{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-9:cooper-union-speech",
  "slug": "cooper-union-speech",
  "title": "Cooper Union Speech",
  "subtitle": "Cooper Union, New York, 1876.",
  "excerpt": "The Cooper Union speech — a major 1876 campaign address delivered to the largest single-speaker audience New York had seen in ten years.",
  "year": 1876,
  "volume": 9,
  "category": "Political",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/cooper-union-speech/",
  "wordCount": 7098,
  "body": "*Col. Robert G. Ingersoll of Illinois last night, at Cooper\n    Union, spoke on the political issues of the day, at unusual\n    length, to the largest and most enthusiastic audience which,\n    during the last ten years, any single speaker has attracted.\n    His address was in his happiest epigrammatic style, and was\n    interrupted every few moments either by the most uproarious\n    laughter or enthusiastic cheering. It is no exaggeration to\n    say that the meeting was the largest Cooper Institute has\n    seen since the war. Not merely the main hall was filled, but\n    the wide corridor in Third Avenue, the entrance hall in\n    Eighth Street, and every Committee-room to which his voice\n    could reach, though the speaker was unseen, were crowded—in\n    fact, literally packed. Half an hour before the hour named\n    for the organization of the meeting, admission to the body\n    of the hall was almost impossible; and selected officers,\n    and the speaker of the evening himself had to beg their way\n    to the platform. The latter was as painfully crowded with\n    invited guests as the body of the hall; and ingress was\n    impossible after the speaker began, and egress was almost as\n    difficult owing to the pressure in the committee-room\n    through which the platform is approached.\n    Not only in numbers alone, but in the prominence of the\n    persons present, was the meeting impressive. Besides the\n    usual large quota of active politicians always seen at such\n    meetings, there were seen numbers of leading merchants,\n    financiers, and lawyers of New York, prominent officials not\n    only of the City but the State and National Government.\n    The speech was nearly two hours In length, but as the\n    interruptions were frequent, indeed almost continuous, it\n    seemed very short, and when Mr. Ingersoll concluded his fire\n    of epigrams, there were loud calls and appeals to him to go\n    on. There were suggestions by some of the managers, of other\n    speakers who might follow him, but the presiding officer\n    wisely decided to submit no other speaker to the too severe\n    test of speaking on the same occasion with Mr. Ingersoll.\n    Chauncey M. Depew, on leaving the hall, remarked that it was\n    the greatest speech he ever heard, and numbers of old\n    campaigners were equally enthusiastic. At its conclusion,\n    the reception which Mr. Ingersoll held on the platform\n    lasted over half-an-hour, and when finally Commissioner\n    Wheeler piloted him through the crowd to his coach, three or\n    four hundred of the audience followed and gave him lusty\n    cheers as he drove off.—New York Tribune, September\n    11,1876.\n\nHayes Campaign\n\n1876.\n\nI AM just on my way home from the grand old State of Maine, and there\nhas followed me a telegraphic dispatch which I will read to you. If it\nwere not good, you may swear I would not read it: \"Every Congressional\ndistrict, every county in Maine, Republican by a large majority. The\nvictory is overwhelming, and the majority will exceed 15,000.\" That\ndispatch is signed by that knight-errant of political chivalry, James G.\nBlaine.\n\nI suppose we are all stockholders in the great corporation known as the\nUnited States of America, and as such stockholders we have a right to\nvote the way we think will best subserve our own interests. Each one has\ncertain stock in this Government, whether he is rich, or whether he is\npoor, and the poor man has the same interest in the United States of\nAmerica that the richest man in it has. It is our duty, conscientiously\nand honestly, to hear the argument upon both sides of the political\nquestion, and then go and vote conscientiously for the side that we\nbelieve will best preserve our interest in the United States of America.\nTwo great parties are before you now asking your support—the Democratic\nparty and the Republican party. One wishes to be kept in power, the\nother wishes to have a chance once more at the Treasury of the United\nStates. The Democratic party is probably the hungriest organization that\never wandered over the desert of political disaster in the history of\nthe world. There never was, in all probability, a political stomach\nso thoroughly empty, or an appetite so outrageously keen as the one\npossessed by the Democratic party. The Democratic party has been howling\nlike a pack of wolves looking in with hungry and staring eyes at the\nwindows of the National Capitol, and scratching at the doors of the\nWhite House. They have been engaged in these elegant pursuits for\nsixteen long, weary years. Occasionally they have retired to some\nconvenient eminence and lugubriously howled about the Constitution.