Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-05-24
THE WHIRLIGIG OF TIME.
Wendell Phillips Describes Some Of its Re-
venges.

ONohlhEi chuell nilllps was calico
out and said
Mr.. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GEN.
TLEMEN You remember when we
were children and read the Arabian
Nights that after some gorgeous de.
scription Of crests of lights, and scim.
etars Of gold and crowns of gems
the Caliph clapped his hands aud the
dream all burst. We were sitting
on the cold ground. l felt, as l sat
behind Senator Revels, like clapping
my hands to see whether the scene
would change, whether it was all u
fairy mistake, whether he would
vanish as the scene did Eat the Ca.
liph's. | could not realize that a
thousand men had come into Ire
mont Temple to see Senator of the
United States from that race which
had been so long victimized. | re-
member | was 10 New York when
the Secretary of State published his
proclamation ratifying the Fifteenth
Amendment. The journal that con-
tanned it came at night. We read it
over; we rejoiced we commented /;
we specialized and then we went to
sleep. And with the gray light Of
the morning l sprung to my feet
again and searched for the paper to
see whether it was not dream. 1t
seems to rae | should like to feel of
the Senator, and see if hc is flesh and
blood. Laughter 1t is hard to
realize Why. | remember at the
second anti-slavery meeting that |
ever attended, the Attorney General
of Massachusetts ~ and he still
breathea- laughter said that the
idea Of taking the chains Off this
black race these negroes, it was like
letting loose the hyenas. Mr.. Char
man and gentlemen of Boston, in
troduce to you hyena. Laughter
and applause This is the man the
danger Of unmuZzling whom the At
torney General so eloquently define
ated. Wei, then, later, Toombs told
us that If we ever dared to fire gun
he would go over the roll call Of his
slaves under the shadow Of Bunker
Hill. Well, this is the first one that
answered. A Senator of the United
States How absurd it was then
Too silly to be even fanatical-too
absurd to be even reasonable
Years ago Charles Sumner said, al
hope to see the day when / shall sit
under this roof by the side of black
Senator from one of the United
States" [Applause.] He has not
reached his three-score yet, and his
hope is fulfilled. [Applause.] 1t is
so short-the interval. Burke once
said that the years of a single life
would cover the interval he sketched.
Why, the years of one half Of COM
mon life would cover ours. can re-
member the day when, at the lee
lures delivered in this very hall,
colored man was not permitted
among the audience, and we actually
organized another lyceum in another
part Of the city, in order that that
portion of Boston might not be de-
prived Of the pleasure and the in
struction Of the lecture room. And
all of you remember how late it was
when we owed it TO the bold and
brave James w. Stone, that d colored
man, much to everybody's amaze
ment, was permitted to speak in
course of lectures. IL was hardly
believed that it could be tolerated,
and the next year he went farther
still and introduced woman. And
now we crowd here tonight to listen,
not 10 u colored man, but IT, a color
ed Senator Of the United States.
When you go TO the Rocky Noun
tans you see the lowest tier of the
granite That makes the very base of
the globe, shoot its peaks up to
heaven the higest. To day the race
that lay lowest in the catalogue
shoots its peak up into tho great
council of the nation. Some Of us
doubted whether the black race
would quite realize promptly and
use economically this great power of
the franchise. Men said they are
an imitable people, an heterogeneous
race they are of forgiving mood,
and through the avenues Of these
generous virtues, the intrigue, and
the corruption, and the despotism Of
the old regime will enter and make
them cheats, But even while we
speculatod, while wo directed our
glass down the arena, we found that
they had put one Lieutenant Cover
nor into the chair of Louisiana, they
had put one Justice on the Supreme
Bench Of South Carolina, they had
crowded every Southern Legislature
with O score, or two score, or three
score Of their own race, and, finally,
to show that they meant to give US
at least a specimen of the true cross
in the National Government, they
gave us Senator at Washington, as
ono Of the drops of the coming show
er. TApplausel When Puritan
boy has got few dollars extra, he
goes down to Plymouth and buys a
real or supposed fragment of Plym-
outh Rock, and wherever he travels
and meets the Yankee race, from
here to the Golden Gate or Canton,
he shows the symbol of their birth
place. To-day l present you with q
true embodiment of Southern recon-
struction, a veritable piece Of the
true cross of Americas future. GEN
tlemeu, show you the Fifteenth
Amendment in flesh and blood, the
incarnation of this last proud step in
the nations progress. Unexpected
and undeServed humbling our faces
in the dust, we acknowledge this un-
deserved success. In 1861 both
houses of Congress, almost by unsn-
imous vote, pledged themselves that
in this struggle of blood against re-
bellion in arms the nation would
never put its hand over the line of
state sovereignty and assail the sys-
tenn which was plotting against our
-nn,Nla Eatfuakpu, N, 4 A-~O..-