2146 lines
110 KiB
Plaintext
2146 lines
110 KiB
Plaintext
33 page printout.
|
||
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
||
|
||
INTERVIEWS
|
||
|
||
Contents of this file page
|
||
|
||
JUSTICE HARLAN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 1
|
||
POLITICS AND THEOLOGY. 6
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY. 7
|
||
POLITICS, MORMONISM AND MR. BEECHER. 16
|
||
FREE TRADE AND CHRISTIANITY. 20
|
||
THE OATH QUESTION. 26
|
||
WENDELL PHILLIPS, FITZ JOHN PORTER AND BISMARCK. 31
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
This file, its printout, or copies of either
|
||
are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
|
||
The Works of ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
JUSTICE HARLAN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What do you think of Justice Harlan's dissenting
|
||
opinion in the Civil Rights case?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I have just read it and think it admirable in every
|
||
respect. It is unanswerable. He has given to words their natural
|
||
meaning. He has recognized the intention of the framers of the
|
||
recent amendments. There is nothing in this opinion that is
|
||
strained, insincere, or artificial. It is frank and manly. It is
|
||
solid masonry, without crack or flaw. He does not resort to legal
|
||
paint or putty, or to verbal varnish or veneer. He states the
|
||
position of his brethren of the bench with perfect fairness, and
|
||
overturns it with perfect ease. He has drawn an instructive
|
||
parallel between the decisions of the olden time, upholding the
|
||
power of Congress to deal with individuals in the interests of
|
||
slavery, and the power conferred on Congress by the recent
|
||
amendments. He has shown by the old decisions, that when a duty is
|
||
enjoined upon Congress, ability to perform it is given; that when
|
||
a certain end is required, all necessary means are granted. He also
|
||
shows that the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and of 1850, rested
|
||
entirely upon the implied power of Congress to enforce a master's
|
||
rights; and that power was once implied in favor of slavery against
|
||
human rights, and implied from language shadowy, feeble and
|
||
uncertain when compared with the language of the recent amendments.
|
||
He has shown, too, that Congress exercised the utmost ingenuity in
|
||
devising laws to enforce the master's claim. Implication was held
|
||
ample to deprive a human being of his liberty, but to secure
|
||
freedom, the doctrine of implication is abandoned. As a foundation
|
||
for wrong, implication was their rock. As a foundation for right,
|
||
it is now sand. Implied power then was sufficient to enslave, while
|
||
power expressly given is now impotent to protect.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What do you think of the use he has made of the Dred
|
||
Scott decision?
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
1
|
||
|
||
JUSTICE HARLAN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Well I think he has shown conclusively that the
|
||
present decision, under the present circumstances, is far worse
|
||
than the Dred Scott decision was under the then circumstances. The
|
||
Dred Scott decision was a libel upon the best men of the
|
||
Revolutionary period. That decision asserted broadly that our
|
||
forefathers regarded the negroes as having no rights which white
|
||
men were bound to respect; that the negroes were merely
|
||
merchandise, and that that opinion was fixed and universal in the
|
||
civilized portion of the white race, and that no one thought of
|
||
disputing it. Yet Franklin contended that slavery might be
|
||
abolished under the preamble of the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson
|
||
said that if the slave should rise to cut the throat of his master,
|
||
God had no attribute that would side against the slave. Thomas
|
||
Paine attacked the institution with all the intensity and passion
|
||
of his nature. John Adams regarded the institution with horror. So
|
||
did every civilized man, South and North.
|
||
|
||
Justice Harlan shows conclusively that the Thirteenth
|
||
Amendment was adopted in the light of the Dred Scott decision; that
|
||
it overturned and destroyed, not simply the decision, but the
|
||
reasoning upon which it was based; that it proceeded upon the
|
||
ground that the colored people had rights that white men were bound
|
||
to respect, not only, but that the Nation was bound to protect. He
|
||
takes the ground that the amendment was suggested by the condition
|
||
of that race, which had been declared by the Supreme Court of the
|
||
United States to have no rights which white men were bound to
|
||
respect; that it was made to protect people whose rights had been
|
||
invaded, and whose strong arms had assisted in the overthrow of the
|
||
Rebellion; that it was made for the purpose of putting these men
|
||
upon a legal equality with white citizens.
|
||
|
||
Justice Harlan also shows that while legislation of Congress
|
||
to enforce a master's right was upheld by implication, the rights
|
||
of the negro do not depend upon that doctrine; that the Thirteenth
|
||
Amendment does not rest upon implication, or upon inference; that
|
||
by its terms it places the power in Congress beyond the possibility
|
||
of a doubt -- conferring the power to enforce the amendment by
|
||
appropriate legislation in express terms; and he also shows that
|
||
the Supreme Court has admitted that legislation for that purpose
|
||
may be direct and primary. Had not the power been given in express
|
||
terms, Justice Harlan contends that the sweeping declaration that
|
||
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist would by
|
||
implication confer the power. He also shows conclusively that,
|
||
under the Thirteenth Amendment, Congress has the right by
|
||
appropriate legislation to protect the colored people against the
|
||
deprivation of any right on account of their race, and that
|
||
Congress is not necessarily restricted, under the Thirteenth
|
||
Amendment, to legislation against slavery as an institution, but
|
||
that power may be exerted to the extent of protecting the race from
|
||
discrimination in respect to such rights us belong to freemen,
|
||
where such discrimination is based on race or color. If Justice
|
||
Harlan is wrong the amendments are left without force and Congress
|
||
without power. No purpose can be assigned for their adoption. No
|
||
object can be guessed that was to be accomplished. They become
|
||
words, so arranged that they sound like sense, but when examined
|
||
fall meaninglessly apart. Under the decision of the Supreme Court
|
||
they are Quaker cannon -- cloud forts -- "property" for political
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
2
|
||
|
||
JUSTICE HARLAN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
|
||
|
||
stage scenery -- coats of mail made of bronzed paper -- shields of
|
||
gilded pasteboard -- swords of lath.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Do you wish to say anything as to the reasoning of
|
||
Justice Harlan on the rights of colored people on railways, in inns
|
||
and theaters?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Yes, I do. That part of the opinion is especially
|
||
strong. He shows conclusively that a common carrier is in the
|
||
exercise of a sort of public-office and has public duties to
|
||
perform, and that he cannot exonerate himself from the performance
|
||
of these duties without the consent of the parties concerned. He
|
||
also shows that railroads are public highways, and that the railway
|
||
company is the agent of the State, and that a railway, although
|
||
built by private capital, is just as public in its nature as though
|
||
constructed by the State itself. He shows that the railway is
|
||
devoted to Public use, and subject to be controlled by the State
|
||
for the public benefit, and that for these reasons the colored man
|
||
has the same rights upon the railway that he has upon the public
|
||
highway.
|
||
|
||
Justice Harlan shows that the same law is applicable to inns
|
||
that is applicable to railways: that an inn-keeper is bound to take
|
||
all travelers if he can accommodate them; that he is not to select
|
||
his guests; that he has no right to say to one "you may come in,"
|
||
and to another "you shall not;" that every one who conducts himself
|
||
in a proper manner has a right to be received. He shows
|
||
conclusively that an inn-keeper is a sort of public servant; that
|
||
he is in the exercise of a quasi public employment, that he is
|
||
given special privileges, and charged with duties of a public
|
||
character.
|
||
|
||
As to theaters, I think his argument most happy. It is this:
|
||
Theaters are licensed by law. The authority to maintain them comes
|
||
from the public. The colored race being a part of the public,
|
||
representing the power granting the license, why should the colored
|
||
people license a manager to open his doors to the white man and
|
||
shut them in the face of the black man? Why should they be
|
||
compelled to license that which they are not permitted to
|
||
enjoy?justice Harlan shows that Congress has the power to prevent
|
||
discrimination on account of race or color on railways, at inns,
|
||
and in places of public amusements, and has this power under the
|
||
Thirteenth Amendment.
|
||
|
||
In discussing the Fourteenth Amendment, Justice Harlan points
|
||
out that a prohibition upon a State is not a power in Congress or
|
||
the National Government, but is simply a denial of power to the
|
||
State; that such was the Constitution before the Fourteenth
|
||
Amendment. He shows, however, that the fourteenth Amendment
|
||
presents the first instance in our history of the investiture of
|
||
Congress with affirmative power by legislation to enforce an
|
||
express prohibition upon the States. This is an important point. It
|
||
is stated with great clearness, and defended with great force. He
|
||
shows that the first clause of the first section of the Fourteenth
|
||
Amendment is of a distinctly affirmative character, and that
|
||
Congress would have had the power to legislate directly as to that
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
3
|
||
|
||
JUSTICE HARLAN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
|
||
|
||
section simply by implication, but that as to that as well as the
|
||
express prohibitions upon the States, express power to legislate
|
||
was given.
|
||
|
||
There is one other point made by Justice Harlan which
|
||
transfixes as with a spear the decision of the Court. It is this:
|
||
As soon as the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments were adopted
|
||
the colored citizen was entitled to the protection of section two,
|
||
article four, namely: "The citizens of each State shall be entitled
|
||
to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several
|
||
States." Now, suppose a colored citizen of Mississippi moves to
|
||
Tennessee. Then, under the section last quoted, he would
|
||
immediately become invested with all the privileges and immunities
|
||
of a white citizen of Tennessee. Although denied these privileges
|
||
and immunities in the State from which he emigrated, in the State
|
||
to which he immigrates he could not be discriminated against on
|
||
account of his color under the second section of the fourth
|
||
article. Now, is it possible that he gets additional rights by
|
||
immigration? Is it possible that the General Government is under a
|
||
greater obligation to protect him in a State of which he is not a
|
||
citizen than in a State of which he is a citizen? Must he leave
|
||
home for protection, and after he has lived long enough in the
|
||
State to which he immigrates to become a citizen there, must he
|
||
again move in order to protect his rights? Must one adopt the
|
||
doctrine of peripatetic protection -- the doctrine that the
|
||
Constitution is good only in transit, and that when the citizen
|
||
stops, the Constitution goes on and leaves him without protection?
|
||
|
||
Justice Harlan shows that Congress had the right to legislate
|
||
directly while that power was only implied, but that the moment the
|
||
power was conferred in express terms, then according to the Supreme
|
||
Court, it was lost.
|
||
|
||
There is another splendid definition given by Justice Harlan
|
||
-- a line drawn as broad as the Mississippi. It is the distinction
|
||
between the rights conferred by a State and rights conferred by the
|
||
Nation. Admitting that many rights conferred by a State cannot be
|
||
enforced directly by Congress, Justice Harlan shows that rights
|
||
granted by the Nation to an individual may be protected by direct
|
||
legislation. This is a distinction that should not be forgotten,
|
||
and it is a definition clear and perfect.
|
||
|
||
Justice Harlan has shown that the Supreme Court failed to take
|
||
into consideration the intention of the framers of the amendment;
|
||
failed to see that the powers of Congress were given by express
|
||
terms and did not rest upon implication; failed to see that the
|
||
Thirteenth Amendment was broad enough to cover the Civil Rights
|
||
Act; failed to see that under the three amendments rights and
|
||
privileges were conferred by the Nation on citizens of the several
|
||
States, and that these rights are under the perpetual protection of
|
||
the General Government, and that for their enforcement Congress has
|
||
the right to legislate directly; failed to see that all
|
||
implications are now in favor of liberty instead of slavery; failed
|
||
to comprehend that we have a new nation. with a new foundation,
|
||
with different objects, ends, and aims, for the attainment of which
|
||
we use different means and have been clothed with greater powers;
|
||
failed to see that the Republic changed front; failed to appreciate
|
||
the real reason for the adoption of the amendments, and failed to
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
4
|
||
|
||
JUSTICE HARLAN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
|
||
|
||
understand that the Civil Rights Act was passed in order that a
|
||
citizen of the United States might appeal from local prejudice to
|
||
national justice.
|
||
|
||
Justice Harlan shows that it was the object to accomplish for
|
||
the black man what had been accomplished for the white man -- that
|
||
is, to protect all their rights as free men and citizens; and that
|
||
the one underlying purpose of the amendments and of the
|
||
congressional legislation has been to clothe the black race with
|
||
all the rights of citizenship, and to compel a recognition of their
|
||
rights by citizens and States -- that the object was to do away
|
||
with class tyranny, the meanest and bassist form of oppression.