\nThe Democratic party comes and asks for your vote, not on account of\nanything it has done, not on account of anything it has accomplished,\nbut on account of what it promises to do; the Democratic party can make\njust as good a promise as any other party in the world, and it will\ncome farther from fulfilling it than any other party on this globe. The\nRepublican party having held this Government for sixteen years, proposes\nto hold it for four years more. The Republican party comes to you with\nits record open, and asks every man, woman and child in this broad\ncountry to read its every word. And I say to you, that there is not a\nline, a paragraph, or a page of that record that is not only an honor\nto the Republican party, but to the human race. On every page of that\nrecord is written some great and glorious action, done either for the\nliberty of man, or the preservation of our common country. We ask every\nbody to read its every word. The Democratic party comes before you with\nits record closed, recording every blot and blur, and stain and treason,\nand slander and malignity, and asks you not to read a single word, but\nto be kind enough to take its infamous promises for the future.\n\nNow, my friends, I propose to tell you, to-night, something that has\nbeen done by the Democratic party, and then allow you to judge for\nyourselves. Now, if a man came to you, you owning a steamboat on the\nHudson River, and he wished to hire out to you as an engineer, and you\ninquired about him, and found he had blown up and destroyed and wrecked\nevery steamboat he had ever been engineer on, and you should tell him:\n\"I can't hire you; you blew up such an engine, you wrecked such a ship,\"\nhe would say to you, \"My Lord! Mister, you must let bygones be bygones.\"\nIf a man came to your bank, or came to a solitary individual here to\nborrow a hundred dollars, and you went and inquired about him and found\nhe never paid a note in his life, found he was a dead-beat, and you say\nto him, \"I cannot loan you money.\" \"Why?\" \"Because, I have ascertained\nyou never pay your debts.\" \"Ah, yes,\" he says, \"you are no gentleman\ngoing prying into a man's record,\" I tell you, my good friends, a good\ncharacter rests upon a record, and not upon a prospectus, a good record\nrests upon a deed accomplished, and not upon a promise, a good character\nrests upon something really done, and not upon a good resolution, and\nyou cannot make a good character in a day. If you could, Tilden would\nhave one to-morrow night.\n\nI propose now to tell you, my friends, a little of the history of the\nRepublican party, also a little of the history of the Democratic party.\n\nAnd first, the Republican party. The United States of America is a free\ncountry, it is the only free country upon this earth; it is the only\nrepublic that was ever established among men. We have read, we have\nheard, of the republics of Greece, of Egypt, of Venice; we have heard of\nthe free cities of Europe. There never was a republic of Venice; there\nnever was a republic of Rome; there never was a republic of Athens;\nthere never was a free city in Europe; there never was a government not\ncursed with caste; there never was a government not cursed with slavery;\nthere never was a country not cursed with almost every infamy, until the\nRepublican party of the United States made this a free country. It is\nthe first party in the world that contended that the respectable man was\nthe useful man; it is the first party in the world that said, without\nregard to previous conditions, without regard to race, every human being\nis entitled to life, to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and it is\nthe only party in the world that has endeavored to carry those sublime\nprinciples into actual effect. Every other party has been allied to\nsome piece of rascality; every other party has been patched up with some\nthieving, larcenous, leprous compromise. The Republican party keeps\nits forehead in the grand dawn of perpetual advancement; the Republican\nparty is the party of reason; it is the party of argument; it is\nthe party of education; it believes in free schools, it believes in\nscientific schools; it believes that the schools are for the public and\nall the public; it believes that science never should be interfered with\nby any sectarian influence whatever.\n\nThe Republican party is in favor of science; the Republican party, as\nI said before, is the party of reason; it argues; it does not mob; it\nreasons; it does not murder; it persuades you, not with the shot gun,\nnot with tar and feathers, but with good sound reason, and argument.\n\nIn order for you to ascertain what the Republican party has done for us,\nlet us refresh ourselves a little; we all know it, but it is well enough\nto hear it now and then. Let us then refresh our recollection a little,\nin order to understand what the grand and great Republican party has\naccomplished in the land.