The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII.

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Transcriber's note:

Footnotes that describe the subject or circumstances of the interview
are placed immediately after its title, or where they occur in the
narrative. Other footnotes are at the end of the interview.

The digraph "ae" has been spelled out for clarity. "Employe", used
throughout with no accent, has been replaced by "employee".
"Buechner" appeared with the umlaut in the original.

Typographical and grammatical errors and misspellings have been
corrected, but 19th-century variants have been retained. Question
marks have been added where required.

LoC call number: BL2720.A2

[Frontispiece: v8.jpg]
"_With daughters' babes upon his knees,
the white hair mingling with the gold_."
EVA INGERSOLL-BROWN ROBERT G. INGERSOLL BROWN.

Dresden Edition

THE WORKS
OF
_Robert G. Ingersoll_

"HAPPINESS IS THE ONLY GOOD, REASON THE ONLY
TORCH, JUSTICE THE ONLY WORSHIP, HUMANITY THE
ONLY RELIGION, AND LOVE THE ONLY PRIEST."

IN TWELVE VOLUMES
VOLUME VIII.

INTERVIEWS

NEW YORK
THE DRESDEN PUBLISHING CO.,
C. P. FARRELL
MCMXV

COPYRIGHT, 1900
BY
C. P. FARRELL

COPYRIGHT, 1901
BY
THE DRESDEN PUBLISHING CO.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME VIII.
INTERVIEWS.

THE BIBLE AND A FUTURE LIFE, Washington Post

MRS. VAN COTT, THE REVIVALIST, Buffalo Express

EUROPEAN TRIP AND GREENBACK QUESTION, Washington Post

THE PRE-MILLENNIAL CONFERENCE, Buffalo Express

THE SOLID SOUTH AND RESUMPTION, Cincinnati Commercial

SUNDAY LAWS OF PITTSBURG, Pittsburg Leader

POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS, Chicago Times

POLITICS AND GEN. GRANT, Indianapolis Journal

POLITICS, RELIGION AND THOMAS PAINE, Chicago Times

REPLY TO CHICAGO CRITICS, Chicago Tribune

THE REPUBLICAN VICTORY, New York Herald

INGERSOLL AND BEECHER, New York Herald

POLITICAL, Washington Post

RELIGION IN POLITICS, New York Evening Express

MIRACLES AND IMMORTALITY, Pittsburg Dispatch

THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK, Cincinnati Commercial

MR. BEECHER, MOSES AND THE NEGRO, Brooklyn Eagle

HADES, DELAWARE AND FREETHOUGHT, Brooklyn Eagle

A REPLY TO THE REV. MR. LANSING, New Haven Sunday Union

BEACONSFIELD, LENT AND REVIVALS, Brooklyn Eagle

ANSWERING THE NEW YORK MINISTERS, Chicago Times

GUITEAU AND HIS CRIME, Washington Sunday Gazette

DISTRICT SUFFRAGE, Washington Capital

FUNERAL OF JOHN G. MILLS AND IMMORTALITY, Washington Post

STAR ROUTE AND POLITICS, New York Herald

THE INTERVIEWER, New York Morning Journal

POLITICS AND PROHIBITION, Chicago Times

THE REPUBLICAN DEFEAT IN OHIO, Dayton Democrat

THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, Washington National Republican

JUSTICE HARLAN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, Chicago Inter-Ocean

POLITICS AND THEOLOGY, Denver Tribune

MORALITY AND IMMORTALITY, Detroit News

POLITICS, MORMONISM AND MR. BEECHER, Denver News

FREE TRADE AND CHRISTIANITY, Denver Republican

THE OATH QUESTION, London Secular Review

WENDELL PHILLIPS, FITZ JOHN PORTER AND BISMARCK, Chicago Times

GENERAL SUBJECTS, Kansas City Times

REPLY TO KANSAS CITY CLERGY, Kansas City Journal

SWEARING AND AFFIRMING, Buffalo Courier

REPLY TO A BUFFALO CRITIC, Buffalo Times

BLASPHEMY, Philadelphia Press

POLITICS AND BRITISH COLUMBIA, San Francisco Evening Post

INGERSOLL CATECHISED, San Francisco San Franciscan

BLAINE'S DEFEAT, Topeka Commonwealth

BLAINE'S DEFEAT, Louisville Commercial

PLAGIARISM AND POLITICS, Cleveland Plain Dealer

RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE, New York Mail and Express

