NRLF SANTA CRUZ < z Gift of Prof. Paul Seabury . H X en SANTA CRUZ WENDELL PHILLIPS "S WRITINGS. SPEECHES, LECTURES, AND LETTERS By WENDELL PHILLIPS. COMPILED, UNDER DIRECTION OF THE GREAT ORATOR, BY JAMES REDPATH. This volume contains the most prominent speeches of his anti-slavery career, together with many later efforts ; thus presenting varied specimens of his match- less eloquence. PUBLISHED IN TWO STYLES. Library edition. Cloth. Tinted paper $2.50 And, for general distribution, a popular edition. Paper covers 50 Cloth, $1.00. PHILLIPS MEMORIALS. Uniform type, size, and covers. 8vo. Paper. 25 cents each. Comprising WENDELL PHILLIPS. A Biographical Essay. By THOMAS WENTWORTH HlGGINSON. EULOGY OF GARRISON. Remarks of WENDELL PHILLIPS at the funeral of William Lloyd Garrison. THE LOST ARTS. The Celebrated Lyceum Lecture by WENDELL PHILLIPS. DANIEL O'CONNELL. The Irish Patriot. Lecture by WENDELL PHILLIPS. THE SCHOLAR IN THE REPUBLIC. Address at the Centennial Anni- versary of the Phi Beta Kappa of Harvard College, June 30, 1881. THE LABOR QUESTION. Speeches at various times on this subject, by WENDELL PHILLIPS. Others in preparation. * # * Sold by all booksellers and newsdealers, or sent by mail, postpaid, on re- ceipt of price. LEE AND SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS BY GEORGE LOWELL, AUSTIN /"/ AUTHOR OP A "HISTORY OP MASSACHUSETTS," " LONGFELLOW : HIS LIPE, WORKS, AND FRIENDSHIPS," ETC. " A public man is often under the necessity of consenting to measures he dislikes, to save others he thinks important. But the historian is under no such necessity." LORD MACAULAY. " In God's world there are no majorities, no minorities; one, on God's side, is a majority." WENDELL PHILLIPS. NEW EDITION BOSTON LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 10 MILK STREET NEXT OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE 1888 COPYRIGHT, 1884, GEORGE LOWELL AUSTIN. Ml rights reserved. E A TO THE COLORED CITIZENS OF THIS LAND, TO WHOM WENDELL PHILLIPS WAS ALWAYS A FRIEND; TO WIVES AND DAUGHTERS, OF WHOSE NATURAL RIGHTS HE WAS ALWAYS A FEARLESS ADVOCATE; TO YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN, TO WHOM HIS UNSTAINED LIFE WAS ALWAYS AN EXAMPLE, HIS WORDS AN ADMONITION FOR GOOD AND RIGHT, THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. PBEFACE. T HAVE entitled the following pages, u The Life and - Times of Wendell Phillips." Hence a few words, in the form of a preface, would seem to be necessary. Mr. Phillips came prominently before the public in the year 1837. From that time onward, he was, in a large sense, a public man. At no time in his career was he regarded as a statesman : he never cast a vote at the polls, and never played the rdle of a politician, so-called. Not- withstanding all this, he was, in a very great measure, a public man. During the period in which the slavery ques- tion was agitated, that is, from the year 1837 until the adding of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, his name, his utterances, his acts, were constantly recorded in the newspapers. He was an acknowledged leader in the movement, and the part which he played tended to shape the course of American history. With the Woman's Rights Movement, with the causes of Temperance, of the Irish nation, of Labor Reform, of Prison Reform, and indeed with every effort seeking the good of humanity, Mr. Phillips was closely identified. It would be impossible to write the life of such a man without also writing, however briefly, the history of his 5 6 PREFACE. times. Public events, and his connection with them, alone give prominence to any individual : eliminate them, and all interest in him is lost save to his family. What Wendell Phillips was in his own home belongs exclusively to that home, and to the beloved companion who was the centre of that home and of his life. I have not wished to invade its sacredness. But what Wendell Phillips was to the world belongs to the world; and by his acts among men he has bequeathed a record which belongs to humanity, and which, in these pages, I have endeavored to recall in a permanent form. If I have erred in my judgments, I trust that the error will be attributed to that sincere admiration for the great agitator and orator which I cherished from earliest years. In the preparation of these chapters, I have sought infor- mation far and wide. Every person, to whom I have ap- plied, has freely offered his or her assistance. They already have, individually, my expressed thanks. G. L. A. CAMBRIDGE, April 1, 1884. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ANCESTRY AND PARENTAGE. PAGE Memorials of the Phillips Family. Rev. George Phillips. Arrival in America. Death of his Wife. Life at Water- town, Mass. Rev. Samuel Phillips of Rowley. His Mar- riage. His Sons. John Phillips the Merchant. William Phillips. His Marriage to Margaret Wendell. Their Son, John Phillips, the Father of Wendell Phillips. His School- days at Andover, Mass. Enters Harvard College. Studies Law. His Marriage to Sally Walley. Public Honors. Chosen the First Mayor of Boston. His Death. Char- acter. His Children ........ 17 CHAPTER II. THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. The Phillips Mansion. Birth of Wendell Phillips. His Early Training. Enters the Boston Latin-School. The Boys of that Period. Reminiscences of Schoolmates. Death of Adams and Jefferson. Lafayette. Webster's Address at Bunker Hill. Phillips' s First Impressions of Politics. Mr. Appleton's Recollections. Phillips enters Harvard Col- lege. Motley and Sumner. The Faculty. Life at College. Opposes Temperance. Courses of Reading. Favorite Authors. Enters the Junior Class at the Law School. Methods of Instruction. Cherishes no Fondness for the 7 8 CONTENTS. PAGE Law. Graduation. Admitted to the Bar. At Lowell, Mass. Benjamin F. Butler. Practice . . . . .27 CHAPTER III. THE EARLY ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. Garrison establishes "The Liberator." The First Number. A Dingy Office. Mr. Garrison's . Supporters. Dr. Lyman Beecher. Jeremiah Evarts. Oliver Johnson's Testimony. " The Liberator " creates a Stir in the South. The Might of King Cotton. Garrison's Appeal to his Countrymen. The New-England Anti-Slavery Society. Story of its Organi- zation. Preachers and Politics. The Rise of the Ameri- can Anti-Slavery Society. Growth of the Movement. The Reign of Terror dawning. The Charleston Riot. Faneuil Hall pays a Tribute to Slavery, and the New-England Pulpit Dumb! 45 CHAPTER IV. THE GARRISON MOB, AND ITS RESULTS. Where was Wendell Phillips ? The Female Anti-Slavery Society hold a Meeting, October, 1835. Inflammatory Handbills. "The Commercial Gazette" excites the Mobocracy. The Ladies assemble at the Hall. The Opening Exercises. The Mob gain Possession of the Hall. Mayor Lyman counsels Ad- journment. Mr. Garrison seized by the Rioters. Dragged through Boston's Streets. At City Hall. Conveyed to Jail. The Outcome. Phillips views the Spectacle. Learns a Lesson. Foresees his Future. His Speech on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Mob . 58 CHAPTER V. THE DEBUT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. The Year 1837. Slavery the Dominant Power of the Country. Earnestness of the Abolitionists. The Lovejoy Tragedy. CONTENTS. 9 PAGE Story of the Alton Riots. The Tidings reach Boston. Faneuil Hall refused to the Indignant Abolitionists. Dr. Channing appeals to the Citizens of Boston. The Hall opened at Last. A Packed Audience. Resolutions. Harangue of Attorney-Gen. Austin. Its Effect. Reply of Wendell Phillips. Great Uproar and Excitement. The Result 68 CHAPTER VI. PHILLIPS AN ABOLITIONIST. MARRIAGE. Phillips' s Aspirations. The Lyceum-Lecture System. Phillips delivers his First Lecture. "The Lost Arts." Joins the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. Status of the Colored People. The Chapmans. Ann Terry Greene. Phillips falls in Love. Marriage. His Domestic Life. The Faith- ful Wife. Phillips' s First Anti-Slavery Lecture. Recol- lections of Edwin Thompson 82 CHAPTER VII. THE WORLD'S ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. Begins its Sessions June 12, 1840. The Rights of Women dis- cussed in the American Anti-Slavery Society. David Lee Child's Resolutions. Prominent Delegates. Freemasons' Hall, London. Debate on the Admission of Women. Speech of Mr. Phillips. The Women rejected. Adverse Criticism, and Wisdom of Mr. Phillips 93 CHAPTER VIII. PROGRESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY^ CAUSE. Phillips arrives Home from Europe. Limited Acquaintance- ship. Letter to George Thompson. The "Remond Case." A Petition to the Legislature, and its Result. Arrest of George Latimer. The Action of the Legislature. A Yoice 10 CONTENTS. PAGE in Congress. Phillips argues for Disunion. Discussion. An Interesting Letter. Mobs 102 CHAPTER IX. ERA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. James K Polk becomes President of the United States. The Annexation of Texas. Origin of the "Liberty Party." The Massachusetts Legislature of 1846. The "Free-Soil Party." Fleeing from Slavery. An Outrage in Boston. Election of Gen. Taylor. Growth of the Free-Soil Party. The Fugitive-Slave Bill proposed in Congress. Debates. Apostasy of Daniel Webster. The 7th of March Speech. Indignation Meetings. The Act signed by the Presi- dent. Faneuil Hall speaks. Charles Sumner chosen Senator. The "Shadrach Case." The "Sims Case." Public Meetings. Election of Franklin Pierce. The Dark- est Day in the History of the American Republic . . . 121 CHAPTER X. A YEAR OF MOBS AND CONVENTIONS. Friends of Temperance assemble in New York, 1853. Women excluded from the Convention. A Busy Autumn. Com- ments of "The Tribune." Rev. Antoinette L. Brown. Her Experience at the Temperance Convention. Exclusion of Miss Brown and Mr. Phillips. The Woman's Rights Con- vention. Riotous Disturbances. Madame Annekfe. Phil- lips' s Bitter Invective. The Convention forced to adjourn sine die 143 CHAPTER XI. PHILLIPS AND THE WOMAN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT. A Plan for Action first proposed. The Call. Responses. The Worcester Convention of 1850. Outline of the Proceed- ings. Attitude of the Press. The Convention of 1851. CONTENTS. 11 Mr. Phillips' s Address. Harriet Martineau. The Legis- lature. The Boston Convention of 1854. Resolutions. The Convention of 1855. Donations. Assembling of the Seventh National Woman's Rights Convention in New York, 1856. Mr. Phillips' s Speech. Indifference of Political Parties towards the Movement. The National Convention of 1858. The Convention of 1859. Mr. Phillips makes a Stirring Address. The Legislatures Memorialized. The New -England Convention. Mr. Phillips again. The "Drawing-Room" Convention. Mrs. Dall's Lectures. The Tenth National Convention, 1860. Marriage and Divorce discussed. Mr. Phillips opposes Discussion. The Woman Question laid aside. " After the Slave then the Woman," 152 CHAPTER XII. THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. The Politics of 1853. Franklin Pierce President. The " Kan- sas and Nebraska Bill." The Repeal of the Missouri Com- promise. Sumner foresees the "Beginning of the End." A Convention of the Free-Soil Party. The Republican Party. Workings of the Fugitive-Slave Act. Arrest of Anthony Burns. A Famous Meeting. Indictments found against Phillips, Parker, and Others. The Result. A Peti- tion for the Removal of " Slave Commissioner" Loring. Mr. Phillips' s Argument. "The Crime against Kansas." As- sault on Charles Sumner. Election of James Buchanan. The Signs of the Times. The John Brown Raid. Mr. Phillips's Eulogy. His Lecture in Brooklyn. Mr. Slack's Recollections. Riotous Feeling in New York. Anniversary Meeting in Boston. A Riot prevented 170 CHAPTER XIII. PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. The Outbreak of Rebellion. Winter of 1860-61. The Fight for Free Speech in Boston. The Personal-Liberty Act. 12 CONTENTS. PAGE Status of the Press. The Virginia Peace Commission. President Lincoln inaugurated. The First Gun. The Country aroused. Phillips at New Bedford. The Call for Troops. The Patriotism of the Press. The Memorable April Twenty-first. A Morning Meeting in State Street. Wendell Phillips in Music Hall. " Under the Flag." State Conventions. The Question of Slavery ignored. The Year 1862. The Emancipation Proclamation. Katification Meet- ing. Phillips favors arming the Colored Men. The " July Riot." Progress of the War. The Thirteenth Amendment. Peace. Return of Troops. Woman Suffrage. Conven- tions of 1866-69 193 CHAPTER XIV. NEARING THE END. The Fifteenth Amendment. Phillips nominated for Governor. Arraigns the Republican Party. Meeting of the Reform League. Convention. A Labor Platform. The Butler Campaign of 1871. Phillips at Stein way Hall. " Courts and Jails." Phillips supports Grant. Letter to the Colored Citizens of Boston. The Days of the White Leaguers. Opposition Meetings. Phillips on Finance in 1875. Phillips on Daniel O'Connell. Sir Harry Vane. The Grant-Sunmer Controversy. Phillips on License. Letter to " the Liberal Clergy." Phillips vs. Crosby. The Irish Crisis. Phillips at Cambridge. Reminiscences of Dr. Clarke. Letter of Parker Pillsbury. Declining Years. Phillips' s Last Speech. Illness. Death and Burial 257 CHAPTER XV. PHILLIPS AS A PHILOSOPHER. Origin of the " Radical Club." Phillips' s Views on Religion. On the Christian Name. On Heart in Religion. Economic Laws. Phillips on the Boston of To-day. Phillips' s Opin- ion of Jonathan Edwards . 370 CHAPTER XVI. Eulogies and Tributes 388 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE PORTRAIT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. ENGRAVED ON STEEL EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK . Frontispiece. THE RENDITION OF ANTHONY BURNS. MARCH DOWN STATE STREET ........ 140 THE PHILLIPS HOMESTEAD. THE ESSEX-STREET HOUSE 349 WENDELL PHILLIPS'S LATE RESIDENCE. THE COMMON-STREET HOUSE ........ 358 IN FANEUIL HALL. THE REMAINS LYING IN STATE . 364 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. CHAPTER I. ANCESTRY AND PARENTAGE. Memorials of the Phillips Family. Kev. George Phillips. Arrival in America. Death of his Wife. Life at Watertown, Mass. Rev. Samuel Phillips of Rowley. His Marriage. His Sons. John Phillips the Merchant. William Phillips. His Marriage to Margaret Wendell. Their Son, John Phillips, the Father of Wen- dell Phillips. His School-Days at Andover, Mass. Enters Har- vard College. Studies Law. His Marriage to Sally Walley. Public Honors. Chosen the First Mayor of Boston. His Death. Character. His Children. " There is & pedigree of the body and a pedigree of the mind." WENDELL PHILLIPS. "TpEW names that the history of the commonwealth **- of Massachusetts has underscored are more worthy of being cherished than that of the Phillips family; and it is a matter for public congratulation, that there exist to-day such worthy monuments for its perpetua- tion as the two academies of Andover, Mass., and of Exeter, N.H. 17 18 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. We have intimated that these two institutions are monuments, to a family. They are so, because they were built up, not by the wisdom and self-denial of one individual of that family, but by the very remark- able unanimity of aim and coincidence of judgment of six members of it, representing three generations. Still more essentially are they so, because they were the outcome of a marked nobleness of spirit and ele- vation of character, that have not ceased to distinguish representatives of the Phillips family through nine generations. The progenitor of the Phillips family in America was the Rev. George Phillips, son of Christopher Phil- lips of Rainham, St. Martin, Norfolk County, England, mediocris fortunce. He entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, April 20, 1610, then aged seven- teen years, and received his bachelor's degree in 1613. He gave early indications of deep piety, uncommon talents, and love of learning, and at the university dis- tinguished himself by his remarkable progress in schol- arship, especially in theological studies, for which he manifested a partiality. After his graduation he was settled in the ministry at Boxted, Essex County, England; but his strong attachment to the principles of the nonconformists brought him into difficulties with some of his parish- ioners; and, as the storm of persecution grew more dark and threatening, he resolved to cast his lot with ANCESTRY AND PARENTAGE. 19 the Puritans, who were about to depart for the New World. On the 12th of April, 1630, he, with his wife and two children, embarked for America in the "Arbella," as fellow-passenger with Gov. Winthrop, Sir Richard Saltonstall, and other assistants of the Massachusetts Company, and arrived at Salem on the 12th of June, where, shortly afterwards, his wife died, and was buried by the side of Lady Arbella Johnson. Mr. Phillips was admitted "freeman," May 18, 1631; this being the earliest date of any such admission. For fourteen years he was the pastor of the church at Water town, a most godly man, and an influential mem- ber of the small council that regulated the affairs of the colony. His share in giving form and character to the institutions of New England is believed to have been a very large one. He died on the 1st of July, 1644, aged about fifty-one years. The son of the foregoing, born in Boxted, England, in 1625, and graduated from Harvard College in 1650, became in 1651 the Rev. Samuel Phillips of Rowley, Mass. He continued as pastor over this parish for a period of forty-five years. He was " highly esteemed for his piety and talents, which were of no common order ; and he was eminently useful, both at home and abroad. He officiated repeatedly at the great public anniversa- ries, which put in requisition the abilities of the first men in the New-England colonies. It is not known 20 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. that any of his productions were printed ; yet it is on record, that, in 1675, he preached the artillery election sermon, and also the election sermon in 1678." 1 In September, 1687, an information was filed by one Philip Nelson, against the Rev. Samuel Phillips, for calling Randolph "a wicked man ; " and for this " crime " (redounding to his honor) he was committed to prison. 