\n\nWe will consider, in the first place, the condition of the country when\nthe Republican party was born. When this Republican party was born there\nwas upon the statute books of the United States of America a law known\nas the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, by which every man in the State of\nNew York was made by law a bloodhound, and could be set and hissed upon\na negro, who was simply attempting to obtain his birthright of freedom,\njust as you would set a dog upon a wolf. That was the Fugitive Slave Law\nof 1850. Around the neck of every man it put a collar as on a dog, but\nit had not the decency to put the man's name on the collar. I said in\nthe State of Maine, and several other States, and expect to say it again\nalthough I hurt the religious sentiment of the Democratic party, and\nshocked the piety of that organization by saying it, but I did say then,\nand now say, that the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 would have disgraced\nhell in its palmiest days.\n\nI tell you, my friends, you do not know how easy it is to shock the\nreligious sentiments of the Democratic party; there is a deep and pure\nvein of piety running through that organization; it has been for years\nspiritually inclined; there is probably no organization in the world\nthat really will stand by any thing of a spiritual character, at least\nuntil it is gone, as that Democratic party will. Everywhere I have been\nI have crushed their religious hopes. You have no idea how sorry I am\nthat I hurt their feelings so upon the subject of religion. Why, I did\nnot suppose that they cared anything about Christianity, but I have been\ndeceived. I now find that they do, and I have done what no other man in\nthe United States ever did—I have made the Democratic party come to the\ndefence of Christianity. I have made the Democratic party use what\ntime they could spare between drinks in quoting Scripture. But\nnotwithstanding the fact that I have shocked the religious sentiment\nof that party, I do not want them to defend Christianity any more; they\nwill bring it into universal contempt if they do. Yes, yes, they will\nmake the words honesty and reform a stench in the nostrils of honest\nmen. They made the words of the Constitution stand almost for treason,\nduring the entire war, and every decent word that passes the ignorant,\nleprous, malignant lips of the Democratic party, becomes dishonored from\nthat day forth.\n\nAt the same time, in 1850, when the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, in\nnearly all of the Western States, there was a law by which the virtues\nof pity and hospitality became indictable offences. There was a law by\nwhich the virtue of charity became a crime, and the man who performed\na kindness could be indicted, imprisoned, and fined. It was the law of\nIllinois—of my own State—that if one gave a drop of cold water, or a\ncrust of bread, to a fugitive from slavery, he could be indicted, fined\nand imprisoned, under the infamous slave law of 1850, under the infamous\nblack laws of the Western States.\n\nAt the time the Republican party was born, (and I have told this many\ntimes) if a woman ninety-nine one-hundredths white had escaped from\nslavery, carrying her child on her bosom, having gone through morass and\nbrush and thorns and thickets, had crossed creeks and rivers, and had\nfinally got within one step of freedom, with the light of the North\nstar shining in her tear-filled eyes—with her child upon her withered\nbreast—it would have been an indictable offence to have given her a\ndrop of water or a crust of bread; not only that, but under the slave\nlaw of 1850, it was the duty of every Northern citizen claiming to be a\nfree man, to clutch that woman and hand her back to the dominion of her\nmaster and to the Democratic lash. The Democrats are sorry that those\nlaws have been repealed. The Republican party with the mailed hand\nof war tore from the statute books of the United States, and from the\nstatute books of each State, every one of those infamous, hellish laws,\nand trampled them beneath her glorious feet.\n\nSuch laws are infamous beyond expression; one would suppose they had\nbeen passed by a Legislature, the lower house of which were hyenas, the\nupper house snakes, and the executive a cannibal king. The institution\nof slavery had polluted, had corrupted the church, not only in the\nSouth, but a large proportion of the church in the North; so that\nministers stood up in their pulpits here in New York and defended the\nvery infamy that I have mentioned. Not only that, but the Presbyterians,\nSouth, in 1863, met in General Synod, and passed two resolutions.\n\nThe first resolution read, \"Resolved, that slavery is a divine\ninstitution\" (and as the boy said, \"so is hell\").\n\nSecond, \"Resolved, that God raised up the Presbyterian Church, South,\nto protect and perpetuate that institution.