{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-4:progress",
  "slug": "progress",
  "title": "Progress",
  "subtitle": "Ingersoll's earliest surviving lecture (1860).",
  "excerpt": "The earliest surviving lecture — delivered in Pekin, Illinois, in 1860. Fragmentary in places (the editor's asterisks show where the manuscript was lost), but recognizably the voice that would soon become the most famous in America.",
  "year": 1860,
  "volume": 4,
  "category": "Lecture",
  "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/progress/",
  "wordCount": 11127,
  "body": "• This is the first lecture ever delivered by Mr. Ingersoll.\n    The stars indicate the words missing in the manuscript. It\n    was delivered in Pekin, 111., in 1860, and again in\n    Bloomington, 111., in 1804.\n\nIT is admitted by all that happiness is the only good, happiness in its\nhighest and grandest sense and the most   springs   of   refined *\n generous  *\n\nConscience   tends   indirectly   truly we   physically   to\ndevelop the wonderful powers of the mind is progress.\n\nIt is impossible for men to become educated and refined without leisure\nand there can be no leisure without wealth and all wealth is produced by\nlabor, nothing else. Nothing can   the hands   and   fabrics *\n service of civil   and crumbles  * of all, and yet even in free\nAmerica labor is not honored as it deserves.\n\nWe should remember that the prosperity of the world depends upon the men\nwho walk in the fresh furrows and through the rustling corn, upon those\nwhose faces are radiant with the glare of furnaces, upon the delvers in\ndark mines, the workers in shops, upon those who give to the wintry air\nthe ringing music of the axe, and upon those who wrestle with the wild\nwaves of the raging sea.\n\nAnd it is from the surplus produced by labor that schools are built,\nthat colleges and universities are founded and endowed. From this\nsurplus the painter is paid for the immortal productions of the pencil.\nThis pays the sculptor for chiseling the shapeless rock into forms of\nbeauty almost divine, and the poet for singing the hopes, the loves and\naspirations of the world.\n\nThis surplus has erected all the palaces and temples, all the galleries\nof art, has given to us all the books in which we converse, as it were,\nwith the dead kings of the human race, and has supplied us with all\nthere is of elegance, of beauty and of refined happiness in the world.\n\nI am aware that the subject chosen by me is almost infinite and that in\nits broadest sense it is absolutely beyond the present comprehension of\nman.\n\nI am also aware that there are many opinions as to what progress really\nis, that what one calls progress, another denominates barbarism; that\nmany have a wonderful veneration for all that is ancient, merely because\nit is ancient, and they see no beauty in anything from which they do not\nhave to blow the dust of ages with the breath of praise.\n\nThey say, no masters like the old, no governments like the ancient, no\norators, no poets, no statesmen like those who have been dust for two\nthousand years. Others despise antiquity and admire only the modern,\nmerely because it is modern. They find so much to condemn in the past,\nthat they condemn all. I hope, however, that I have gratitude enough\nto acknowledge the obligations I am under to the great and heroic minds\nof antiquity, and that I have manliness and independence enough not\nto believe what they said merely because they said it, and that I have\nmoral courage enough to advocate ideas, however modern they may be, if I\nbelieve that they are right. Truth is neither young nor old, is neither\nancient nor modern, but is the same for all times and places and should\nbe sought for with ceaseless activity, eagerly acknowledged, loved more\nthan life, and abandoned—never. In accordance with the idea that labor\nis the basis of all prosperity and happiness, is another idea or truth,\nand that is, that labor in order to make the laborer and the world at\nlarge happy, must be free. That the laborer must be a free man, the\nthinker must be free. I do not intend in what I may say upon this\nsubject to carry you back to the remotest antiquity,—back to Asia, the\ncradle of the world, where we could stand in the ashes and ruins of a\ncivilization so old that history has not recorded even its decay. It\nwill answer my present purpose to commence with the Middle Ages. In\nthose times there was no freedom of either mind or body in Europe. Labor\nwas despised, and a laborer was considered as scarcely above the beasts.\nIgnorance like a mantle covered the world, and superstition ran riot\nwith the human imagination. The air was filled with angels, demons\nand monsters. Everything assumed the air of the miraculous. Credulity\noccupied the throne of reason and faith put out the eyes of the soul. A\nman to be distinguished had either to be a soldier or a monk. He could\ntake his choice between killing and lying. You must remember that in\nthose days nations carried on war as an end, not as a means. War and\ntheology were the business of mankind. No man could win more than a bare\nexistence by industry, much less fame and glory. Comparatively speaking,\nthere was no commerce. Nations instead of buying and selling from and\nto each other, took what they wanted by brute force. And every Christian\ncountry maintained that it was no robbery to take the property of\nMohammedans, and no murder to kill the owners with or without just cause\nof quarrel. Lord Bacon was the first man of note who maintained that a\nChristian country was bound to keep its plighted faith with an Infidel\none. In those days reading and writing were considered very dangerous\narts, and any layman who had acquired the art of reading was suspected\nof being a heretic or a wizard.\n\nIt is almost impossible for us to conceive of the ignorance, the\ncruelty, the superstition and the mental blindness of that period. In\nreading the history of those dark and bloody years, I am amazed at the\nwickedness, the folly and presumption of mankind. And yet, the solution\nof the whole matter is, they despised liberty; they hated freedom of\nmind and of body. They forged chains of superstition for the one and of\niron for the other. They were ruled by that terrible trinity, the cowl,\nthe sword and chain.\n\nYou cannot form a correct opinion of those ages without reading the\nstandard authors, so to speak, of that time, the laws then in force,\nand by ascertaining the habits and customs of the people, their mode\nof administering the laws, and the ideas that were commonly received\nas correct. No one believed that honest error could be innocent; no one\ndreamed of such a thing as religious freedom. In the fifteenth century\nthe following law was in force in England: \"That whatsoever they were\nthat should read the Scriptures in the mother tongue, they should\nforfeit land, cattle, body, life, and goods from their heirs forever,\nand so be condemned for heretics to God, enemies to the crown, and most\narrant traitors to the land.\" The next year after this law was in force,\nin one day thirty-nine were hanged for its violation and their bodies\nafterward burned.\n\nLaws equally unjust, bloody and cruel were in force in all parts of\nEurope. In the sixteenth century a man was burned in France because\nhe refused to kneel to a procession of dirty monks. I could enumerate\nthousands of instances of the most horrid cruelty perpetrated upon men,\nwomen and even little children, for no other reason in the world than\nfor a difference of opinion upon a subject that neither party knew\nanything about. But you are all, no doubt, perfectly familiar with the\nhistory of religious persecution.