|
||
|
||
If Justice Harlan is wrong in his position, then, it may
|
||
truthfully be said of the three amendments that:
|
||
|
||
"The law hath bubbles as the water has,
|
||
And these are of them."
|
||
|
||
The decision of the Supreme Court denies the protection of the
|
||
Nation to the citizens of the Nation. That decision has already
|
||
borne fruit -- the massacre at Danville. The protection of the
|
||
Nation having been withdrawn, the colored man was left to the mercy
|
||
of local prejudices and hatreds. He is without appeal, without
|
||
redress. The Supreme Court tells him that he must depend upon his
|
||
enemies for justice.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: You seem to agree with all that Justice Harlan has
|
||
said, and to have the greatest admiration for his opinion?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Yes, a man rises from reading this dissenting opinion
|
||
refreshed, invigorated, and strengthened. It is a mental and moral
|
||
tonic. It was produced after a clear head had held conference with
|
||
a good heart. It will furnish a perfectly clear plank, without knot
|
||
or wind-shake, for the next Republican platform. It is written in
|
||
good plain English, and ornamented with good sound sense. The
|
||
average man can and will understand its every word. There is no
|
||
subterfuge in it.
|
||
|
||
Each position is taken in the open field. There is no resort
|
||
to quibbles or technicalities -- no hiding. Nothing is secreted in
|
||
the sleeve -- no searching for blind paths -- no stooping and
|
||
looking for ancient tracks, grass-grown and dim. Each argument
|
||
travels the highway -- "the big road." It is logical. The facts and
|
||
conclusions agree, and fall naturally into line of battle. It is
|
||
sincere and candid -- unpretentious and unanswerable. It is a grand
|
||
defence of human rights -- a brave and manly plea for universal
|
||
justice. It leaves the decision of the Supreme Court without
|
||
argument, without reason, and without excuse. Such an exhibition of
|
||
independence, courage and ability has won for Justice Harlan the
|
||
respect and admiration of "both sides," and places him in the front
|
||
rank of constitutional lawyers. --
|
||
|
||
The Inter-Ocian, Chicago, Illinois, November 29, 1883.
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
5
|
||
|
||
POLITICS AND THEOLOGY.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What is your opinion of Brewster's administration?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I hardly think I ought to say much about the
|
||
administration of Mr. Brewster. Of course many things have been
|
||
done that I thought, and still think, extremely bad; but whether
|
||
Mr. Brewster was responsible for the things done, or not, I do not
|
||
pretend to say. When he was appointed to his present position,
|
||
there was great excitement in the country about the Star Route
|
||
cases, and Mr. Brewster was expected to prosecute everybody and
|
||
everything to the extent of the law; in fact, I believe he was
|
||
appointed by reason of having made such a promise. At that time
|
||
there were hundreds of people interested in exaggerating all the
|
||
facts connected with the Star Route cases, and when there were no
|
||
facts to be exaggerated, they made some, and exaggerated them
|
||
afterward. It may be that the Attorney General was misled, and he
|
||
really supposed that all he heard was true. My objection to the
|
||
administration of the Department of Justice is, that a resort was
|
||
had to spies and detectives. The battle was not fought in the open
|
||
field. Influences were brought to bear. Nearly all departments of
|
||
the Government were enlisted. Everything was done to create a
|
||
public opinion in favor of the prosecution. Everything was done
|
||
that the cases might be decided on prejudice instead of upon facts.
|
||
|
||
Everything was done to demoralize, frighten and overawe
|
||
judges, witnesses and jurors. I do not pretend to say who was
|
||
responsible, possibly I am not an impartial judge. I was deeply
|
||
interested at the time, and felt all of these things, rather than
|
||
reasoned about them.
|
||
|
||
Possibly I cannot give a perfectly unbiased opinion.
|
||
Personally, I have no feeling now upon the subject.
|
||
|
||
The Department of Justice, in spite of its methods, did not
|
||
succeed. That was enough for me. I think, however, when the country
|
||
knows the facts, that the people will not approve of what was done.
|
||
I do not believe in trying cases in the newspapers before they are
|
||
submitted to jurors. That is a little too early. Neither do I
|
||
believe in trying them in the newspapers after the verdicts have
|
||
been rendered. That is a little too late.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What are Mr. Blaine's chances for the presidency?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: My understanding is that Mr. Blaine is not a candidate
|
||
for the nomination; that he does not wish his name to be used in
|
||
that connection. He ought to have been nominated in 1876, and if he
|
||
were a candidate, he would probably have the largest following; but
|
||
my understanding is, that he does not, in any event, wish to be a
|
||
candidate. He is a man perfectly familiar with the politics of this
|
||
country, knows its history by heart, and is in every respect
|
||
probably as well qualified to act as its Chief Magistrate as any
|
||
man in the nation. He is a man of ideas, of action, and has
|
||
positive qualities. He would not wait for something to turn up, and
|
||
things would not have to wait long for him to turn them up.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Who do you think will be nominated at Chicago?
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
6
|
||
|
||
POLITICS AND THEOLOGY.
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Of course I have not the slightest idea who will be
|
||
nominated. I may have an opinion as to who ought to be nominated,
|
||
and yet I may be greatly mistaken in that opinion. There are
|
||
hundreds of men in the Republican party, any one of whom, if
|
||
elected, would make a good, substantial President, and there are
|
||
many thousands of men about whom I know nothing, any one of whom
|
||
would in all probability make a good President. We do not want any
|
||
man to govern this county. This country governs itself. We want a
|
||
President who will honestly and faithfully execute the laws, who
|
||
will appoint postmasters and do the requisite amount of handshaking
|
||
on public occasions, and we have thousands of men who can discharge
|
||
the duties of that position. Washington is probably the worst place
|
||
to find out anything definite upon the subject of presidential
|
||
booms. I have thought for a long time that one of the most valuable
|
||
men in the county was General Sherman. Everybody knows who and what
|
||
he is. He has one great advantage -- he is a frank and outspoken
|
||
man. He has opinions and he never hesitates about letting them be
|
||
known. There is considerable talk now about Justice Harlan. His
|
||
dissenting opinion in the Civil Rights ease has made every colored
|
||
man his friend, and I think it will take considerable public
|
||
patronage to prevent a good many delegates from the Southern States
|
||
voting for him.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What are your present views on theology?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Well, I think my views have not undergone any change
|
||
that I know of. I still insist that observation, reason and
|
||
experience are the things to be depended upon in this world. I
|
||
still deny the existence of the supernatural. I still insist that
|
||
nobody can be good for you, or bad for you; that you cannot be
|
||
punished for the crimes of others, nor rewarded for their virtues.
|
||
I still insist that the consequences of good actions are always
|
||
good, and those of bad actions always bad. I insist that nobody can
|
||
plant thistles and gather figs; neither can they plant figs and
|
||
gather thistles. I still deny that a finite being can commit an
|
||
infinite sin; but I continue to insist that a God who would punish
|
||
a man forever is an infinite tyrant. My views have undergone no
|
||
change, except that the evidence of that truth constantly
|
||
increases, and the dogmas of the church look, if possible, a little
|
||
absurder every day. Theology, you know, is not a science. It stops
|
||
at the grave; and faith is the end of theology. Ministers have not
|
||
even the advantage of the doctors; the doctors sometimes can tell
|
||
by a post-mortem examination whether they killed the man or not;
|
||
but by cutting a man open after he is dead, the wisest theologians
|
||
cannot tell what has become of his soul, and whether it was injured
|
||
or helped by a belief in the inspiration of the Scriptures.
|
||
Theology depends on assertion for evidence, and on faith for
|
||
disciples. --
|
||
|
||
The Tribune, Denver, Colorado, January 17, 1886.
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: I see that the clergy are still making all kinds of
|
||
charges against you and your doctrines.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
7
|
||
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY.
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Yes. Some of the charges are true and some are not. I
|
||
suppose that they intend to get in the vicinity of veracity, and
|
||
are probably stating my belief as it is honestly misunderstood by
|
||
them. I admit that I have said and that I still think that
|
||
Christianity is a blunder. But the question arises, What is
|
||
Christianity? I do not mean, when I say that Christianity is a
|
||
blunder, that the morality taught by Christians is a mistake.
|
||
Morality is not distinctively Christian, any more than it is
|
||
Mohammedan. Morality is human, it belongs to no ism, and does not
|
||
depend for a foundation upon the supernatural, or upon any book, or
|
||
upon any creed. Morality is itself a foundation. When I say that
|
||
Christianity is a blunder, I mean all those things distinctively
|
||
Christian are blunders. It is a blunder to say that an infinite
|
||
being lived in Palestine, learned the carpenter's trade, raised the
|
||
dead, cured the blind, and cast out devils, and that this God was
|
||
finally assassinated by the Jews. This is absurd. All these
|
||
statements are blunders, if not worse. I do not believe that Christ
|
||
ever claimed that he was of supernatural origin, or that he wrought
|
||
miracles, or that he would rise from the dead. If he did, he was
|
||
mistaken -- honestly mistaken, perhaps, but still mistaken.
|
||
|
||
The morality inculcated by Mohammed is good. The immorality
|
||
inculcated by Mohammed is bad. If Mohammed was a prophet of God, it
|
||
does not make the morality he taught any better, neither does it
|
||
make the immorality any better or any worse.
|
||
|
||
By this time the whole world ought to know that morality does
|
||
not need to go into partnership with miracles. Morality is based
|
||
upon the experience of mankind. It does not have to learn of
|
||
inspired writers, or of gods, or divine persons. It is a lesson
|
||
that the whole human race has been learning and learning from
|
||
experience. He who upholds, or believes in, or teaches, the
|
||
miraculous, commits a blunder.
|
||
|
||
Now, what is morality? Morality is the best thing to do under
|
||
the circumstances. Anything that tends to the happiness of mankind
|
||
is moral. Anything that tends to unhappiness is immoral. We apply
|
||
to the moral world rules and regulations as we do in the physical
|
||
world. The man who does justice, or tries to do so -- who is honest
|
||
and kind and gives to others what he claims for himself, is a moral
|
||
man. All actions must be judged by their consequences. Where the
|
||
consequences are good, the actions are good. Were the consequences
|
||
are bad, the actions are bad; and all consequences are learned from
|
||
experience. After we have had a certain amount of experience, we
|
||
then reason from analogy. We apply our logic and say that a certain
|
||
course will bring destruction, another course will bring happiness.
|
||
There is nothing inspired about morality -- nothing supernatural.
|
||
It is simply good, common sense, going hand in hand with kindness.
|
||
|
||
Morality is capable of being demonstrated. You do not have to
|
||
take the word of anybody; you can observe and examine for yourself.
|
||
Larceny is the enemy of industry, and industry is good; therefore
|
||
larceny is immoral. The family is the unit of good government;
|
||
anything that tends to destroy the family is immoral. Honesty is
|
||
the mother of confidence; it unites, combines and solidifies
|
||
society. Dishonesty is disintegration; it destroys confidence; it
|
||
brings social chaos; it is therefore immoral.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
8
|
||
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY.
|
||
|
||
I also admit that I regard the Mosaic account of the creation
|
||
as an absurdity -- as a series of blunders. Probably Moses did the
|
||
best he could. He had never talked with Humboldt or Laplace, He
|
||
knew nothing of geology or astronomy. He had not the slightest
|
||
suspicion of Kepler's Three Laws. He never saw a copy of Newton's
|
||
Principii. Taking all these things into consideration, I think
|
||
Moses did the best he could.
|
||
|
||
The religious people say now that "days" did not mean days. Of
|
||
these "six days" they make a kind of telescope, which you can push
|
||
in or draw out at pleasure. If the geologists find that more time
|
||
was necessary they will stretch them out. Should it turn out that
|
||
the world is not quite as old as some think, they will push them
|
||
up. The "six days" can now be made to suit any period of time.
|
||
Nothing can be more: childish, frivolous or contradictory.
|
||
|
||
Only a few years ago the Mosaic account was considered true,
|
||
and Moses was regarded as a scientific authority. theology and
|
||
astronomy were measured by the Mosaic standard. The opposite is now
|
||
true. The church has changed; and instead of trying to prove that
|
||
modern astronomy and geology are false, because they do not agree
|
||
with Moses it is now endeavoring to prove that the account by Moses
|
||
is true, because it agrees with modern astronomy and geology. In
|
||
other words, the standard has changed; the ancient is measured by
|
||
the modern, and where the literal statement in the Bible does not
|
||
agree with modern discoveries, they do not change the discoveries,
|
||
but give new meanings to the old account. We are not now
|
||
endeavoring to reconcile science with the Bible, but to reconcile
|
||
the Bible with science.
