Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-03-30
Reason VS.. Bayonets.

wi. ~. ~. SieolI, thS poiioIlCu
orator of the West, made one of his
brilliant and powerful speeches in
Chicago last Tuesday evening to al
imme sc audience. The speech was
political IN character, and had for its
title the suggestive one of "s to ~
In the course OF his remarks, Col In.
gersoll gave strong and logical en-.
dorsemen, to the cancellation policy
adopted by President Hayes toward
the South, arguing for its necessity,
and showing in strong light the fail
urc of the policy that preceded it.
Gu this subject, he said:
You cannot shoot ideas into a
mans head with musket; if you
could, the Southern people would
have had many more ideas than they
have got to-day. Laughter. You
cannot drive prejudices out of a man
with sword or bayonet; if you could
there would not have been rs many
prejudices in this country now. You
cannot do it. Artillery does not rea-
son; it asserts. There is point
enough about bayonet, but there is
no logic in bayonet. When the
sword is drawn from the scabbard,
reason remains; and nothing is set
tied, nothing ever was really settled,
except the question of strength, by
brute force. In the roar of cannon,
the voice of reason and the pleadings
of entreaty cannot be heard. | say
that it is time to settle something by
reason; that it is time to settle some
thing by sense; that it is time to set
tie something by persuasion; that it
is time to settle something by a rea-
sonable compromise; that the Ameri.
can people, in this, the nineteenth
century, ought to have sense enough
to come together and say, 'Let us
talk this matter over; let us appeal
from force to reason and to right"
Now, it does seem to me that we
ought to have that sense. But we
pursued certain policy. The Re-
publican party pursued certain pol
icy after the war; we pursued it whi.e
Gen. Grant was President of the
United States, and we pursued it dill
gently; and day after day, day after
day, we grew weaker, and weaker,
and weaker in the South, and we lost
State after State in the South. While
Gen. Grant was President of the
United States, we saw 4 Governor
driven, for instance, from the State
Of Mississippi, and the State taken
possession of by the Democratic par
ty,-taken possession Of by force,
and not one solitary word was said;
and there we sat and there we pur-
sued that policy, as they called it, I'M
til every State of the South went out,
and, as it were, joined the Democra-
cy, except South Carolina and Louis
ana, and l believe there is some
doubt about them. Laughter.
Now, that was the policy; and if that
policy had been carried on little
longer, what would have been the
result? What was the result in the
North, my friends? Let us be hon
est about this thing. Under that old
policy OF trying to govern by the
bayonet, and not having much bayo.
net at that-thc old policy OF taking
down soldiers into the South, just
enough to irritate the whole people
without protecting the black people
that is what was done; under that
policy we lost, | say, every State in
the South but two, and we lost Con-
necticu,, New Jersey and Indiana in
the North, and we came very near
losing the State of Ohio, and we
came within an ace of losing the
State of Wisconsin, and we came
within an ace Of losing the entire
Pacific slope; and if that policy could
be carried on four years more, in my
Judgment there would not be Re
publican State left in this Union.
Laughter. People get tired Of it.
Something else has got to be done.