\n\nThere is one thing, however, that is strange indeed, and that is that\nthe reformers of those days, the men who rose against the horrid tyranny\nof the times, the moment they attained power, persecuted with a zeal and\nbitterness never excelled. Luther, one of the grand men of the world,\ncast in the heroic mould, although he gave utterance to the following\nsublime sentiment: \"Every one has the right to read for himself that he\nmay prepare himself to live and to die,\" still had no idea of what we\ncall religious freedom. He considered universal toleration an error,\nso did Melancthon, and Erasmus, and yet, strange as it may appear, they\nwere exercising the very right they denied to others, and maintaining\ntheir right with a courage and energy absolutely sublime.\n\nJohn Knox was only in favor of religious freedom when he was in the\nminority, and Baxter entertained the same sentiment. Castalio, a\nprofessor at Geneva, in Switzerland, was the first clergyman in Europe\nwho declared the innocence of honest error, and who proclaimed himself\nin favor of universal toleration. The name of this man should never be\nforgotten. He had the goodness, the courage, although surrounded with\nprisons and inquisitions, and in the midst of millions of fierce bigots,\nto declare the innocence of honest error, and that every man had a right\nto worship the good God in his own way.\n\nFor the utterance of this sublime sentiment his professorship was taken\nfrom him, he was driven from Geneva by John Calvin and his adherents,\nalthough he had belonged to their sect.\n\nHe was denounced as a child of the Devil, a dog of Satan, as a murderer\nof souls, as a corrupter of the faith, and as one who by his doctrines\ncrucified the Savior afresh. Not content with merely driving him from\nhis home, they pursued him absolutely to the grave, with a malignity\nthat increased rather than diminished. You must not think that Calvin\nwas alone in this; on the contrary he was fully sustained by public\nopinion, and would have been sustained even though he had procured the\nburning of the noble Castalio at the stake. I cite this instance not\nmerely for the purpose of casting odium upon Calvin, but to show you\nwhat public opinion was at that time, when such things were ordinary\ntransactions. Bodi-nus, a lawyer in France, about the same time\nadvocated something like religious liberty, but public opinion was\noverwhelmingly against him and the people were at all times ready with\ntorch and brand, chain, and fagot to get the abominable heresy out of\nthe human mind, that a man had a right to think for himself. And yet\nLuther, Calvin, Knox and Baxter, in spite, as it were, of themselves,\nconferred a great and lasting benefit upon mankind; for what they did\nwas at least in favor of individual judgment, and one successful stand\nagainst the church produced others, all of which tended to establish\nuniversal toleration. In those times you will remember that failing to\nconvert a man or woman by the ordinary means, they resorted to every\nengine of torture that the ingenuity of bigotry could devise; they\ncrushed their feet in what they called iron boots; they roasted them\nupon slow fires; they plucked out their nails, and then into the\nbleeding quick thrust needles; and all this to convince them of the\ntruth. I suppose that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.\n\nMontaigne was the first man who raised his voice against torture in\nFrance; a man blessed with so much common sense, that he was the most\nuncommon man of the age in which he lived. But what was one voice\nagainst the terrible cry of ignorant millions?—a drowning man in the\nwild roar of the infinite sea. It is impossible to read the history of\nthe long and seemingly hopeless war waged for religious freedom,\nwithout being filled with horror and disgust. Millions of men, women and\nchildren, at least one hundred millions of human beings with hopes and\nloves and aspirations like ourselves, have been sacrificed upon the\naltar of bigotry. They have perished at the stake, in prisons, by famine\nand by sword; they have died wandering, homeless, in deserts, groping\nin caves, until their blood cried from the earth for vengeance. But the\nprinciple, gathering strength from their weakness, nourished by blood\nand flame, rendered holier still by their sufferings—grander by their\nheroism, and immortal by their death, triumphed at last, and is now\nacknowledged by the whole civilized world. Enormous as the cost has been\nthe principle is worth a thousand times as much. There must be freedom\nin religion, for without freedom there can be no real religion. And as\nfor myself I glory in the fact that upon American soil that principle\nwas first firmly established, and that the Constitution of the United\nStates was the first of any great nation in which religious toleration\nwas made one of the fundamental laws of the land. And it is not only\nthe law of our country but the law is sustained by an enlightened public\nopinion. Without liberty there is no religion—no worship. What light\nis to the eyes—what air is to the lungs—what love is to the heart,\nliberty is to the soul of man. Without liberty, the brain is a dungeon,\nwhere the chained thoughts die with their pinions pressed against the\nhingeless doors.\n\nWitchcraft\n\nTHE next fact to which I call your attention is, that during the Middle\nAges the people, the whole people, the learned and the ignorant, the\nmasters and the slaves, the clergy, the lawyers, doctors and statesmen,\nall believed in witchcraft—in the evil eye, and that the devil entered\ninto people, into animals and even into insects to accomplish his dark\ndesigns. And all the people believed it their solemn duty to thwart the\ndevil by all means in their power, and they accordingly set themselves\nat work hanging and burning everybody suspected of being in league with\nthe Enemy of mankind. If you grant their premises, you justify their\nactions. If these persons had actually entered into partnership with the\ndevil for the purpose of injuring their neighbors, the people would have\nbeen justified in exterminating them all. And the crime of witchcraft\nwas proven over and over again in court after court in every town of\nEurope. Thousands of people who were charged with being in league with\nthe devil confessed the crime, gave all the particulars of the bargain,\ntold just what the devil said and what they replied, and exactly how the\nbargain was consummated, admitted in the presence of death, on the very\nedge of the grave, when they knew that the confession would confiscate\nall their property and leave their children homeless wanderers, and\nrender their own names infamous after death.\n\nWe can account for a man suffering death for what he believes to be\nright. He knows that he has the sympathy of all the truly good, and he\nhopes that his name will be gratefully remembered in the far future, and\nabove all, he hopes to win the approval of a just God. But the man who\nconfessed himself guilty of being a wizard, knew that his memory would\nbe execrated and expected that his soul would be eternally lost. What\nmotive could then have induced so many to confess? Strange as it is, I\nbelieve that they actually believed themselves guilty. They considered\ntheir case hopeless; they confessed and died without a prayer. These\nthings are enough to make one think that sometimes the world becomes\ninsane and that the earth is a vast asylum without a keeper. I repeat\nthat I am convinced that the people that confessed themselves guilty\nbelieved that they were so. In the first place, they believed in\nwitchcraft and that people often were possessed of Satan, and when they\nwere accused the fright and consternation produced by the accusation, in\nconnection with their belief, often produced insanity or something\nakin to it, and the poor creatures charged with a crime that it was\nimpossible to disprove, deserted and abhorred by their friends, left\nalone with their superstitions and fears, driven to despair, looked upon\ndeath as a blessed relief from a torture that you and I cannot at this\nday understand. People were charged with the most impossible crimes.