Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1865-05-26
WENDELL PHILLIPS ON THE DEATH or PRESI.
DENT LINCOLN.

In late speech of Wendell Phillips
q delivered in the fremont Temple, Bos
ton, the following beautiful passage oc'
! ours:
; We believe the agony of the slave.
hovel, the mother and the husband, when
it takes its seat at our board. We re-
alize the barbarsm that crushed him in
the sickening and brutal use of the relics
| of Bull Run, in the torture and starva-
] ton Of Libby Prison, where Idiocy was
mercy, and death was Gods best bless
ing and now still more bitterly we re-
alze il in the coward spite which strikes
, an unarmed man, unwarned, behind bis
back in the assassin fingers which dab
BILE with bloody knife at the throats OF
old men on sick pillows. Oh, God let
this lesson be enough Spare us any
more such costly teaching
This deed is but the result and fair
representative of the system in whose
defence it was done. No matter whether
it was previously approved at Richmond,
or whether the assassin, if he reached
the conlederates, be received with all
honor, as the wretch Brooks was, and
as this boodier wretch will surely be,
wherever rebels are not dumb with fear
of our cannon. No matter for all this.
God shows this terrible act to teach the
nation, in unmistakable terms, the terri
ble foe with which it has to deal But
for this fiendish spirit, North and South,
which holds up the rebellion, the assass-
in had never either wished or dared such
a deed. This lurid fash only shows US
how black and wide the clouds from
which itsprung
Aud what of him in whose precious
blood this momeutous lesson is writ
( He sleeps in the blessings OF the poor,
whose tetters God commissioned hun to
break. Give prayers and tears to the
| desolate widow and the fatherless, but
count him blessed far above the crowd Of
bis fe wm n. Fervent cries of
amen ~ He was permitted himself
to deal the last staggering blow which
sent rebellion reeling to its grave aud
then, holding his darling boy by the hand,
to walk the streets of its surrendered
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 blood. He heard
the first notes of coming jubilee and
found his name in every one. Who
among living men may not envy him !
Suppose that, when a boy he floated on
the slow current of the Mississippi, idly |
gazing at the slave u p its banks,
some angel had lifted the curtain, and |
shown him that in the prime OF his man
hood he should see this proud empire
rocked to its foundation in the effort TO
break those chains, should himself mar
shall the hosts of the Almighty in the
grandest and holiest war that Christen-
dom ever knew, and deal, with half-reluc> |
tant hand, that lhunderbolt of justice !
which would smite that foul system to |
the dust-then die, leaving a name i'm
mortal in the sturdy pride of our race
and the undying gratitude of another,-
would any credulity, however sanguine,
any enthusiasm, however feryid, have
enabled him to believe it? Fortunate
man He has lived to do it ! Ap-
plause. God has graciously withheld
him from any fatal misstep in the great
advance, and Withdrawn him at the mo-
ment when his star touched its zenith,
and the nation needed a sterner hand
for the work God gives it to do.
No matter that, unable to lead and
form the nation, he was contented to be
only its representative and mouthpece
no matter that, with prejudces hanging
about him, he CROPPED his way very slow
ly and sometimes reluctantly forward
let US remember how patient be was OF
how little obstinate in OPP
inion, how willing, like Lord Bacon, Ito
light his torch at every mans CANDLE
With the least possible personal hatred,
with too little sectional bitterness, often
forgetting justice in mercy tenderheart
ed TO any misery bis own eyes saw, aud
in any deed which needed his actual
sanction, i f bis sympahies had limits,
recollect h was human, and that lie
welcomed light more than most men,
was more honest than bis fellows, and I
with truth to his own convictions such !
as f W politicians achieve. With all :
his shortcomings, we point proudly TO
him as the natural growth of democra-
tic institutions. Applause. Coming
time will put him on that galaxy OF
Americans which makes our history the
day star Of the nations. Washington, :
Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson and Jay.
History will add his name to the bright !
list, with a more loving claim on our
gratitude than either of them. No one
Df those was called TO die for his cause. S
For him, when the nation needed to be a
raised to its last dread duty, we we're {
for it by the baptism of his
blood. {
WHAT FooLs.-Said an old planter