, but not in the +sovereignty of the States. States are political conveniences. Rising +above States, as the Alps above valleys, are the rights of man. Rising +above the rights of the Government, even in this Nation, are the sublime +rights of the people. Governments are good only so long as they protect +human rights. But the rights of a man never should be sacrificed upon +the altar of the State, or upon the altar of the Nation. + +Let me tell you a few objections that I have to State Sovereignty. That +doctrine has never been appealed to for any good. The first time it was +appealed to was when our Constitution was made. And the object then was +to keep the slave-trade open until the year 1808. The object then was +to make the sea the highway of piracy--the object then was to allow +American citizens to go into the business of selling men and women and +children, and feed their cargo to the sharks of the sea, and the sharks +of the sea were as merciful as they. That was the first time that the +appeal to the doctrine of State Sovereignty was made, and the next time +was for the purpose of keeping alive the interstate slave-trade, so that +a gentleman in Virginia could sell the slave who had nursed him, and rob +the cradles of their babes. Think of it! It was made so they could rob +the cradle in the name of law. Think of it! Think of it! And the next +time they appealed to the doctrine of State Sovereignty was in favor of +the Fugitive Slave Law--a law that made a bloodhound of every Northern +man; that made charity a crime; a law that made love a state-prison +offence; that branded the forehead of charity as if it were a felon. +Think of it! + +It is a part of my honor to hate such principles. I have no respect +for any man who is so mean, cruel and wicked, as to allow himself to be +transformed into a bloodhound to bay upon the tracks of innocent human +prey. I will follow my logic, no matter where it goes, after it has +consulted with my heart. If you ever come to a conclusion without +calling the heart in, you will come to a bad conclusion. + +A good man is pretty apt to be right; a perfectly honest man is like the +surface of the stainless mirror, that gives back by simply looking at +him, the image of the one who looks. + +The next time they appealed to the doctrine of State Sovereignty was to +increase the area of human slavery, so that the bloodhound, with clots +of blood dropping from his loose and hanging jaws, might traverse the +billowy plains of Kansas. Think of it! + +The Democratic party then said the Federal Government had a right to +cross the State line. And the next time they appealed to that infamous +doctrine was in defence of secession and treason; a doctrine that cost +us six thousand millions of dollars; a doctrine that cost four hundred +thousand lives; a doctrine that filled our country with widows, our +homes with orphans. And I tell you, the doctrine of State Sovereignty +is the viper in the bosom of this Republic, and if we do not kill that +viper it will kill us. + +The Democrats tell us that in the olden time the Federal Government had +a right to cross a State line to put shackles upon the limbs of men. It +had the right to cross a State line to trample upon the rights of human +beings, but now it has no right to cross those lines upon an errand +of mercy or justice. We are told that now, when the Federal Government +wishes to protect a citizen, a State line rises like a Chinese wall, +and the sword of Federal power turns to air the moment it touches one of +those lines. I deny it and I despise, abhor and execrate the doctrine of +State Sovereignty. The Democrats tell us if we wish to be protected by +the Federal Government we must leave home. I wish they would try it for +about ten days. They say the Federal Government can defend a citizen +in England, France, Spain or Germany, but cannot defend a child of the +Republic sitting around the family hearth. I deny it. A Government that +cannot protect its citizens at home is unfit to be called a Government. +I want a Government with an ear so good that it can hear the faintest +cry of the oppressed wherever its flag floats. I want a Government with +an arm long enough and a sword sharp enough to cut down treason wherever +it may raise its serpent head. I want a Government that will protect +a freedman, standing by his little log hut, with the same alacrity and +with the same efficiency that it would protect Vanderbilt, living in a +palace of marble and gold. Humanity is a sacred thing, and manhood is a +thing to be preserved. Let us look at it. For instance, here is a war, +and the Federal Government says to a man, "We want you," and he says, +"No, I don't want to go," and then they put a lot of pieces of paper in +a wheel and on one of those pieces is his name, and another man turns +the crank, and then they pull it out and there is his name, and +they say, "Come," and so he goes. And they stand him in front of the +brazen-throated guns; they make him fight for his native land, and when +the war is over he goes home and he finds the war has been unpopular +in his neighborhood, and they trample on his rights, and he says to the +Federal Government, "Protect me." And he says to the Government, "I owe +my allegiance to you. You must protect me." What will you say of +that Government if it says to him, "You must look to your State for +protection"? "Ah, but," he says, "my State is the very power trampling +upon me," and, of course, the robber is not going to send for the +police, It is the duty of the Government to defend even its drafted +men; and if that is the duty of the Government, what shall I say of the +volunteer, who for one moment holds his wife in a tremulous and agonized +embrace, kisses his children, shoulders his musket, goes to the field +and says, "Here I am, ready to die for my native land"? A Nation that +will not defend its volunteer defenders is a disgrace to the map of this +world. This is a Nation. Free speech is the brain of the Republic; an +honest ballot is the breath of its life; honest money is the blood of +its veins; and the idea of nationality is its great, beating, throbbing +heart. I am for a Nation. And yet the Democrats tell me that it is +dangerous to have centralized power. How would you have it? I believe in +the localization of power; I believe in having enough of it localized in +one place to be effectively used; I believe in a localization of brain. +I suppose Democrats would like to have it spread all over your body, and +they act as though theirs was. + +There is another thing in which I believe: I believe in the protection +of American labor. The hand that holds Aladdin's lamp must be the hand +of toil. This Nation rests upon the shoulders of its workers, and I want +the American laboring man to have enough to wear; I want him to have +enough to eat: + +I want him to have something for the ordinary misfortunes of life; I +want him to have the pleasure of seeing his wife well-dressed; I want +him to see a few blue ribbons fluttering about his children; I want him +to see the flags of health flying in their beautiful cheeks; I want him +to feel that this is his country, and the shield of protection is above +his labor. + +And I will tell you why I am for protection, too. If we were all farmers +we would be stupid. If we were all shoemakers we would be stupid. If +we all followed one business, no matter what it was, we would become +stupid. Protection to American labor diversifies American industry, +and to have it diversified touches and develops every part of the human +brain. Protection protects ingenuity; it protects intelligence; and +protection raises sense; and by protection we have greater men, better +looking women and healthier children. Free trade means that our laborer +is upon an equality with the poorest paid labor of this world. And allow +me to tell you that for an empty stomach, "Hurrah for Hancock!" is a +poor consolation. I do not think much of a Government where the people +do not have enough to eat. I am a materialist to that extent; I want +something to eat. I have been in countries where the laboring man had +meat once a year; sometimes twice--Christmas and Easter. And I have seen +women carrying upon their heads a burden that no man in this audience +could carry, and at the same time knitting busily with both hands, +and those women lived without meat; and when I thought of the American +laborer, I said to myself, "After all, my country is the best in the +world." And when I came back to the sea and saw the old flag flying, it +seemed to me as though the air from pure joy had burst into blossom. + +Labor has more to eat and more to wear in the United States than in +any other land of this earth. I want America to produce everything that +Americans need. I want it so that if the whole world should declare war +against us, if we were surrounded by walls of cannon and bayonets and +swords, we could supply all our material wants in and of ourselves. I +want to live to see the American woman dressed in American silk; the +American man in everything, from hat to boots, produced in America by +the cunning hand of American toil. I want to see the workingman have +a good house, painted white, grass in the front yard, carpets on the +floor, pictures on the wall. I want to see him a man, feeling that he is +a king by the divine right of living in the Republic. And every man here +is just a little bit a king, you know. Every man here is a part of the +sovereign power. Every man wears a little of purple; every man has a +little of crown and a little of sceptre; and every man that will sell +his vote for money or be ruled by prejudice is unfit to be an American +citizen. + +I believe in American labor, and I will tell you why. The other day a +man told me that we had produced in the United States of America one +million tons of steel rails. How much are they worth? Sixty dollars a +ton. In other words, the million tons are worth sixty million dollars. +How much is a ton of iron worth in the ground? Twenty-five cents. +American labor takes twenty-five cents worth of iron in the ground and +adds to it fifty-nine dollars and seventy-five cents. One million tons +of rails, and the raw material not worth twenty-four thousand dollars! +We build a ship in the United States worth five hundred thousand +dollars, and the value of the ore in the earth, of the trees in the +great forest, of all that enters into the composition of that ship +bringing five hundred thousand dollars in gold is only twenty thousand +dollars; four hundred and eighty thousand dollars by American labor, +American muscle, coined into gold; American brains made a legal tender +the world round. + +I propose to stand by the Nation. I want the furnaces kept hot. I want +the sky to be filled with the smoke of American industry, and upon that +cloud of smoke will rest forever the bow of perpetual promise. That is +what I am for. Where did this doctrine of a tariff for revenue only come +from? From the South. The South would like to stab the prosperity of the +North. They would rather trade with Old England than with New England. +They would rather trade with the people who were willing to help them in +war than with those who conquered the Rebellion. They knew what gave us +our strength in war. They knew that all the brooks and creeks and rivers +of New England were putting down the Rebellion. They knew that every +wheel that turned, every spindle that revolved, was a soldier in the +army of human progress. It won't do! They were so lured by the greed of +office that they were willing to trade upon the misfortunes of a Nation. +It won't do! I do not wish to belong to a party that succeeds only when +my country fails. I do not wish to belong to a party whose banner went +up with the banner of rebellion. I do not wish to belong to a party that +was in partnership with defeat and disaster. I do not. And there is not +a Democrat here who does not know that a failure of the crops this year +would have helped his party. You know that an early frost would have +been a godsend to them. You know that the potato-bug could have done +them more good than all their speakers. + +I wish to belong to that party which is prosperous when the country is +prosperous. I belong to that party which is not poor when the golden +billows are running over the seas of wheat. I belong to that party which +is prosperous when there are oceans of corn, and when the cattle are +upon the thousand hills. I belong to that party which is prosperous when +the furnaces are aflame, and when you dig coal and iron and silver; when +everybody has enough to eat; when everybody is happy; when the children +are all going to school, and when joy covers my Nation as with a +garment. That party which is prosperous then, is my party. + +Now, then, I have been telling you what I am for. I am for free speech, +and so ought you to be. I am for an honest ballot, and if you are not +you ought to be. I am for the collection of the revenue. I am for honest +money. I am for the idea that this is a Nation forever. I believe in +protecting American labor. I want the shield of my country above every +anvil, above every furnace, above every cunning head and above every +deft hand of American labor. + +Now, then, which section of this country will be the more apt to carry +these ideas into execution? Which party will be the more apt to achieve +these grand and splendid things? Honor bright? Now we have not only +to choose between sections of the country; we have to choose between +parties. Here is the Democratic party, and I admit there are thousands +of good Democrats who went to the war, and some of those that stayed at +home were good men; and I want to ask you, and I want you to tell me +in reply what that party did during the war when the War Democrats were +away from home. What did they do? That is the question. I say to you, +that every man who tried to tear our flag out of heaven was a Democrat. +The men who wrote the ordinances of secession, who fired upon Fort +Sumter; the men who starved our soldiers, who fed them with the crumbs +that the worms had devoured before, they were Democrats. The keepers +of Libby, the keepers of Andersonville, were Democrats--Libby and +Andersonville, the two mighty wings that will bear the memory of the +Confederacy to eternal infamy! The men who wished to scatter yellow +fever in the North and who tried to fire the great cities of the +North--they were all Democrats. He who said that the greenback would +never be paid and he who slandered sixty cents out of every dollar of +the Nation's promises were Democrats. Who were joyful when your brothers +and your sons and your fathers lay dead on a field of battle that the +country had lost? They were Democrats. The men who wept when the old +banner floated in triumph above the ramparts of rebellion--they were +Democrats. You know it. The men who wept when slavery was destroyed, who +believed slavery to be a divine institution, who regarded bloodhounds as +apostles and missionaries, and who wept at the funeral of that infernal +institution--they were Democrats. Bad company--bad company! + +And let me implore all the young men here not to join that party. Do not +give new blood to that institution. The Democratic party has a yellow +passport. On one side it says "dangerous." They imagine they have not +changed, and that is because they have not intellectual growth. That +party was once the enemy of my country, was once the enemy of our flag, +and more than that, it was once the enemy of human liberty, and that +party to-night is not willing that the citizens of the Republic should +exercise all their rights irrespective of their color. And allow me to +say right here that I am opposed to that party. + +We have not only to choose between parties, but to choose between +candidates. The Democracy have put forward as the bearers of their +standard General Hancock and William H. English. The Democrats have at +last nominated a Union soldier. They nominated George B. McClellan once, +because he failed to whip the South; they nominated Mr. Greeley, when +they despised him, and now they have nominated General Hancock. Do they +think the South loves him? At Gettysburg they say he fought against +them, and that is one great reason why he should be President--that he +shot rebels. Do the men that fought at Gettysburg still believe in +State Sovereignty? Wade Hampton says, "We must vote as Lee and Jackson +fought." They fought for State Sovereignty. Has the South changed? +Hancock went to kill them then; they want to vote for him now. Who +has changed? [A voice: "Hancock."] I think so. They are using him as a +figure-head. They have dressed him in the noble blue, with the patriotic +coat and Union buttons, and they do not like him any better than they +did at Gettysburg. It would be just as consistent for the Republicans +to have nominated Wade Hampton. Did General Hancock believe in State +Sovereignty when he was at Gettysburg? If he did, he was a murderer, and +not a Union soldier--he was killing men he believed to be in the right, +and a man cannot fight unless his conscience approves of what his sword +does, and if he was honest at that time, he did not believe in State +Sovereignty, and it seems to me he would hate to have the men who tried +to destroy this Government cheering him. All the glory he ever got was +in the service of the Republican party, and if he does not look out +he will lose it all in the service of the Democratic party. He had +a conversation with General Grant. It was a time when he had +been appointed at the head of the Department of the Gulf. In that +conversation he stated to General Grant that he was opposed to "nigger +domination." Grant said to him, "We must obey the laws of Congress. +We are soldiers." And that meant, the military is not above the civil +authority. And I tell you to-night, that the army and the navy are the +right and left hands of the civil power. Grant said to him: "Three or +four million ex-slaves, without property and without education, cannot +dominate over thirty or forty millions of white people, with education +and property." General Hancock replied to that: "I am opposed to 'nigger +domination.'" Allow me to say that I do not believe any man fit for +the presidency of the great Republic, who is capable of insulting a +down-trodden race. I never meet a negro that I do not feel like asking +his forgiveness for the wrongs that my race has inflicted on his. I +remember that from the white man he received for two hundred years agony +and tears; I remember that my race sold a child from the agonized breast +of a mother; I remember that my race trampled with the feet of greed +upon all the holy relations of life; and I do not feel like insulting +the colored man; I feel rather like asking the forgiveness of his race +for the crimes that my race have put upon him. "Nigger domination!" What +a fine scabbard that makes for the sword of Gettysburg! It won't do! + +What is General Hancock for, besides the presidency? How does he stand +upon the great questions affecting American prosperity? He told us the +other day that the tariff is a local question. The tariff affects every +man and woman, live they in hut, hovel or palace; it affects every man +that has a back to be covered or a stomach to be filled, and yet he says +it is a local question. So is death. He also told us that he heard +that question discussed once, in Pennsylvania. He must have been +eavesdropping. And he tells us that his doctrine of the tariff will +continue as long as Nature lasts. Then Senator Randolph wrote him a +letter. I do not know whether Senator Randolph answered it or not; but +that answer was worse than the first interview; and I understand +now that another letter is going through a period of incubation at +Governor's Island, upon the great subject of the tariff. It won't do! + +They say one thing they are sure of, he is opposed to paying Southern +pensions and Southern claims. He says that a man that fought against +this Government has no right to a pension. Good! I say a man that fought +against this Government has no right to office. If a man cannot earn +a pension by tearing our flag out of the sky, he cannot earn power. [A +Voice--"How about Longstreet?"] Longstreet has repented of what he did. +Longstreet admits that he was wrong. And there was no braver officer in +the Southern Confederacy. Every man of the South who will say, "I made a +mistake"--I do not want him to say that he knew he was wrong--all I +ask him to say is that he now thinks he was wrong; and every man of the +South to-day who says he was wrong, and who says from this day forward, +henceforth and forever, he is for this being a Nation. + +I will take him by the hand. But while he is attempting to do at the +ballot-box what he failed to accomplish upon the field of battle, I am +against him; while he uses a Northern general to bait a Southern trap, +I won't bite. I will forgive men when they deserve to be forgiven; but +while they insist that they were right, while they insist that State +Sovereignty is the proper doctrine, I am opposed to their climbing into +power. + +Hancock says that he will not pay these claims; he agrees to veto a +bill that his party may pass; he agrees in advance that he will defeat +a party that he expects will elect him; he, in effect, says to the +people, "You can not trust that party, but you can trust me." He says, +"Look at them; I admit they are a hungry lot; I admit that they haven't +had a bite in twenty years; I admit that an ordinary famine is satiety +compared to the hunger they feel. But between that vast appetite known +as the Democratic party, and the public treasury, I will throw the +shield of my veto." No man has a right to say in advance what he will +veto, any more than a judge has a right to say in advance how he +will decide a case. The veto power is a distinction with which the +Constitution has clothed the Executive, and no President has a right to +say that he will veto until he has heard both sides of the question. But +he agrees in advance. + +I would rather trust a party than a man. Death may veto Hancock, and +Death has not been a successful politician in the United States. +Tyler, Fillmore, Andy Johnson--I do not wish Death to elect any more +Presidents; and if he does, and if Hancock is elected, William H. +English becomes President of the United States. No, no, no! All I need +to say about him is simply to pronounce his name; that is all. You do +not want him. Whether the many stories that have been told about him are +true or not I do not know, and I will not give currency to a solitary +word against the reputation of an American citizen unless I know it to +be true. What I have against him is what he has done in public life. +When Charles Sumner, that great and splendid publicist--Charles Sumner, +the philanthropist, one who spoke to the conscience of his time and to +the history of the future--when he stood up in the United States Senate +and made a great and glorious plea for human liberty, there crept into +the Senate a villain and struck him down as though he had been a wild +beast. That man was a member of Congress, and when a resolution was +introduced in the House, to expel that man, William H. English voted +"No." All the stories in the world could not add to the infamy of that +public act. That is enough for me, and whatever his private life may be, +let it be that of an angel, never, never, never would I vote for a man +that would defend the assassin of free speech. General Hancock, they +tell me, is a statesman; that what little time he has had to spare from +war he has given to the tariff, and what little time he could spare +from the tariff he has given to the Constitution of his country; +showing under what circumstances a Major-General can put at defiance the +Congress of the United States. It won't do! + +But while I am upon that subject it may be well for me to state that he +never will be President of the United States. Now, I say that a man who +in time of peace prefers peace, and prefers the avocations of peace; a +man who in the time of peace would rather look at the corn in the air of +June, rather listen to the hum of bees, rather sit by his door with his +wife and children; the man who in time of peace loves peace, and yet +when the blast of war blows in his ears, shoulders a musket and goes to +the field of war to defend his country, and when the war is over goes +home and again pursues the avocations of peace--that man is just as +good, to say the least of it, as a man who in a time of profound peace +makes up his mind that he would like to make his living killing other +folks. To say the least of it, he is as good. + +The Republicans have named as their standard bearers James A. Garfield +and Chester A. Arthur. James A. Garfield was a volunteer soldier, and +he took away from the field of Chickamauga as much glory as any one +man could carry. He is not only a soldier--7-he is a statesman. He has +studied and discussed all the great questions that affect the prosperity +and well-being of the American people. His opinions are well known, and +I say to you tonight that there is not in this Nation, there is not in +this Republic a man with greater brain and greater heart than James A. +Garfield. I know him and I like him. I know him as well as any other +public man, and I like him. The Democratic party say that he is not +honest. I have been reading some Democratic papers to-day, and you would +say that every one of their editors had a private sewer of his own into +which has been emptied for a hundred years the slops of hell. They tell +me that James A. Garfield is not honest. Are you a Democrat? Your +party tried to steal nearly half of this country. Your party stole the +armament of a nation. Your party was willing to live upon the unpaid +labor of four millions of people. You have no right to the floor for the +purpose of making a motion of honesty. James A. Garfield has been at the +head of the most important committees of Congress; he is a member of the +most important one of the whole House. He has no peer in the Congress of +the United States. And you know it. He is the leader of the House. +With one wave of his hand he can take millions from the pocket of one +industry and put it into the pocket of another; with a motion of his +hand he could have made himself a man of wealth, but he is to-night a +poor man. I know him and I like him. He is as genial as May and he is as +generous as Autumn. And the men for whom he has done unnumbered favors, +the men whom he had pity enough not to destroy with an argument, the men +who, with his great generosity, he has allowed, intellectually, to live, +are now throwing filth at the reputation of that great and splendid man. + +Several ladies and gentlemen were passing a muddy place around which +were gathered ragged and wretched urchins. And these little wretches +began to throw mud at them; and one gentleman said, "If you don't stop +I will throw it back at you." And a little fellow said, "You can't do it +without dirtying your hands, and it doesn't hurt us anyway." + +I never was more profoundly happy than on the night of that 12th day +of October when I found that between an honest and a kingly man and his +maligners, two great States had thrown their shining shields. When Ohio +said, "Garfield is my greatest son, and there never has been raised in +the cabins of Ohio a grander man"--and when Indiana held up her hands +and said, "Allow me to indorse that verdict," I was profoundly happy, +because that said to me, "Garfield will carry every Northern State;" +that said to me, "The Solid South will be confronted by a great and +splendid North." + +I know Garfield--I like him. Some people have said, "How is it that you +support Garfield, when he was a minister?" "How is it that you support +Garfield when he is a Christian?" I will tell you. There are two +reasons. The first is I am not a bigot; and secondly, James A. Garfield +is not a bigot. He believes in giving to every other human being every +right he claims for himself. He believes in freedom of speech and +freedom of thought; untrammeled conscience and upright manhood. He +believes in an absolute divorce between church and state. He believes +that every religion should rest upon its morality, upon its reason, +upon its persuasion, upon its goodness, upon its charity, and that love +should never appeal to the sword of civil power. He disagrees with me in +many things; but in the one thing, that the air is free for all, we do +agree. I want to do equal and exact justice everywhere. + +I want the world of thought to be without a chain, without a wall, and I +wish to say to you, [turning toward Mr. Beecher and directly addressing +him] that I thank you for what you have said to-night, and to +congratulate the people of this city and country that you have +intellectual horizon enough, intellectual sky enough to take the hand +of a man, howsoever much he may disagree in some things with you, on the +grand platform and broad principle of citizenship. James A. Garfield, +believing with me as he does, disagreeing with me as he does, is +perfectly satisfactory to me. I know him, and I like him. + +Men are to-day blackening his reputation, who are not fit to blacken +his shoes. He is a man of brain. Since his nomination he must have made +forty or fifty speeches, and every one has been full of manhood and +genius. He has not said a word that has not strengthened him with the +American people. He is the first candidate who has been free to express +himself and who has never made a mistake. I will tell you why he does +not make a mistake; because he spoke from the inside out. Because he was +guided by the glittering Northern Star of principle. Lie after lie has +been told about him. Slander after slander has been hatched and put in +the air, with its little short wings, to fly its day, and the last lie +is a forgery. + +I saw to-day the fac-simile of a letter that they pretend he wrote upon +the Chinese question. I know his writing; I know his signature; I am +well acquainted with his writing. I know handwriting, and I tell you +to-night, that letter and that signature are forgeries. A forgery +for the benefit of the Pacific States; a forgery for the purpose of +convincing the American workingman that Garfield is without heart. I +tell you, my fellow-citizens, that cannot take from him a vote. But Ohio +pierced their centre and Indiana rolled up both flanks and the rebel +line cannot re-form with a forgery for a standard. They are gone! + +Now, some people say to me, "How long are you going to preach the +doctrine of hate?" I never