\nIn the time of James the First, a man was burned in Scotland for having\nproduced a storm at sea for the purpose of drowning one of the royal\nfamily. A woman was tried before Sir Matthew Hale, one of the most\nlearned and celebrated lawyers of England, for having caused children to\nvomit-crooked pins. She was also charged with nursing demons. Of course\nshe was found guilty, and the learned Judge charged the jury that there\nwas no doubt as to the existence of witches, that all history, sacred\nand profane, and that the experience of every country proved it beyond\nany manner of doubt. And the woman was either hanged or burned for a\ncrime for which it was impossible for her to be guilty. In those times\nthey also believed in Lycanthropy—that is, that persons of whom the\ndevil had taken possession could assume the appearance of wolves.\n\nOne instance is related where a man was attacked by what appeared to\nbe a wolf. He defended himself and succeeded in cutting off one of the\nwolf's paws, whereupon the wolf ran and the man picked up the paw and\nputting it in his pocket went home. When he took the paw out of his\npocket it had changed to a human hand, and his wife sat in the house\nwith one of her hands gone and the stump of her arm bleeding. He\ndenounced his wife as a witch, she confessed the crime and was burned\nat the stake. People were burned for causing frosts in the summer, for\ndestroying crops with hail, for causing cows to become dry, and even for\nsouring beer. The life of no one was secure, malicious enemies had only\nto charge one with witchcraft, prove a few odd sayings and queer actions\nto secure the death of their victim. And this belief in witchcraft was\nso intense that to express a doubt upon the subject was to be suspected\nand probably executed. Believing that animals were also taken possession\nof by evil spirits and also believing that if they killed an animal\ncontaining one of the evil spirits that they caused the death of the\nspirit, they absolutely tried animals, convicted and executed them. At\nBasle, in 1474, a rooster was tried, charged with having laid an egg,\nand as rooster eggs were used only in making witch ointment it was a\nserious charge, and everyone of course admitted that the devil must have\nbeen the cause, as roosters could not very well lay eggs without some\nhelp. And the egg having been produced in court, the rooster was duly\nconvicted and he together with his miraculous egg were publicly and with\nall due solemnity burned in the public square. So a hog and six pigs\nwere tried for having killed, and partially eaten a child, the hog was\nconvicted and executed, but the pigs were acquitted on the ground of\ntheir extreme youth. Asiate as 1740 a cow was absolutely tried on a\ncharge of being possessed of the devil. Our forefathers used to rid\nthemselves of rats, leeches, locusts and vermin by pronouncing what they\ncalled a public exorcism.\n\nOn some occasions animals were received as witnesses in judicial\nproceedings.\n\nThe law was in some of the countries of Europe, that if a man's house\nwas broken into between sunset and sunrise and the owner killed the\nintruder, it should be considered justifiable homicide.\n\nBut it was also considered that it was just possible that a man living\nalone might entice another to his house in the night-time, kill him and\nthen pretend that his victim was a robber. In order to prevent this,\nit was enacted that when a person was killed by a man living alone and\nunder such circumstances, the solitary householder should not be held\ninnocent unless he produced in court some animal, a dog or a cat, that\nhad been an inmate of the house and had witnessed the death of the\nperson killed. The prisoner was then compelled in the presence of such\nanimal to make a solemn declaration of his innocence, and if the animal\nfailed to contradict him, he was declared guiltless,—the law taking it\nfor granted that the Deity would cause a miraculous manifestation by a\ndumb animal, rather than allow a murderer to escape. It was the law\nin England that any one convicted of a crime, could appeal to what was\ncalled corsned or morsel of execration. This was a piece of cheese or\nbread of about an ounce in weight, which was first consecrated with a\nform of exorcism desiring that the Almighty, if the man were guilty,\nwould cause convulsions and paleness, and that it might stick in his\nthroat, but that it might if the man were innocent, turn to health and\nnourishment. Godwin, the Earl of Kent, during the reign of Edward\nthe Confessor, appealed to the corsned, which sticking in his throat,\nproduced death. There were also trials by water and by fire. Persons\nwere made to handle red hot iron, and if it burned them their guilt was\nestablished; so their hands and feet were tied, and they were thrown\ninto the water, and if they sank they were pronounced guilty and allowed\nto drown. I give these instances to show you what has happened, and what\nalways will happen, in countries where ignorance prevails, and people\nabandon the great standard of reason. And also to show to you that\nscarcely any man, however great, can free himself of the superstitions\nof his time. Kepler, one of the greatest men of the world, and an\nastronomer second to none, although he plucked from the stars the\nsecrets of the universe, was an astrologer and thought he could predict\nthe career of any man by finding what star was in the ascendant at his\nbirth. This infinitely foolish stuff was religiously believed by\nhim, merely because he had been raised in an atmosphere of boundless\ncredulity. Tycho Brahe, another astronomer who has been, and is called\nthe prince of astronomers—not only believed in astrology, but actually\nkept an idiot in his service, whose disconnected and meaningless words\nhe carefully wrote down and then put them together in such a manner as\nto make prophecies, and then he patiently and confidently awaited their\nfulfillment.\n\nLuther believed that he had actually seen the devil not only, but that\nhe had had discussions with him upon points of theology. On one occasion\ngetting excited, he threw an inkstand at his majesty's head, and the ink\nstain is still to be seen on the wall where the stand was broken.\nThe devil I believe, was untouched, he probably having an inkling of\nLuther's intention, made a successful dodge.\n\nIn the time of Charles the Fifth, Emperor of Germany, Stoefflerer, a\nnoted mathematician and astronomer, a man of great learning, made an\nastronomical calculation according to the great science of astrology\nand ascertained that the world was to be visited by another deluge. This\nprediction was absolutely believed by the leading men of the empire not\nonly, but of all Europe. The commissioner general of the army of Charles\nthe Fifth recommended that a survey be made of the country by competent\nmen in order to find out the highest land. But as it was uncertain how\nhigh the water would rise this idea was abandoned.\n\nThousands of people left their homes in low lands, by the rivers and\nnear the sea and sought the more elevated ground. Immense suffering was\nproduced. People in some instances abandoned the aged, the sick and the\ninfirm to the tender mercies of the expected flood, so anxious were they\nto reach some place of security.\n\nAt Toulouse, in France, the people actually built an ark and stocked it\nwith provisions, and it was not till long after the day upon which the\nflood was to have come, had passed, that the people recovered from their\nfright and returned to their homes. About the same time it was currently\nreported and believed that a child had been born in Silesia with\na golden tooth. The people were again filled with wonder and\nconsternation. They were satisfied that some great evil was coming upon\nmankind. At last it was solved by some chapter in Daniel wherein is\npredicted somebody with a golden head. Such stories would never have\ngained credence only for the reason that the supernatural was expected.\nAnything in the ordinary course of nature was not worth telling. The\nhuman mind was in chains; it had been deformed by slavery. Reason was a\ntrembling coward, and every production of the mind was deformed, every\nidea was a monster. Almost every law was unjust. Their religion was\nnothing more or less than monsters worshiping an imaginary monster.