CLEVELAND AND HIS CABINET, New York Mail and Express

RELIGION, PROHIBITION AND GEN. GRANT, Iowa State Register

HELL OR SHEOL AND OTHER SUBJECTS, Boston Evening Record

INTERVIEWING, POLITICS AND SPIRITUALISM, Cleveland Plain Dealer

MY BELIEF, Philadelphia Times

SOME LIVE TOPICS, New York Truth Seeker

THE PRESIDENT AND THE SENATE, Chicago Inter-Ocean

ATHEISM AND CITIZENSHIP, New York Herald

THE LABOR QUESTION, Cincinnati Enquirer

RAILROADS AND POLITICS, Cincinnati Times Star

PROHIBITION, Boston Evening Traveler

HENRY GEORGE AND LABOR, New York Herald

LABOR QUESTION AND SOCIALISM, New York World

HENRY GEORGE AND SOCIALISM, Chicago Times

REPLY TO THE REV. B. F. MORSE, New York Herald

INGERSOLL ON McGLYNN, Brooklyn Citizen

TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO ANARCHISTS, New York Mail and Express

THE STAGE AND THE PULPIT, New York Truth Seeker

ROSCOE CONKLING, New York Herald

THE CHURCH AND THE STATE, New York Dramatic Mirror

PROTECTION--FREE TRADE, New York Press

LABOR AND TARIFF REFORM, New York Press

CLEVELAND AND THURMAN, New York Press

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM OF 1888, New York Press

JAMES G. BLAINE AND POLITICS, New York Press

THE MILLS BILL, New York Press

SOCIETY AND ITS CRIMINALS, New York World

WOMAN'S RIGHT TO DIVORCE, New York World

SECULARISM, Toronto Secular Thought

SUMMER RECREATION--MR. GLADSTONE, Unpublished

PROHIBITION, New York World

ROBERT ELSMERE, New York World

WORKING GIRLS, New York World

PROTECTION FOR AMERICAN ACTORS, New York Star

LIBERALS AND LIBERALISM, Toronto Secular Thought

POPE LEO XIII., New York Herald

THE SACREDNESS OF THE SABBATH, New York Journal

THE WEST AND SOUTH, Indianapolis Journal

THE WESTMINSTER CREED AND OTHER SUBJECTS, Rochester Post-Express

SHAKESPEARE AND BACON, Minneapolis Tribune

GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY, AND PRESBYTERIANISM, Toledo Blade

CREEDS, New York Morning Advertiser

THE TENDENCY OF MODERN THOUGHT, Chicago Tribune

WOMAN SUFFRAGE, HORSE RACING, AND MONEY, Chicago Inter-Ocean

MISSIONARIES, Cleveland Press

MY BELIEF AND UNBELIEF, Toledo Blade

MUST RELIGION GO? New York Evening Advertiser

WORD PAINTING AND COLLEGE EDUCATION, Indianapolis News

PERSONAL MAGNETISM AND THE SUNDAY QUESTION, Cincinnati Commercial
Gazette

AUTHORS, Kansas City Star

INEBRIETY, Unpublished

MIRACLES, THEOSOPHY AND SPIRITUALISM, Unpublished

TOLSTOY AND LITERATURE, Buffalo Evening Express

WOMAN IN POLITICS, New York Advertiser

SPIRITUALISM, St. Louis Globe-Democrat

PLAYS AND PLAYERS, New York Dramatic Mirror

WOMAN, A Fragment

STRIKES, EXPANSION AND OTHER SUBJECTS, New York, May 5, 1893

SUNDAY A DAY OF PLEASURE, New York Times

THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS, New York Herald

CLEVELAND'S HAWAIIAN POLICY, Chicago Inter-Ocean

ORATORS AND ORATORY, London Sketch

CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM.--THE POPE.--THE A. P. A., AGNOSTICISM
AND THE CHURCH, New York Herald

WOMAN AND HER DOMAIN, Grand Rapids Democrat

PROFESSOR SWING, Chicago Inter-Ocean

SENATOR SHERMAN AND HIS BOOK, St. Louis Globe-Democrat

REPLY TO THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVORERS, New York Journal

