Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-01-07
From the PhiIadelphia Press
Wendell Phillips and his Opinions.


Wendell Phillips and his Opinions.
Whenever Mr.. Wendell Phillips speaks,
we are willing to listen. He never says
too little. but frequently too much. Not
only eloquent but earnest, he never fails
to arrest attention, if not by argument,
at least by denunciation. Dr.Johnson, who
loved hearty hater, would have adored
Mr.. Phillips. He nevsr yet spoke with
out making personal attack, and his
elOquence rises more proudly when it is
employed to blast an opponent, than
when it unfolds a principle Nor does
Mr.. Phillips, though an extravagant eu-
logist, often utter praise without ming
ling censure with its sweets He glori-
fies without reserve Toussaint L'Ouver-
ture, and cannot find words strong
enough to express his admiration of
John Brown. But who else has he nQ-
conditionally approved We remember
no one If there is spot on the sun,
Mr. Phillips is the man who will define
its length and breadth, occasionally ex-
aggerating both.
All this we like in the great orator of
anti-slavery. We like his energy, his
earnestness, his savage criticism, his
honesty We wish his candor was more
common, and think the country would
be better if all its eminent speakers were
bold enough to praise without fattering,
and censure without fear. But we do
not wish that Mr.. Phillips extravagance
should be initiated. His mind is one
that is passionately fond of extremes;
he always thinks in an antithesis; he
could not compromise were all the world
to ask it as favor. His e; rlestness is so
great, his intellectual passion so intense,
that they often transcend his Judgment;
and, when you consider MS conclusions,
you must make allowances for a mind
that reasons like a cannon ball. With
such a nature, it is inevitable that he
should frequently make great blunders,
and wrong good men with very good
intention. We think the lightning-like
Phillips, year or two since, called the
President :" a turtle" But the President
did not move any faster for this taunt;
the people merely smiled Mr.. Phil
lips has lived to learn; and in his
fine speech in New York on Tuesday
night, had the manliness to utter these
memorable words: Mr. Lincoln has
done so much service in this rebellion,
has carved for himself niche so high
in the worlds history, that he can we'll
afford to have all his faults told" And
they have been told Abraham Lincoln,
standing above all other men of the day,
in an an-revealing light, and subjected
to universal scrutiny, tested by re-
sponsibility unsurpassed by that of any
ruler in history, could mot conceal a
fault, and cannot cover mp mistake
Not only his actions, but his motives, are
necessarily revealed, and though Mr.
Phillips may criticise the President as
sharply as he pleases, he cannot tell US
much more than we already know. We,
the people, having tried Mr.. Lincoln Tor
three years, think we understand him;
perhaps we know him better than Mr.
Phillips, whose heart is singularly i'm
partial, but whose intellect is impulsive
and extreme.
That golden mean of wisdom which
the policy of the Administration embod-
les has its signal triumph in the concilia-
ton of extremes. Mr. Lincoln is, on
the one hand, approved by the border
States, by the loyalists of the South; on
the other hand, by Mr. Phillips and the
6ery-hearted Abolitionists of New Eng
land. Between these is included all the
loyalty OF the country, which is a unit in
support of the Government We con-
slider this strange conciliation, so hon
estly effected, evidence that the policy of
the Administration is one of the noblest
impartiaity, capable of the greatest re-
suits, and destined to rebuild the Union
upon that unsectional basis which treas
on cannot shake Mr.. Phillips, to his
great astonishment, no doubt, finds him
self side by side with Arkansas and Mis-
souri,. He may say, l have not moved
for thirty years; Arkansas has come to
me-" 1t is not soa Mr.. Phillips has
done wonders for freedom, but his elo-
quencel has not converted Arkansas.
The laurel belongs to that man
who, for three years, without hur-
ry, without delay, has interpreted the
wish, and executed the will, of the
people: who, with the help qf the people,
has solved all the problems of the war
which man could solve, and marked out,
so far as man dare presume, the nation
al path in the future. The laurel be-
longs to him who, at the right time, is
sued the proclamation of emancipation;
who, at the right time, and not before,
issued the proclamation of pardon; who,
at the right time, has never faiod to dc
the right thing, and who, unlike Mr..
Phillips, is not only the honest, enthusi-
astic exponent of noble idea, but the
cool and cautious statesman of nation.
Mr.. Phillips has not always remembered
that the right thingis is wrong at the wrong
moment. He would long ago have ru-
ined slavery, as Sampson slew the lords
of Philistia, by pulling down the Repub-
lie. Destiny otherwise decreed Mr.
Lincoln is destroying slavery; but (let us
never forget this) he is saving the Union
! too
We hardly suppose that the eloquent
orator meant to disparage the President
when he defined him as the servant of
the people. Such definition, truly I'M
derstood, we consider the highest praise
an American President could ask. Nor
is Mr.. Phillips wrong when he says that
the President has never gone so far be-
yond the will of the people that he sub
stituted his purpose for theirs. On the
contrary, the people and the Govern
ment have moved together, and by their
reciprocal trust and patience in this uni.
ted movement, they have carried on the
war so triumphantly. They have brought
the country to degree of moral great.
ness in 1853 which Mr. Pb;ll;n. &c
years ago, would not have believed DOS
sible to reach even in 1875. 1t is the
glory of this revolution that it is wrought
by constitutional means, and through the
fidelity of the Government to the trust
reposed in it by the people. If Mr.. Phil
lips is frightened at the spectre of pro
slavery Supreme Court undoing the work
of the war, let him calm his fears The