2 He was married in October, 1651, to Sarah Applekm, the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Everhard) Apple- ton of Ipswich. He died April 22, 1696, greatly be- loved and lamented. His inventory amounted to nine hundred and eighty-nine pounds sterling. In Novem- ber, 1839, a chaste and handsome marble monument was placed over the remains of Mr. Phillips and his wife, in the burial-ground at Rowley, by the Hon. Jonathan Phillips of Boston, their great-great-great- grandson. He left two sons, the younger of whom, George (1664-1739, Harvard 1686), became an eminent clergy- man, the Rev. George Phillips, first of Jamaica, L.I., and afterwards of Brookhaven. The elder son, Samuel, chose the occupation of a goldsmith, and settled in Salem. It is from this Samuel of Salem that the two Boston branches of the Phillips family have de- scended. A younger son of Samuel, the Hon. John Phillips, i See Gage's History of Rowley. 8 See Washburn's Judicial History of Massachusetts. ANCESTRY AND PARENTAGE. 21 was born June 22, 1701. He became a successful mer- chant of Boston, was a deacon of Brattle-street Church, a colonel of the Boston Regiment, a justice of the peace and of the quorum, and a representative of Boston for several years in the General Court. He married, in 1723, Mary Buttolph, a daughter of -Nicholas Buttolph of Boston. She died in 1742; and he next married Abigail Webb, a daughter of Rev. Mr. Webb of Fair- field, Conn. He died April 19, 1768, and was buried with military honors. According to the records, he was "a man much devoted to works of benevolence." His son, William Phillips of Boston, was born Aug. 29, 1737, and died June 4, 1772. In 1761 he married Margaret Wendell, the eleventh and youngest child of the Hon. Jacob Wendell, a merchant, and one of the Governor's Council. His widow died in 1823. John Phillips, the only son of William and Margaret, was born in Boston on the ancient Phillips place, on the 26th of November, 1770. His mother was a woman of uncommon energy of mind as well as of ardent piety, and early instilled into the heart of her son the principles of religion and a love of learning and of his native land. She placed him, at the early age of seven years, in the family of his kinsman, Lieut.-Gov. Samuel Phillips of Andover, where he remained until he en- tered Harvard College in 1784. In this excellent and pious family, and in the academy under the charge of the learned Dr. Eliphalet Pearson, young Phillips ac- 22 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. quired the rudiments of a sound scholarship as well as that urbane and conciliating manner which was so conducive to his success in subsequent life. Judge Phillips and his excellent lady took a lively interest in the studies of their ward. They examined him from time to time, not only in his catechism, which* was then regularly taught, but also in respect to his literary efforts and acquirements. They encouraged him to make strenuous efforts to obtain a high rank as a scholar, speaker, gentleman, and Christian. Their labors were not lost. On leaving Andover, the youth was prepared to take an elevated stand in college, which he maintained to the completion of his course, when the honor of pronouncing the salutatory oration was conferred on him by the college faculty. Mr. Phillips chose the profession of the law, and soon gained an extensive practice. His popularity became such, that in 1794 he was invited to pronounce the annual Fourth of July oration before the people of Boston. " This production," says a writer, " bears the finest marks of intellectual vigor." Some extracts from it have found their way into the school-books as models of eloquence. In this same year Mr. Phillips was married to Miss Sally Walley, daughter of Thomas Walley, Esq., a re- spectable merchant of Boston. On the establishment of the Municipal Court in Boston, in 1800, he was made public prosecutor, and in 1803 was chosen repre- ANCESTRY AND PARENTAGE. 23 sentative to the General Court. The next year he was sent to the Senate, and such was the wisdom of his po- litical measures, and the dignity of his bearing towards all parties, that he continued to hold a seat in this body every successive year until his decease ; always dis- charging his duties, either as a debater or in the chair, to which he was ten times called, most creditably to himself, as well as most acceptably to his constituents and the State. In 1809 Mr. Phillips was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Three years later he was elected a member of the corporation of Harvard Col- lege, and in 1820 a member of the convention for the revision of the State Constitution. In this able and dig- nified body he held a conspicuous rank. His remarks upon the various questions which arose were learned, judicious, and sometimes rendered all the more effec- tive by the flashes of his wit. Speaking, for example, on the third article of the Bill of Rights, he said he hoped they would not be like the man whose epitaph was, " I am well, I would be better, and here I am." The next year the town of Boston, which now con- tained nearly forty-five thousand inhabitants, began to agitate in good earnest the question of adopting a city government. A committee of twelve, of which Mr. Phillips was chairman, drew up and reported a city charter for the town, which was adopted at a meeting held March 4, 1822, by a vote of 2,797 to 1,881, and 24 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. the result formally announced on the 7th of the same month by a proclamation from Gov. Brooks. The two prominent candidates for the office of mayor were Harrison Gray Otis and Josiah Quincy, both men of high accomplishments, and enjoying a large share of public confidence. But after a vote had been taken, resulting in no choice of mayor, the friends of these gentlemen suddenly agreed on Mr. Phillips, who at the town-meeting held on the 16th of April, 1822, received 2,500 out of 2,650 votes, and thus became the first mayor of the city of Boston. The inauguration occurred at Faneuil Hall on the 1st of May following. The ceremonies of the occasion were unusually impressive ; the venerable Dr. Thomas Baldwin invoking the favor of Heaven, and Chief Jus- tice Isaac Parker administering the oath. In discharging the duties of his office, Mr. Phillips wisely avoided sumptuous display on the one hand, and a parsimonious economy on the other, but observ- ing that juste milieu which good sense dictated, and the spirit of our republican institutions demanded, suc- ceeded in overcoming all prejudices against the new form of municipal government, and in establishing a precedent, which, followed by succeeding mayors, has saved the city millions of dollars of needless expense, and has served as a worthy example to many other cities in this country. Perceiving, towards the expiration of his first term ANCESTEY AND PAEENTAGE. 25 of service, that his health was beginning to fail, Mr. Phillips declined being a candidate for re-election, and on the twenty-ninth day of May, 1823, was suddenly stricken down by disease of the heart ; he being then in the fifty-third year of his age. His death was uni- versally lamented, and public honors were paid by all parties to his memory. John Phillips was a good man, true as steel, and always trustworthy in the various relations of life. He lived in the fear of God, and from his Word received instruction for the guidance of his conduct. He lived in stormy times ; yet such was the consistency and ele- vation of his character, such the suavity and dignity of his manner, such the kindness of his heart, the clear- ness of his conceptions, and beauty of his language, that he commanded the respect and admiration of his political opponents, wielding perhaps as great an influ- ence as any public man of the State at that period; and he will ever stand as a worthy model for the in- cumbents of that high municipal office, which his wisdom, prudence, virtue, integrity, and eloquence adorned. The following are the names of the children of John and Sally (Walley) Phillips : - 1. Thomas Walley, born Jan. 16, 1797. 2. Sarah Hurd, born April 24, 1799. 3. Samuel, born Feb. 8, 1801. 26 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 4. Margaret, born Nov. 29, 1802. 5. Miriam, born Nov. 20, 18 . 6. John Charles, born Nov. 15, 1807. T. George William, born Jan. 3, 1810. 8. WENDELL, born Nov. 29, 1811. 9. Grenville Tudor, born Aug. 14, 1816. CHAPTER II. THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. The Phillips Mansion. Birth of Wendell Phillips. His Early Training. Enters the Boston Latin School. The Boys of that Period. Reminiscences of Schoolmates. Death of Adams and Jefferson. Lafayette. Webster's Address at Bunker Hill. Phillips' s First Impressions of Politics. Mr. Appleton's Recollec- tions. Phillips enters Harvard College. Motley and Simmer. The Faculty. Life at College. Opposes Temperance. Courses of Reading. Favorite Authors. Enters the Junior Class at the Law-School. Methods of Instruction. Cherishes no Fondness for the Law. Graduation. Admitted to the Bar. At Lowell, Mass. Benjamin F. Butler. Practice. " The greatest praise government can win is, that its citizens know their rights, and dare to maintain them. The best use of good laws is, to teach men to trample bad laws under their feet. " On these principles, I am willing to stand before the community in which I was born and brought up, where I expect to live and die, where, if I shall ever win any reputation, I expect to earn and to keep it. As a sane man, a Christian man, and a lover of my country, I am willing to be judged by posterity." PHILLIPS, 1852. ' Whoever sees farther than his neighbor is that neighbor's servant, to lift him to such higher level. Then, power, ability, influence, character, virtue, are only trusts with which to serve our time." PHILLIPS, 1881. TN a large mansion, still standing on the lower corner - of Beacon and Walnut Streets, Boston, Wendell Phillips, the eighth child of Hon. John and Sally (Walley) Phillips, was born, on the 29th of November^ 1811. 28 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. In his earliest years, surrounded by all the advan- tages which the wealth, culture, and social position of his parents afforded, the boy advanced under wise training. To his father, who made this rule for all his children, " Ask no man to do for you any thing that you are not able and willing to do for yourself," he was indebted for those lessons of self-dependence which he invariably practised in after-life. To his mother, who never wearied in searching the Scriptures, and who believed in the value of early religious im- pressions, he owed that simplicity, that earnest sin- cerity, and that remarkable disposition to stand by the right, which afterwards developed itself with such force, and produced such important effects. In August, 1822, he entered the Boston Latin School, which was then located at the corner of Chapman Place and School Street, a site now occupied by the Parker House. The late B. A. Gould was the head- master. Those of his schoolmates who survive re- member Wendell as at that time a boy of about eleven years of age, finely formed, vigorous, and quite tall for his years. Had Puritan Boston cultivated muscle, he would have excelled in athletic exercises ; but muscle, was at that time at a discount. Many of the youths of that period were pale and puny, forced to be so by the absurd notions of their ancestors, who walked sedately, with their bundles of books, to and from school, who never loitered by the THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. 29 way, nor snowballed, nor skated, nor kicked foot-ball, nor swam in the harbor of the Charles. They were the heirs to all the promises of intellectual greatness. They were not all as wise, however, as they looked. Bnt Phillips was neither pale nor puny. He had a fine physique, and his mind was as brilliant as his body was vigorous. "What first led me to observe him," says a fellow-student, " and fixed him in my memory, was his elocution ; and I soon came to look forward to declamation, day with interest, mainly on his account ; though many were admirable speakers. The pieces spoken were mainly such as would excite patriotic feelings and an enthusiasm for freedom. " I remember distinctly the hot summer day when, the windows of the schoolhouse all open, we heard the tolling of the bells for the death of Adams and Jeffer- son. We were informed why they were tolling ; and, in those days of belief in special providences, it was for us a remarkable providence that they died on that day they had made sacred, and that, in their deaths, they were not divided ; and it added to the solemnity of the occasion, that Heaven thus seemed to set the seal of its approbation upon their lives and their work. " What have since been sneered at as ' glittering generalities,' were to us great truths; and with the men whose 4 souls were tried/ and who gave or risked their lives for those truths, many of us claimed a near relationship. Some of us had heard our grandfathers 30 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. sing that inspired battle-hymn of the Revolution, com- posed by Judge Niles of Vermont, beginning with the .lines, 1 Why should vain mortals tremble at the sight of Death and destruction on the field of battle ? ' a hymn worthy of the cause it was written to sus- tain, and worthy of preservation, from its associations, as the battle-hymn of the republic. " We had heard them tell of that bitter winter en- campment in New York, when the snow fell to five feet on a level; when they were short of provisions, without shoes, nearly naked, many of them, and hud- dled together in heaps under straw for warmth ; when officers as well as privates were despondent, and only a belief, stimulated by the eloquent pen of Paine, that those 'glittering generalities' were rights worthy of the effort and the sacrifice, kept them from despair and desertion. We could realize how intense their enthu- siasm, how bright their hopes, at the surrender of Bur- goyne and Cornwallis. " We had stood in line on Tremont Street, with rib- bons, on which were portraits of Lafayette, pinned to our jackets, when that enthusiast for liberty, then a grand old man, revisited the land to which, in the hot blood of youth, he had given his sword; wondering at the enthusiastic greetings of the crowds, and at the evidences of thrift and prosperity, which, as we were told, led him to inquire, 'Where are your poor?' so THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. 31 unconscious of any great merit for what he had done, that he was disposed to decline the offer of a national ship, and take passage in a private vessel ; little dream- ing that his journey was to prove a triumphal proces- sion such as the world had never seen. "And we had walked over the bridge to Charlestown and Bunker Hill, and had heard Webster, then the embodiment of eloquence and patriotism ; while before him were the venerable men, among whom Lafayette was seated, the survivors of those who, on that mem- orable night, had thrown up the breastworks that time had not levelled, Webster, whose philippic against the slave-trade at Plymouth, in 1820, every school-boy knew by heart : "'I hear the sound of the hammer. I see the smoke of the furnaces where manacles and fetters are still forged for human limbs. I see the visages of those who, by stealth and at midnight, labor in this work of hell, foul and dark as may become the arti- ficers of such instruments of misery and torture. If the pulpit be silent whenever or wherever there may be a sinner bloody with this guilt, within the hearing of its voice, the pulpit is false to its trust.' " Words of fire these that burned into the souls of boys like Phillips those ' prejudices ' which Webster in vain begged them to 'conquer,' when he had sold himself to the slave-power for a mere nomination to the presidency that was never made, and, for such a con- sideration, was not fit to be made." Educated among such influences, never was pupil 32 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. more faithful to the teachings of his master than the thoughtful boy to these burning words of the then fore- most man in New England. The recollections of Mr. Thomas G. Appleton may be given in this connection : 44 Phillips was an old friend of mine. I remember how we used to play together long ago, and the recol- lection is very pleasant indeed. He was a fine, manly little fellow ; and I was very proud of him as a play- mate. Wendell Phillips, J. Lothrop Motley, and I used to play together in the garret of the Motley House ; and I remember that their favorite pastime used to be, to strut about in any fantastic costume they could find in the corners of the old attic, and shout scraps of poetry and dialogue at each other. 44 It was a fine sight to see them, for both were noble- looking fellows ; and even then Wendell's voice was a very pleasant one to listen to, and his gestures as graceful as could be. "After that I knew him at the Latin School, and later at college. I remember at college that we got a notion that Phillips was laboring under some religious excitement ; and so, to revive him a little, we got him into the Porcellian ; and he soon became our president. He was well liked at college, and his radicalism did not then develop strongly enough to make him in any way unpopular. He was always a fine elocutionist, and elegant in his manner of delivery." THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. 