Year: 1876

?.


stands the illustrious Garrison; their LABOR
is finished, their work il well done, ana tne
coming ages will give them their place 10
history-above warriors, above poets, ABOVE
philosop sophers-benefact0r OF the human
race; but we have also in mind tne alsunS-
tione and Determinations against US wnlcn
still exist (not withstandlng the abolition OF
slayery and the constitutional amendmente), ,
and the warfare which must be waged
These distinctions and Determinations
NAV not have legal existence, yet never,
theIess they do exist, and we can but ieei
their balefnl influences. Few persons not
identified with rs in complexion seem to
nnderstand our feeling in this matter and
these influences. To those who do not sp-
preciate them We say. though it is imPos'
sible for you to put yourselves in our place
and see as we see, they are very perceptlolee 9
to us: they meet us IN our daily walks and
seldom leave US; they manifest themselves
In an uucharitable spirit toward us, known
| as prejudice, in it's hundred formsi they
manifest themselves in . bearing ana man
per toward us which seems to intend to say
YOU are nothing but o negro with two gs.
We know that Mr.. Phillips is one of the
persons who understand this feeling OF ours,
and who sympathize with Us. To meet
these unjust determinations, and overcome
them, is the aim of this association, and in
this effort we ask the cooperation and as
sistance OF every cOnsiderate person; nor
shall we consider our mission ended 80 long
as an unchristian prejudice makes 1t almost
impossible tor q cOlOred boy to get chance
to learn trade in the workshops of Boston,
or a colOred laborer gets less pay than
others for the ga ne work, or proper de-
gree of respect and consideration is not &C.
corded to our feelings.


Wendell Phillips was then introduced
and loudly applsuded.


REMARKS OF WENDELL PHILLIPS.
Mr.. Chairman and Members of the Club
l feel profoundly sensible and grateful for
the honor you do me in putting my name
on your club. 1t is one of the most touch
ing and agreeable testimonies that q man
could receive ss evidence of kindly and
appreciative regards of the members. 1t
tempts me to say in beginning what we
may say here without any danger of mic
understanding or misapprehension, better
perhaps than could be said more publicly in
some respects.


In looking back at the emancipation of
your race there are certain lines to be
drawn in regard to the meaning, purpose
and functions of some of the great men
who are connected with 1t.


Intelligent as you would be looking back
ct that struggle, you can divide the honor,
you can discriminate. Ordinary history,
journalism, the hurrah of to-day mixes up
names unfortunately and for you it is the
great epoch Of ell history and ought to be
the subject of study. 1t is your duty to
draw the lines. Now you take Lincoln and
Grant, representatives of . large class that
ministered to that redemption, ministered
very efficiently. General Grant was the
sword whose right hand cleaved away the
power of slavery. As military genius, his
clear perception, after the first two or three
years, subserved the cause of emancipation.


If you can suppose for moment that you
would have had General persevere to the
end of the war with the mode of Mcclellan,
or even with the qualified disposition of
Sherman, the result might have been large
~ affected. You perceive this in the terms
which Sherman offered to Johnston in his
great surrender, which the quick wit and
keen insight of Stanton said, THAT is Sher-
mans surrender to Johnston" l mean he
meant we'll, but l mean he did not see clear
ly-he saw men as trees walking.


Mr.. Lincoln served that great cause and
served very efficiently, but as Waldo Emer
con says, ''he builded better than he knew"
that is, he did more than he ever intended;
he went further than he set out to ge. He
never meant in his controversy with Douglas
or in his speech in the Cooper Institute the
emancipation of the colored race. Events
pushed him on, and God nodded his effort
so that it came out very differently from
what he planned. Those are the class of
men, large and influential, to whom great
gratitude is due in certain sense, that are
best described by Emerson's line, they
builded better than they knew" They
never anticipated, but God made better
tools in the work. That is one line.


Then we come to q second line in which
many of the standards-Mr. Sumner and
Governor Andrew represented that line
men whose mode of mind and general
liberalitv of sentiment, impartial serene
elevation above the narrowness Of race
made them distinctly appreciate what was
going, devote themselves to 1t, listening to
the bugle note, give themselves up to the
atmosphere of the age in which they were
born. That is another class of men to
which your gratitude, to gratitude of the
whole mankind, is due.


If we look back to similar epochs in bis
tory, take the Reformation for instance,
there is one great figure that towers above
all others. We never think of the Reforms.
ton without thinking of Luther. So in the
Z
gave us the steamboat; Morse, who gave US
the telegram. They pronounced the idea
around which all the elements centre like Q
magnetic force and invented the method
which belongs to one man. When you scru-
tinize the history, that figure stands out as
distinct as Luther doee, and as the years
roll away and centuries gather between the
spectator and the effort, the other actors
will retire to their place, and as history
says Of Luther. he struck the keynote,
he invented the tools by which this was
done, he summoned these other men from
study and castle and battlefield and college,
and compelled them, as it were, like the
channel Of q great river into one move
ment. When history pron0unces that name
it will be our friend, Mr.. Garrison. Ap-
plause That grand claim is not participated
in by any other interests; they all take their
place around it, under it, in subordination
to it, and when you 60 behind it to names
like WO0lman and Lundy, and the men on
the other side Of the water, they again do
not come up to it, they as it were in Ger
tain sense prepared the advent as John the
Baptist did, but the final point that struck
twelve in the history of the nation, that an.
nounced the new enterprise to which ell
others were to bend as the sheaves did to
Joseph in the dreams.


Mr.. Phillips then sketched the change in
the condition of the c0l0red race during the
past half century, and spoke of the import
ance of the Southern question.


The colored race of America are in the
van of intelligence and education, and the
eyes of the world are on them. The blacks
Of Brazil will follow in the van. The COL
orod race in the South have worked, been
thrifty and laid up money. They have
shown another thing, and that is they have
stood by each other. He thanked God that
the Southern blacks were manageable by