|
||
|
||
Nothing shows the extent of modern doubt more than the
|
||
eagerness with which Christians search for some new testimony.
|
||
Luther answered Copernicus with a passage of Scripture, and he
|
||
answered him to the satisfaction of orthodox ignorance.
|
||
|
||
The truth is that the Jews adopted the stories of Creation,
|
||
the Garden of Eden, Forbidden Fruit, and the Fall of Man. They were
|
||
told by older barbarians than they, and the Jews gave them to us.
|
||
|
||
I never said that the Bible is all bad. I have always admitted
|
||
that there are many good and splendid things in the Jewish
|
||
Scriptures, and many bad things. What I insist is that we should
|
||
have the courage and the common sense to accept the good, and throw
|
||
away the bad. Evil is not good because found in good company, and
|
||
truth is still truth, even when surrounded by falsehood.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: I see that you are frequently charged with
|
||
disrespect toward your parents -- with lack of reverence for the
|
||
opinions of your father?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I think my father and mother upon several religious
|
||
questions were mistaken. In fact, I have no doubt that they were;
|
||
but I never felt under the slightest obligation to defend my
|
||
father's mistakes. No one can defend what he thinks is a mistake,
|
||
without being dishonest. That is a poor way to show respect for
|
||
parents. Every Protestant clergyman asks men and women who had
|
||
Catholic parents, to desert the church in which they were raised.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
9
|
||
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY.
|
||
|
||
They have no hesitation in saying to these people that their
|
||
fathers and mothers were mistaken, and that they were deceived by
|
||
priests and popes.
|
||
|
||
The probability is that we are all mistaken about almost
|
||
everything; but it is impossible for a man to be respectable enough
|
||
to make a mistake respectable. There is nothing remarkably holy in
|
||
a blunder, or praiseworthy in stubbing the toe of the mind against
|
||
a mistake. Is it possible that logic stands paralyzed in the
|
||
presence of parental absurdity? Suppose a man has a bad father; is
|
||
he bound by the bad father's opinion, when he is satisfied that the
|
||
opinion is wrong? How good does a father have to be, in order to
|
||
put his son under obligation to defend his blunders? Suppose the
|
||
father thinks one way, and the mother the other; what are the
|
||
children to do? Suppose the father changes his opinion: what then?
|
||
Suppose the father thinks one way and the mother the other, and
|
||
they both die when the boy is young; and the boy is bound out;
|
||
whose mistakes is he then bound to follow? Our missionaries tell
|
||
the barbarian boy that his parents are mistaken, that they know
|
||
nothing, and that the wooden god is nothing but a senseless idol.
|
||
They do not hesitate to tell this boy that his mother believed
|
||
lies, and hugged, it may be to her dying heart, a miserable
|
||
delusion. Why should a barbarian boy cast reproach upon his
|
||
parents?
|
||
|
||
I believe it was Christ who commanded his disciples to leave
|
||
father and mother; not only to leave them, but to desert them: and
|
||
not only to desert father and mother, but to desert wives and
|
||
children. It is also told of Christ that he said that he came to
|
||
set fathers against children and children against fathers. Strange
|
||
that a follower of his should object to a man differing in opinion
|
||
from his parents! The truth is, logic knows nothing of
|
||
consanguinity; facts have no relatives but other facts; and these
|
||
facts do not depend upon the character of the person who states
|
||
them, or upon the position of the discoverer. And this leads me to
|
||
another branch of the same subject.
|
||
|
||
The ministers are continually saying that certain great men --
|
||
kings, presidents, statesmen, millionaires -- have believed in the
|
||
inspiration of the Bible. Only the other day, I read a sermon in
|
||
which Carlyle was quoted as having said that "the Bible is a noble
|
||
book. "That all may be and yet the book not be inspired. But what
|
||
is the simple assertion of Thomas Carlyle worth? If the assertion
|
||
is based upon a reason, then it is worth simply the value of the
|
||
reason, and the reason is worth just as much without the assertion,
|
||
but without the reason the assertion is worthless. Thomas Carlyle
|
||
thought, and solemnly put the thought in print, that his father was
|
||
a greater man than Robert Burns. His opinion did Burns no harm, and
|
||
his father no good. Since reading his "Reminiscences," I have no
|
||
great opinion of his opinion. In some respects he was undoubtedly
|
||
a great man, in others a small one. No man should give the opinion
|
||
of another as authority and in place of fact and reason, unless he
|
||
is willing to take all the opinions of that man. An opinion is
|
||
worth the warp and woof of fact and logic in it and no more. A man
|
||
cannot add to the truthfulness of truth. In the ordinary business
|
||
of life, we give certain weight to the opinion of specialists -- to
|
||
the opinion of doctors, lawyers, scientists, and historians. Within
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
10
|
||
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY.
|
||
|
||
the domain of the natural, we take the opinions of our fellow-men;
|
||
but we do not feel that we are absolutely bound by these opinions.
|
||
We have the right to re-examine them, and if we find they are wrong
|
||
we feel at liberty to say so. A doctor is supposed to have studied
|
||
medicine; to have examined and explored the questions entering into
|
||
his profession; but we know that doctors are often mistaken. We
|
||
also know that there are many schools of medicine; that these
|
||
schools disagree with one another, and that the doctors of each
|
||
school disagree with one another. We also know that many patients
|
||
die, and so far as we know, these patients have not come back to
|
||
tell us whether the doctors killed them or not. The grave generally
|
||
prevents a demonstration. It is exactly the same with the clergy.
|
||
They have many schools of theology, all despising each other.
|
||
Probably no two members of the same church exactly agree. They
|
||
cannot demonstrate their propositions, because between the premise
|
||
and the logical conclusion or demonstration, stands the tomb. A
|
||
gravestone marks the end of theology. In some cases, the physician
|
||
can, by a post-mortem examination, find what killed the patient,
|
||
but there is no theological post-mortem. It is impossible, by
|
||
cutting a body open, to find where the soul has gone; or whether
|
||
baptism, or the lack of it, had the slightest effect upon final
|
||
destiny. The church, knowing that there are no facts beyond the
|
||
coffin, relies upon opinions, assertions and theories. For this
|
||
reason it is always asking alms of distinguished people. Some
|
||
President wishes to be re-elected, and thereupon speaks about the
|
||
Bible as "the corner-stone of American Liberty." This sentence is
|
||
a mouth large enough to swallow any church, and from that time
|
||
forward the religious people will be citing that remark of the
|
||
politician to substantiate the inspiration of the Scriptures.
|
||
|
||
The man who accepts opinions because they have been
|
||
entertained by distinguished people, is a mental snob. When we
|
||
blindly follow authority we are serfs. When our reason is convinced
|
||
we are freemen. It is rare to find a fully rounded and complete
|
||
man. A man may be a great doctor and a poor mechanic, a successful
|
||
politician and a poor metaphysician, a poor painter and a good
|
||
poet.
|
||
|
||
The rarest thing in the world is a logician -- that is to say,
|
||
a man who knows the value of a fact. It is hard to find mental
|
||
proportion. Theories may be established by names, but facts cannot
|
||
be demonstrated in that way. Very small people are sometimes right,
|
||
and very great people are sometimes wrong. Ministers are sometimes
|
||
right. In all the philosophies of the world there are undoubtedly
|
||
contradictions and absurdities. The mind of man is imperfect and
|
||
perfect results are impossible. A mirror, in order to reflect a
|
||
perfect picture, a perfect copy, must itself be perfect. The mind
|
||
is a little piece of intellectual glass the surface of which is not
|
||
true, not perfect. In consequence of this, every image is more or
|
||
less distorted. The less we know, the more we imagine that we can
|
||
know; but the more we know, the smaller seems the sum of knowledge.
|
||
The less we know, the more we expect, the more we hope for, and the
|
||
more seems within the range of probability. The less we have, the
|
||
more we want. There never was a banquet magnificent enough to
|
||
gratify the imagination of a beggar. The moment people begin to
|
||
reason about what they call the supernatural, they seem to lose
|
||
their minds. People seem to have lost their reason in religious
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
11
|
||
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY.
|
||
|
||
matters, very much as the dodo is said to have lost its wings; they
|
||
have been restricted to a little inspired island, and by disuse
|
||
their reason has been lost.
|
||
|
||
In the Jewish Scriptures you will find simply the literature
|
||
of the Jews. Yon will find there the tears and anguish of
|
||
captivity, patriotic fervor, national aspiration, proverbs for the
|
||
conduct of daily life, laws, regulations, customs, legends,
|
||
philosophy and folly. These books, of course, were not written by
|
||
one man, but by many authors. They do not agree, having been
|
||
written in different centuries,under different circumstances. I see
|
||
that Mr. Beecher has at last concluded that the Old Testament does
|
||
not teach the doctrine of immorality. He admits that from Mount
|
||
Sinai came no hope for the dead. It is very curious that we find in
|
||
the Old Testament no funeral service. No one stands by the dead and
|
||
predicts another life, In the Old Testament there, is no promise of
|
||
another world. I have sometimes thought that while the Jews were
|
||
slaves in Egypt, the doctrine of immortality became hateful. They
|
||
built so many tombs; they carried so many burdens to commemorate
|
||
the dead; they saw a nation waste its wealth to adorn its graves,
|
||
and leave the living naked to embalm the dead, that they concluded
|
||
the doctrine was a curse and never should be taught.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: If the Jews did not believe in immorality, how do
|
||
you account for the allusions made to witches and wizards and
|
||
things of that character?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: When Saul visited the Witch of Endor, and she, by some
|
||
magic spell, called up Samuel, the prophet said: "Why hast thou
|
||
disquieted me, to call me up?" He did not say: Why have you called
|
||
me from another world? The idea expressed is: I was asleep, why did
|
||
you disturb that repose which should be eternal? The ancient Jews
|
||
believed in witches and wizards and familiar spirits; but they did
|
||
not seem to think that these spirits had once been men and women.
|
||
They spoke of them as belonging to another world, a world to which
|
||
man would never find his way. At that time it was supposed that
|
||
Jehovah and his angels lived in the sky, but that region was not
|
||
spoken of as the destined home of man. Jacob saw angels going up
|
||
and down the ladder, but not the spirits of those he had known.
|
||
There are two cases where it seems that men were good enough to be
|
||
adopted into the family of heaven. Enoch was translated, and Elijah
|
||
was taken up in a chariot of fire. As it is exceedingly cold at the
|
||
height of a few miles, it is easy to see why the chariot was of
|
||
fire, and the same fact explains another circumstance -- the
|
||
dropping of the mantle. The Jews probably believed in the existence
|
||
of other beings -- that is to say, in angels and gods and evil
|
||
spirits -- and that they lived in other worlds -- but there is no
|
||
passage snowing that they believe in what we call the immortality
|
||
of the soul.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Do you believe, or disbelieve, in the immortality of
|
||
the soul?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I neither assert nor deny; I simply admit that I do
|
||
not know. Upon that subject I am absolutely without evidence. This
|
||
is the only world that I was ever in. There may be spirits, but I
|
||
have never met them, and do not know that I would recognize a
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
12
|
||
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY.
|
||
|
||
spirit. I can form no conception of what is called spiritual life.
|
||
It may be that I am deficient in imagination, and that ministers
|
||
have no difficulty in conceiving of angels and disembodied souls.
|
||
I have not the slightest idea how a soul looks, what shape it is,
|
||
how it goes from one place to another, whether it walks or flies.
|
||
I cannot conceive of the immaterial having form; neither can I
|
||
conceive of anything existing without form, and yet the fact that
|
||
I cannot conceive of a thing does not prove that the thing does not
|
||
exist, but it does prove that I know nothing about it, and that
|
||
being so, I ought to admit my ignorance. I am satisfied of a good
|
||
many things that I do not know. I am satisfied that there is no
|
||
place of eternal torment. I am satisfied that that doctrine has
|
||
done more harm than all the religious ideas, other than that, have
|
||
done good. I do not want to take any hope from any human heart. I
|
||
have no objection to people believing in any good thing -- no
|
||
objection to their expecting a crown of infinite joy for every
|
||
human being. Many people imagine that immortality must be an
|
||
infinite good; but, after all, there is something terrible in the
|
||
idea of endless life. Think of a river that never reaches the sea;
|
||
of a bird that never folds its wings; of a journey that never ends.
