Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1862-05-10
Wendell Phillips on Slavery and tne
Union.

- ulOus
The Boston papers Of the 18th OF
Anr; report a speech made by Wen
dell Phillips, from which we make the
following extracts:
For the first time for sixty years the
flag of the Republic floats over the
Capitol not visible to a slave. Ap-
plause.I For the first time tie constr
tuted authorities of the nation make
one step toward that great motto -
"Freedum National'-and give us a
CAPITAL without a chain. Cheers. -
Neither YOU nor I could have natural
" expected to live to see that result.
Not the ,1sost sanguine Of us could have
ihoped that any means he could have
.called into exercise would so far pre-
vail apainst the seeming interest and
the well anchored institutions of the
country "a to consecrate even the Dis
trict to Liberty III our day. We have
lived to see so much In a nation that
moves 80 fast as we do, it gives us good
hope that those are yet living, in mid
dle-lifc. within these walls, who shall
see the whole continent, as far at least
"a it acknowledges the Stars and
Stripes, clean and free from the fetteT
Of slave. IApplauSe.
Nothing can save slavery. Mr.. Lin
coin, the nation may abolish slavery,
they cannot save it. God appealed
first to the pulpits--they were barred
acainst h.s messengers; he appealed to
ballots they were too slow for his
method hs appeals to bullets, and the
slaves Of the District are the first tro-
phies of his victory Applause. -
The strength of slavery has been IN the
idea Of the North that there was some
thing sacred in the compromises OF the
Constitution, something graceful, pic
turesoe and chivalrous IN the slave
holder and his system. That deliision
ro,.s out at Manassas-the skulls of
brave men used Cor drinking vessels.
It poes out at Fort Donclson and Pitts
burg, when chivalry took to its heels
before the men whom it had atfe cted
to despisc. [Applause.l Never again
will the North sit down blind Worship
pers of civilization supposed to be
better than their own We were mob
bed from the John Brown meeting a
little more than a year ago. | have
heard the "John Brown Song on the
.syacred soil" Of Virginia, and the court
house in which be was doomed TO death
Is the barracks of Massachusetts reg
imeut. Who believed when year
aoo to-day the Sixth Massachusetts
regiment hurried to save the Captai, !,
that to-day emancipation would be de-
creed in the District, and Northern
regiments hold Virginia under their
feet? Yet so it Is.
But vet | do not think the act aboi-
ishing slavery in the District, broad
and marked as it is, so significant as
the message Of the President. After
all. the President is ahead Of the man
itestations Of the opinion Of the peo-
ple. He holds out his hands to the mil
lions and says, "Sapport me.' We
have not vet answered him officially.
That message Of his Is the boldest
voice vet heard over the continent -
1t means more than men accord to It.
May tell you story ?--he always
tells one. Laughter. Noticing some
criticisms upon his message, he said--
nrhere is more in it than people see
Did You ever hear the story of the
man who went down to the State ot
Maine, in Maine Liquor Law times
and asked for glass of soda water
adding, Couldn't you put drop Of
the crather in unbeknown to meself ?
So have put 4 large drop Of the era
ther III, unheknoWn to them." Zap,
plause.)
That message says this substantial
lv:-"Gentlemen, now is your time to
sell. II YOU don't seize it, and another
twelve months sweeps what you Cal
property from your gras without com
pensation, never say | did not give
YOU fair notice. (Applause.) Tha
IS Que half the message; the Other
half is an arrows flight beyond ever
that, for it says this: ''Gen,lemen, /
you will sell, l will buy That means
that rebellion has given me the right t.
buy, and he goes on to say: If the
abolition Of slavery be an efficien
means Of ending this war, if 1 find can
non unsuccessful, shall try efficien
means In other words: "Gentle
nen, | will buy # you viii trade.
YOU won't trade, remember that have
the right to take" Pregnant words
Be happy that you live to hear then
from the head Of the Government
For the first time in the history Of th'
Government it has done an anti-slave
w act; it has spoken an anti-slavery
word. ,Applause.) Enough to have
gained in twelve months.
The masses are to settle this ques
ton, not the statesmen. They stand