did preach it. In many States of this Union +it is a crime to be a Republican. I am going to preach my doctrine until +every American citizen is permitted to express his opinion and vote +as he may desire in every State of this Union. I am going to preach my +doctrine until this is a civilized country. That is all. + +I will treat the gentlemen of the South precisely as we do the gentlemen +of the North. I want to treat every section of the country precisely as +we do ours-. I want to improve their rivers and their harbors; I want +to fill their land with commerce; I want them to prosper; I want them to +build schoolhouses; I want them to open the lands to immigration to all +people who desire to settle upon their soil. I want to be friends with +them; I want to let the past be buried forever; I want to let bygones +be bygones, but only upon the basis that we are now in favor of absolute +liberty and eternal justice. I am not willing to bury nationality or +free speech in the grave for the purpose of being friends. Let us +stand by our colors; let the old Republican party that has made this a +Nation--the old Republican party that has saved the financial honor of +this country--let that party stand by its colors. + +Let that party say, "Free speech forever!" Let that party say, "An +honest ballot forever!" Let that party say, "Honest money forever! the +Nation and the flag forever!" And let that party stand by the great men +carrying her banner, James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. I +would rather trust a party than a man. If General Garfield dies, the +Republican party lives; if General Garfield dies, General Arthur will +take his place--a brave, honest, and intelligent gentleman, upon whom +every Republican can rely. And if he dies, the Republican party lives, +and as long as the Republican party does not die, the great Republic +will live. As long as the Republican party lives, this will be the +asylum of the world. Let me tell you, Mr. Irishman, this is the only +country on the earth where Irishmen have had enough to eat. Let me tell +you, Mr. German, that you have more liberty here than you had in the +Fatherland. Let me tell you, all men, that this is the land of humanity. + +Oh! I love the old Republic, bounded by the seas, walled by the wide +air, domed by heaven's blue, and lit with the eternal stars. I love the +Republic; I love it because I love liberty. Liberty is my religion, and +at its altar I worship, and will worship. + + + + +ADDRESS TO THE 86TH ILLINOIS REGIMENT. + + * This is only a fragment of a speech made by Col. Ingersoll + at Peoria, 111., in 1866, to the 86th Illinois Regiment, at + their anniversary meeting. + + +PEORIA, ILLS. + +1865. + +THE history of the past four years seems to me like a terrible dream. +It seems almost impossible that the events that have now passed into +history ever happened. That hundreds of thousands of men, born and +reared under one flag, with the same history, the same future, and, in +truth, the same interests, should have met upon the terrible field of +death, and for four long years should have fought with a bitterness and +determination never excelled; that they should have filled our land with +orphans and widows, and made our country hollow with graves, is +indeed wonderful; but that the people of the South should have thus +fought--thus attempted to destroy and overthrow the Government founded +by the heroes of the Revolution--merely for the sake of perpetuating the +infamous institution of slavery, is wonderful almost beyond belief. + +Strange that people should be found in this, the nineteenth century, to +fight against freedom and to die for slavery! It is most wonderful that +the terrible war ceased as suddenly as it did, and that the soldiers of +the Republic, the moment that the angel of peace spread her white wings +over our country, dropped from their hands the instruments of war +and eagerly went back to the plough, the shop and the office, and are +to-day, with the same determination that characterized them in battle, +engaged in effacing every vestige of the desolation and destruction of +war. But the progress we have made as a people is if possible still more +astonishing. We pretended to be the lovers of freedom, yet we defended +slavery. We quoted the Declaration of Independence and voted for the +compromise of 1850. + +From servility and slavishness we have marched to heroism. We were +tyrants. We are liberators. We were slave-catchers. We are now the +chivalrous breakers of chains. + +From slavery, over a bloody and terrible path, we have marched to +freedom. Hirelings of oppression, we have become the champions of +justice--the defenders of the right--the pillar upon which rests the +hope of the world. To whom are we indebted for this wonderful change? +Most of all to you, the soldiers of the great Republic. We thank you +that the hands of time were not turned back a thousand years--that the +Dark Ages did not again come upon the world--that Prometheus was +not again chained--that the river of progress was not stopped or +stayed--that the dear blood shed during all the past was not rendered +vain--that the sublime faith of all the grand and good did not become +a bitter dream, but a reality more glorious than ever entered into the +imagination of the rapt heroes of the past. Soldiers of the Eighty-sixth +Illinois, we thank you, and through you all the defenders of the +Republic, living and dead. We thank you that the deluge of blood has +subsided, that the ark of our national safety is at rest, that the dove +has returned with the olive branch of peace, and that the dark clouds of +war are in the far distance, covered with the beautiful bow. + +In the name of humanity, in the name of progress, in the name of +freedom, in the name of America, in the name of the oppressed of the +whole world, we thank you again and again. We thank you, that in the +darkest hour you never despaired of the Republic, that you were not +dismayed, that through disaster and defeat, through cruelty and famine, +through the serried ranks of the enemy, in spite of false friends, you +marched resolutely, unflinchingly and bravely forward. Forward through +shot and shell! Forward through fire and sword! Forward past the corpses +of your brave comrades, buried in shallow graves by the hurried hands +of heroes! Forward past the scattered bones of starved captives! Forward +through the glittering bayonet lines, and past the brazen throats of the +guns! Forward through the din and roar and smoke and hell of war! Onward +through blood and fire to the shining, glittering mount of perfect and +complete victory, and from the top your august hands unfurled to the +winds the old banner of the stars, and it waves in triumph now, and +shall forever, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio Grande, and from the +Atlantic to the Pacific! + +We thank you that our waving fields of golden wheat and rustling corn +are not trodden down beneath the bloody feet of invasion--that our homes +are not ashes--that our hearthstones are not desolate--that our towns +and cities still stand, that our temples and institutions of learning +are secure, that prosperity covers us as with a mantle, and, more than +all, we thank you that the Republic still lives; that law and order +reign supreme; that the Constitution is still sacred; that a republican +government has ceased to be only an experiment, and has become a +certainty for all time; that we have by your heroism established the +sublime and shining truth that a government by the people, for the +people, can and will stand until governments cease among men; that you +have given the lie to the impudent and infamous prophecy of tyranny, and +that you have firmly established the Republic upon the great ideas of +National Unity and Human Liberty. + +We thank you for our commerce on the high seas, upon our lakes and +beautiful rivers, for the credit of our nation, for the value of our +money, and for the grand position that we now occupy among the nations +of the earth. We thank you for every State redeemed, for every star +brought back to glitter again upon the old flag, and we thank you +for the grand future that you have opened for us and for our children +through all the ages yet to come; and, not only for us and our children, +but for mankind. + +Thanks to your efforts our country is still an asylum for the oppressed +of the Old World; the arms of our charity are still open, we still +beckon them across the sea, and they come in multitudes,'leaving home, +the graves of their sires, and the dear memories of the heart, and with +their wives and little ones come to this, the only free land upon which +the sun shines--and with their countless hands of labor add to the +wealth, the permanence and the glory of our country. And let them come +from the land of Luther, of Hampden and Emmett. Whoever is for freedom +and the sacred rights of man is a true American, and as such, we welcome +them all. We thank you to-day in the name of four millions of people, +whose shackles you have so nobly and generously broken, and who, from +the condition of beasts of burden, have by your efforts become men. We +thank you in the name of this poor and hitherto despised and insulted +race, and say that their emancipation was, and is, the crowning glory +of this most terrible war. Peace without liberty could have been only a +bloody delusion and a snare. Freedom is peace; Slavery is war. + +We must act justly and honorably with these emancipated men, knowing +that the eyes of the civilized world are upon us. We must do what is +best for both races. We must not be controlled merely by party. + +If the Government is founded upon principle, it will stand against the +shock of revolution and foreign war as long as liberty is sacred, the +rights of man respected, and honor dwells in the hearts of men. + +We thank you for the lesson that has been taught the Old World by your +patriotism and valor; believing that when the people shall have learned +that sublime and divine lesson, thrones will become kingless, kings +crownless, royalty an epitaph, the purple of power the shroud of death, +the chains of tyranny will fall from the bodies of men, the shackles +of superstition from the souls of the people, the spirit of persecution +will fly from the earth, and the banner of Universal Freedom, with the +words "Civil and Religious Liberty for the World" written upon every +fold, blazing from every star, will float over every land and sea under +the whole heavens. + +We thank you for the glorious past, for the still more glorious future, +and will continue to thank you while our hearts are warm with life. We +will gather around you in the hour of your death and soothe your last +moments with our gratitude. We will follow you tearfully to the narrow +house of the dead, and over your sacred remains erect the whitest and +purest marble. The hands of love will adorn your last abode, and the +chisel will record that beneath rests the sacred dust of the Heroic +Saviors of the Great Republic. Such ground will be holy, and future +generations will draw inspiration from your tombs, courage from your +heroic examples, patience and fortitude from your sufferings, and +strength eternal from your success. + +I cannot stop without speaking of the heroic dead. It seems to me as +though their spirits ought to hover over you to-day--that they might +join with us in giving thanks for the great victory,--that their faces +might grow radiant to think that their blood was not shed in vain,--that +the living are worthy to reap the benefits of their sacrifices, their +sufferings and death, and it almost seems as if their sightless eyes are +suffused with tears. Then we think of the dear mothers waiting for their +sons, of the devoted wives waiting for their husbands, of the orphans +asking for fathers whose returning footsteps they can never hear; that +while they can say "my country," they cannot say "my son," "my husband," +or "my father." + +My heart goes out to all the slain, to those heroic corpses sleeping far +away from home and kindred in unknown and lonely graves, to those poor +pieces of dear, bleeding earth that won for me the blessings I enjoy +to-day. + +Shall I recount their sufferings? They were starved day by day with +a systematic and calculating cruelty never equaled by the most savage +tribes. They were confined in dens as though they had been beasts, and +then they slowly faded and wasted from life. Some were released from +their sufferings by blessed insanity, until their parched and fevered +lips, their hollow and glittering eyes, were forever closed by the angel +of death. And thus they died, with the voices of loved ones in their +ears; the faces of the dear absent hovering over them; around them their +dying comrades, and the fiendish slaves of slavery. + +And what shall I say more of the regiment before me? It is enough that +you were a part of the great army that accomplished so much for America +and mankind. + +It is but just, however, to say that you were at the bloody field of +Perryville, that you stood with Thomas at Chickamauga and kept at bay +the rebel host, that you marched to the relief of Knoxville through +bitter cold, hunger and privations, and had the honor of relieving that +heroic garrison. + +It is but just to say that you were with Sherman in his wonderful march +through the heart of the Confederacy; that you were in the terrible +charge at Kenesaw Mountain, and held your ground for days within a few +steps of the rebel fortifications; that you were at Atlanta and took +part in the terrible conflict before that city and marched victoriously +through her streets; that you were at Savannah; that you had the honor +of being present when Johnson surrendered, and his ragged rebel horde +laid down their arms; that from there you marched to Washington and +beneath the shadow of the glorious dome of our Capitol, that lifts from +the earth as though jealous of the stars, received the grandest national +ovation recorded in the annals of the world. + + + + +DECORATION DAY ORATION. + + + * At the Memorial Celebration of the Grand Army of the + Republic last evening the Academy of Music was filled to + overflowing, within a few minutes after the opening of the + doors. + + Gen. Hancock was the first arrival of importance. The + Governor's Island band accepted this as a signal for the + overture. The Academy was tastefully decorated. The three + balconies were covered, the first with blue cloth, the + second with white and national bunting, studded with the + insignia of the original thirteen States, and the family + circle with red. Over the centre of the stage the national + flag and device hung suspended, and was held In its place by + flying streamers extending to the boxes. The latter were + draped with flags, relieved by antique armor and weapons-- + shields, casques and battle axes and crossed swords and + pikes. + + At 8.05 the curtain slowly rose, and discovered to the view + of the audience, a second audience reaching back to the + farthest depths of the scenes. These were the fortunate + holders of stage tickets, and comprised a great number of + distinguished men. + + Among them were noticed Gen. Horace Porter, Gen. Lloyd + Aspinwall, Gen. Daniel Butterfield, Gen. D. D. Wylie, Gen. + Charles Roome, Gen. W. Palmer, Gen. John Cochrane, Gen. H. + G. Tremaine, the Hon. Edward Pierrepont, Dep't. Commander + James M. Fraser, the Hon. Carl Schurz, August Belmont, Henry + Clews, Dr. Lewis A. Sayre, Charles Scribner, Jesse Seligman, + William Dowa, Henry Bergh and George William Curtis. Gen. + Bamum came upon the stage followed by President Arthur, + Gen's. Grant and Hancock, Secretaries Folger and Brewster, + ex-Senator Roscoe Conkling, Mayor Grace and the Rev. J. P. + Newman. Gen. Hancock's brilliant uniform made him a very + conspicuous figure, and he served as a foil to the plain + evening dress of Gen. Grant, who was separated from him by + the portly form of the President. + + Gen. James McQuade, the President of the day, rose and + uncovering a flag which draped a sort of patriotic altar in + front of him, announced that It was the genuine flag upon + which was written the famous order, "If any man pull down + the American flag, shoot him on the spot.' * This was the + signal for round after round of applause, while Gen. McQuade + waved this precious relic of the past. The time had now come + for the introduction of the orator of the evening, Col. + Robert G. Ingersoll. Col. Ingersoll stepped across the stage + to the reading desk, and was received with an ovation of + cheering and waving of handkerchiefs. + + After the enthusiasm had somewhat abated, a gentleman in one + of the boxes shouted: "Three-cheers for Ingersoll." + These were given with a will, the excitement quieted down + and the orator spoke as follows '.--The New York Times. May + 31st, 1883. + + +New York City. + + +1882. + +THIS day is sacred to our heroes dead. Upon their tombs we have lovingly +laid the wealth of Spring. + +This is a day for memory and tears. A mighty Nation bends above its +honored graves, and pays to noble dust the tribute of its love. + +Gratitude is the fairest flower that sheds its perfume in the heart. + +To-day we tell the history of our country's life--recount the lofty +deeds of vanished years--the toil and suffering, the defeats and +victories of heroic men,--of men who made our Nation great and free. + +We see the first ships whose prows were gilded by the western sun. We +feel the thrill of discovery when the New World was found. We see the +oppressed, the serf, the peasant and the slave, men whose flesh had +known the chill of chains--the adventurous, the proud, the brave, +sailing an unknown sea, seeking homes in unknown lands. We see the +settlements, the little clearings, the blockhouse and the fort, the rude +and lonely huts. Brave men, true women, builders of homes, fellers of +forests, founders of States. + +Separated from the Old World,--away from the heartless distinctions +of caste,--away from sceptres and titles and crowns, they governed +themselves. They defended their homes; they earned their bread. Each +citizen had a voice, and the little villages became republics. Slowly +the savage was driven back. The days and nights were filled with fear, +and the slow years with massacre and war, and cabins' earthen floors +were wet with blood of mothers and their babes. + +But the savages of the New World were kinder than the kings and nobles +of the Old; and so the human tide kept coming, and the places of the +dead were filled. Amid common dangers and common hopes, the prejudiced +and feuds of Europe faded slowly from their hearts. From every land, +of every speech, driven by want and lured by hope, exiles and emigrants +sought the mysterious Continent of the West. + +Year after year the colonists fought and toiled and suffered and +increased. They began to talk about liberty--to reason of the rights of +man. They * t asked no help from distant kings, and they began to doubt +the use of paying tribute to the useless. They lost respect for dukes +and lords, and held in high esteem all honest men. There was the dawn +of a new day. They began to dream of independence. They found that +they could make and execute the laws. They had tried the experiment of +self-government. They had succeeded. The Old World wished to dominate +the New. In the care and keeping of the colonists was the destiny of +this Continent--of half the world. + +On this day the story of the great struggle between colonists and kings +should be told. We should tell our children of the contest--first +for justice, then for freedom. We should tell them the history of +the Declaration of Independence--the chart and compass of all human +rights:--All men are equal, and have the right to life, to liberty and +joy. + +This Declaration uncrowned kings, and wrested from the hands of titled +tyranny the sceptre of usurped and arbitrary power. It superseded royal +grants, and repealed the cruel statutes of a thousand years. It gave the +peasant a career; it knighted all the sons of toil; it opened all the +paths to fame, and put the star of hope above the cradle of the poor +man's babe. + +England was then the mightiest of nations--mistress of every sea--and +yet our fathers, poor and few, defied her power. + +To-day we remember the defeats, the victories, the disasters, the weary +marches, the poverty, the hunger, the sufferings, the agonies, and above +all, the glories of the Revolution. We remember all--from Lexington to +Valley Forge, and from that midnight of despair to Yorktown's cloudless +day. We remember the soldiers and thinkers--the heroes of the sword and +pen. They had the brain and heart, the wisdom and courage to utter +and defend these words: "Governments derive their just powers from the +consent of the governed." In defence of this sublime and self-evident +truth the war was waged and won. + +To-day we remember all the heroes, all the generous and chivalric men +who came from other lands to make ours free. Of the many thousands who +shared the gloom and glory of the seven sacred years, not one remains. +The last has mingled with the earth, and nearly all are sleeping now +in unmarked graves, and some beneath the leaning, crumbling stones from +which their names have been effaced by Time's irreverent and relentless +hands. But the Nation they founded remains. The United States are still +free and independent. The "government derives its just power from +the consent of the governed," and fifty millions of free people remember +with gratitude the heroes of the Revolution. + +Let us be truthful; let us be kind. When peace came, when the +independence of a new Nation was acknowledged, the great truth for +which our fathers fought was half denied, and the Constitution was +inconsistent with the Declaration. The war was waged for liberty, and +yet the victors forged new fetters for their fellow-men. The chains our +fathers broke were put by them upon the limbs of others. "Freedom for +All" was the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, through seven +years of want and war. In peace the cloud was forgotten and the pillar +blazed unseen. + +Let us be truthful; all our fathers were not true to themselves. In +war they had been generous, noble and self-sacrificing; with peace came +selfishness and greed. They were not great enough to appreciate the +grandeur of the principles for which they fought. They ceased to regard +the great truths as having universal application. "Liberty for +All" included only themselves. They qualified the Declaration. They +interpolated the word "white." They obliterated the word "All." + +Let us be kind. We will remember the age in which they lived. We will +compare them with the citizens of other nations. They made merchandise +of men. They legalized a crime. They sowed the seeds of war. But they +founded this Nation. + +Let us gratefully remember. + +Let us gratefully forget. + +To-day we remember the heroes of the second war with England, in which +our fathers fought for the freedom of the seas--for the rights of the +American sailor. We remember with pride the splendid victories of Erie +and Champlain and the wondrous achievements upon the sea--achievements +that covered our navy with a glory that neither the victories nor +defeats of the future can dim. We remember the heroic services and +sufferings of those who fought the merciless savage of the frontier. +We see the midnight massacre, and hear the war-cries of the allies of +England. We see the flames climb around the happy homes, and in the +charred and blackened ruins the mutilated bodies of wives and children. +Peace came at last, crowned with the victory of New Orleans--a victory +that "did redeem all sorrows" and all defeats. + +The Revolution gave our fathers a free land--the War of 1812 a free sea. + +To-day we remember the gallant men who bore our flag in triumph from the +Rio Grande to the heights of Chapultepec. + +Leaving out of question the justice of our cause--the necessity for +war--we are yet compelled to applaud the marvelous courage of our +troops. A handful of men, brave, impetuous, determined, irresistible, +conquered a nation. Our history has no record of more daring deeds. + +Again peace came, and the Nation hoped and thought that strife was at +an end. We had grown too powerful to be attacked. Our resources were +boundless, and the future seemed secure. The hardy pioneers moved to the +great West. Beneath their ringing strokes the forests disappeared, and +on the prairies waved the billowed seas of wheat and corn. The great +plains were crossed, the mountains were conquered, and the foot of +victorious adventure pressed the shore of the Pacific. In the great +North all the streams went singing to the sea, turning wheels and +spindles, and casting shuttles back and forth. Inventions were springing +like magic from a thousand brains. From Labor's holy altars rose and +leaped the smoke and flame, and from the countless forges ran the chant +of rhythmic stroke. + +But in the South, the negro toiled unpaid, and mothers wept while babes +were sold, and at the auction-block husbands and wives speechlessly +looked the last good-bye. Fugitives, lighted by the Northern Star, +sought liberty on English soil, and were, by Northern men, thrust back +to whip and chain. The great statesmen, the successful politicians, +announced that law had compromised with crime, that justice had been +bribed, and that time had barred appeal. A race was left without a +right, without a hope. The future had no dawn, no star--nothing but +ignorance and fear, nothing but work and want. This, was the conclusion +of the statesmen, the philosophy of the politicians--of constitutional +expounders:--this was decided by courts and ratified by the Nation. + +We had been successful in three wars. We had wrested thirteen colonies +from Great Britain. We had conquered our place upon the high seas. We +had added more than two millions of square miles to the national domain. +We had increased in population from three to thirty-one millions. We +were in the midst of plenty. We were rich and free. Ours appeared to +be the most prosperous of Nations. But it was only appearance. The +statesmen and the politicians were deceived. Real victories can be won +only for the Right. The triumph of Justice is the only Peace. Such is +the nature of things. He who enslaves another cannot be free. He who +attacks the right, assaults himself. The mistake our fathers made had +not been corrected. The foundations of the Republic were insecure. The +great dome of the temple was clad in the light of prosperity, but +the corner-stones were crumbling. Four millions of human beings were +enslaved. Party cries had been mistaken for principles--partisanship +for patriotism--success for justice. + +But Pity pointed to the scarred and bleeding backs of slaves; Mercy +heard the sobs of mothers reft of babes, and Justice held aloft the +scales, in which one drop of blood shed by a master's lash, outweighed a +Nation's gold. There were a few men, a few women, who had the courage to +attack this monstrous crime. They found it entrenched in constitutions, +statutes, and decisions--barricaded and bastioned by every department +and by every party. Politicians were its servants, statesmen its +attorneys, judges its menials, presidents its puppets, and upon its +cruel altar had been sacrificed our country's honor. It was the crime of +the Nation--of the whole country--North and South responsible alike. + +To-day we reverently thank the abolitionists. Earth has no grander +men--no nobler women. They were the real philanthropists, the true +patriots. When the will defies fear, when the heart applauds the +brain, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scorns to +compromise with death,--this is heroism. The abolitionists were heroes. +He loves his country best who strives to make it best. The bravest men +are those who have the greatest fear of doing wrong. Mere politicians +wish the country to do something for them. True patriots desire to do +something for their country. Courage without conscience is a wild beast. +Patriotism without principle is the prejudice of birth, the animal +attachment to place. These men, these women, had courage and conscience, +patriotism and principle, heart and brain. + +The South relied upon the bond,--upon a barbarous clause that stained, +disfigured and defiled the Federal pact, and made the monstrous claim +that slavery was the Nation's ward. The spot of shame grew red in +Northern cheeks, and Northern men declared that slavery had poisoned, +cursed and blighted soul and soil enough, and that the Territories must +be free. The radicals of the South cried: "No Union without Slavery!" +The radicals of the North replied: "No Union without Liberty!" The +Northern radicals were right. Upon the great issue of free homes for +free men, a President was elected by the free States. The South appealed +to the sword, and raised the standard of revolt. For the first time in +history the oppressors rebelled. + +But let us to-day be great enough to forget individuals,--great enough +to know that slavery was treason, that slavery was rebellion, that +slavery fired upon our flag and sought to wreck and strand the mighty +ship that bears the hope and fortune of this world. The first shot +liberated the North. Constitution, statutes and decisions, compromises, +platforms, and resolutions made, passed, and ratified in the interest of +slavery became mere legal lies, base and baseless. Parchment and paper +could no longer stop or stay the onward march of man. The North was +free. Millions instantly resolved that the Nation should not die--that +Freedom should not perish, and that Slavery should not live. + +Millions of our brothers, our sons, our fathers, our husbands, answered +to the Nation's call. + +The great armies have desolated the earth. The greatest soldiers have +been ambition's dupes. They waged war for the sake of place and pillage, +pomp and power,--for the ignorant applause of vulgar millions,--for the +flattery of parasites, and the adulation of sycophants and slaves. + +Let us proudly remember that in our time the greatest, the grandest, the +noblest army of the world fought, not to enslave, but to free; not to +destroy, but to save; not for conquest, but for conscience; not only for +us, but for every land and every race. + +With courage, with enthusiasm, with a devotion' never excelled, with an +exaltation and purity of purpose never equaled, this grand army fought +the battles of the Republic. For the preservation of this Nation, for +the destruction of slavery, these