Letter to the Cleveland Congress of Freethinkers, October, 1885

I send my greetings to the Congress of Freethinkers assembled at Cleveland, and regret, more than I can express, that I am unable to be there and hear all the good things you will hear, and see all the earnest workers you will see.

The Freethinkers of America ought to be a very proud and enthusiastic body, when they have in their presidential chair the ablest orator¹ of modern times, and the broadest, bravest, and most comprehensive intellect that has ever been called “Mr. President” in this land of bravery and presidents. Washington was a patriot² of whom we are all justly proud. He was liberal in his religion and progressive in his views of personal rights. And yet he had his limitations. To him liberty and personal rights were modified by the words, “free, white, adult, males.” He got no farther. He who fought for freedom upheld slavery! And yet we are all proud and glad to pay honor and respect to the memory of Washington.

Abraham Lincoln we place still higher on the roll of honor; for, added to his still more liberal religious views, in his conceptions of freedom and justice he had at least two fewer limitations than had the patriot of 1776. He struck both “free” and “white” from his mental black list, and gave once more an impulse to liberty that thrilled a nation and gave fresh dignity to the human race.

But what shall we say of our president — Ingersoll? A man who in ten short years has carried mental liberty into every household in America — who is without limitations in religion, and modifies justice by no prefix³. A man who, with unequaled oratory⁴, champions Freedom — not the “free, white, adult, male” freedom of Washington. A man who has breasted a whirlwind of detraction⁵ and abuse for Justice — not the “male, adult” justice of Lincoln, but the freedom and justice, without limitation, for “man, woman, and child.”

With such a leader, what should not be achieved? With such a champion, what cause could fail? If the people ever place such a man in the White House, the nations of this earth will know, for the first time, the real meaning of a free government under secular⁶ administration.

“A government of the people, for the people, by the people,” will be more than simply a high-sounding phrase, which, read by the light of the past, was only a bitter mockery to a race in chains; and, read by the light of the present, is a choice bit of grim humor to half of a nation in petticoats. But so long as the taste of the voter is such that he prefers to place in the executive chair a type of man so eminently⁷ fitted for private life that when you want to find him you have to shake the chair to see if he is in it, just so long will there be no danger that the lightning will strike so as to deprive the Freethinkers of one man in America who could fill the national executive chair full, and strain the back and sides a little getting in.

Once more I send greetings to the Convention, with the hope that you may have as grand a time as you ought to have, and that Free thought will receive a new impulse from the harmony and enthusiasm of this meeting. Sincerely,

Helen H. Gardener.

1 orator   

n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家

参考例句：

• He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。
• The orator gestured vigorously while speaking.这位演讲者讲话时用力地做手势。

2 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

3 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

4 oratory   

n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞

参考例句：

• I admire the oratory of some politicians.我佩服某些政治家的辩才。
• He dazzled the crowd with his oratory.他的雄辩口才使听众赞叹不已。

5 detraction   

n.减损；诽谤

参考例句：

• Envy has no other quality But that of detraction from virtue.嫉妒除了损坏美德外，别无可取之处。
• Faced with such detraction,scientists characteristically retort that science,unlike witchcraft,works.面对诋毁，科学家们出于天性给予反驳，宣称科学不是巫术，确实有效。

6 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

7 eminently   

adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地

参考例句：

• She seems eminently suitable for the job. 她看来非常适合这个工作。
• It was an eminently respectable boarding school. 这是所非常好的寄宿学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》