|
||
Most people find great pleasure in thinking about and in believing
|
||
in another world. There the prisoner expects to be free; the slave
|
||
to find liberty; the poor man expects wealth; the rich man
|
||
happiness; the peasant dreams of power, and the king of
|
||
contentment. They expect to find there what they lack here. I do
|
||
not wish to destroy these dreams. I am endeavoring to put out the
|
||
everlasting fires. A good, cool grave is infinitely better than the
|
||
fiery furnace of Jehovah's wrath. Eternal sleep is better than
|
||
eternal pain. For my part I would rather be annihilated than to be
|
||
an angel, with all the privileges of heaven, and yet have within my
|
||
breast a heart that could be happy while those who had loved me in
|
||
this world were in perdition.
|
||
|
||
I most sincerely hope that the future life will fulfill all
|
||
splendid dreams; but in the religion of the present day there is no
|
||
joy. Nothing is so devoid of comfort, when bending above our dead,
|
||
as the assertions of theology unsupported by a single fact. The
|
||
promises are so far away, and the dead are so near. From words
|
||
spoken eighteen centuries ago, the echoes are so weak, and the
|
||
sounds of the clods on the coffin are so loud. Above the grave what
|
||
can the honest minister say? If the dead were not a Christian, what
|
||
then? What comfort can the orthodox clergyman give to the widow of
|
||
the honest unbeliever? If Christianity is true, the other world
|
||
will be worse than this. There the many will be miserable, only the
|
||
few happy; there the miserable cannot better their condition; the
|
||
future has no star of hope, and in the east of eternity there can
|
||
never be a dawn.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: If you take away the idea of eternal punishment, how
|
||
do you propose to restrain men; in what way will you influence
|
||
conduct for good?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Well, the trouble with religion is that it postpones
|
||
punishment and reward to another world. Wrong is wrong, because it
|
||
breeds unhappiness. right is right, be-cause it tends to the
|
||
happiness of man. These facts are the basis of what I call the
|
||
religion of this world. When a man does wrong, the consequences
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
13
|
||
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY.
|
||
|
||
follow, and between the cause and effect, a Redeemer cannot step.
|
||
Forgiveness cannot form a breastwork between act and consequence.
|
||
|
||
There should be a religion of the body -- a religion that will
|
||
prevent deformity, that will refuse to multiply insanity, that will
|
||
not propagate disease -- a religion that is judged by its
|
||
consequences in this world. Orthodox Christianity has taught, and
|
||
still teaches, that in this world the difference between the good
|
||
and bad is that the bad enjoy themselves, while the good carry the
|
||
cross of virtue with bleeding brows bound and pierced with the
|
||
thorns of honesty and kindness. All this, in my judgment, is
|
||
immoral. The man who does wrong carries a cross. There is no world,
|
||
no star, in which the result of wrong is real happiness. There is
|
||
no world, no star, in which the result of right doing is
|
||
unhappiness. Virtue and vice must be the same everywhere.
|
||
|
||
Vice must be vice everywhere, because its consequences are
|
||
evil; and virtue must be virtue everywhere, because its
|
||
consequences are good. There can be no such thing as forgiveness.
|
||
These facts are the only restraining influences possible -- the
|
||
innocent man cannot suffer for the guilty and satisfy the law.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: How do you answer the argument, or the fact, that
|
||
the church is constantly increasing, and that there are now four
|
||
hundred millions of Christians?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: That is what I call the argument of numbers. If that
|
||
argument is good now, it was always good. If Christians were at any
|
||
time in the minority, then, according to this argument,
|
||
Christianity was wrong. Every religion that has succeeded has
|
||
appealed to the argument of numbers. There was a time when Buddhism
|
||
was in a majority. Buddha not only had, but has more followers than
|
||
Christ. Success is not a demonstration. Mohammed was a success, and
|
||
a success from the commencement. Upon a thousand fields he was
|
||
victor. Of the scattered tribes of the desert, he made a nation,
|
||
and this nation took the fairest part of Europe from the followers
|
||
of the cross. In the history of the world, the success of Mohammed
|
||
is unparalleled, but this success does not establish that he was
|
||
the prophet of God.
|
||
|
||
Now, it is claimed that there are some four hundred millions
|
||
of Christians. To make that total I am counted as a Christian; I am
|
||
one of the fifty or sixty millions of Christians in the United
|
||
States -- excluding Indians, not taxed. By the census report, we
|
||
are all going to heaven -- we are all orthodox. At the last great
|
||
day we can refer with confidence to the ponderous volumes
|
||
containing the statistics of the United States. As a matter of
|
||
fact, how many Christians are there in the United States -- how
|
||
many believers in the inspiration of the Scriptures -- how many
|
||
real followers of Christ? I will not pretend to give the number,
|
||
but I will venture to say that there are not fifty millions. How
|
||
many in England? Where are the four hundred millions found? To make
|
||
this immense number, they have counted all the Heretics, all the
|
||
Catholics, all the Jews, Spiritualists, Universalists and
|
||
Unitarians, all the babes, all the idiotic and insane, all the
|
||
Infidels, all the scientists, all the unbelievers. As a matter of
|
||
fact, they have no right to count any except the orthodox members
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
14
|
||
|
||
MORALITY AND IMMORALITY.
|
||
|
||
of the orthodox churches. There may be more "members" now than
|
||
formerly, and this increase of members is due to a decrease of
|
||
religion. Thousands of members are only nominal Christians, wearing
|
||
the old uniform simply because they do not wish to be charged with
|
||
desertion. The church, too, is a kind of social institution, a club
|
||
with a creed instead of by. laws, and the creed is never defended
|
||
unless attacked by an outsider. No objection is made to the
|
||
minister because he is liberal, if he says nothing about it in his
|
||
pulpit. A man like Mr. Beecher draws a congregation, not because he
|
||
is a Christian, but because he is a genius; not because he is
|
||
orthodox, but because he has something to say. He is an
|
||
intellectual athlete. He is full of pathos and poetry. He has more
|
||
description than divinity: more charity than creed, and altogether
|
||
more common sense than theology. For these reasons thousands of
|
||
people love to hear him. On the other hand, there are many people
|
||
who have a morbid desire for the abnormal -- for intellectual
|
||
deformities -- for thoughts that have two heads. This accounts for
|
||
the success of some of Mr. Beecher's rivals.
|
||
|
||
Christians claim that success is a test of truth. Has any
|
||
church succeeded as well as the Catholic? Was the tragedy of the
|
||
Garden of Eden a success? Who succeeded there? The last best
|
||
thought is not a success, if you mean that only that is a success
|
||
which has succeeded, and if you mean by succeeding, that it has won
|
||
the assent of the majority. Besides there is no time fixed for the
|
||
test. Is that true which succeeds to-day, or next year, or in the
|
||
next century? Once the Copernican system was not a success. There
|
||
is no time fixed. The result is we have to wait. A thing to exist
|
||
at all has to be, to a certain extent, a success A thing cannot
|
||
even die without having been a success. It certainly succeeded
|
||
enough to have life. Presbyterians should remember, while arguing
|
||
the majority argument, and the success argument, that there are far
|
||
more Catholics than Protestants, and that the Catholics can give a
|
||
longer list of distinguished names.
|
||
|
||
My answer to all this, however, is that the history of the
|
||
world shows that ignorance has always been in the majority. There
|
||
is one right road; numberless paths that are wrong. Truth is one;
|
||
error is many. When a great truth has been discovered, one man has
|
||
pitted himself against the world. A few think: the many believe.
|
||
The few lead; the many follow. The light of the new day, as it
|
||
looks over the window sill of the east, falls at first on only one
|
||
forehead.
|
||
|
||
There is another thing. A great many people pass for
|
||
Christians who are not. Only a little while ago a couple of ladies
|
||
were returning from church in a carriage. They had listened to a
|
||
good orthodox sermon, One said to the other: "I am going to tell
|
||
you something -- I am going to shock you -- I do not believe the
|
||
Bible," And the other replied: "Neither do I." --
|
||
|
||
The News, Detroit, Michigan, January 6, 1884.
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
15
|
||
|
||
POLITICS, MORMONISM AND MR. BEECHER.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What will be the main issues in the next
|
||
presidential campaign?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I think that the principal issues will be civil rights
|
||
and protection for American industries. The Democratic party is not
|
||
a unit on the tariff question -- neither is the Republican; but I
|
||
think that a majority of the Democrats are in favor of free trade
|
||
and a majority of Republicans in favor of a protective tariff. The
|
||
Democratic Congressmen will talk just enough about free trade to
|
||
frighten the manufacturing interests of the country, and probably
|
||
not quite enough to satisfy the free traders. The result will be
|
||
that the Democrats will talk about reforming the tariff, but will
|
||
do nothing but talk. I think the tariff ought to be reformed in
|
||
many particulars; but as long as we need to raise a great revenue
|
||
my idea is that it ought to be so arranged as to protect to the
|
||
utmost, without producing monopoly in American manufacturers. I am
|
||
in favor of protection because it multiplies industries; and I am
|
||
in favor of a great number of industries because they develop the
|
||
brain, because they give employment to all and allow us to utilize
|
||
all the muscle and all the sense we have. If we were all farmers we
|
||
would grow stupid. If we all worked at one kind of mechanic art we
|
||
would grow dull.But with a variety of industries, with a constant
|
||
premium upon ingenuity, with the promise of wealth as the reward of
|
||
success in any direction, the people become intelligent, and while
|
||
we are protecting our industries we develop our brains. So I am in
|
||
favor of the protection of civil rights by the Federal Government,
|
||
and that, in my judgment, will be one of the great issues in the
|
||
next campaign.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: I see that you say that one of the great issues of
|
||
the coming campaign will be civil rights; what do you mean by that?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Well, I mean this. The Supreme Court has recently
|
||
decided that a colored man whose rights are trampled upon, in a
|
||
State, cannot appeal to the Federal Government for protection. The
|
||
decision amounts to this: That Congress has no right until a State
|
||
has acted, and has acted contrary to the Constitution. Now, if a
|
||
State refuses to do anything upon the subject, what is the citizen
|
||
to do? My opinion is that the Government is bound to protect its
|
||
citizens, and as a consideration for this protection, the citizen
|
||
is bound to stand by the Government. When the nation calls for
|
||
troops, the citizen of each State is bound to respond, no matter
|
||
what his State may think. This doctrine must be maintained, or the
|
||
United States ceases to be a nation. If a man looks to his State
|
||
for protection, then he must go with his State. My doctrine is,
|
||
that there should be patriotism upon the one hand, and protection
|
||
upon the other. If a State endeavors to secede from the Union, a
|
||
citizen of that State should be in a position to defy the State and
|
||
appeal to the Nation for protection. The doctrine now is, that the
|
||
General Government turns the citizen over to the State for
|
||
protection, and if the State does not protect him, that is his
|
||
misfortune; and the consequence of this doctrine will be to build
|
||
up the old heresy of State Sovereignty -- a doctrine that was never
|
||
appealed to except in the interest of thieving or robbery. That
|
||
doctrine was first appealed to when the Congress was formed,
|
||
because they were afraid the National Government would interfere
|
||
with the slave trade. It was next appealed to, to uphold the
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
16
|
||
|
||
POLITICS, MORMONISM AND MR. BEECHER.
|
||
|
||
Fugitive Slave Law. It was next appealed to, to give the
|
||
territories of the United States to slavery. Then it was appealed
|
||
to, to support rebellion, and now out of this doctrine they attempt
|
||
to build a breastwork, behind which they can trample upon the
|
||
rights of the colored men.