soldiers, these sailors, on land and +sea, disheartened by no defeat, discouraged by no obstacle, appalled by +no danger, neither paused nor swerved until a stainless flag, without +a rival, floated over all our wide domain, and until every human being +beneath its folds was absolutely free. + +The great victory for human rights--the greatest of all the years--had +been won; won by the Union men of the North, by the Union men of the +South, and by those who had been slaves. Liberty was national, Slavery +was dead. + +The flag for which the heroes fought, for which they died, is the symbol +of all we are, of all we hope to be. + +It is the emblem of equal rights. + +It means free hands, free lips, self-government and the sovereignty of +the individual. + +It means that this continent has been dedicated to freedom. + +It means universal education,--light for every mind, knowledge for every +child. + +It means that the schoolhouse is the fortress of Liberty. + +It means that "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of +the governed;" that each man is accountable to and for the Government; +that responsibility goes hand in hand with liberty. + +It means that it is the duty of every citizen to bear his share of the +public burden,--to take part in the affairs of his town, his county, his +State and his country. + +It means that the ballot-box is the Ark of the Covenant; that the source +of authority must not be poisoned. + +It means the perpetual right of peaceful revolution. It means that every +citizen of the Republic--native or naturalized--must be protected; at +home, in every State,--abroad, in every land, on every sea. + +It means that all distinctions based on birth or blood, have perished +from our laws; that our Government shall stand between labor and +capital, between the weak and the strong, between the individual and the +corporation, between want and wealth, and give the guarantee of simple +justice to each and all. + +It means that there shall be a legal remedy for every wrong. + +It means national hospitality,--that we must welcome to our shores the +exiles of the world, and that we may not drive them back. Some may +be deformed by labor, dwarfed by hunger, broken in spirit, victims of +tyranny and caste,--in whose sad faces may be read the touching record +of a weary life; and yet their children, born of liberty and love, will +be symmetrical and fair, intelligent and free. + +That flag is the emblem of a supreme will--of a Nation's power. Beneath +its folds the weakest must be protected and the strongest must obey. It +shields and canopies alike the loftiest mansion and the rudest hut. +That flag was given to the air in the Revolution's darkest days. It +represents the sufferings of the past, the glories yet to be; and like +the bow of heaven, it is the child of storm and sun. + +This day is sacred to the great heroic host who kept this flag above +our heads,--sacred to the living and the dead--sacred to the scarred and +maimed,--sacred to the wives who gave their husbands, to the mothers who +gave their sons. + +Here in this peaceful land of ours,--here where the sun shines, where +flowers grow, where children play, millions of armed men battled for the +right and breasted on a thousand fields the iron storms of war. + +These brave, these incomparable men, founded the first Republic. They +fulfilled the prophecies; they brought to pass the dreams; they realized +the hopes, that all the great and good and wise and just have made and +had since man was man. + +But what of those who fell? There is no language to express the debt we +owe, the love we bear, to all the dead who died for us. Words are but +barren sounds. We can but stand beside their graves and in the hush and +silence feel what speech has never told. + +They fought, they died; and for the first time since man has kept a +record of events, the heavens bent above and domed a land without a +serf, a servant or a slave. + + + + +DECORATION DAY ADDRESS. + + * Empty sleeves worn by veterans with scanty locks and + grizzled mustaches graced the Metropolitan Opera House last + night. On the breasts of their faded uniforms glittered the + badges of the legions in which they had fought and suffered, + and beside them sat the wives and daughters, whose hearts + had ached at home while they served their country at the + front. + + Every seat in the great Opera House was filled, and hundreds + stood, glad to And any place where they could see and hear. + And the gathering and the proceedings were worthy of the + occasion. + + Mr. Depew upon taking the chair said that he had the chief + treat of the evening to present to the audience, and that + was Robert G. Ingersoll, the greatest living orator, and one + of the great controversialists of the age. + + Then came the orator of the occasion Col. Ingersoll, whose + speech is printed herewith. + + Enthusiastic cheers greeted all his points, and his audience + simply went wild at the end. It was a grand oration, and it + was listened to by enthusiastic and appreciative hearers, + upon whom not a single word was lost, and in whose hearts + every word awoke a responsive echo. + + Nor did the enthusiasm which Col. Ingersoll created end + until the very last, when the whole assemblage arose and + sang "America" in a way which will never be forgotten by any + one present. It was a great ending of a great evening.--The + New York Times, May 31st, 1888. + + +New York City. + +1888. + +THIS is a sacred day--a day for gratitude and love. + +To-day we commemorate more than independence, more than the birth of +a nation, more than the fruits of the Revolution, more than physical +progress, more than the accumulation of wealth, more than national +prestige and power. + +We commemorate the great and blessed victory over ourselves--the triumph +of civilization, the reformation of a people, the establishment of a +government consecrated to the preservation of liberty and the equal +rights of man. + +Nations can win success, can be rich and powerful, can cover the earth +with their armies, the seas with their fleets, and yet be selfish, small +and mean. Physical progress means opportunity for doing good. It means +responsibility. Wealth is the end of the despicable, victory the purpose +of brutality. + +But there is something nobler than all these--something that rises above +wealth and power--something above lands and palaces--something above +raiment and gold--it is the love of right, the cultivation of the moral +nature, the desire to do justice, the inextinguishable love of human +liberty. + +Nothing can be nobler than a nation governed by conscience, nothing more +infamous than power without pity, wealth without honor and without the +sense of justice. + +Only by the soldiers of the right can the laurel be won or worn. + +On this day we honor the heroes who fought to make our Nation just and +free--who broke the shackles of the slave, who freed the masters of the +South and their allies of the North. We honor chivalric men who made +America the hope and beacon of the human race--the foremost Nation of +the world. + +These heroes established the first republic, and demonstrated that +a government in which the legally expressed will of the people is +sovereign and supreme is the safest, strongest, securest, noblest and +the best. + +They demonstrated the human right of the people, and of all the people, +to make and execute the laws--that authority does not come from the +clouds, or from ancestry, or from the crowned and titled, or from +constitutions and compacts, laws and customs--not from the admissions of +the great, or the concessions of the powerful and victorious--not from +graves, or consecrated dust--not from treaties made between successful +robbers--not from the decisions of corrupt and menial courts--not from +the dead, but from the living--not from the past but from the present, +from the people of to-day--from the brain, from the heart and from the +conscience of those who live and love and labor. + +The history of this world for the most part is the history of conflict +and war, of invasion, of conquest, of victorious wrong, of the many +enslaved by the few. + +Millions have fought for kings, for the destruction and enslavement of +their fellow-men. Millions have battled for empire, and great armies +have been inspired by the hope of pillage; but for the first time in the +history of this world millions of men battled for the right, fought to +free not themselves, but others, not for prejudice, but for principle, +not for conquest, but for conscience. + +The men whom we honor were the liberators of a Nation, of a whole +country, North and South--of two races. They freed the body and the +brain, gave liberty to master and to slave. They opened all the highways +of thought, and gave to fifty millions of people the inestimable legacy +of free speech. + +They established the free exchange of thought. They gave to the air a +flag without a stain, and they gave to their country a Constitution +that honest men can reverently obey. They destroyed the hateful, the +egotistic and provincial--they established a Nation, a national spirit, +a national pride and a patriotism as broad as the great Republic. + +They did away with that ignorant and cruel prejudice that human rights +depend on race or color, and that the superior race has the right +to oppress the inferior. They established the sublime truth that the +superior are the just, the kind, the generous, and merciful--that the +really superior are the protectors, the defenders, and the saviors of +the oppressed, of the fallen, the unfortunate, the weak and helpless. +They established that greatest of all truths that nothing is nobler than +to labor and suffer for others. + +If we wish to know the extent of our debt to these heroes, these +soldiers of the right, we must know what we were and what we are. A few +years ago we talked about liberty, about the freedom of the world, and +while so talking we enslaved our fellow-men. We were the stealers +of babes and the whippers of women. We were in partnership with +bloodhounds. We lived on unpaid labor. We held manhood in contempt. +Honest toil was disgraceful--sympathy was a crime--pity was +unconstitutional--humanity contrary to law, and charity was treason. Men +were imprisoned for pointing out in heaven's dome the Northern Star--for +giving food to the hungry, water to the parched lips of thirst, shelter +to the hunted, succor to the oppressed. In those days criminals and +courts, pirates and pulpits were in partnership--liberty was only a +word standing for the equal rights of robbers. + +For many years we insisted that our fathers had founded a free +Government, that they were the lovers of liberty, believers in equal +rights. We were mistaken. The colonists did not believe in the freedom +of to-day. Their laws were filled with intolerance, with slavery and +the infamous spirit of caste. They persecuted and enslaved. Most of them +were narrow, ignorant and cruel. For the most part, their laws were more +brutal than those of the nations from which they came. They branded the +forehead of intelligence, bored with hot irons the tongue of truth. They +persecuted the good and enslaved the helpless. They were believers in +pillories and whipping-posts for honest, thoughtful men. + +When their independence was secured they adopted a Constitution that +legalized slavery, and they passed laws making it the duty of free men +to prevent others from becoming free. They followed the example of kings +and nobles. They knew that monarchs had been interested in the slave +trade, and that the first English commander of a slave-ship divided his +profits with a queen. + +They forgot all the splendid things they had said--the great principles +they had so proudly and eloquently announced. The sublime truths faded +from their hearts. The spirit of trade, the greed for office, took +possession of their souls. The lessons of history were forgotten. The +voices coming from all the wrecks of kingdoms, empires and republics on +the shores of the great river were unheeded and unheard. + +If the foundation is not justice, the dome cannot be high enough, or +splendid enough, to save the temple. + +But above everything in the minds of our fathers was the desire for +union--to create a Nation, to become a Power. + +Our fathers compromised. + +A compromise is a bargain in which each party defrauds the other, and +himself. + +The compromise our fathers made was the coffin of honor and the cradle +of war. + +A brazen falsehood and a timid truth are the parents of compromise. + +But some--the greatest and the best--believed in liberty for all. They +repeated the splendid sayings of the Roman: "By the law of nature all +men are free;"--of the French King: "Men are born free and equal;"--of +the sublime Zeno: "All men are by nature equal, and virtue alone +establishes a difference between them." + +In the year preceding the Declaration of Independence, a society for the +abolition of slavery was formed in Pennsylvania and its first President +was one of the wisest and greatest of men--Benjamin Franklin. A society +of the same character was established in New York in 1785; its first +President was John Jay--the second, Alexander Hamilton. + +But in a few years these great men were forgotten. Parties rivaled each +other in the defence of wrong. Politicians cared only for place and +power. In the clamor of the heartless, the voice of the generous was +lost. Slavery became supreme. It dominated legislatures, courts and +parties; it rewarded the faithless and little; it degraded the honest +and great. + +And yet, through all these hateful years, thousands and thousands of +noble men and women denounced the degradation and the crime. Most of +their names are unknown. They have given a glory to obscurity. They have +filled oblivion with honor. + +In the presence of death it has been the custom to speak of the +worthlessness, and the vanity, of life. I prefer to speak of its value, +of its importance, of its nobility and glory. + +Life is not merely a floating shadow, a momentary spark, a dream that +vanishes. Nothing can be grander than a life filled with great and noble +thoughts--with brave and honest deeds. Such a life sheds light, and the +seeds of truth sown by great and loyal men bear fruit through all the +years to be. To have lived and labored and died for the right--nothing +can be sublimer. + +History is but the merest outline of the exceptional--of a few great +crimes, calamities, wars, mistakes and dramatic virtues. A few mountain +peaks are touched, while all the valleys of human life, where countless +victories are won, where labor wrought with love--are left in the +eternal shadow. + +But these peaks are not the foundation of nations. The forgotten words, +the unrecorded deeds, the unknown sacrifices, the heroism, the industry, +the patience, the love and labor of the nameless good and great have for +the most part founded, guided and defended States. The world has +been civilized by the unregarded poor, by the untitled nobles, by the +uncrowned kings who sleep in unknown graves mingled with the common +dust. + +They have thought and wrought, have borne the burdens of the world. The +pain and labor have been theirs--the glory has been given to the few. + +The conflict came. The South unsheathed the sword. Then rose the +embattled North, and these men who sleep to-night beneath the flowers of +half the world, gave all for us. + +They gave us a Nation--a republic without a slave--a republic that is +sovereign, and to whose will every citizen and every State must bow. +They gave us a Constitution for all--one that can be read without shame +and defended without dishonor. They freed the brain, the lips and hands +of men. + +All that could be done by force was done. All that could be accomplished +by the adoption of constitutions was done. The rest is left to +education--the innumerable influences of civilization--to the +development of the intellect, to the cultivation of the heart and the +imagination. + +The past is now a hideous dream. + +The present is filled with pride, with gratitude, and hope. + +Liberty is the condition of real progress. The free man works for wife +and child--the slave toils from fear. Liberty gives leisure and leisure +refines, beautifies and ennobles. Slavery gives idleness and idleness +degrades, deforms and brutalizes. + +Liberty and slavery--the right and wrong--the joy and grief--the day and +night--the glory and the gloom of all the years. + +Liberty is the word that all the good have spoken. + +It is the hope of every loving heart--the spark and flame in every noble +breast--the gem in every splendid soul--the many-colored dream in every +honest brain. + +This word has filled the dungeon with its holy light,--has put the halo +round the martyr's head,--has raised the convict far above the king, +and clad even the scaffold with a glory that dimmed and darkened every +throne. + +To the wise man, to the wise nation, the mistakes of the past are the +torches of the present. The war is over. The institution that caused it +has perished. The prejudices that fanned the flames are only ashes now. +We are one people. We will stand or fall together. At last, with clear +eyes we see that the triumph of right was a triumph for all. Together we +reap the fruits of the great victory. We are all conquerors. Around the +graves of the heroes--North and South, white and colored--together +we stand and with uncovered heads reverently thank the saviors of our +native land. + +We are now far enough away from the conflict--from its hatreds, its +passions, its follies and its glories, to fairly and philosophically +examine the causes and in some measure at least to appreciate the +results. + +States and nations, like individuals, do as they must. Back of +revolution, of rebellion, of slavery and freedom, are the efficient +causes. Knowing this, we occupy that serene height from which it is +possible to calmly pronounce a judgment upon the past. + +We know now that the seeds of our war were sown hundreds and thousands +of years ago--sown by the vicious and the just, by prince and peasant, +by king and slave, by all the virtues and by all the vices, by all the +victories and all the defeats, by all the labor and the love, the loss +and gain, by all the evil and the good, and by all the heroes of the +world. + +Of the great conflict we remember only its glory and its lessons. We +remember only the heroes who made the Republic the first of nations, and +who laid the foundation for the freedom of mankind. + +This will be known as the century of freedom. Slowly the hosts of +darkness have been driven back. + +In 1808 England and the United States united for the suppression of the +slave-trade. The Netherlands joined in this holy work in 1818. France +lent her aid in 1819 and Spain in 1820. In the same year the United +States declared the traffic to be piracy, and in 1825 the same law was +enacted by Great Britain. In 1826 Brazil agreed to suppress the traffic +in human flesh. In 1833 England abolished slavery in the West Indies, +and in 1843 in her East Indian possessions, giving liberty to more than +twelve millions of slaves. In 1846 Sweden abolished slavery, and in +1848 it was abolished in the colonies of Denmark and France. In 1861 +Alexander II., Czar of all the Russias, emancipated the serfs, and on +the first day of January, 1863, the shackles fell from millions of +the citizens of this Republic. This was accomplished by the heroes +we remember to-day--this, in accordance with the Proclamation of +Emancipation signed by Lincoln,--greatest of our mighty dead--Lincoln +the gentle and the just--and whose name will be known and honored to +"the last syllable of recorded time." And this year, 1888, has been made +blessed and memorable forever--in the vast empire of Brazil there stands +no slave. + +Let us hope that when the next century looks from the sacred portals of +the East, its light will only fall upon the faces of the free. + + * By request, Col. Ingersoll closed this address with his + "Vision of War," to which he added "A Vision of the + Future." This accounts for its repetition in this volume. + +The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are in the great +struggle for national life. We hear the sounds of preparation--the +music of boisterous drums--the silver voices of heroic bugles. We see +thousands of assemblages, and hear the appeals of orators. We see +the pale cheeks of women, and the flushed faces of men; and in those +assemblages we see all the dead whose dust we have covered with flowers. +We lose sight of them no more. We are with them when they enlist in the +great army of freedom. We see them part with those they love. Some are +walking for the last time in quiet, woody places, with the maidens they +adore. We hear the whisperings and the sweet vows of eternal love as +they lingeringly part forever. Others are bending over cradles, kissing +babes that are asleep. Some are receiving the blessings of old men. Some +are parting with mothers who hold them and press them to their +hearts again and again, and say nothing. Kisses and tears, tears and +kisses--divine mingling of agony and love! And some are talking with +wives, and endeavoring with brave words, spoken in the old tones, to +drive from their hearts the awful fear. We see them part. We see the +wife standing in the door with the babe in her arms--standing in the +sunlight sobbing. At the turn of the road a hand waves--she answers by +holding high in her loving arms the child. He is gone, and forever. + +We see them all as they march proudly away under the flaunting flags, +keeping time to the grand, wild music of war--marching-down the streets +of the great cities--through the towns and across the prairies--down to +the fields of glory, to do and to die for the eternal right. + +We go with them, one and all. We are by their side on all the gory +fields--in all the hospitals of pain--on all the weary marches. We stand +guard with them in the wild storm and under the quiet stars. We are with +them in ravines running with blood--in the furrows of old fields. We are +with them between contending hosts, unable to move, wild with thirst, +the life ebbing slowly away among the withered leaves. We see them +pierced by balls and torn with shells, in the trenches, by forts, and +in the whirlwind of the charge, where men become iron, with nerves of +steel. + +We are with them in the prisons of hatred and famine; but human speech +can never tell what they endured. + +We are at home when the news comes that they are dead. We see the maiden +in the shadow of her first sorrow. We see the silvered head of the old +man bowed with the last grief. + +The past rises before us, and we see four millions of human beings +governed by the lash--we see them bound hand and foot--we hear the +strokes of cruel whips--we see the hounds tracking women through +tangled swamps. We see babes sold from the breasts of mothers. Cruelty +unspeakable! Outrage infinite! + +Four million bodies in chains--four million souls in fetters. All the +sacred relations of wife, mother, father and child trampled beneath +the brutal feet of might. And all this was done under our own beautiful +banner of the free. + +The past rises before us. We hear the roar and shriek of the bursting +shell. The broken fetters fall. These heroes died. We look. Instead of +slaves we see men and women and children. The wand of progress touches +the auction block, the slave pen, the whipping post, and we see homes +and firesides and school-houses and books, and where all was want and +crime and cruelty and fear, we see the faces of the free. + +These heroes are dead. They died for liberty--they died for us. They +are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag +they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the +tearful willows, and the embracing vines. + +They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine +or of storm, each in the windowless Palace of Rest. Earth may run red +with other wars--they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar +of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for +soldiers living and dead: Cheers for the living; tears for the dead. + +A vision of the future rises: + +I see our country filled with happy homes, with firesides of +content,--the foremost land of all the earth. + +I see a world where thrones have crumbled and where kings are dust. The +aristocracy of idleness has perished from the earth. + +I see a world without a slave. Man at last is free. Nature's forces have +by Science been enslaved. Lightning and light, wind and wave, frost +and flame, and all the secret, subtle powers of earth and air are the +tireless toilers for the human race. + +I see a world at peace, adorned with every form of art, with music's +myriad voices thrilled, while lips are rich with words of love and +truth; a world in which no exile sighs, no prisoner mourns; a world on +which the gibbet's shadow does not fall; a world where labor reaps its +full reward, where work and worth go hand in hand, where the poor girl +trying to win bread with the needle--the needle that has been called +"the asp for the breast of the poor,"--is not driven to the desperate +choice of crime or death, of suicide or shame. + +I see a world without the beggar's outstretched palm, the miser's +heartless, stony stare, the piteous wail of want, the livid lips of +lies, the cruel eyes of scorn. + +I see a race without disease of flesh or brain,--shapely and fair,--the +married harmony of form and function,--and, as I look, life lengthens, +joy deepens, love canopies the earth; and over all, in the great dome, +shines the eternal star of human hope. + + + + +RATIFICATION SPEECH. + + + * Delivered at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, June + 29,1688. + +Harrison and Morton. + +1888. + +FELLOW-CITIZENS, Ladies and Gentlemen--The speaker who is perfectly +candid, who tells his honest thought, not only honors himself, but +compliments his audience. It is only to the candid that man can afford +to absolutely open his heart. Most people, whenever a man is nominated +for the presidency, claim that they were for him from the very start--as +a rule, claim that they discovered him. They are so anxious to be with +the procession, so afraid of being left, that they insist that they got +exactly the man they wanted. + +I will be frank enough with you to say that the convention did not +nominate my choice. I was for the nomination of General Gresham, +believing that, all things considered, he was the best and most +available man--a just judge, a soldier, a statesman. But there is +something in the American blood that bows to the will of the majority. +There is that splendid fealty and loyalty to the great principle upon +which our Government rests; so that when the convention reached its +conclusion, every Republican was for the nominee. There were good men +from which to select this ticket. I made my selection, and did the best +I could to induce the convention to make the same. Some people think, +or say they think, that I made a mistake in telling the name of the man +whom I was for. But I always know whom I am for, I always know what I am +for, and I know the reasons why I am for the thing or for the man. + +And it never once occurred to me that we could get a man nominated, or +elected, and keep his name a secret. When I am for a man I like to stand +by him, even while others leave, no matter if at last I stand alone. I +believe in doing things above board, in the light, in the wide air. +No snake ever yet had a skin brilliant enough, no snake ever crawled +through the grass secretly enough, silently or cunningly enough, to +excite my admiration. My admiration is for the eagle, the monarch of the +empyrean, who, poised on outstretched pinions, challenges the gaze of +all the world. Take your position in the sunlight; tell your neighbors +and your friends what you are for, and give your reasons for your +position; and if that is a mistake, I expect to live making only +mistakes. I do not like the secret way, but the plain, open way; and I +was for one man, not because I had anything against the others, who were +all noble, splendid men, worthy to be Presidents of the United States. + +Now, then, leaving that subject, two parties again confront each other. +With parties as with persons goes what we call character. They have +built up in the nation in which they live reputation, and the reputation +of a party should be taken into consideration as well as the reputation +of a man. What is this party? What has it done? What has it endeavored +to do? What are the ideas in its brain? What are the hopes, the emotions +and the loves in its heart? Does it wish to make the world grander and +better and freer? Has it a high ideal? Does it believe in sunrise, or +does it keep its back to the sacred east of eternal progress? These +are the questions that every American should ask. Every man should +take pride in this great Nation--America, with a star of glory in her +forehead!