SPIRITUALISM, New York Journal

A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING, Rochester Herald

IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?--CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND POLITICS, Chicago
Inter-Ocean

VIVISECTION, New York Evening Telegram

DIVORCE, New York Herald

MUSIC, NEWSPAPERS, LYNCHING AND ARBITRATION, Chicago Inter-Ocean

A VISIT TO SHAW'S GARDEN, St. Louis Republic

THE VENEZUELA BOUNDARY DISCUSSION AND THE WHIPPING POST, New York
Journal

COLONEL SHEPARD'S STAGE HORSES, New York Morning Advertiser

A REPLY TO THE REV. L. A. BANKS, Cleveland Plain Dealer

CUBA--ZOLA AND THEOSOPHY, Louisville Courier-Journal

HOW TO BECOME AN ORATOR, New York Sun

JOHN RUSSELL YOUNG AND EXPANSION, Philadelphia Press

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AND THE BIBLE, New York Mind

THIS CENTURY'S GLORIES, New York Sun

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND THE WHIPPING POST, Chicago Tribune

EXPANSION AND TRUSTS, Philadelphia North American

INTERVIEWS

THE BIBLE AND A FUTURE LIFE

_Question_. Colonel, are your views of religion based upon the
Bible?

_Answer_. I regard the Bible, especially the Old Testament, the
same as I do most other ancient books, in which there is some truth,
a great deal of error, considerable barbarism and a most plentiful
lack of good sense.

_Question_. Have you found any other work, sacred or profane,
which you regard as more reliable?

_Answer_. I know of no book less so, in my judgment.

_Question_. You have studied the Bible attentively, have you not?

_Answer_. I have read the Bible. I have heard it talked about a
good deal, and am sufficiently well acquainted with it to justify
my own mind in utterly rejecting all claims made for its divine
origin.

_Question_. What do you base your views upon?

_Answer_. On reason, observation, experience, upon the discoveries
in science, upon observed facts and the analogies properly growing
out of such facts. I have no confidence in anything pretending to
be outside, or independent of, or in any manner above nature.

_Question_. According to your views, what disposition is made of
man after death?

_Answer_. Upon that subject I know nothing. It is no more wonderful
that man should live again than he now lives; upon that question
I know of no evidence. The doctrine of immortality rests upon
human affection. We love, therefore we wish to live.

_Question_. Then you would not undertake to say what becomes of
man after death?

_Answer_. If I told or pretended to know what becomes of man after
death, I would be as dogmatic as are theologians upon this question.
The difference between them and me is, I am honest. I admit that
I do not know.

_Question_. Judging by your criticism of mankind, Colonel, in your
recent lecture, you have not found his condition very satisfactory?

_Answer_. Nature, outside of man, so far as I know, is neither
cruel nor merciful. I am not satisfied with the present condition
of the human race, nor with the condition of man during any period
of which we have any knowledge. I believe, however, the condition
of man is improved, and this improvement is due to his own exertions.
I do not make nature a being. I do not ascribe to nature
intentions.

_Question_. Is your theory, Colonel, the result of investigation
of the subject?

_Answer_. No one can control his own opinion or his own belief.
My belief was forced upon me by my surroundings. I am the product
of all circumstances that have in any way touched me. I believe
in this world. I have no confidence in any religion promising joys
in another world at the expense of liberty and happiness in this.
At the same time, I wish to give others all the rights I claim for
myself.

_Question_. If I asked for proofs for your theory, what would you
furnish?

_Answer_. The experience of every man who is honest with himself,
every fact that has been discovered in nature. In addition to
these, the utter and total failure of all religionists in all
countries to produce one particle of evidence showing the existence
of any supernatural power whatever, and the further fact that the
people are not satisfied with their religion. They are continually
asking for evidence. They are asking it in every imaginable way.
The sects are continually dividing. There is no real religious
serenity in the world. All religions are opponents of intellectual
liberty. I believe in absolute mental freedom. Real religion with
me is a thing not of the head, but of the heart; not a theory, not
a creed, but a life.

_Question_. What punishment, then, is inflicted upon man for his
crimes and wrongs committed in this life?