33 In those clays the course at the Latin School was one of five years. According to the years of study, the school was divided into five classes, and each class into three divisions. The curriculum included, in Greek, Valpy's "Greek Grammar," the "Delectus Sen- tentiarum Grsecarum," Jacobs's " Greek Reader," the "Four Gospels," and two books of Homer's "Iliad; " in Latin, Adams's "Latin Grammar," "Liber Primus," "Epitome Historic Grsecae," "Viri Romse," "Phsedri Fabulse," "Cornelius Nepos," Ovid's "Metamorphoses," Sallust's "Catiline," and " Jugur thine War," Caesar, Virgil, Cicero's " Select Orations," the " Agricola," and " Germania " of Tacitus, and the " Odes " and " Epodes " of Horace ; in the study of mythology, Tooke's " Pantheon of the Heathen Gods " served as the text-book ; Lacroix was used in arithmetic ; and in reading, Lindley Murray's " English Reader." Having finished a course at the Latin School before he was sixteen, he entered Harvard College, and was graduated, in 1831, in the class with Motley, the future historian of the Netherlands. Phillips and Motley were warm personal friends; and both ranked high, among their fellows on account of their beauty, elegant manners, and social position. In the class preceding was Charles Sumner, whom Phillips knew while they were both in the Latin School. When Phillips entered college, Rev. John T. Kirk- land was president ; but in 1829 he was succeeded by 34 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Josiah Quincy. Among the professors were Edward T. Charming in rhetoric, George Ticknor in French and Spanish literature, John S. Popkin in Greek, George Otis in Latin, Levi Hodge in logic and metaphysics, and John Farrar in mathematics and natural philoso- phy. Of the corps of instructors then in service, not one survives. At college, Phillips was a fair student. He was a daily boxer and fencer, and acquired some skill in both departments of this manly art. He was never in the opposition ; never got into trouble on account of his dissent from the opinions of others; and was so far from inclining to radicalism, either in politics or in social life, that, after having been elected president of the " Hasty-Pudding Club," he was made president of another exclusive society, known as the " Gentle- men's Club." He had so little interest in reform, that he succeeded in defeating or bears the infamy, as he himself phrased it, of having defeated the first propo- sition to establish a temperance society at Harvard. But it was of the man considered so sarcastic and critical. and harsh in after-life, that a classmate said, "Whenever we are abusing a fellow, Phillips always finds something good to say of him." To his class, it was the greatest surprise when he joined the anti- slavery movement. During his college-life, Phillips rarely read speeches, or even had any taste for oratory. But debate, and the THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. 35 arguments which i't necessitated, was always his hobby. His favorite study was history, including a lively inter- est in genealogy, and even in heraldry. " But," said Mr. Phillips one day, in speaking of his college-life, " if I had followed my own bent, I should have given my time to mechanics or history ; and my mother used to say, that, when I became a lawyer, a good carpenter was spoiled." An intimate friend, writing in 1874 of Phillips's college-life, says, " Mr. Phillips, when at college, gave a year to the study of the English Revolution of 1640. He studied every thing relating to it, from Clarendon to Godwin, every memoir, every speech, every novel, every play, that was accessible to him, whether written at the time, or the scene of which was laid in those years. " He gave another year to the study of biographies and memoirs of the age of George the Third, covering our own Revolution with the same completeness. He next studied Dutch history with equal thoroughness as far as English literature afforded the means of doing so. Proverbs were his especial delight. The character of a young man is best known by a knowledge of his heroes. Those of Mr. PhillirJs in English history were Sir Walter Raleigh, Andrew Mar veil, Pym, Sir Harry Vane, Cromwell, Chesterfield, De Foe, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, John Hunter, James Watt, and Brindley. In American history they were Jay, Franklin, Hamilton, Samuel Adams, and Eli Whitney. " Among novelists, Richardson was a great favorite ; and Scott he knew almost by heart. In Latin literature, Tacitus and Juve- nal were his favorites. In French literature, Sully, Rochefou- cauld, De Retz, Pascal, Tocqueville, Guizot, and Victor Hugo. 36 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. In English, his pets were Swift, Ben Jonson, Jeremy Taylor, Massinger, Milton, Southey (in ' The Doctor '), Lamb, the elder Disraeli, and 'all of Horace Walpole.' "He was late in opening to Shakspeare. Then he regarded Elizabeth Barrett Browning as the first of modern poets, an opin- ion that he has not changed. To-day he thinks that George Eliot and Charlotte Bronte see life truer and deeper than either Dickens or Thackeray, though they lack the artistic skill of their more celebrated contemporaries." We are indebted to Rev. Edgar Buckingham of Deer- field, Mass., a classmate of Mr. Phillips, and for many years the class-secretary of the class of 1831, for the following interesting reminiscences. They begin with the days at the Latin School. "Any one may be happy in having been the schoolmate of Wendell Phillips. We were in the same class, in school at i col- lege, for five years. Comparatively few men can tell of him when he was a boy. But, to my mind then, he was the most beautiful person I had ever seen, handsome, indeed, in form and feature ; but what I mean by his beauty was his grace of character, his kindly, generous manners, his brightness of mind, his perfect purity and whiteness of soul. His face was very fair, though it could not have been called pale ; and it had a radiance from which shone forth the soul that dwelt within. He was a good scholar, and the happiest and most charming of companions, either in play or talk. I shall never forget when, in our play around the houses in Montgomery Place, then unfinished, I tumbled down an open cellar-way, he was down first to see if I was hurt. In school-time, besides Horace and Homer, the boys did a great deal of talking. We drew pictures. We carved alabaster into shapes to stamp let- THE PEKIOD OF YOUTH. 37 ters with, in days when letters for the mail were sealed with wax or wafers. The seats on which we sat during our last year were so placed in regard to the desk of the teacher, that the teacher could not conveniently watch us unless he was particularly anxious to do so ; and I think he had a fellow-feeling with us, and allowed us to talk unless we disturbed others by noise. The subject of our conversation at that time boys fourteen or fifteen years of age was the trinity, atonement, or some other point of orthodox the- ology. Dr. Lyman Beecher was at that time reigning as sovereign over the orthodox churches of Boston, and was in the height of his power and influence. Large numbers of persons were attending his church in Hanover Street, to listen to the terrors of his elo- quence, some from the Unitarian connection, among them some of the nearest relations of Wendell ; and he himself was drawn in as a convert. I suppose he needed no conversion from the moral education his mother had given him, and from the dispositions he inherited from his ancestors ; but he probably obtained clearer ideas of duty and consecration from the instruction he received, and the excitement through which he passed, and became, for the most part, fixed in some ideas of a great, important life. At any rate, his conversion, it is plain, exercised no permanent narrowing influences over him. It did not, by overwhelming views of a future world, make him, as a technical conversion does some, uninterested in people's welfare in the present life, nor, as it often does, make theology superior to philanthropy. I have not learned that he ever changed his theological opinions. It has not been opinion that has made him the man he has shown himself to be, and no sectarian could argue in favor of a special creed from the life and labors Mr. Phillips has pursued. At one time, in his middle life, he re- nounced the church, as at present constituted or conducted ; and to a friend, a minister, who said to him, 'I suppose you think "laborare est orare" "your working is your prayer," or otherwise, 38 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. "your devotion to duty is your devoutness," tie replied, 'Yes; but I think much of the " orare" the praying, too.' But to return to his earlier days. The excitement of the revival gradually passed off in him ; that is, in a few years. But his conversion for quite a while made a deep impression on his companions, awakening their reverence the word is not too strong for this religious boy, and probably leading some on for a time in interesting views of the religious life. "His evident religiousness continued for some time after his entrance into college. I remember well his appearance of deep devoutness during morning and evening prayers in the chapel, which so many attended only to save their credit with the gov- ernment. Doddridge's 'Expositor' Wendell bore to college in his freshman year, a present, I think, from his mother, a new volume, to be his help in daily thought and prayer. His inter- est in his studies was never remitted through his college course : and to the last he stood high in a class, the largest but one that had at that time ever been graduated from Harvard ; and its mem- bers, however justly or unjustly, believed that their eighth or tenth scholar would have been first in any other class. Motley the his- torian was also a member of it, and an intimate friend of Phillips. But, out of the first ten scholars, a large proportion died in their youth, and despoiled the class of power to prove by subsequent achievements and by public fame that their self-flattery was really just. Phillips was really handsome, as I have said, in figure and feature a young Apollo. I remember, in his room, measurements we made of him to see how near his proportions came to that ex- ample of Grecian ideas of manly beauty. " He was of a wealthy family ; and with manly beauty, with a most attractive face, * a smile that was a benediction,' with man- ners of superior elegance, with conversation filled with the charms of literature, with biography and history, full of refined pleasantry, THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. 39 ) with never a word or thought that the purest might not know and listen to, it was no wonder that his society was courted, and especially by those who had wealth at their command, and still more by those young men that came from the South. It is said that he is proud ; that he was a born patrician. In a good sense of the words, he was a born patrician : in the sense of the French expression, noblesse oblige, 1 he felt the responsibilities of his birth and education, his responsibility to keep himself pure, upright, and good. I would not say that he never developed at any time any thing of worldly pride also. I believe he did look down with scorn on that vulgarity, that form of professed democracy, whose virtue only was to envy those better and purer than them- selves as well as loftier in position. I never knew that he scorned any one who was merely poor. But it happened, as one of the strangest of all human phenomena, that this young man, who, in all his public life, has been the defender of the trodden-down and despised, was the especial pet, in his junior and senior years in college, of the aristocracy in that institution. Indeed, he had the credit of being their leader : they put him up to it. The democ- racy of the class became excited to the highest degree, for reasons that I do not now recall, and believe I never knew (and I dare say there were none), and it was determined to put Phillips and others of his associates down. I think he used some of his fine scorn at that time. We had then a military organization, a great pride of ours, the Harvard Washington corps; and though our uniform was black coats and white pantaloons, and the officers had golden-appearing buttons on their coats, with the usual feathers, epaulets, and sashes, yet, in my mind then, no company, however richly uniformed, made a handsomer appearance. When the time came for election of officers by the class to which we belonged, a great struggle took place. It ended in a compromise. Phillips was not chosen captain. A young man from the South, yet not of 40 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. the acknowledged aristocracy, a young man of herculean stature and proportion, and one who had never taken sides in this social quarrel, and whom the whole college would have said was properly the man for the place, was chosen ; and Phillips became one of the highest officers, lieutenant, I think. I never asked him what he learned about Southern pride and assumption in those days. But was it not singular, that, from having been the most admired com- panion and most ardent champion of Southern men in his youth, he should have become in after-years an opponent of Southern principles, than whom there has been none more powerful in the country? I would like to tell my readers what dear companion as I suppose it has been, the pride of his heart, his counsellor and his support, that suggested or brought about the change. But he has a right to keep that secret sacred to himself. But, if he was born a patrician, he had a nature, which, by birth, was ready for the upspringing from within of a true Christian democracy. Dur- ing the days of his boyhood T should never have imagined that he had any conception of the superiority of one man over another, except as superiority was made by mind and soul. And if labor- ing-men now who may ever be in his company, while he is ready to give his life for their service, feel, that, while he is with them and for them, he is not of them, that sentiment of theirs is, as the philosophers say, a subjective feeling of their own. Many think he is not of them, because they cannot conceive how such a man, so born, and so accomplished, can possibly have so much goodness as to know a man only for his humanity, and not for his money and his show. However, such considerations venture beyond recollec- tions of school-boy days." Mr. Buckingham supplements the foregoing facts by the following statements : " In an acquaintance that began in 1826, and has now extended THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. 41 over nearly sixty years, I always admired him [Phillips] for purity and goodness. His life was beautiful, if I understood him right. He was beautiful, too, in form and face, in expression of counte- nance, in tones of voice, in attractiveness of manners and of con- versation. Without exercising the arts of fascination, he inspired the confidence, I think, of all who became acquainted with him ; and he was admired, and he was loved. His friends were charmed with him : all felt themselves at ease in his presence, as with one who had no secret purposes, whose heart was open to all, a heart which men might examine, and angels might love to look upon. "Perhaps it was the natural beauty of his outward manners and appearance, that in early life attracted me ; but it was more his moral excellence. He was a faithful student at his books. He s^oke often of his mother, and her care over him, and her counsels. He was a lover of outdoor sports : he helped others to enjoy them. He was generous, and even chivalrous, with others at play. I don't think he was ever reproved for any carelessness or other fault in the schoolroom, nor was ever complained of among the boys for any unfairness. I do not mean to exaggerate his excellences. I give you my impressions, and I am willing all the truth should be known. In college-life I knew that he devel- oped some faults; for born of what might be called a patrician family, if there were any such, he was courted by the wealthy and elegant, whose lives were not in all things correct: but I never knew of any vice in him. He resisted the vulgar in their man- ners, and may have been haughty towards them ; but I never knew, or do not recall, an instance of neglect or dislike towards any whose lives and conversation were correct." The class of 1831, at the time of its graduation, numbered sixty-five members. Of these, several after- wards achieved eminence in different walks in life, as, 42 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. for example, Francis Gardner, long the beloved head- master of the Boston Latin-School; John Lothrop Motley, already mentioned; George C. Shattuck, M.D.; Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, and others. In September, 1881, Phillips became a member of the junior class in the Harvard Law School. This school grew out of the royal professorship of law, which was established in 1815. It was organized as a distinct department two years later, but did not begin to show much life until 1829, when Judge Story and John H. Ashmun were appointed professors. At that time the method of teaching was, not only "to illustrate the topic of study by decided or supposed cases, and to comment upon and criticise the text-book, but also to examine most of the students quite closely upon the lesson of the day. The exercise was a reci- tation rather than a lecture, a mode of instruction which becomes inconvenient when a professional school is largely attended." In October, 1832, Dane Hall, which was specially erected for the law-department of the university, was opened for use. Prior to this, instruction had been given in No. 1, College House. At the time of the opening, the school numbered forty students ; and these were divided into three classes, the senior, middle, and junior. Of Phillips's course at the law-school, many remem- brances are cherished by his surviving fellows. It THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. 