{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-9:indianapolis-speech-1876",
  "slug": "indianapolis-speech-1876",
  "title": "Indianapolis Speech (1876)",
  "subtitle": "The Journal, Indianapolis, September 21, 1876.",
  "excerpt": "A Hayes-campaign address delivered at Indianapolis, September 21, 1876.",
  "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/indianapolis-speech-1876/",
  "wordCount": 7075,
  "body": "• Col. Ingersoll was introduced by Gen'l Noyes, who said: \"I\n    have now the exquisite pleasure of introducing to you that\n    dashing cavalry officer, that thunderbolt of war, that\n    silver tongued orator, Col. Robert G. Ingersoll of Illinois.\"\n    The Journal, Indianapolis, Indiana. September 2lst, 1876.\n\nHayes Campaign\n\n1876\n\nDelivered to the Veteran Soldiers of the Rebellion.\n\nLADIES and Gentlemen, Fellow Citizens and Citizen Soldiers:—I am\nopposed to the Democratic party, and I will tell you why. Every State\nthat seceded from the United States was a Democratic State. Every\nordinance of secession that was drawn was drawn by a Democrat. Every man\nthat endeavored to tear the old flag from the heaven that it enriches\nwas a Democrat. Every man that tried to destroy this nation was a\nDemocrat. Every enemy this great Republic has had for twenty years has\nbeen a Democrat. Every man that shot Union soldiers was a Democrat.\nEvery man that denied to the Union prisoners even the worm-eaten crust\nof famine, and when some poor, emaciated Union patriot, driven to\ninsanity by famine, saw in an insane dream the face of his mother, and\nshe beckoned him and he followed, hoping to press her lips once again\nagainst his fevered face, and when he stepped one step beyond the dead\nline the wretch that put the bullet through his loving, throbbing heart\nwas and is a Democrat.\n\nEvery man that loved slavery better than liberty was a Democrat. The\nman that assassinated Abraham Lincoln was a Democrat. Every man that\nsympathized with the assassin—every man glad that the noblest President\never elected was assassinated, was a Democrat. Every man that wanted the\nprivilege of whipping another man to make him work for him for nothing\nand pay him with lashes on his naked back, was a Democrat. Every man\nthat raised bloodhounds to pursue human beings was a Democrat. Every man\nthat clutched from shrieking, shuddering, crouching mothers, babes from\ntheir breasts, and sold them into slavery, was a Democrat. Every man\nthat impaired the credit of the United States, every man that swore we\nwould never pay the bonds, every man that swore we would never\nredeem the greenbacks, every maligner of his country's credit, every\ncalumniator of his country's honor, was a Democrat. Every man that\nresisted the draft, every man that hid in the bushes and shot at Union\nmen simply because they were endeavoring to enforce the laws of their\ncountry, was a Democrat. Every man that wept over the corpse of slavery\nwas a Democrat. Every man that cursed Abraham Lincoln because he\nissued the Proclamation of Emancipation—the grandest paper since the\nDeclaration of Independence—every one of them was a Democrat. Every man\nthat denounced the soldiers that bared their breasts to the storms of\nshot and shell for the honor of America and for the sacred rights of\nman; was a Democrat. Every man that wanted an uprising in the North,\nthat wanted to release the rebel prisoners that they might burn down\nthe homes of Union soldiers above the heads of their wives and children,\nwhile the brave husbands, the heroic fathers, were in the front fighting\nfor the honor of the old flag, every one of them was a Democrat. I am\nnot through yet. Every man that believed this glorious nation of ours\nis a confederacy, every man that believed the old banner carried by our\nfathers over the fields of the Revolution; the old flag carried by our\nfathers over the fields of 1812; the glorious old banner carried by our\nbrothers over the plains of Mexico; the sacred banner carried by\nour brothers over the cruel fields of the South, simply stood for a\ncontract, simply stood for an agreement, was a Democrat. Every man who\nbelieved that any State could go out of the Union at its pleasure, every\nman that believed the grand fabric of the American Government could\nbe made to crumble instantly into dust at the touch of treason, was a\nDemocrat. Every man that helped to burn orphan asylums in New York, was\na Democrat; every man that tried to fire the city of New York, although\nhe knew that thousands would perish, and knew that the great serpent of\nflame leaping from buildings would clutch children from their mothers'\narms—every wretch that did it was a Democrat. Recollect it! Every man\nthat tried to spread smallpox and yellow fever in the North, as the\ninstrumentalities of civilized war, was a Democrat. Soldiers, every scar\nyou have on your heroic bodies was given you by a Democrat. Every scar,\nevery arm that is lacking, every limb that is gone, is a souvenir of a\nDemocrat. I want you to recollect it. Every man that was the enemy of\nhuman liberty in this country was a Democrat. Every man that wanted\nthe fruit of all the heroism of all the ages to turn to ashes upon the\nlips—every one was a Democrat.