\"\n\nWell, all I have to say is that, if God did this, he never chose a more\ninfamous instrument to carry out a more diabolical object. What more had\nslavery done? At that time it had corrupted the very courts, so that in\nnearly every State in this Union if a Democrat had gone to the hut of\na poor negro, and had shot down his wife and children before his very\neyes, had strangled the little dimpled babe in the cradle, there was no\ncourt before which this negro could come to give testimony. He was not\nallowed to go before a magistrate and indict the murderer; he was not\nallowed to go before a grand jury and swear an indictment against the\nwretch. Justice was not only blind, but deaf; and that was the idea\nof justice in the South, when the Republican party was born. When the\nRepublican party was born the bay of the bloodhound was the music of the\nUnion; when this party was born the dome of our Capitol at Washington\ncast its shadow upon slave-pens in which crouched and shuddered women\nfrom whose breasts their babes had been torn by wretches who are now\ncrying for honesty and reform. When the Republican party was born,\na bloodhound was considered as one of the instrumentalities of\nrepublicanism. When the Republican party was born, the church had made\nthe cross of Christ a whipping-post. When the Republican party was\nborn, courts of the United States had not the slightest idea of justice,\nprovided a black man was on the other side. When this party came into\nexistence, if a negro had a plot of ground and planted corn in it, and\nthe rain had fallen upon it, and the dew had lain lovingly upon it, and\nthe arrows of light shot from the exhaustless quiver of the sun, had\nquickened the blade, and the leaves waved in the perfumed air of June,\nand it finally ripened into the full ear in the golden air of autumn,\nthe courts of the United States did not know to whom the corn belonged,\nand if a Democrat had driven the negro off and shucked the corn, and\nthat case had been left to the Supreme Court of many of the States in\nthis Union, they would have read all the authorities, they would have\nheard all the arguments, they would have heard all the speeches, then\npushed their spectacles back on their bald and brainless heads and\ndecided, all things considered, the Democrat was entitled to that\ncorn. We pretended at that time to be a free country; it was a lie. We\npretended at that time to do justice in our courts; it was a lie, and\nabove all our pretence and hypocrisy rose the curse of slavery, like\nChimborazo above the clouds.\n\nNow, my friends, what is there about this great Republican party? It is\nthe party of intellectual freedom. It is one thing to bind the hands of\nmen; it is one thing to steal the results of physical labor of men, but\nit is a greater crime to forge fetters for the souls of men. I am a free\nman; I will do my own thinking or die; I give a mortgage on my soul to\nnobody; I give a deed of trust on my soul to nobody; no matter whether I\nthink well or I think ill; whatever thought I have shall be my thought,\nand shall be a free thought, and I am going to give cheerfully, gladly,\nthe same right to thus think to every other human being.\n\nI despise any man who does not own himself. I despise any man who does\nnot possess his own spirit. I would rather die a beggar, covered with\nrags, with my soul erect, fearless and free, than to live a king in a\npalace of gold, clothed with the purple of power, with my soul slimy\nwith hypocrisy, crawling in the dust of fear. I will do my own thinking,\nand when I get it thought, I will say it. These are the splendid things,\nmy friends, about the Republican party; intellectual and physical\nliberty for all.\n\nNow, my friends, I have told you a little about the Republican party.\nNow, I will tell you a little more about the Republican party. When that\nparty came into power it elected Abraham Lincoln President of the United\nStates. I live in the State that holds within its tender embrace the\nsacred ashes of Abraham Lincoln, the best, the purest man that was\never President of the United States. I except none. When he was elected\nPresident of the United States, the Democratic party said: \"We will not\nstand it;\" the Democratic party South said: \"We will not bear it;\" and\nthe Democratic party North said: \"You ought not to bear it.\"\n\nJames Buchanan was then President. James Buchanan read the Constitution\nof the United States, or a part of it, and read several platforms made\nby the Democratic party, and gave it as his deliberate opinion that a\nState had a right to go out of the Union. He gave it as his deliberate\nopinion that this was a Confederacy and not a Nation, and when he said\nthat, there was another little, dried up, old bachelor sitting over in\nthe amen corner of the political meeting and he squeaked out: \"That is\nmy opinion too,\" and the name of that man was Samuel J. Tilden.