43 is the testimony of all, that, like his intimate friend Sumner, he had no particular fondness for the law, except as a science, and that he did not much care whether or not he ever entered upon its practice. In September, 1834, he was graduated from the law- school, and received his professional degree. A few weeks later he was admitted to practice at the Suffolk bar. Phillips was no longer a boy; from a well-blessed and blooming youth he had now passed into the matu- rity of manhood. Genius surely he had, united to all the gifts and graces of Boston's most exclusive culture. This college graduate, elegant as Antinous, and as beautiful as Apollo, carried with him everywhere the unmistakable atmosphere of classic training. After his admission to the bar, Phillips went to Lowell, Mass., and continued his studies in a more practical sort of way in the office of Thomas Hopkin- son, a former fellow-student of his at Cambridge. Hopkinson was, on the whole, the ablest man in his class, as he was also the oldest. Immediately after leaving college, he had opened an office at Lowell, and rapidly gained headway. It was while Phillips was associated with Hopkinson, that Benjamin F. Butler, an errand-boy in the adjoining office, first met and became acquainted with him. Returning to Boston, Phillips hired desk-room in an office on Court Street, and for the first time displayed 44 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. his sign. "Weeks and months crept on ; but for him it was the old story of " a good calling, but no clients." But what did he care ? To him the law was not the all-absorbing study of his life ; and even now, impa- tient of its details, he sought recreation in the exciting topics of the times. When Phillips came to sign the roll of the court as a member of the bar of Suffolk, already had he ven- tured to doubt the Constitution, that threw even a partial protection around the master of a slave. When he wrote his name to the oath to protect the Constitu- tion, he writhed in shame at his own weakness. It was not for a day, nor for a week, that his manly con- science waged war against that deed of honest troth. For him it was a plighted vow to an unloved. He had covenanted with circumstances. Says one of his friends of early years, again Mr. Appleton, " I remember a year or so after we left the university, I met Mr. Phillips on the street ; and I asked him if he were getting any clients. He said no, he was not. I told him the case was much the same with me ; and added that I was much surprised to hear of his ill-success, knowing what a good orator he was in college. " ' Well,' said he, ' I will wait six months more ; and then, if clients do not come, I will not wait for them longer, but will throw myself heart and soul into some good cause, and devote my life to it if necessary.' " CHAPTER III. THE EARLY ANTI-SLAVEEY MOVEMENT. Garrison establishes " The Liberator." The First Number. A Dingy Office. Mr. Garrison's Supporters. Dr. Lyman Beecher. Jeremiah Evarts. Oliver Johnson's Testimony. " The Liber- ator" creates a Stir in the South. The Might of King Cotton. Garrison's Appeal to his Countrymen. The New-England Anti- Slavery Society. Story of its Organization. Preachers and Politics. The Rise of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Growth of the Movement. The Reign of Terror dawning. The Charleston Riot. Faneuil Hall pays a Tribute to Slavery, and the New-England Pulpit Dumb! "When the pulpit preached slave-hunting, and the law bound the victim, and society said, 'Amen! this will make money,' we were 'fanatics,' 'enthusiasts,' seditious,' ' disorganizes, ' ' scorers of the pulpit,' ' traitors.' Genius of the Past! drop not from thy tablets one of these honorable names. We claim them all as our surest title deeds to the memory and gratitude of mankind. We indeed thought man more than constitutions, humanity and justice of more worth than law. Seal up thy record! If Boston is proud of her part, let her rest assured we are not ashamed of ours." " The last lesson a man ever learns is, that liberty of thought and speech is the right for all mankind." PHILLIPS. TN August, 1830, William Lloyd Garrison issued the - prospectus of a weekly paper to be published in Washington, and called " The Liberator." The pro- spectus created no interest, and the proposition was finally " palsied by public indifference." Having thus 46 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. made known his project, Mr. Garrison left Washington, and, after looking about him for a while, located in Boston. His object in establishing "The Liberator" was, to fight slavery to the bitter end. He wisely con- cluded, that " to fight slavery at the South while the North was hostile would be like going into battle in an enemy's country with no base for re-enforceinents or supplies." The first number of the paper appeared in January, 1831 ; and an exceedingly small folio of four pages it was, too, so small and insignificant, that nobody, in those days, ventured to think that it would ever be able to exert any influence. If the paper was unat- tractive in its external appearance, the office of publica- tion, which was in the third story of the building then known as the Merchants' Hall, was even more so. The dingy walls ; the small windows, bespattered with print- er's ink; the press standing in one corner, and the composing-stands opposite ; the long editorial and mail- ing table, covered with newspapers; the bed of the editor and publisher on the floor, all these make a picture never to be forgotten. Harrison Gray Otis well described it as " an obscure hole," " Yet there the freedom of a race began." In establishing "The Liberator," Mr. Garrison an- nounced that he should not array himself as the politi- cal partisan of any man, and that,' in defending the THE EARLY ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 47 great cause of human rights, he wished to secure " the assistance of all religions and of all parties." But who were Mr. Garrison's supporters? At this time Dr. Lyman Beecher stood at the head of the orthodox pulpits in Boston. The great controversy which had been going on between orthodoxy and Uni- tarianism was drawing nigh to its culmination in the complete divorcement of the two parties. Dr. Beecher was a born belligerent: Dr. Channing, on the Unita- rian side, was a man of gentle and humane spirit. Mr. Garrison, being a strict orthodox himself, naturally looked for support to Dr. Beecher and his adherents. Garrison approached Beecher on the subject. " I have too many irons in the fire already," said the doctor. " Then, you had better let all your irons burn than neglect your duty to the slave," replied Garrison solemnly. Dr. Beecher, like a good many other people of his day, while not an advocate of slavery, believed in colo- nization, in other words, that all the blacks ought to be sent over to Africa. To his mind, immediate eman- cipation upon American soil suggested a frightful pic- ture, and might prove a curse. " Your zeal," he said to Garrison, " is commendable ; but you are misguided. If you will give up your fanatical notions, and be guided by us (the clergy), we will make you the Wil- berforce of America." 48 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Disheartened by such indifference on the part of Dr. Beecher, Mr. Garrison next sought Jeremiah Evarts, secretary of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, who was an earnest pleader in behalf of the red men of America. But, no : there was a marked difference between red and black; and, with the black, Mr. Evarts would have nothing to do. To the honor of Boston, however, there were a few friends who dared to stand by Mr. Garrison. " Among those who came to confer with the editor," writes Mr. Oliver Johnson, who was himself a stanch "friend," " I remember Samuel J. May, who combined the cour- age of Paul with the lovingness of John, and who was ever afterwards a conspicuous figure in the anti-slavery host; Ellis Gray Loring, then a rising young lawyer, with a clear head and a sound conscience, whose death in the prime cf his powers left a vacancy that could not be filled ; Samuel E. Sewall, of an honored Massa- chusetts family, a man fitted by his legal attainments and a judicial spirit for a high place on the bench; David Lee Child, the bold editor, and the faithful champion of the oppressed of every nation and clime ; John G. Whittier, then almost unknown to fame, but whose flashing eye and intrepid mien foretold the songs of freedom with which he afterward thrilled and stirred the hearts of his countrymen ; Joshua Coffin, the antiquarian, Whittier's old schoolmaster, and the THE EARLY ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 49 subject of one of his characteristic lays; Arnold Buf- fum, the Quaker hatter, lately returned from England, where he had caught the spirit of Clarkson, Wilber- force, O'Connell, and Buxton, and thus prepared him- self to greet the rising liberator of America; Moses Thacher, an orthodox clergyman, one of the first of the profession to welcome the call for immediate eman- cipation; and Amos A. Phelps, then pastor of the Congregational church in Pine Street." Ere long " The Liberator " began to make itself felt, not alone in the North, but also in the South, where every effort was made to prevent its circulation. The Vigilance Association of South Carolina (Columbia), on the 4th of October, 1831, "offered a reward of fifteen hundred dollars for the apprehension and prose- cution to conviction of any white person who might be detected in distributing or circulating 4 The Libera- tor,' or any other publication of a seditious tendency." In a similar manner the paper was proscribed in other sections of the South. In the North, a moral stupor rested upon the public and the press. Most people regarded Mr. Garrison and his faithful band of co-workers as so many fanatics, as disturbers of the peace, and as breeders of evil. There were moments when it seemed as if the . mis- guided public opinion of the hour would demand the suppression of " The Liberator ; " and it is not easy now to see what it was, except the interposition of 50 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Divine Providence, that prevented the people in their madness from doing all that King Cotton desired. At an hour when the worst seemed to be culminat- ing, Mr. Garrison addressed the following noble words to his countrymen. They should be read by all who now wish to catch something of the spirit that impelled him in all his endeavors : " I appeal to God, whom I fear and serve, and to its patrons, in proof that the real and only purpose of c The Liberator ' is to prevent rebellion, by the application of those preservative princi- ples which breathe peace on earth, good will to men. I advance nothing more. I stand on no other foundation than this: 'What- soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' I urge the immediate abolition of slavery, not only because the slaves possess an inalienable right to liberty, but because the system, to borrow the words of Mr. Randolph, is * a volcano in full operation ; ' and by its continuance we must expect a national explosion. . . . The present generation cannot appre- ciate the purity of my motives or the value of my exertions. I look to posterity for a good reputation. The unborn offspring of those who are now living will reverse the condemnatory decision of my contemporaries. Without presuming to rank myself among them, I do not forget that those reformers who were formerly treated as the ' offscouring of the earth ' are now lauded beyond measure. I do not forget that Christ and his apostles harm- less, undefined, and prudent as they were were buffeted, calum- niated, and crucified ; and therefore my soul is steady to its pursuit as the needle to the pole. If we would not see our land deluged in blood, we must ins-tantly burst asunder the shackles of the slaves, treat them as rational and injured beings, give them lands TEE EAELY ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 51 to cultivate, and the means of employment, and multiply schools for themselves and their children. We shall then have little to fear. The wildest beasts may be subdued and rendered gentle by kind treatment. Make the slaves free, and every inducement to revolt is taken away. ... I see the design of the clamor raised against ' The Liberator.' It is to prevent public indignation from resting upon the system of slavery, and to concentrate it upon my own head. That system contains the materials of self-destruc- tion." The beginning of the year 1831 witnessed the birth of " The Liberator," as we have shown. At the close of the year another step was taken, which was des- tined to good results. On the 13th of November fifteen persons assembled in the office of Mr. Samuel E. Sewall, in State Street, to consider the feasibility of establishing an anti-slavery society in New England. Of this little company Mr. Garrison was the moving spirit and the chief figure. All present appreciated Mr. Garrison's motives, but not all approved his plans. Only nine of the number favored immediate emancipation. Another meeting was held at the same place on the 16th of December. Ten gentlemen were present; and a committee of five was appointed to draft a consti- tution for an anti-slavery society, to be reported Jan. 1, 1832. The body of the constitution reported by the committee was adopted ; but an adjourned meeting was reported to be held Jan. 6, in the schoolroom under 52 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. the African Baptist Church in Belknap Street. The fellowing preamble was then and there adopted : " We, the undersigned, hold that every person of full age and sane mind, has a right to immediate freedom from personal bond- age of whatsoever kind, unless imposed by the sentence of the law for the commission of some crime. We hold that man can- not, consistently with reason, religion, and the eternal and immu- table principles of justice, be the property of man. We hold that whoever retains his fellow-man in bondage is guilty of a grievous wrong. We hold that mere difference of complexion is no reason why any man should be deprived of any of his natural rights, or subjected to any political disability. While we advance these opinions as the principles on which we intend to act, we declare that we will not operate on the existing relations of society by other than peaceful and lawful means, and that we will give no countenance to violence or insurrection." Such was the "fanaticism," the "incendiarism," and the " infidelity " which the American churches scorned and resisted. The preamble and the constitution were then signed by the following persons. May their memories ever be kept green ! William Lloyd Garrison, Robert B. Hall, Arnold Buffum, William J. Snelling, John E. Fuller, Moses Thacher, Joshua Coffin, Stilman B. Newcomb, Benja- min C. Bacon, Isaac Knapp, Henry K. Stockton, and Oliver Johnson, all but the last named dead. Messrs. David Lee Child, Samuel E. Sewall, and Ellis Gray Loring refused their signatures at the time, THE EAELT ANTI-SLAVEEY MOVEMENT. 53 but soon afterward joined the society. All of these original members were poor men. Not one of them could have put a hundred dollars into the common treasury without bankrupting himself. But such was the origin of " The New-England Anti-slavery Society," the first association ever organized on this continent upon the principle of immediate abolition. As the little company stepped from that schoolhouse out into the storm and darkness of the night, Mr. Gar- rison impressively remarked, "We have met to-night in this obscure schoolhouse. Our numbers are few, and our influence limited; but, mark my prediction, Faneuil Hall shall ere long echo with the principles we have set forth." We shall see how well the prophecy was fulfilled. Of the work of the New-England Society we can say but little. The story has often been told, and with what results the whole world now knows. It was ear- nest work, that told mightily in the end. At times it seemed as if nothing could be accomplished, as if the entire purpose must be given up. But in the darkest hour carne cheering tidings from England, that the whole kingdom was shaken by the eloquence of Wil- berforce, Brougham, O'Connell, Thompson, and others. The thundering words of Lord Brougham, "It is the law written by the finger of God on the heart of man ; and by that law, unchangeable and eternal, while men despise fraud, and loathe rapine, and abhor blood, they 54 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. shall reject with indignation the wild and guilty fan- tasy, that man can hold property in man," stirred the hearts of British citizens and Christians. But, alas ! the statesmen and divines of America preferred to weave defences and apologies for slavery out of the Bible and the Constitution; while the people, who blindly followed and looked up to them, seemed to care no more for the abolition movement than they did for what was going on in the heart of Africa. In December, 1833, the American Anti-slavery So- ciety was organized, with its headquarters in New- York City. After its organization, the Society immediately adopted and published a " Declaration of Sentiments," in which they declared, " The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. To invade it is to usurp the prerogative of Jehovah. Every man has a right to his own body, to the products of his own labor, to the protection of law, and to the common advantages of -society. It is piracy to buy or steal a native African, and subject him to servitude. Surely the sin is as great to enslave an American as an African. Therefore we believe and affirm, that there is no difference in prin- ciple between the African slave-trade and American slavery ; that every American citizen who retains a human being in involuntary bondage as his property is, according to Scripture, a man-stealer ; that the slaves ought instantly to be set free, and brought under the protection of law ; that if they lived from the time of Pharaoh down to the present period, and had been entailed through suc- cessive generations, their right to be free could never have been alienated, but tfreir claims would have constantly risen in solem- THE EARLY ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 55 nity ; that all those laws which are now in force, admitting the right of slavery, are therefore, before God, utterly null and void, being an audacious usurpation of the divine prerogative, a daring infringement on the law of nature, a base overthrow of the very foundations of the social compact, a complete extinction of all the relations, endearments, and obligations of mankind, and a pre- sumptuous transgression of all the holy commandments ; and that therefore they ought instantly to be abrogated. We further believe and affirm, that all persons of color who possess the qualifi- cations which are demanded of others, ought to be admitted forth- with to the enjoyment of the same privileges, and the exercise of the same prerogatives as others ; and that the paths of preferment, of wealth, and of intelligence, should be opened as widely to them as to persons of a white complexion." In regard to the measures by which the Society would seek the accomplishment of its purpose, the declaration asserts, " Our principles forbid the doing of evil that good may come, and lead us to reject, and to entreat the oppressed to reject, the use of all carnal weapons for deliverance from bondage; lelying solely upon those which are spiritual, and mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." From this time onward the cause grew, and agitation became more and more intense. Agents of the socie- ties were everywhere, and thousands of tracts were sent out to hasten on the good work. Occasionally ministers of the gospel ventured to inveigh against slavery, and whole congregations changed attitudes. The signs of the times all pointed to a victory in the 56 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. end. People in the Southern States, however, were furious; and their opinion of the new movement was voiced in the following paragraph from " The Rich- mond Whig: " " Let the hell-hounds of the North beware ! Let them not feel too much security in their homes, or imagine that they who throw firebrands, although from, as they think, so safe a distance, will be permitted to escape with impunity.