The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—PoliticalIngersoll, Robert Green
History
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Political
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
Thanks to your efforts our country is still an asylum for the oppressed
of the Old World; the arms of our charity are still open, we still
beckon them across the sea, and they come in multitudes,'leaving home,
the graves of their sires, and the dear memories of the heart, and with
their wives and little ones come to this, the only free land upon which
the sun shines--and with their countless hands of labor add to the
wealth, the permanence and the glory of our country. And let them come
from the land of Luther, of Hampden and Emmett. Whoever is for freedom
and the sacred rights of man is a true American, and as such, we welcome
them all. We thank you to-day in the name of four millions of people,
whose shackles you have so nobly and generously broken, and who, from
the condition of beasts of burden, have by your efforts become men. We
thank you in the name of this poor and hitherto despised and insulted
race, and say that their emancipation was, and is, the crowning glory
of this most terrible war. Peace without liberty could have been only a
bloody delusion and a snare. Freedom is peace; Slavery is war.
We must act justly and honorably with these emancipated men, knowing
that the eyes of the civilized world are upon us. We must do what is
best for both races. We must not be controlled merely by party.
If the Government is founded upon principle, it will stand against the
shock of revolution and foreign war as long as liberty is sacred, the
rights of man respected, and honor dwells in the hearts of men.
We thank you for the lesson that has been taught the Old World by your
patriotism and valor; believing that when the people shall have learned
that sublime and divine lesson, thrones will become kingless, kings
crownless, royalty an epitaph, the purple of power the shroud of death,
the chains of tyranny will fall from the bodies of men, the shackles
of superstition from the souls of the people, the spirit of persecution
will fly from the earth, and the banner of Universal Freedom, with the
words "Civil and Religious Liberty for the World" written upon every
fold, blazing from every star, will float over every land and sea under
the whole heavens.
We thank you for the glorious past, for the still more glorious future,
and will continue to thank you while our hearts are warm with life. We
will gather around you in the hour of your death and soothe your last
moments with our gratitude. We will follow you tearfully to the narrow
house of the dead, and over your sacred remains erect the whitest and
purest marble. The hands of love will adorn your last abode, and the
chisel will record that beneath rests the sacred dust of the Heroic
Saviors of the Great Republic. Such ground will be holy, and future
generations will draw inspiration from your tombs, courage from your
heroic examples, patience and fortitude from your sufferings, and
strength eternal from your success.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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