The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1865-05-24
grs5um fur the Aunr.
WENDELL PHILLIPS ON THE TOPIC
OF TIE HOUR.


large meeting in the fremont Temple at
Boston, as follows;
These are sober days. Tho judgments
of God have found us out. Years gone by
chastsed us with whips-these chastise us
with scorpions. Thirty years ago, how
strong our mountains stood, laughing pros
pe-ity on all it's sides None needed the
| fire and gloom which slumbered below. 1t
was nothing that giant sin gagged our
pulpi's; that its mobs ruled our cities,
bnrnt men at the stake for their opinions
and hunted them like wild beasts for their
humanity. 1t was nothing that as husba d
and father, mother and child. the negro
drained to its drcgs all tho bitterness that
coull be pressed into his cup; that torn
with whip and dogs, starved hunted, racked.
he cried: How long oh Lord, how long"
| In vain did q thousand witnesses crowd
our highways, telling to the worll the nor
rors Of this prison house. None stopped
to consider, none believed. Trade turned
away its deep the Church gazed on
them with stony brow-lctters passed by
with mockinS tongue. l}nt what the
world refused to believe, God has written
all over the face of the continent with the
swords point, in tho Hood Of our best and
most beloved, We bel eve the agony of
the slaves howell the mother and the hus-
! band, when it takes its scat at our board.
| We realize the barharism that crushed him
| in the scllening and brutal use of the relics
of Bull Run, III the torture and starvation
of Libby Prison, where idiocy was mercy,
and death was Gods best blessing; and
now still moro bitterly we realize it i'll the
coward spirit which strikes an unarln"d
! man, unwarncd, behind his back; in the as
sassln fingers which dabble with knife at
the tHroIts of old mon on sick pillows. Oh,
God let this lesson be enough! Spare us
any more such costly teaching
This deed is out the result and fair rep
rcsentativo of the system in whose defense
it was lone. No matter whether it was
previously approved at Richmond, or
whether the assassin, if he reaches the Con-
fcdcrates, he received with all honor, as
the wretch Brooks was, and as this blood
ier wretch will surely be, wherever rebels
arc not dumb with fear of our cannon. No
matter for all this. God shows this terrible
act TO teach tho nation in unmistakable
terms the terrible foe with which it has TO
deal. But for this fcndish spirit, North
and South, which holds up the rebellion,
the assassin had never either wished or
dared such deed. This lurid flash only
shows us how black and wide tho cloud
from which it sprung.
And what OF him in whose precious
blood this momentOus lesson is writ? lie
sleeps in the blessings O the poor whose
fetters God commissioned him to break.
Give prayers and tears 10 the desolate
widow aud the iatherless, hut count him
far above the crowd his fellow men. lie
has permitted himselfto deal the last stag.
gering blow which sent rebellion reeling 70
its grave; and then holding his darling boy
by the hand, to walk the streets of its sur
! rendered capital while his ears drank in
praise and thanksgiving which bore his
name to the throne Of God in every form
piety and gratitude could invent; and then
to seal the sure triumph of the cause he
loved with his own blooh. He heard the
first notes Of coming jubilee and found his
name in every one. Who among living
men may not envy himG Suppose that
when boy, lie iloated on a slow current of
the Mis- i;ssippi, idly gazing at tho slave
upon its banks some angel had lifted the
curtain, and shown him that in the prime
of his manhood he should see this proud
empire rocked to its foundation in the cf-
fort.to break those chains, should himself
marshal the hosts OF the Almighty in tie
grandest and holiest w9r that Ohristendom
over knew, and deal, with half-relucIant
hand, that thunderLolt Of justice which
would smite that foul system TO the dual
then die, leaving name immortal in the
sturdy pride OF our race aud the undying
gratitude Of anOther--would any credulity,
however sanguine, any enthusiasm, how.
ever fervid, have enabled him to believe
III God has graciously withheld
him from any fatal misstep in the great ad-
vance, and withdrawn him at the moment
when his star touched its zenith, and the
nation needed a sterner han for the work
God gives il 10 do.
\ No matter that, unable TO lead and form
tia nation, hs was cOntented to he only its
representative and moulhpece; no matter
that, With prejudces banging about him, he
CROPPED his way very slowly and sometimes
reluctantly forwards let us remember how
J patient he was OF contradiction, how little