Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-08-15
nj
WENDELL PHILLIPS GRAFTON BEFORE
THE PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY
OF YALE COLLEGE.

Wendell Phillips delivered the Annual address
before this Society on Wednesday evening"
His subject was-"The Republican Scholar OF
necessity ala agitator 2"
He addressed them as representatives, Of the ed
ucated class, and it was Of such men shat he claim
ed that in a Republic they should be dgitdtorS.-
The word popularity had come to m%eanIthat species
of discussion which throws the gravest questions
upon the conscience ard intellect Of the Masses
1t comes out of that theory which not only repeats
but believes the Declaration of Independence, that
the people govern, and that, whatever present evil
may be felt. the ultimate result will be the best
which humanity can secure.
All history was but n school, and all institu-
tons were valued only for the ideas which they
have impressed. Centuries were consumed and
the Irish nation was used up in impresSing upon
the human race the idea of the unity OF God. In
this country we have existed two centuries to
learn the idea of national independence. 1t has
been learned, and in such q manner that 1T could
notrbe biotted out by any possible occurrence OF
circumstances. Democracy here prevails in the
widest and most unmixed theoretic form the world
has ever seen. Our theory is that the people rule
and they do rule. IL one too powerful element
controls the Government at Washington, tits be-
cause the people choose to have it so. 1t is in
vain for wealth to endeavor to create q bulwark
against this power; it is in vain for education to
claim a prepOnderating influence. In the long
run, in the critical hour the masses prevail. 1t Is
the uuty Oh every Anne lClu 10 GBCOpulIc ms olutO
of things, and to learn the sprint Of his times
The great difficulty is that we wait until triumph
flares it's exultation in our faces we do not see
the truth in this principle. Absolute democracy,
the unqualified, unchecked opinion of the masses
rules. For an illustration, go back twenty-five
years, and we find the faith of the Empire State
pledged to a set of individuals. Law, wealth, an
cient privileges, were on their side, but the mass
es were against them, and where now are the
manor rights of the old families of New York;
ANEcDoTE OF MR.. MARCY.
The statesman who has just closed his eyes at
Saratoga was accustomed to say, ~ care not for
what Napoleon thought of the influence of news
papers the Press of New York is the organ of
wealth, of intellect, of the Wing Party it is
against me, but the masses are ON my side, and j
DEFY the Press" lie was right. Whatever un-
dertakes to rule this Governm ent for good or
evil, must reach these masses.
The Press is the ruling power of the times
The age of statesmen is over, the age Of bullets is
over, and the age of the printing press has come.
What the invention oil gunpowder was to the art OF
war, making any man who could pull a trigger
equal to the most powerful warrior, the press is in
n reading age. We have invented the pamphlet.
W have called into existence the fourth estate OF
the realm, it is brains. Men sometimes think
that the great brows at Washington control the
nation. So the boy W.T. first sees n steamboat
thluho Nidl ihO m pN1A 80 49, ECfo
power, but below there is a fanatic" feeding the
fires. Where is to be found the type Of the schol
arship Of the present day
EDWARD EVERETT.
As an illustration of the eowardice Of the schol-
arship of the present day, Wendell Phillips re-
ferred to Edward Everett, who undertaking in this
age to tell the story Of Washington's life, an age
when if ever Washington had a claim upon the
gratitude of his country, it is that living in n
etava stota he rose ohoye surrounding preludiCeS
and left upon record the most eloquent protests
against the great crime of Virginia yet this Amer
lean scholar remembers only to forget that be
ever uttered a word against slavery.
"a few Kisses were heard upon the delivery o.
this passage, which were quickly lost in a storm o.
applause.) ....-r.
THE MASSES TO BE EDUCATED BY AGITATION.
The effect of q popular agitation directed to
ward a practical end was a most ethcacious means
of educating the people. The temperance move
ment had taught the masses more than all the
logicians from Aristotle to Whatley, or all the
preachers from Luther to Beecher, 1t is the
search after truth which is the glory OF the mind
1t was better to go to the bar OF Judgment, cover
ed all over with intellectual errors, but with a
heart beneath sincerely DESTROYS of the truth,
than to go armed with the five points of Colvanism
and the Compromise, which is the American devil,
beneath.
The agitation which he advocated was not an
accident which could be got rid OF. No; the man.
ma of Republican liberty must be daily gathered,
or it will rot. A Democrat in Office will harden
into a despot unless a million of eyes watch him
continually. a Tory is a young Democrat gone
to seed. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty
relax it, and despotism, like a mist, steals over the
there must be. Drop the truth into the midst of {
nation, and there must be commissions, as wher
the giant turns under Mount Etna. 1t is the in
dolent inactivity of the masses which has allowed
the Government to drift toward despotism SO ia
as it has. Despotism is bold-the masses ar
timid. This it is which endangers the Govern
ment today.
Our country is not homogeneous. One kalf o
it is seventeen hundred years behind the nine
teenth century-that part where the faggot still
burns, and where opinions are met with tortures
That country has ceased to be Republican whicl
meets the widest insanity of opinion with any
thing but argument. Universal suffrage nipple
the most unfettered wiidness Of thought; it pre-
su2poses the most unchecked indiyidualism 0
opinion.
THE SIXTEEN NORTHERN STATES.
Some men speak of the empire as vigorous b.
it's extent, and estimate its strength by the nun
Der of States. The American Republic exists to
day by the vigor of the Saxon race, which ha
covered sixteen States with industry that rae
which has more brains in its hand than any othe
In ITS mead. mat race, with only New Ehglan'
for it's anchorage, will cover the sea with com
merce and gather to its lap the wealth of tn
world.
AGITATION, THE SAFETY OF REPUBLICS.
God asks Of US faith-that sublime faith whicl
believes not that human nature is perfect, bu
that truth launched upon the masses is as safe n
harbored in some aristocratic class that faitl
which regards toll, struggles and contests will
error as a blessing sent from God. The natives o
the Sandwich Islands believed that the life of tn,
victim passed into that of the slayer so ever,
error gives back the strength with which it wa
bafHed.
Agitation is the safety of Republics. God gran
that the tumult may never cease, but that iron
age TO age prophets may arise to break up the me
notony of wealth and arouse the people to idea
as fast fading out to trouble the waters tina
4kaEa-rnnn la hnal4h In 4ho;n LIZ An:L.L:an