--and every man should say, "I hope when I lie down in death I +shall leave a greater and grander country than when I was born." + +This is the country of humanity. This is the Government of the poor. +This is where man has an even chance with his fellow-man. In this +country the poorest man holds in his hand at the day of election the +same unit, the same amount, of political power as the owner of a hundred +millions. That is the glory of the United States. + +A few days ago our party met in convention. Now, let us see who we are. +Let us see what the Republican party is. Let us see what is the spirit +that animates this great and splendid organization. + +And I want you to think one moment, just one moment: What was this +country when the first Republican President was elected? Under the +law then, every Northern man was a bloodhound, pledged to catch human +beings, who, led by the light of the Northern Star, were escaping +to free soil. Remember that. And remember, too, that when our first +President was elected we found a treasury empty, the United States +without credit, the great Republic unable to borrow money from day to +day to pay its current expenses. Remember that. Think of the glory and +grandeur of the Republican party that took the country with an empty +exchequer, and then think of what the Democratic party says to-day of +the pain and anguish it has suffered administering the Government with a +surplus! + +We must remember what the Republican party has done--what it has +accomplished for nationality, for liberty, for education and for the +civilization of our race. We must remember its courage in war, its +honesty in peace. Civil war tests to a certain degree the strength, the +stability and the patriotism of a country. After the war comes a greater +strain. It is a great thing to die for a cause, but it is a greater +thing to live for it. We must remember that the Republican party not +only put down a rebellion, not only created a debt of thousands and +thousands of millions, but that it had the industry and the intelligence +to pay that debt, and to give to the United States the best financial +standing of any nation. + +When this great party came together in Chicago what was the first thing +the convention did? What was the first idea in its mind? It was to honor +the memory of the greatest and grandest men the Republic has produced. +The first name that trembled upon the lips of the convention was that of +Abraham Lincoln--Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest and grandest men +who ever lived, and, in my judgment, the greatest man that ever sat +in the presidential chair. And why the greatest? Because the kindest, +because he had more mercy and love in his heart than were in the heart +of any other President. And so the convention paid its tribute to the +great soldier, to the man who led, in company with others, the great +army of freedom to victory, until the old flag floated over every inch +of American soil and every foot of that territory was dedicated to the +eternal freedom of mankind. + +And what next did this convention do? The next thing was to send +fraternal greetings to the Americans of Brazil. Why? Because Brazil +had freed every slave, and because that act left the New World, this +hemisphere, without a slave--left two continents dedicated to the +freedom of man--so that with that act of Brazil the New World, +discovered only a few years ago, takes the lead in the great march of +human progress and liberty. That is the second thing the convention did. +Only a little while ago the minister to this country from Brazil, acting +under instructions from his government, notified the President of the +United States that this sublime act had been accomplished--notified +him that from the bodies of millions of men the chains of slavery had +fallen--an act great enough to make the dull sky of half the world glow +as though another morning had risen upon another day. + +And what did our President say? Was he filled with enthusiasm? Did his +heart beat quicker? Did the blood rush to his cheek? He simply said, +as it is reported, "that he hoped time would justify the wisdom of the +measure." It is precisely the same as though a man should quit a life of +crime, as though some gentleman in the burglar business should finally +announce to his friends: "I have made up my mind never to break into +another house," and the friend should reply: "I hope that time will +justify the propriety of that resolution." + +That was the first thing, with regard to the condition of the world, +that came into the mind of the Republican convention. And why was that? +Because the Republican party has fought for liberty from the day of its +birth to the present moment. + +And what was the next? The next resolution passed by the convention was, +"that we earnestly hope, we shall soon congratulate our fellow-citizens +of Irish birth upon the peaceful recovery of home rule in Ireland." + +Wherever a human being wears a chain, there you will find the sympathy +of the Republican party. Wherever one languishes in a dungeon for having +raised the standard of revolt in favor of human freedom, there you will +find the sympathy of the Republican party. I believe in liberty for +Ireland, not because it is Ireland, but because they are human beings, +and I am for liberty, not as a prejudice, but as a principle. + +The man rightfully in jail who wants to get out is a believer in liberty +as a prejudice; but when a man out of jail sees a man wrongfully in jail +and is willing to risk his life to give liberty to the man who ought to +have it, that is being in favor of liberty as a principle. So I am in +favor of liberty everywhere, all over the world, and wherever one man +tries to govern another simply because he has been born a lord or a duke +or a king, or wherever one governs another simply by brute force, I say +that that is oppression, and it is the business of Americans to do all +they can to give liberty to the oppressed everywhere. + +Ireland should govern herself. Those who till the soil should own the +soil, or have an opportunity at least of becoming the owners. A few +landlords should not live in extravagance and luxury while those +who toil live on the leavings, on parings, on crumbs and crusts. The +treatment of Ireland by England has been one continuous crime. There is +no meaner page in history. + +What is the next thing in this platform? And if there is anything in it +that anybody can object to, we will find it out to-night. The next thing +is the supremacy of the Nation.-Why, even the Democrats now believe in +that, and in their own platform are willing to commence that word with +a capital N. They tell us that they are in favor of an indissoluble +Union--just as I presume they always have been. But they now believe in +a Union. So does the Republican party. What else? The Republican party +believes, not in State Sovereignty, but in the preservation of all the +rights reserved to the States by the Constitution. + +Let me show you the difference: For instance, you make a contract with +your neighbor who lives next door--equal partners--and at the bottom of +the contract you put the following addition: "If there is any dispute +as to the meaning of this contract, my neighbor shall settle it, and any +settlement he shall make shall be final." Is there any use of talking +about being equal partners any longer? Any use of your talking about +being a sovereign partner? So, the Constitution of the United States +says: "If any question arises between any State and the Federal +Government it shall be decided by a Federal Court." That is the end of +what they call State Sovereignty. + +Think of a sovereign State that can make no treaty, that cannot levy +war, that cannot coin money. But we believe in maintaining the rights +of the States absolutely in their integrity, because we believe in local +self-government. We deny, however, that a State has any right to deprive +a citizen of his vote. We deny that the State has any right to violate +the Federal law, and we go further and we say that it is the duty of the +General Government to see to it that every citizen in every State shall +have the right to exercise all of his privileges as a citizen of the +United States--"the right of every lawful citizen," says our platform, +"native or foreign, white or black, to cast a free ballot." + +Let me say one word about that. + +The ballot is the king, the emperor, the ruler of America; it is the +only rightful sovereign of the Republic; and whoever refuses to count +an honest vote, or whoever casts a dishonest vote, is a traitor to the +great principle upon which our Government is founded. The man poisons, +or endeavors to poison, the springs of authority, the fountains of +justice, of rightful dominion and power; and until every citizen can +cast his vote everywhere in this land and have that vote counted, we are +not a republican people, we are not a civilized nation. The Republican +party will not have finished its mission until this country is +civilized. That is its business. It was born of a protest against +barbarism. + +The Republican party was the organized conscience of the United States. +It had the courage to stand by what it believed to be right. There is +something better even than success in this world; or in other words, +there is only one kind of success, and that is to be for the right. Then +whatever happens, you have succeeded. + +Now, comes the next question. The Republican party not only wants to +protect every citizen in his liberty, in his right to vote, but it wants +to have that vote counted. And what else? + +The next thing in this platform is protection for American labor. + +I am going to tell you in a very brief way why I am in favor of +protection. First, I want this Republic substantially independent of +the rest of the world. You must remember that while people are +civilized--some of them--so that when they have a quarrel they leave it +to the courts to decide, nations still occupy the position of savages +toward each other. There is no national court to decide a question, +consequently the question is decided by the nations themselves, and you +know what selfishness and greed and power and the ideas of false glory +will do and have done. So that this Nation is not safe one moment from +war. I want the Republic so that it can live although at war with all +the world. + +We have every kind of climate that is worth having. Our country embraces +the marriage of the pine and palm; we have all there is of worth; it +is the finest soil in the world and the most ingenious people that ever +contrived to make the forces of nature do their work. I want this Nation +substantially independent, so that if every port were blockaded we would +be covered with prosperity as with a mantle. Then, too, the Nation that +cannot take care of itself in war is always at a disadvantage in peace. +That is one reason. Let me give you the next. + +The next reason is that whoever raises raw material and sells it will be +eternally poor. There is no State in this Union where the farmer raises +wheat and sells it, that the farmer is not poor. Why? He only makes one +profit, and, as a rule, that is a loss. The farmer that raises corn does +better, because he can sell, not corn, but pork and beef and horses. In +other words, he can make the second or third profit, and those farmers +get rich. There is a vast difference between the labor necessary to +raise raw material and the labor necessary to make the fabrics used +by civilized men. Remember that; and if you are confined simply to raw +material your labor will be unskilled; unskilled labor will be cheap, +the raw material will be cheap, and the result is that your country will +grow poorer and poorer, while the country that buys your raw material, +makes it into fabrics and sells it back to you, will grow intelligent +and rich. I want you to remember this, because it lies at the foundation +of this whole subject. Most people who talk on this point bring forward +column after column of figures, and a man to understand it would have to +be a walking table of logarithms. I do not care to discuss it that +way. I want to get at the foundation principles, so that you can give a +reason, as well as myself, why you are in favor of protection. + +Let us take another step. We will take a locomotive--a wonderful +thing--that horse of progress, with its flesh of iron and steel and +breath of flame--a wonderful thing. Let us see how it is made. Did you +ever think of the deft and cunning hands, of the wonderfully accurate +brains, that can make a thing like that? Did you ever think about it? +How much do you suppose the raw material lying in the earth was worth +that was changed into that locomotive? A locomotive that is worth, we +will say, twelve thousand dollars; how much was the raw material worth +lying in the earth, deposited there millions of years ago? Not as much +as one dollar. Let us, just for the sake of argument, say five dollars. +What, then, has labor added to the twelve thousand dollar locomotive? +Eleven thousand nine hundred and ninety-five dollars. Now, why? Because, +just to the extent that thought is mingled with labor, wages increase; +just to the extent you mix mind with muscle, you give value to labor; +just to the extent that the labor is skilled, deft, apt, just to that +extent or in that proportion, is the product valuable. Think about it. +Raw material! There is a piece of canvas five feet one way, three the +other. Raw material would be to get a man to whitewash it; that is raw +material. Let a man of genius paint a picture upon it; let him put in +that picture the emotions of his heart, the landscapes that have made +poetry in his brain, the recollection of the ones he loves, the prattle +of children, a mother's tear, the sunshine of her smile, and all the +sweet and sacred memories of his life, and it is worth five thousand +dollars--ten thousand dollars. + +Noise is raw material, but the great opera of "Tristan and Isolde" is +the result of skilled labor. There is the same difference between simple +brute strength and skilled labor that there is between noise and the +symphonies of Beethoven. I want you to get this in your minds. + +Now, then, whoever sells raw material gives away the great profit. You +raise cotton and sell it; and just as long as the South does it and does +nothing more the South will be poor, the South will be ignorant, and it +will be solidly Democratic. + +Now, do not imagine that I am saying anything against the Democratic +party. I believe the Democratic party is doing the best it can under the +circumstances. You know my philosophy makes me very charitable. You find +out all about a man, all about his ancestors, and you can account for +his vote always. Why? Because there are causes and effects in nature. +There are sometimes antecedents and subsequents that have no relation +to each other, but at the same time, all through the web and woof of +events, you find these causes and effects, and if you only look far +enough, you will know why a man does as he does. + +I have nothing to say against the Democratic party. I want to talk +against ideas, not against people. I do not care anything about their +candidates, whether they are good, bad or indifferent. What, gentlemen, +are your ideas? What do you propose to do? What is your policy? That +is what I want to know, and I am willing to meet them upon the field of +intellectual combat. They are in possession; they are in the rifle pits +of office; we are in the open field, but we will plant our standard, the +flag that we love, without a stain, and under that banner, upon which +so many dying men have looked in the last hour when they thought of +home and country--under that flag we will carry the Democratic +fortifications. + +Another thing; we want to get at this business so that we will +understand what we are doing. I do not believe in protecting American +industry for the sake of the capitalist, or for the sake of any class, +but for the sake of the whole Nation. And if I did not believe that it +was for the best interests of the whole Nation I should be opposed to +it. + +Let us take this next step. Everybody, of course, cannot be a farmer. +Everybody cannot be a mechanic. All the people in the world cannot go at +one business. We must have a diversity of industry. I say, the greater +that diversity, the greater the development of brain in the country. We +then have what you might call a mental exchange; men are then pursuing +every possible direction in which the mind can go, and the brain is +being developed upon all sides; whereas, if you all simply cultivated +the soil, you would finally become stupid. If you all did only one +business you would become ignorant; but by pursuing all possible +avocations that call for taste, genius, calculation, discovery, +ingenuity, invention--by having all these industries open to the +American people, we will be able to raise great men and great women; and +I am for protection, because it will enable us to raise greater men and +greater women. Not only because it will make more money in less time, +but because I would rather have greater folks and less money. + +One man of genius makes a continent sublime. Take all the men of wealth +from Scotland--who would know it? Wipe their names from the pages of +history, and who would miss them? Nobody. Blot out one name, Robert +Burns, and how dim and dark would be the star of Scotland. The great +thing is to raise great folks. That is what we want to do, and we want +to diversify all the industries and protect them all. How much? Simply +enough to prevent the foreign article from destroying the domestic. But +they say, then the manufacturers will form a trust and put the prices +up. If we depend upon the foreign manufacturers will they not form +trusts? We can depend on competition. What do the Democrats want to do? +They want to do away with the tariff, so as to do away with the surplus. +They want to put down the tariff to do away with the surplus. If you put +down the tariff a small per cent, so that the foreign article comes to +America, instead of decreasing, you will increase the surplus. Where you +get a dollar now, you will get five then. If you want to stop getting +anything from imports, you want to put the tariff higher, my friend. + +Let every Democrat understand this, and let him also understand that I +feel and know that he has the same interest in this great country that I +have, and let me be frank enough and candid enough and honest enough +to say that I believe the Democratic party advocates the policy it does +because it believes it will be the best for the country. But we differ +upon a question of policy, and the only way to argue it is to keep cool. +If a man simply shouts for his side, or gets mad, he is a long way from +any intellectual improvement. + +If I am wrong in this, I want to be set right. If it is not to the +interest of America that the shuttle shall keep flying, that wheels +shall keep turning, that cloth shall be woven, that the forges shall +flame and that the smoke shall rise from the numberless chimneys--if +that is not to the interest of America, I want to know it. But I believe +that upon the great cloud of smoke rising from the chimneys of the +manufactories of this country, every man who will think can see the bow +of national promise. + +"Oh, but," they say, "you put the prices so high." Let me give you two +or three facts: Only a few years ago I know that we paid one hundred and +twenty-five dollars a ton for Bessemer steel. At that time the tariff +was twenty-eight dollars a ton, I believe. I am not much on figures. I +generally let them add it up, and I pay it and go on about my business. +With the tariff at twenty-eight dollars a ton, that being a sufficient +protection against Great Britain, the ingenuity of America went to work. +Capital had the courage to try the experiment, and the result was that, +instead of buying thousands and thousands and thousands and tens of +thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of tons of steel from +Great Britain, we made it here in our own country, and it went down as +low as thirty dollars a ton. Under this "rascally protection" it went +down to one-fourth of what free trade England was selling it to us for. + +And so I might go on all night with a thousand other articles; all I +want to show you is that we want these industries here, and we want +them protected just as long as they need protection. We want to rock the +cradle just as long as there is a child in it. When the child gets to +be seven or eight feet high, and wears number twelve boots, we will say: +"Now you will have to shift for yourself." What we want is not simply +for the capitalist, not simply for the workingmen, but for the whole +country. + +If there is any object worthy the attention of this or any other +government, it is the condition of the workingmen. What do they do? They +do all that is done. They are the Atlases upon whose mighty shoulders +rests the fabric of American civilization. The men of leisure are simply +the vines that run round this great sturdy oak of labor. If there is +anything noble enough, and splendid enough to claim the attention of a +nation, it is this question, and I hope the time will come when labor +will receive far more than it does to-day. I want you all to think of +it--how little, after all, the laboring man, even in America, receives. + +[A voice: "Under protection."] + +Yes, sir, even under protection. Take away that protection, and he is +instantly on a level with the European serf. And let me ask that good, +honest gentleman one question. If the laborer is better off in other +countries, why does not the American laborer emigrate to Europe? + +There is no place in the wide world where, in my judgment, labor reaps +its true reward. There never has been. But I hope the time will come +when the American laborer will not only make a living for himself, for +his wife and children, but lay aside something to keep the roof above +his head when the winter of age may come. My sympathies are all with +them, and I would rather see thousands of... '' palaces of millionaires +unroofed than to see desolation in the cabins of the poor. I know that +this world has been made beautiful by those who have labored and those +who have suffered. I know that we owe to them the conveniences of life, +and I have more conveniences, I live a more luxurious life, than any +monarch ever lived one hundred years ago. I have more conveniences than +any emperor could have purchased with the revenue of his empire one +hundred years ago. It is worth something to live in this age of the +world. + +And what has made us such a great and splendid and progressive and +sensible people? + +[A voice: "Free thought."] + +Free thought, of course. Back of every invention is free thought. Why +does a man invent? Slavery never invents; freedom invents. A slave +working for his master tries to do the least work in the longest space +of time, but a free man, working for wife and children, tries to do the +most work in the shortest possible time. He is in love with what he is +doing, consequently his head and his hands go in partnership; muscle and +brain unite, and the result is that the head invents something to help +the hands, and out of the brain leaps an invention that makes a slave +of the forces of nature--those forces that have no backs to be whipped, +those forces that shed no tears, those forces that are destined to work +forever for the happiness of the human race. + +Consequently I am for the protection of American labor, American genius, +American thought. I do not want to put our workingmen on a level with +the citizens of despotisms. Why do not the Democrats and others want the +Chinese to come here? Are they in favor of being protected? Why is it +that the Democrats and others object to penitentiary labor? I will tell +you. They say that a man in the penitentiary can produce cheaper. He has +no family to support, he has no children to look after; and they say, it +is hardly fair to make the father of a family and an honest man compete +with a criminal within the walls of a penitentiary. So they ask to be +protected. + +What is the difference whether a man is in the penitentiary, or whether +he is in the despotism of some European state? "Ah, but," they say, "you +let the laborer of Europe come here himself." Yes, and I am in favor of +it always. Why? This world belongs to the human race. And when they come +here, in a little while they have our wants, and if they do not their +children do, and you will find the second generation of Irishmen or +Germans or of any other nationality just as patriotic as the tenth +generation from the first immigrant. I want them to come. Then they get +our habits. + +Who wants free trade? Only those who want us for their customers, who +would like to sell us everything that we use--England, Germany, all +those countries. And why? Because one American will buy more than one +thousand, yes, five thousand Asiatics. America consumes more to-day +than China and India, more than ten billion would of semi-civilized and +barbarous peoples. What do they buy--what does England sell? A little +powder, a little whiskey, cheap calico, some blankets--a few things of +that kind. What does the American purchase? Everything that civilized +man uses or that civilized man can want. + +England wants this market. Give her free trade, and she will become the +most powerful, the richest nation that ever had her territories marked +upon the map of the world. And what do we become? Nobodies. Poor. +Invention will be lost, our minds will grow clumsy, the wondrous, +deft hand of the mechanic paralyzed--a great raw material producing +country--ignorant, poor, barbaric. I want the cotton that is raised in +this country to be spun here, to be woven into cloth. I want everything +that we use to be made by Americans. We can make the cloth, we can raise +the food to feed and to clothe this Nation, and the Nation is now only +in its infancy. + +Somehow people do not understand this. They really think we are getting +filled up. Look at the map of this country. See the valley of the +Mississippi. Put your hand on it. Trace the rivers coming from the Rocky +Mountains and the Alleghanies, and sweeping down to the Gulf, and know +that in the valley of the Mississippi, with its wondrous tributaries, +there can live and there can be civilized and educated five hundred +millions of human beings. + +Let us have some sense. I want to show you how far this goes beyond the +intellectual horizon of some people who hold office. For instance: We +have a tariff on lead, and by virtue of that tariff on lead nearly every +silver mine is worked in this country. Take the tariff from lead and +there would remain in the clutch of the rocks, of the quartz misers, +for all time, millions and millions of silver; but when that is put with +lead, and lead runs with silver, they can make enough on lead and silver +to pay for the mining, and the result is that millions and millions are +added every year to the wealth of the United States. + +Let me tell you another thing: There is not a State in the Union but +has something it wants protected. And Louisiana--a Democratic State, +and will be just as long as Democrats count the votes--Louisiana has the +impudence to talk about free trade and yet it wants its sugar protected. +Kentucky says free trade, except hemp; and if anything needs protection +it is hemp. Missouri says hemp and lead. Colorado, lead and wool; and so +you can make the tour of the States and every one is for free trade with +an exception--that exception being to the advantage of that State, and +when you put the exceptions together you have protected the industries +of all the States. + +Now, if the Democratic party is in favor of anything, it is in favor of +free trade. If President Clevelands message means anything it means free +trade. And why? Because it says to every man that gets protection: If +you will look about you, you will find that you pay for something +else that is protected more than you receive in benefits for what is +protected of yours; consequently the logic of that is free trade. They +believe in it I have no doubt. When the whole world is civilized, when +men are everywhere free, when they all have something like the same +tastes and ambitions, when they love their families and their children, +when they want the same kind of food and roofs above them--if that day +shall ever come--the world can afford to have its trade free, but do not +put the labor of America on a par with the labor of the Old World. + +Now, about taxes--internal revenue. That was resorted to in time of war. +The Democratic party made it necessary. We had to tax everything to beat +back the Democratic hosts, North and South. Now, understand me. I know +that thousands and hundreds of thousands of individual Democrats were +for this country, and were as pure patriots as ever marched beneath the +flag. I know that--hundreds of thousands of them. I am speaking of the +party organization that staid at home and passed resolutions that every +time the Union forces won a victory the Constitution had been violated. +I understand that. Those taxes were put on in time of war, because it +was necessary. Direct taxation is always odious. A government dislikes, +to be represented among all the people by a tax gatherer, by an official +who visits homes carrying consternation and grief wherever he goes. +Everybody, from the most ancient times of which I have ever read, until +the present moment, dislikes a tax gatherer. I have never yet seen in +any cemetery a monument with this inscription: "Sacred to the memory of +the man who loved to pay his taxes." It is far better if we can collect +the needed revenue of this Government indirectly. But, they say, you +must not take the taxes off tobacco; you must not take the taxes off +alcohol or spirits or whiskey. Why? Because it is immoral to take off +the taxes. Do you believe that there was, on the average, any more +drunkenness in this country before the tax was put on than there is now? +I do not. I believe there is as much liquor drank to-day, per capita, +as there ever was in the United States. I will not blame the Democratic +party. I do not care what they drink. What they think is what I have to +do with. I will be plain with them, because I know lots of fellows +in the Democratic party, and that is the only bad thing about +them--splendid fellows. And I know a good many Republicans, and I am +willing to take my oath that that is the only good thing about them. So, +let us all be fair. + +I want the taxes taken from tobacco and whiskey; and why? Because it is +a war measure that should not be carried on in peace; and in the second +place, I do not want that system inaugurated in this country, unless +there is an absolute necessity for it, and the moment the necessity is +gone, stop it. + +The moral side of this question? Only a couple of years ago, I think +it was, the Prohibitionists said that they wanted this tax taken from +alcohol. Why? Because as long as the Government licensed, as long as the +Government taxed and received sixty millions of dollars in revenue, just +so long the Government would make this business respectable, just so +long the Government would be in partnership with this liquor crime. That +is what they said then. Now we say take the tax off, and they say it is +immoral. Now, I have a little philosophy about this. I may be entirely +wrong, but I am going to give it to you. You never can make great men +and great women, by keeping them out of the way of temptation. You have +to educate them to withstand temptation. It is all nonsense to tie a +man's hands behind him and then praise him for not picking pockets. I +believe that temperance walks hand in hand with liberty. Just as life +becomes valuable, people take care of it. Just as life is great, and +splendid and noble, as long as the future is a kind of gallery filled +with the ideal, just so long will we take care of ourselves and avoid +dissipation of every kind. Do you know, I believe, as much as I believe +that I am living, that if the Mississippi itself were pure