*' "Let your emissaries," said the Rev. Thomas S. Witherspoon of Alabama, in a letter to the editor of "The Emancipator," "dare to cross the Potomac, and I cannot promise you that your fate will be less than Hainan's. Then, beware how you goad an insulted but magnanimous people to deeds of desperation ! " The reign of terror was dawning. In the summer of 1835 great quantities of printed matter, emanating from the anti-slavery societies, were sent through the mails to citizens at the South. Naturally a tremendous excitement followed. In Charleston, S.C., the post- office was broken into by an infuriated populace ; and all the anti-slavery publications were taken out, and publicly burned. The example set in Charleston was followed in other cities; and, as a rule, all such action was commended in the North. In Boston, the abolitionists asked for Faneuil Hall wherein to explain their objects and to defend them- selves. The request was rudely denied. But, on the THE EAELT ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 57 15th of August, the doors were ppened to their ene- mies. The mayor took the chair ; and, by intemperate speeches, Harrison Gray Otis, Richard Fletcher, and Peleg Sprague intensified the public feeling against the abolitionists. In the most abject manner, Boston crouched before the will of slavery. Shortly afterward Mr. Garrison was hung in effigy, and his life was constantly endangered. In the midst of all these proceedings, which threatened the over- throw of the freedom of speech and of the press, the pulpit of New England was either dumb, or offered an apology to the rule of the slave-power. But, even thus, under Providence the cause of the bondmen was marching on. CHAPTER IV. THE GARRISON MOB, AND ITS RESULTS. Where was Wendell Phillips ? The Female Anti-Slavery Society hold a Meeting, October, 1835. Inflammatory Handbills. " The Commercial Gazette " excites the Mobocracy. The Ladies assem- ble at the Hall. The Opening Exercises. The Mob gain Posses- sion of the Hall. Mayor Lyman counsels Adjournment. Mr. Garrison seized by the Rioters. Dragged through Boston's Streets. At City Hall. Conveyed to Jail. The Outcome. Phillips views the Spectacle. Learns a Lesson. Foresees his Future. His Speech on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Mob. " Such was the temper of those times. The ignorant were not aware, and the wise were too corrupt to confess, that the most precious of human rights, free thought, was at stake. These women knew it, felt the momentous character of the issue, and consented to stand in the gap. Those were trial-hours. I never think of them without my shame for my native city being swallowed up in gratitude to those who stood so bravely for the right." " It is a singular result of our institutions, that we have never had in Boston any but well-dressed mobs." PHILLIPS. ~YT7~HERE was the young Boston aristocrat, the pet of Boston society, the rising and promising law- yer, "Wendell Phillips, all this time ? How did he view the storm that was pending ? What were his emotions, and where were his sympathies? We shall see. While the events recorded in the previous chapter were fast crowding, upon one another, several ladies in 58 THE GARRISON MOB, AND ITS RESULTS. 59 Boston and its vicinity all ladies of culture, refine- ment, and social position themselves formed an anti- slavery society, and entered upon the good work with a courage and zeal truly remarkable. One of the moving spirits of this bond of union was Mrs. Maria Weston Chapman, now of Weymouth, Mass., whose " Memoirs of Harriet Martineau " has found many admirers. It was announced that the Boston Female Anti- slavery Society would hold a meeting on the 21st of October, 1835, in the Anti-slavery (Stacy) Hall, No. 46 Washington Street. On the morning of that day in- flammatory handbills were circulated throughout the city, and threats were freely uttered by the enemies of the cause. The ladies, indeed, became so alarmed at the prospects, that they petitioned the city authorities for protection. No notice was taken of the petition. To add to the fury of the evil-disposed, a false report was spread abroad, to the effect that George Thompson, one of the most gifted and eloquent men of his age, who had come from England to America, at the request of Mr. Garrison, would be present at the meeting, and would probably deliver an address. The following placard was posted in all parts of the city: "THOMPSON THE ABOLITIONIST. "That infamous foreign scoundrel, Thompson, will hold forth this afternoon at 46 Washington Street. The present is a fair opportunity for the friends of the Union to snake Thompson out 1 60 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. It will be a contest between the Abolitionists and the friends of the Union. A purse of one hundred dollars has been raised by a number of patriotic citizens, to reward the individual who shall first lay violent hands on Thompson, so that he may be brought to the Tar Kettle before dark. Friends of the Union, be vigilant ! " One of the morning papers, " The Commercial Ga- zette," thus alluded to the meeting appointed for the day: " It is in vain to hold meetings in Faneuil Hall ; in vain that speeches are made and resolutions are adopted, assuring our breth- ren of the South that we cherish rational and correct notions on the subject of slavery, if Thompson and Garrison, and their vile associates in this city, are permitted to hold their meetings in the broad face of day, and to continue their denunciations of the planters of the South. They must be put down if we would pre- serve our consistency. The evil is -one of the greatest magnitude ; and the opinion prevails very generally, that, if there is no law that will reach it, it must be reached in some other way." Such language served its purpose. Before the hour appointed for the opening of the meeting, the streets in the vicinity of the hall were filled with men, with their every breath freighted with vengeance. Even a blind man would have detected trouble ahead. Through this elegantly dressed, culture-boasting crowd, taunted by the insults and vulgarities of these chivalrous friends of their " brethren of the South," the ladies passed into the hall. About thirty responded to the call of the roll. THE GARRISON MOfi, AND ITS RESULTS. 61 Then Miss Mary S. Parker read a selection from the Scripturesvand in fervent tones offered up a prayer to Almighty God " for his blessing upon the cause of the bondmen, his forgiveness of his and their enemies, and his succor and protection in the hour of peril." " It was," says Mr. Garrison, who was present at the meeting by invitation, "an awful, sublime, and soul- thrilling scene, enough, one would suppose, to melt adamantine hearts, and make even fiends of darkness stagger and retreat. Indeed, the clear, untremulous voice of the Christian heroine in prayer occasionally awed the ruffians into silence, and was heard distinctly, even in the midst of their hisses, yells, and curses." At the close of the prayer, Mr. Garrison, by the advice of the president, in company with Mr. C. C. Burleigh, went into the anti-slavery office, which ad- joined and was separated from the hall by a board par- tition. His object in thus departing was to preserve the contents of the depository from being destroyed in case the mob should suddenly become furious. He had just closed the door behind him, and the secretary of the society had just begun to read the an- nual report, when Mayor Lyman entered the room, and commanded the ladies to disperse. They humbly be- sought his protection, as they had a right to do : he assured them, that, as they were disturbers of the peace, he was powerless to afford them any protection. Thus baffled by "gentlemen of property and standing," and 62 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. by their representative the mayor, the ladies quietly adjourned their meeting. The rioters now rushed into the hall, after having bravely demolished the anti-slavery sign. They appro- priated the Testaments and prayer-books, and then turned their attention to Mr. Garrison. By advice of the mayor, in order to escape the mob, he crossed the roof in the rear of the second story of the hall, to a carpenter-shop in the second story of a building in Wil- son's Lane. There a friend tried to conceal him, but it was too late. The rioters had discovered his hiding- place, and, amid yells which were heard afar off, dragged him to a window, and were about to throw him out, when the conscience of one of them caused him to in- terfere. Then they drew him back, and coiled a rope around his body, evidently with the intention of drag- ging him through the streets of Boston. Just at that moment a ladder was raised to the win- dow, and Mr. Garrison was permitted to descend. From Wilson's Lane he was dragged, bareheaded, and with his garments torn, into State Street, in the rear of City Hall (now "the Old State House"), over ground stained with the blood of the first martyrs in the cause of lib- erty and independence in the memorable massacre of 1770. Arriving at the south door of the hall, an attempt was made by the mayor to protect Mr. Garrison ; but only until several respectable citizens lent their assistance, THE GARRISON MOB, AND ITS RESULTS. 63 did the attempt prove siiccessful. Finally rescued, Mr, Garrison was taken up to the mayor's room, where he was provided with needful clothing, and was told, that, to preserve his life, he must be committed to jail " as a disturber of the peace." A closed carriage was sum- moned, and into it the prisoner was put without much difficulty. "But now," says Mr. Garrison, "a scene occurred that baffles description. As the ocean, lashed into fury by the spirit of the storm, seeks to whelm the adven- turous bark beneath the mountain waves, so did the mob, enraged by a series of disappointments, rush like a whirlwind upon the frail vehicle in which I sat, and endeavor to drag me out of it. Escape seemed a phys- ical impossibility. They clung to the wheels, dashed open the doors, seized hold of the horses, and tried to upset the carriage. They were, however, vigorously repulsed by the police ; a constable sprung in by my side ; the doors were closed ; and the driver, lustily using his whip upon the bodies of his horses and the heads of the rioters, happily made an opening through the crowd, and drove at a tremendous speed for Leverett Street. But many of the rioters followed, even with superior swiftness, and repeatedly attempted to arrest the progress of the horses. To reach the jail by a direct course was found impracticable ; and after going by a circuitous direction, and encountering many hair- breadth escapes, we drove up to the new and last refuge 64 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. of liberty and life, when another desperate attempt was made by the mob to seize me, but in vain. In a few moments I was locked up in a cell, safe from my per- secutors, accompanied by two delightful associates, a good conscience and a cheerful mind. In the course of the evening several of my friends came to my grated window, to sympathize and confer with me, with whom I held a strengthening conversation until the hour of retirement, when I threw myself upon my prison-bed, and slept tranquilly." In the morning the prisoner wrote with a pencil the following inscription upon the walls of his cell : " William Lloyd Garrison was put into this cell on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 21, 1835, to save him from the violence of a 're- spectable' and influential mob, who sought to destroy him from preaching the abominable and dangerous doctrine, that * all men are created equal,' and that all oppression is odious in the sight of God. Hail, Columbia I ' Cheers for the autocrat of Russia and the sultan of Turkey ! "Reader, let this inscription remain till the last slave in this despotic land be loosed from his fetters." In the course of the forenoon Mr. Garrison was sub- jected to the mockery of an examination for form's sake, and then released from custody. While seated by his study-window in Court Street, the young Boston lawyer, glancing up from the pages of his book, and out into the thoroughfare, caught sight of an assembling crowd of people. Men were hurry- THE GAEEISON MOB, AND ITS RESULTS. 65 ing towards the City Hall as fast as their feet could carry them ; children were shouting at the top of their voices; and occasionally a woman would turn back, such was her curiosity. What did it signify ? His own curiosity prompted him to forsake his book, and to go out into the street. With hurried strides he wended his way towards the City Hall. There he saw a thousand men, clad in broadcloth and all the other paraphernalia of respectability, dragging a man with a rope around his waist. " Who is that man ? " he inquired. "William Lloyd Garrison," was the reply of a by- stander. At once he looked upon the proceeding with indig- nation, and discerned a violation of the central right of the Saxon's idea of liberty. He saw the mayor entreating the crowd to maintain order and the peace ; but, from the lips of that cowered official, he heard no command of authority. The young lawyer was also a military gentleman, and held a com- mission in a Suffolk regiment. The colonel of that regiment happened to be standing near him. " Colonel," said the younger officer, " why not call out the guards? Let us offer our services to the mayor." In ten words the wiser officer taught his young friend more of the government of the United States than nine- years' study had taught him. 66 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. " You fool ! " replied the latter, pointing to the crowd that surged and pressed before him, " don't you see that the regiment is in front of you ? " Then for the first time it flashed upon the mind of Wendell Phillips it was he that our government, with all its merits, in a critical hour when all the pas- sions of men fling themselves against the law, has no reserve force, and that there is no tribunal to which one can appeal, but that at that moment, just so much of law-abiding, self-respecting, intelligent sense as there is in the mob, just so much government have we got, and no more. Phillips had never thought of this before. He had read Greek and Roman and English history ; he had by heart the classic eulogies of brave old men and mar- tyrs: he had even dreamed that he had heard the same tone from the cuckoo lips of Edward Everett, and now he was taught his error. Into his frenzied brain, thought darted with the speed of an arrow. Intelligence explained, interpreted, the scene before him. True to the old proverb, that " The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church," this spectacle of shameless outrage committed against a sin- gle, defenceless man, whose only crime was, that he had dared to speak out the unvoiced wrongs of the poorest and most abject beings in the form of man, went home to the heart of Phillips, and stirred his Puritanic blood to the very finger-tips. THE GAEEISON MOB, AND ITS RESULTS. 