Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-05-30
A Modern ReGOrmer.

AN1A
The Albany Journal attacks Wendell
Phillips, accusing him of the possession
of q large income, and charging that his
anti-Slavery efforts have been nothing
but talk inasmuch as he never backed up
his speeches with tangible aid, etc.
The attack of the JOURNAL followed up
BY sundry Johnsonian papers, is base and
baseless. If there is a man in America
who has made great sacrifices for human
tvs sake, that man is Wendell Phillips.
Rising thirty years ago, there lived in
Boston a young lawyer, of good family,
wealth. and honored, before whom
cleaned a bright and glorious future. His
prospects were more suspicious thanthose
Of any man of equal age in Massaehu-
sets. There was no station to which he
might not aspire, for his talents were
rare, and society called him its leader.
At that time a poor printer, Garrison
by name, had lately begun the publication
of an anei-slavery newspaper, which he
called the Li6erGtor. This young lawyer
by chance saw a few numbers of the Lib
orator and became interested in the anti
slavery movement, then the most unpop-
ular OF all "jsms,p while its advocates
were regarded as the most impracticable
of fanatics. He investigated the subject,
and was soon convinced that the anti
slavery men were right, and that, not as
a measure of national policy, not as q
matter of political economy, butas an abb
stract moral question, slavery was the
sum of all villanies," and that u gov
iernment must wash its hands OF connec-
ton with it ere permanent peace and
national happiness could be secured.
That young lawyer was Wendell Phil
lips.
His conversion to anti-slaYery was re-
ceived with opposition and contumely,
but that did not shake his purpose. He
was wealthy and needed not to practice
his profession for gain,-merely for in
huence, power, and position but he at
once decided that he had a more urgent
call to plead the canse Of the bondman
and the outcast. He gave up his profess
sional practice, and since that time his
life has been spent in works of philan-
thropy.
When, a dozen years ago, under the in
famous Fugitive Slave Law, Thomas
Sims ard Anthony Burns were seized by
the bloodhounds of slavery under the
very shadow of Faneuil Hall, Wendell
Phillips volunteered his services to defend
them. His efforts were unsuccessful, but
in the defence of these fugitives he dis
played the courage of a true hero and the
fidelity of a martyr.
he has always been ahead of the times.
he is to-day far in advance Of age. But
the march Of ideas always follows in the
trail of his pioneer footsteps. Last fall
he declared "the South victorious" at
which the combined voice and press of the
nation laughed him to seorn; but Wen
dell Phillips was a true prophet, and we
are now sadly compelled to acknowledge
he was right
He is 8 remarkable type of the moral
reformer. Foremost in every efortfor the
advancement of humanity, a thorough
Christian gentleman, his characters spot
less and his private life ~irreproachable.
He is an earnest advocate of all that is
noble and true; working for the temper
ance cause, the elevation of w~omanhood,
the ennoblement Of labor, and for every |
which will benefit society OF
humanity. To our personal knowledge |
be has given his services for all Of these
without fee or reward.
To sheer at this Puritan reformer may
be interesting sport for little minds but
10 those who know him it sounds mslign-
ant and indecent. Christ the type Of a
moral reformer, two thousand years ago,
was ridiculed and prosecuted; the world
S more enlightened now, but he who aims
mend and elevate humanity may look
or a liberal share of its kicks and curses.
We do not write these paragraphs to
lefend Wendell Phillips; he needs no de-
ense, his life IS noble and his acts are
honorable; but there are some who may
,e naware Of his manhood and broad
love for humanity. He is q gentle
nan, a Christian, and a scholar; his life
: without fear and without reproach.