whiskey and +its banks loaf sugar, and all the flats covered with mint, and all +the bushes grew teaspoons and tumblers, there would not be any more +drunkenness than there is now! + +As long as you say to your neighbor "you must not" there is something in +that neighbor that says, "Well I will determine that for myself, and you +just say that again and I will take a drink if it kills me." There is no +moral question involved in it, except this: Let the burden of government +rest as lightly as possible upon the shoulders of the people, and let it +cause as little irritation as possible. Give liberty to the people. I +am willing that the women who wear silks, satins and diamonds; that the +gentlemen who smoke Havana cigars and drink champagne and Chateau Yquem; +I am perfectly willing that they shall pay my taxes and support this +Government, and I am willing that the man who does not do that, but is +willing to take the domestic article, should go tax free. + +Temperance walks hand in hand with liberty. You recollect that little +old story about a couple of men who were having a discussion on +this prohibition question, and the man on the other side said to the +Prohibitionist: "How would you like to live in a community where +every body attended to his own business, where every body went to bed +regularly at night, got up regularly in the morning; where every man, +woman and child was usefully employed during the day; no backbiting, +no drinking of whiskey, no cigars, and where they all attended divine +services on Sunday, and where no profane language was used?" "Why," said +he, "such a place would be a paradise, or heaven; but there is no such +place." "Oh," said the other man, "every well regulated penitentiary is +that way." So much for the moral side of the question. + +Another point that the Republican party calls the attention of the +country to is the use that has been made of the public land. Oh, say the +Democratic party, see what States, what empires have been given away +by the Republican party--and see what the Republican party did with it. +Road after road built to the great Pacific. Our country unified--the two +oceans, for all practical purposes, washing one shore. That is what +it did, and what else? It has given homes to millions of people in a +civilized land, where they can get all the conveniences of civilization. +And what else? Fifty million acres have been taken back by the +Government. How was this done? It was by virtue of the provisions put in +the original grants by the Republican party. + +There is another thing to which the Republican party has called the +attention of the country, and that is the admission of new States where +there are people enough to form a State. Now, with a solid South, with +the assistance of a few Democrats from the North, comes a State, North +Dakota, with plenty of population, a magnificent State, filled with +intelligence and prosperity. It knocks at the door for admission, and +what is the question asked by this administration? Not "Have you the +land, have you the wealth, have you the men and women?" but "Are you +Democratic or Republican?" And being intelligent people, they answer: +"We are Republicans." And the solid South, assisted by the Democrats +of the North, says to that people: "The door is shut; we will not have +you." Why? "Because you would add two to the Republican majority in +the Senate." Is that the spirit in which a nation like this should be +governed? When a State asks for admission, no matter what the politics +of its people may be, I say, admit that State; put a star on the flag +that will glitter for her. + +The next thing the Republican party says is, gold and silver shall both +be money. You cannot make every thing payable in gold--that would +be unfair to the poor man. You shall not make every thing payable in +silver--that would be unfair to the capitalist; but it shall be payable +in gold and silver. And why ought we to be in favor of silver? Because +we are the greatest silver producing nation in the world; and the value +of a thing, other things being equal, depends on its uses, and being +used as money adds to the value of silver. And why should we depreciate +one of our own products by saying that we will not take it as money? I +believe in bimetalism, gold and silver, and you cannot have too much +of either or both. No nation ever died of a surplus, and in all the +national cemeteries of the earth you will find no monument erected to a +nation that died from having too much silver. Give me all the silver I +want and I am happy. + +The Republican party has always been sound on finance. It always knew +you could not pay a promise with a promise. The Republican party always +had sense enough to know that money could not be created by word +of mouth, that you could not make it by a statute, or by passing +resolutions in a convention. It always knew that you had to dig it out +of the ground by good, honest work. The Republican party always knew +that money is a commodity, exchangeable for all other commodities, but a +commodity just as much as wheat or corn, and you can no more make money +by law than you can make wheat or corn by law. You can by law, make a +promise that will to a certain extent take the place of money until the +promise is paid. It seems to me that any man who can even understand the +meaning of the word democratic can understand that theory of money. + +Another thing right in this platform. Free schools for the education of +all the children in the land. The Republican party believes in looking +out for the children. It knows that the a, b, c's are the breastworks of +human liberty. They know that every schoolhouse is an arsenal, a fort, +where missiles are made to hurl against the ignorance and prejudice of +mankind; so they are for the free school. + +And what else? They are for reducing the postage one-half. Why? Simply +for the diffusion of intelligence. What effect will that have? It will +make us more and more one people. The oftener we communicate with each +other the more homogeneous we become. The more we study the same books +and read the same papers the more we swap ideas, the more we become true +Americans, with the same spirit in favor of liberty, progress and the +happiness of the human race. + +What next? The Republican party says, let us build ships for +America--for American sailors. Let our fleets cover the seas, and let +our men-of-war protect the commerce of the Republic--not that we can +wrong some weak nation, but so that we can keep the world from doing +wrong to us. This is all. I have infinite contempt for civilized people +who have guns carrying balls weighing several hundred pounds, who go and +fight poor, naked savages that can only throw boomerangs and stones. + +I hold such a nation in infinite contempt. + +What else is in this platform? You have no idea of the number of things +in it till you look them over. It wants to cultivate friendly feelings +with all the governments in North, Central and South America, so that +the great continents can be one--instigated, moved, pervaded, inspired +by the same great thoughts. In other words, we want to civilize this +continent and the continent of South America. And what else? This great +platform is in favor of paying--not giving, but paying--pensions to +every man who suffered in the great war. What would we have said at the +time? What, if the North could have spoken, would it have said to the +heroes of Gettysburg on the third day? "Stand firm! We will empty the +treasures of the Nation at your feet." They had the courage and the +heroism to keep the hosts of rebellion back without that promise, and is +there an American to-day that can find it in his heart to begrudge +one solitary dollar that has found its way into the pocket of a maimed +soldier, or into the hands of his widow or his orphan? + +What would we have offered to the sailors under Farragut on condition +that they would pass Forts St. Phillip and Jackson? What would we have +offered to the soldiers under Grant in the Wilderness? What to the +followers of Sherman and Sheridan? Do you know, I can hardly conceive of +a spirit contemptible enough--and I am not now alluding to the President +of the United States--I can hardly conceive of a spirit contemptible +enough to really desire to keep a maimed soldier from the bounty of this +Nation. It would be a disgrace and a dishonor if we allowed them to +die in poorhouses, to drop by life's highway and to see their children +mourning over their poor bodies, glorious with scars, maimed into +immortality. I may do a great many bad things before I die, but I give +you my word that so long as I live I will never vote for any President +that vetoed a pension bill unless upon its face it was clear that the +man was not a wounded soldier. + +What next in this platform? For the protection of American homes. I am +a believer in the home. I have said, and I say again--the hearthstone is +the foundation of the great temple; the fireside is the altar where the +true American worships. I believe that the home, the family, is the unit +of good government, and I want to see the aegis of the great Republic +over millions of happy homes. + +That is all there is in this world worth living for. Honor, place, fame, +glory, riches--they are ashes, smoke, dust, disappointment, unless there +is somebody in the world you love, somebody who loves you; unless there +is some place that you can call home, some place where you can feel the +arms of children around your neck, some place that is made absolutely +sacred by the love of others. + +So I am for this platform. I am for the election of Harrison and Morton, +and although I did nothing toward having that ticket nominated, because, +I tell you, I was for Gresham, yet I will do as much toward electing the +candidates, within my power, as any man who did vote on the winning +side. + +We have a good ticket, a noble, gallant soldier at the head; that is +enough for me. He is in favor of liberty and progress. And you have +for Vice-President a man that you all know better than I do, but a good, +square, intelligent, generous man. That is enough for me. And these +men are standing on the best platform that was ever adopted by the +Republican party--a platform that stands for education, liberty, the +free ballot, American industry; for the American policy that has made us +the richest and greatest Nation of the globe. + + + + +REUNION ADDRESS. + + * The Elmwood Reunion, participated in by six regiments, + came to a glorious close last evening. There were thousands + of people present. The city was gayly decorated with flags + and hunting, while pictures and busts of Col. Ingersoll were + in every show window. From early in the morning until noon, + delegations kept coming in, A special train arrived from + Peoria at 10.50 o'clock, bearing a large delegation of old + soldiers together with Col. Ingersoll and his daughter Maud. + He was met by the reception committee, and marched up the + street escorted by an army of veterans. When he arrived on + the west side of the public square, the lines were opened, + and he marched between, in review of his old friends and + comrades. The parade started as soon as it could be formed, + after the arrival of the special train. + + Col. Ingersoll was greeted by a salute of thirteen guns from + Peoria's historic cannon, as he was escorted to the grand + stand by Spencer's band and the Peoria Veterans. + + The reviewing stand was on the west side of the park. Here + the parade was seen by Col. Ingersoll and the other + distinguished guests, among whom were Congressmen Graff and + Prince, Mayor Day, Judges N. E. Worthington and I. C. + Pinkney, and the Hon. Clark E. Carr, who also made a speech + saying that the people cannot estimate the majesty of the + eloquence of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, keeping alive the + flame of patriotism from 1860 to the present time. . + + The parade was an imposing one, there were fully two + thousand five hundred old veterans in line who passed In + review before Col. Ingersoll, each one doffing his hat as he + marched by. The most pleasing feature of the exercises of + the day was the representation of the Living Flag by one + hundred and fifty little girls of Elmwood, at ten o' clock + under the direction of Col. Lem. H. Wiley, of Peoria. The + flag was presented on a large Inclined amphitheatre at the + left of the grand stand, and was the finest thing ever + witnessed lu this part of the country. + + Following the presentation of the Living Flag, Chairman + Brown called the Reunion to order, and Col. Lem. H. Wiley, + National Bugler gave the assembly call. + + Following the assembly call a male chorus rendered a song, + "Ring O Bells." The song was composed for the occasion by + Mr. E. R. Brown and was as follows: + + "Welcome now that leader fearless, + Free of thought and grand of brain, + King of hearts and speaker peerless, + Hail our Ingersoll again." *** + + Then Chairman, E. R. Brown, took charge of the meeting and + introduced Col. Ingersoll as the greatest of living orators, + referring to the time that the Colonel declared, a quarter + of a century ago, in Rouse's Hall, Peoria, that from that + time forth there would be one free man in Illinois, and + expressing Indebtedness to him for what had been done since + for the freedom and happiness of mankind, by his mighty + brain, his great spirit and his gentle heart. + + He then spoke of Col. Ingersoll's residence in Peoria + county, paying an eloquent tribute to him, and concluded by + leading the distinguished gentleman to the front of the + stand. The appearance of Col. Ingersoll was a signal for a + mighty shout, which was heartily joined in by everybody + present, even the little girls composing the living flag, + cheering and waving their banners. + + It was fully ten minutes before the cheering had subsided, + and when Col. Ingersoll commenced to speak it was renewed + and he was forced to wait for several minutes more. When + quiet was restored, he opened his address, and for an hour + and a half he held the vast audience spell-bound with his + eloquence and wit. + + After Col. Ingersoll's speech the veterans crowded around + the stand to meet and grasp the hand of their comrade, and + the boys of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, his old regiment, + were especially profuse in their congratulations and thanks + for the splendid address he had delivered. His speeeh was + off-hand, only occasional reference being made to his short + notes. The Colonel then left the Park amid the yells of + delight of the old soldiers, every man of whom endeavored to + grasp his hand. + + In the afternoon the veterans assembled in Liberty Hall by + themselves, the room being filled. Col. Ingersoll appeared + and was greeted with such cheers as he had not received + during the entire day. He then said good-bye to his old + comrades.--Chicago Inter-ocean and Peoria papers, Sept. 6th, + 1896. + + +Elmwood, Ills. + +1895. + +LADIES and Gentlemen, Fellow-citizens, Old Friends and Comrades: + +It gives me the greatest pleasure to meet again those with whom I became +acquainted in the morning of my life. It is now afternoon. The sun of +life is slowly sinking in the west, and, as the evening comes, nothing +can be more delightful than to see again the faces that I knew in youth. + +When first I knew you the hair was brown; it is now white. The lines +were not quite so deep, and the eyes were not quite so dim. Mingled with +this pleasure is sadness,--sadness for those who have passed away--for +the dead. + +And yet I am not sure that we ought to mourn for the dead. I do not know +which is better--life or death. It may be that death is the greatest +gift that ever came from nature's open hands. We do not know. + +There is one thing of which I am certain, and that is, that if we could +live forever here, we would care nothing for each other. The fact +that we must die, the fact that the feast must end, brings our souls +together, and treads the weeds from out the paths between our hearts. + +And so it may be, after all, that love is a little flower that grows +on the crumbling edge of the grave. So it may be, that were it not +for death there would be no love, and without love all life would be a +curse. + +I say it gives me great pleasure to meet you once again; great pleasure +to congratulate you on your good fortune--the good fortune of being a +citizen of the first and grandest republic ever established upon the +face of the earth. + +That is a royal fortune. To be an heir of all the great and brave men +of this land, of all the good, loving and patient women; to be in +possession of the blessings that they have given, should make every +healthy citizen of the United States feel like a millionaire. + +This, to-day, is the most prosperous country on the globe; and it is +something to be a citizen of this country. + +It is well, too, whenever we meet, to draw attention to what has been +done by our ancestors. It is well to think of them and to thank them for +all their work, for all their courage, for all their toil. + +Three hundred years ago our country was a vast wilderness, inhabited by +a few savages. Three hundred years ago--how short a time; hardly a tick +of the great clock of eternity--three hundred years; not a second in the +life even of this planet--three hundred years ago, a wilderness; three +hundred years ago, inhabited by a few savages; three hundred years ago +a few men in the Old World, dissatisfied, brave and adventurous, trusted +their lives to the sea and came to this land. + +In 1776 there were only three millions of people all told. These men +settled on the shores of the sea. These men, by experience, learned to +govern themselves. These men, by experience, found that a man should +be respected in the proportion that he was useful. They found, by +experience, that titles were of no importance; that the real thing was +the man, and that the real things in the man were heart and brain. They +found, by experience, how to govern themselves, because there was nobody +else here when they came. The gentlemen who had been in the habit of +governing their fellow-men staid at home, and the men who had been in +the habit of being governed came here, and, consequently, they had to +govern themselves. + +And finally, educated by experience, by the rivers and forests, by the +grandeur and splendor of nature, they began to think that this continent +should not belong to any other; that it was great enough to count one, +and that they had the intelligence and manhood to lay the foundations of +a nation. + +It would be impossible to pay too great and splendid a tribute to the +great and magnificent souls of that day. They saw the future. They saw +this country as it is now, and they endeavored to lay the foundation +deep; they endeavored to reach the bed-rock of human rights, the +bed-rock of justice. And thereupon they declared that all men were born +equal; that all the children of nature had at birth the same rights, and +that all men had the right to pursue the only good,--happiness. + +And what did they say? They said that men should govern men; that the +power to govern should come from the consent of the governed, not +from the clouds, not from some winged phantom of the air, not from the +aristocracy of ether. They said that this power should come from +men; that the men living in this world should govern it, and that the +gentlemen who were dead should keep still. + +They took another step, and said that church and state should forever be +divorced. That is no harm to real religion. It never was, because real +religion means the doing of justice; real religion means the giving to +others every right you claim for yourself; real religion consists in +duties of man to man, in feeding the hungry, in clothing the naked, in +defending the innocent, and in saying what you believe to be true. + +Our fathers had enough sense to say that, and a man to do that in 1776 +had to be a pretty big fellow. It is not so much to say it now, because +they set the example; and, upon these principles of which I have spoken, +they fought the war of the Revolution. + +At no time, probably, were the majority of our forefathers in favor +of independence, but enough of them were on the right side, and they +finally won a victory. And after the victory, those that had not been +even in favor of independence became, under the majority rule, more +powerful than the heroes of the Revolution. + +Then it was that our fathers made a mistake. We have got to praise them +for what they did that was good, and we will mention what they did that +was wrong. + +They forgot the principles for which they fought. They forgot the +sacredness of human liberty, and, in the name of freedom, they made a +mistake and put chains on the limbs of others. + +That was their error; that was the poison that entered the American +blood; that was the corrupting influence that demoralized presidents +and priests; that was the influence that corrupted the United States of +America. + +That mistake, of course, had to be paid for, as all mistakes in nature +have to be paid for. And not only do you pay for your mistake itself, +but you pay at least ten per cent, compound interest. Whenever you do +wrong, and nobody finds it out, do not imagine you have gotten over it; +you have not. Nature knows it. + +The consequences of every bad act are the invisible police that no +prayers can soften, and no gold can bribe. + +Recollect that. Recollect, that for every bad act, there will be laid +upon your shoulder the arresting hand of the consequences; and it is +precisely the same with a nation as it is with an individual. You have +got to pay for all of your mistakes, and you have got to pay to the +uttermost farthing. That is the only forgiveness known in nature. Nature +never settles unless she can give a receipt in full. + +I know a great many men differ with me, and have all sorts of bankruptcy +systems, but Nature is not built that way. + +Finally, slavery took possession of the Government. Every man who wanted +an office had to be willing to step between a fugitive slave and his +liberty. + +Slavery corrupted the courts, and made judges decide that the child born +in the State of Pennsylvania, whose mother had been a slave, could not +be free. + +That was as infamous a decision as was ever rendered, and yet the +people, in the name of the law, did this thing, and the Supreme Court of +the United States did not know right from wrong. + +These dignified gentlemen thought that labor could be paid by lashes on +the back--which was a kind of legal tender--and finally an effort was +made to subject the new territory--the Nation--to the institution of +slavery. + +Then we had a war with Mexico, in which we got a good deal of glory and +one million square miles of land, but little honor. I will admit that we +got but little honor out of that war. That territory they wanted to give +to the slaveholder. + +In 1803 we purchased from Napoleon the Great, one million square miles +of land, and then, in 1821, we bought Florida from Spain. So that, when +the war came, we had about three million square miles of new land. The +object was to subject all this territory to slavery. + +The idea was to go on and sell the babes from their mothers until time +should be no more. The idea was to go on with the branding-iron and the +whip. The idea was to make it a crime to teach men, human beings, +to read and write; to make every Northern man believe that he was a +bulldog, a bloodhound to track down men and women, who, with the light +of the North Star in their eyes, were seeking the free soil of Great +Britain. + +Yes, in these times we had lots of mean folks. Let us remember that. + +And all at once, under the forms of law, under the forms of our +Government, the greatest man under the flag was elected President. That +man was Abraham Lincoln. And then it was that those gentlemen of the +South said: "We will not be governed by the majority; we will be a law +unto ourselves." + +And let me tell you here to-day--I am somewhat older than I used to be; +I have a little philosophy now that I had not at the nine o'clock in the +morning portion of my life--and I do not blame anybody. I do not blame +the South; I do not blame the Confederate soldier. + +She--the South--was the fruit of conditions. She was born to +circumstances stronger than herself; and do you know, according to my +philosophy, (which is not quite orthodox), every man and woman in the +whole world are what conditions have made them. + +So let us have some sense. The South said, "We will not submit; this is +not a nation, but a partnership of States." I am willing to go so far as +to admit that the South expressed the original idea of the Government. + +But now the question was, to whom did the newly acquired property +belong? New States had been carved out of that territory; the soil of +these States had been purchased with the money of the Republic, and had +the South the right to take these States out of the Republic? That was +the question. + +The great West had another interest, and that was that no enemy, no +other nation, should control the mouth of the Mississippi. I regard +the Mississippi River as Nature's protest against secession. The old +Mississippi River says, and swears to it, that this country shall be +one, now and forever. + +What was to be done? The South said, "We will never remain," and the +North said, "You shall not go." It was a little slow about saying it, +it is true. Some of the best Republicans in the North said, "Let it go." +But the second, sober thought of the great North said, "No, this is our +country and we are going to keep it on the map of the world." + +And some who had been Democrats wheeled into line, and hundreds and +thousands said, "This is our country," and finally, when the Government +called for volunteers, hundreds and thousands came forward to offer +their services. Nothing more sublime was ever seen in the history of +this world. + +I congratulate you to-day that you live in a country that furnished the +greatest army that ever fought for human liberty in any country round +the world. I want you to know that. I want you to know that the North, +East and West furnished the greatest army that ever fought for human +liberty. I want you to know that Gen. Grant commanded more men, men +fighting for the right, not for conquest, than any other general who +ever marshaled the hosts of war. + +Let us remember that, and let us be proud of it. The millions who poured +from the North for the defence of the flag--the story of their heroism +has been told to you again and again. I have told it myself many times. +It is known to every intelligent man and woman in the world. Everybody +knows how much we suffered. Everybody knows how we poured out money like +water; how we spent it like leaves of the forest. Everybody knows how +the brave blood was shed. Everybody knows the story of the great, the +heroic struggle, and everybody knows that at last victory came to our +side, and how the last sword of the Rebellion was handed to Gen. Grant. +There is no need to tell that story again. + +But the question now, as we look back, is, was this country worth +saving? Was the blood shed in vain? Were the lives given for naught? +That is the question. + +This country, according to my idea, is the one success of the world. Men +here have more to eat, more to wear, better houses, and, on the average, +a better education than those of any other nation now living, or any +that has passed away. + +Was the country worth saving? + +See what we have done in this country since 1860. We were not much of a +people then, to be honor bright about it. We were carrying, in the great +race of national life, the weight of slavery, and it poisoned us; it +paralyzed our best energies; it took from our politics the best minds; +it kept from the bench the greatest brains. + +But what have we done since 1860, since we really became a free people, +since we came to our senses, since we have been willing to allow a man +to express his honest thoughts on every subject? + +Do you know how much good we did? The war brought men together from +every part of the country and gave them an opportunity to compare their +foolishness. It gave them an opportunity to throw away their prejudices, +to find that a man who differed with them on every subject might be the +very best of fellows. That is what the war did. We have been broadening +ever since. + +I sometimes have thought it did men good to make the trip to California +in 1849. As they went over the plains they dropped their prejudices on +the way. I think they did, and that's what killed the grass. + +But to come back to my question, what have we done since 1860? + +From 1860 to 1880, in spite of the waste of war, in spite of all the +property destroyed by flame, in spite of all the waste, our profits were +one billion three hundred and seventy-four million dollars. Think of it! +From 1860 to 1880! That is a vast sum. + +From 1880 to 1890 our profits were two billion one hundred and +thirty-nine million dollars. + +Men may talk against wealth as much as they please; they may talk about +money being the root of all evil, but there is little real happiness in +this world without some of it. It is very handy when staying at home +and it is almost indispensable when you travel abroad. Money is a good +thing. It makes others happy; it makes those happy whom you love, and +if a man can get a little together, when the night of death drops the +curtain upon him, he is satisfied that he has left a little to keep the +wolf from the door of those who, in life, were dear to him. Yes, money +is a good thing, especially since special providence has gone out of +business. + +I can see to-day something beyond the wildest dream of any patriot who +lived fifty years ago. The United States to-day is the richest nation +on the face of the earth. The old nations of the world, Egypt, India, +Greece, Rome, every one of them, when compared with this great Republic, +must be regarded as paupers. + +How much do you suppose this Nation is worth to-day? I am talking about +land and cattle, products, manufactured articles and railways. Over +seventy thousand million dollars. Just think of it. + +Take a thousand dollars and then take nine hundred and ninety-nine +thousand; so you will have one thousand piles of one thousand each. That +makes only a million, and yet the United States today is worth seventy +thousand millions. This is thirty-five percent, more than Great Britain +is worth. + +We are a great Nation. We have got the land. This land was being made +for many millions of years. Its soil was being made by the great lakes +and rivers, and being brought down from the mountains for countless +ages. + +This continent was standing like a vast pan of milk, with the cream +rising for millions of years, and we were the chaps that got there when +the skimming commenced. + +We are rich, and we ought to be rich. It is our own fault if we are not. +In every department of human endeavor, along every path and highway, +the progress of the Republic has been marvelous, beyond the power of +language to express. + +Let me show you: In 1860 the horse-power of all the engines, the +locomotives and the steamboats that traversed the lakes and rivers--the +entire power--was three million five hundred thousand. In 1890 the +horse-power of engines and locomotives and steamboats was over seventeen +million. + +Think of that and what it means! Think of the forces at work for the +benefit of the United States, the machines doing the work of thousands +and millions of men! + +And remember that every engine that puffs is puffing for you; every road +that runs is running for you. I want you to know that the average man +and woman in the United States to-day has more of the conveniences of +life than kings and queens had one hundred years ago. + +Yes, we are getting along. + +In 1860 we used one billion eight hundred million dollars' worth +of products, of things manufactured and grown, and we sent to other +countries two hundred and fifty million dollars' worth. + +In 1893 we used three billion eighty-nine million dollars' worth, and +we sent to other countries six hundred and fifty-four million dollars' +worth. + +You see, these vast sums are almost inconceivable. There is not a +man to-day with brains large enough to understand these figures; to +understand how many cars this money put upon the tracks, how much coal +was devoured by the locomotives, how many men plowed and worked in the +fields, how many sails were given to the wind, how many ships crossed +the sea. + +I tell you, there is no man able to think of the ships that were built, +the cars that were made, the mines that were opened, the trees that were +felled--no man has imagination enough to grasp the meaning of it all. No +man has any conception of the sea till he crosses it. I knew nothing of +how broad this country is until I went over it in a slow train. + +Since 1860 the productive power of the United States has more than +trebled. + +I like to talk about these things, because they mean good houses, +carpets on the floors, pictures on the walls, some books on the shelves. +They mean children going to school with their stomachs full of good +food, prosperous men and proud mothers. + +All my life I have taken a much deeper interest in what men produce than +in what nature does. I would rather see the prairies, with the oats and +the wheat and the waving corn, and the schoolhouse, and hear the thrush +sing amid the happy homes of prosperous men and women--I would rather +see these things than any range of mountains in the world. Take it as +you will, a mountain is of no great value. + +In 1860 our land was worth four billion five hundred million dollars; in +1890 it was worth fourteen billion dollars. + +In 1860 all the railroads in the United States were worth four hundred +million dollars, now they are worth a little less than ten thousand +million dollars. + +I want you to understand what these figures mean. + +For thirty years we spent, on an average, one million dollars a day in +building railroads.