_Answer_. There is no such thing as intellectual crime. No man
can commit a mental crime. To become a crime it must go beyond
thought.

_Question_. What punishment is there for physical crime?

_Answer_. Such punishment as is necessary to protect society and
for the reformation of the criminal.

_Question_. If there is only punishment in this world, will not
some escape punishment?

_Answer_. I admit that all do not seem to be punished as they
deserve. I also admit that all do not seem to be rewarded as they
deserve; and there is in this world, apparently, as great failures
in matter of reward as in matter of punishment. If there is another
life, a man will be happier there for acting according to his
highest ideal in this. But I do not discern in nature any effort
to do justice.

--_The Post_, Washington, D. C., 1878.

MRS. VAN COTT, THE REVIVALIST

_Question_. I see, Colonel, that in an interview published this
morning, Mrs. Van Cott (the revivalist), calls you "a poor barking
dog." Do you know her personally?

_Answer_. I have never met or seen her.

_Question_. Do you know the reason she applied the epithet?

_Answer_. I suppose it to be the natural result of what is called
vital piety; that is to say, universal love breeds individual
hatred.

_Question_. Do you intend making any reply to what she says?

_Answer_. I have written her a note of which this is a copy:

_Buffalo, Feb. 24th, 1878._
MRS. VAN COTT;

My dear Madam:--Were you constrained by the love of Christ to call
a man who has never injured you "a poor barking dog?" Did you make
this remark as a Christian, or as a lady? Did you say these words
to illustrate in some faint degree the refining influence upon
women of the religion you preach?

What would you think of me if I should retort, using your language,
changing only the sex of the last word?

I have the honor to remain,

Yours truly,

R. G. INGERSOLL

_Question_. Well, what do you think of the religious revival system
generally?

_Answer_. The fire that has to be blown all the time is a poor
thing to get warm by. I regard these revivals as essentially
barbaric. I think they do no good, but much harm, they make innocent
people think they are guilty, and very mean people think they are
good.

_Question_. What is your opinion concerning women as conductors
of these revivals?

_Answer_. I suppose those engaged in them think they are doing
good. They are probably honest. I think, however, that neither
men nor women should be engaged in frightening people into heaven.
That is all I wish to say on the subject, as I do not think it
worth talking about.

--_The Express_, Buffalo, New York, Feb., 1878.

EUROPEAN TRIP AND GREENBACK QUESTION

_Question_. What did you do on your European trip, Colonel?

_Answer_. I went with my family from New York to Southampton,
England, thence to London, and from London to Edinburgh. In Scotland
I visited every place where Burns had lived, from the cottage where
he was born to the room where he died. I followed him from the
cradle to the coffin. I went to Stratford-upon-Avon for the purpose
of seeing all that I could in any way connected with Shakespeare;
next to London, where we visited again all the places of interest,
and thence to Paris, where we spent a couple of weeks in the
Exposition.

_Question_. And what did you think of it?

_Answer_. So far as machinery--so far as the practical is concerned,
it is not equal to ours in Philadelphia; in art it is incomparably
beyond it. I was very much gratified to find so much evidence in
favor of my theory that the golden age in art is in front of us;
that mankind has been advancing, that we did not come from a perfect
pair and immediately commence to degenerate. The modern painters
and sculptors are far better and grander than the ancient. I think
we excel in fine arts as much as we do in agricultural implements.
Nothing pleased me more than the painting from Holland, because
they idealized and rendered holy the ordinary avocations of life.
They paint cottages with sweet mothers and children; they paint
homes. They are not much on Ariadnes and Venuses, but they paint
good women.

_Question_. What did you think of the American display?

_Answer_. Our part of the Exposition is good, but nothing to what
is should and might have been, but we bring home nearly as many
medals as we took things. We lead the world in machinery and in
ingenious inventions, and some of our paintings were excellent.

_Question_. Colonel, crossing the Atlantic back to America, what
do you think of the Greenback movement?

