The Labor enquirer., 1883-11-05
Phi,lips ON Butler.

The following letter was written by
the Hon. Wendell Phillips to the COM
mittee in charge of the greenback labor
ratification in Boston, on the occasion of
General Buffers nomination
"Gentlemen II am sorry | cannot be
with you at the ratification on Wednes-
day evening. At present am not able
to take part in public meetings, and /
must, therefore, decline your invitation.
As some of the journals pretend to
find my late letter to the Advertiser
equivocal, will take this opportunity to
make it, fpossible, more explicit. My
vote for governor viii be throWn for the
man who years ago urged congress to de-
clare that by the constitution of the
United States women have the same
right to vote for members ofcongress that
men have and who, as governor of this
state, has appointed a woman to a judi
cial office, for the first time in the history
of Massachusetts,.
The republican party has ruled Massa
chusetts every year but two OF the thirty
years that party has existed. Never du-
ring all that time has colored man
been appointed to any office of honor in
civil life. / shall vote for the man who
added "eontraband" to our political vo-
cabulary, and who as governor, true to
his record, has nominated colored man
to a judicial office, for the first time in
the history of the state.
remember that the republican party,
in its hot youth-when it had consci-
ence- e-did much toward freeing the col
ored man. But / see that now, the will
ling tool of capital and the banks, and
with a thimble-rig system of national
bonds, it is doing far more to undermine
our institutions and enslaye the white
man. Enthusiastic young men may be
hoodwinked and work in harness, blind
to what they are really doing, and igno;
rant who moves them, like pawns on the
| chess board. But. in fact, the battle to
day is between man and money, and
the real unseen leaders of the republi-
can party are Shylocks. Privileged and
incorporated wealth is one of the two
great dangers that here threaten popular
institutions, and the republican party is
! its servant and organ. Every lover of
| liberty should therefore toll and pray for
its destruction. Consequently / shall
vote for the man who, years and years
ago, advocated a system of finance
which would have saved US from the
| bondage to the Shylocks, and would now
I go far to avert our danger.
The clamor of the press does not af-
fright me. My only surprise i. that re-
spectacle men, some of them in private
station, and hitherto supposed to be gen.
tlemen, should lend themselves to such
ISLANDERS. But party spite stops at no
| falsehood, and angry words belong nat
urally to the losers. remember also
the howl of rebuke and the shout of de-
rision with which large share Of the
Boston press received the nomination of
John A. Andrew for governor. But now
| all the popes who ever reigned in Rome
could not make him more of saint than
every Boston journal affects to believe
| him. Our fathers rounded their 4th day
of July periods with the names of Han
cock and Adams / have no doubt that
boys of the next generation will shout
with equal enthusiasm for Summer and
Wilson, for Andrew and Butler. For
Massachusetts loves courage that eour-
age which, in defiance of an angry. and
revengeful press, uncovered the infamy
of Tewksbury the same that led the
Massachusetts, Eighth round Baltimore
and insured the safety of the capitol.
When next General Butler, with Massa-
chusetts at his back, moves on Washing
ton, 1 trust he will be equally successful
in reaching the capitol. Respectfully,
WENDELL PHILLIPS.