\nScience could not, properly speaking, exist. Their histories were the\ngrossest and most palpable falsehoods, and they filled all Europe with\nthe most shocking absurdities. The histories were all written by the\nmonks and bishops, all of whom were intensely superstitious, and equally\ndishonest. Everything they did was a pious fraud. They wrote as if\nthey had been eye-witnesses of every occurrence that they related. They\nentertained, and consequently expressed, no doubt as to any particular,\nand in case of any difficulty they always had a few miracles ready just\nsuited for the occasion, and the people never for an instant doubted the\nabsolute truth of every statement that they made. They wrote the history\nof every country of any importance. They related all the past and\npresent, and predicted nearly all the future, with an ignorant impudence\nactually sublime. They traced the order of St. Michael in France back\nto the Archangel himself, and alleged that he was the founder of a\nchivalric order in heaven itself. They also said that the Tartars\noriginally came from hell, and that they were called Tartars because\nTartarus was one of the names of perdition. They declared that Scotland\nwas so called after Scota, a daughter of Pharaoh, who landed in Ireland\nand afterward invaded Scotland and took it by force of arms. This\nstatement was made in a letter addressed to the Pope in the 14th century\nand was alluded to as a well-known fact. The letter was written by some\nof the highest dignitaries of the church and by direction of the king\nhimself. Matthew, of Paris, an eminent historian of the 13th century,\ngave the world the following piece of valuable information: \"It is\nwell known that Mohammed originally was a Cardinal and became a heretic\nbecause he failed in his design of being elected Pope.\"\n\nThe same gentleman informs us that Mohammed having drank to excess fell\ndrunk by the roadside, and in that condition was killed by pigs. And\nthis is the reason, says he, that his followers abhor pork even unto\nthis day. Another historian of about the same period, tells us that one\nof the popes cut off his hand because it had been kissed by an improper\nperson, and that the hand was still in the Lateran at Rome, where it had\nbeen miraculously preserved from corruption for over five hundred years.\nAfter that occurrence, says he, the Pope's toe was substituted, which\naccounts for this practice. He also has the goodness to inform his\nreaders that Nero was in the habit of vomiting frogs. Some of the\ncroakers of the present day against progress would, I think, be the\nbetter of such a vomit. The history of Charlemagne was written by Turpin\nthe Archbishop of Rheims, and received the formal approbation of the\nPope. In this it is asserted that the walls of a city fell down in\nanswer to prayer; that Charlemagne was opposed by a giant called\nFenacute who was a descendant of the ancient Goliath; that forty men\nwere sent to attack this giant, and that he took them under his arms\nand quietly carried them away. At last Orlando engaged him singly; not\nmeeting with the success that he anticipated, he changed his tactics and\ncommenced a theological discussion; warming with his subject he pressed\nforward and suddenly stabbed his opponent, inflicting a mortal wound.\nAfter the death of the giant, Charlemagne easily conquered the whole\ncountry and divided it among his sons.\n\nThe history of the Britons, written by the Archdeacons of Monmouth and\nOxford, was immensely popular. According to their account, Brutus, a\nRoman, conquered England, built London, called the country Britain after\nhimself. During his time it rained blood for three days. At another\ntime a monster came from the sea, and after having devoured a great many\ncommon people, finally swallowed the king himself. They say that King\nArthur was not born like ordinary mortals, but was formed by a magical\ncontrivance made by a wizard. That he was particularly lucky in killing\ngiants, that he killed one in France who used to eat several people\nevery day, and that this giant was clothed with garments made entirely\nof the beards of kings that he had killed and eaten. To cap the climax,\none of the authors of this book was promoted for having written an\nauthentic history of his country. Another writer of the 15th century\nsays that after Ignatius was dead they found impressed upon his heart\nthe Greek word Theos. In all historical compositions there was an\nincredible want of common honesty. The great historian Eusebius\ningenuously remarks that in his history he omitted whatever tended to\ndiscredit the church and magnified whatever conduced to her glory.\nThe same glorious principle was adhered to by most, if not all, of\nthe writers of those days. They wrote and the people believed that the\ntracks of Pharaoh's chariot wheels, were still impressed upon the sands\nof the Red Sea and could not be obliterated either by the winds or\nwaves.\n\nThe next subject to which I call your attention is the wonderful\nprogress in the mechanical arts. Animals use the weapons nature has\nfurnished, and those only—the beak, the claw, the tusk, the teeth.\nThe barbarian uses a club, a stone. As man advances he makes tools with\nwhich to fashion his weapons; he discovers the best material to be used\nin their construction. The next thing was to find some power to assist\nhim—that is to say, the weight of falling water, or the force of the\nwind. He then creates a force, so to speak, by changing water to steam,\nand with that he impels machines that can do almost everything but\nthink. You will observe that the ingenuity of man is first exercised in\nthe construction of weapons. There were splendid Damascus blades when\nplowing was done with a crooked stick. There were complete suits of\narmor on backs that had never felt a shirt. The world was full of\ninventions to destroy life before there were any to prolong it or make\nit endurable. Murder was always a science—medicine is not one yet.\nScalping was known and practiced long before Barret discovered the Hair\nRegenerator. The destroyers have always been honored. The useful have\nalways been despised. In ancient times agriculture was known only to\nslaves. The low, the ignorant, the contemptible, cultivated the soil. To\nwork was to be nobody. Mechanics were only one degree above the farmer.\nIn short, labor was disgraceful. Idleness was the badge of gentle blood.\nThe fields being poorly cultivated produced but little at the best. Only\na few kinds of crops were raised. The result was frequent famine and\nconstant suffering. One country could not be supplied from another as\nnow; the roads were always horrible, and besides all this, every country\nwas at war with nearly every other. This state of things lasted until a\nfew years ago.\n\nLet me show you the condition of England at the beginning of the\neighteenth century. At that time London was the most populous capital\nin Europe, yet it was dirty, ill built, without any sanitary provisions\nwhatever. The deaths were one in 23 each year. Now in a much more\ncrowded population they are not one in forty. Much of the country was\nthen heath and swamp. Almost within sight of London there was a tract,\ntwenty-five miles round, almost in a state of nature; there were\nbut three houses upon it. In the rainy season the roads were almost\nimpassable. Through gullies filled with mud, carriages were dragged by\noxen. Between places of great importance the roads were little\nknown, and a principal mode of transport was by pack horses, of which\npassengers took advantage by stowing themselves away between the packs.\nThe usual charge for freight was 30 cents per ton a mile. After a while,\nwhat they were pleased to call flying coaches were established. They\ncould move from thirty to fifty miles a day. Many persons thought the\nrisk so great that it was tempting Providence to get into one of them.