\n\nThe Democratic party then and now says that the Union is simply a\nConfederacy; but I want this country to be a Nation. I want to live in\na great and splendid country. A great nation makes a great people. Your\nsurroundings have something to do with it. Great plains, magnificent\nrivers, great ranges of mountains, a country washed by two oceans—all\nthese things make us great and grand as the continent on which we live.\nThe war commenced, and the moment the war commenced the whole country\nwas divided into two parties. No matter what they had been\nbefore, whether Democrats, Freesoilers, Republicans, old Whigs, or\nAbolitionists—the whole country divided into two parties—the friends\nand enemies of the country—patriots and traitors, and they so continued\nuntil the Rebellion was put down. I cheerfully admit that thousands\nof Democrats went into the army, and that thousands of Democrats were\npatriotic men. I cheerfully admit that thousands of them thought more of\ntheir country than they did of the Democratic party, and they came with\nus to fight for the country, and I honor every one of them from the\nbottom of my heart, and nineteen out of twenty of them have voted the\nRepublican ticket from that day to this. Some of them came back and went\nto the Democratic party again and are still in that party; I have not\na word to say against them, only this: They are swapping off\nrespectability for disgrace. They give to the Democratic party all the\nrespectability it has, and the Democratic party gives to them all the\ndisgrace they have.\n\nDemocratic soldier, come out of the Democratic party. There was a man in\nmy State got mad at the railroad and would not ship his hogs on it, so\nhe drove them to Chicago, and it took him so long to get them there that\nthe price had fallen; when he came back, they laughed at him, and said\nto him, \"You didn't make much, did you, driving your hogs to Chicago?\"\n\"No,\" he said, \"I didn't make anything except the company of the hogs on\nthe way.\" Soldier of the Republic, I say, with the Democratic party all\nyou can make is the company of the hogs on the way down. Come out, come\nout and leave them alone in their putridity—in their rottenness. Leave\nthem alone. Do not try to put a new patch on an old garment. Leave them\nalone. I tell you the Democratic party must be left alone; it must be\nleft to enjoy the primal curse, \"On thy belly shalt thou crawl and dust\nshalt thou eat all the days of thy life,\" O Democratic party.\n\nNow, my friends, I need not tell you how we put down the Rebellion. You\nall know. I need not describe to you the battles you fought. I need not\ntell you of the men who sacrificed their lives. I need not tell you of\nthe old men who are still waiting for footsteps that never will return.\nI need not tell you of the women who are waiting for the return of their\nloved ones. I need not tell you of all these things. You know we put\ndown the Rebellion; we fought until the old flag triumphed over every\ninch of American soil redeemed from the clutch of treason.\n\nNow, my friends, what was the Democratic party doing when the Republican\nparty was doing these splendid things? When, the Republican party said\nthis was a nation; when the Republican party said we shall be free;\nwhen the Republican party said slavery shall be extirpated from American\nsoil; when the Republican party said the negro shall be a citizen, and\nthe citizen shall have the ballot, and the citizen shall have the right\nto cast that ballot for the government of his choice peaceably—what was\nthe Democratic party doing?\n\nI will tell you a few things that the Democratic party has done within\nthe last sixteen years. In the first place, they were not willing that\nthis country should be saved unless slavery could be saved with it.\nThere never was a Democrat, North or South—and by Democrat I mean the\nfellows who stuck to the party all during the war, the ones that stuck\nto the party after it was a disgrace; the ones that stuck to the party\nfrom simple, pure cussedness—there never was one who did not think\nmore of the institution of slavery than he did of the Government of the\nUnited States; not one that I ever saw or read of. And so they said to\nus for all those years: \"If you can save the Union with slavery, and\nwithout any help from us, we are willing you should do it; but we do not\npropose that this shall be an abolition war.\" So the Democratic\nparty from the first said, \"An effort to preserve this Union is\nunconstitutional,\" and they made a breastwork of the Constitution for\nrebels to get behind and shoot down loyal men, so that the first charge\nI lay at the feet of the Democratic party, the first charge I make in\nthe indictment, is that they thought more of slavery than of liberty and\nof this Union, and in my judgment they are in the same condition this\nmoment. The next thing they did was to discourage enlistments in the\nNorth. They did all in their power to prevent any man's going into the\narmy to assist in putting down the Rebellion. And that grand reformer\nand statesman, Samuel J. Tilden, gave it as his opinion that the South\ncould sue, and that every soldier who put his foot on sacred Southern\nsoil would be a trespasser, and could be sued before a Justice of the\nPeace. The Democratic party met in their conventions in every State\nNorth, and denounced the war as an abolition war, and Abraham Lincoln\nas a tyrant. What more did they do? They went into partnership with\nthe rebels. They said to the rebels just as plainly as though they had\nspoken it: \"Hold on, hold out, hold hard, fight hard, until we get the\npolitical possession of the North, and then you can go in peace.