xy of promise.

If we wish to prevent the immigration of the Chinese, let us reform our
treaties with the vast empire from whence they came. For thousands of
years the Chinese secluded themselves from the rest of the world. They
did not deem the Christian nations fit to associate with. We forced
ourselves upon them. We called, not with cards, but with cannon. The
English battered down the door in the names of Opium and Christ. This
infamy was regarded as another triumph for the gospel. At last, in
self-defense, the Chinese allowed Christians to touch their shores.
Their wise men, their philosophers protested, and prophesied that time
would show that Christians could not be trusted. This report proves
that the wise men were not only philosophers, but prophets.

Treat China as you would England. Keep a treaty while it is in force.
Change it if you will, according to the laws of nations, but on no
account excuse a breach of national faith by pretending that we are
dishonest for God's sake.

Ingersoll's Letter, Is Suicide a Sin? (Colonel Ingersoll's First Letter)

I do not know whether self-killing is on the increase or not. If it
is, then there must be, on the average, more trouble, more sorrow, more
failure, and, consequently, more people are driven to despair. In
civilized life there is a great struggle, great competition, and many
fall. To fail in a great city is like being wrecked at sea. In the
country a man has friends. He can get a little credit, a little help,
but in the city it is different. The man is lost in the multitude. In
the roar of the streets his cry is not heard. Death becomes his only
friend. Death promises release from want, from hunger and pain, and so
the poor wretch lays down his burden, dashes it from his shoulders and
falls asleep.

To me all this seems very natural. The wonder is that so many endure
and suffer to the natural end, that so many nurse the spark of life in
huts and prisons, keep it and guard it through years of misery and
want; support it by beggary; by eating the crust found in the gutter,
and to whom it only gives days of weariness and nights of fear and
dread. Why should the man, sitting amid the wreck of all he had, the
loved ones dead, friends lost, seek to lengthen, to preserve his life?
What can the future have for him?

Under many circumstances a man has the right to kill himself. When life
is of no value to him, when he can be of no real ass