\n\nI am a Republican. I will tell you why: This is the only free Government\nin the world. The Republican party made it so. The Republican party took\nthe chains from four millions of people. The Republican party, with the\nwand of progress, touched the auction-block and it became a schoolhouse.\nThe Republican party put down the Rebellion, saved the nation, kept the\nold banner afloat in the air, and declared that slavery of every kind\nshould be extirpated from the face of this continent. What more? I am a\nRepublican because it is the only free party that ever existed. It is a\nparty that has a platform as broad as humanity, a platform as broad as\nthe human race, a party that says you shall have all the fruit of the\nlabor of your hands, a party that says you may think for yourself, a\nparty that says, no chains for the hands, no fetters for the soul.*\n  • At this point the rain began to descend, and it looked as\n    if a heavy shower was impending. Several umbrellas were put\n    up. Gov. Noyes—\"God bless you! What is rain to soldiers\"\n    Voice—\"Go ahead; we don't mind the rain.\" It was proposed\n    to adjourn the meeting to Masonic Hall, but the motion was\n    voted down by an overwhelming majority, and Mr. Ingersoll\n    proceeded.\n\nI am a Republican because the Republican party says this country is a\nNation, and not a confederacy. I am here in Indiana to speak, and I\nhave as good a right to speak here as though I had been born on this\nstand—not because the State flag of Indiana waves over me—I would\nnot know it if I should see it. You have the same right to speak in\nIllinois, not because the State flag of Illinois waves over you, but\nbecause that banner, rendered sacred by the blood of all the heroes,\nwaves over you and me. I am in favor of this being a Nation. Think of a\nman gratifying his entire ambition in the State of Rhode Island. We want\nthis to be a Nation, and you cannot have a great, grand, splendid people\nwithout a great, grand, splendid country. The great plains, the sublime\nmountains, the great rushing, roaring rivers, shores lashed by two\noceans, and the grand anthem of Niagara, mingle and enter, into the\ncharacter of every American citizen, and make him or tend to make him a\ngreat and grand character. I am for the Republican party because it says\nthe Government has as much right, as much power, to protect its citizens\nat home as abroad. The Republican party does not say that you have to go\naway from home to get the protection of the Government. The Democratic\nparty says the Government cannot march its troops into the South to\nprotect the rights of the citizens. It is a lie. The Government claims\nthe right, and it is conceded that the Government has the right, to go\nto your house, while you are sitting by your fireside with your wife and\nchildren about you, and the old lady knitting, and the cat playing with\nthe yarn, and everybody happy and serene—the Government claims the\nright to go to your fireside and take you by force and put you into the\narmy; take you down to the valley of the shadow of hell, put you by the\nruddy, roaring guns, and make you fight for your flag. Now, that being\nso, when the war is over and your country is victorious, and you go back\nto your home, and a lot of Democrats want to trample upon your rights, I\nwant to know if the Government that took you from your fireside and made\nyou fight for it, I want to know if it is not bound to fight for you.\nThe flag that will not protect its protectors is a dirty rag that\ncontaminates the air in which it waves. The government that will not\ndefend its defenders is a disgrace to the nations of the world. I am\na Republican because the Republican party says, \"We will protect the\nrights of American citizens at home, and if necessary we will march\nan army into any State to protect the rights of the humblest American\ncitizen in that State.\" I am a Republican because that party allows\nme to be free—allows me to do my own thinking in my own way. I am a\nRepublican because it is a party grand enough and splendid enough and\nsublime enough to invite every human being in favor of liberty and\nprogress to fight shoulder to shoulder for the advancement of mankind.\nIt invites the Methodist, it invites the Catholic, it invites the\nPresbyterian and every kind of sectarian; it invites the Freethinker;\nit invites the infidel, provided he is in favor of giving to every other\nhuman being every chance and every right that he claims for himself.\nI am a Republican, I tell you. There is room in the Republican air\nfor every wing; there is room on the Republican sea for every sail.