\nThe mail bag was carried on horseback at five miles an hour. A penny\npost had been established in the city, but many long-headed men, who\nknew what they were saying, denounced it as a popish contrivance. Only a\nfew years before, Parliament had resolved that all pictures in the royal\ncollection which contained representations of Jesus or the Virgin Mary\nshould be burned. Greek statues were handed over to Puritan stone masons\nto be made decent. Lewis Meggleton had given himself out as the last and\nthe greatest of the prophets, having power to save or damn. He had also\ndiscovered that God was only six feet high and the sun four miles off.\nThere were people in England as savage as our Indians. The women, half\nnaked, would chant some wild measure, while the men would brandish their\ndirks and dance. There were thirty-four counties without a printer.\nSocial discipline was wretched. The master flogged his apprentice, the\npedagogue his scholar, the husband his wife; and I am ashamed to say\nthat whipping has not been abolished in our schools. It is a relic of\nbarbarism and should not be tolerated one moment. It is brutal, low and\ncontemptible. The teacher that administers such punishment is no more\nto blame than the parents that allow it. Every gentleman and lady\nshould use his or her influence to do away with this vile and infamous\npractice. In those days public punishments were all brutal. Men and\nwomen were put in the pillory and then pelted with brick-bats, rotten\neggs and dead cats, by the rabble. The whipping-post was then an\ninstitution in England as it is now in the enlightened State of\nDelaware. Criminals were drawn and quartered; others were disemboweled\nand hung and their bodies suspended in chains to rot in the air. The\nhouses of the people in the country were huts, thatched with straw.\nAnybody who could get fresh meat once a week was considered rich.\nChildren six years old had to labor. In London the houses were of wood\nor plaster, the streets filthy beyond expression, even muddier than\nBloomington is now. After nightfall a passenger went about at his peril,\nfor chamber windows were opened and slop pails unceremoniously emptied.\nThere were no lamps in the streets, but plenty of highwaymen and\nrobbers.\n\nThe morals of the people corresponded, as they generally do, to their\nphysical condition. It is said that the clergy did what they could to\nmake the people pious, but they could not accomplish much. You cannot\nconvert a man when he is hungry. He will not accept better doctrines\nuntil he gets better clothes, and he won't have more faith till he gets\nmore food. Besides this, the clergy were a little below par, so much so\nthat Queen Elizabeth issued an order that no clergyman should presume\nto marry a servant girl without the consent of her master or mistress.\nDuring the same time the condition of France and indeed of all Europe\nwas even worse than England. What has changed the condition of Great\nBritain? More than any and everything else, the inventions of her\nmechanics. The old moral method was and always will be a failure. If\nyou wish to better the condition of a people morally, better them\nphysically. About the close of the 18th Century, Watt, Arkwright,\nHargreave, Crompton, Cartwright, invented the steam engine, the spring\nframe, the jenny, the mule, the power loom, the carding machine and a\nhundred other minor inventions, and put it in the power of England to\nmonopolize the markets of the world. Her machinery soon became equal\nto 30,000,000 of men. In a few years the population was doubled and\nthe wealth quadrupled; and England became the first nation of the world\nthrough her inventors, her merchants, her mechanics, and in spite of\nher statesmen, her priests and her nobles. England began to spin for\nthe world, cotton began to be universally worn, clean shirts began to\nbe seen. The most cunning spinners of India could make a thread over\n100 miles long from one pound of cotton. The machines of England have\nproduced one over 1000 miles in length from the same quantity. In a\nshort time Stephenson invented the locomotive. Railroads began to be\nbuilt. Fulton gave to the world the steamboat, and commerce became\nindependent of the winds. There are already railroads enough in\nthe United States to make a double track around the world. Man has\nlengthened his arms. He reaches to every country and takes what he\nwants; the world is before him; he helps himself. There can be no more\nfamine. If there is no food in this country, the boat and the car will\nbring it from another.\n\nWe can have the luxuries of every climate. A majority of the people now\nlive better than the king used to do. Poor Solomon with his thousand\nwives, and no carpets, his great temple, and no gas light! A thousand\nwomen, and not a pin in the house; no stoves, no cooking range, no\nbaking powder, no potatoes—think of it! Breakfast without potatoes!\nPlenty of wisdom and old saws—but no green corn; never heard of\nsuccotash in his whole life. No clean clothes, no music, if you except a\njew's-harp, no ice water, no skates, no carriages, because there was not\na decent road in all his dominions. Plenty of theology but no tobacco,\nno books, no pictures, not a picture in all Palestine, not a piece of\nstatuary, not a plough that would scour. No tea, no coffee; he never\nheard of any place of amusement, never was at a theatre, or a circus.\n\"Seven up\" was then unknown to the world. He couldn't even play\nbilliards, with all his knowledge, never had an idea of woman's rights,\nor universal suffrage; never went to school a day in his life, and cared\nno more about the will of the people than Andy Johnson.\n\nThe inventors have helped more than any other class to make the world\nwhat it is; the workers and the thinkers, the poor and the grand; labor\nand learning, industry and intelligence; Watt and Descartes, Fulton\nand Montaigne, Stephenson and Kepler, Crompton and Comte, Franklin and\nVoltaire, Morse and Buckle, Draper and Spencer, and hundreds more that I\ncould mention. The inventors, the workers, the thinkers, the mechanics,\nthe surgeons, the philosophers—these are the Atlases upon whose\nshoulders rests the great fabric of modern civilization.\n\nLanguage\n\nIN order to show you that the most abject superstition pervaded every\ndepartment of human knowledge, or of ignorance rather, allow me to give\nyou a few of their ideas upon language. It was universally believed that\nall languages could be traced back to the Hebrew; that the Hebrew was\nthe original language, and every fact inconsistent with that idea was\ndiscarded. In consequence of this belief all efforts to investigate the\nscience of language were utterly fruitless. After a time, the Hebrew\nidea falling into disrepute, other languages claimed the honor of being\nthe original ones.\n\nAndre Kempe published a work in 1569, on the language of Paradise,\nin which he maintained that God spoke to Adam in Swedish; that Adam\nanswered in Danish and that the serpent (which appears quite probable)\nspoke to Eve in French. Erro, in a book published at Madrid, took the\nground that Basque was the language spoken in the Garden of Eden. But in\n1580, Goropius published his celebrated work at Antwerp, in which he put\nthe whole matter at rest by proving that the language spoken in Paradise\nwas nothing more or less than plain Holland Dutch. The real founder of\nthe present science of language was a German, Leibnitz—a contemporary\nof Sir Isaac Newton. He discarded the idea that all language could be\ntraced to an original one. That language was, so to speak, a natural\ngrowth. Actual experience teaches us that this must be true. The ancient\nsages of Egypt had a vocabulary, according to Bunsen, of only about six\nhundred and eighty-five words, exclusive of proper names. The English\nlanguage has at least one hundred thousand.