_Answer_. In regard to the Greenback party, in the first place,
I am not a believer in miracles. I do not believe that something
can be made out of nothing. The Government, in my judgment, cannot
create money; the Government can give its note, like an individual,
and the prospect of its being paid determines its value. We have
already substantially resumed. Every piece of property that has
been shrinking has simply been resuming. We expended during the
war--not for the useful, but for the useless, not to build up, but
to destroy--at least one thousand million dollars. The Government
was an enormous purchaser; when the war ceased the industries of
the country lost their greatest customer. As a consequence there
was a surplus of production, and consequently a surplus of labor.
At last we have gotten back, and the country since the war has
produced over and above the cost of production, something near the
amount that was lost during the war. Our exports are about two
hundred million dollars more than our imports, and this is a healthy
sign. There are, however, five or six hundred thousand men,
probably, out of employment; as prosperity increases this number
will decrease. I am in favor of the Government doing something to
ameliorate the condition of these men. I would like to see
constructed the Northern and Southern Pacific railroads; this would
give employment at once to many thousands, and homes after awhile
to millions. All the signs of the times to me are good. The
wretched bankrupt law, at last, is wiped from the statute books,
and honest people in a short time can get plenty of credit. This
law should have been repealed years before it was. It would have
been far better to have had all who have gone into bankruptcy during
these frightful years to have done so at once.

_Question_. What will be the political effect of the Greenback
movement?

_Answer_. The effect in Maine has been to defeat the Republican
party. I do not believe any party can permanently succeed in the
United States that does not believe in and advocate actual money.
I want to see the greenback equal with gold the world round. A
money below par keeps the people below par. No man can possibly
be proud of a country that is not willing to pay its debts. Several
of the States this fall may be carried by the Greenback party, but
if I have a correct understanding of their views, that party cannot
hold any State for any great length of time. But all the men of
wealth should remember that everybody in the community has got, in
some way, to be supported. I want to see them so that they can
support themselves by their own labor. In my judgment real prosperity
will begin with actual resumption, because confidence will then
return. If the workingmen of the United States cannot make their
living, cannot have the opportunity to labor, they have got to be
supported in some way, and in any event, I want to see a liberal
policy inaugurated by the Government. I believe in improving rivers
and harbors.

I do not believe the trans-continental commerce of this country
should depend on one railroad. I want new territories opened. I
want to see American steamships running to all the great ports of
the world. I want to see our flag flying on all the seas and in
all the harbors. We have the best country, and, in my judgment,
the best people in the world, and we ought to be the most prosperous
nation on the earth.

_Question_. Then you only consider the Greenback movement a
temporary thing?

_Answer_. Yes; I do not believe that there is anything permanent
in anything that is not sound, that has not a perfectly sound
foundation, and I mean sound, sound in every sense of that word.
It must be wise and honest. We have plenty of money; the trouble
is to get it. If the Greenbackers will pass a law furnishing all
of us with collaterals, there certainly would be no trouble about
getting the money. Nothing can demonstrate more fully the
plentifulness of money than the fact that millions of four per
cent. bonds have been taken in the United States. The trouble is,
business is scarce.

_Question_. But do you not think the Greenback movement will help
the Democracy to success in 1880?

_Answer_. I think the Greenback movement will injure the Republican
party much more than the Democratic party. Whether that injury
will reach as far as 1880 depends simply upon one thing. If
resumption--in spite of all the resolutions to the contrary--
inaugurates an era of prosperity, as I believe and hope it will,
then it seems to me that the Republican party will be as strong in
the North as in its palmiest days. Of course I regard most of the
old issues as settled, and I make this statement simply because I
regard the financial issue as the only living one.

Of course, I have no idea who will be the Democratic candidate,
but I suppose the South will be solid for the Democratic nominee,
unless the financial question divides that section of the country.

_Question_. With a solid South do you not think the Democratic
nominee will stand a good chance?

_Answer_. Certainly, he will stand the best chance if the Democracy
is right on the financial question; if it will cling to its old
idea of hard money, he will. If the Democrats will recognize that
the issues of the war are settled, then I think that party has the
best chance.

_Question_. But if it clings to soft money?

_Answer_. Then I think it will be beaten, if by soft money it
means the payment of one promise with another.

_Question_. You consider Greenbackers inflationists, do you not?

