The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 12 (of 12): Dresden Edition—MiscellanyIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 12 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Miscellany
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
"'There is one thing I have not done--I have not endeavored to cast
five votes when I didn't have a solitary vote. Let us be fair; let us be
fair. I have simply given my vote. I wish to trample upon the rights
of no one; and when Mr. Pillsbury gave those votes he supposed he had
a right to give them; and if he had a right, the votes would have been
counted. I attribute nothing wrong to him, but I say this: I have the
right to make a motion in this Congress, I have the right to argue that
motion, but I have no more rights than any other member, and I claim
none. But I want to say to you--and I want you to know and feel it--that
I want to act with every Liberal man and woman in this world. I want you
to know and feel it that I want to do everything I can to get every one
of these statutes off our books that discriminates against a man because
of his religious belief--that I am in favor of a secular government,
and of all these rights. But I cannot, and I will not, operate with any
organization that asks for the unconditional repeal of those laws. I
will stand alone, and I have stood alone. I can tell my thoughts to my
countrymen, and I will do it, and whatever position you take, whether
I am with you or not, you will find me battling everywhere for the
absolute freedom of the human mind. You will find me battling everywhere
to make this world better and grander; and whatever my personal conduct
may be, I shall endeavor to keep my theories right. I beg of you,
I implore you, do not pass the resolution No. 6. It is not for our
interest; it will do us no good. It will lose us hosts of honest,
splendid friends. Do not do it; it will be a mistake; and the only
reason I offered the motion was to give the members time to think this
over. I am not pretending to know more than other people. I am perfectly
willing to say that in many things I know less. But upon this subject I
want you to think. No matter whether you are afraid of your sons, your
daughters, your wives, or your husbands, that isn't it--I don't want the
splendid prospects of this League put in jeopardy upon such an issue
as this. I have no more to say. But if that resolution is passed, all I
have to say is that, while I shall be for liberty everywhere, I cannot
act with this organization, and I will not.'
"The resolution was finally adopted, and Colonel Ingersoll resigned his
office of vice-president in the League, and never acted with it again
until the League dropped all side issues, and came back to first
principles--the enforcement of the Nine Demands of Liberalism."
In 1892, writing upon this subject in answer to a minister who had
repeated these absurd charges, Colonel Ingersoll made this offer:
"I will pay a premium of one thousand dollars a word for each and every
word I ever said or wrote in favor of sending obscene publications
through the mails."
CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL LIBERAL LEAGUE.
Cincinnati, O., September 14.1878.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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