\n\nGeography\n\nIN the 6th century a monk by the name of Cosmas wrote a kind of orthodox\ngeography and astronomy combined. He pretended that it was all in\naccordance with the Bible. According to him, the world was composed,\nfirst, of a flat piece of land and circular; this piece of land was\nentirely surrounded by water which was the ocean, and beyond the strip\nof water was another circle of land; this outside circle was the land\ninhabited by the old world before the flood; Noah crossed the strip of\nwater and landed on the central piece where we now are; on the outside\nland was a high mountain around which the sun and moon revolved; when\nthe sun was behind the mountain it was night, and when on the side next\nus it was day. He also taught that on the outer edge of the outside\ncircle of land the firmament or sky was fastened, that it was made of\nsome solid material and turned over the world like an immense kettle.\nAnd it was declared at that time that anyone who believed either more or\nless on that subject than that book contained was a heretic and deserved\nto be exterminated from the face of the earth. This was authority until\nthe discovery of America by Columbus. Cosmas said the earth was flat; if\nit was round how could men on the other side at the day of judgment see\nthe coming of the Lord? At the risk of being tiresome, I have said\nwhat I have, to show you the productions of the mind when enslaved—the\nconsequences of abandoning judgment and reason—the effects of wide\nspread ignorance and universal bigotry.\n\nI want to convince you that every wrong is a viper that will sooner or\nlater strike with poisoned fangs the bosom that nourishes it. You will\nask what has produced this wonderful change in only three hundred\nyears. You will remember that in those days it was said that all\nghosts vanished at the dawn of day; that the sprites, the spooks,\nthe hobgoblins and all the monsters of the imagination fled from the\napproaching sun. In 1441, printing was invented. In the next century it\nbecame a power, and it has been flooding the world with light from that\ntime to this. The Press has been the true Prometheus.\n\nIt has been, so to speak, the trumpet blown by the Gabriel of Progress,\nuntil, from the graves of ignorance and superstition, the people have\nleaped to grand and glorious life, spurning with swift feet the dust of\nan infamous past.\n\nWhen people read, they reason, when they reason they progress. You must\nnot think that the enemies of progress allowed books to be published\nor read when they had the power to prevent it. The whole power of the\nchurch, of the government, was arrayed upon the side of ignorance.\nPeople found in the possession of books were often executed. Printing,\nreading and writing were crimes. Anathemas were hurled from the Vatican\nagainst all who dared to publish a word in favor of liberty or the\nsacred rights of man. The Inquisition was founded on purpose to crush\nout every noble aspiration of the heart. It was a war of darkness\nagainst light, of slavery against liberty, of superstition against\nreason. I shall not attempt to recount the horrors and tortures of the\nInquisition. Suffice it to say that they were equal to the most terrible\nand vivid pictures even of Hell, and the Inquisitors were even more\nhorrid fiends than even a real Perdition could boast. But in spite of\npriests, in spite of kings, in spite of mitres, in spite of crowns, in\nspite of Cardinals and Popes, books were published and books were read.\nBeam after beam of light penetrated the darkness. Star after star arose\nin the firmament of ignorance. The morning of Freedom began to dawn.\nDriven to madness by the prospect of ultimate defeat, the enemies of\nlight persecuted with redoubled fury.\n\nPeople were burned for saying that the earth was round, for saying that\nthe sun was the center of a system. A woman was executed because she\nendeavored to allay the pains of a fever by singing. The very name of\nPhilosopher became a title of proscription, and the slightest offences\nwere punished by death. About the beginning of the sixteenth century\nLuther and Jerome, of Prague, inaugurated the great Reformation in\nGermany, Ziska was at work in Hungary, Zwinglius in Switzerland. The\ngrand work went forward in Denmark, in Sweden and in England. All this\nwas accomplished as early as 1534. They unmasked the corruption and\nwithstood the tyranny of the church.\n\nWith a zeal amounting to enthusiasm, with a courage that was heroic,\nwith an energy that never flagged, a determination that brooked no\nopposition, with a firmness that defied torture and death, this sublime\nband of reformers sprang to the attack. Stronghold after stronghold\nwas carried, and in a few short but terrible years, the banner of the\nReformation waved in triumph over the bloody ensign of Saint Peter. The\nsoul roused from the slumbers of a thousand years began to think. When\nslaves begin to reason, slavery begins to die. The invention of powder\nhad released millions from the army, and left them to prosecute the arts\nof peace. Industry began to be remunerative and respectable.\n\nScience began to unfold the wings that will finally fill the heavens.\nDescartes announced to the world the sublime truth that the Universe is\ngoverned by law.\n\nCommerce began to unfold her wings. People of different countries began\nto get acquainted. Christians found that Mohammedan gold was not the\nless valuable on account of the doctrines of its owners. Telescopes\nbegan to be pointed toward the stars. The Universe was getting immense.\nThe Earth was growing small. It was discovered that a man could be\nhealthy without being a Catholic. Innumerable agencies were at work\ndispelling darkness and creating light. The supernatural began to be\nabandoned, and mankind endeavored to account for all physical phenomena\nby physical laws. The light of reason was irradiating the world, and\nfrom that light, as from the approach of the sun, the ghosts and spectres\nof superstition wrapped their sheets around their attenuated bodies and\nvanished into thin air. Other inventions rapidly followed. The wonderful\npower of steam was made known to the world by Watts and by Fulton.\nNeptune was frightened from the sea. The locomotive was given to mankind\nby Stephenson; the telegraph by Franklin and Morse. The rush of\nthe ship, the scream of the locomotive, and the electric flash have\nfrightened the monsters of ignorance from the world, and have left\nnothing above us but the heaven's eternal blue, filled with glittering\nplanets wheeling through immensity in accordance with Law. True\nreligion is a subordination of the passions and interests to the\nperceptions of the intellect. But when religion was considered the\nend of life instead of a means of happiness, it overshadowed all other\ninterests and became the destroyer of mankind. It became a hydra-headed\nmonster—a serpent reaching in terrible coils from the heavens and\nthrusting its thousand fangs into the bleeding, quivering hearts of men.\n\nSlavery\n\nI HAVE endeavored thus far to show you some of the results produced by\nenslaving the human mind. I now call your attention to another terrible\nphase of this subject; the enslavement of the body. Slavery is a very\nancient institution, yes, about as ancient as robbery, theft and murder,\nand is based upon them all.\n\nSpringing from the same fountain, that a man is not the owner of his\nsoul, is the doctrine that he is not the owner of his body. The two are\nalways found together, supported by precisely the same arguments, and\nattended by the same infamous acts of cruelty. From the earliest\ntime, slavery has existed in all countries, and among all people until\nrecently. Pufendorf said that slavery was originally established by\ncontract. Voltaire replied, \"Show me the original contract, and if it is\nsigned by the party that was to be a slave I will believe you.\" You\nwill bear in mind that the slavery of which I am now speaking is white\nslavery.\n\nGreeks enslaved one another as well as those captured in war. Coriolanus\nscrupled not to make slaves of his own countrymen captured in civil war.