|
||
|
||
I believe in the sovereignty of the Nation. A nation that
|
||
cannot protect its citizens ought to stop playing nation. In the
|
||
old times the Supreme Court found no difficulty in supporting
|
||
slavery by "inference", by "intendment," but now that liberty has
|
||
became national, the Court is driven to less than a literal
|
||
interpretation. If the Constitution does not support liberty, it is
|
||
of no use. To maintain liberty is the only legitimate object of
|
||
human government. I hope the time will come when the judges of the
|
||
Supreme Court will be elected, say for a period of ten years. I do
|
||
not believe in the legal monk system. I believe in judges still
|
||
maintaining an interest in human affairs.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What do you think of the Mormon question?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I do not believe in the bayonet plan. Mormonism must
|
||
he done away with by the thousand influences of civilization, by
|
||
education, by the elevation of the people. Of course, a gentleman
|
||
would rather have one noble woman than a hundred females. I hate
|
||
the system of polygamy. Nothing is more infamous. I admit that the
|
||
Old Testament upholds it. I admit that the patriarchs were mostly
|
||
polygamists. I admit that Solomon was mistaken on that subject. But
|
||
notwithstanding the fact that polygamy is upheld by the Jewish
|
||
Scriptures, I believe it to be a great wrong. At the same time if
|
||
you undertake to get that idea out of the Mormons by force you will
|
||
not succeed.I think a good way to do away with that institution
|
||
would be for all the churches to unite, bear the expense, and send
|
||
missionaries to Utah; let these ministers call the people together
|
||
and read to them the lives of David, Solomon, Abraham and other
|
||
patriarchs. Let all the missionaries be called home from foreign
|
||
fields and teach these people that they should not imitate the only
|
||
men with whom God ever condescended to hold intercourse. Let these
|
||
frightful examples be held up to these people, and if it is done
|
||
earnestly, it seems to me that the result would be good.
|
||
|
||
Polygamy exists. All laws upon the subject should take that
|
||
fact into consideration, and punishment should be provided for
|
||
offenses thereafter committed. The children of Mormons should be
|
||
legitimatized. In other words, in attempting to settle this
|
||
question, we should accomplish all the good possible, with the
|
||
least possible harm.
|
||
|
||
I agree mostly with Mr. Beecher, and I utterly disagree with
|
||
the Rev. Mr. Newman. Mr. Newman wants to kill and slay. He does not
|
||
rely upon Christianity, but upon brute force. He has lost his
|
||
confidence in example, and appeals to the bayonet. Mr. Newman had
|
||
a discussion with one of the Mormon elders, and was put to
|
||
ignominious flight; no wonder that he appeals to force. Having
|
||
failed in argument, he calls for artillery; having been worsted in
|
||
the appeal to Scripture, he asks for the sword. He says, failing to
|
||
convert, let us kill; and he takes this position in the name of the
|
||
religion of kindness and forgiveness.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
17
|
||
|
||
POLITICS, MORMONISM AND MR. BEECHER.
|
||
|
||
Strange that a minister now should throw away the Bible and
|
||
yell for a bayonet; that he should desert the Scriptures and call
|
||
for soldiers; that he should lose confidence in the power of the
|
||
Spirit and trust in the sword. I recommend that Mormonism be done
|
||
away with by distributing the Old Testament through Utah.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What do you think of the investigation of the
|
||
Department of Justice now going on?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: The result, in my Judgment, will depend on its
|
||
thoroughness. If Mr. Springer succeeds in proving exactly what the
|
||
Department of Justice did, the methods pursued; if he finds out
|
||
what their spies and detectives and agents were instructed to do,
|
||
then I think the result will be as disastrous to the Department as
|
||
beneficial to the country. The people seem to have forgotten that
|
||
a little while after the first Star Route trial three of the agents
|
||
of the Department of Justice were indicted for endeavoring to bribe
|
||
the jury. They forget that Mr. Bowen, an agent of the Department of
|
||
Justice, is a fugitive, because he endeavored to bribe the foreman
|
||
of the jury, They seem to forget that the Department of Justice, in
|
||
order to cover its own tracks, had the foreman of the jury indicted
|
||
because one of its agents endeavored to bribe him. Probably this
|
||
investigation will nudge the ribs of the public enough to make
|
||
people remember these things. Personally, I have no feeling on the
|
||
subject. It was enough for me that we succeeded in thwarting its
|
||
methods, in spite of its detectives, spies, and informers.
|
||
|
||
The Department is already beginning to dissolve. Brewster
|
||
Cameron has left it, and as a reward has been exiled to Arizona.
|
||
Mr. Brewster will probably be the next to pack his official valise.
|
||
A few men endeavored to win popularity by pursuing a few others,
|
||
and thus far they have been conspicuous failures. MacVeagh and
|
||
James are to-day enjoying the oblivion earned by misdirected
|
||
energy, and Mr. Brewster will soon keep them company. The history
|
||
of the world does not furnish an instance of more flagrant abuse of
|
||
power. There never was a trial as shamelessly conducted by a
|
||
government. But, as I said before, I have no feeling now except
|
||
that of pity.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: I see that Mr. Beecher is coming round to your views
|
||
on theology?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I would not have the egotism to say that he was coming
|
||
round to my views, but evidently Mr. Beecher has been growing. His
|
||
head has been instructed by his heart; and if a man will allow even
|
||
the poor plant of pity to grow in his heart he will hold in
|
||
infinite execration all orthodox religion. The moment he will allow
|
||
himself to think that eternal consequences depend upon human life;
|
||
that the few short years we live, in this world determine for an
|
||
eternity the question of infinite joy or infinite pain; the moment
|
||
he thinks of that he will see that it is an infinite absurdity. For
|
||
instance, a man is born in Arkansas and lives there to be seventeen
|
||
or eighteen years of age; is it possible that he can be truthfully
|
||
told at the day of judgment that he had a fair chance? Just imagine
|
||
a man being held eternally responsible for his conduct in Delaware!
|
||
Mr. Beecher is a man of great genius -- full of poetry and pathos.
|
||
Every now and then he is driven back by the orthodox members of his
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
18
|
||
|
||
POLITICS, MORMONISM AND MR. BEECHER.
|
||
|
||
congregation toward the old religion, and for the benefit of those
|
||
weak disciples he will preach what is called "a doctrinal sermon;"
|
||
but before he gets through with it, seeing it is infinitely cruel,
|
||
he utters a cry of horror, and protests with all the strength of
|
||
his nature against the cruelty of the creed. I imagine that he has
|
||
always thought that he was under great obligation to Plymouth
|
||
Church, but the truth is that that church depends upon him; that
|
||
church gets its character from Mr. Beecher. He has done a vast deal
|
||
to ameliorate the condition of the average orthodox mind. He
|
||
excites the envy of the mediocre minister, and he excites the
|
||
hatred of the really orthodox, but he receives the approbation of
|
||
good and generous men everywhere. For my part, I have no quarrel
|
||
with any religion that does not threaten eternal punishment to very
|
||
good people, and that does not promise eternal reward to very bad
|
||
people. If orthodox Christianity be true, some of the best people
|
||
I know are going to hell, and some of the meanest I have ever known
|
||
are either in heaven or on the road. Of course, I admit that there
|
||
are thousands and millions of good Christians -- honest and noble
|
||
people, but in my judgment, Mr. Beecher is the greatest man in the
|
||
world who now occupies a pulpit.
|
||
|
||
Speaking of a man's living in Delaware, a young man, some time
|
||
ago, came up to me on the street, in an Eastern city and asked for
|
||
money. " What is your business," I asked. "I am a waiter by
|
||
profession." "Where do you come from?" "Delaware." "Well, what was
|
||
the matter -- did you drink, or cheat your employer, or were you
|
||
idle?" "No." "What was the trouble?" "Well, the truth is, the State
|
||
is so small they don't need any waiters; they all reach for what
|
||
they want."
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Do you not think there are some dangerous tendencies
|
||
in Liberalism?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I will first state this proposition: The credit system
|
||
in morals, as in business, breeds extravagance. The cash system in
|
||
morals, as well as in business, breeds economy. We will suppose a
|
||
community in which everybody is bound to sell on credit, and in
|
||
which every creditor can take the benefit of the bankrupt law every
|
||
Saturday night, and the constable pays the costs. In my judgment
|
||
that community would be extravagant as long as the merchants
|
||
lasted. We will take another community in which everybody has to
|
||
pay cash, and in my judgment that community will be a very
|
||
economical one. Now, then, let us apply this to morals.
|
||
|
||
Christianity allows everybody to sin on a credit, and allows
|
||
a man who has lived, we will say sixty-nine years, what Christians
|
||
are pleased to call a worldly life, an immoral life. They allow him
|
||
on his deathbed, between the last dose of medicine and the last
|
||
breath, to be converted, and that man who has done nothing except
|
||
evil, becomes an angel. Here is another man who has lived the same
|
||
length of time, doing all the good he possibly could do, but not
|
||
meeting with what they an pleased to call a change of heart;" he
|
||
goes to a world of pain. Now, my doctrine is that everybody must
|
||
reap exactly what he sows, other things being equal. If he acts
|
||
badly he will not be very happy; if he acts well he will not be
|
||
very sad. I believe in the doctrine of consequences, and that every
|
||
man must stand the consequences of his own acts. It seems to me
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
19
|
||
|
||
POLITICS, MORMONISM AND MR. BEECHER.
|
||
|
||
that that fact will have a greater restraining influence than the
|
||
idea that you can, just before you leave this world, shift your
|
||
burden on to somebody else. I am a believer in the restraining
|
||
influences of liberty, because responsibility goes hand in hand
|
||
with freedom. I do not believe that the gallows is the last step
|
||
between earth and heaven. I do not believe in the conversion and
|
||
salvation of murderers while their innocent victims are in hell.
|
||
The church has taught so long that he who acts virtuously carries
|
||
a cross, and that only sinners enjoy themselves, that it may be
|
||
that for a little while after men leave the church they may go to
|
||
extremes until they demonstrate for themselves that the path of
|
||
vice is the path of thorns, and that only along the wayside of
|
||
virtue grow the flowers of joy. The church has depicted virtue as
|
||
a sour, wrinkled termagant; an old woman with nothing but skin and
|
||
bones, and a temper beyond description; and at the same time vice
|
||
has been painted in all the voluptuous outlines of a Greek statue.
|
||
The truth. is exactly the other way. A thing is right because it
|
||
pays; a thing is wrong because it does not; and when I use the word
|
||
"pays," I mean in the highest and noblest sense. --
|
||
|
||
The Daily News, Denver, Colorado, January 17, 1884.
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
FREE TRADE AND CHRISTIANITY.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Who will be the Republican nominee for President?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: The correct answer to this question would make so many
|
||
men unhappy that I have concluded not to give it.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Has not the Democracy injured itself irretrievably
|
||
by permitting the free trade element to rule it?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I do not think that the Democratic party weakened
|
||
itself by electing Carlisle, Speaker. I think him an excellent man,
|
||
an exceedingly candid man, and one who will do what he believes
|
||
ought to be done, I have a very high opinion of Mr. Carlisle. I do
|
||
not suppose any party in this country is really for free trade. I
|
||
find that all writers upon the subject, no matter which side they
|
||
are on, are on that; side with certain exceptions. Adam Smith was
|
||
in favor of free trade, with a few exceptions, and those exceptions
|
||
were in matters where he thought it was for England's interests not
|
||
to have free trade. The same may be said of all writers. So far as
|
||
I can see, the free traders have all the arguments and the
|
||
protectionists all the facts. The free trade theories are splendid,
|
||
but they will not work; the results are disastrous. We find by
|
||
actual experiment that it is better to protect home industries. It
|
||
was once said that protection created nothing but monopoly; the
|
||
argument was that way; but the facts are not. Take, for instance,
|
||
steel rails; when we bought them of England we paid one hundred and
|
||
twenty-five dollars a ton. I believe there was a tariff of twenty-
|
||
eight or twenty-nine dollars a ton, and yet in spite of all the
|
||
arguments going to show that protection would simply increase
|
||
prices in America, would simply enrich the capitalist and
|
||
impoverish the consumer, steel rails are now produced, I believe,
|
||
right here in Colorado for forty-two dollars a ton.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
20
|
||
|
||
FREE TRADE AND CHRISTIANITY.
|
||
|
||
After all, it is a question of labor; a question of prices
|
||
that shall be paid the laboring man; a question of what the
|
||
laboring man shall eat; whether he shall eat meat or soup made from
|
||
the bones. Very few people take into consideration the value of raw
|
||
material and the value of labor. Take, for instance, your ton of
|
||
steel rails worth forty-two dollars. The iron in the earth is not
|
||
worth twenty-five cents. The coal in the earth and the lime in the
|
||
ledge together are not worth twenty-five cents. Now, then, of the
|
||
forty-two dollars. forty-one and a half is labor. There is not two
|
||
dollars worth of raw material in a locomotive worth fifteen
|
||
thousand dollars. By raw material I mean the material in the earth.
