Year: 1876

The following is an extract from Bob In
gersoll's speech delivered in Indianapolis at
the reunion of ex-Union soldiers on Septem-
ber 10th:


II am opposed to the Democratic party;
and l will tell you why. Every State that
seeded from the United States was Demo-
cratic State. Every ordinance of secession
that was drawn was drawn by Democrat.
Every man that attempted to tear the old flag
from the heaven that it enriches was Demo-
crat. Every man that attempted to destroy
the nation was a Democrat. Every enemy
that this great Republic has had for twenty
years has been Democrat Every man that
shot Union soldiers was Democrat Every
man that starved Union soldiers and refused
them, in the extremity of death. crust, was
Democrat Every man that loved slavery
better than liberty. was a Democrat. The
man that assassinated Abraham Lincoln was
Democrat Every man that sympathized
with the assassin-every man glad that the
nOblest President ever elected, was assassl-
mated, was Democrat. Every man that
wanted the privilege of whipping another
man 10 make him work for him for nothing
and pay him with lashes on his naked back
was Democrat Every man that raised
blood hounds to pursue human beings was a
Democrat. Every man that clutched from
shrieking, shuddering, crouching mothers
babes from their breasts and sold them into
| slavery was Democrat Every man that
impaired the credit of the United States, every
man that sworc he would never redeem the
greenbacks, every maligner of his country's
credit, every caluminator of his country's
honor Was Democrat. Every man that re-
sisted the draft, every man that hid in the
bushes and shot at Union men simply be-
cause they were endeavoring to enforce the
laws of their country was Democrat. Every
man that wept over the corpse of slavery was
Democrat Every man that cursed Lincoln
because he issued the proclamation of eman-
cipation-the grandest paper since the Decla-
ration of Independence one of them
was Democrat. Every man that denounced
the soldiers that barred their bosoms to the
storms of shot and shell for the honor of
America and for the sacred rights of man
was Democrat. Every man that wanted an
uprising in the North, that wanted to release
the rebel prisoners that they might burn down
the homes of Union soldiers above the heads
of their wives and children while the brave
husbands and the heroic fathers were in the
front fighting for the honor of the old flag,
every one of them was Democrat. l am
not through yet. Every man that believed
this glorious nation of ours is confederacy,
every udu tudI UclitVeU tuc Olu DduIeI CAL
red by our fathers through the Revolution,
through the war of 1912, carried by our
brothers over the plains of Mexico, carried
by our brothers over the fields of the rebel
lion, simply stood for contract, simply stood
for an agreement, was a Democrat. Every
man who believed that any State could go ont
of the Union at its pleasure, every man that
believed the grand fabric of the American
Government could be made to crumble in
stantly into dust at the touch of treason, was
Democrat Every man who helped burn
orphan asylums in the city of New York was
6 Democrat. Every man that tried to fire the
city of New York, although he knew that
thousands would perish, and knew that the
great serpents of flame leaping from build
ings would clutch children from their moth
ers' arms-every wretch that did it was
Democrat. Recollect it! Every man that
tried to spread smallpox and yellow fever in
the North, as the instrumentalities Of civilized
war, Was a Democrat Soldiers, every scar
you have got on your heroic bodies was given
you by Democrat. Every scar, every arm
that is lacking, every limb that is gone, every
scar is souvenir of Democrat. warn
you to recollect it. Every man that was the
enemy of human liberty in this country was
Democrat. Every man that wanted the
fruit of all the heroism of all ages to turn to
ashes upon the lips-every one was Demo-
crat"