Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-02-06
DEATH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS.

In the decease of this eminent agitator
and orator, has fallen another Of those
colossal actors who played so important
a part in the fierce conflict which preced-
ed the war of the Great Rebellion. Born
in Boston, Mass, Nov. 90, 1911, gradual
ing from Harvard college, 1881, from the
Cambridge Law school two years later,
admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1884, and
highly gifted in mental endowments as
we'll as possessed of wealth and high
social standing, he lived at the right
time. and was possessed of the necessary
qualifications to enlist powerfully from his
youth on the side of reform. New Eng
land, at the time Wendell Phillips enter
ed the arena of public life, was boiling
caldron of religious and political con-
troversy. The anti-slavery agitation was
gathering strength against the opposition
of the wealth, culture and aristocracy Of
New England. Phillips, with his charac-
teristic zeal for the right. promptly cast
in his lot. at whatever cost, with VIM
Lloyd Garrison and the other agitators,
and by his ardor and splendid abilities as
an orator, came speedily to the front. He
made his first great speech in 1887, in
Boston, at meeting called to protest
against the murder of Rev. Elijah P.
Lovejoy at Alton, Ill. The crafty chair
man attempted to confine the action of
the meeting to few perfunctory resolu
tions, when Wendell Phillips arose and
made speech that stirred the hearts of
the north, and committed him to the
cause of Freedom. He never went back,
and soon became the nestor of the anti
slavery orators. From that time on until
the hydra of slavery was slain. his voice
was heard all oyer the land urging the
people to action. He lived to see the
cause he had championed triumph, surviv
ing most of his co-laborers, and receiving
the merited honor and esteem OF the
nation he had served so well.
Wendell Phillips combined more of the
qualities of the true orator than any
American who has yet appeared. While
he might have lacked the fiery impetuosity
of an Otis or Henry. the exuberance of a
Writ or Choate, the strength of Web
ster or Calhoun, the grace of Clay or
Everett, he blended so many qualities,
joined with great learning and mighty
moral earnestness, that on the whole, he
has had no equal
While Garrison was the Paul of the
evangel of freedom, Phillips was it's Apol.
los, watering all the nation with the sup
plies he had drawn from the cistern
opened by his co-laborer. He never used
notes in speaking, nor wrote out his
speeches, but spoke as the inspiration of
the occasion moved him out of burn
ing soul, fed by inexhaustable stores OF
learning. His famous lecture on 1.-THE
Lost Arts" was much sought after and
repeated an innumerable number of
times.
After the emancipation of the slaves,
Mr.. Phillips became an advocate of pro-
hibitorY liquor laws, womans suffrage.
prison reform, and opposed capital pun
lshment.
He died at his residence in Boston,
Saturday morning, Feb. 2.
He was among the last survivors OF
that famous galaxy of statesmen, orators,
poets and writers, which exerted so pc.
tential at influence upon the destiny of
our nation. His name, like that of Lin
coin, Garrison, and others, is one of those
Immortal ones that we're not born to
1;o