Weekly Phoenix herald., 1884-02-21
The Late Wendell Phillips.
THE GREAT AGITATOR AND
 REFO3NER.
A Brief Review or His Life and
 Characteristics

With the death of Wendell Phil
 lips, the last of the great pioneers
 and riginal apostles of Abolition ism in the United States is gathered
 to his reward. He was born in Bog
 ton on the 29th Of November, 1SI1
 At the age of nineteen he graduated from Harvard College, began at once the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1884.
 His sympathics were strongly
 aroused by tie persecution Of the early AbolItionisi more particular ly during the Boston mob in Octo-
 Der, 1885, when Garrison, the leader
 of the Aboliiionists, narrowly es-
 capped with his life. The following
 year Phillips gave up the practice of
 law because he was unwilling to act
 utder an oath of allegiance to the constitution of the United States,
 and prblic.y joined the abolitionists. In 1865 he succeeded William Lloyd
 Garrison as President of the anti $ avery Society, which position he
 held until the dissolution of the or~ ganizaIion in 1870.
 In bis time Wendell Phillips es-
 pou ed many causes, such as prohi- bitten. abolition of interest on mon- 9y, communism, az arianlsm, green back fiat money, the election Of Gen.
 Butler to the Pre-. idency, woman's rights, the abolition of government and all penal laws, the restriction of uffians and criminals by the power ef love only, the abolition of slavery ard of the American Constitution as Ca covenant with death and a league with he'll" He oppos bitterly lbe formation of the anti-Slavery polits ical party. He was candidate for Gov. rnor of Massachusetts at one time, but be receIved only a small vote. During the war he dropped all his views of no government and non-politicaI action against slavery, and became an advocate Of the most extrtme mc asures for it's suppress sion. Thus tw, nfy-fve of the best years of lis life devoted 10 the asi- tatiOn of an anti-slaveIy sentiment, c;,lminatod in success with the issue
 Emancipation Proclamation
 ll1 -.4idst mighty sl' ok of arms.
 With the extinguishment of sla, very the activities of MT. Phillips mi;.d sought new directions, and whatever subject he discussed, the magnetic eloquence, the never fail ing courage, the sl lendid intellect- ual pow.rs, the fierce defiaLce of public sentiment, if against him, are fresh in the country's recoiiec> tion, His sympalhies with human~ Ity were unbouI.ded, his hatred of oppression in all its forms. and of shams in all their phases, intense; his grasp If he future p ssibi itieS of American civilizati on and the world far reaching, in spite of any mistakes that he may have made.
 In personal appearance Mi. Phil lips was a man of fine and com manding presence. He was no doubt the most c mplete and pol~ ished orator on the American plat> form. Although the associate ot the cultured and aristocratic, he was Q man of the simplest habits and the least ostentation. He lived for forty years i'll modest two>s'ory brick house built by himself in Boston and which he vacated most in 1882, the property having been condemned for street In the death of MT. Phillips the little band of surviving abclition;sts loses its most heroic and striking figure. Doctor Furness and Robert Purves, of and the veteran poet Whittler, of Massachuset and a few others of less note still survive to mourn the death of their silver leader, but the ranks of the heroic men and women who faced 1 obloquy and persecution for the sake of the friendless black man are growing thinner each year.