New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-11-17
THE QUESTION OF TOMORROW.
A LECTURE BY WENDELL PHILLIPS.

Wendell Phillips delivered an interesting
lecture on The Question Of Tomorrow, at steinway
Hail last evening. The floor and galleries were hIed
with select and apprecative audience, aud the appear
auce of the popular orator was the signal Tor loud a
ulause On being introduced Mr.. Phillips said:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: Tho time was when the
Iyceum confined choice OF subjects entirely TO tera
ture travel to biography TO science IL nhaertook 20
nnnt some representative portrait a. symbolic OF lS
epoch: u undertook report the last invention the
latest discovery 20 bring to those VINO stay ot az
Dr. Hall will bring To you, the impressions oi foreign
travel And certainly IT had then an" inere -
great value In the last ten yeaFss .na iy
cenm has undertaken the province OF agtat0r;
it mas undertaken TO discuss the great cyl ana poca
issues Of the day, To teach ciy dgy 10 ear open ,he
Ivceum platform derived chiefly from this later deye
opment OF MS RqrbSi AMI in ' the gravity Of its purpose
TO this later section az the Lyceum epoch. man
studies hs own country the Of lawyers, tho
euOges OF statesmen, and he arrives OFTEN AT an
adult before he realizes the nature OF the INSTITUTION
in which nc lives. had grown TO be man, gone
the eulogies OF Webster by heart before got my nst
lesson in the essential principles OF tue Govern
men under which had been born; and that got IN the
streets II 81 years ago. m Octupci tbat came
down from n awOfcc. attracted ny tue unusual crowd
onto the payemcuts OF Boston. and saw nn dragged
by cord around ms waist In mob Of 1000 gentlemen in
broadcloth in the streets saw thr mHyor we repTe
a spaniel beseecmng Ike bcggar TINS crowd OF ms so
cia companions 10 respect the law NV .hc tIrpueni
defiance the derisiyo laugh with when hls
appeals received. "a" MN descend lower
oEa the iOT mob, that they would spare his once
was hot from the study Of constitutional Jaw fresh ana
keen, with youre lawyers hsihelS leI 'nr 'eCnca,
rights individual speech and safety All my SoH was
kiudrd with Constitutional INDIGNATION was no MO-
Oust; had DO sympathy viii anu 10 HIo".r1sr 49,, W
the idea which the victim represented Az hAN ptIoto
nr was the sacred name Of the magistrate Drawing ~
the streets then bore coilnl',ioh wv ~, ~ 80,
said 10 my comrades why don't the Mayor car US out
There are muskcs 10 the nal WY 10" nv "a, rai ,r 'e
uesi" Then got my first lesson ~ rrpuoneau govern
% me: You fool Don't you Iaee 'u1t o ,s.'0n. -
here Tho men that would Dear u"'o mus
f sSI n nrT And then for the hrst umo 1t
flashed through that there was no staAe book no
legislature making laws no magistrate win clNl force
behind him but tho statutes made IN the streets
The law, IN a critical encOunier-in the momcnt ~ Keen
quare-conslsted ~ the purpose OF ihc m"e Nhho'et
n might DO Then up 70 the truth of what the
Freuchman, DE Tocqueyillc. told mo: " IN America
to lcast ponoo i,fcr Jl,t dcrnlv moved nav pnrc-
T,rot Tempe In Boston the mob OF the city rceed
INTO our gallery from the open bars OF the fremont
Iouse and the Parker House and headed by the Mayor
they turned Us street We went " the Legisla
MISE IN Boston I'll you yindcac tho rncTcdues- Of FREQ
speech Shelter NJ In yonr hall Give us The Capitol ~
n refuge from the mob 90 Tho Legislature just
about t. their hall for our sessions when the most
loved Governor In Boston, the man who IN that hour o
danger 1861 had welded 60 himself tho hearts Of NIL
lion OF MASSACHUSETTS men and women the most loved
magistrate since winthrop John Andre" tapplAuscl
sent privately Ia the senate Don't you open your
doors 10 the anti-Sasery society Don't you dare To
shelter them from the Jury OIL tho streets nave nor
the means OF protecting the senate Chamber from the
crOrshOpz of Capitol Don't provoke quarrel Win
drnukards In the streets cannot protect the state
House. In TIE state House were mol made the laws, for
In the last resort ~heh tn1 IA" WI usr " was W tn1
this lesson : The L1rd gives us what We work for and
