Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-06-06


We need offer no word of apology to our
readers for the amount of space which We
devote on our first page this week to matter
pertaining to the life and labors of William
Lloyd Garrison. On the contrary we know
that we do them service in thus putting on
record a careful sketch of the great enamel
pator's life, accompanied by Wendell Phillips
magnificent eulogy at his funeral, and Mr.
Whitter's poem. In the whole period Of our
history there has been no grander or more
remarkable career than that of Mr. Garrison,
and il is fitting that the young should read
its story that they may thereby learn some
thing of the long and apparently hopeless
struggle which, for so many years before
the war of the rebellion was waged by a few
brave men against the great sin and evil
which lay like foul blot on the country S
fair fame-while TO the middle-aged and the
old the story will renew much Of the half
slumbering spirit and associations Of their
younger years. In this connection let us add
what the New York Times so truthfully and
happily says of Mr.. Phillipss oration
1T is not often that the orator has an occa-
Sun luIulhutu ~ nlb uulAl AAub hWllllOLh
forth all his powers and compels him to do
his best. William Lloyd Garrisons funeral
furnished that occasion to Wendell Phillips,
and inspired him to produce what will be re-
garded as not only one of the best exhibit
tions of his powers as a speaker, but as one
of the finest specimens of oulogistic elo-
quence yet given to the world. Those who
were fortunate enough TO hear his culogy say
that he never spoke with greater force, with
better effect, with more evident emotion and
conviction, and his picture of the work Of
the great leader of the Abolitonists cannot
fail to rank among the first of his own pro-
auctions Everything conspired to make the
occasion great and to lift Mr.. Phillips up to
the plane of its greatness. Mr.. Garrison had
been, during the long struggle for omancipa-
ton and in the years of peace that followed
one of his most intimate friends Mr.. Phil
lips had worked with him ms companion
martyr to n great idea. Profound moral con-
victions had determined the direction of these
two lives. 1t was the privilege of the Mass
achusetts orator 70 draw upon those convic-
tons for his inspiration. Taking the fact
that out of Mr.. Garrison's own moral exist
ence came the motive that consecratcd him
TO great idea, Mr.. Phillips drew picture of
Mr.. GarrisonS ifo-work which can hardly be
eXcelled among productions Of its kind, and
WHICH, WHO presenting MS Colhlhut rs one
of the heroes in American achievement. did
not for a moment pass beyond the bounds Of
truth and fact. The Grafton was gre at in its
simplicity, its truthfuluoss its honesty, its
force in the statement Of conviction, one of
the orations ind,,d TINT comes up to great
OCCASION and helps 10 make ii more remark
able than it was in itself. Ii is hardly posi-
ble to avoid contrasting the oulopy on Mr.
Garrison with Mr. Phllipss first speech in
Faneuil Hail. in 1897, on the murder Of Love
joy. The one was the sequel TO the other
Mr. Phillips stepped down from the plat
form on that memorable day in 1881 famous
man, because he had dared to stand up for
the freedom of the press on American ground
His eulogy over the dead body of his great
friend closed the epoch of the struggle for
freedom of thought and of person in Amer
lean history. The chief purpose of the
epoch, as it was the only purpose of Mr.. Gar
rison's life, is admirably summed up in the
statement, to use Mr.. Phillipss words, that
whether one flag or two rule this Continent
in time to come, one thing is settled-it never
henceforth can be trodden by slave"