St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-02-07

of big heart, Keen with the philan
thropic sensibilities of the flower of
New England descent. He felt for the
slave because he loved humanity, and
to that passion may be traced alike the
success and the mistakes of his life.
No disqualification of outer circum-
stances could disguise the human soul
SO deep that Mr.. Phillips was indif-
ferent to it. The slave, the Indian,
the poor of his native city, the work
cursed by intemperance, the convict
condemned to death, these furnished
the motives of his life. He was simple
in his intercourse with men. He spent
his life in plain old two-story house
in a block at the head of Harrison
avenue, flanked on both sides with
retail shoe stores; on the door was
painted in large black letters, much
dimmed with street dust, "Wendell
Phillips" He chung to that residence
until street improvements removed
the property. He inherited comfort
able means, with which he was always
| liberal, and his whole family was his
invalid wife, who survives him, and an
adopted daughter.
TRIBUTES OF THE PRESS.
Wendell Phillips was the sword of
the spirit of the anti-slavery cause.
His elOquence was like the thrust of il
rapier keen, deadly terrible
weapon against a great iniquity. His
presence before an audience was manly,
his bearing easy and natural, but not
studied or dramatic, or frequent in
gesture. But his power us an orator
lay in the incisiveness of his thought
and the perfection and vigor of his
words. He thought epigrams and he
spoke what he thought fearlessly and
brilliantly. With him, language was
no half-Obscured medium of cOmmuni-
cation, but a clear lens through which
he made the common mind see in its
full magnitude the truth as it lay in
the orators perception. In this quail
ity Mr.. Phillips will rank at the head
of American orators Springfield Re-
publican.
MADE HIS MARK UPON THE TIMES.
/ He made his mark upon the times,
and, though never in public office,
he commanded the attention of the
whole country and was one of the
most prominent figures in the great
drama. In his long and stormy Ca
reer, he bore himself like II man in
defense of the weaker side. The va
carries of his later years will he for
gotten in the grander story of those
early achievements Chicago Trib
une.
HIS PLACE IN HISTORY.
All his life an agitator, silence was
impossible to him, yet he could not
continue his agitation without what he
was accustomed to call cause" And
so he houndered about for cause.
Once he thought he had it in green
backs; again in trades uniOnism once
in wOman's rights, and then in fighting
the Chinese. His last years brought
him many strange comrades and no
added honor. But his great anti
slavery work makes his place in history
sure and high his courage and integ
/ rity will always be the pride of his
!, cOuntrymen; he leaves a spotless
name, and does not leave his equal in
oratory in England or America.-lN.
Y. Tribune.
A SOUTHERN ESTIMATE.
In reference to the south, also, he
seems of late to have changed his
views greatly, and no northern man
has spoken more favorably of this sec
ton and paid it more compliments
than has Wendell Phillips. During
the last few years especially has he
cOmplimented the new spirit of prog
ress and development which is build
ing up this section. His merits were
recognized by the whole country,
south as we'll as north. He was, it is
: true, a mere agitatOr; a man who
could pull down, but not build up; an
enthusiast, but at the same time an
impassiOned and successful orator
He was no politician in any sense OF
the word, and always without Office
Yet to his eloquence and vig0r the
abolitionists and republican party owed
their success. He was a man for lust
such exciting times as preceded the
war, and when peace came again
| Wendell Phillips found his occupation
, gone, for peace was not made for him.
I New Orleans Times Democrat.
BORN AGITATOR.
His gifts were those of an agitatoI
only. He could excite public feeling
: over an abuse that was clear toward
I securing redress that was obvious
q But he lacked the constructive skill OF
a politician, and by agitation without
programme and without a definite
+ objective his public character became
q that of an incorporate censor, which
practical people do not readily distin-
guish from that of a common scold
That he was an eloquent scold there
7 could never be any doubt. His keen
ness and fertility of mind, his skill in
invective, and his felicity of illustra-
ton made the widest of his political
vagaries inter esting. But his work
was done twenty years before he died
and the activities of his later life served
n mainly stO show how different are the
gifts that are most serviceable in rev
- dictionary times from the gifts that are
I needed for the slow and orderly evOlI-
ton that is the normal condition oi
I social progress.-IN. Y. Times.
DANA's CHARACTERISTIC COMMENT.
1t will be remembered to the ever
: lasting honor of Wendell Phillips that
: he was the first republican to denounce
in fitting terms the bargain by which
HAYES was counted in. Thirty days
!, had not passed after the Inauguration OF
r the fraudulent president, when Mr..
Phillips drew his picture of the COW
= ardice, the venality and the sniveling
(; hypocrisy of the man for whom he had
s voted in November portrait so ac-
curate that the further experience OF
| fnn,. -,-.nr, nnuId hardly havn innrnrel