\n\nJulius Caesar sold to the highest bidder at onetime fifty-three thousand\nprisoners of war all of whom were white. Hannibal exposed to sale thirty\nthousand captives at one time, all of whom were Roman citizens. In Rome,\nmen were sold into bondage in order to pay their debts. In Germany, men\noften hazarded their freedom on the throwing of dice. The Barbary States\nheld white Christians in slavery in this, the 19th century. There were\nwhite slaves in England as late as 1574. There were white slaves in\nScotland until the end of the 18th century.\n\nThese Scotch slaves were colliers and salters. They were treated as real\nestate and passed with a deed to the mines in which they worked.\n\nIt was also the law that no collier could work in any mine except the\none to which he belonged. It was also the law that their children could\nfollow no other occupation than that of their fathers. This slavery\nabsolutely existed in Scotland until the beginning of the glorious 19th\ncentury.\n\nSome of the Roman nobles were the owners of as many as twenty thousand\nslaves.\n\nThe common people of France were in slavery for fourteen hundred years.\nThey were transferred with land, and women were often seen assisting\ncattle to pull the plough, and yet people have the impudence to say that\nblack slavery is right, because the blacks have always been slaves in\ntheir own country. I answer, so have the whites until very recently. In\nthe good old days when might was right and when kings and popes stood\nby the people, and protected the people, and talked about \"holy oil and\ndivine right,\" the world was filled with slaves. The traveler standing\namid the ruins of ancient cities and empires, seeing on every side the\nfallen pillar and the prostrate wall, asks why did these cities fall,\nwhy did these empires crumble? And the Ghost of the Past, the wisdom of\nages, answers: These temples, these palaces, these cities, the ruins of\nwhich you stand upon were built by tyranny and injustice. The hands that\nbuilt them were unpaid. The backs that bore the burdens also bore the\nmarks of the lash. They were built by slaves to satisfy the vanity and\nambition of thieves and robbers. For these reasons they are dust.\n\nTheir civilization was a lie. Their laws merely regulated robbery and\nestablished theft. They bought and sold the bodies and souls of men, and\nthe mournful winds of desolation, sighing amid their crumbling ruins,\nis a voice of prophetic warning to those who would repeat the infamous\nexperiment. From the ruins of Babylon, of Carthage, of Athens, of\nPalmyra, of Thebes, of Rome, and across the great desert, over that sad\nand solemn sea of sand, from the land of the pyramids, over the fallen\nSphinx and from the lips of Memnon the same voice, the same warning and\nuttering the great truth, that no nation founded upon slavery, either of\nbody or mind, can stand.\n\nAnd yet, to-day, there are thousands upon thousands endeavoring to build\nthe temples and cities and to administer our Government upon the old\nplan. They are makers of brick without straw. They are bowing themselves\nbeneath hods of untempered mortar. They are the babbling builders of\nanother Babel, a Babel of mud upon a foundation of sand.\n\nNothwithstanding the experience of antiquity as to the terrible effects\nof slavery, bondage was the rule, and liberty the exception, during the\nMiddle Ages not only, but for ages afterward.\n\nThe same causes that led to the liberation of mind also liberated the\nbody. Free the mind, allow men to write and publish and read, and one by\none the shackles will drop, broken, in the dust. This truth was always\nknown, and for that reason slaves have never been allowed to read. It\nhas always been a crime to teach a slave. The intelligent prefer death\nto slavery. Education is the most radical abolitionist in the world. To\nteach the alphabet is to inaugurate revolution. To build a schoolhouse\nis to construct a fort. Every library is an arsenal, and every truth is\na monitor, iron-clad and steel-plated.\n\nDo not think that white slavery was abolished without a struggle. The\nmen who opposed white slavery were ridiculed, were persecuted, driven\nfrom their homes, mobbed, hanged, tortured and burned. They were\ndenounced as having only one idea, by men who had none. They were called\nfanatics by men who were so insane as to suppose that the laws of a\npetty prince were greater than those of the Universe. Crime made faces\nat virtue, and honesty was an outcast beggar. In short, I cannot better\ndescribe to you the manner in which the friends of slavery acted at that\ntime, than by saying that they acted precisely as they used to do in\nthe United States. White slavery, established by kidnapping and piracy,\nsustained by torture and infinite cruelty, was defended to the very\nlast.\n\nLet me now call your attention to one of the most immediate causes of\nthe abolition of white slavery in Europe. There were during the Middle\nAges three great classes of people: the common people, the clergy and\nthe nobility. All these people could, however, be divided into two\nclasses, namely, the robbed and the robbers. The feudal lords were\njealous of the king, the king afraid of the lords, the clergy always\nsiding with the stronger party. The common people had only to do the\nwork, the fighting, and to pay the taxes, as by the law the property of\nthe nobles was exempt from taxation. The consequence was, in every war\nbetween the nobles and the king, each party endeavored by conciliation\nto get the peasants upon their side. When the clergy were on the side\nof the king they created dissension between the people and the nobles by\ntelling them that the nobles were tyrants. When they were on the side of\nthe nobles they told the people that the king was a tyrant. At last the\npeople believed both, and the old adage was verified, that when thieves\nfall out honest men get their dues.\n\nBy virtue of the civil and religious wars of Europe, slavery was\nabolished, and the French Revolution, one of the grandest pages in all\nhistory, was, so to speak, the exterminator of white slavery. In that\nterrible period the people who had borne the yoke for fourteen hundred\nyears, rising from the dust, casting their shackles from them, fiercely\navenged their wrongs. A mob of twenty millions driven to desperation,\nin the sublimity of despair, in the sacred name of Liberty cried for\nvengeance. They reddened the earth with the blood of their masters.\nThey trampled beneath their feet the great army of human vermin that had\nlived upon their labor. They filled the air with the ruins of temples\nand thrones, and with bloody hands tore in pieces the altar upon which\ntheir rights had been offered by an impious church. They scorned the\nsuperstitions of the past not only, but they scorned the past; for\nthe past to them was only wrong, imposition and outrage. The French\nRevolution was the inauguration of a new era. The lava of freedom long\nburied beneath a mountain of wrong and injustice at last burst forth,\noverwhelming the Pompeii and Herculaneum of priestcraft and tyranny. As\nsoon as white slavery began to decay in Europe, and while the condition\nof the white slaves was improving about the middle of the 16th century\nin 1541, Alonzo Gonzales, of Portugal, pointed out to his countrymen a\nnew field of operations, a new market for human flesh, and in a short\ntime the African slave-trade with all its unspeakable horrors was\ninaugurated.\n\nThis trade has been the great crime of modern times. It is almost\nimpossible to conceive that nations who professed to be Christian,\nor even in any degree civilized, should have engaged in this infamous\ntraffic. Yet nearly all of the nations of Europe engaged in the\nslave-trade, legalized it, protected it, fostered the practice, and vied\nwith each other in acts, the bare recital of which is enough to make the\nheart stand still.