_Question_. You have traveled about this State more or less,
lately, and have, of course, observed political affairs here. Do
you think that Senator Logan will be able to deliver this State to
the Grant movement according to the understood plan?
_Answer_. If the State is really for Grant, he will, and if it is
not, he will not. Illinois is as little "owned" as any State in
this Union. Illinois would naturally be for Grant, other things
being equal, because he is regarded as a citizen of this State,
and it is very hard for a State to give up the patronage naturally
growing out of the fact that the President comes from that State.
_Question_. Will the instructions given to delegates be final?
_Answer_. I do not think they will be considered final at all;
neither do I think they will be considered of any force. It was
decided at the last convention, in Cincinnati, that the delegates
had a right to vote as they pleased; that each delegate represented
the district of the State that sent him. The idea that a State
convention can instruct them as against the wishes of their
constituents smacks a little too much of State sovereignty. The
President should be nominated by the districts of the whole country,
and not by massing the votes by a little chicanery at a State
convention, and every delegate ought to vote what he really believes
to be the sentiment of his constituents, irrespective of what the
State convention may order him to do. He is not responsible to
the State convention, and it is none of the State convention's
business. This does not apply, it may be, to the delegates at
large, but to all the others it certainly must apply. It was so
decided at the Cincinnati convention, and decided on a question
arising about this same Pennsylvania delegation.
_Question_. Can you guess as to what the platform in going to
contain?
_Answer_. I suppose it will be a substantial copy of the old one.
I am satisfied with the old one with one addition. I want a plank
to the effect that no man shall be deprived of any civil or political
right on account of his religious or irreligious opinions. The
Republican party having been foremost in freeing the body ought to
do just a little something now for the mind. After having wasted
rivers of blood and treasure uncounted, and almost uncountable, to
free the cage, I propose that something ought to be done for the
bird. Every decent man in the United States would support that
plank. People should have a right to testify in courts, whatever
their opinions may be, on any subject. Justice should not shut
any door leading to truth, and as long as just views neither affect
a man's eyesight or his memory, he should be allowed to tell his
story. And there are two sides to this question, too. The man is
not only deprived of his testimony, but the commonwealth is deprived
of it. There should be no religious test in this country for
office; and if Jehovah cannot support his religion without going
into partnership with a State Legislature, I think he ought to give
it up.
_Question_. Is there anything new about religion since you were
last here?
_Answer_. Since I was here I have spoken in a great many cities,
and to-morrow I am going to do some missionary work at Milwaukee.
Many who have come to scoff have remained to pray, and I think that
my labors are being greatly blessed, and all attacks on me so far
have been overruled for good. I happened to come in contact with
a revival of religion, and I believe what they call an "outpouring"
at Detroit, under the leadership of a gentleman by the name of
Pentecost. He denounced me as God's greatest enemy. I had always
supposed that the Devil occupied that exalted position, but it
seems that I have, in some way, fallen heir to his shoes. Mr.
Pentecost also denounced all business men who would allow any
advertisements or lithographs of mine to hang in their places of
business, and several of these gentlemen thus appealed to took the
advertisements away. The result of all this was that I had the
largest house that ever attended a lecture in Detroit. Feeling
that ingratitude is a crime, I publicly returned thanks to the
clergy for the pains they had taken to give me an audience. And
I may say, in this connection, that if the ministers do God as
little good as they do me harm, they had better let both of us
alone. I regard them as very good, but exceedingly mistaken men.
They do not come much in contact with the world, and get most of
their views by talking with the women and children of their
congregations. They are not permitted to mingle freely with society.
They cannot attend plays nor hear operas. I believe some of them
have ventured to minstrel shows and menageries, where they confine
themselves strictly to the animal part of the entertainment. But,
as a rule, they have very few opportunities of ascertaining what
the real public opinion is. They read religious papers, edited by
gentlemen who know as little about the world as themselves, and
the result of all this is that they are rather behind the times.
They are good men, and would like to do right if they only knew
it, but they are a little behind the times. There is an old story
told of a fellow who had a post-office in a small town in North
Carolina, and he being the only man in the town who could read, a
few people used to gather in the post-office on Sunday, and he
would read to them a weekly paper that was published in Washington.
He commenced always at the top of the first column and read right
straight through, articles, advertisements, and all, and whenever
they got a little tired of reading he would make a mark of red
ochre and commence at that place the next Sunday. The result was
that the papers came a great deal faster than he read them, and it
was about 1817 when they struck the war of 1812. The moment they
got to that, every one of them jumped up and offered to volunteer.
All of which shows that they were patriotic people, but a little
show, and somewhat behind the times.
_Question_. How were you pleased with the Paine meeting here, and
its results?
_Answer_. I was gratified to see so many people willing at last
to do justice to a great and a maligned man. Of course I do not
claim that Paine was perfect. All I claim is that he was a patriot
and a political philosopher; that he was a revolutionist and an
agitator; that he was infinitely full of suggestive thought, and
that he did more than any man to convince the people of American
not only that they ought to separate from Great Britain, but that
they ought to found a representative government. He has been
despised simply because he did not believe the Bible. I wish to
do what I can to rescue his name from theological defamation. I
think the day has come when Thomas Paine will be remembered with
Washington, Franklin and Jefferson, and that the American people
will wonder that their fathers could have been guilty of such base
ingratitude.
--_Chicago Times_, February 8, 1880.