New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-01-21
Wendell Phillips.

Inc heroic action of Mr.. Phillips, il
racing Democratic mass meeting il
faneuil Hall, called to denounce the Pres
ident and Sheridan, and speaking good
strong words for them, and for the Repub
iicans OF the South. excites much comment
IN the Northern press. The following il
from the New York Mail:
The appartion of Wendell Phillips a,
the Boston Indignation meeting, last night
was not welcome sight to those who Ego,
up the meeting They know Phillips OF
| old, in Boston. He is an indispensable
sort OF man, who does not stay put down
even when overwhelmed bv :.ostile ma
| Jorlty OF ciamOrOus voice.. lie has an ugly
| way of striking back at his assailants, Civ
ing them dangerous thrusts with the keen
| est OF stilettOes. Moreover. there is some
thing about the atmosphere of Faneuil Hall
| that seems cOngenial to the veteran cham.
plon of the oppressed, and makes him seem
entirely at home and master OF the situation
| His unasked participation in the meeting
last night was. the conspicuous feature OF
the evenings demonstration. All that was
said by the rest of the speakers only served
| as a background for the principal per-
former. Where McGregor sits is the head
OF the table"-and in a meeting held in
Faneuil Hall about Louisiana affairs Mr..
Philips must be the chief figure if he APP
| pears at all.
His off hand speech showed the art and
resources of an old campaigner-who had
| hardened his intellectual and moral muscle
by repeated contests, single handed, against
m0bs and hostile malorities. In one mo-
ment he broke down the sham that the
| sgneFs of the call for the meeting repre-
! sented the highest intellect and 5est sentl-
| ment in Boston. The call had to travel all
through the adjoining towns and cities to
swell it's proportions. In the absence of
Dams and Bigelow, and Abbott, and Bart
| lett, the legal profession is not here. In
the absence of the merchants of the city,
with half dozen exceptions, the commerce
of Boston is not here. In the absence of
every clergyman who votes in this city the
pulpit is not here"
So the meeting was not ''the voice of
Boston," but of a small part thereof. As
for the assumed Legislative body" i: was
simply mob. What was the situation
"The Legislature was fugitive from its
own hall, and there was nothing but mob
the law, and no Governor but Governor
Kellogg Hiss, if you please, but produc 9
the master of parliamentary law that will
deny any of my propositions. The Cover
| nor of the State was left alone. and be said
as he was bound to say to the tnited States
troops, who were then in charge OF the
peace Of the city. They had gone there in
September. and as the President had not
seen tit to Withdraw them, they were law
fully there. He sends for the soldiers. and
says to them, Turn that mob out OF the
State House. and say. having for twenty
years studied that point OF constitutional
and parliamentary law say that General
De Trobriand and General Grant complied
with every requirement of the constitutional
law of the United States
The old agitAtor has evidently lost none
of his old powers.
The Philadelphia Bulletin says:
The people of Boston are fearfully and
wonderfully made. No weathercOck that
ever spun upon its axis could be more east
ly "blOwn about by every wind of doc
trine'' than are the tickle Hubbites. 1t is
in the nature of hubs to turn round and
Boston, Hub of Hubs, does honor to its
name and nature.
When the rebellion broke out Boston
blazed with patriotic feryor. When Sumner,
with his sickly sentimentality, asked to
have the proud flags OF Massachusetts OBJ.
liberated and dishonOred. Boston screamed
with anger and threatened and denounced
it's idol When its idol opened its mouth
and made faces at its worshipers, down
they went at its feet begging forgiveness
"
dell Phillips. one of Boston's prime pets,
comes bravely out, in Faneuil Hall. refusing
to abandon his lite, long principles. or to he
made the tool of the Democratic party and
the ally of the White Leagues. Boston
bowls al him with cries the sound of which
is like distant echo from the judgment
hall Of old Jerusalem.
1t was brave thing that Wendell Phillips
did, last night; as brave thing as he ever
did in all his life; and it is easy to see. even
at this distance, that Boston blushed even
while she tried to choke him down. 1t is
easy to see that in such throng there were
many men whose consciousness of their
own subserviency was reached by his
courageous words; men who, even in the
heat and excitement of the hour, could not
quite forget that President Grant and
Wendell Phillips were standing on the side
of the prosecuted blacks of Louisiana, while
they were helping to bind the only hand
that can protect and deliver them.
To this day there are many men who look
back with tingling cheek to that December
day, fourteen years ago, whom free Phila.
delphia ate Southern dirt in Independence
Square, at high noon, and drove George
William Curtis from Concert Hall at night.
Such things could not be done in Philadel
phia now; but Boston and Faneuil Hall are,
today, where Philadel phia and Independ-
ence Hall were then.