\n\nIt has been calculated that for years, at least 400,000 Africans were\neither killed or enslaved annually. They crammed their ships so full\nof these unfortunate wretches, that, as a general thing, about ten per\ncent, died of suffocation on the voyage. They were treated like wild\nbeasts. In times of danger they were thrown into the sea. Remember that\nthis horrible traffic commenced in the middle of the 16th century, was\ncarried on by nations pretending to Christian civilization, and when\ndo you think it was abolished by some of the principal countries? In\nEngland, Wilberforce and Clarkson dedicated their lives to the abolition\nof the slave-trade. They were hated and despised. They persevered for\ntwenty years, and it was not until the 25th of March, 1808, that\nEngland pronounced the infamous traffic in human flesh illegal, and the\nrejoicing in England was redoubled on receiving the news that the United\nStates had done the same thing. After a time, those engaged in the\nslave-trade were declared pirates.\n\nOn the 28th day of August, 1833, England abolished slavery throughout\nthe British Colonies, thus giving liberty to nearly one million slaves.\n\nThe United States was then the greatest slave-holding power in the\ncivilized world.\n\nWe are all acquainted with the history of slavery in this country. We\nknow that it corrupted our people, that it has drenched our land in\nfraternal blood, that it has clad our country in mourning for the loss\nof 300,000 of her bravest sons; that it carried us back to the darkest\nages of the world, that it led us to the very brink of destruction,\nforced us to the shattered gates of eternal ruin, death and\nannihilation. But Liberty rising above party prejudice, Freedom lifting\nitself above all other considerations,\n    \"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,\n    Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,—\n    Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,\n    Eternal sunshine settles on its head.\"\n\nAnd on the 1st day of January, 1863, the grandest New Year that ever\ndawned upon this continent, in accordance with the will of the heroic\nNorth, by the sublime act of one whose name will be sacred through all\nthe coming years, the justice so long delayed was accomplished, and four\nmillions of slaves became chainless.\n\nLiberty Triumphed\n\nLIBERTY, that most sacred word, without which all other words are vain,\nwithout which, life is worse than death, and men are beasts! I never see\nthe word Liberty without seeing a halo of glory around it. It is a word\nworthy of the lips of a God. Can you realize the fact that only a\nfew years ago, the most shocking system of slavery—the most\nbarbarous—existed in our country, and that you and I were bound by\nthe laws of the United States to stand between a human being and his\nliberty? That we were absolutely compelled by law to hand back that\nhuman being to the lash and chain? That by our laws children were\nsold from the arms of mothers, wives sold from their husbands? That we\nexecuted our laws with the assistance of bloodhounds, owned and trained\nby human bloodhounds fiercer still, and that all this was not only\nupheld by politicians, but by the pretended ministers of Christ?\nThat the pulpit was in partnership with the auction block—that the\nbloodhound's bark was only an echo from many of the churches? And that\nthis was all done under the sacred name of Liberty, by a republican\ngovernment that was founded upon the sublime declaration that all men\nare equal? This all seems to me like a horrible dream, a nightmare\nof terror, a hellish impossibility. And yet, with cheeks glowing and\nburning with shame, before the bar of history, we are forced to plead\nguilty to this terrible charge. We made a whip-ping-post of the cross\nof Christ. It is true that in a great degree we have atoned for this\nnational crime. Our bravest and our best have been sacrificed. We have\nborne the bloody burden of war. The good and the true have been with us,\nand the women of the North have won glory imperishable. They robbed war\nof half its terrors. Not content with binding the wreath of victory upon\nthe leader's brow, they bandaged the soldiers' wounds, they nerved the\nliving, comforted the dying, and smiled upon the great victory through\ntheir tears.\n\nThey have consoled the hero's widow and are educating his orphans. They\nhave erected a monument to enlightened charity to which time can add\nonly grandeur. There is much, however, to be accomplished still. Slavery\nhas been abolished, but Progress requires more. We are called upon to\nmake this a free government in the broadest sense, to give liberty to\nall. Standing in the presence of all history, knowing the experience\nof mankind, knowing that the earth is covered with countless wrecks of\ncruel failures; appealed to by the great army of martyrs and heroes who\nhave gone before; by the sacred dust filling innumerable graves; by the\nmemory of our own noble dead; by all the suffering of the past; by all\nthe hopes for the future; by all the glorious dead and the countless\nmillions yet to be, I pray, I beseech, I implore the American people\nto lay the foundation of the Government upon the principles of eternal\njustice. I pray, I beseech, I implore them to take for the corner-stone,\nUniversal Human Liberty—the stone which has been heretofore rejected\nby all the builders of nations. The Government will then stand, and the\nswelling dome of the temple will touch the stars.\n\nConclusion\n\nI HAVE thus endeavored to show you some of the effects of slavery, and\nto prove to you that a step in order to be in the direction of progress\nmust be in the direction of freedom; that slavery either of body or mind\nis barbarism and is practiced and defended only by infamous tyrants or\ntheir dupes. I have endeavored to point out some of the causes of\nthe abolition of slavery, both of body and mind. There is one truth,\nhowever, that you must not forget, and that is, that every evil tends\nto correct and abolish itself. I believe, however, that the diffusion\nof knowledge, more than everything else combined, has ameliorated the\ncondition of mankind. When there was no freedom of speech and no press,\nthen every idea perished in the brain that gave it birth. One man could\nnot profit by the thought of another. The experience of the past was\nin a great degree unknown. And this state of things produced the same\neffect in the mental world, that confining all the water to the springs\nwould in the physical. Confine the water to the springs, the rivulets\nwould cease to murmur, the rivers to flow, and the ocean itself would\nbecome a desert of sand. But with the invention of printing, ideas began\nto circulate, born of the busy brain of the million—little rivulets of\nfacts running into rivers of information, and they all flowing into the\ngreat ocean of human knowledge.\n\nThis exchange of ideas, this comparison of thought, has given to each\ngeneration the advantage of all the past. This, more than all else, has\nenabled man to improve his condition. It is by this that from the log\nor piece of bark on which a naked savage floated, we have by successive\nimprovements created a man-of-war carrying a hundred guns and miles\nof canvas. By these means we have changed a handful of sand into a\ntelescope. In the hands of science a drop of water has become a giant,\nturning with swift and tireless arm the countless wheels. The sun has\nbecome an artist painting with shining beams the very thoughts within\nour eyes. The elements have been taught to do our bidding, and the\nelectric spark, freighted with human thought and love, defies distance,\nand devours time as it sweeps under all the waves of the sea.\n\nThese are some of the results of free thought and free labor. I have\nbarely alluded to a few—where is improvement to stop? Science is only\nin its infancy. It has accomplished all this and is in its cradle still.\n\nWe are standing on the shore of an infinite ocean whose countless waves,\nfreighted with blessings, are welcoming our adventurous feet. Progress\nhas been written on every soul. The human race is advancing.\n\nForward, oh sublime army of progress, forward until law is justice,\nforward until ignorance is unknown, forward while there is a spiritual\nor temporal throne, forward until superstition is a forgotten dream,\nforward until the world is free, forward until human reason, clothed in\nthe purple of authority, is king of kings.\n"
}