67 Perhaps he could not help it ; for, if ever a man was a born fighter, Phillips was that man : and his instincts led him to take up with the weaker side from an innate conviction, that, in such a world as this, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the right is on the side of the minority. In making up his decision as to what he would do, or where he would stand, the question of power, or wealth, or numbers, never entered into the mind of Phillips. The young man of twenty-four, with a great, proud family, with a social position higher than that to which most young men attain at twenty-four, with ambition and hope and truth as his safeguards, then and there vowed that he would cast his lot with the anti-slavery people. To this end he had now learned his first les- son : he had become convinced of the righteousness of their cause. One word more before we close this chapter. On the twentieth anniversary of the Boston mob, Mr. Phillips delivered a speech in Stacy Hall, Boston, in which he reviewed that terrible event in language profoundly impressive. Whoever fails to read it will ignore one of the finest and most eloquent productions of the modern school of oratory. CHAPTER V. THE DEBUT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. The Year 1837. Slavery the Dominant Power of the Country. Earnestness of the Abolitionists. The Lovejoy Tragedy. Story of the Alton Riots. The Tidings reach Boston. Faneuil Hall refused to the Indignant Abolitionists. Dr. Channing appeals to the Citizens of Boston. The Hall opened at Last. A Packed Audience. Resolutions. Harangue of Attorney-Gen. Austin. -Its Effect. Reply of Wendell Phillips. Great Uproar and Excitement. The Result. " Men blame us for the bitterness of our language and the personality of our attacks. It results from our position. The great mass of the people can never be made to stay and argue a long question. They must be made to feel it, through the hides of their idols." " Give me any thing that walks erect, and can read, and he shall count one in the millions of the Lord's sacramental host, which is yet to come up, and trample all oppression in the dust. The weeds poured forth in nature's lavish luxuriance, give them but time, and their tiny roots shall rend asunder the foundations of palaces, and crumble the Pyramids to the earth." PHILLIPS. FT was the year 1837, a year which marks the dawn- f*" ing of one of the most momentous periods in the history of the American people. Martin Van Buren had been elected to the presidency ; and his constitu- ents, the Democratic party, had also secured a decisive majority in the Twenty-fifth Congress. No Congress that preceded was more subservient to the demands of the slave-power. It voted not only to silence the 68 THE DEBUT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 69 voice of the people, but its own voice as well. It struck down the sacred right of the people to petition for the redress of their grievances, by clamor, menace, and resolution, destroyed the freedom of debate, and hushed the voice of the representatives of the nation. But although the administration thus begun was un- hesitatingly subservient to the demands of the slave- power, and the slave-power itself was far-reaching, the uprising against slavery was not so slight as not to give cause for alarm. Two features of the early stages of this uprising were peculiarly striking and suggestive. There was the manifest failure of those early pioneers " to comprehend the magnitude and inveteracy of the evil to be removed, or the tremendous grasp in which it held the nation in its every department of individual and associated life." There was, too, an enthusiastic but unwarranted confidence in a speedy triumph. Evi- dences abound. They are seen in the proceedings of anti-slavery conventions and anniversaries, in the anti- slavery reports, speeches, and journals of those days. Even Mr. Garrison, whose abilities and opportunities of judging were certainly not small, shared largely in these illusions of hope, and in this evident under-esti- mate of the greatness and severity of the contest on which they had entered. Though much be conceded to the charm of novelty, the enthusiasm of youth, and the pardonable confidence of the neophyte, unhack- neyed as yet, and without the lessons gained in the 70 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. stern school of experience, it is difficult to account for these over-sanguine expressions. Especially does this appear in view of the determined opposition they were obliged to encounter almost always and everywhere, in their attempts to reach the popular ear and heart. Not only were they excluded, as they complainingly as- serted, from churches and halls, but they were driven by rioters from their own quarters, and hardly permitted to walk the streets without the hootings, and sometimes the more personal and physical violence, of the mob. Nor was this the mere temporary ebullition of the hour. It continued until no inconsiderable number of those early and sanguine men and women felt constrained to come out of both churches and parties, as hopelessly in bondage to this haughty and dominating power of the land. Doubtless it was well that such was, the fact. Had they fully comprehended the desperate nature of the struggle, fathomed the depth of their country's degradation and peril, gauged the full measure of its apostasy and the slow progress of truth; had they known the extent of the great and terrible wilderness on which they had entered, and the length of their journeyings to the promised land, the hearts of many would have sunk within them, and they might have relinquished the attempt before it was well begun. 1 And now came a tragedy. On the 7th of November, 1 See Wilson, History of the Slave Power; Frothinghain, Life of Theodore Parker; Johnson, Garrison and his Times. THE DfiBUT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 71 1837, Rev. Elijah Lovejoy was murdered by a mob at Alton, 111. Mr. Lovejoy was a native of the State of Maine, and a graduate of Waterville College in the class of 1826. At the age of twenty-four he had journeyed to the West, and had become a teacher in one of the schools of St. Louis. Two years later, fortune made him the editor of a political journal of the National Republican party, and an active supporter of Henry Clay. Subsequently he entered the theological seminary at Princeton, N.J., was licensed to preach, and, in the autumn of 1832, re- turned to Missouri, and established "The St. Louis Observer," a weekly religious journal. Mr. Lovejoy was not an abolitionist in the full sense of the word, but was a friend of free discussion ; and some of his remarks on the subject of slavery gave great offence to the people of St. Louis. " I have sworn eter- nal hostility to slavery, and by the blessing of God I will never go back : " such were his words. In the spring of 1836 a negro, who had killed an offi- cer to avoid arrest, was taken out of jail by an excited mob, was carried out of the city, chained to a tree, and burned to death. When, in due time, the matter came before the grand jury, Judge Lawless (an appropriate name surely) expressed in his charge the sentiment, that if a mob be hurried on to its deeds of violence and blood by some " mysterious, metaphysical, and almost electric frenzy," participators in it are absolved from 72 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. guilt, and are not proper subjects of punishment. " If such be the fact," he said, " act not at all in the matter : the case then transcends your jurisdiction ; it is beyond the reach of human law." Mr. Lovejoy ventured to comment on this infamous charge, and scandalous attempt to blind the eyes of justice. As a result, his office was invaded by a mob, and was ruined. He removed the paper to Alton, 111. ; but his press, on being landed there, was broken into fragments. The citizens reimbursed him for his loss. Before many weeks had transpired, the pro-slavery party in Alton found cause for complaint in the col- umns of " The Observer;" and in the month of August, 1837, the office and press were destroyed by a mob. Another press was purchased ; but, before it could be set up, it was broken into pieces, and thrown into the Mississippi River. In the midst of these events, a convention to form a State anti-slavery society, which had been called to meet at Upper Alton, was broken up by a pro-slavery convention. Two days afterwards the convention met, and organized the contemplated society. Among the resolutions adopted was one declaring that " the cause of human rights, the liberty of speech and of the press, imperatively demand that the press of 4 The Alton Ob- server' be re-established at Alton with its present ed- itor," and pledging the society, with the aid of Alton THE DEBUT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 73 friends, and "by the help of Almighty God," to take measures for its re-establishment. Naturally, the city was in a state of intense ex- citement. Violence was anticipated. The arrival of another press was made the occasion of a demonstration which ended only in arson and bloodshed. The new press arrived on the morning of Nov. 7, and the news of its arrival was spread abroad by the inciters to mob violence by the blowing of horns. The mayor superintended its transfer to the warehouse, and aided in storing it away. During the day, although great excitement prevailed, no wanton act was committed. About nine o'clock in the evening most of the defenders retired, leaving a dozen persons only to face the perils of midnight. Presently thirty or forty persons, issuing from the grog-shops, approached the door, knocked, and demanded the press. One of the proprietors of the warehouse replied that it would not be given up, and, further, that they had been authorized by the mayor to defend it, and defend it they should, even at the risk of their lives. With a pistol in hand, the leader of the gang announced that they were resolved to have the press at any cost ; and, at a signal, stones were hurled against the building, and then shots. The firing was returned; and one of the rioters fell, mortally wounded. " Burn them out ! " shouted the leader. Ladders were obtained, and preparations made to set the build- 74 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. ing on fire. The mayor came to the defence, also a justice of the peace ; and these counselled a surrender of the press, on condition that its defenders should not be injured. But a surrender was not to be thought of by those who believed in a lawful right to protect property. The refusal only added fuel to the popular wrath ; and then the cry went up, " Fire the building, and shoot every d d abolitionist as he leaves ! " The lighted torch was put to the roof. Five of the defenders sallied forth from the building, fired upon the mob, and returned. Mr. Lovejoy and two others then stepped out, and were fired upon by rioters con- cealed behind a pile of lumber. Mr. Lovejoy received five balls, three of them in his breast. Returning to the counting-room, he exclaimed, " I am shot ! I am shot ! " and almost instantly expired. After his death, his friends offered to surrender ; but the offer was refused. As they left the burning build- ing, they were fired upon ; but no one was killed. The mob then rushed in, seized the press, broke it, and threw the fragments into the river. The next day the body of the martyr was buried by his friends, while his enemies stood near, and exulted over his death. Thus bravely fell one of the most heroic of that number of noble and earnest men who early consecrated themselves to the purpose of maintaining, at fearful odds, that essential palladium of a republic, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of the THE DfiBUT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 75 press. From that very day Alton "went under a cloud from which she did not emerge for years. Her pros- perity was smitten with a moral blight. Her very name became repulsive. Emigrants of intelligence and char- acter could not be attracted to a place whose citizens allowed a man to be ruthlessly murdered for daring to speak against slavery. The grave of the martyr, which was made upon a bluff overlooking the Mississippi, was unmarked for many years; but an appropriate monu- ment now indicates the spot. For centuries to come, that monument will attract more visitors than any other object that Alton will have to show." To the friends of liberty, it will be a shrine, reminding them how much they owe to one noble man, who preferred to die rather than surrender the dearest right of an American citizen. Nearly a half-century has elapsed since the enact- ment of that terrible tragedy at Alton, and what changes have taken place !. Then the valiant minister of the gospel, hunted like a partridge, and appealing in vain for protection against an infuriated mob, found the officers of the law actuated and awed by the demon of slavery rather than inspired by the genius of free- dom. Now that mob is dispersed : many of the leaders came to an ignominious death ; the very system of ini- quity that urged them onwards and headlong into ruin is dead. When the printing-press of Lovejoy was thrown in fragments into the waters of the Mississippi, 76 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. it was an act of consecration to freedom of that majestic stream, even as the ashes of the saintly Huss thrown into the Rhine consecrated that storied river to the cause and dominion of Protestantism. The tidings of the death of Lovejoy were borne like a whirlwind over the broad continent. People who advocated slavery either applauded, or at best excused, the bloody act. Those who believed in the freedom of speech and of the press received the news with pro- found sorrow and regret. Public opinion was thor- oughly aroused, never more so up to this period. The intelligence reached Boston ; and Dr. William Ellery Channing and a hundred of his fellow-citizens applied for permission to call a meeting in Faneuil Hall, for the purpose of giving expression to their horror at the murder of Lovejoy. The application was not imme- diately granted, on the ground that such a meeting might be interpreted as " the public voice of the city." Undaunted by this decision of the board of aldermen, Dr. Channing at once addressed an appeal to the citi- zens of Boston. "Has it come to this? [he asked]. Has Boston fallen so low? May not its citizens be trusted to come together to express the great principles of liberty for which their fathers died ? Are our fellow-citizens to be murdered in the act of defending their prop- erty, and of assuming the right of free discussion ? And is it unsafe in this metropolis to express abhorrence of the deed ? If such be our degradation, we ought to know the awful truth ; and those THE DEBUT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 77 among us who retain a portion of the spirit of our ancestors should set themselves to work to recover their degenerate posterity." Dr. Charming was not an unknown man ; and an appeal coming from one who occupied his position, and wielded his influence, could not but make a deep im- pression. A public meeting was called at the old supreme-court room to "take into consideration the reasons assigned by the mayor and aldermen for with- holding Faneuil Hall, and to act in the premises as may be deemed expedient." The meeting was held, a new application was drawn up and presented, happily with success. On the 8th of December Faneuil Hall was filled to overflowing. Jonathan Phillips, an eminent citizen, was called to the chair, and opened the proceedings with a few brief remarks. He was followed by Dr. Channing, whose address was most eloquent and impressive. Then a series of resolutions from his pen was read by Mr. Benjamin F. Hallett, and seconded and supported by Mr. George S. Hillard. Thus far every thing had been decorous, dignified, and in perfect harmony with the occasion. Never did the light of day stream in upon an audience seemingly more in sympathy with the cause of human rights and human freedom. Suddenly uprose in the gallery James T. Austin, the attorney-general of the Commonwealth, a prominent lawyer, an adroit speaker, and a member of Dr. Chan- 78 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. ning's congregation. His very manner foreshadowed menace, and his matter was full of insult. With un- blushing insolence he declared that Lovejoy had " died as the fool dieth," and compared his murderers with the men who destroyed the tea in Boston Harbor. Alluding to the bondmen, he said, " We have a menagerie here, with lions, tigers, a hyena and an elephant, a jackass or two, and monkeys in plenty. Suppose, now, some new cosmopolite, some man of philanthropic feelings, not only toward man, but animals, who believes that all are entitled to free- dom as an inalienable right, should engage in the humane task of giving freedom to these wild beasts of the forest, some of whom are nobler than their keepers ; or, having discovered some new mode of reaching their understanding, should try to induce them to break their cages, and be free. The people of Missouri had as much rea- son to be afraid of their slaves as we should have to be afraid of the wild beasts of the menagerie. They had the same dread of Lovejoy that we should have of the supposed instigator, if we really believed the bars would be broken, and the caravan let loose to prowl about our streets." The speaker probably thought and hoped that his scurrilous utterances would create confusion in the meeting, and defeat its avowed objects. The riotous element of the assemblage, which constituted about one- third, had indeed vociferously applauded, but no more. Standing among the auditors was a young man, un- known to fame, his brow still wet with the dews of youth, with the best blood of Boston coursing in his veins, the best culture of Harvard in his brain, and THE DEBUT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS, 79 with a tongue already set aflame by the righteous indig- nation that filled his breast. He was a mighty listener, and he had come into that meeting only to listen. The attorney-general of the Commonwealth had scarcely retired, when that young man mounted the ros- trum. Loud rose the hostile protestations of the par- tisans of the attorney-general ; but with unflinching attitude, calm manner, and serenity of voice, the speaker on the platform held his place. It was a trying, a bitter, ordeal; but it was also an opportunity which comes but once in the lifetime of a man of genius and of mettle. "Sir, when I heard the gentleman lay down principles which place the murderers of Alton side by side with Otis and Hancock, with Quincy and Adams, I thought those pictured lips [pointing to the portraits in the hall] would have broken into voice, to rebuke the recreant American, the slanderer of the dead." A storm of applause and of counter-applause burst from the audience. For a few moments the voice of the speaker was hushed. At length he continued, " The gentleman said that he should sink into insignificance if he dared to gainsay the principles of these resolutions. Sir, for the sentiments he has uttered, on soil consecrated by the prayers of Puritans and the blood of patriots, the earth should have yawned, and swallowed him up." At this point the uproar became furious : the speak- er's voice was unheard. " Take that back ! " " Take back the ' recreant ! ' " were the cries on one side ! " Go on I " 80 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. " Go on ! " was the cry on the other. For a moment it seemed as if violence would follow ; and two friends of the speaker, George Bond, Esq., and Hon. William Sturgis, came to his side at the front of the platform. They were met with the demands of " Phillips or no- body ! " " Make him take back 4 recreant : ' " " he sha'n't