\"\n\nWhat more? A man by the name of Jacob Thompson—a nice man and a good\nDemocrat, who thinks that of all the men to reform the Government Samuel\nJ. Tilden is the best man—Jacob Thompson had the misfortune to be\na very vigorous Democrat, and I will show you what I mean by that. A\nDemocrat during the war who had a musket—you understand, a musket—he\nwas a rebel, and during the war a rebel that did not have a musket was\na Democrat. I call Mr. Thompson a vigorous Democrat, because he had a\nmusket. Jacob Thompson was the rebel agent in Canada, and when he went\nthere he took between six and seven hundred thousand dollars for the\npurpose of co-operating with the Northern Democracy. He got himself\nacquainted with and in connection with the Democratic party in Ohio, in\nIndiana, and in Illinois. The vigorous Democrats, the real Democrats,\nin these States had organized themselves under the heads of \"Sons of\nLiberty,\" \"Knights of the Golden Circle,\" \"Order of the Star,\" and\nvarious other beautiful names, and their object was to release rebel\nprisoners from Camp Chase, Camp Douglass in Chicago, and from one camp\nin Indianapolis and another camp at Rock Island. Their object was to\nraise a fire in the rear, as they called it—in other words, to burn\ndown the homes of Union soldiers while they were in the front fighting\nfor the honor of their country. That was their object, and they put\nthemselves in connection with Jacob Thompson. They were to have an\nuprising on the 16th of August, 1864. It was thought best to hold a few\npublic meetings for the purpose of arousing the public mind. They held\nthe first meeting in the city of Peoria, where I live. That was August\n3rd, 1864. Here they came from every part of the State, and were\naddressed by the principal Democratic politicians in Illinois.\n\nTo that meeting Fernando Wood addressed a letter, in which he said that\nalthough absent in body he should be present in spirit. George Pendleton\nof Ohio, George Pugh of the same State, Seymour of Connecticut, and\nvarious other Democratic gentlemen, sent acknowledgments and expressions\nof regret to this Democratic meeting that met at this time for the\npurpose of organizing an uprising among the Democratic party. I saw that\nmeeting, and heard some of their speeches. They denounced the war as an\nabolition nigger war. They denounced Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant. They\ncarried transparencies that said, \"Is there money enough in the land to\npay this nigger debt? Arouse, brothers, and hurl the tyrant Lincoln from\nthe throne.\" And the men that promulgated that very thing are running\nfor the most important political offices in the country, on the ground\nof honesty and reform. And Jacob Thompson says that he furnished the\nmoney to pay the expenses of that Democratic meeting. They were all paid\nby rebel gold, by Jacob Thompson. He has on file the voucher from these\nDemocratic gentlemen in favor of Tilden and Hendricks. The next meetings\nwere held in Springfield, Illinois, and Indianapolis, Indiana, the\nexpenses of which were paid in the same way. They shipped to one town\nthese weapons of our destruction in boxes labeled Sunday school books!\n\nThat same rebel agent, Jacob Thompson, hired a Democrat by the name\nof Churchill to burn the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Thompson coolly\nremarked: \"I don't think he has had much luck, as I have only heard of a\nfew fires.\"\n\nIn Indianapolis a man named Dodds was arrested—a sound Democrat—so\nsound that the Government had to take him by the nape of the neck and\nput him in Fort Lafayette. The convention of Democrats then met in the\ncity of Chicago, and declared the war a failure. There never was a more\ninfamous lie on this earth than when the Democratic convention declared\nin 1864 that the war was a failure. It was but a few days afterward that\nthe roar of Grants cannon announced that a lie. Rise from your graves,\nUnion soldiers, one and all, that fell in support of your country—rise\nfrom your graves, and lift your skeleton hands on high, and swear that\nwhen the Democratic party resolved that the war for the preservation\nof your country was a failure, that the Democratic party was a vast\naggregated liar. Well, we grew magnanimous, and let Dodds out of Fort\nLafayette; and where do you suppose Dodds is now? He is in Wisconsin.\nWhat do you suppose Dodds is doing? Making speeches. Whom for? Tilden\nand Hendricks—\"Honesty and reform!