|
||
There is not in the works of a watch which will sell for fifteen
|
||
dollars, raw material of the value of one-half cent. All the rest
|
||
is labor. A ship, a man-of-war that costs one million dollars --
|
||
the raw material in the earth is not worth, in my judgment, one
|
||
thousand dollars. All the rest is labor. If there is any way to
|
||
protect American labor, I am in favor of it. If the present tariff
|
||
does not do it, then I am in favor of changing to one that will. If
|
||
the Democratic party takes a stand for free trade or anything like
|
||
it, they will need protection; they will need protection at the
|
||
polls; that is to say, they will meet only with defeat and
|
||
disaster.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What should be done with the surplus revenue?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: My answer to that is, reduce internal revenue taxation
|
||
until the present surplus is exhausted, and then endeavor so to
|
||
arrange your tariff that you will not produce more than you need.
|
||
I think the easiest question to grapple with on this earth is a
|
||
surplus of money.
|
||
|
||
I do not believe in distributing it among the States. I do not
|
||
think there could be a better certificate of the prosperity of our
|
||
country than the fact that we are troubled with a surplus revenue;
|
||
that we have the machinery for collecting taxes in such perfect
|
||
order, so ingeniously contrived, that it cannot be stopped; that it
|
||
goes right on collecting money, whether we want it or not; and the
|
||
wonderful thing about it is that nobody complains. If nothing else
|
||
can be done with the surplus revenue, probably we had better pay
|
||
some of our debts. I would suggest, as a last resort, to pay a few
|
||
honest claims.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Are you getting nearer to or farther away from God,
|
||
Christianity and the Bible?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: In the first place, as Mr. Locke so often remarked, we
|
||
will define our terms. If by the word "God"is meant a person, a
|
||
being, who existed before the creation of the universe, and who
|
||
controls all that is, except himself, I do not believe in such a
|
||
being; but if by the word God is meant all that is, that is to say,
|
||
the universe, including every atom and every star, then I am a
|
||
believer. I suppose the word that would nearest describe me is
|
||
"Pantheist." I cannot believe that a being existed from eternity,
|
||
and who finally created this universe after having wasted an
|
||
eternity in idleness; but upon this subject I know just as little
|
||
as anybody ever did or ever will, and, in my judgment, just as
|
||
much. My intellectual horizon is somewhat limited, and, to tell you
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
21
|
||
|
||
FREE TRADE AND CHRISTIANITY.
|
||
|
||
the truth, this is the only world that I was ever in. I am what
|
||
might be called a representative of a rural district, and, as a
|
||
matter of fact, I know very little about my district. I believe it
|
||
was Confucius who said: "How should I know anything about another
|
||
world when I know so little of this?"
|
||
|
||
The greatest intellects of the world have endeavored to find
|
||
words to express their conception of God, of the first cause, or of
|
||
the science of being, but they have never succeeded. I find in the
|
||
old Confession of Faith, in the old Catechism, for instance, this
|
||
description: that God is a being without body, parts or passions.
|
||
I think it would trouble anybody to find a better definition of
|
||
nothing. That describes a vacuum, that is to say, that describes
|
||
the absence of everything. I find that theology is a subject that
|
||
only the most ignorant are certain about, and that the more a man
|
||
thinks, the less he knows.
|
||
|
||
From the Bible God, I do not know that I am going farther and
|
||
farther away. I have been about as far as a man could get for many
|
||
years. I do not believe in the God of the Old Testament.
|
||
|
||
Now, as to the next branch of your question, Christianity. The
|
||
question arises, What is Christianity? I have no objection to the
|
||
morality taught as a part of Christianity, no objection to its
|
||
charity, its forgiveness, its kindness; no objection to its hope
|
||
for this world and another, not the slightest, but all these things
|
||
do not make Christianity. Mohammed taught certain doctrines that
|
||
are good, but the good in the teachings of Mohammed is not
|
||
Mohammedism. When I speak of Christianity I speak of that which is
|
||
distinctly Christian. For instance, the idea that the Infinite God
|
||
was born in Palestine, learned the carpenter's trade, disputed with
|
||
the parsons of his time, excited the wrath of the theological
|
||
bigots, and was finally crucified; that afterward he was raised
|
||
from the dead, and that if anybody believes this he will be saved
|
||
and if he fails to believe it, he will be lost; in other words,
|
||
that which is distinctly Christian in the Christian system, is its
|
||
supernaturalism, its miracles, its absurdity. Truth does not need
|
||
to go into partnership with the supernatural. What Christ said is
|
||
worth the reason it contains. If a man raises the dead and then
|
||
says twice two are five, that changes no rule in mathematics. If a
|
||
multiplication table was divinely inspired, that does no good. The
|
||
question is, is it correct? So I think that in the world of morals,
|
||
we must prove that a thing is right or wrong by experience, by
|
||
analogy, not by miracles. There is no fact in physical science that
|
||
can be supernaturally demonstrated. Neither is there any fact in
|
||
the moral world that could be substantiated by miracles. Now, then,
|
||
keeping in mind that by Christianity I mean the supernatural in
|
||
that system, of course I am just as far away from it as I can ever
|
||
get. For the man Christ I have respect. He was an infidel in his
|
||
day, and the ministers of his day cried out blasphemy, as they have
|
||
been crying ever since, against every person who has suggested a
|
||
new thought or shown the worthlessness of an old one.
|
||
|
||
Now, as to the third part of the question, the Bible. People
|
||
say that the Bible is inspired. Well what does inspiration mean?
|
||
Did God write it? No; but the men who did write it were guided by
|
||
the holy Spirit. Very well. Did they write exactly what the Holy
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
22
|
||
|
||
FREE TRADE AND CHRISTIANITY.
|
||
|
||
Spirit wanted them to write? Well, religious people say, yes. At
|
||
the same time they admit that the gentlemen who were collecting, or
|
||
taking down in shorthand what was said, had to use their own words.
|
||
Now, we all know that the same words do not have the same meaning
|
||
to all people. It is impossible to convey the same thoughts to all
|
||
minds by the same language, and it is for that reason that the
|
||
Bible has produced so many sects, not only disagreeing with each
|
||
other, but disagreeing among themselves.
|
||
|
||
We find, then, that it is utterly impossible for God
|
||
(admitting that there is one) to convey the same thoughts by human
|
||
language to all people. No two persons understand the same language
|
||
alike, A man's understanding depends upon his experience, upon his
|
||
capacity, upon the particular bent of his mind -- in fact, upon the
|
||
countless influences that have made him what he is. Everything in
|
||
nature tells everyone who sees it a story, but that story depends
|
||
upon the capacity of the one to whom it is told. The sea says one
|
||
thing to the ordinary man, and another thing to Shakespeare, The
|
||
stars have not the same language for all people. The consequence is
|
||
that no book can tell the same story to any two persons. The Jewish
|
||
Scriptures are like other books, written by different men in
|
||
different ages of the world, hundreds of years apart, filled with
|
||
contradictions. They embody, I presume, fairly enough, the wisdom
|
||
and ignorance, the reason and prejudice, of the times in which they
|
||
were written. They are worth the good that is in them, and the
|
||
question is whether we will take the good and throw the bad away.
|
||
There are good laws and bad laws. There are wise and foolish
|
||
sayings. There are gentle and cruel passages, and you can find a
|
||
text to suit almost any frame of mind; whether you wish to do an
|
||
act of charity or murder a neighbor's babe, you will find a passage
|
||
that will exactly fit the case. So that I can say that I am still
|
||
for the reasonable, for the natural; and I am still opposed to the
|
||
absurd and supernatural.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Is there any better or more ennobling belief than
|
||
Christianity; if so, what is it?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: There are many good things, of course, in every
|
||
religion, or they would not have existed; plenty of good precepts
|
||
in Christianity, but the thing that I object to more than all
|
||
others is the doctrine of eternal punishment, the idea of hell for
|
||
many and heaven for the few. Take from Christianity the doctrine of
|
||
eternal punishment and I have no particular objection to what is
|
||
generally preached, If you will take that away, and all the
|
||
supernatural connected with it, I have no objection; but that
|
||
doctrine of eternal punishment tends to harden the human heart. It
|
||
has produced more misery than all the other doctrines in the world.
|
||
It has shed more blood; it has made more martyrs. It has lighted
|
||
the fires of persecution and kept the sword of cruelty wet with
|
||
heroic blood for at least a thousand years. There is no crime that
|
||
that doctrine has not produced. I think it would be impossible for
|
||
the imagination to conceive of a worse religion than orthodox
|
||
Christianity -- utterly impossible; a doctrine that divides this
|
||
world, a doctrine that divides families, a doctrine that teaches
|
||
the son that he can be happy, with his mother in perdition; the
|
||
husband that he can he happy in heaven while his wife suffers the
|
||
agonies of hell. This doctrine is infinite injustice, and tends to
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
23
|
||
|
||
FREE TRADE AND CHRISTIANITY.
|
||
|
||
subvert all ideas of justice in the human heart. I think it would
|
||
be impossible to conceive of a doctrine better calculated to make
|
||
wild beasts of men than that; In fact, that doctrine was born of
|
||
all the wild beast there is in man. It was born of infinite
|
||
revenge.
|
||
|
||
Think of preaching that you must believe that a certain being
|
||
was the son of God, no matter whether your reason is convinced or
|
||
not. Suppose one should meet, we will say on London Bridge, a man
|
||
clad in rags, and he should stop us and say, "My friend. I wish to
|
||
talk with you a moment. I am the rightful King of Great Britain,"
|
||
and you should say to him, "Well, my dinner is waiting; I have no
|
||
time to bother about who the King of England is," and then he
|
||
should meet another and insist on his stopping while he pulled out
|
||
some papers to show that he was the rightful King of England, and
|
||
the other man should say, "I have got business here, my friend; I
|
||
am selling goods, and I have no time to bother my head about who
|
||
the King of England is. No doubt you are the King of England, but
|
||
you don't look like him. "And then suppose he stops another man,
|
||
and makes the same statement to him, and the other man should laugh
|
||
at him and say, "I don't want to hear anything on this subject; you
|
||
are crazy; you ought to go to some insane asylum, or put something
|
||
on your head to keep you cool. "And suppose, after all, it should
|
||
turn out that the man was King of England, and should afterward
|
||
make his claim good and be crowned in Westminster. What would we
|
||
think of that King if he should hunt up the gentlemen that he met
|
||
on London Bridge, and have their heads cut off because they had no
|
||
faith that he was the rightful heir? And what would we think of a
|
||
God now who would damn a man eighteen hundred years after the
|
||
event, because he did not believe that he was God at the time he
|
||
was living in Jerusalem; not only damn the fellows that he met, and
|
||
who did not believe in him, but gentlemen who lived eighteen
|
||
hundred years afterward, and who certainly could have known nothing
|
||
of the facts except from hearsay.
|
||
|
||
The best religion, after all, is common sense; a religion for
|
||
this world, one world at a time, a religion for to-day. We want a
|
||
religion that will deal in questions in which we are interested.
|
||
How are we to do away with crime? How are we to do away with
|
||
pauperism? How are we to do away with the want and misery in every
|
||
civilized country?England is a Christian nation, and yet about one
|
||
in six in the city of London dies in almshouses, asylums, prisons,
|
||
hospitals and jails. We,I suppose, are a civilized nation, and yet
|
||
all the penitentiaries are crammed; there is want on every hand,
|
||
and my opinion is that we had better turn our attention to this
|
||
world.
|
||
|
||
Christianity is charitable; Christianity spends a great deal
|
||
of money; but I am somewhat doubtful as to the good that is
|
||
accomplished. There ought to be some way to prevent crime; not
|
||
simply to punish it. There ought to be some way to prevent
|
||
pauperism, not simply to relieve temporarily a pauper, and if the
|
||
ministers and good people belonging to the churches would spend
|
||
their time investigating the affairs of this world and let the New
|
||
Jerusalem take care of itself, I think it would be far better.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
24
|
||
|
||
FREE TRADE AND CHRISTIANITY.