go on till he takes it back ! " Mr. Sturgis raised his hand to the audience, and the din was hushed. "I did not come here to take any part in this discussion," he said, "nor do I intend to: but I do entreat you, fellow-citizens, by every thing you hold sacred; I conjure you by every association con- nected with this hall, consecrated by our fathers to freedom of discussion, that you listen to every man who addresses you in a decorous manner." Unmoved from his position, unabashed by the terrors of the hour, the young man whose voice had enkindled such mighty wrath, resumed his speaking : "Fellow-citizens [said he], I cannot take back my words. Surely the attorney-general, so long and well known here, needs not the aid of your hisses against one so young as I am, my voice never before heard within these walls'! '' He closed his speech with the declaration that " When liberty was in danger, Faneuil Hall had the right, and it was her duty, to strike the key-note for the Union, that the pas- sage of the resolutions, in spite of the opposition led by the attor- ney-general, will show more decidedly the deep indignation with which Boston regards this outrage." THE DEBUT OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 81 By this brave and brilliant utterance, which tran- scended the most sanguine expectations of the few friends who intimately knew his force of eloquence, and which caused the old "Cradle of Liberty" to echo as never before to exalting and ennobling sentiments, the ora- tor WENDELL PHILLIPS was born. Such were the events of one short month. The mar- tyrdom of Lovejoy caused Phillips to consecrate cul- ture, learning, and zeal to the advocacy of human rights, and to the denunciation of the wrongs of the oppressed. It placed him also among the foremost and most popular American orators. To his fervid and in- dignant eloquence, even Attorney-Gen. Austin stands indebted; for it alone will preserve his name to the latest posterity as that of one of the most brutal assailants of the dignity of man. The meeting in Faneuil Hall was dispersed. The multitude went home impressed, but not, as a majority, convinced. The virus of slavery had taken deep root ; and it was hard not to believe, that as Hubbard Wins- low, a Boston Congregational clergyman, expressed it a month previous in his Thanksgiving discourse, " the unchristian principles and measures " of the Abolition- ists did not tend to fill the land "with violence and blood." A few persons foresaw, however, in the events of the hour, a new revelation of the magnitude and serious character of the contest on which they had entered. CHAPTER VI. PHILLIPS AN ABOLITIONIST. MARRIAGE. Phillips' s Aspirations. Speech at New Bedford. The Lyceum- Lecture System. Phillips delivers his First Lecture. " The Lost Arts." Joins the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. Status of the Colored People. The Chapmans. Ann Terry Greene. Phillips falls in Love. Marriage. His Domestic Life. The Faithful Wife. Recollections of Mr. Buckingham. Phillips' s First Anti-Slavery Lecture. Recollections of Edwin Thompson. " The mightiest intellects of the race, from Plato down to the present time; some of the rarest minds of Germany, France, and England, have successively yielded their assent to the fact that woman is, not perhaps identically, but equally, endowed with man in all intellectual capabilities. It is generally the second-rate men who doubt, doubt, perhaps, because they fear a fair field : 'He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, That dares not put it to the touch To gain or lose it all.' " *' When Infinite Wisdom established the rules of right and honesty, he saw to it that justice should be always the highest expediency." PHILLIPS, ~TN the crowded thoroughfares of Boston, Wendell Phillips found the mission of his manhood. The Garrison mob gave a new bent to his thoughts. At the age of twenty-four he allowed himself to drift into the great struggle which was impending over the republic. From that hour he became interested in the cause of human rights. 82 PHILLIPS AN ABOLITIONIST. MAEEIAGE, 83 Previous to this time he had played the rdle of a struggling lawyer, not, indeed, struggling for bread and butter, but for clients and recognition. Fresh from college, and well knowing of what he was made, and of what he was capable, he had looked forward to a public life, and cherished an ambition to hold a public office. But now he had chosen a different field : he had gone on a different line. After his graduation Mr. Phillips was invited to speak at New Bedford, Mass. Of this event, Mr. Charles T. Congdon furnishes the following interesting recollections : "Massachusetts [he states], in earlier times, was hardly ever in accord with the General Government; but its opposition to the Jackson and Van Buren administrations was particularly bitter, and persistently unbroken. It was intensified by traditions of old quarrels with the Washington powers, which, though long allayed, had still left a root of bitterness. There was a trace of this in the first address which I heard Mr. Wendell Phillips deliver, a Fourth-of-July oration given in our town (New Bedford) just after he left the university. " When he stood up in the pulpit, I thought him the handsomest man I had ever seen: when he began to speak, his elocution seemed the most beautiful to which I had ever listened ; and I was sure that the orations of Cicero, which I had just begun to thumb, were given to the S.P.Q.R. with much smaller effect. Even then the great orator of the Abolitionists was an admirable speaker; nor did he, though scarcely past his majority, lack the grace and force of language with which the whole country has since become familiar. 84 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. "There was, besides, a fresh and youthful enthusiasm, which could not last forever. He had then all the pride of State feeling, which he had probably inherited from his Federal ancestors ; and I remember one expression which fell from his lips, which, in the light of his subsequent career, is a little curious. He was speak- ing of the political history of the State, and of its frequent isolation in politics, and electrified us all by exclaiming, The Star of Mas- sachusetts has shone the brighter for shining alone ! ' I suspect that even then Mr. Phillips's Federal relations were in rather an uncertain condition." 1 In 1830 the lyceum-lecture system, which has played so important and conspicuous a part in the political and intellectual education of the masses, was started by Horace Mann, Josiah Holbrook, Rev. Dr. Allen, Hon. Amasa Walker, George B. Emerson, and others. Mr. Phillips was among the first to take part in the move- ment, and as early as 1836 he delivered his first lecture. He selected his subjects from the realm of natural sci- ence, of which, perhaps, he was more fond than of the law ; and, every winter succeeding, his name appears as one of the lecturers in the stated courses of the day. His lecture on " The Lost Arts," which was probably the most popular and most charming lecture for the people ever delivered in this country, began its career in 1838. After he had joined the anti-slavery society, in 1837, 1 Reminiscences of a Journalist, by Charles T. Congdon, Boston, 1880. PHILLIPS AN ABOLITIONIST. MARRIAGE. 85 he gradually abandoned science, and spoke more fre- quently on the slave-question and on temperance. It was his custom, whenever his auditors would permit him to speak on these themes, to make no charge for so doing. But, if his hearers preferred to listen to a lec- ture on science instead, he invariably demanded his usual fee. As a rule, they were more in favor of a lec- ture on science than on slavery or temperance. During these years the colored people were refused admittance to the lyceum lectures, a fact which greatly displeased the young aspirant for platform-honors. At first he advocated a special course for the colored peo- ple ; and, not content with this, he became one of a small group which included also Ralph Waldo Emer- son, George William Curtis, and Charles Sumner that strenuously refused to lecture before any audience where colored people were not admitted. This had the effect to completely break down the old rule of exclusiveness. At this period, there lived in what was then Chauncy Place, now Chauncy Street, nearly opposite where the First Church stood, the family of Henry Chapman, a Boston merchant, and a merchant, too, who was one of the first to sacrifice his business interests by espousing the cause of the slave. He was owner of many ships, but none of them with his permission ever carried slaves as freight. Both Mr. Chapman and his wife were greatly interested in the cause of anti-slavery. 86 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Into this family there came, one day, Anne Terry Greene, the daughter of Benjamin Greene, a brother of Sarah (Greene) Chapman. Her father and mother had died while she was yet of tender years. Under the in- fluence of Mr. and Mrs. Chapman, she early became interested in anti-slavery ; and, as she had ample prop- erty of her own, she became a liberal contributor to the cause. It was while young Phillips was still a member of the Harvard Law School that he first became acquainted with Miss Greene. It was a sort of chance meeting, the outcome of which is best told in the heroine's own words : " It was in old stage-coach days," she once explained. " I, with other girls, was booked for Greenfield, Mass. Wendell Phillips and Charles Sumner agreed to go also. Sumner broke his engagement : Mr. Phillips went. I talked abolition to him all the way up, all the time there. He listened, came again, and it sealed his fate." In October, 1837, Mr. Phillips was married to Miss Greene, but not until she had succeeded in fully con- verting him to the cause of anti-slavery. It is because that much has been said of the eloquence of Wendell Phillips, and of his remarkable power and grace in public speech, that just here it seems fitting to utter a few words of praise of those other features of his life which so largely depended upon his domestic rela- tions. The home-life of a public man does not belong PHILLIPS AN ABOLITIONIST. MAERIAGE. 87 to the world. Whoever invades its sacredness violates the code of honor. But, to understand what manner of man was Wendell Phillips, one must go a few steps be- hind the scenes ; and to think of the greatest of Ameri- can orators, and of the part which he enacted during his eventful career, without also thinking of that devoted wife, who was a part of him, and perhaps the greater part, would be doing an injustice to both. " My wife made me an abolitionist," said Mr. Phillips over and over again to those who had his confidence. For this reason, if for no other, her name should always be spoken with his. At the time of her marriage she was an invalid, com- pelled to keep her room, and much of her time her bed, by reason of her weakness and pain. Rarely to be seen by any except a few intimates, she never lost courage, nor wavered in her advocacy of the great truths of hu- manity. It was her suggestions, the promptings of wifely devotedness and womanly intuition, that inspired Wendell Phillips's loftiest and bravest words in the darkest days of the martyr-age of the great anti-slavery contest. It was his affection for her that gave added tenderness and pathos to his pleas for the suffering slave. To her he was loving and true indeed; the nurse by day, and the sleepless watcher by night ; never flagging in his care, never failing in his delicate and reverent re- gard to her every want and wish, never going far from 88 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. home without her approval, always making her quiet chamber the centre of his world. That centre was full of light and spiritual life ; for the wife, though feeble in body, was wise in counsel, strong in soul, and inspired her husband by noble purposes and divine ideals. Faithful and unfailing in his domestic life, his care and thought for her, the chosen among all others, never ceased. She repaid him by lighting his pathway, and keeping his soul up to the fearless courage and uncompromising course which she saw were neces- sary in " The conflict with the crime And folly of an evil time." The world will never forget Wendell Phillips. Even Boston, that spurned and misunderstood him forty years ago, has paid fit reverence to him over his open grave. His work on earth is done, and his true manhood has conquered all hearts. For him, the laurel and the vic- tory. For her, the invalid wife, the very centre of his life, the inspiration of his power, what ? She never doubted his sincerity, she never questioned the nobility of his spirit, she never assailed the sweet purity of his life. Husband and wife, may their names be always linked in our remembrance! May we never forget how much they owed to each other, how much they helped each other ! As often as we recall the burning utterances of the young orator at the Lovejoy meeting, the manly PHILLIPS AN ABOLITIONIST. MARRIAGE. 89 attitude which he assumed towards the fugitive slave, and, above all, that marvellous courage which he put on when he " Dared to be traitor to Union when Union was traitor to right," when the Philistines were howling around him, and were threatening to demolish the roof that sheltered his head, and not only his head, but that also of his wife, may we, in justice to him, think of her who shared Jiis knightly courage, his unselfish consecration to duty, his unspeakable sacrifice and suffering for truth, justice, and freedom ! From the manuscript of Dr. Edgar Buckingham, I cull the following touching passages : "I pass from conversations in the privacy of his study and library, to say a word or two of what Mr. Phillips was in his still more private affections. I never saw his wife ; though in his con- versations and his correspondence with me he often spoke of her, and it was my privilege to exchange many communications with her. He was a lover all his life, not with the instinctive love of youth alone, but with the secured attachment, the quiet confidence of the heart, the beautiful affectionateness, which, in the later years of the pure and good, is a far superior development of character, and a far richer enjoyment, than the effervescence of youthful days. " She was, as he wrote me once, his counsel, his guide, his in- spiration. Within a year or two, in correspondence with him, I ventured to call her his Egeria ; and I think they were both greatly pleased with her being so called. For Egeria Was a goddess of ancient Rome, whom no one ever saw, whom Numa, the second 90 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. king of Rome, after the wars, the tumults, in which that city was long disturbed, were mostly at an end, professed to visit in a secret grotto, to receive instructions from, while he was laboring to estab- lish civil institutions, and to refine the manners of the people, and educate them in the principles and the rights of religion. So the wife of Mr. Phillips was his Egeria, his councillor, his guide, and his inspiration. "You understand, too, that Mr. Phillips has been for many years laboring for the rights of woman, in relation to government, to social-position, to opportunities of education and of employment thaf should give her a livelihood. And how much loftier a posi- tion woman has attained within the last fifty years ; how much she has been allowed education, development, usefulness ; how much less she is the slave of dress and fashion and pleasure and flattery ; how much men are compelled to endure her rivalry and to find themselves under the necessity of greater exertion and nobler aims if they would not decline in honor, and lose the supe- riority of position which they have long claimed under the title of ' Lords of Creation ! ' If life was made beautiful to Mr. Phillips by the companionship of an affectionate, cultivated, sympathizing wife, he labored to diffuse through the world the influences he enjoyed ; and many thousands of sons will live purer, nobler lives on account of the happiness diffused from these two good, pure, and united hearts. Every maiden who thinks of marriage, and who is to be married, will have a better husband ; many a mother will feel that her boys are more secure against intemperance and every other form of corruption ; many thousands of husbands will find they have better companions, wives more truly helpmates, guides and means of inspiration." From the time when Mr. Phillips first began to speak on the slave-question, his services were constantly in PHILLIPS AN ABOLITIONIST. MAEEIAGE. 