\nRepublicanism says to every man: \"Let your soul be like an eagle; fly\nout in the great dome of thought, and question the stars for yourself.\"\nBut the Democratic party says; \"Be blind owls, sit on the dry limb of a\ndead tree, and hoot only when that party says hoot.\"\n\nIn the Republican party there are no followers. We are all leaders.\nThere is not a party chain. There is not a party lash. Any man that does\nnot love this country, any man that does not love liberty, any man that\nis not in favor of human progress, that is not in favor of giving\nto others all he claims for himself; we do not ask him to vote the\nRepublican ticket. You can vote it if you please, and if there is any\nDemocrat within hearing who expects to die before another election,\nwe are willing that he should vote one Republican ticket, simply as a\nconsolation upon his death-bed. What more? I am a Republican because\nthat party believes in free labor. It believes that free labor will give\nus wealth. It believes in free thought, because it believes that free\nthought will give us truth. You do not know what a grand party you\nbelong to. I never want any holier or grander title of nobility than\nthat I belong to the Republican party, and have fought for the liberty\nof man. The Republican party, I say, believes in free labor. The\nRepublican party also believes in slavery. What kind of slavery? In\nenslaving the forces of nature.\n\nWe believe that free labor, that free thought, have enslaved the\nforces of nature, and made them work for man. We make old attraction of\ngravitation work for us; we make the lightning do our errands; we make\nsteam hammer and fashion what we need. The forces of nature are the\nslaves of the Republican party. They have no backs to be whipped,\nthey have no hearts to be torn—no hearts to be broken; they cannot be\nseparated from their wives; they cannot be dragged from the bosoms of\ntheir husbands; they work night and day and they never tire. You cannot\nwhip them, you cannot starve them, and a Democrat even can be trusted\nwith one of them. I tell you I am a Republican. I believe, as I told\nyou, that free labor will give us these slaves. Free labor will produce\nall these things, and everything you have to-day has been produced by\nfree labor, nothing by slave labor.\n\nSlavery never invented but one machine, and that was a threshing machine\nin the shape of a whip. Free labor has invented all the machines. We\nwant to come down to the philosophy of these things. The problem of free\nlabor, when a man works for the wife he loves, when he works for the\nlittle children he adores—the problem is to do the most work in the\nshortest space of time. The problem of slavery is to do the least work\nin the longest space of time. That is the difference. Free labor, love,\naffection—they have invented everything of use in this world. I am a\nRepublican.\n\nI tell you, my friends, this world is getting better every day, and the\nDemocratic party is getting smaller every day. See the advancement we\nhave made in a few years, see what we have done. We have covered this\nnation with wealth, with glory and with liberty. This is the first free\nGovernment in the world. The Republican party is the first party that\nwas not founded on some compromise with the devil. It is the first party\nof pure, square, honest principle; the first one. And we have the first\nfree country that ever existed.\n\nAnd right here I want to thank every soldier that fought to make it\nfree, every one living and dead. I thank you again and again and again.\nYou made the first free Government in the world, and we must not forget\nthe dead heroes. If they were here they would vote the Republican\nticket, every one of them. I tell you we must not forget them.\n  • The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are in the great\nstruggle for national life. We hear the sounds of preparation—the\nmusic of boisterous drums—the silver voices of heroic bugles. We see\nthousands of assemblages, and hear the appeals of orators. We see\nthe pale cheeks of women, and the flushed faces of men; and in those\nassemblages we see all the dead whose dust we have covered with flowers.\nWe lose sight of them no more. We are with them when they enlist in the\ngreat army of freedom. We see them part with those they love. Some are\nwalking for the last time in quiet, woody places, with the maidens they\nadore. We hear the whisperings and the sweet vows of eternal love as\nthey lingeringly part forever. Others are bending over cradles, kissing\nbabes that are asleep. Some are receiving the blessings of old men. Some\nare parting with mothers who hold them and press them to their\nhearts again and again, and say nothing. Kisses and tears, tears and\nkisses—divine mingling of agony and love! And some are talking with\nwives, and endeavoring with brave words, spoken in the old tones, to\ndrive from their hearts the awful fear. We see them part. We see the\nwife standing in the door with the babe in her arms—standing in the\nsunlight sobbing. At the turn of the road a hand waves—she answers by\nholding high in her loving arms the child. He is gone, and forever.