--I want you to think what that means. All that money +had to be dug out of the ground. It had to be made by raising something +or manufacturing something. We did not get it by writing essays on +finance, or discussing the silver question. It had to be made with the +ax, the plow, the reaper, the mower; in every form of industry; all to +produce these splendid results. + +We have railroads enough now to make seven tracks around the great +globe, and enough left for side tracks. That is what we have done here, +in what the European nations are pleased to call "the new world." + +I am telling you these things because you may not know them, and I did +not know them myself until a few days ago. I am anxious to give away +information, for it is only by giving it away that you can keep it. When +you have told it, you remember it. It is with information as it is +with liberty, the only way to be dead sure of it is to give it to other +people. + +In 1860 the houses in the United States, the cabins on the frontier, the +buildings in the cities, were worth six thousand million dollars. Now +they are worth over twenty-two thousand million dollars. To talk about +figures like these is enough to make a man dizzy. + +In 1860 our animals of all kinds, including the Illinois deer--commonly +called swine--the oxen and horses, and all others, were worth about one +thousand million dollars; now they are worth about four thousand million +dollars. + +Are we not getting rich? Our national debt today is nothing. It is like +a man who owes a cent and has a dollar. + +Since 1860 we have been industrious. We have created two million five +hundred thousand new farms. Since 1860 we have done a good deal of +plowing; there have been a good many tired legs. I have been that way +myself. Since 1860 we have put in cultivation two hundred million acres +of land. Illinois, the best State in the Union, has thirty-five million +acres of land, and yet, since 1860, we have put in cultivation enough +land to make six States of the size of Illinois. That will give you some +idea of the quantity of work we have done. I will admit I have not done +much of it myself, but I am proud of it. + +In 1860 we had four million five hundred and sixty-five thousand farmers +in this country, whose land and implements were worth over sixteen +thousand million dollars. The farmers of this country, on an average, +are worth five thousand dollars, and the peasants of the Old World, who +cultivate the soil, are not worth, on an average, ten dollars beyond the +wants of the moment. The farmers of our country produce, on an average, +about one million four hundred thousand dollars' worth of stuff a day. + +What else? Have we in other directions kept pace with our physical +development? Have we developed the mind? Have we endeavored to develop +the brain? Have we endeavored to civilize the heart? I think we have. + +We spend more for schools per head than any nation in the world. And the +common school is the breath of life. + +Great Britain spends one dollar and thirty cents per head on the common +schools; France spends eighty cents; Austria, thirty cents; Germany, +fifty cents; Italy, twenty-five cents, and the United States over two +dollars and fifty cents. + +I tell you the schoolhouse is the fortress of liberty. Every schoolhouse +is an arsenal, filled with weapons and ammunition to destroy the +monsters of ignorance and fear. + +As I have said ten thousand times, the school-house is my cathedral. The +teacher is my preacher. + +Eighty-seven per cent, of all the people of the United States, over ten +years of age, can read and write. There is no parallel for this in the +history of the wide world. + +Over forty-two millions of educated citizens, to whom are opened all the +treasures of literature! + +Forty-two millions of people, able to read and write! I say, there is +no parallel for this. The nations of antiquity were very ignorant when +compared with this great Republic of ours. There is no other nation in +the world that can show a record like ours. We ought to be proud of +it. We ought to build more schools, and build them better. Our teachers +ought to be paid more, and everything ought to be taught in the public +school that is worth knowing. + +I believe that the children of the Republic, no matter whether their +fathers are rich or poor, ought to be allowed to drink at the fountain +of education, and it does not cost more to teach everything in the free +schools than it does teaching reading and writing and ciphering. + +Have we kept up in other ways? The post office tells a wonderful story. +In Switzerland, going through the post office in each year, are letters, +etc., in the proportion of seventy-four to each inhabitant. In England +the number is sixty; in Germany, fifty-three; in France, thirty-nine; in +Austria, twenty-four; in Italy, sixteen, and in the United States, our +own home, one hundred and ten. Think of it. In Italy only twenty-five +cents paid per head for the support of the public schools and only +sixteen letters. And this is the place where God's agent lives. I would +rather have one good schoolmaster than two such agents. + +There is another thing. A great deal has been said, from time to time, +about the workingman. I have as much sympathy with the workingman as +anybody on the earth--who does not work. There has always been a desire +in this world to let somebody else do the work, nearly everybody having +the modesty to stand back whenever there is anything to be done. In +savage countries they make the women do the work, so that the weak +people have always the bulk of the burdens. In civilized communities +the poor are the ones, of course, that work, and probably they are never +fully paid. It is pretty hard for a manufacturer to tell how much he +can pay until he sells the stuff which he manufactures. Every man who +manufactures is not rich. I know plenty of poor corporations; I know +tramp railroads that have not a dollar. And you will find some of them +as anarchistic as you will find their men. What a man can pay, depends +upon how much he can get for what he has produced. What the farmer can +pay his help depends upon the price he receives for his stock, his corn +and his wheat. + +But wages in this country are getting better day by day. We are getting +a little nearer to being civilized day by day, and when I want to make +up my mind on a subject I try to get a broad view of it, and not decide +it on one case. + +In 1860 the average wages of the workingman were, per year, two hundred +and eighty-nine dollars. In 1890 the average was four hundred and +eighty-five. Thus the average has almost doubled in thirty years. The +necessaries of life are far cheaper than they were in 1860. Now, to my +mind, that is a hopeful sign. And when I am asked how can the dispute +between employer and employee be settled, I answer, it will be settled +when both parties become civilized. + +It takes a long time to educate a man up to the point where he does not +want something for nothing. Yet, when a man is civilized, he does not. + +He wants for a thing just what it is worth; he wants to give labor its +legitimate reward, and when he has something to sell he never wants more +than it is worth. I do not claim to be civilized myself; but all these +questions between capital and labor will be settled by civilization. + +We are to-day accumulating wealth at the rate of more than seven million +dollars a day. Is not this perfectly splendid? + +And in the midst of prosperity let us never forget the men who helped +to save our country, the men whose heroism gave us the prosperity we now +enjoy. + +We have one-seventh of the good land of this world. You see there is a +great deal of poor land in the world. I know the first time I went to +California, I went to the Sink of the Humboldt, and what a forsaken look +it had. There was nothing there but mines of brimstone. On the train, +going over, there was a fellow who got into a dispute with a minister +about the first chapter of Genesis. And when they got along to the Sink +of the Humboldt the fellow says to the minister: + +"Do you tell me that God made the world in six days, and then rested on +the seventh?" + +He said, "I do." + +"Well," said the fellow, "don't you think he could have put in another +day here to devilish good advantage?" + +But, as I have said, we have got about one-seventh of the good land of +the world. I often hear people say that we have too many folks here; +that we ought to stop immigration; that we have no more room. The people +who say this know nothing of their country. They are ignorant of their +native land. I tell you that the valley of the Mississippi and the +valleys of its tributaries can support a population of five hundred +millions of men, women, and children. Don't talk of our being +overpopulated; we have only just started. + +Here, in this land of ours, five hundred million men and women and +children can be supported and educated without trouble. We can afford to +double two or three times more. But what have we got to do? We have got +to educate them when they come. That is to say, we have got to educate +their children, and in a few generations we will have them splendid +American citizens, proud of the Republic. + +We have no more patriotic men under the flag than the men who came from +other lands, the hundreds and thousands of those who fought to preserve +this country. And I think just as much of them as I would if they had +been born on American soil. What matters it where a man was born? It is +what is inside of him you have to look at--what kind of a heart he has, +and what kind of a head. I do not care where he was born; I simply ask, +Is he a man? Is he willing to give to others what he claims for himself? +That is the supreme test. + +Now, I have got a hobby. I do not suppose any of you have heard of it. +I think the greatest thing for a country is for all of its citizens to +have a home. I think it is around the fireside of home that the virtues +grow, including patriotism. We want homes. + +Until a few years ago it was the custom to put men in prison for debt. +The authorities threw a man into jail when he owed something which he +could not pay, and by throwing him into jail they deprived him of an +opportunity to earn what would pay it. After a little time they got +sense enough to know that they could not collect a debt in this way, +and that it was better to give him his freedom and allow him to earn +something, if he could. Therefore, imprisonment for debt was done away +with. + +At another time, when a man owed anything, if he was a carpenter, a +blacksmith or a shoemaker, and not able to pay it, they took his tools, +on a writ of sale and execution, and thus incapacitated him so that he +could do nothing. Finally they got sense enough to abolish that law, +to leave the mechanic his tools and the farmer his plows, horses and +wagons, and after this, debts were paid better than ever they were +before. + +Then we thought of protecting the home-builder, and we said: "We will +have a homestead exemption. We will put a roof over wife and child, +which shall be exempt from execution and sale," and so we preserved +hundreds of thousands and millions of homes, while debts were paid just +as well as ever they were paid before. + +Now, I want to take a step further. I want, the rich people of this +country to support it. I want the people who are well off to pay the +taxes. I want the law to exempt a homestead of a certain value, say from +two thousand dollars to two thousand five hundred, and to exempt it, not +only from sale on judgment and execution, but to exempt it from taxes of +all sorts and kinds. I want to keep the roof over the heads of children +when the man himself is gone. I want that homestead to belong not only +to the man, but to wife and children. I would like to live to see a roof +over the heads of all the families of the Republic. I tell you, it does +a man good to have a home. You are in partnership with nature when you +plant a hill of corn. When you set out a tree you have a new interest in +this world. When you own a little tract of land you feel as if you and +the earth were partners. All these things dignify human nature. + +Bad as I am, I have another hobby. There are thousands and thousands of +criminals in our country. I told you a little while ago I did not blame +the South, because of the conditions which prevailed in the South. The +people of the South did as they must. I am the same about the criminal. +He does as he must. + +If you want to stop crime you must treat it properly. The conditions of +society must not be such as to produce criminals. + +When a man steals and is sent to the penitentiary he ought to be sent +there to be reformed and not to be brutalized; to be made a better man, +not to be robbed. + +I am in favor, when you put a man in the penitentiary, of making him +work, and I am in favor of paying him what his work is worth, so that +in five years, when he leaves the prison cell, he will have from two +hundred dollars to three hundred dollars as a breastwork between him and +temptation, and something for a foundation upon which to build a nobler +life. + +Now he is turned out and before long he is driven back. Nobody will +employ him, nobody will take him, and, the night following the day of +his release he is without a roof over his head and goes back to his old +ways. I would allow him to change his name, to go to another State with +a few hundred dollars in his pocket and begin the world again. + +We must recollect that it is the misfortune of a man to become a +criminal. + +I have hobbies and plenty of them. + +I want to see five hundred millions of people living here in peace. If +we want them to live in peace, we must develop the brain, civilize the +heart, and above all things, must not forget education. Nothing should +be taught in the school that somebody does not know. + +When I look about me to-day, when I think of the advance of my country, +then I think of the work that has been done. + +Think of the millions who crossed the mysterious sea, of the thousands +and thousands of ships with their brave prows towards the West. + +Think of the little settlements on the shores of the ocean, on the banks +of rivers, on the edges of forests. + +Think of the countless conflicts with savages--of the midnight +attacks--of the cabin floors wet with the blood of dead fathers, mothers +and babes. + +Think of the winters of want, of the days of toil, of the nights of +fear, of the hunger and hope. + +Think of the courage, the sufferings and hardships. + +Think of the homesickness, the disease and death. + +Think of the labor; of the millions and millions of trees that were +felled, while the aisles of the great forests were filled with the +echoes of the ax; of the many millions of miles of furrows turned by the +plow; of the millions of miles of fences built; of the countless logs +changed to lumber by the saw--of the millions of huts, cabins and +houses. + +Think of the work. Listen, and you will hear the hum of wheels, the +wheels with which our mothers spun the flax and wool. Listen, and you +will hear the looms and flying shuttles with which they wove the cloth. + +Think of the thousands still pressing toward the West, of the roads they +made, of the bridges they built; of the homes, where the sunlight fell, +where the bees hummed, the birds sang and the children laughed; of the +little towns with mill and shop, with inn and schoolhouse; of the old +stages, of the crack of the whips and the drivers' horns; of the canals +they dug. + +Think of the many thousands still pressing toward the West, passing over +the Alleghanies to the shores of the Ohio and the great lakes--still +onward to the Mississippi--the Missouri. + +See the endless processions of covered wagons drawn by horses, by +oxen,--men and boys and girls on foot, mothers and babes inside. See the +glimmering camp fires at night; see the thousands up with the sun and +away, leaving the perfume of coffee on the morning air, and sometimes +leaving the new-made grave of wife or child. Listen, and you will hear +the cry of "Gold!" and you will see many thousands crossing the great +plains, climbing the mountains and pressing on to the Pacific. + +Think of the toil, the courage it has taken to possess this land! + +Think of the ore that was dug, the furnaces that lit the nights with +flame; of the factories and mills by the rushing streams. + +Think of the inventions that went hand in hand with the work; of the +flails that were changed to threshers; of the sickles that became +cradles, and the cradles that were changed to reapers and headers--of +the wooden plows that became iron and steel; of the spinning wheel that +became the jennie, and the old looms transformed to machines that almost +think--of the steamboats that traversed the rivers, making the towns +that were far apart neighbors and friends; of the stages that became +cars, of the horses changed to locomotives with breath of flame, and the +roads of dust and mud to highways of steel, of the rivers spanned and +the mountains tunneled. + +Think of the inventions, the improvements that changed the hut to the +cabin, the cabin to the house, the house to the palace, the earthen +floors and bare walls to carpets and pictures--that changed famine to +feast--toil to happy labor and poverty to wealth. + +Think of the cost. + +Think of the separation of families--of boys and girls leaving the old +home--taking with them the blessings and kisses of fathers and mothers. +Think of the homesickness, of the tears shed by the mothers left by the +daughters gone. Think of the millions of brave men deformed by labor now +sleeping in their honored graves. + +Think of all that has been wrought, endured and accomplished for our +good, and let us remember with gratitude, with love and tears the brave +men, the patient loving women who subdued this land for us. + +Then think of the heroes who served this country; who gave us this +glorious present and hope of a still more glorious future; think of the +men who really made us free, who secured the blessings of liberty, not +only to us, but to billions yet unborn. + +This country will be covered with happy homes and free men and free +women. + +To-day we remember the heroic dead, those whose blood reddens the paths +and highways of honor; those who died upon the field, in the charge, +in prison-pens, or in famine's clutch; those who gave their lives that +liberty should not perish from the earth. And to-day we remember the +great leaders who have passed to the realm of silence, to the land of +shadow. Thomas, the rock of Chickamauga, self-poised, firm, brave, +faithful; Sherman, the reckless, the daring, the prudent and the +victorious; Sheridan, a soldier fit to have stood by Julius Cæsar and +to have uttered the words of command; and Grant, the silent, the +invincible, the unconquered; and rising above them all, Lincoln, the +wise, the patient, the merciful, the grandest figure in the Western +world. We remember them all today and hundreds of thousands who are +not mentioned, but who are equally worthy, hundreds of thousands of +privates, deserving of equal honor with the plumed leaders of the host. + +And what shall I say to you, survivors of the death-filled days? To you, +my comrades, to you whom I have known in the great days, in the time +when the heart beat fast and the blood flowed strong; in the days of +high hope--what shall I say? All I can say is that my heart goes out to +you, one and all. To you who bared your bosoms to the storms of war; to +you who left loved ones to die, if need be, for the sacred cause. May +you live long in the land you helped to save; may the winter of your +age be as green as spring, as full of blossoms as summer, as generous as +autumn, and may you, surrounded by plenty, with your wives at your sides +and your grandchildren on your knees, live long. And when at last the +fires of life burn low; when you enter the deepening dusk of the last +of many, many happy days; when your brave hearts beat weak and slow, +may the memory of your splendid deeds; deeds that freed your fellow-men; +deeds that kept your country on the map of the world; deeds that kept +the flag of the Republic in the air--may the memory of these deeds fill +your souls with peace and perfect joy. Let it console you to know that +you are not to be forgotten. Centuries hence your story will be told in +art and song, and upon your honored graves flowers will be lovingly laid +by millions' of men and women now unborn. + +Again expressing the joy that I feel in having met you, and again saying +farewell to one and all, and wishing you all the blessings of life, I +bid you goodbye.* + + * At the last reunion of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, the + Colonel's old regiment, and the soldiers of Peoria county, + which Mr. Ingersoll attended, a little incident happened + which let us into the inner circle of his life. The meeting + was held at Elmwood. While the soldier were passing in + review the citizens and young people filled all the seats in + the park and crowded around the speaker's stand, so as to + occupy all available space. When the soldiers had finished + their parade and returned to the park, they found it + impossible to get near the speaker. Of course we were all + disappointed, but were forced to stand on the outskirts of + the vast throng. + + As soon as he ceased speaking, Mr. Ingersoll said to a + soldier that he would like to meet his comrades in the hall + at a certain hour in the afternoon. The word spread quickly, + and at the appointed hour the hall was crowded with + soldiers. The guard stationed at tue door was ordered to let + none but soldiers pass into the hall. Some of the comrades, + however, brought their wives. The guards, true to their + orders, refused to let the ladies pass. Just as Mr. + Ingersoll was ready to speak, word came to him that some of + the comrades' wives were outside and wanted permission to + pass the guard. The hall was full, but Mr. Ingersoll + requested all comrades whose wives were within reach to go + and get them. When his order had been complied with even + standing room was at a premium. When Mr. Ingersoll arose to + speak to that great assemblage of white-haired veterans and + their aged companions his voice was unusually tender, and the + wave of emotion that passed through the hall cannot be told + in words. Tears and cheers blended as Mr. Ingersoll arose + and began his speech with the statement that all present + were nearing the setting sun of life, and in all probability + that was the last opportunity many of them would have of + taking each other by the hand. + + In this half-hour impromptu speech the great-hearted man, + Robert G. Ingersoll, was seen at his best. It was not a + clash of opinions over party or creed, but it was a meeting + of hearts and communion together In the holy of holies of + human life. The address was a series of word-pictures that + still hang on the walls of memory. The speaker, in his most + sympathetic mood, drew a picture of the service of the G. A. + R., of the women of the republic, and then paid a beautiful + tribute to home and invoked the kindest and greatest + influence to guard his comrades and their companions during + the remainder of life's journey. + + We got very close to the man that day, where we could see + the heart of Mr. Ingersoll. I have often wished that a + reporter could have been present to preserve the address. + Imagine four beautiful word-paintings entitled, "The Service + of the G. A. R.," "The Influence of Noble Womanhood," "The + Sacredness of Home," and "The Pilgrimage of Life." Imagine + these word-paintings as drawn by Mr. Ingersoll under the + most favorable circumstances, and you have an idea of that + address. Mr. Ingersoll the Agnostic is a very different man + from Mr. Ingersoll the man and patriot. I cannot share the + doubts of this Agnostic. I cannot help admiring the man and + patriot.--The Rev. Frank McAlpine, Peoria Star, August 1, + 1895. + + + + +THE CHICAGO AND NEW YORK GOLD SPEECH. + + * "This world will see but one Ingersoll." + + Such was the terse, laconic, yet potent utterance that came + spontaneously from a celebrated statesman whose head is now + pillowed in the dust of death, as he stood in the lobby of + the old Burnet House in Cincinnati after the famous + Republican Convention in that city in 1876, at which Colonel + Robert G. Ingersoll made that powerful speech nominating + Blaine for the Presidency, one which is read and reread to- + day, and will be read in the future, as an example of the + highest art of the platform. + + That same sentiment in thought, emotion or vocal expression + emanated from upward of twenty thousand citizens last night + who heard the eloquent and magic Ingersoll in the great + tent stretched near the corner of Sacramento avenue and Lake + street as he expounded the living gospel of true + Republicanism. + + The old warhorse, silvered by long years of faithful service + to his country, aroused the same all-pervading enthusiasm as + he did in the campaigns of Grant and Hayes and Garfield. + + He has lost not one whit, not one iota of his striking + physical presence, his profound reasoning, his convincing + logic, his rollicking wit, grandiloquence--in fine, all the + graces of the orator of old, reenforced by increased + patriotism and the ardor of the call to battle for his + country, are still his in the fullest measure. + + Ingersoll in his powerful speech at Cincinnati, spoke in + behalf of a friend; last night he plead for his country. In + 1876 he eulogized a man; last night, twenty years afterward, + he upheld the principles of democratic government. Such was + the difference in his theme; the logic, the eloquence of his + utterances was the more profound In the same ratio. + + He came to the ground floor of human existence and talked as + man to man. His patriotism, be it religion, sentiment, or + that lofty spirit inseparable from man's soul, is his life. + Last night he sought to inspire those who heard him with the + same loyalty, and he succeeded. + + Those passionate outbursts of eloquence, the wit that fairly + scintillated, the logic as Inexorable as heaven's decrees, + his rich rhetoric and immutable facts driven straight to his + hearers with the strength of bullets, aroused applause that + came as spontaneous as sunlight. + + Now eliciting laughter, now silence, now cheers, the great + orator, with the singular charm of presence, manner and + voice, swayed his immense audience at his own volition. + Packed with potency was every sentence, each word a living + thing, and with them he flayed financial heresy, laid bare + the dire results of free trade, and exposed the dangers of + Populism. + + It was an immense audience that greeted him. The huge tent + was packed from center-pole to circumference, and thousands + went away because they could not gain entrance. The houses + in the vicinity were beautifully illuminated decorated. + + The Chairman, Wm. P. McCabe, in a brief but forcible speech, + presented Colonel Ingersoll to the vast audience. As the old + veteran of rebellion days arose from his seat, one + prolonged, tremendous cheer broke forth from the twenty + thousand throats. And it was fully fifteen minutes before + the great orator could begin to deliver his address. + + In his introductory speech Mr. McCabe said: + + "Friends and Fellow-Citizens: I have no set speech to make + to-night. My duty Is to introduce to you one whose big heart + and big brain is filled with love and patriotic care for the + things that concern the country he fought for and loved so + well. I now have the honor of introducing to you Hon. Robert + G. Ingersoll."