|
||
|
||
The church is guilty of one great contradiction. The ministers
|
||
are always talking about worldly people, and yet, were it not for
|
||
worldly people, who would pay the salary? How could the church live
|
||
a minute unless somebody attended to the affairs of this world? The
|
||
best religion, in my judgment, is common sense going along hand in
|
||
hand with kindness, and not troubling ourselves about another world
|
||
until we get there. I am willing for one, to wait and see what kind
|
||
of a country it will be.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Does the question of the inspiration of the
|
||
Scriptures affect the beauty and benefits of Christianity here and
|
||
hereafter?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: A belief in the inspiration of the Scriptures has
|
||
done, in my judgment, great harm. The Bible has been the breastwork
|
||
for nearly everything wrong. The defenders of slavery relied on the
|
||
Bible. The Bible was the real auction block on which every negro
|
||
stood when he was sold. I never knew a minister to preach in favor
|
||
of slavery that did not take his text from the Bible. The Bible
|
||
teaches persecution for opinion's sake. The Bible -- that is the
|
||
Old Testament -- upholds polygamy, and just to the extent that men,
|
||
through the Bible, have believed that slavery, religious
|
||
persecution, wars of extermination and polygamy were taught by God,
|
||
just to that extent the Bible has done great harm. The idea of
|
||
inspiration enslaves the human mind and debauches the human heart.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Is not Christianity and the belief in God a check
|
||
upon mankind in general and thus a good thing in itself?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: This, again, brings up the question of what you mean
|
||
by Christianity, but taking it for granted that you mean by
|
||
Christianity the church, then I answer, when the church had almost
|
||
absolute authority, then the world was the worst.
|
||
|
||
Now, as to the other part of the question, "Is not a belief in
|
||
God a check upon mankind in general?" That is owing to what kind of
|
||
God the man believes in. When mankind believed in the God of the
|
||
Old Testament, I think that belief was a bad thing; the tendency
|
||
was bad. I think that John Calvin patterned after Jehovah as nearly
|
||
as his health and strength would permit. Man makes God in his own
|
||
image, and bad men are not apt to have a very good God if they make
|
||
him. I believe it is far better to have a real belief in goodness,
|
||
in kindness, in honesty and in mankind than in any supernatural
|
||
being whatever. I do not suppose it would do any harm for a man to
|
||
believe in a real good God, a God without revenge, a God that was
|
||
not very particular in having a man believe a doctrine whether he
|
||
could understand it or not. I do not believe that a belief of that
|
||
kind would do any particular harm.
|
||
|
||
There is a vast difference between the God of John Calvin and
|
||
the God of Henry Ward Beecher, and a great difference between the
|
||
God of Cardinal Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza and the God of Theodore
|
||
Parker.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Well, Colonel, is the world growing better or worse?
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
25
|
||
|
||
FREE TRADE AND CHRISTIANITY.
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I think better in some respects, and worse in others;
|
||
but on the whole, better. I think that while events, like the
|
||
pendulum of a clock, go backward and forward, man, like the hands,
|
||
goes forward. I think there is more reason and less religion, more
|
||
charity and less creed. I think the church is improving. Ministers
|
||
are ashamed to preach the old doctrines with the old fervor. There
|
||
was a time when the pulpit controlled the pews. It is so no longer.
|
||
The pews know what they want, and if the minister does not furnish
|
||
it they discharge him and employ another. He is no longer an
|
||
autocrat; he must bring to the market what his customers are
|
||
willing to buy.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What are you going to do to be saved?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Well, I think I am safe anyway. I suppose I have a
|
||
right to rely on what Matthew says, that of I will forgive others
|
||
God will forgive me. I suppose if there is another world I shall be
|
||
treated very much as I treat others. I never expect to find perfect
|
||
bliss anywhere; maybe I should tire of it if I should. What I have
|
||
endeavored to do has been to put out the fires of an ignorant and
|
||
cruel hell; to do what I could to destroy that dogma; to destroy
|
||
that doctrine that makes the cradle as terrible as the coffin. --
|
||
|
||
The Denver Republican, Denver, Colorado, January 17, 1884.
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
THE OATH QUESTION.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: I suppose that your attention has been called to the
|
||
excitement in England over the oath question, and you have probably
|
||
wondered that so much should have been made of so little?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Yes; I have read a few articles upon the subject,
|
||
including one by Cardinal Newman. It is wonderful that so many
|
||
people imagine that there is something miraculous in the oath. They
|
||
seem to regard it as a kind of verbal fetich -- a charm, an "open
|
||
sesame" to be pronounced at the door of truth, a spell, a kind of
|
||
moral thumbscrew, by means of which falsehood itself is compelled
|
||
to turn informer.
|
||
|
||
The oath has outlived its brother, "the wager of battle." Both
|
||
were born of the idea that God would interfere for the right and
|
||
for the truth. Trial by fire and by water had the same origin. It
|
||
was once believed that the man in the wrong could not kill the man
|
||
in the right; but, experience having shown that he usually did, the
|
||
belief gradually fell into disrepute. So it was once thought that
|
||
a perjurer could not swallow a piece of sacramental bread; but, the
|
||
fear that made the swallowing difficult having passed away, the
|
||
appeal to the corsned was abolished. It was found that a brazen or
|
||
a desperate man could eat himself out of the greatest difficulty
|
||
with perfect ease, satisfying the law and his own hunger at the
|
||
same time.
|
||
|
||
The oath is a relic of barbarous theology, of the belief that
|
||
a personal God interferes in the affairs of men; that some God
|
||
protects innocence and guards the right. The experience of the
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
26
|
||
|
||
THE OATH QUESTION.
|
||
|
||
world has sadly demonstrated the folly of that belief. The
|
||
testimony of a witness ought to be believed, not because it is
|
||
given under the solemnities of an oath, but because it is
|
||
reasonable. If unreasonable it ought to be thrown aside. The
|
||
question ought not to be, "Has this been sworn to?" but, "Is this
|
||
true?" The moment evidence is tested by the standard of reason, the
|
||
oath becomes a useless ceremony. Let the man who gives false
|
||
evidence be punished as the lawmaking power may prescribe. He
|
||
should be punished because he commits a crime against society, and
|
||
he should be punished in this world. All honest men will tell the
|
||
truth if they can; therefore, oaths will have no effect upon them.
|
||
Dishonest men will not tell the truth unless the truth happens to
|
||
suit their purpose: therefore oaths will have no effect upon them.
|
||
We punish them, not for swearing to a lie, but for telling it; and
|
||
we can make the punishment for telling the falsehood just as severe
|
||
as we wish. If they are to be punished in another world, the
|
||
probability is that the punishment there will be for having told
|
||
the falsehood here. After all, a lie is made no worse by an oath,
|
||
and the truth is made no better.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: You object then to the oath. Is your objection based
|
||
on any religious grounds, or on any prejudice against the ceremony
|
||
because of its religious origin; or what is your objection?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I care nothing about the origin of the ceremony. The
|
||
objection to the oath is this: It furnishes a falsehood with a
|
||
letter of credit. It supplies the wolf with sheep's clothing and
|
||
covers the hands of Jacob with hair. It blows out the light, and in
|
||
the darkness Leah is taken for Rachel. It puts upon each witness a
|
||
kind of theological gown. This gown hides the moral rags of the
|
||
depraved wretch as well as the virtues of the honest man. The oath
|
||
is a mask that falsehood puts on, and for a moment is mistaken for
|
||
truth. It gives to dishonesty the advantage of solemnity. The
|
||
tendency of the oath is to put all testimony on an equality. The
|
||
obscure rascal and the man of sterling character both "swear," and
|
||
jurors who attribute a miraculous quality to the oath, forget the
|
||
real difference in the men, and give about the same weight to the
|
||
evidence of each, because both were "sworn." A scoundrel is
|
||
delighted with the opportunity of going through a ceremony that
|
||
gives importance and dignity to his story, that clothes him for the
|
||
moment with respectability, loans him the appearance of conscience,
|
||
and gives the ring of true coin to the base metal. To him the oath
|
||
is a shield. He is in partnership, for a moment, with God, and
|
||
people who have no confidence in the witness credit the firm.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Of course you know the religionists insist that
|
||
people are more likely to tell the truth when "sworn," and that to
|
||
take away the oath is to destroy the foundation of testimony?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: If the use of the oath is defended on the ground that
|
||
religious people need a stimulus to tell the truth, then I am
|
||
compelled to say that religious people have been so badly educated
|
||
that they mistake the nature of the crime.
|
||
|
||
They should be taught that to defeat justice by falsehood is
|
||
the real offence. Besides, fear is not the natural foundation of
|
||
virtue. Even with religious people fear cannot always last. Ananias
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
27
|
||
|
||
THE OATH QUESTION.
|
||
|
||
and Sapphira have been dead so long, and since their time so many
|
||
people have sworn falsely without affecting their health that the
|
||
fear of sudden divine vengeance no longer pales the cheek of the
|
||
perjurer. If the vengeance is not sudden, then, according to the
|
||
church, the criminal will have plenty of time to repent; so that
|
||
the oath no longer affects even the fearful. Would it not be better
|
||
for the church to teach that telling the falsehood is the real
|
||
crime, and that taking the oath neither adds to nor takes from its
|
||
enormity? Would it not be better to teach that he who does wrong
|
||
must suffer the consequences, whether God forgives him or not?
|
||
|
||
He who tries to injure another may or may not succeed, but he
|
||
cannot by any possibility fail to injure himself. Men should be
|
||
taught that there is no difference between truth-telling and truth-
|
||
swearing. Nothing is more vicious than the idea that any ceremony
|
||
or form of words -- hand-lifting or book-kissing -- can add, even
|
||
in the slightest degree, to the perpetual obligation every human
|
||
being is under to speak the truth.
|
||
|
||
The truth, plainly told, naturally commends itself to the
|
||
intelligent. Every fact is a genuine link in the infinite chain,
|
||
and will agree perfectly with every other fact. A fact asks to be
|
||
inspected, asks to be understood. It needs no oath, no ceremony, no
|
||
supernatural aid. It is independent of all the gods. A falsehood
|
||
goes in partnership with theology, and depends on the partner for
|
||
success.
|
||
|
||
To show how little influence for good has been attributed to
|
||
the oath, it is only necessary to say that for centuries, in the
|
||
Christian world, no person was allowed to testify who had the
|
||
slightest pecuniary interest in the result of a suit.
|
||
|
||
The expectation of a farthing in this world was supposed to
|
||
outweigh the fear of God's wrath in the next. All the pangs, pains,
|
||
and penalties of perdition were considered as nothing when compared
|
||
with the pounds, shillings and pence in this world.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: You know that in nearly all deliberative bodies --
|
||
in parliaments and congresses -- an oath or an affirmation is
|
||
required to support what is called the Constitution; and that all
|
||
officers are required to swear or affirm that they will discharge
|
||
their duties; do these oaths and affirmations, in your judgment, do
|
||
any good?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Men have sought to make nations and institutions
|
||
immortal by oaths, Subjects have sworn to obey kings, and kings
|
||
have sworn to protect subjects, and yet the subjects have sometimes
|
||
beheaded a king; and the king has often plundered the subjects. The
|
||
oaths enabled them to deceive each other. Every absurdity in
|
||
religion, and all tyrannical institutions, have been patched,
|
||
buttressed, and reinforced by oaths; and yet the history of the
|
||
world shows the utter futility of putting in the coffin of an oath
|
||
the political and religious aspirations of the race.
|
||
|
||
Revolutions and reformations care little for "So help me God."
|
||
Oaths have riveted shackles and sanctified abuses. People swear to
|
||
support a constitution, and they will keep the oath so long as the
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
28
|
||
|
||
THE OATH QUESTION.
|
||
|
||
constitution supports them. In 1776 the colonists cared nothing for
|
||
the fact that they had sworn to support the British crown. All the
|
||
oaths to defend the Constitution of the United States did not
|
||
prevent the Civil war. We have at last learned that States may be
|
||
kept together for a little time, by force; permanently only by
|
||
mutual interests. We have found that the Delilah of superstition
|
||
cannot bind with oaths the secular Samson.
|
||
|
||
Why should a member of Parliament or of Congress swear to
|
||
maintain the Constitution? If he is a dishonest man, the oath will
|
||
have no effect; if he is an honest patriot, it will have no effect.
|
||
In both cases it is equally useless. If a member fails to support
|
||
the Constitution the probability is that his constituents will
|
||
treat him as he does the Constitution. In this country, after all
|
||
the members of Congress have sworn or affirmed to defend the
|
||
Constitution, each political party charges the other with a
|
||
deliberate endeavor to destroy that "sacred instrument." Possibly
|
||
the political oath was invented to prevent the free and natural
|
||
development of a nation. Kings and nobles and priests wished to
|
||
retain the property they had filched and clutched, and for that
|
||
purpose they compelled the real owners to swear that they would
|
||
support and defend the law under color of which the theft and
|
||
robbery had been accomplished.
|
||
|
||
So, in the church, creeds have been protected by oaths.