\n\nWe see them all as they march proudly away under the flaunting flags,\nkeeping time to the grand, wild music of war—marching down the streets\nof the great cities—through the towns and across the prairies—down to\nthe fields of glory, to do and to die for the eternal right.\n\nWe go with them, one and all. We are by their side on all the gory\nfields—in all the hospitals of pain—on all the weary marches. We stand\nguard with them in the wild storm and under the quiet stars. We are with\nthem in ravines running with blood—in the furrows of old fields. We are\nwith them between contending hosts, unable to move, wild with thirst,\nthe life ebbing slowly away among the withered leaves. We see them\npierced by balls and torn with shells, in the trenches, by forts, and\nin the whirlwind of the charge, where men become iron, with nerves of\nsteel.\n\nWe are with them in the prisons of hatred and famine; but human speech\ncan never tell what they endured.\n\nWe are at home when the news comes that they are dead. We see the maiden\nin the shadow of her first sorrow. We see the silvered head of the old\nman bowed with the last grief.\n\nThe past rises before us, and we see four millions of human beings\ngoverned by the lash—we see them bound hand and foot—we hear the\nstrokes of cruel whips—we see the hounds tracking women through\ntangled swamps. We see babes sold from the breasts of mothers. Cruelty\nunspeakable! Outrage infinite!\n\nFour million bodies in chains—four million souls in fetters. All the\nsacred relations of wife, mother, father and child trampled beneath\nthe brutal feet of might. And all this was done under our own beautiful\nbanner of the free.\n\nThe past rises before us. We hear the roar and shriek of the bursting\nshell. The broken fetters fall. These heroes died. We look. Instead of\nslaves we see men and women and children. The wand of progress touches\nthe auction-block, the slave-pen, the whipping-post, and we see homes\nand firesides and schoolhouses and books, and where all was want and\ncrime and cruelty and fear, we see the faces of the free.\n\nThese heroes are dead. They died for liberty—they died for us. They\nare at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag\nthey rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks,\nthe tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They, sleep beneath the\nshadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in\nthe windowless Palace of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars—they\nare at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they\nfound the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living\nand dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead.\n  • This poetic flight of oratory has since become universally\n    known as \"A. Vision of War.\"\n\nNow, my friends, I have given you a few reasons why I am a Republican. I\nhave given you a few reasons why I am not a Democrat. Let me say another\nthing. The Democratic party opposed every forward movement of the\narmy of the Republic, every one. Do not be fooled. Imagine the meanest\nresolution that you can think of—that is the resolution the Democratic\nparty passed. Imagine the meanest thing you can think of—that is what\nthey did; and I want you to recollect that the Democratic party did\nthese devilish things when the fate of this nation was trembling in the\nbalance of war. I want you to recollect another thing; when they tell\nyou about hard times, that the Democratic party made the hard times;\nthat every dollar we owe to-day was made by the Southern and Northern\nDemocracy.\n\nWhen we commenced to put down the Rebellion we had to borrow money, and\nthe Democratic party went into the markets of the world and impaired the\ncredit of the United States. They slandered, they lied, they maligned\nthe credit of the United States, and to such an extent did they do this,\nthat at one time during the war paper was only worth about thirty-four\ncents on the dollar. Gold went up to $2.90. What did that mean? It meant\nthat greenbacks were worth thirty-four cents on the dollar. What became\nof the other sixty-six cents? They were lied out of the greenback,\nthey were slandered out of the greenback, they were maligned out of the\ngreenback, they were calumniated out of the greenback, by the Democratic\nparty of the North. Two-thirds of the debt, two-thirds of the burden\nnow upon the shoulders of American industry, were placed there by the\nslanders of the Democratic party of the North, and the other third by\nthe Democratic party of the South. And when you pay your taxes keep an\naccount and charge two-thirds to the Northern Democracy and one-third to\nthe Southern Democracy, and whenever you have to earn the money to pay\nthe taxes, when you have to blister your hands to earn that money, pull\noff the blisters, and under each one, as the foundation, you will find a\nDemocratic lie.