Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-02-22

tocrat He was noble and full of kindness to
interiors was willing to suffer for them, but
he was not Of them, nor did he ally himself
to them. Always above them, his gifts OF life
were always gifts for a principle. All his life
long he resented every attack on his person
and on his honor as a noble aristocrat would
resent an injury. When they poured the filth
Of their imaginatons upon him he cared no
more for 1t than might an eagle for the weak
attacks of puny fly. He was called of God
as much as were Moses and the prophets not
exactly for the same great ends but in ac-
cordanco with those ends You remember
when Lovejoy was slaughtered in the street
His blood has been the seed Of liberty all
over the world It was at this time that Chan
ming asked for Faneuil hall and was refused
He had influence enough, however, to get il
after all, and a meeting was called to give OK
preston to the feelings of tho public on this
murder. The meeting was made up largely
of rowdies and they meant to put down any
free expression of opinion that might be
made. District Attorney Austin made a true.
ulent speech justifying the interference of
the mob and the murder of Lovejoy.
Then II was that young Wendell Phillips,
feeling the call of God in his soul, mounted
the platform. His first utterance was drown
ed in the Kisses of the audience but he was
not q man to be very easily subdued by any
such demonstration, and he poured upon that
man (Austin) the full flow Of the lava of his
eloquence. Practically unknown when the
sun went down that evening, when it rose
again all Boston was asking, "Who is this
fellow" and the question has never been
known since. Thenceforth he was q flaming
advocate of liberty, and with singular advan-
tages over all others. Garrison's tongue was
his pen. Phillipss pen was his tongue.
Another and like speaker has never graced
our history. l do not undertake to say that
he surpassed all others, but he had an intense
individuality, and that ranked him among
the best orators that ever spoke in our land.
Mr.. Phillips once asked to be allowed TO
speak in Broadway Tabernacle. Permission
being refused by its trustees, he secured the
Graham Home, but the trustees of that insti-
tuition, fearing for its safety, revoked the
permission and refused to allow him to speak
there. Mr.. Phillips then appealed to me,
and after some trouble obtained permission
from the trustees of this church for him to
speak here, and he did so. On the night lie
appeared the Rev. DR.. Il. s. Storrs consent
ed to come and pray. The reporters were
hero-when were they ever absent and when
Mr.. Phillips began his lecture you may de-
pend upon it the lion was in him. l remem-
Der at ono point he made an affirmation and
cry arose from the whole congregation. He
STOOD 6tll, with the old bitter smile on his
face, and when silence was restored he re-
peated the point with better emphasis, and
again cry went through the whole body.
But he kept repeating it. and he beat them
down with that one sentence until they we're
still and let him 60 on. 1t was singulary his
to choose the lowly, and for their sake to
abandon all favor, all power, all ambition, all
greatness. That was his genius and his glory.
He confronted the spirit of the nation and
the spirit of the age, and, had almost said,
set himself against nature as if he had been a
decree of God, overriding all things. That
was his function. He was called to be an Or
ator. In literature widely read, in person
magnificent in manner most polished, gentle
as a babe, sweet as new blown rose, and in
voice clear and silvery, yet he was not man
who tempered himself upon an orchestra Of
| 100 pieces. No organ, mighty and complex.
The nation slept, and God wanted a trumpet
large, wide, winding, narrow, and intense.
Aud that Was Mr.. Phillips. The long roll is
not agreeable music, but it is better than
harps or lutes when the alarm is needed. lie
did not flow as the Gulf stream he did not
dash rs the ocean does on the continent His
eloquence was flight of arrows He gave
| himself to the work Of God on earth, and had
reflected back upon him some of its majesty.