--The Intrr-Ocean, Chicago, 111., October 9th, + 1895. + + +1896. + +LADIES and Gentlemen: This is our country. + +The legally expressed will of the majority is the supreme law of the +land. We are responsible for what our Government does. We cannot excuse +ourselves because of the act of some king, or the opinions of nobles. We +are the kings. We are the nobles. We are the aristocracy of America, and +when our Government does right we are honored, and when our Government +does wrong the brand of shame is on the American brow. + +Again we are on the field of battle, where thought contends with +thought, the field of battle where facts are bullets and arguments are +swords. + +To-day there is in the United States a vast congress consisting of the +people, and in that congress every man has a voice, and it is the duty +of every man to inquire into all questions presented, to the end that he +may vote as a man and as a patriot should. + +No American should be dominated by prejudice. No man standing under our +flag should follow after the fife and drum of a party. He should say to +himself: "I am a free man, and I will discharge the obligations of an +American citizen with all the intelligence I possess." + +I love this country because the people are free; and if they are not +free it is their own fault. + +To-night I am not going to appeal to your prejudices, if you have any. +I am going to talk to the sense that you have. I am going to address +myself to your brain and to your heart. I want nothing of you except +that you will preserve the institutions of the Republic; that you will +maintain her honor unstained. That is all I ask. + +I admit that all the parties who disagree with me are honest. Large +masses of mankind are always honest, the leader not always, but the mass +of people do what they believe to be right. Consequently there is no +argument in abuse, nothing calculated to convince in calumny. To be +kind, to be candid, is far nobler, far better, and far more American. We +live in a Democracy, and we admit that every other human being has the +same right to think, the same right to express his thought, the same +right to vote that we have, and I want every one who hears me to vote +in exact accord with his sense, to cast his vote in accordance with +his conscience. I want every one to do the best he can for the great +Republic, and no matter how he votes, if he is honest, I shall find no +fault. + +But the great thing is to understand what you are going to do; the great +thing is to use the little sense that we have. In most of us the capital +is small, and it ought to be turned often. We ought to pay attention, we +ought to listen to what is said and then think, think for ourselves. + +Several questions have been presented to the American people for their +solution, and I propose to speak a little about those questions, and I +do not want you to pretend to agree with me. I want no applause unless +you honestly believe I am right. + +Three great questions are presented: First, as to money; second, as +to the tariff, and third, whether this Government has the right of +self-defence. Whether this is a Government of law, or whether there +shall be an appeal from the Supreme Court to a mob. These are the three +questions to be answered next Tuesday by the American people. + +First, let us take up this money question. Thousands and thousands of +speeches have been made on the subject. Pamphlets thick as the leaves +of autumn have been scattered from one end of the Republic to the other, +all about money, as if it were an exceedingly metaphysical question, as +though there were something magical about it. + +What is money? Money is a product of nature. Money is a part of nature. +Money is something that man cannot create. All the legislatures and +congresses of the world cannot by any possibility create one dollar, any +more than they could suspend the attraction of gravitation or hurl a +new constellation into the concave sky. Money is not made. It has to be +found. It is dug from the crevices of rocks, washed from the sands of +streams, from the gravel of ancient valleys; but it is not made. It +cannot be created. Money is something that does not have to be redeemed. +Money is the redeemer. And yet we have a man running for the presidency +on three platforms with two Vice-Presidents, who says that money is the +creature of law. It may be that law sometimes is the creature of money, +but money was never the creature of law. + +A nation can no more create money by law than it can create corn and +wheat and barley by law, and the promise to pay money is no nearer money +than a warehouse receipt is grain, or a bill of fare is a dinner. If you +can make money by law, why should any nation be poor? + +The supply of law is practically unlimited. Suppose one hundred people +should settle on an island, form a government, elect a legislature. They +would have the power to make law, and if law can make money, if money +is the creature of law, why should not these one hundred people on the +island be as wealthy as Great Britain? What is to hinder? And yet we are +told that money is the creature of law. In the financial world that +is as absurd as perpetual motion in mechanics; it is as absurd as the +fountain of eternal youth, the philosopher's stone, or the transmutation +of metals. + +What is a dollar? People imagine that a piece of paper with pictures on +it, with signatures, is money. The greenback is not money--never was; +never will be. It is a promise to pay money; not money. The note of the +nation is no nearer money than the note of an individual. A bank note is +not money. It is a promise to pay money; that is all. + +Well, what is a dollar? In the civilized world it is twenty-three grains +and twenty-two one hundredths of pure gold. That is a dollar. Well, +cannot we make dollars out of silver? Yes, I admit it, but in order to +make a silver dollar you have got to put a dollars worth of silver in +the silver dollar, and you have to put as much silver in it as you can +buy for twenty-three grains and twenty-two one-hundredths' of a grain +of pure gold. It takes a dollar's worth of silver to make a dollar. +It takes a dollar's worth of paper to make a paper dollar. It takes a +dollar's worth of iron to make an iron dollar; and there is no way of +making a dollar without the value. + +And let me tell you another thing. You do not add to the value of gold +by coining it any more than you add to the value of wheat by measuring +it; any more than you add to the value of coal by weighing it. Why do +you coin gold? Because every man cannot take a chemist's outfit with +him. He cannot carry a crucible and retort, scales and acids, and so +the Government coins it, simply to certify how much gold there is in the +piece. + +Ah, but, says this same gentleman, what gives our money--our silver--its +value? It is because it is a legal tender, he says. Nonsense; nonsense. +Gold was not given value by being made a legal tender, but being +valuable it was made a legal tender. And gold gets no value to-day from +being a legal tender. I not only say that, but I will prove it; and I +will not only prove it, but I will demonstrate it. Take a twenty dollar +gold piece, hammer it out of shape, mar the Goddess of Liberty, pound +out the United States of America and batter the eagle, and after you get +it pounded how much is it worth? + +It is worth exactly twenty dollars. Is it a legal tender? No. Has its +value been changed? No. Take a silver dollar. It is a legal tender; now +pound it into a cube, and how much is it worth? A little less than fifty +cents. What gives it the value of a dollar? The fact that it is a legal +tender? No; but the promise of the Government to keep it on an equality +with gold. I will not only say this, but I will demonstrate it. I do not +ask you to take my word; just use the sense you have. + +The Mexican silver dollar has a little more silver in it than one of our +dollars, and the Mexican silver dollar is a legal tender in Mexico. If +there is any magic about legal tender it ought to work as well in Mexico +as in the United States. I take an American silver dollar and I go +to Mexico. I buy a dinner for a dollar and I give to the Mexican the +American dollar and he gives me a Mexican dollar in change. Yet both of +the dollars are legal tender. Why is it that the Mexican dollar is worth +only fifty cents? Because the Mexican Government has not agreed to keep +it equal with gold; that is all, that is all. + +We want the money of the civilized world, and I will tell you now that +in the procession of nations every silver nation lags behind--every one. +There is not a silver nation on the globe where decent wages are paid +for human labor--not one. The American laborer gets ten times as much +here in gold as a laborer gets in China in silver, twenty times as much +as a laborer does in India, four times as much as a laborer gets in +Russia; and yet we are told that the man who will "follow England" with +the gold standard lacks patriotism and manhood. What then shall we +say of the man that follows China, that follows India in the silver +standard? + +Does that require patriotism? + +It certainly requires self-denial. + +And yet these gentlemen say that our money is too good. They might as +well say the air is too pure; they might as well say the soil is too +rich. How can money be too good? Mr. Bryan says that it is so good, +people hoard it; and let me tell him they always will. Mr. Bryan wants +money so poor that everybody will be anxious to spend it. He wants money +so poor that the rich will not have it. Then he thinks the poor can get +it. We are willing to toil for good money. Good money means the comforts +and luxuries of life. Real money is always good. Paper promises and +silver substitutes may be poor; words and pictures may be cheap and may +fade to worthlessness--but gold shines on. + +In Chicago, many years ago, there was an old colored man at the Grand +Pacific. I met him one morning, and he looked very sad, and I said to +him, "Uncle, what is the matter?" "Well," he said, "my wife ran away +last night. Pretty good looking woman; a good deal younger than I am; +but she has run off." And he says: "Colonel, I want to give you my idea +about marriage. If a man wants to marry a woman and have a good time, +and be satisfied and secure in his mind, he wants to marry some woman +that no other man on God's earth would have." + +That is the kind of money these gentlemen want in the United States. +Cheap money. Do you know that the words cheap money are a contradiction +in terms? Cheap money is always discounted when people find out that it +is cheap. We want good money, and I do not care how much we get. But we +want good money. Men are willing to toil for good money; willing to +work in the mines; willing to work in the heat and glare of the furnace; +willing to go to the top of the mast on the wild sea; willing to work +in tenements; women are willing to sew with their eyes filled with tears +for the sake of good money. And if anything is to be paid in good money, +labor is that thing. If any man is entitled to pure gold, it is the man +who labors. Let the big fellows take cheap money. Let the men living +next the soil be paid in gold. But I want the money of this country as +good as that of any other country. + +When our money is below par we feel below par. I want our money, no +matter how it is payable, to have the gold behind it. That is the money +I want in the United States. + +I want to teach the people of the world that a Democracy is honest. I +want to teach the people of the world that America is not only capable +of self-government, but that it has the self-denial, the courage, the +honor, to pay its debts to the last farthing. + +Mr. Bryan tells the farmers who are in debt that they want cheap money. +What for? To pay their debts. And he thinks that is a compliment to the +tillers of the soil. The statement is an insult to the farmers, and the +farmers of Maine and Vermont have answered him. + +And if the farmers of those States with their soil can be honest, I +think a farmer in Illinois has no excuse for being a rascal. I regard +the farmers as honest men, and when the sun shines and the rains fall +and the frosts wait, they will pay their debts. They are good men, and I +want to tell you to-night that all the stories that have been told about +farmers being Populists are not true. + +You will find the Populists in the towns, in the great cities, in +the villages. All the failures, no matter for what reason, are on the +Populist's side. They want to get rich by law. They are tired of work. + +And yet Mr. Bryan says vote for cheap money so that you can pay your +debts in fifty cent dollars. Will an honest man do it? + +Suppose a man has borrowed a thousand bushels of wheat of his neighbor, +of sixty pounds to the bushel, and then Congress should pass a law +making thirty pounds of wheat a bushel. Would that farmer pay his debt +with five hundred bushels and consider himself an honest man? + +Mr. Bryan says, "Vote for cheap money to pay your debts," and thereupon +the creditor says, "What is to become of me?" Mr. Bryan says, "We will +make it one dollar and twenty-nine cents an ounce, and make it of the +ratio of sixteen to one, make it as good as gold." And thereupon the +poor debtor says, "How is that going to help me?" And in nearly all the +speeches that this man has made he has taken the two positions, first, +that we want cheap money to pay debts, and second, that the money would +be just as good as gold for creditors. + +Now, the question is: Can Congress make fifty cents' worth of silver +worth one dollar? That is the question, and if Congress can, then I +oppose the scheme on account of its extravagance. What is the use of +wasting all that silver? Think about it. If Congress can make fifty +cents' worth of silver worth a dollar by law, why can it not make one +cent's worth of silver worth a dollar by law. Let us save the silver and +use it for forks and spoons. The supply even of silver is limited--the +supply of law is inexhaustible. Do not waste silver, use more law. You +cannot fix values by law any more than you can make cooler summers by +shortening thermometers. + +There is another trouble. If Congress, by the free coinage of silver, +can double its value, why should we allow an Englishman with a million +dollars' worth of silver bullion at the market price, to bring it to +America, have it coined free of charge, and make it exactly double the +value? Why should we put a million dollars in his pocket? That is too +generous. Why not buy the silver from him in the open market and let the +Government make the million dollars? Nothing is more absurd; nothing is +more idiotic. I admit that Mr. Bryan is honest. I admit it. If he were +not honest his intellectual pride would not allow him to make these +statements. + +Well, another thing says our friend, "Gold has been cornered"; and +thousands of people believe it. + +You have no idea of the credulity of some folks. I say that it has not +been cornered, and I will not only prove it, I will demonstrate it. +Whenever the Stock Exchange or some of the members have a corner on +stocks, that stock goes up, and if it does not, that corner bursts. +Whenever gentlemen in Chicago get up a corner on wheat in the Produce +Exchange, wheat goes up or the corner bursts. And yet they tell me there +has been a corner in gold for all these years, yet since 1873 to the +present time the rate of interest has steadily gone down. + +If there had been a corner the rate of interest would have steadily +advanced. There is a demonstration. But let me ask, for my own +information, if they corner gold what will prevent their cornering +silver? Or are you going to have it so poor that it will not be worth +cornering? + +Then they say another thing, and that is that the demonetization of +silver is responsible for all the hardships we have endured, for all the +bankruptcy, for all the panics. That is not true, and I will not only +prove it, but I will demonstrate it. The poison of demonetization +entered the American veins, as they tell us, in 1873, and has been busy +in its hellish work from that time to this; and yet, nineteen years +after we were vaccinated, 1892, was the most prosperous year ever known +by this Republic. All the wheels turning, all the furnaces aflame, +work at good wages, everybody prosperous. How, Mr. Bryanite, how do you +account for that? Just be honest a minute and think about it. + +Then there is another thing. In 1816 Great Britain demonetized silver, +and that wretched old government has had nothing but gold from that day +to this as a standard. And to show you the frightful results of that +demonetization, that government does not own now above one-third of +the globe, and all the winds are busy floating her flags. There is a +demonstration. + +Mr. Bryan tells us that free coinage will bring silver 16 to 1. What is +the use of stopping there? Why not make it 1 to 1? Why not make it equal +with gold and be done with it? And why should it stop at exactly one +dollar and twenty-nine cents? I do not know. I am not well acquainted +with all the facts that enter into the question of value, but why should +it stop at exactly one dollar and twenty-nine cents? I do not know. And +I guess if he were cross-examined along toward the close of the trial he +would admit that he did not know. + +And yet this statesman calls this silver the money of our fathers. Well, +let us see. Our fathers did some good things. In 1792 they made gold and +silver the standards, and at a ratio of 15 to 1. But where you have two +metals and endeavor to make a double standard it is very hard to keep +them even. They vary, and, as old Dogberry says, "An two men ride of a +horse, one must ride behind." They made the ratio 15 to 1, and who did +it? Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson, the greatest +man, with one exception, that ever sat in the presidential chair. With +one exception. [A voice: "Who was that?"] Abraham Lincoln. Alexander +Hamilton, with more executive ability than any other man that ever +stood under the flag. And how did they fix the ratio? They found the +commercial value in the market; that is how they did it. And they went +on and issued American dollars 15 to 1; and in 1806, when Jefferson was +President, the coinage was stopped. Why? There was too much silver in +the dollars, and people instead of passing them around put them aside +and sold them to the silversmiths. + +Then in 1834 the ratios changed; not quite sixteen to one. That was +based again on the commercial value, and instead of sixteen to one they +went into the thousands in decimals. It was not quite sixteen to one. +They wanted to fix it absolutely on the commercial value. Then a few +more dollars were coined; and our fathers coined of these sacred dollars +up to 1873, eight millions, and seven millions had been melted. + +In 1853 the gold standard was in fact adopted, and, as I have told you, +from 1792 to 1873 only eight millions of silver had been coined. + +What have the "enemies of silver" done since that time? Under the act +of 1878 we have coined over four hundred and thirty millions of these +blessed dollars. We bought four million ounces of silver in the open +market every month, and in spite of the vast purchases silver continued +to go down. We are coining about two millions a month now, and silver is +still going down. Even the expectation of the election of Bryan cannot +add the tenth of one per cent, to the value of silver bullion. It is +going down day by day. + +But what I want to say to-night is, if you want silver money, measure it +by the gold standard. + +I wish every one here would read the speech of Senator Sherman, +delivered at Columbus a little while ago, in which he gives the history +of American coinage, and every man who will read it will find +that silver was not demonetized in 1873. You will find that it was +demonetized in 1853, and if he will read back he will find that the +apostles of silver now were in favor of the gold standard in 1873. +Senator Jones of Nevada in 1873 voted for the law of 1873. He said from +his seat in the Senate, that God had made gold the standard. He said +that gold was the mother of civilization. Whether he has heard from God +since or not I do not know. But now he is on the other side. Senator +Stewart of Nevada was there at the time; he voted for the act of 1873, +and said that gold was the only standard. He has changed his mind. So +they have said of me that I used to talk another way, and they have +published little portions of speeches, without publishing all that was +said. I want to tell you to-night that I have never changed on the money +question. + +On many subjects I have changed. I am very glad to feel that I have +grown a little in the last forty or fifty years. And a man should allow +himself to grow, to bud and blossom and bear new fruit, and not be +satisfied with the rotten apples under the tree. + +But on the money question I have not changed. Sixteen years ago in this +city at Cooper Union, in 1880, in discussing this precise question, I +said that I wanted gold and silver and paper; that I wanted the paper +issued by the General Government, and back of every paper dollar I +wanted a gold dollar or a silver dollar worth a dollar in gold. I said +then, "I want that silver dollar worth a dollar in gold if you have +to make it four feet in diameter." I said then, "I want our paper so +perfectly secure that when the savage in Central Africa looks upon a +Government bill of the United States his eyes will gleam as though he +looked at shining gold." I said then, "I want every paper dollar of the +Union to be able to hold up its hand and swear, 'I know that my Redeemer +liveth.'" I said then, "The Republic cannot afford to debase money; +cannot afford to be a clipper of coin; an honest nation, honest +money; for nations as well as individuals, honesty is the best policy +everywhere and forever." I have not changed on that subject. As I told +a gentleman the other day, "I am more for silver than you are because I +want twice as much of it in a dollar as you do." + +Ah, but they say, "free coinage would bring prosperity." I do not +believe it, and I will tell you why. Elect Bryan, come to the silver +standard, and what would happen? We have in the United States about six +hundred million dollars in gold. Every dollar would instantly go out +of circulation. Why? No man will use the best money when he can use +cheaper. Remember that. No carpenter will use mahogany when his contract +allows pine. Gold will go out of circulation, and what next would +happen? All the greenbacks would fall to fifty cents on the dollar. The +only reason they are worth a dollar now is because the Government has +agreed to pay them in gold. When you come to a silver basis they fall to +fifty cents. What next? All the national bank notes would be cut square +in two. Why? Because they are secured by United States bonds, and when +we come to a silver basis, United States bonds would be paid in silver, +fifty cents on the dollar. And what else would happen? What else? These +sacred silver dollars would instantly become fifty cent pieces, because +they would no longer be redeemable in gold; because the Government would +no longer be under obligation to keep them on a parity with gold. And +how much currency and specie would that leave for us in the United +States? In value three hundred and fifty million dollars. That is five +dollars per capita. We have twenty dollars per capita now, and yet +they want to go to five dollars for the purpose of producing prosperous +times! + +What else would happen? Every human being living on an income would lose +just one-half. Every soldiers' pension would be cut in two. Every human +being who has a credit in the savings bank would lose just one-half. +All the life insurance companies would pay just one-half. All the fire +insurance companies would pay just one-half, and leave you the ashes for +the balance. That is what they call prosperity. + +And what else? The Republic would be dishonored. The believers in +monarchy--in the divine right of kings--the aristocracies of the Old +World--would say, "Democracy is a failure, freedom is a fraud, and +liberty is a liar;" and we would be compelled to admit the truth. No; +we want good, honest money. We want money that will be good when we are +dead. We want money that will keep the wolf from the door, no matter +what Congress does. We want money that no law can create; that is what +we want. There was a time when Rome was mistress of the world, and there +was a time when the arch of the empire fell, and the empire was buried +in the dust of oblivion; and before those days the Roman people coined +gold, and one of those coins is as good to-night as when Julius Cæsar +rode at the head of his legions. That is the money we want. We want +money that is honest. + +But Mr. Bryan hates the bondholders. Who are the bondholders? Let us be +honest; let us have some sense. When this Government was in the flame +of civil war it was compelled to sell bonds, and everybody who bought a +bond bought it because he believed the great Republic would triumph at +last. Every man who bought a bond was our friend, and every bond that +he purchased added to the chances of our success. They were our friends, +and I respect them all. Most of them are dead, and the bonds they bought +have been sold and resold maybe hundreds of times, and the men who have +them now paid a hundred and twenty in gold, and why should they not be +paid in gold? Can any human being think of any reason? And yet Mr. Bryan +says that the debt is so great that it cannot be paid in gold. How much +is the Republic worth? Let me tell you? This Republic to-day--its +lands in cultivation, its houses, railways, canals, and money--is worth +seventy thousand million dollars. And what do we owe? One billion five +hundred million dollars, and what is the condition of the country? It is +the condition of a man who has seventy dollars and owes one dollar and +a half. This is the richest country on the globe. Have we any excuse for +being thieves? Have we any excuse for failing to pay the debt? No, sir; +no, sir. Mr. Bryan hates the bondholders of the railways. Why? I do not +know. What did those wretches do? They furnished the money to build the +one hundred and eighty thousand miles of railway in the United States; +that is what they did. + +They paid the money that threw up the road-bed, that shoveled the +gravel; they paid the men that turned the ore into steel and put it in +form for use; they paid the men that cut down the trees and made the +ties, that manufactured the locomotives and the cars. That is what they +did. No wonder that a presidential failure hates them. + +So this man hates bankers. Now, what is a banker? Here is a little town +of five thousand people, and some of them have a little money. They do +not want to keep it in the house because some Bryan man might find it; I +mean if it were silver. So one citizen buys a safe and rents a room +and tells all the people, "You deposit the overplus with me to hold it +subject to your order upon your orders signed as checks;" and so they +do, and in a little while he finds that he has on hand continually about +one hundred thousand dollars more than is called for, and thereupon he +loans it to the fellow who started the livery stable and to the chap +that opened the grocery and to the fellow with the store, and he makes +this idle money work for the good and prosperity of that town. And that +is all he does. And these bankers now, if Mr. Bryan becomes President, +can pay the depositors in fifty cent dollars; and yet they are such +rascally wretches that they say, "We prefer to pay back gold." You can +see how mean they are. + +Mr. Bryan hates the rich. Would he like to be rich? He hates the +bondholders. Would he like to have a million? He hates the successful +man. Does he want to be a failure? If he does, let him wait until +the third day of November. We want honest money because we are honest +people; and there never was any real prosperity for a nation or an +individual without honesty, without integrity, and it is our duty to +preserve the reputation of the great Republic. + +Better be an honest bankrupt than a rich thief. Poverty can hold in its +hand the jewel, honor--a jewel that outshines all other gems. A thousand +times better be poor and noble than rich and fraudulent. + +Then there is another question--the question of the tariff. I admit that +there are a great many arguments in favor of free trade, but I assert +that all the facts are the other way. I want American people as far as +possible to manufacture everything that Americans use. + +The more industries we have the more we will develop the American brain, +and the best crop you can raise in every country is a crop of good men +and good women--of intelligent people. And another thing, I want to keep +this market for ourselves. A nation that sells raw material will grow +ignorant and poor; a nation that manufactures will grow intelligent and +rich. It only takes muscle to dig ore. It takes mind to manufacture +a locomotive, and only that labor is profitable that is mixed with +thought. Muscle must be in partnership with brain. I am in favor of +keeping this market for ourselves, and yet some people say: "Give us the +market of the world." Well, why don't you take it? There is no export +duty on anything. You can get things out of this country cheaper than +from any other country in the world. Iron is as cheap here in the +ground, so are coal and stone, as any place on earth. The timber is as +cheap in the forest. Why don't you make things and sell them in Central +Africa, in China and Japan? Why don't you do it? I will tell you why. +It is because labor is too high; that is all. Almost the entire value is +labor. You make a ton of steel rails worth twenty-five dollars; the ore +in the ground is worth only a few cents, the coal in the earth only