\n\nRecollect that the Democratic party did all the things of which I have\ntold you, when the fate of our nation was submitted to the arbitrament\nof the sword. Recollect that the Democratic party did these things when\nyour brothers, your fathers, and your chivalric sons were fighting,\nbleeding, suffering, and dying upon the battle-fields of the South; when\nshot and shell were crashing through their sacred flesh. Recollect that\nthis Democratic party was false to the Union when your husbands, your\nfathers, and your brothers, and your chivalric sons were lying in the\nhospitals of pain, dreaming broken dreams of home, and seeing fever\npictures of the ones they loved; recollect that the Democratic party was\nfalse to the nation when your husbands, your fathers, and your brothers\nwere lying alone upon the field of battle at night, the life-blood\nslowly oozing from the mangled and pallid lips of death; recollect that\nthe Democratic party was false to your country when your husbands, your\nbrothers, your fathers, and your sons were lying in the prison pens of\nthe South, with no covering but the clouds, with no bed but the frozen\nearth, with no food except such as worms had re-p fused to eat, and with\nno friends except Insanity and Death. Recollect it, and spurn that party\nforever.\n\nI have sometimes wished that there were words of pure hatred out of\nwhich I might construct sentences like snakes; out of which I might\nconstruct sentences that had fanged mouths, and that had forked tongues;\nout of which I might construct sentences that would writhe and hiss;\nand then I could give my opinion of the Northern allies of the Southern\nrebels during the great struggle for the preservation of the country.\n\nThere are three questions now submitted to the American people. The\nfirst is, Shall the people that saved this country rule it? Shall the\nmen who saved the old flag hold it? Shall the men who saved the ship\nof State sail it, or shall the rebels walk her quarter-deck, give the\norders and sink it? That is the question. Shall a solid South, a united\nSouth, united by assassination and murder, a South solidified by the\nshot-gun; shall a united South, with the aid of a divided North, shall\nthey control this great and splendid country? We are right back where we\nwere in 1861. This is simply a prolongation of the war. This is the war\nof the idea, the other was the war of the musket. The other was the war\nof cannon, this is the war of thought; and we have to beat them in\nthis war of thought, recollect that. The question is, Shall the men who\nendeavored to destroy this country rule it? Shall the men that said,\nThis is not a Nation, have charge of the Nation?\n\nThe next question is, Shall we pay our debts? We had to borrow some\nmoney to pay for shot and shell to shoot Democrats with. We found that\nwe could get along with a few less Democrats, but not with any less\ncountry, and so we borrowed the money, and the question now is, will we\npay it? And which party is the more apt to pay it, the Republican party\nthat made the debt—the party that swore it was constitutional, or the\nparty that said it was unconstitutional?\n\nEvery time a Democrat sees a greenback, it says to him, \"I vanquished\nyou.\" Every time a Republican sees a greenback, it says, \"You and I put\ndown the Rebellion and saved the country.\"\n\nNow, my friends, you have heard a great deal about finance. Nearly\neverybody that talks about it gets as dry—as dry as if they had been in\nthe final home of the Democratic party for forty years.\n\nI will now give you my ideas about finance. In the first place\nthe Government does not support the people, the people support the\nGovernment.\n\nThe Government is a perpetual pauper. It passes round the hat, and\nsolicits contributions; but then you must remember that the Government\nhas a musket behind the hat. The Government produces nothing. It does\nnot plow the land, it does not sow corn, it does not grow trees. The\nGovernment is a perpetual consumer. We support the Government. Now, the\nidea that the Government can make money for you and me to live on—why,\nit is the same as though my hired man should issue certificates of my\nindebtedness to him for me to live on.\n\nSome people tell me that the Government can impress its sovereignty on\na piece of paper, and that is money. Well, if it is, what's the use of\nwasting it making one dollar bills? It takes no more ink and no more\npaper—why not make one thousand dollar bills? Why not make a hundred\nmillion dollar bills and all be billionaires?