earn lie gives us no wealth 10 stand on. no physical
force TO take refuge under ne gIe US ue lhtiEehco
and the virtue OF the people the deed oil your estates
OF sueecn. Nothing besides or course Ia ordinary
hours Of calm Chinese Junk Will Adat WIN safety nut
pilot when the and the ocean swcls
That ~ aud strains tho insiituiions OF
how much they will hear. And 30 IN these critical
moments when the keen fire Of great quarrel brngs out
tho hidden secrets OF nation you see where the nun
OF power rests. Aud why do 60 back 10 these
"reminiscences ! will tell you. Bccau-e there are
even now commanding Us 70 admit them into
the great tribunal OF discussion The great auest0ns
The nrst "a temperance. We see an
orphaned family. We suffering even moro
than whose happiness he has wrecked That IN
temperance viewed from the Christian standpoint But
there Is another point. and II s now much this
las m do with the purpose aud 20 mold the machinery
OF civil government. going 10 look at II tonight.
with your PERMISSION from the standpoint OF ITS relation
to law. what are wet We are race OF Germans. We
belong TO the blood OF the North by utilization. Now
every has It's temptation, every blood has us
weakness You 90 to tue tropics anu you ma theie
under temptation, ana you 80 Ia the temperate
zones aud you lind men under another aud You VIII
always find out. when you cannot otherwise do u.
the dominant passion or characteristic IN the
race, II you run your eye on the centuries
back anterior s adoption Of Christianity, and nud
what It's mythology was; for man always pro.
jects ia dominant idea and forms out OF II IT'S Ideal OF
God We take what think strongest, or most beautiful
or attractive most characteristic IN ourselves
and project II into the Infinite ands that Is all
which every staesman must never forget balot.bo1
that floats without anchor on the changing wave OF
popular turbulence, which statuebOOk aud no magis
trate steades for single Instant Secondly race
that Ia called TO the gravest temptations by drink Third
That holds cut the means at Onehat the price
that IL ever did before Fourhy. labor well paid II not
justly paid tnat furnishes the means OF ntoxicatiOn
by tho labor Of "a day for the drink or
week Here the four great attendant features that
clutch at the very heart Of possible self government
dollars massed up In this city, devoted directly or
indirectly 10 tho manufacture aud desperation OF iitoIl
eating materials You cannot sneer NJ this, or DO DdneT
the danger which lies there It has made the gov
eminent Of metropolis farce asst has all other great
cities Take my city (BostonD II Is most familiar To me
We have three thousand SO 900 Of massed
capital makes Its portfolios out OF which IL nfes
the cannOns on the public They command at least 5000
votes There never election III Boston that 5000
taken from side to the other would reverse
the victory The consequences Is that that has
dldate for Boston Mayor. When we get a stranger In
the old town the only places have To show him our
schools we have nj any Streets they are only alleys.
Now why ~ all this Because Ofthis great teInpa
tlon-beeauso OF this poison In the blood which In
herit We have tried license. and the result shere we
are You can't dig up hidden history, Christian or
Pagan. Ia Asia Europe that does not contain
law and yet, despite struggles same great evil
Is dragging us down to-day. Is Yankee ingenuity ex.
| haustedf do we give up the STRUGGLED Are we ready
to say, Rule the country by republicansm and the
cities by despotsmP No. ingenuity not exhausted
/ for you know mat a Yankee baby Of ten months
looks the side OF this cradle plans new one and
gets up and patents IL before he twelve months old
IIaughter Now how, shall graphic with this theme
| and save selfgOyernmenti You cannot rest "A uni
yersal balObON on drunken people for IL surely gives
them into the hands OF demagogues and tho great
strugge that looms over the future segoyernuent
has he shop for is We think We have
| discovered remedy and We call II Prohibition. some
on the cars only AJAX trial don u say urohibItiou
rs right Though think II s but BAY tlat two centuries