St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-02-18
Address at Lincoln Banquet.
Judge Stafford Contrasts Lincoln and
Phillips.

their annual Lincoln dinner at the Wal
dorf Thursday night and had 600 guests
and 200 listeners. 1t was notable oc
casion and the speakers were chosen
from among the ranks of those who have
won public attention by their powers o
oratorv. The speakers were Former
Governor Black of New York, Judge
Wendell P. Stafford, Representatives
Frank w. Cushman and Robert W
Tavler. Judge Staffords subject was
Abraham Lincoln and Wendell Phillips
Contrast and Parallel" Judge Stat
ford said;
I'm the whole history OF human
thought. there is nothing more thrilling
and dramatic than the sight of abolition
ism. that fierce flame OF the spirit pierre.
ing the inert mass, burning unquench-
ably through 80 years until 1t had
divided North from South and brought
| them together with the crash OF civil
war, in the midst of which slavery itself
went down to it's own place. 1t ought
to be enough to teachus once for all that
wht..ever powers hold sway in the world
ofmatter, in the world ofthought ideals OF
right and duty once aroused play with
the dead weight of selfish opposition as
the cyclone plays with a handful OF
withered leaves.
II shall meet with no dissent here if |
say that when we look for types OF the
tremendous forces we are recalling to-
night we shall not find one that unites
the love of union with the hatred of
slavery like Abraham Lincoln; and not
to question Garrison's preemlnence IN
the movement he set on foot we shall
need no finer, drawer figure to stand for
abolitionism than 1he great tribune OF
the people, Wendell Phillips.
Lincoln and Phillips-was ever
shaper contrast? the prairie rail splitter;
the darling OF fortune Bits OF learning
picked out of borrowed book by the
fare OF a pine knot torch, against the
Latin school and Harvard College. Here
a long, loose, gaunt, ungainly figure;
there proportions that matched the Bel
yidere Apollo, point for point. On the one
side awkwardness which nothing but the
dignity OF a great soul saved from being
ludicrous, on the other, native ease that
made every attitude picture, every GEES
ture grace. kind, bomely, rough-hewn
face beside a profile cut like cameo,-Of
classic purity and superb distinction.
From one a voice that earnestness made
harsh or even strident; from the other a
voice with all the modulations of the
flute and the thrill of the silver clarion
when it would. Here was the simple
strength of wise or witty thought in
hcmespun words there was the magical
eloquence that led Emerson to say i
would give thousand shekels for that
mans secret. In one political ambition
formed in boyhood and followed success
fully through life; in the other, dedica-
ton to a cause that sealed every door of
office against him. One, the practical
statesman, feeling the responsibility of
power and working with the tools at
hand slowly and patiently toward his
large design; the other, the great agita-
tor not always seeking to be judicial,
but pleading the cause of the downtrod-
den, lashing the sluggard and coward
spirit of his time and quckening the pub
lie conscience to its work. In one,
obedience to the constitution, that voted
for the fugitive slave BILL in the other,
devotion to freedom, that armed the
runaway, and when he was retaken cried
Nv curse upon the constitution OF these
United States A view of duty that met
rebellion with the words II | could save
| the Union without freeing a slave
would do it. but my object is to save the
Union; a view of duty that avowed
acknowledged secession or cannonade it
i care not which. Only proclaim
liberty throughout the land and unto al
the inhabitants thereof. On one side a
policy that finally put its hand to the
proclamation because it hereby dealt the
conederacy a fatal blow; on the Other
policy that stood by the Union because
the Union had come to mean redemption
to the slave.
at spoke in Phillips early vow: I Low,
these streets OF Boston, over which my
mother tenderly lifted my baby feet, anC
If God gives me time enough | will maxi
them too pure to bear the footprints OF {
slave The same complete consecratiol
to the service OF their time. The sam
iutlexble allegiance to duty as it has beer
revealed to them. 1t led the prairie DO,
up to the place OF power where his hanC
could bless The millions. 1t led the vounl
patrician down to the side of his loves
brothers and made him the mighty advo
cate OF all the weak and wrouged. VIII,
asks now If Lincoln thought Phillips
fanatic. Who remembers now tina
4 Phillips once called Lincoln the slay
hound OF Illinois, What matter if the
@ differed in lite, In death they are not d
yidtd. The same great bcnedicton OF
peoples love oniolds them both Lincol
! went to his grave followed by the bles
a ings OF the poor
+ Nineteen years alter Phillips lay i'll sta
g in Faneul Hail. and hour by hour Il
motley crowd went by his cofin-tl
4 helpless outcast ones, the poor, despiset
>. oppressed OF every race and color, cla
ID. and cline, the voiceless ones for who
= he had been a voice-looking their la,
9. upon the silent face and feeling that the
~, matches champion was gone. Libert
rs like wisdom is justified of all her children
Az, Rtch in deed is the land that can point t
two such sons aud say, Behold the1
~ They are equally my own
~, 81 do not claim that the declaratiC
- has been tullyrealizedin the lite OF the II
.d ton. ! only clajmt that it is beingtcalz
and thatint the end it viii have its way.
,- is still sad look southwark only les
se say, than halt accntuty ago evil n
he pretend that the negro is eniranchisc
vet something has been gained. and if I