\n\nIf the Government can make money, what on earth does it collect taxes\nfrom you and me for? Why does it not make what money it wants, take\nthe taxes out, and give the balance to us? Mr. Greenbacker, suppose the\nGovernment issued a billion dollars to-morrow, how would you get any\nof it? [A voice, \"Steal it.\"] I was not speaking to the Democrats. You\nwould not get any of it unless you had something to exchange for it. The\nGovernment would not go around and give you your aver-: age. You have to\nhave some corn, or wheat, or pork to give for it.\n\nHow do you get your money? By work. Where from? You have to dig it out\nof the ground. That is where it comes from. Men have always had a kind\nof hope that something could be made out of nothing. The old alchemists\nsought, with dim eyes, for something that could change the baser metals\nto gold. With tottering steps, they searched for the spring of Eternal\nYouth. Holding in trembling hands retort and crucible, they dreamed of\nthe Elixir of Life. The baser metals are not gold. No human ear has ever\nheard the silver gurgle of the spring of Immortal Youth. The wrinkles\nupon the brow of Age are still waiting for the Elixir of Life.\n\nInspired by the same idea, mechanics have endeavored, by curious\ncombinations of levers and inclined planes, of wheels and cranks and\nshifting weights, to produce perpetual motion; but the wheels and levers\nwait for force. And, in the financial world, there are thousands now\ntrying to find some way for promises to take the place of performance;\nfor some way to make the word dollar as good as the dollar itself; for\nsome way to make the promise to pay a dollar take the dollar's place.\nThis financial alchemy, this pecuniary perpetual motion, this fountain\nof eternal wealth, are the same old failures with new names. Something\ncannot be made out of nothing. Nothing is a poor capital to, carry on\nbusiness with, and makes a very unsatisfactory balance at your bankers.\n\nLet me tell you another thing. The Democrats seem to think that you can\nfail to keep a promise so long that it is as good as though you had kept\nit. They say you can stamp the sovereignty of the Government upon paper.\n\nI saw not long ago a piece of gold bearing the stamp of the Roman\nEmpire. That Empire is dust, and over it has been thrown the mantle of\noblivion, but that piece of gold is as good as though Julius Cæsar were\nstill riding at the head of the Roman Legions.\n\nWas it his sovereignty that made it valuable? Suppose he had put it upon\na piece of paper—it would have been of no more value than a Democratic\npromise.\n\nAnother thing, my friends: this debt will be paid; you need not worry\nabout that. The Democrats ought to pay it. They lost the suit, and they\nought to pay the costs. But we in our patriotism are willing to pay our\nshare.\n\nEvery man that has a bond, every man that has a greenback dollar has\na mortgage upon the best continent of land on earth. Every one has a\nmortgage on the honor of the Republican party, and it is on record.\nEvery spear of grass; every bearded head of golden wheat that grows upon\nthis continent is a guarantee that the debt will be paid; every field of\nbannered corn in the great, glorious West is a guarantee that the debt\nwill be paid; every particle of coal laid away by that old miser the\nsun, millions-of years ago, is a guarantee that every dollar will be\npaid; all the iron ore, all the gold and silver under the snow-capped\nSierra Nevadas, waiting for the miners pick to give back the flash of\nthe sun, every ounce is a guarantee that this debt will be paid; and all\nthe cattle on the prairies, pastures and plains which adorn our broad\nland are guarantees that this debt will be paid; every pine standing\nin the sombre forests of the North, waiting for the woodman's axe, is a\nguarantee that this debt will be paid; every locomotive with its muscles\nof iron and breath of flame, and all the boys and girls bending over\ntheir books at school, every dimpled babe in the cradle, every honest\nman, every noble woman, and every man that votes the Republican ticket\nis a guarantee that the debt will be paid—these, all these, each and\nall, are the guarantees that every promise of the United States will be\nsacredly fulfilled.\n\nWhat is the next question? The next question is, will we protect the\nUnion men in the South? I tell you the white Union men have suffered\nenough. It is a crime in the Southern States to be a Republican. It is\na crime in every Southern State to love this country, to believe in the\nsacred rights of men.\n\nThe colored people have suffered enough. For more than two hundred years\nthey have suffered the fabled torments of the damned; for more than two\nhundred years they worked and toiled without reward, bending, in the\nburning sun, their bleeding backs; for more than two hundred years,\nbabes were torn from the breasts of mothers, wives from husbands, and\nevery human tie broken by the cruel hand of greed; for more than two\nhundred years they were pursued by hounds, beaten with clubs, burned\nwith fire, bound with chains; two hundred years of toil, of agony, of\ntears; two hundred years of hope deferred; two hundred years of\ngloom and shadow and darkness and blackness; two hundred years of\nsupplication, of entreaty; two hundred years of infinite outrage,\nwithout a moment of revenge.