\" This same Jacob Thompson, Democrat,\nhired men to burn New York, and they did set fire in some twenty places,\nand they used Greek fire, as he said in his letter, and ingenuously\nadds: \"I shall never hereafter advise the use of Greek fire.\" They\nknew that in the smoke and ruins would be found the charred remains of\nmothers and children, and that the flames leaping like serpents would\ntake the child from the mothers arms, and they were ready to do it to\npreserve the infamous institution of slavery; and the Democratic party\nhas never objected to it from that day to this. They burned steamboats,\nand many men with them, and the hounds that did it are skulking in the\nwoods of Missouri. While these things were going on, Democrats in the\nhighest positions said: \"Not one cent to prosecute the war.\"\n\nThe next question we have to consider is about paying the debt. This\nis the first question. The second question is the protection of the\ncitizen, whether he is white or black. We owe a large debt. Two-thirds\nof that debt was incurred in consequence of the action and the meanness\nof the Democrats. There are some people who think that you can defer\nthe payment of a promise so long that the postponement of the debt will\nserve in lieu of its liquidation—that you pay your debts by putting off\nyour creditors.\n\nThe people have to support the Government; the Government cannot support\nthe people. The Government has no money but what it received from the\npeople. It had therefore to borrow money to carry on the war. Every\ngreenback that it issued was a forced loan. My notes are not a legal\ntender, though if I had the power I might possibly make them so. We\nborrowed money and we have to pay the debt. That debt represents the\nexpenses of war. The horses and the gunpowder and the rifles and the\nartillery are represented in that debt—it represents all the munitions\nof war. Until we pay that debt we can never be a solvent nation. Until\nour net profits amount to as much as we lost during the war we can never\nbe a solvent people. If a man cannot understand that, there is no use in\ntalking to him on the subject. The alchemists in olden times who fancied\nthat they could make gold out of nothing were not more absurd than the\nAmerican advocates of soft money. They resemble the early explorers of\nour continent who lost years in searching for the fountain of eternal\nyouth, but the ear of age never caught the gurgle of that spring. We\nall have heard of men who spent years of labor in endeavoring to produce\nperpetual motion. They produced machines of the most ingenious character\nwith cogs and wheels, and pulleys without number, but these ingenious\nmachines had one fault, they would not go. You will never find a way to\nmake money out of nothing. It is as great nonsense as the fountain of\nperpetual youth. You cannot do it.\n\nGold is the best material which labor has yet found as a measure of\nvalue. That measure of value must be as valuable as the object it\nmeasures.\n\nThe value of gold arises from the amount of labor expended in producing\nit. A gold dollar will buy as much labor as produced that dollar.\n    [Here the speaker opened a telegram from Maine, which he\n    read to the audience amid a perfect tempest of applause. It\n    contained the following words:] \"We have triumphed by an\n    immense majority, something we have not achieved since\n    1868.\" [The speaker resumed.] And this despatch is signed by\n    the man who clutched the throats of the Democrats and held\n    them until they grew black in the face, James G. Blaine. ***\n\nNow, gentlemen, to pass from the financial part of this, and I will say\none word before I do it. The Republican party intends to pay its debts\nin coin on the 1st of January, 1879. Paper money means probably the\npayment of the Confederate debt; a metallic currency, the discharge of\nhonest obligations. We have touched hard-pan prices in this country, and\nwe want to do a hard-pan business with hard money.\n\nWe now come to the protection of our citizens. A government that cannot\nprotect its citizens, at home and abroad, ought to be swept from the map\nof the world. The Democrats tell you that they will protect any citizen\nif he is only away from home, but if he is in Louisiana or any other\nState in the Union, the Government is powerless to protect him. I say\na government has a right to protect every citizen at home as well as\nabroad, and the Government has the right to take its soldiers across\nthe State line, to take its soldiers into any State, for the purpose of\nprotecting even one man. That is my doctrine with regard to the power of\nthe Government. But here comes a Democrat to-day and tells me, (and\nit is the old doctrine of secession in disguise), that the State of\nLouisiana must protect its own citizens, and that if it does not, the\nGeneral Government has nothing to do unless the Governor of that State\nasks assistance, no matter whether anarchy prevails or not. That is\ninfamous. The United States has the right to draft you and me into the\narmy and compel us to serve there, if its powers are being usurped. It\nis the duty of this Government to see to it that every citizen has\nall his rights in every State in this Union, and to protect him in the\nenjoyment of those rights, peaceably if it can, forcibly if it must.