_Answer_. I suppose the Greenbackers to be the party of inflation.
I am in favor of inflation produced by industry. I am in favor of
the country being inflated with corn, with wheat, good houses,
books, pictures, and plenty of labor for everybody. I am in favor
of being inflated with gold and silver, but I do not believe in
the inflation of promise, expectation and speculation. I sympathize
with every man who is willing to work and cannot get it, and I
sympathize to that degree that I would like to see the fortunate
and prosperous taxed to support his unfortunate brother until labor
could be found.

The Greenback party seems to think credit is just as good as gold.
While the credit lasts this is so; but the trouble is, whenever it
is ascertained that the gold is gone or cannot be produced the
credit takes wings. The bill of a perfectly solvent bank may
circulate for years. Now, because nobody demands the gold on that
bill it doesn't follow that the bill would be just as good without
any gold behind it. The idea that you can have the gold whenever
you present the bill gives it its value. To illustrate: A poor
man buys soup tickets. He is not hungry at the time of purchase,
and will not be for some hours. During those hours the Greenback
gentlemen argue that there is no use of keeping any soup on hand
with which to redeem these tickets, and from this they further
argue that if they can be good for a few hours without soup, why
not forever? And they would be, only the holder gets hungry.
Until he is hungry, of course, he does not care whether any soup
is on hand or not, but when he presents his ticket he wants his
soup, and the idea that he can have the soup when he does present
the ticket gives it its value. And so I regard bank notes, without
gold and silver, as of the same value as tickets without soup.

--_The Post_, Washington, D. C., 1878.

THE PRE-MILLENNIAL CONFERENCE.

_Question_. What do you think of the Pre-Millennial Conference
that was held in New York City recently?

_Answer_. Well, I think that all who attended it were believers
in the Bible, and any one who believes in prophecies and looks to
their fulfillment will go insane. A man that tries from Daniel's
ram with three horns and five tails and his deformed goats to
ascertain the date of the second immigration of Christ to this
world is already insane. It all shows that the moment we leave
the realm of fact and law we are adrift on the wide and shoreless
sea of theological speculation.

_Question_. Do you think there will be a second coming?

_Answer_. No, not as long as the church is in power. Christ will
never again visit this earth until the Freethinkers have control.
He will certainly never allow another church to get hold of him.
The very persons who met in New York to fix the date of his coming
would despise him and the feeling would probably be mutual. In
his day Christ was an Infidel, and made himself unpopular by
denouncing the church as it then existed. He called them liars,
hypocrites, thieves, vipers, whited sepulchres and fools. From
the description given of the church in that day, I am afraid that
should he come again, he would be provoked into using similar
language. Of course, I admit there are many good people in the
church, just as there were some good Pharisees who were opposed to
the crucifixion.

--_The Express_, Buffalo, New York, Nov. 4th, 1878.

THE SOLID SOUTH AND RESUMPTION.

_Question_. Colonel, to start with, what do you think of the solid
South?

_Answer_. I think the South is naturally opposed to the Republican
party; more, I imagine, to the name, than to the personnel of the
organization. But the South has just as good friends in the
Republican party as in the Democratic party. I do not think there
are any Republicans who would not rejoice to see the South prosperous
and happy. I know of none, at least. They will have to get over
the prejudices born of isolation. We lack direct and constant
communication. I do not recollect having seen a newspaper from
the Gulf States for a long time. They, down there, may imagine
that the feeling in the North is the same as during the war. But
it certainly is not. The Northern people are anxious to be friendly;
and if they can be, without a violation of their principles, they
will be. Whether it be true or not, however, most of the Republicans
of the North believe that no Republican in the South is heartily
welcome in that section, whether he goes there from the North, or
is a Southern man. Personally, I do not care anything about partisan
politics. I want to see every man in the United States guaranteed
the right to express his choice at the ballot-box, and I do not
want social ostracism to follow a man, no matter how he may vote.
A solid South means a solid North. A hundred thousand Democratic
majority in South Carolina means fifty thousand Republican majority
in New York in 1880. I hope the sections will never divide, simply
as sections. But if the Republican party is not allowed to live
in the South, the Democratic party certainly will not be allowed
to succeed in the North. I want to treat the people of the South
precisely as though the Rebellion had never occurred. I want all
that wiped from the slate of memory, and all I ask of the Southern
people is to give the same rights to the Republicans that we are
willing to give to them and have given to them.