a +few cents, the lime in the cliff only a few cents--altogether not +one dollar and fifty cents; but the ton is worth twenty-five dollars; +twenty-three dollars and fifty cents labor! That is the trouble. The +steamship is worth five hundred thousand dollars, but the raw material +is not worth ten thousand dollars. The rest is labor. Why is labor +higher here than in Europe? Protection. And why do these gentlemen ask +for the trade of the world? Why do they ask for free trade? Because +they want cheaper labor. That is all; cheaper labor. The markets of +the world! We want our own markets. I would rather have the market +of Illinois than all of China with her four hundred millions. I would +rather have the market of one good county in New York than all of +Mexico. What do they want in Mexico? A little red calico, a few +sombreros and some spurs. They make their own liquor and they live on +red pepper and beans. What do you want of their markets? We want to keep +our own. In other words, we want to pursue the policy that has given us +prosperity in the past. We tried a little bit of free trade in 1892 when +we were all prosperous. I said then: "If Grover Cleveland is elected it +will cost the people five hundred million dollars." I am no prophet, nor +the son of a prophet, nor a profitable son, but I placed the figure too +low. His election has cost a thousand million dollars. There is an old +song, "You Put the Wrong Man off at Buffalo;" we took the wrong man on +at Buffalo. We tried just a little of it, not much. We tried the +Wilson bill--a bill, according to Mr. Cleveland, born of perfidy and +dishonor--a bill that he was not quite foolish enough to sign and +not brave enough to veto. We tried it and we are tired of it, and if +experience is a teacher the American people know a little more than they +did. We want to do our own work, and we want to mingle our thought with +our labor. We are the most inventive of all the peoples. We sustain the +same relation to invention that the ancient Greeks did to sculpture. We +want to develop the brain; we want to cultivate the imagination, and we +want to cover our land with happy homes. A thing is worth sometimes the +thought that is in it, sometimes the genius. Here is a man buys a little +piece of linen for twenty-five cents, he buys a few paints for fifteen +cents, and a few brushes, and he paints a picture; just a little one; a +picture, maybe, of a cottage with a dear old woman, white hair, +serene forehead and satisfied eyes; at the corner a few hollyhocks in +bloom--may be a tree in blossom, and as you listen you seem to hear the +songs of birds--the hum of bees, and your childhood all comes back to +you as you look. You feel the dewy grass beneath your bare feet once +again, and you go back in your mind until the dear old woman on the +porch is once more young and fair. There is a soul there. Genius has +done its work. And the little picture is worth five, ten, may be fifty +thousand dollars. All the result of labor and genius. + +And another thing we want is to produce great men and great women here +in our own country; then again we want business. Talk about charity, +talk about the few dollars that fall unconsciously from the hand of +wealth, talk about your poorhouses and your sewing societies and your +poor little efforts in the missionary line in the worst part of your +town! Ah, there is no charity like business. Business gives work to +labor's countless hands; business wipes the tears from the eyes of +widows and orphans; business dimples with joy the cheek of sorrow; +business puts a roof above the heads of the homeless; business covers +the land with happy homes. + +We do not want any populistic philanthropy. We want no fiat philosophy. +We want no silver swindles. We want business. Wind and wave are our +servants; let them work. Steam and electricity are our slaves; let them +toil. Let all the wheels whirl; let all the shuttles fly. Fill the air +with the echoes of hammer and saw. Fill the furnace with flame; the +moulds with liquid iron. Let them glow. + +Build homes and palaces of trade. Plow the fields, reap the waving +grain. Create all things that man can use. Business will feed the +hungry, clothe the naked, educate the ignorant, enrich the world with +art--fill the air with song. Give us Protection and Prosperity. Do not +cheat us with free trade dreams. Do not deceive us with debased coin. +Give us good money--the life blood of business--and let it flow through +the veins and arteries of commerce. + +And let me tell you to-night the smoke arising from the factories' great +plants forms the only cloud on which has ever been seen the glittering +bow of American promise. We want work, and I tell you to-night that my +sympathies are with the men who work, with the women who weep. I +know that labor is the Atlas on whose shoulders rests the great +superstructure of civilization and the great dome of science adorned +with all there is of art. Labor is the great oak, labor is the great +column, and labor, with its deft and cunning hands, has created the +countless things of art and beauty. I want to see labor paid. I want to +see capital civilized until it will be willing to give labor its share, +and I want labor intelligent enough to settle all these questions in the +high court of reason. And let me tell the workingman to-night: You will +never help your self by destroying your employer. You have work to sell. +Somebody has to buy it, if it is bought, and somebody has to buy it that +has the money. Who is going to manufacture something that will not sell. +Nobody is going into the manufacturing business through philanthropy, +and unless your employer makes a profit, the mill will be shut down and +you will be out of work. The interest of the employer and the employed +should be one. Whenever the employers of the continent are successful, +then the workingman is better paid, and you know it. I have some hope in +the future for the workingman. I know what it is to work. I do not think +my natural disposition runs in that direction, but I know what it is +to work, and I have worked with all my might at one dollar and a half a +week. I did the work of a man for fifty cents a day, and I was not sorry +for it. In the horizon of my future burned and gleamed the perpetual +star of hope. I said to myself: I live in a free country, and I have +a chance; I live in a free country, and I have as much liberty as any +other man beneath the flag, and I have enjoyed it. + +Something has been done for labor. Only a few years ago a man worked +fifteen or sixteen hours a day, but the hours have been reduced to at +least ten and are on the way to still further reduction. And while the +hours have been decreased the wages have as certainly been increased. In +forty years--in less--the wages of American workingmen have doubled. A +little while ago you received an average of two hundred and eighty-five +dollars a year; now you receive an average of more than four hundred and +ninety dollars; there is the difference. So it seems to me that the star +of hope is still in the sky for every workingman. Then there is another +thing: every workingman in this country can take his little boy on his +knee and say, "John, all the avenues to distinction, wealth, and glory +are open to you. There is the free school; take your chances with the +rest." And it seems to me that that thought ought to sweeten every drop +of sweat that trickles down the honest brow of toil. + +So let us have protection! How much? Enough, so that our income at least +will equal our outgo. That is a good way to keep house. I am tired of +depression and deficit. I do not like to see a President pawning bonds +to raise money to pay his own salary. I do not like to see the great +Republic at the mercy of anybody, so let us stand by protection. + +There is another trouble. The gentleman now running for the +presidency--a tireless talker--oh, if he had a brain equal to his vocal +chords, what a man! And yet when I read his speeches it seems to me +as though he stood on his head and thought with his feet. This man is +endeavoring to excite class against class, to excite the poor against +the rich. Let me tell you something. We have no classes in the United +States. There are no permanent classes here. The millionaire may be a +mendicant, the mendicant may be a millionaire. The man now working for +the millionaire may employ that millionaire's sons to work for him. +There is a chance for us all. Sometimes a numskull is born in the +mansion, and a genius rises from the gutter. Old Mother Nature has a +queer way of taking care of her children. You cannot tell. You cannot +tell. Here we have a free open field of competition, and if a man passes +me in the race I say: "Good luck. Get ahead of me if you can, you are +welcome." + +And why should I hate the rich? Why should I make my heart a den of +writhing, hissing snakes of envy? Get rich. I do not care. I am glad I +live in a country where somebody can get rich. It is a spur in the flank +of ambition. Let them get rich. I have known good men that were +quite rich, and I have known some mean men who were in straitened +circumstances. So I have known as good men as ever breathed the air, who +were poor. We must respect the man; what is inside, not what is outside. + +That is why I like this country. That is why I do not want it +dishonored. I want no class feeling. The citizens of America should be +friends. Where capital is just and labor intelligent, happiness dwells. +Fortunate that country where the rich are extravagant and the poor +economical. Miserable that country where the rich are economical and the +poor are extravagant. A rich spendthrift is a blessing. A rich miser is +a curse. Extravagance is a splendid form of charity. Let the rich spend, +let them build, let them give work to their fellow-men, and I will find +no fault with their wealth, provided they obtained it honestly. + +There was an old fellow by the name of Socrates. He happened to be +civilized, living in a barbarous time, and he was tried for his life. +And in his speech in which he defended himself is a paragraph that ought +to remain in the memory of the human race forever. + +He said to those judges, "During my life I have not sought ambition, +wealth. I have not sought to adorn my body, but I have endeavored to +adorn my soul with the jewels of patience and justice, and above all, +with the love of liberty." Such a man rises above all wealth. + +Why should we envy the rich? Why envy a man who has no earthly needs? +Why envy a man that carries a hundred canes? Why envy a man who has that +which he cannot use? I know a great many rich men and I have read about +a great many others, and I do not envy them. They are no happier than +I am. You see, after all, few rich men own their property. The property +owns them. It gets them up early in the morning. It will not let them +sleep; it makes them suspect their friends. Sometimes they think their +children would like to attend a first-class funeral. Why should we +envy the rich? They have fear; we have hope. They are on the top of the +ladder; we are close to the ground. They are afraid of falling, and we +hope to rise. + +Why should we envy the rich? They never drank any colder water than I +have. They never ate any lighter biscuits or any better corn bread. They +never drank any better Illinois wine, or felt better after drinking it, +than I have; than you have. They never saw any more glorious sunsets +with the great palaces of amethyst and gold, and they never saw the +heavens thicker with constellations; they never read better poetry. They +know no more about the ecstasies of love than we do. They never got any +more pleasure out of courting than I did. Why should we envy the rich? +I know as much about the ecstasies of love of wife and child and friends +as they. They never had any better weather in June than I have, or you +have. They can buy splendid pictures. I can look at them. And who owns +a great picture or a great statue? The man who bought it? Possibly, and +possibly not. The man who really owns it, is the man who understands +it, that appreciates it, the man into whose heart its beauty and genius +come, the man who is ennobled and refined and glorified by it. + +They have never heard any better music than I have. + +When the great notes, winged like eagles, soar to the great dome of +sound, I have felt just as good as though I had a hundred million +dollars. + +Do not try to divide this country into classes. The rich man that +endeavors to help his fellow-man deserves the honor and respect of the +great Republic. I have nothing against the man that got rich in the +free and open field of competition. Where they combine to rob their +fellow-men, then I want the laws enforced. That is all. Let them play +fair and they are welcome to all they get. + +And why should we hate the successful? Why? We cannot all be first. The +race is a vast procession; a great many hundred millions are back of the +center, and in front there is only one human being; that is all. Shall +we wait for the other fellows to catch up? Shall the procession stop? +I say, help the fallen, assist the weak, help the poor, bind up the +wounds, but do not stop the procession. + +Why should we envy the successful? Why should we hate them? And why +should we array class against class? It is all wrong. For instance, here +is a young man, and he is industrious. He is in love with a girl around +the corner. She is in his brain all day--in his heart all night, and +while he is working he is thinking. He gets a little ahead, they get +married. He is an honest man, he gets credit, and the first thing you +know he has a good business of his own and he gets rich; educates his +children, and his old age is filled with content and love. Good! His +companions bask in the sunshine of idleness. They have wasted their +time, wasted their wages in dissipation, and when the winter of life +comes, when the snow falls on the barren fields of the wasted days, then +shivering with cold, pinched with hunger, they curse the man who has +succeeded. Thereupon they all vote for Bryan. + +Then there is another question, and that is whether the Government has +a right to protect itself? And that is whether the employees of railways +shall have a right to stop the trains, a right to prevent interstate +commerce, a right to burn bridges and shoot engineers? Has the United +States the right to protect commerce between the States? I say, yes. + +It is the duty of the President to lay the mailed hand of the Republic +upon the mob. We want no mobs in this country. This is a Government of +the people and by the people, a Government of law, and these laws +should be interpreted by the courts in judicial calm. We have a supreme +tribunal. Undoubtedly it has made some bad decisions, but it has made +a vast number of good ones. The judges do the best they can. Of course +they are not like Mr. Bryan, infallible. But they are doing the best +they can, and when they make a decision that is wrong it will be +attacked by reason, it will be attacked by argument, and in time it will +be reversed, but I do not believe in attacking it with a torch or by a +mob. I hate the mob spirit. Civilized men obey the law. Civilized men +believe in order. Civilized men believe that a man that makes property +by industry and economy has the right to keep it. Civilized men believe +that that man has the right to use it as he desires, and they will judge +of his character by the manner in which he uses it. If he endeavors to +assist his fellow-man he will have the respect and admiration of his +fellow-men. But we want a Government of law. We do not want labor +questions settled by violence and blood. + +I want to civilize the capitalist so that he will be willing to give +what labor is worth. I want to educate the workingman so that he will be +willing to receive what labor is worth. I want to civilize them both to +that degree that they can settle all their disputes in the high court of +reason. + +But when you tell me that they can stop the commerce of the Nation, then +you preach the gospel of the bludgeon, the gospel of torch and bomb. I +do not believe in that religion. I believe in a religion of kindness, +reason and law. The law is the supreme will of the supreme people, and +we must obey it or we go back to savagery and black night. I stand +by the courts. I stand by the President who endeavors to preserve the +peace. I am against mobs; I am against lynchings, and I believe it is +the duty of the Federal Government to protect all of its citizens at +home and abroad; and I want a Government powerful enough to say to the +Governor of any State where they are murdering American citizens without +process of law--I want the Federal Government to say to the Governor of +that State: "Stop; stop shedding the blood of American citizens. And if +you cannot stop it, we can." I believe in a Government that will protect +the lowest, the poorest and weakest as promptly as the mightiest and +strongest. That is my Government. This old doctrine of State Sovereignty +perished in the flame of civil war, and I tell you to-night that that +infamous lie was surrendered to Grant with Lee's sword at Appomattox. + +I believe in a strong Government, not in a Government that can make +money, but in a strong Government. + +Oh, I forgot to ask the question, "If the Government can make money why +should it collect taxes?" + +Let us be honest. Here is a poor man with a little yoke of cattle, +cultivating forty acres of stony ground, working like a slave in the +heat of summer, in the cold blasts of winter, and the Government makes +him pay ten dollars taxes, when, according to these gentlemen, it could +issue a one hundred thousand dollar bill in a second. Issue the bill and +give the fellow with the cattle a rest. Is it possible for the mind to +conceive anything more absurd than that the Government can create money? + +Now, the next question is, or the next thing is, you have to choose +between men. Shall Mr. Bryan be the next President or shall McKinley +occupy that chair? Who is Mr. Bryan? He is not a tried man. If he had +the capacity to reason, if he had logic, if he could spread the wings of +imagination, if there were in his heart the divine flower called pity, +he might be an orator, but lacking all these, he is as he is. + +When Major McKinley was fighting under the flag, Bryan was in his +mother's arms, and judging from his speeches he ought to be there still. +What is he? He is a Populist. He voted for General Weaver. + +Only a little while ago he denied being a Democrat. His mind is filled +with vagaries. A fiat money man. His brain is an insane asylum without a +keeper. + +Imagine that man President. Whom would he call about him? Upon whom +would he rely? Probably for Secretary of State he would choose Ignatius +Donnelly of Minnesota; for Secretary of the Interior, Henry George; for +Secretary of War, Tillman with his pitchforks; for Postmaster-General, +Peffer of Kansas. Once somebody said: "If you believe in fiat money, +why don't you believe in fiat hay, and you can make enough hay out of +Peffer's whiskers to feed all the cattle in the country." For Secretary +of the Treasury, Coin Harvey. For Secretary of the Navy, Coxey, and then +he could keep off the grass. And then would come the millennium. The +great cryptogram and the Bacon cipher; the single tax, State saloons, +fiat money, free silver, destruction of banks and credit, bondholders +and creditors mobbed, courts closed, debts repudiated and the rest of +the folks made rich by law. + +And suppose Bryan should die, and then think, think of Thomas Watson +sitting in the chair of Abraham Lincoln. That is enough to give a +patriot political nightmare. + +If McKinley dies there is an honest capable man to take his place. A man +who believes in business, in prosperity. A man who knows what money is. +A man who would never permit the laying of a land warrant on a cloud. A +man of good sense, a man of level head. A man that loves his country, a +man that will protect its honor. + +And is McKinley a tried man? Honest, candid, level-headed, putting on +no airs, saying not what he thinks somebody else thinks, but what he +thinks, and saying it in his own honest, forcible way. He has made +hundreds of speeches during this campaign, not to people whom he ran +after, but to people who came to see him. Not from the tail end of cars, +but from the doorstep of his home, and every speech has been calculated +to make votes. Every speech has increased the respect of the American +people for him, every one. He has never slopped over. Four years ago +I read a speech made by him at Cleveland, on the tariff. I tell you +to-night that he is the best posted man on the tariff under the flag. +I tell you that he knows the road to prosperity. I read that speech. It +had foundation, proportion, dome, and he handled his facts as skillfully +as Caesar marshaled his hosts on the fields of war, and ever since +I read it I have had profound respect for the intelligence and +statesmanship of William McKinley. + +He will call about him the best, the wisest, and the most patriotic +men, and his cabinet will respect the highest and loftiest interests and +aspirations of the American people. + +Then you have to make another choice. You have to choose between +parties, between the new Democratic and the old Republican. And I want +to tell you the new Democratic is worse than the old, and that is a +good deal for me to say. In 1861 hundreds and hundreds of thousands of +Democrats thought more of country than of party. Hundreds and hundreds +of thousands shouldered their muskets, rushed to the rescue of the +Republic, and sustained the administration of Abraham Lincoln. With +their help the Rebellion was crushed, and now hundreds and hundreds of +thousands of Democrats will hold country above party and will join +with the Republicans in saving the honor, the reputation, of the United +States; and I want to say to all the National Democrats who feel that +they cannot vote for Bryan, I want to say to you, vote for McKinley. +This is no war for blank cartridges. Your gun makes as much noise, but +it does not do as much execution. + +If you vote for Palmer it is not to elect him, it is simply to defeat +Bryan, and the sure way to defeat Bryan is to vote for McKinley. You +have to choose between parties. The new Democratic party, with its +allies, the Populists and Socialists and Free Silverites, represents the +follies, the mistakes, and the absurdities of a thousand years. They are +in favor of everything that cannot be done. Whatever is, is wrong. They +think creditors are swindlers, and debtors who refuse to pay their debts +are honest men. Good money is bad and poor money is good. A promise is +better than a performance. They desire to abolish facts, punish success, +and reward failure. They are worse than the old. And yet I want to be +honest. I am like the old Dutchman who made a speech in Arkansas. He +said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I must tell you the truth. There are +good and bad in all parties except the Democratic party, and in the +Democratic party there are bad and worse." The new Democratic party, a +party that believes in repudiation, a party that would put the stain of +dishonesty on every American brow and that would make this Government +subject to the mob. + +You have to make your choice. I have made mine. I go with the party that +is traveling my way. + +I do not pretend to belong to anything or that anything belongs to me. +When a party goes my way I go with that party and I stick to it as long +as it is traveling my road. And let me tell you something. The +history of the Republican party is the glory of the United States. The +Republican party has the enthusiasm of youth and the wisdom of old age. +The Republican party has the genius of administration. The Republican +party knows the wants of the people. The Republican party kept this +country on the map of the world and kept our flag in the air. The +Republican party made our country free, and that one fact fills all the +heavens with light. The Republican party is the pioneer of progress; the +grandest organization that has ever existed among men. The Republican +party is the conscience of the nineteenth century. I am proud to belong +to it. Vote the Republican ticket and you will be happy here, and if +there is another life you will be happy there. + +I had an old friend down in Woodford County, Charley Mulidore. He won +a coffin on Lincoln's election. He took it home and every birthday he +called in his friends. They had a little game of "sixty-six" on the +coffin lid. When the game was over they opened the coffin and took out +the things to eat and drink and had a festival, and the minister in +the little town, hearing of it, was scandalized, and he went to Charley +Mulidore and he said: "Mr. Mulidore, how can you make light of such +awful things?" "What things?" "Why," he said, "Mr. Mulidore, what did +you do with that coffin? In a little while you die, and then you come +to the day of judgment." "Well, Mr. Preacher, when I come to that day of +judgment they will say, 'What is your name?' I will tell them, 'Charley +Mulidore.' And they will say, 'Mr. Mulidore, are you a Christian?' 'No, +sir, I was a Republican, and the coffin I got out of this morning I won +on Abraham Lincoln's election.' And then they will say, 'Walk in, Mr. +Mulidore, walk in, walk in; here is your halo and there is your harp.'" + +If you want to live in good company vote the Republican ticket. Vote +for Black for Governor of the State of New York--a man in favor of +protection and honest money; a man that believes in the preservation of +the honor of the Nation. Vote for members of Congress that are true to +the great principles of the Republican party. Vote for every Republican +candidate from the lowest to the highest. This is a year when we mean +business. Vote, as I tell you, the Republican ticket if you want good +company. + +If you want to do some good to your fellow-men, if you want to say when +you die--when the curtain falls--when the music of the orchestra grows +dim--when the lights fade; if you want to live so at that time you can +say "the world is better because I lived," vote the Republican ticket +in 1896. Vote with the party of Lincoln--greatest of our mighty dead; +Lincoln the Merciful. Vote with the party of Grant, the greatest soldier +of his century; a man worthy to have been matched against Cæsar for the +mastery of the world; as great a general as ever planted on the field +of war the torn and tattered flag of victory. Vote with the party of +Sherman and Sheridan and Thomas. But the time would fail me to repeat +even the names of the philosophers, the philanthropists, the thinkers, +the orators, the statesmen, and the soldiers who made the Republican +party glorious forever. + +We love our country; dear to us for its reputation throughout the world. +We love our country for her credit in all the marts of the world. We +love our country, because under her flag we are free. It is our duty +to hand down the American institutions to our children unstained, +unimpaired. It is our duty to preserve them for ourselves, for our +children, and for their fair children yet to be. + +This is the last speech that I shall make in this campaign, and to-night +there comes upon me the spirit of prophecy. On November 4th you will +find that by the largest majorities in our history, William McKinley has +been elected President of the United States.* + + * The final rally of the McKinley League for the present + campaign, was held last night in Carnegie Music Hall, ana + the orator chosen to present the doctrines of the + Republican party was Robert G. Ingersoll. The meeting will + remain notable for the high character of the audience. The + great hall was filled to its utmost capacity. It was crowded + from the rear of the stage to the last row of seats in the + deep gallery. + + The boxes were occupied by brilliantly attired women, and + hundreds of other women vied with the sterner sex In the + applause that greeted the numerous telling points of the + speaker. The audience was a very fashionable and exclusive + one, for admission was only to be had by ticket, and tickets + were hard to get. + + On the stage a great company of men and women were gathered, + and over them waved rich masses of color, the American + colors, of course, predominating in the display Flags hung + from all the gallery rails, and the whole scheme of + decoration was consistent and beautiful. At 8.80 o'clock Mr. + John E. Milholland appeared upon the stage followed by Col. + Ingersoll. + + Without any delay Mr. Milholland was presented as the + chairman of the meeting. He spoke briefly of the purpose of + the party and then said; "There is no Intelligent audience + under the flag or in any civilized country to whom it would + be necessary for me to introduce Robert G. Ingersoll." And + the cheers with which the audience greeted the orator proved + the truth of his words. + + Col. Ingersoll rose impressively and advanced to the front + of the stage, from which the speaker's desk had been removed + in order to allow him full opportunity to indulge in his + habit of walking to and fro as he talked. He was greeted + with tremendous applause; the men cheered him and the women + waved their handkerchiefs and fans for several minutes. + + He was able to secure instant command of his audience, and + while the applause was wildest, he waved his hand, and the + gesture was followed by a silence that was oppressive. Still + the speaker waited. He did not intend to waste any of his + ammunition. Then, convinced that every eye was centred upon + him, he spoke, declaring "This is our country." The assembly + was his from that instant. He followed it up with a summary + of the issues of the campaign. They were "money, the tariff, + and whether this Government has the right of self-defence." + As he said later on in his address, the Colonel has changed + in a good many things, but he has not changed his politics, + and he has not altered one whit in his masterful command of + forceful sayings.--New York Tribune, October 80th, 1896. + + + Note:--This was Col. Ingersoll's last political address. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. +9 (of 12), by Robert G. Ingersoll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF INGERSOLL *** + +***** This file should be named 38809-8.txt or 38809-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/0/38809/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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