\n\nDemocrats tell us that they treat the colored man very well. I have\nfrequently read stories relating how two white men were passing along\nthe road when suddenly they were set upon by ten or twelve negroes, who\nsought their lives; but in the fight which ensued, the ten or twelve\nnegroes were killed, and not a white man hurt. I tell you it is\ninfamous, and the Democratic press of the North laughs at it, and Mr.\nSamuel J. Tilden does not care. He knows that many of the Southern\nStates are to be carried by assassination and murder, and he knows that\nif he is elected it will be by assassination and murder. It is infamous\nbeyond the expression of language. Now, I ask you which party will be\nthe most likely to preserve the liberty of the negro—the party who\nfought for slavery, or the men who gave them freedom? These are the\ntwo great questions—the payment of the debt, and the protection of our\ncitizens. My friends, we have to pay the debt, as I told you, but it is\nof greater importance to make sacred American citizenship.\n\nNow, these two parties have a couple of candidates. The Democratic\nparty has put forward Mr. Samuel J. Tilden. Mr. Tilden is a Democrat who\nbelongs to the Democratic party of the city of New York; the worst party\never organized in any civilized country. I wish you could see it. The\npugilists, the prizefighters, the plug-uglies, the fellows that run with\nthe \"masheen;\" nearly every nose is mashed, about half the ears have\nbeen chawed off; and of whatever complexion they are, their eyes are\nnearly always black. They have fists like tea-kettles and heads like\nbullets. I wish you could see them. I have been in New York every few\nweeks for fifteen years; and whenever I am here I see the old banner of\nTammany Hall, \"Tammany Hall and Reform;\" \"John Morrissey and Reform;\"\n\"John Kelley and Reform;\" \"William M. Tweed and Reform;\" and the\nother day I saw the same old flag; \"Samuel J. Tilden and Reform.\"\nThe Democratic party of the city of New York never had but two\nobjects—grand and petit larceny. Tammany Hall bears the same relation\nto the penitentiary that the Sunday school does to the church.\n\nI have heard that the Democratic party got control of the city when it\ndid not owe a dollar, and have stolen and stolen until it owes a hundred\nand sixty millions, and I understand that every election they have had\nwas a fraud, every one. I understand that they stole everything they\ncould lay their hands on; and what hands! Grasped and grasped and\nclutched, until they stole all it was possible for the people to pay,\nand now they are all yelling for \"Honesty and Reform.\"\n\nI understand that Samuel J. Tilden was a pupil in that school, and that\nnow he is the head teacher. I understand that when the war commenced\nhe said he would never aid in the prosecution of that old outrage. I\nunderstand that he said in 1860 and in 1861 that the Southern States\ncould snap the tie of confederation as a nation would break a treaty,\nand that they could repel coercion as a nation would repel invasion. I\nunderstand that during the entire war he was opposed to its prosecution,\nand that he was opposed to the Proclamation of Emancipation, and\ndemanded that the document be taken back. I understand that he regretted\nto see the chains fall from the limbs of the colored man. I understand\nthat he regretted when the Constitution of the United States was\nelevated and purified, pure as the driven snow. I understand that he\nregretted when the stain was wiped from our flag and we stood before the\nworld the only pure Republic that ever existed. This is enough for me\nto say about him, and since the news from Maine you need not waste your\ntime in talking about him.\n    [A voice: \"How about free schools?\"]\n\nI want every schoolhouse to be a temple of science in which shall be\ntaught the laws of nature, in which the children shall be taught actual\nfacts, and I do not want that schoolhouse touched, or that institution\nof science touched, by any superstition whatever. Leave religion with\nthe church, with the family, and more than all, leave religion with each\nindividual heart and man.\n\nLet every man be his own bishop, let every man be his own pope, let\nevery man do his own thinking, let every man have a brain of his own.\nLet every man have a heart and conscience of his own.\n\nWe are growing better, and truer, and grander. And let me say, Mr.\nDemocrat, we are keeping the country for your children. We are keeping\neducation for your children. We are keeping the old flag floating for\nyour children; and let me say, as a prediction, there is only air enough\non this continent to float that one flag.\n    Note.—This address was not revised by the author for\n    publication.\n"
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