The Somerset reporter., 1894-05-31
\ Victory of Eloquencc.

Twice or three times before April.
Philips gave diseaursc- in the Music
Hall. one section al the mob dancing al
tendance uuts.dr. aud another inside
ntcrruptinI aud huoiing. There
came AZ H,I In sunday which followed
Fort Sumier. WhaH he mad to decide
what attitude L. would take to the MAI
for that | aian which all liz LIE lac had
pssailcd. lie had preached Disunpn all
the winter in trfm,, aud it vas 40 light
matter 10 recall or fectnt his doctrine.
True, the MON HON meant Freedom and
not slavery. and the North had all al
once flung of is chaius. but Phillips had
never been "A man to follow because
others showed the WAY. The audience
which assembled in the Mu>icc Hall ON
the morning of sunday, April II, ISL,
found the platform and desk and walls
and galleries hing with the American
flag. 1t was Gharl Follcn who bad
conceived this idea and Phillips, on be-
ing asked whether he objected, answer
ed AS many tllgs as YOU like. | am
going to speak for the flag" The pa
pers announced that he was to rctract
his opinions No, not one of them,
said Phillips in almost his first sentence.
IL need them all, every word | have
spoken this winter, every act of twenty
five years of my life, to make the vel
come | give this war hearty and hot
Civil war is II momcntous evil. 1t needs
the soundest, the most solemn justiiiea-
ton. ! rejoice before God to-day for
every word | have spoken counselling
peace. But rejoice more profoundly
still that now, for the first time in my
antismvery life, | speak beneath the
Stars and Stripes, and welcome the tread
of Massachusetts men marshallcd for
war
1t was Sunday morning, but the vast
audience rose to their feet and chcered
long. The Sixth Massachusetts Regi-
meut, only two days before, had fought
its way thorough Baltimore That is
enough to explain every hing Phillips,
the most hated man in the State, became
the idol of the hour. The Music Hall
rang with cheers that morning, not once
nor twice, but almost every moment
while his speech lasted. 1t was a scene
possible only in such crisis, at the first
great uprising of great people, in the
presence of an orator capable of express
Ing in words OF unmatched cloquence the
feeling which burned in every heart
"No matter what the past has been or
said, to-day tile slave asks God for Il
sight of this banner, and counts it the
pledge of his redemption
The hall and its approaches and the
adjacent streets were filled with the
same multiludes. of whom NO small part
four months earlier, had done their best
to teal the orator in pieces These were
the men who now chccrcd him. They
came to him when his speech ended
They grasped his hand, They owned
themselves enemies who hHd become
friends, They offered him eirhomage
They surrounded him rs he left the hall.
They attended him Is he made his way
through the throug out side, almost as
slowly rs before. The streets were
throngcd uoN as then. and throngcd
with the men Who would have burned
him then and adored him now. Perhaps
never had any man passed more sudden
" through more marvellous, change of
position and of popular feeling. His re-
turn from the Music Hail to Essex
Street was Il tlumphal march. 1t Was
the atonement which Boston offered to
the great citizen whom she had so long
misunderstood and reyiled. It was the
crown of Phillips's antislavery life
From Memories of Wendell Phillips, "
in Hgper'S Hpgasiae for June