The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1895-08-01
PHILLIPS, THE ORATOR.
BY JAMES r. GILMORE.

+. deienseIess man through the street.
with rope around his neck. Asking
/ what the tumult meant, the young
! lawyer was told that the bare headed
man had dared to speak against the
/ Constitution and the laws" and that
| q patriotic people were about to strang
| lie ms further utterances at a near by
lamp post. The bare headed man was
! William Lloyd Garrison. the young
lawyer was Wendell Phillips the
/ Noses and Aaron of the great reyolu-
| ton which, thirty yeats later, swept
| over the country. Garrison was res
cued from the lamp post and Phillips
went home to ponder upon the sltua-
/ ton.
Of aristocratic lineage, and reared
Ia aiiiuence, there was nothing in the
+ birth or surroundings Of Mr.. Phillips
to incline him to any great sympathy
! with the ''down-trOdden masses" par
ticularly with the black masses of
whose condition he had no personal
knowledge However. he made the
acquaintance Of Garrison. and within
a year, at the sacrifice OF friends legal
standing and social position, he en-
rolled himself in the unpopular ranks
Of abolition.
Two years after the attempted hang
ing OF GarrIsOn-on the 9Th day of
| December, 1887 this same Boston mob
caluetogether again, this time in Fan
ueil hail, the Old Cradle OF Lib erty, to
pu5 down q handful OF abohtionists
who had convened there 10 denounce
the killing Of Elijah 2. Lovejoy, by
tire patriotic people OF Alton, Ill, and
this same young lawyer, Phillips, was
among them. Jostled by the crowd
which filled ele cry square inch of
standing room in the venerable build
ing, he quietly listened to the reading
OF the resolution drawn by William
Eiiery Charming and expressing his
own sentiments, but probably not
those Of more than a hundred others
IL the vast assemblage-
The reading over, a Storm of misses
swept through the house, and in the
midst Of the storm. the attOrneY-gen-
eral OF Massachusetts mounted the
| platform a d began to denounce the
resolutions They were incendiary,
he said: they were reasonable, Love
! JOY lad died as q fool dieth," and
the Alton rioters We're a patriotic band.
worthy to rank with the orderly mob
who, IN 1773, had thrown overheard
the tea IA Boston harbor.
| Phillips was only twenty five years
ot age and had never spoken in public
bat now he elbowed his way through
the dense throng and clambered up
the steps Of the platform. As be step
pea to the front his manly beauty and
| perfect self possession drew t. him IN
stant attention, and with his utterance
a deep stiffness fell upon the noisy as
semblage When be said, Il heard
that gentleman the attorney general !
lay down principles which placed the
rioters, incendiaries and murderers Of
Alton side by side with Otis and Han
cock, with Quincy and Adams, |
thought those pictured lips pointing
to the portraits along the walls would
have broken into voice to rebuke this
reCreant American, this slandorer of
the dead. For the sentiments he has
uttered on soil concentrated by the
| prayers Of Puritans, the blood Of pat
riots, the earth should have yawned
and swaIIed him up" Then. standing
/ face to face with that mob, which had
come expressly to bleak up the meet
| Jug he poured forth torrent Of indig
uaut elgquCnce, but sent the crowd
away enthusiastic upholderS of the
! liberty that had been trodden down at
Alton. Such was the magic Of his
tongue; such the remarkakable power
/ by which IN a moment he could con
vert a crowd of orderly conservatives
into as many 'howling fanatics"
This was the first brand that Phil
! hps threw upon the great bonfire that
was to be eXtinguised only in the
blood Of 100000 CT freemen. There
arose an army Of 'agitators," but nore
! OF such transcedont ability as Phillips.
More even than Garrison he became
the leader of the Abolitionists, and
like the big gray horse that Rosecrans
rode through his campaign IN " est
! Virginia. he always managed, however
rapid the march. to keep fully a length
ahead Of the remainder of the battal
| lion.
In 1862 Mr.. Phillips sent me,
through my New York publisher, a
letter in which he thanked me tor the
brave word of freedom" that | had
! spoken in book | had then recently
/ written. subsequently he sought me
Tout in New York, and then though he
I know that | disaproyed OF his belief
6lat the negro was entirely fitted to
| ru.o over Il community OF white people
+ he urged me- to visit him whenever
/ ! should 80 to Boston. Being there
not long afterwards. | looked him up
IN the directory and called at the mod
I es5 brick house in Essex srteet. which
was his residence. lis next door
/ uaighbor was retail provision store
/ and there was nothing about It's dlngy
coat Of red paint to indicate that il
Has the home If man worth S5if,oQO
| Bat il was, and he lived in it through
! the year. except during few OF tue
| hottest weeks Of summer.
Entering the house / was shown up
plain stairway, ana into the parlol
IA modest apartment IN the second
story. The r2ou was not more than
twenty feet square, and the entire
| house not over twenty five feet by
/ forty: but he smd it was large enough
| FOR 4 man and his wife and two Re
Emala d3me-tics. 4 modest carpe;
covered the floor Z haIfaozen paint
ings were on The walls, aud scattered
about iG appropriate places were {
Sew chairs, center table, and q large
sofa. all of mahogany, ;sna all covered
with hair cloth. ana destitute of cary
inc. L was such q domicile 0s any
reasonably prudent man could suppor
on $3.50 q year; but / was told taa
with an annual income OF $4,000 Alr
/ Phillips always found himself at III,
end OF the year overdrawn a hi:
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