Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-04-19

pbpna 49,, nicn sits ut 81 S,a
lIn s n,.s ~ student OF Jhistorv :. s, n,e.
faor oese,ver OF men, he rejected u 'ha
,,n,n H. p ~ ,n,iullitude which sn, iia.
n ,"n ,"o ,seling that the many ara
ho oiano whiie Tue few are wise. s"S 9 ~
n T,i,N t1e saying, too profonn na ~ ne
sv a iano'io Whom It Is ascribed ,h nv,
s,vefypody knows more than eu,,hal
" no"y. me great argument for non' MY
gorernnent Is not the essential riom.
eousness ofa majority, but "' r'eht-
THE CELESTIAL LAW
which subordinates the bru,o a..
Oh numbers to intellectns, ",vs s
inoral ascendency, as the immaos amu
we moods oil ocean follow the nnon''
undisturbed by the most repna uoi.
hostility, as In the meetings nt o'V ths
music hall In this city In tie wln,o .ns
secession, he looked calmly M tha y,
ana l,ehind the drunken philin mp po
saw Philip, the king. mp ne
But while he cherished t,,,s
round faith in the people and hecap, ,o,
he cherished 1t he never n,,,a ues" We
mob nor hung upon its neck nor na o,e
uered TO its passion nor suff.,rs,,P d ~
i0aming hate or its exultinv anthna ~.
asm to touch the calm poise az lie US,
nnnt soul. Those who were ean ne .cs-
insult and derlde and silence h, y.
when he pleaded for the negro Wall uan,
and shouted and rapturously crou we ~,
him when he paid homage To O,rnn''
nell and made O'Connells canse III ~
own. Put the crowd did not follow
nm WIN hu2zas. He moved In sol
ltary h'alesty, and If from his smooth
speech IA lightning flash of satire or o.
scorn '"
STRUCK A CHERISHED LIE
or an honored character or a dogma q
,ne party creed and the crowd burs
INTO furious tempest of dissent. Nc
beat IL into silence with uncompromis
ing iteration. lit tried To drown hi
voice he turned to the reporters ana
over the raging tiunult .lmly said
Howl on, speak to thirty million
herep
There was another mower in hi
speech sharper than i'm the speech q
any other American orator, an un
spar ing inveclive. The abolition an
peal was essentially iconoclastic, an,
the method of u reformer at close quar-
tiers with mighty system of wron,
cannot be measured by the standard
OF cool and polite debate. Phillips di,
not shrink from the sternest denuncj
alton, or ridicule, or scorn, of thos
who seemed to him recreant to free
dom and humanity, however EN-
shrined they might be i'm public ad
mlration, with whatever official dig
nifty invested, with whatever softe
graces of accomplishment endowed
me idols of u purely conventions
virtue he delighted to shatter, becaus
no public enemy seemed to him NOR
deadly than the American who mad
moral cowardice respectable. He fel
that the complacent conformity @
Northern communities was tn
strength Of slavery, and the man VIII
would return fugitive slave, or wit
: all the resources of sophistry defen
his return, upoa plea of constitu
tional obligation, was, in hi
view, II man who woul
do an act of cruel wickedness to
day to avoid u vague and possible mis-
chance hereafter. If the plea wer
sound in the case of one man, IL or
Innocent man was to he an outcas
from protecting laws, from effectiv
sympathy and from humanity, be
cause he had been unspeakabl
wronged, then 1t was as sound in Tn
case of every such man, and the Unio
and constitution rested upon
THREE MILLION GRIMES.
: Was this endurable? Should an o.
Tense so inhuman as deliberate obed
ence to laws which compelled u ma
to do to another what he would nC
hesitate, amid the applause of all mer
to XIII that other for attempting to d
to him-should such an oilense be con
} doned by courteous admonition an
hesitating doubt? Should the pal
tiality OF friendship, should the learn
ing, renown, or public service of tn
offender, save him from the pillory q
public scorn? If Patrick Henry mad
the country ring with the name of til
dishonest contractor in the war, shout
) the name Of the educated Amer
en- who conspires with the slavehold
ers against the slave be too sacred TO
obloquy? No epithet is too blisterin
for John Brown, who takes his life Il
his hand that he may break the chail
of the slave. Shall the gentleman
whose compliance weakens the mora
floer of New England, and;iastens thu
slaves chain more hopelessly, go un
whipped OF n single word of persona
rebuke? Such questions he did no
ask, but they ask themselves, rs TO
day we turn the pages that still qnive
with his blasting words, and recall tn
mortal strife in which he stood
Doubtless his friends, who knew tina
weli-spring of sweet waters, his heart
and who, like him, were sealed to tn
service of emancipation, sometime
grieVed and recolled amazed from his
terrible arrangement. He knew TIN
penalty OF his course. He paid !
cheerfully. But history will recort
that the orator who, in that supIem,
exigency of liberty, pitilessly whipped
by name the aiders and abettors OF TN
crime against humanity, made
such completely in every intelil
gent community infinitely NOR
arduons, and so served mankind, pup
lie virtue, and the state.
But more than this. The avowet
and open opponents of the anti-slavery
agitation could not justly complain OF
his ielentle pursuit. From them nc
received the blows that in turn he dio
not spare. But others, his friends, sol
diers OF the same army, alth ough "
other divisions and upon different
route marching against the same Zoe
did they, too, feel those shafts OF nre!
How many Massachusetts man
whose name the commonwealth WIZ
canoniae with his, loyal with his own
fidelity to the common cause, he some,
times tainted AS recreant and sc0urged
as laggard How many leaders ~
other states, statesmen beloved ana
revered, who In other ways than ms
fought the battle Of liberty with flrm-