\n\nThe colored people have suffered enough. They were and are our friends.\nThey are the friends of this country, and, cost what it may, they must\nbe protected.\n\nThere was not during the whole Rebellion a single negro that was not our\nfriend. We are willing to be reconciled to our Southern brethren when\nthey will treat our friends as men. When they will be just to the\nfriends of this country; when they are in favor of allowing every\nAmerican citizen to have his rights—then we are their friends. We are\nwilling to trust them with the Nation when they are the friends of the\nNation. We are willing to trust them with liberty when they believe in\nliberty. We are willing to trust them with the black man when they cease\nriding in the darkness of night, (those masked wretches,) to the hut of\nthe freedman, and notwithstanding the prayers and supplications of his\nfamily, shoot him down; when they cease to consider the massacre of\nHamburg as a Democratic triumph, then, I say, we will be their friends,\nand not before.\n\nNow, my friends, thousands of the Southern people and thousands of the\nNorthern Democrats are afraid that the negroes are going to pass them in\nthe race of life. And, Mr. Democrat, he will do it unless you attend\nto your business. The simple fact that you are white cannot save you\nalways. You have to be industrious, honest, to cultivate a sense of\njustice. If you do not the colored race will pass you, as sure as you\nlive. I am for giving every man a chance. Anybody that can pass me is\nwelcome.\n\nI believe, my friends, that the intellectual domain of the future, as\nthe land used to be in the State of Illinois, is open to pre-emption.\nThe fellow that gets a fact first, that is his; that gets an idea\nfirst, that is his. Every round in the ladder of fame, from the one that\ntouches the ground to the last one that leans against the shining summit\nof human ambition, belongs to the foot that gets upon it first.\n\nMr. Democrat, (I point down because they are nearly all on the first\nround of the ladder) if you can not climb, stand one side and let the\ndeserving negro pass.\n\nI must tell you one thing. I have told it so much, and you have all\nheard it fifty times, but I am going to tell it again because I like it.\nSuppose there was a great horse race here to-day, free to every horse\nin the world, and to all the mules, and all the scrubs* and all the\ndonkeys.\n\nAt the tap of the drum they come to the line, and the judges say \"it is\na go.\" Let me ask you, what does the blooded horse, rushing ahead, with\nnostrils distended, drinking in the breath of his own swiftness, with\nhis mane flying like a banner of victory, with his veins standing out\nall over him, as if a network of life had been cast upon him—with his\nthin neck, his high withers, his tremulous flanks—what does he care how\nmany mules and donkeys run on that track? But the Democratic scrub,\nwith his chuckle-head and lop-ears, with his tail full of cockle-burrs,\njumping high and short, and digging in the ground when he feels the\nbreath of the coming mule on his cockle-burr tail, he is the chap that\njumps the track and says, \"I am down on mule equality.\"\n\nI stood, a little while ago, in the city of Paris, where stood the\nBastile, where now stands the Column of July, surmounted by a figure of\nliberty. In its right hand is a broken chain, in its left hand a\nbanner; upon its glorious forehead the glittering and shining star of\nprogress—and as I looked upon it I said: \"Such is the Republican party\nof my country.\"\n\nThe other day going along the road I came to a place where the road had\nbeen changed, but the guide-board did not know it. It had stood there\nfor twenty years pointing deliberately and solemnly in the direction of\na desolate field; nobody ever went that way, but the guide-board thought\nthe next man would. Thousands passed, but nobody heeded the hand on the\nguide-post, and through sunshine and storm it pointed diligently into\nthe old field and swore to it the road went that way; and I said to\nmyself: \"Such is the Democratic party of the United States.\"\n\nThe other day I came to a river where there had been a mill; a part\nof it was there still. An old sign said: \"Cash for wheat.\" The old\nwater-wheel was broken; it had been warped by the sun, cracked and split\nby many winds and storms. There had not been a grain of wheat ground\nthere for twenty years.\n\nThe door was gone, nobody had built a new dam, the mill was not worth a\ndam; and I said to myself: \"Such is the Democratic party.