Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-01-09
THE LIFE OF PHILLIPS.
MRS. LvERMoREs LECTURE.
a History of Slavery and an Eloquent
Tribute 10 Americas Greatest
Apostle OF Human Liberty.

The bnlversalIst Church was comfortably
filed last evening by an audience assembled
b hear Mrs. Mary A. Liyermore's lecture on
Z" Hendell Phillips and His Times" Mrs.
Liyemore Is a large matronly- looking lady,
ia appearance upwards of fifty years OF
age, with a pleasant voice and distinct enun-
citation. She handles the subject of her lee
ture from the standpoint of an intimate ac-
quaintanceship, and throughout described
Wendell Phillips as one of the greatest char
aeters the present century OF this country
has produced.
QShe said no vivid picture of Wendell Phil
lips can be made except upon the dark back
ground of human slavery. Through life he
had always been identified with the grand
principle to be true to the truth, though all
the world told lie.
The speaker then gave historical sketch
of the introduction of African slavery into
America, through the influence of Great
Britain, beginning with the Virginian col
onists at jamestown, before the Pilgrims
landed; the growth of slavery before the
Revolution and after; its influence when the
Constitution was framed and signed; the ef
feet of the purchase of Louisiana and the in
vention of the cotton gin, making the grow
ing of cotton and the rearing of slaves profit
able: the admission of Missouri ana Maine
into the Union and the Missouri compromise;
the fugitive slave and Southern gag laws in
troduced into Congress by the South; the
| growth of the anti-slayery party, beginning
| in 1881 with the establishment of the Libera-
tor by William Lloyd Garrison first in Bal
timore and afterward in Boston; the trials
and prosecutions of the abolitionists and the
difficulties under which they labored in dis
seminating the truth about the curse of
slavery and the outrages and violence perpe-
trated by mobs in various cities North and
| South.
The death of Editor Lovejoy, at Alton, ILL.,,
at the hands of mob, because of his anti
| slavery publications, was the occasion of
bringing Phillips to the front in flannel
Hall in public meeting held for the pur-
| pose of discussing the rights of free speech.
| This speech identified young Phillips with
the abolition movement, and at that time
closed all doors to promotion, and much
social intercourse against him.
To the question, who was Wendall Phil
| lips, the speaker said, he was the son of the
! first mayor of Boston; he was born on Bea-
con street, to wealth and position; h. never
| in his life knew what it was to want for a
| dollar. and his ancestry could be traced back
| through the American Revolution to the
| Revolution in England, his blood always
running in the veins of noble men and
women, among whom there were
| no black sheep. Among his
relatives were the founders of the Phillips
| and Andover academies, Rev. Phillip Brooks,
| Oliver Wendell Holmes and the Rev. DR..
Storrs. His gifts were of the rarest order,
and in the choice of parentage, especially in
that of his mother, he was most fortunate.
At Harvard college he gave no indications at
first of his great gifts, and was looked upon
as an aristocrat and pet of the Southern
students. In his speech he developed into
an Isaiah and in principle was as uncom-
promising as a round-head. His benevolence
| of character was Distinguishing feature
through life, and it became his great soul to
| lift up the lowly regardless of nationality or
circumstances. During his life he had
identified himself with every cause of hu-
manity from anti-slavery to woman suffrage,
and in the former he had out-done Douglas,
| Garrison, Sumner and Theodore Parker.
| No one that had not heard Phillips before
the war could say they had heard him at
| his best. With the termination of
slavery, his fire and wonderful eloquence,
| pathos and sarcasm, had ebbed. His man.
ner of address was to begin in colloquial
way, then from terseness would build up un-
| til his sentences we're as long as Everett's,
full, sonorous, and with a sweep that was at
the same time beautiful, graceful and easy.
! His prophetic powers were marvellous, and
his representations seemed almost inspired.
/ His last speech was at the unveiling of a
statue to Harriet Martineau in the old South
I Church. which nc delivered at the risk of his
life, and in parts of which his old powers
revived as in his younger days. A few weeks
afterward he died, and thus closed life of
martyrdom and self-abnegation.
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PERSONAL