The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-12-13
WENDELL PHILLIPS LECTURE.
What He Said of Daniel O'COnneu-A
Good story Well Told.

A large and representative audience
gathered at Pixies OperahOuse, CinCin-
natl, last week, to hear from the lips of
one of Americas finest orators, the tale
of q remarkable man who lived In event
full times, and whose name, above all
others, STANDS out in bold relief in the
annals of Irish history.
Mr.. Phillips began by saying that he
should endeavOr to describe the career of
Daniel OConnell, one of the most elO-
Guent orators, one of the most devoted
patriots, and the most successful states
man that the Irish race ever produced.
1t is proper that his praises should be
spoken in this country. America owes
more to him than to any other statesman
of the last generation, for it was he who
taught Americans as well, as others, the
way to attain liberty and progress under
a constitution, and not in defiance to it.
He was a great statesman, because he
had to plant the very seeds of liberty,
and watch over the germ from the very
beginning of its growth. Perhaps he was
not such a statesman as those wEO have
welded the military power of nations.
IF Luther, who invented the tools with
which he labOred, who struggled
single-handed against a world, and
. u. j.
then O'Connen deserves the
fame. The claim on his behalf, in Its
broadest signifcatiOn, is that when Irish
men despaired for the country, when
England was baked in every attempt to
handle the problem, when Pitt and Fox
acknowledged themselves puzzled, and
the ablest intellect OF the age had given
up all hope of q solution, and were pre-
pared to submit to the result, come in
what shape it might, then he came for
ward and pointed out the only way to
master the difficulty. He gave fifty
years to the work of gaining citizenship
for Ireland. If we consider the CircUm-
stances, We shall zee the magnitude OF
the labor which he took upon himself.
Here was an island, inhabited~by race
of dispirited and broken down by repeated
| bloody unsuccessful rebelliOns. They
were a people full of quarrel. Poverty
| stricken and ignorant, they were below
| the yery basis of medeTn systems of re-
! form. The masses could not read, and
| therefore the press, the engine of reform
! in these days, could not be applied to
| them. They were too ignorant Of their
| rights to know how to maintain them
| and too we'll assured of their wrongs tC
endure them tamely. Dean Swift, who
twice baked England in her attempted
oppression Gratten, Curren, Emmet and
/ Burke-Burke, who was greater thar
! Cicero in the senate, and almost equal tC
Plato in the assembly-aH these had
gained point after point, here one anC
there another, but they gained no guar
| anty. A point gained was not assured
There was no time when statesmen wOulc
not have hailed with delight the pros
. / -E..
! guaranty. Pitt and Fox were cage
to bring about settlement. They
knew well that more than once 1
word from Grattan would hav,
broken the chain which bound tn,
two countries together. 1t does not take
a very penetrating eye, even now, L
discover why Bismarck can insult Eng
p land with impunity. In the Danisl
war, and in the FrancO-Prussian war, h
slapped her in the face until the wOri,
1 wondered at it. But he knew, and he
statesmen knew, that to the west Of he
was anchored a figate whose guns wOul,
be turned upon her in the event of
foreign war. None are more fully con
sciOus of the desire of the six or eigh
, million inhabitants OF Ireland tha
English statesmen. They have not bee
quiet on the question 1t WAS O'COnn@l
, who first discovered a method for lilLin
the question to a place among the sat
, forces Of the empire. All tho-e leader
e. who had preceded him were sagaciOui
T eloquent aud successful, but they cOuli
! not rivet what they had gained. II
discovered the key. and placed 1t IN tn
l possession of Ireland. He taught he
: how TO obtain her rights without blood
- shed. 1t was he who instructed tn
peasautry to act within the laws, and We
. obtain privileges which their OppressOl
c had denied To them. When we hay
p spoken Of his eloqUence, his ingeuuit,
r his serenity, his untailing good natur
! and his truly catholic welcome to ever
j struggling cause, We have not reache
g the climax of his character His highe
renOwn is as the sober, far-sighted acu
], statesman. He found tho people
+ Ireland a mass Of qusrreling sects, who
}. the continent pItied and England q
: spised. He made his country a mOnarc
= thrust Peel out of the cabinet, fOugl
i with the Iron Duke, and Tas successful
q He held the fortune OF men IN b
q grasp. and could promote them accoTdiI
u to merit. Thus, it Is not mere el
d / quence or wit, nor power OF com6inatlc
II that mark his name, but the eyIden'
p that his was a mast eT mind, able 20 col
II troll all those with which it came in col
v tact. As an agitator he deserves graf
d tude for his constitutional method. v
=. have learned to dislike the words dgltdt
e. and aq tation Before We condemn the
>, we should study the word. Agitation
ir an old word with a new meaning;
- fact. It indicates the great, necessary, I
- evitable method for advancement. ;
"a Robert Peel said it was the marshaiI
OF the conscience Of the nation