|
||
Priests and laymen solemnly swore that they would, under no
|
||
circumstances, resort to reason; that they would overcome facts by
|
||
faith, and strike down demonstrations with the "sword of the
|
||
spirit." Professors of the theological seminary at Andover,
|
||
Massachusetts, swear to defend certain dogmas and to attack others.
|
||
They swear sacredly to keep and guard the ignorance they have. With
|
||
them, philosophy leads to perjury, and reason is the road to crime.
|
||
While theological professors are not likely to make an intellectual
|
||
discovery, still it is unwise, by taking an oath, to render that
|
||
certain which was only improbable.
|
||
|
||
If all witnesses sworn to tell the truth, did so, if all
|
||
members of Parliament and of Congress, in taking the oath, became
|
||
intelligent, patriotic, and honest, I should be in favor of
|
||
retaining the ceremony; but we find that men who have taken the
|
||
same oath advocate opposite ideas, and entertain different
|
||
opinions, as to the meaning of constitutions and laws. The oath
|
||
adds nothing to their intelligence; does not even tend to increase
|
||
their patriotism, and certainly does not make the dishonest honest.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Are not persons allowed to testify in the United
|
||
States whether they believe in future rewards and punishments or
|
||
not?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: In this country, in most of the States, witnesses are
|
||
allowed to testify whether they believe in perdition and paradise
|
||
or not. In some States they are allowed to testify even if they
|
||
deny the existence of God. We have found that religious belief does
|
||
not compel people to tell the truth, and that an utter denial of
|
||
every Christian creed does not even tend to make them dishonest.
|
||
You see, a religious belief does not affect the senses. Justice
|
||
should not shut any door that leads to truth. No one will pretend
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
29
|
||
|
||
THE OATH QUESTION.
|
||
|
||
that, because you do not believe in hell, your sight is impaired,
|
||
or your hearing dulled, or your memory rendered less retentive. A
|
||
witness in a court is called upon to tell what he has seen, what he
|
||
has heard, what he remembers, not what he believes about gods and
|
||
devils and hells and heavens. A witness substantiates not a faith,
|
||
but a fact. In order to ascertain whether a witness will tell the
|
||
truth, you might with equal propriety examine him as to his ideas
|
||
about music, painting or architecture, as theology. A man may have
|
||
no ear for music, and yet remember what he hears. He may care
|
||
nothing about painting, and yet be able to tell what he sees. So he
|
||
may deny every creed, and yet be able to tell the facts as he
|
||
remembers them.
|
||
|
||
Thomas Jefferson was wise enough so to frame the Constitution
|
||
of Virginia that no person could be deprived of any civil right on
|
||
account of his religious or irreligious belief. Through the
|
||
influence of men like Paine, Franklin and Jefferson, it was
|
||
provided in the Federal Constitution that officers elected under
|
||
its authority could swear or affirm. This was the natural result of
|
||
the separation of church and state.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: I see that your Presidents and Governors issue their
|
||
proclamations calling on the people to assemble in their churches
|
||
and offer thanks to God. How does this happen in a Government where
|
||
church and state are not united?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Jefferson, when President, refused to issue what is
|
||
known as the "Thanksgiving Proclamation," on the ground that the
|
||
Federal Government had no right to interfere in religious matters;
|
||
that the people owed no religious duties to the Government; that
|
||
the Government derived its powers, not from priests or gods, but
|
||
from the people, and was responsible alone to the source of its
|
||
power. The truth is, the framers of our Constitution intended that
|
||
the Government should be secular in the broadest and best sense;
|
||
and yet there are thousands and thousands of religious people in
|
||
this country who are greatly scandalized because there is no
|
||
recognition of God in the Federal Constitution; and for several
|
||
years a great many ministers have been endeavoring to have the
|
||
Constitution amended so as to recognize the existence of God and
|
||
the divinity of Christ. A man by the name of Pollock was once
|
||
superintendent of the mint at Philadelphia. He was almost insane
|
||
about having God in the Constitution. Failing in that, he got the
|
||
inscription on our money, "In God we Trust." As our silver dollar
|
||
is now, in fact, worth only eighty-five cents, it is claimed that
|
||
the inscription means that we trust in God for the other fifteen
|
||
cents.
|
||
|
||
There is a constant effort on the part of many Christians to
|
||
have their religion in some way recognized by law. Proclamations
|
||
are now issued calling upon the people to give thanks, and
|
||
directing attention to the fact that, while God has scourged or
|
||
neglected other nations, he has been remarkably attentive to the
|
||
wants and wishes of the United States. Governors of States issue
|
||
these documents written in a tone of pious insincerity. The year
|
||
may or may not have been prosperous, yet the degree of thankfulness
|
||
called for is always precisely the same.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
30
|
||
|
||
THE OATH QUESTION.
|
||
|
||
A few years ago the Governor of Iowa issued an exceedingly
|
||
rhetorical proclamation, in which the people were requested to
|
||
thank God for the unparalleled blessings he had showered upon them.
|
||
A private citizen, fearing that the Lord might be misled by
|
||
official correspondence, issued his proclamation, in which he
|
||
recounted with great particularity the hardships of the preceding
|
||
year. He insisted that the weather had been of the poorest quality;
|
||
that the crops had generally failed; that the spring came late, and
|
||
the frost early; that the people were in debt; that the farms were
|
||
mortgaged; that the merchants were bankrupt; and that everything
|
||
was in the worst possible condition. He concluded by sincerely
|
||
hoping that the Lord would pay no attention to the proclamation of
|
||
the Governor, but would, if he had any doubt on the subject, come
|
||
down and examine the State for himself.
|
||
|
||
These proclamations have always appeared to me absurdly
|
||
egotistical. Why should God treat us any better than he does the
|
||
rest of his children? Why should he send pestilence and famine to
|
||
China, and health and plenty to us? Why give us corn, and Egypt
|
||
cholera? All these proclamations grow out of egotism and
|
||
selfishness, of ignorance and superstition. and are based upon the
|
||
idea that God is a capricious monster; that he loves flattery; that
|
||
he can be coaxed and cajoled.
|
||
|
||
The conclusion of the whole matter with me is this: For truth
|
||
in courts we must depend upon the trained intelligence of judges,
|
||
the right of cross-examination. the honesty and common sense of
|
||
jurors, and upon an enlightened public opinion. As for members of
|
||
Congress, we will trust to the wisdom and patriotism, not only of
|
||
the members, but of their constituents. In religion we will give to
|
||
all the luxury of absolute liberty.
|
||
|
||
The alchemist did not succeed in finding any stone the touch
|
||
of which transmuted baser things to gold; and priests have not
|
||
invented yet an oath with power to force from falsehood's desperate
|
||
lips the pearl of truth. --
|
||
|
||
Secular Review, London, England, 1884.
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
WENDELL PHILLIPS, FITZ JOHN PORTER
|
||
AND BISMARCK.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: Are you seeking to quit public lecturing on
|
||
religious questions?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: As long as I live I expect now and then to say my say
|
||
against the religious bigotry and cruelty of the world. As long as
|
||
the smallest coal is red in hell I am going to keep on. I never had
|
||
the slightest idea of retiring. I expect the church to do the
|
||
retiring.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What do you think of Wendell Phillips as an orator?
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
31
|
||
|
||
WENDELL PHILLIPS, FITZ JOHN PORTER AND BISMARCK.
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: He was a very great orator -- one of the greatest that
|
||
the world has produced. He rendered immense service to the cause of
|
||
freedom. He was in the old days the thunderbolt that pierced the
|
||
shield of the Constitution. One of the bravest soldiers that ever
|
||
fought for human rights was Wendell Phillips.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What do you think of the action of Congress on Fitz
|
||
John Porter?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: I think Congress did right. I think they should have
|
||
taken this action long before. There was a question of his guilt,
|
||
and he should have been given the benefit of a doubt. They say he
|
||
could have defeated Longstreet. There are some people, you know,
|
||
who would have it that an army could he whipped by a good general
|
||
with six mules and a blunderbuss. But we do not regard those
|
||
people. They know no more about it than a lady who talked to me
|
||
about Porter's case. She argued the question of Porter's guilt for
|
||
half an hour. I showed her where she was all wrong. When she found
|
||
she was beaten she took refuge with "Oh, well, anyhow he had no
|
||
genius. "Well, if every man is to be shot who has no genius, I want
|
||
to go into the coffin business.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What, in your judgment, is necessary to be done to
|
||
insure Republican success this fall?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: It is only necessary for the Republican party to stand
|
||
by its principles. We must be in favor of protecting American labor
|
||
not only, but of protecting American capital, and we must be in
|
||
favor of civil rights, and must advocate the doctrine that the
|
||
Federal Government must protect all citizens. I am in favor of a
|
||
tariff, not simply to raise a revenue -- that I regard as
|
||
incidental. The Democrats regard protection as incidental. The two
|
||
principles should be, protection to American industry and
|
||
protection to American citizens. So that, after all, there is but
|
||
one issue -- protection. As a matter of fact, that is all a
|
||
government is for -- to protect. The Republican party is stronger
|
||
to-day than it was four years ago. The Republican party stands for
|
||
the progressive ideas of the American people. It has been said that
|
||
the administration will control the Southern delegates. I do not
|
||
believe it. This administration has not been friendly to the
|
||
Southern Republicans, and my opinion is there will be as much
|
||
division in the Southern as in the Northern States. I believe
|
||
Blaine will be a candidate, and I do not believe the
|
||
Prohibitionists will put a ticket in the field, because they have
|
||
no hope of success.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: What do you think generally of the revival of the
|
||
bloody shirt? Do you think the investigations of the Republicans of
|
||
the Danville and Copiah massacres will benefit them?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Well, I am in favor of the revival of that question
|
||
just as often as a citizen of the Republic is murdered on account
|
||
of his politics, If the South is sick of that question, let it stop
|
||
persecuting men because they are Republicans. I do not believe,
|
||
however, in simply investigating the question and then stopping
|
||
after the guilty ones are found. I believe in indicting them,
|
||
trying them, and convicting them. If the Government can do nothing
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
32
|
||
|
||
WENDELL PHILLIPS, FITZ JOHN PORTER AND BISMARCK.
|
||
|
||
except investigate, we might as well stop, and admit that we have
|
||
no government. Thousands of people think that it is almost vulgar
|
||
to take the part of the poor colored people in the South. Whose
|
||
part should you take if not that of the weak? The strong do not
|
||
need you. And I can tell the Southern people now, that as long as
|
||
they persecute for opinion's sake they will never touch the reins
|
||
of political power in this country.
|
||
|
||
QUESTION: How do you regard the action of Bismarck in
|
||
returning the Lasker resolutions. Was it the result of his hatred
|
||
of the Jews?
|
||
|
||
ANSWER: Bismarck opposed a bill to do away with the
|
||
disabilities of the Jews on the ground that Prussia is a Christian
|
||
nation, founded for the purpose of spreading the gospel of Jesus
|
||
Christ. I presume that it was his hatred of the Jews that caused
|
||
him to return the resolutions. Bismarck should have lived several
|
||
centuries ago. He belongs to the Dark Ages. He is a believer in the
|
||
sword and the bayonet -- in brute force. He was loved by Germany
|
||
simply because he humiliated France. Germany gave her liberty for
|
||
revenge. It is only necessary to compare Bismarck with Gambetta to
|
||
see what a failure he really is. Germany was victorious and took
|
||
from France the earnings of centuries; and yet Germany is to-day
|
||
the least prosperous nation in Europe. France was prostrate,
|
||
trampled into the earth, robbed, and yet, guided by Gambetta, is
|
||
to-day the most prosperous nation in Europe. This shows the
|
||
difference between brute force and brain. --
|
||
|
||
The Times, Chicago, Illinois, February 21, 1884.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
||
|
||
The Bank of Wisdom is a collection of the most thoughtful,
|
||
scholarly and factual books. These computer books are reprints of
|
||
suppressed books and will cover American and world history; the
|
||
Biographies and writings of famous persons, and especially of our
|
||
nations Founding Fathers. They will include philosophy and
|
||
religion. all these subjects, and more, will be made available to
|
||
the public in electronic form, easily copied and distributed, so
|
||
that America can again become what its Founders intended --
|
||
|
||
The Free Market-Place of Ideas.
|
||
|
||
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
|
||
hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
|
||
and information for today. If you have such books please contact
|
||
us, we need to give them back to America.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
33
|
||
|