\"\n\nI saw a little while ago a place on the road where there had once been\nan hotel. But the hotel and barn had burned down and there was nothing\nstanding but two desolate chimneys, up the flues of which the fires of\nhospitality had not roared for thirty years. The fence was gone, and the\npost-holes even were obliterated, but in the road there was an old sign\nupon which were these words: \"Entertainment for man and beast.\" The old\nsign swung and creaked in the winter wind, the snow fell upon it, the\nsleet clung to it, and in the summer the birds sang and twittered and\nmade love upon it. Nobody ever stopped there, but the sign swore to it,\nthe sign certified to it! \"Entertainment for man and beast,\" and I said\nto myself: \"Such is the Democratic party of the United States,\" and\nI further said, \"one chimney ought to be called Tilden and the other\nHendricks.\"\n\nNow, my friends, I want you to vote the Republican ticket. I want you\nto swear you will not vote for a man who opposed putting down the\nRebellion. I want you to swear that you will not vote for a man opposed\nto the Proclamation of Emancipation. I want you to swear that you will\nnot vote for a man opposed to the utter abolition of slavery.\n\nI want you to swear that you will not vote for a man who called the\nsoldiers in the field, Lincoln hirelings. I want you to swear that you\nwill not vote for a man who denounced Lincoln as a tyrant. I want you\nto swear that you will not vote for any enemy of human progress. Go and\ntalk to every Democrat that you can see; get him by the coatcollar,\ntalk to him, and hold him like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, with your\nglittering eye; hold him, tell him all the mean things his party ever\ndid; tell him kindly; tell him in a Christian spirit, as I do, but tell\nhim. Recollect, there never was a more important election than the\none you are going to hold in Indiana. I tell you we must stand by the\ncountry. It is a glorious country. It permits you and me to be free.\nIt is the only country in the world where labor is respected. Let us\nsupport it. It is the only country in the world where the useful man is\nthe only aristocrat. The man that works for a dollar a day, goes home\nat night to his little ones, takes his little boy on his knee, and he\nthinks that boy can achieve anything that the sons of the wealthy man\ncan achieve. The free schools are open to him; he may be the richest,\nthe greatest, and the grandest, and that thought sweetens every drop\nof sweat that rolls down the honest face of toil. Vote to save that\ncountry.\n\nMy friends, this country is getting better every day. Samuel J. Tilden\nsays we are a nation of thieves and rascals. If that is so he ought to\nbe the President. But I denounce him as a calumniator of my country;\na maligner of this nation. It is not so. This country is covered with\nasylums for the aged, the helpless, the insane, the orphans and wounded\nsoldiers. Thieves and rascals do not build such things. In the cities\nof the Atlantic coast this summer, they built floating hospitals, great\nships, and took the little children from the sub-cellars and narrow,\ndirty streets of New York City, where the Democratic party is the\nstrongest—took these poor waifs and put them in these great hospitals\nout at sea, and let the breezes of ocean kiss the roses of health back\nto their pallid cheeks. Rascals and thieves do not so. When Chicago\nburned, railroads were blocked with the charity of the American people.\nThieves and rascals do not so.\n\nI am a Republican. The world is getting better. Husbands are treating\ntheir wives better than they used to; wives are treating their husbands\nbetter. Children are better treated than they used to be; the old whips\nand clubs are out of the schools, and they are governing children by\nlove and by sense. The world is getting better; it is getting better in\nMaine, in Vermont. It is getting better in every State of the North, and\nI tell you we are going to elect Hayes and Wheeler and the world will\nthen be better still. I have a dream that this world is growing better\nand better every day and every year; that there is more charity, more\njustice, more love every day. I have a dream that prisons will not\nalways curse the land; that the shadow of the gallows will not always\nfall upon the earth; that the withered hand of want will not always\nbe stretched out for charity; that finally wisdom will sit in the\nlegislatures, justice in the courts, charity will occupy all the\npulpits, and that finally the world will be governed by justice and\ncharity, and by the splendid light of liberty. That is my dream, and\nif it does not come true, it shall not be my fault. I am going to do my\nlevel best to give others the same chance I ask for myself. Free thought\nwill give us truth; Free labor will give us wealth.\n"
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