The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII | Page 6

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.
Question. How do you account for the results of the recent elections?
Answer. The Republican party won the recent election simply because
it was for honest money, and it was in favor of resumption. And if on
the first of January next, we resume all right, and maintain resumption,
I see no reason why the Republican party should not succeed in 1880.
The Republican party came into power at the commencement of the
Rebellion, and necessarily retained power until its close; and in my
judgment, it will retain power so long as in the horizon of credit there is
a cloud of repudiation as large as a man's hand.
Question. Do you think resumption will work out all right?
Answer. I do. I think that on the first of January the greenback will
shake hands with gold on an equality, and in a few days thereafter will
be worth just a little bit more. Everything has resumed, except the
Government. All the property has resumed, all the lands, bonds and
mortgages and stocks. All these things resumed long ago--that is to say,
they have touched the bottom. Now, there is no doubt that the party that
insists on the Government paying all its debts will hold control, and no
one will get his hand on the wheel who advocates repudiation in any
form. There is one thing we must do, though. We have got to put more
silver in our dollars. I do not think you can blame the New York
banks--any bank --for refusing to take eighty-eight cents for a dollar.
Neither can you blame