91 demand. The reputation for eloquence which he estab- lished for himself a*t the Lovejoy meeting followed him wherever he went, and undoubtedly carried conviction to many persons disinclined to favor the agitation of the abolition problem. The first anti-slavery lecture which he ever gave was at Lynn, Mass., in the old Christian meeting-house on Silsbee Street. The house stands nearly opposite where Mr. Williams now preaches. Phillips went there under the auspices of the Young Men's Anti-slavery Society, several of whose members had listened to his famous reply to Attorney-General Austin's harangue in Faneuil Hall. In 1838 Phillips was again invited to deliver the Fourth-of-July oration in Lynn, at the First Methodist Church. The following reminiscences of this event serve to show something of the earnestness with which Mr. Phillips entered into the cause. They are from the pen of Mr. Edwin Thompson, himself an anti-slavery advocate : " We not only engaged Mr. Phillips for the oration [he says], but we also secured the services of Miss Susan Paul, a celebrated teacher of a colored school in Boston. She was the daughter of Thomas Paul, a popular Baptist preacher in Boston, who, though , of the colored race, was a man of high standing. His name was a household word in Lynn. At that time children of the colored race could not attend the public schools of Boston, sit with white people in churches, or ride in any public conveyance with them. Miss 92 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Paul came to Lynn with forty of her scholars in carriages which they hired for the occasion. She and her pupils sang such songs as were appropriate in those early anti-slavery days. Of course, it produced a great sensation in Lynn, especially among the young people, who had never seen so many colored children before. " As Miss Paul and her pupils were obliged to start early from Boston, they had taken but a slight breakfast; and they partook of a lunch at my father's house, which was always open for the friends of every reformatory movement. At the celebration, it so happened that I was called upon to read the Declaration of Independence; which, I suppose, was the reason that Mr. Phillips said he thought I ought to speak publicly in behalf of the slave. I told him I did not think I was qualified to speak as an advocate of the anti-slavery cause. Although I had been engaged in the cause for five years before Mr. Phillips came into the movement, I had never spoken to any great extent on the subject. " Soon after the conversation with Mr. Phillips, I received an invitation from the Essex County Anti-slavery Society to visit all the towns, and organize societies, get up anti-slavery libraries, and lecture on the subject. I worked under the direction of the martyr, Rev. Charles T. Torrey, who was the corresponding-secretary, who was preaching in Salem as pastor of the Howard-street Church, where the celebrated George B. Cheever, author of the famous ' Deacon Giles' Distillery/ once preached. This appointment, which I suppose came at the instigation of Mr. Phillips, changed my whole course of life, and brought me into a somewhat intimate acquaint- ance with some of the grandest people I have ever known." CHAPTER VII. THE WORLD'S ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. Begins its Sessions June 12, 1840. The Rights of Women discussed in the American Anti-Slavery Society. David Lee Child's Reso- lutions. Prominent Delegates. Freemasons' Hall, London. Debate on the Admission of Women. Speech of Mr. Phillips. The Women rejected. Adverse Criticism, and Wisdom of Mr. Phillips. "Theories are but thin and unsubstantial air against the solid fact of woman mingling with honor and profit in the various professions and industrial pursuits of life." " It is, after all, of little use to argue these social questions. These prejudices never were reasoned up; and, my word for it, they will never be reasoned down. The freedom of the press, the freedom of labor, the freedom of the race in its lowest classes, was never argued to success. The moment you can get woman to go out into the highway of life, and show by active valor what God has created her for, that moment this question is settled forever." PHILLIPS. the 12th of June, 1840, the World's Anti-slavery Convention began its session in London, England. This fact brings us to a consideration of Mr. Phillips's early advocacy of the rights of women as co-equal with those of men. When the American Anti-slavery Society was formed, in 1833, some of the women present at the meeting made speeches; and the convention passed a vote of thanks to them for their interest and zeal in the cause. 94 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. In 1835 the society wished to delegate Mrs. Lydia Maria Child to visit England in the interests .of the anti-slavery cause, and two years later endeavored to secure her services as travelling lecture-agent. In the same year the Misses Grimkd were similarly commis- sioned. At the sixth annual meeting of the society, in May, 1839, an attempt was made for the first time to exclude women from active membership. A motion was made by a clergyman (his name is forgotten), that none but men should have their names placed upon the rolls; but this motion was rejected by an overwhelming majority. The same year a woman was put on a com- mittee to " examine and report " on the publication of the annual report. It caused a great commotion among the members ; but there was no open revolt until 1840, when for the first time a woman was elected on the business committee of the society. In consequence of this action, a minority of the membership withdrew, and formed another anti-slavery society. This division afterwards extended through many of the State and local anti-slavery organizations. The World's Anti-slavery Convention was first pro- jected by the English abolitionists. When the Ameri- can Anti-slavery Society was invited to send delegates, it responded by adopting the following resolutions, offered by David Lee Child, at its annual meeting held in New York, May 12, 1840 : THE WORLD'S ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 95 "Resolved, That the American Anti-slavery Society regards with heartfelt interest the design of the World's Convention about to assemble in London, and anticipates from its labors a powerful and blessed influence upon the condition and prospects of the victims of slavery and prejudice wherever they are found. " Resolved, That our beloved friends, William Lloyd Garrison, Nathaniel Peabody Rogers, Charles Lenox Remond, and Lucretia Mott, be, and they hereby are, appointed delegates, to represent this society in the said convention; and we heartily commend them to the confidence and love of the universal abolition fraternity. " Resolved, That the anti-slavery enterprise is the cause of uni- versal humanity, and, as such, legitimately calls together the World's Convention ; and that this society trusts that that conven- tion will fully and practically recognize, in its organization and movements, the equal brotherhood of the entire human family, without distinction of color, sex, or clime." The delegates from other anti-slavery societies in the United States were Wendell Phillips, Anne Greene Phillips, George Bradburn, Henry B. Stanton, Eliza- beth Cady Stanton, Professor William Adams, Rev. Henry Colver, Rev. Nathaniel Greene, Rev. Eben Galusha, James Mott, James G. Birney, C. Edwards Lester, Sarah Pugh, Mary Grew, Elizabeth T. Neale (now Mrs. Sidney Howard Gay), Emily Winslow Tay- lor, Col. J. P. Miller, Isaac Winslow-, Abby Kimber, Abby Southwick, Rev. Henry Grew, and perhaps oth- ers. Several American clergymen (the clergy always favored reform) who landed in England a few days before the majority of the delegation, busily engaged themselves in fanning the English prejudices into active 96 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. hostility against the admission of the women to the convention. The 12th of June was a fair and bright morning, and at an early hour the anti-slavery delegates from the different countries wended their way through the crooked streets of London to Freemasons' Hall. " En- tering the vestibule," says a historian of the conven- tion, "little groups might be seen gathered here and there, earnestly discussing the best disposition to make of those women delegates from America. The excite- ment and vehemence of protest and denunciation could not have been greater if the news had come that the French were about to invade England. In vain these obdurate women had been conjured to withhold their credentials, and not thrust a question that must pro- duce such discord on the convention. Lucretia Mott, in her calm, firm manner, insisted that the delegates had no discretionary power in the proposed action, and the responsibility of accepting or rejecting them must rest on the convention." The convention was called to order at eleven o'clock, the venerable Thomas Clarkson being in the chair. At the earliest moment Mr. Phillips arose, and made the following motion : "That a committee of five be appointed to prepare a correct list of the members of this convention, with instructions to include in such list all persons bearing credentials from any anti-slavery society." THE WORLD'S ANTI-SLAVEBY CONVENTION. 97 This motion at once opened the debate on the admis- sion of women as delegates. As soon as an opportunity offered, Mr. Phillips pro- ceeded to argue his motion. He said, " When the call reached America, we found that it was an invi- tation to the friends of the slave of every nation and of every clime. Massachusetts has for several years acted on the principle of admitting women to an equal seat with men in the deliberate bodies of anti-slavery societies. When the Massachusetts Anti- slavery Society received that paper, it interpreted it, as it was its duty, in its broadest and most liberal sense. If there be any other paper, emanating from the committee, limiting to one sex the qualification of membership, there is no proof; and, as an individual, I have no knowledge that such a paper ever reached Massachusetts. We stand here in consequence of your invitation ; and knowing our custom, as it must be presumed you did, we had a right to interpret 'friends of the slave' to include women as well as men. In such circumstances we do not think it just or equitable to that State, nor to America in general, that after the trouble, the sacrifice, the self-devotion, of a part of those who leave their families and kindred and occupations in their own land, to come three thousand miles to attend this world's conven- tion, they should be refused a place in its deliberations." One of the committee who issued the call stated that a second invitation had been issued, in which "the description of those who are to form the convention is set forth as consisting of ' gentlemen.' " Dr. Bowring said, " I look upon this delegation from America as one of the most interesting, the most encouraging, and the most delightful, symp- 98 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. toms of the times. I cannot believe that we shall refuse to wel- come gratefully the co-operation which is offered us." On the other hand, in a most touching appeal to the ladies to withdraw their credentials, the Rev. J. Bur- net (another clergyman) said that it would be better that the convention should be dissolved at once than that " this motion should be adopted." Another clergyman, the Rev. Henry Grew of Phila- delphia, said, " The reception of women as a part of this convention would, in the view of many, be not only a violation of the customs of England, but of the ordinances of Almighty God, who has a right to appoint our services to his sovereign will." Mr. Phillips was urged on all sides to withdraw his motion. He again arose in support of it. He said, "It has been hinted very respectfully by two or three speakers, that the delegates from the State of Massachusetts should with- draw their credentials, or the motion before the meeting. The one appears to me to be equivalent to the other. Tf this motion be withdrawn, we must have another. I would merely ask whether any man can suppose that the delegates from Massachusetts or Pennsylvania can take upon their shoulders the responsibility of withdrawing that list of delegates from your table, which their constituents told them to place there, and whom they sanctioned as their fit representatives, because this convention tells us that it is not ready to meet the ridicule of the morning papers, and to stand up against the customs of England. In America we listen to no such arguments. If we had done so, we had never been THE WORLD' 's ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 99 here as abolitionists. It is the custom there, not to admit colored men into respectable society; and we have been told again and again, that we are outraging the decencies of humanity when we permit colored men to sit by our side. When we have submitted to brickbats and the tar-tub and feathers in America, rather than yield to the custom prevalent there of not admitting colored breth- ren into our friendship, shall we yield to parallel custom or prejudice against women in Old England ? "We cannot yield this question if we would, for it is a matter of conscience. But we would not yield it on the ground of expe- diency. In doing so, we should feel that we were striking off the right arm of our enterprise. We could not go back to America to ask for any aid from the women of Massachusetts if we had deserted them when they chose to send out their own sisters as their representatives here : we could not go back to Massachusetts, and assert the unchangeableness of spirit on the question. We have argued it over and over again, and decided it time after time, in every society in the land, in favor of the women. We have not changed by crossing the water. We stand here the advocates of the same principle that we contend for in America. We think it right for women to sit by our side there, and we think it right for them to do the same here. We ask the convention to admit them : if they do not choose to grant it, the responsibility rests on their shoulders. Massachusetts cannot turn aside, or succumb to any prejudices or customs, even in the land she looks upon with so much reverence as the land of Wilberforce, of Clarkson, and of O'Connell. It is a matter of conscience, and British virtue ought not to ask us to yield.'* Mr. Ashurst, in advocating the admission of the women to the convention, put the question very plainly by saying, 100 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. "You are convened to influence society upon a subject con- nected with the kindliest feelings of our nature; and being the first assembly met to shake hands with other nations, and employ your combined efforts to annihilate slavery throughout the world, are you to commence by saying you will take away the rights of one-half of creation? This is the principle which you are putting forward." He was opposed by another clergyman, the Rev. A. Harvey of Glasgow. He claimed that he had certain views in relation to the teaching of the word of God, and of the " particular " sphere in which woman is to act. " I must say," he remarked, " if I were to give a vote in favor of females sitting and deliberating in such an assembly as this, that I should be acting in oppo- sition to the plain teaching of the word of God." The exquisite refinement of this apostle's conscience almost carried the convention and put a stop to debate. After a little delay, however, other speakers took the floor, and talked to a late hour. Then the vote was taken, and by an overwhelming majority the women were excluded as delegates to the convention. "I hope," said Mr. Thompson, the same George Thompson whom the Boston aristocrats sought to molest, and who, true to the spirit that always gov- erned his acts, was now in favor of the women, "I hope, as the question is now decided, that Mr. Phillips will give us the assurance that we shall proceed with one heart and one mind." THE WORLD'S ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION. 101 -"I have no doubt of it," replied Mr. Phillips. " There is no unpleasant feeling in our minds. I have no doubt the women will sit with as much interest behind the bar as though the original proposition had been carried in the affirmative. All we asked was an expression of an opinion ; and, having obtained it, we shall now act with the utmost cordiality." Mr. Phillips has been criticised, even by his most ardent admirers, for supposing, that, after being rejected as delegates, these women would "sit with a* much interest behind the bar, as in the convention." Why, they ask, did he not himself refuse longer to take part in the deliberations of the convention ? Such criticism is certainly injudicious. To stand in that august assembly, and maintain the unpopular heresy of woman's equality, was a severe ordeal for a young man to pass through ; and Wendell Phillips, who accepted the odium of presenting this question to the convention, earned for all time the sincere gratitude of womankind. Every phase of his course at that con- vention was above criticism. The calm demeanor, mingled with kind regrets, of Mr. Thompson, alone sufficed to disarm resentment. It would have been rash indeed, if, under such circumstances, Mr. Phillips had so far lost sight of the real object of the conven- tion as to have imperilled this object by any action tending to paralyze its results. CHAPTER VIII. PROGKESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE. Phillips arrives Home from Europe. Limited Acquaintanceship. Letter to George Thompson. The "Remond Case." A Peti- tion to the Legislature, and its Result. The Address of O' Connell and his Fellow-Countrymen. Arrest of George Latimer. The Action of the Legislature. A Voice in Congress. Phillips argues for Disunion. Discussion. An Interesting Letter. Mobs. " Agitate, and we shall yet see the laws of Massachusetts rule even Boston." " The community that will not protect its most ignorant and unpopular member in the free utterance of his opinions, no matter how false or hateful, is only a gang of slaves." " If our agitation has not been wisely planned and conducted, explain for us the history of the last twenty years ! Experience is a safe light to walk by, and he is not a rash man who expects success in future from the same means which have secured it in times past." PHILLIPS. the 12th of July, 1841, Mr. Phillips and his wife arrived home in Boston. During their sojourn on the Continent, they visited many places of interest in France, Italy, and Great Britain, but made few ac- quaintances. In a letter to his friend Davis of Phila- delphia, who applied to him, in 1845, for letters of introduction to notables living on the Continent, he says, "As to the second note about foreign parts, let me say I trav- elled with a sick wife, and made no acquaintances. One or two 102 PROGRESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE. 103 friends in Paris completed the list, and they have since removed home here. I would add some letters to those you ask for Eng- land, but that M. W. C. and W. L. G. are infinitely better names for backers than mine." While Phillips was abroad, he addressed an open letter to George Thompson in support of the effort then making in England to supersede American cotton by stimulating the production of cotton in India. A single extract from this earnest and eloquent document will bear quotation in this place : " How shall we address that large class of men to whom dollars are always a weightier consideration than duties, prices current stronger argument than proofs of holy writ? Our appeal has been entreaty ; for the times in America are those * pursy times * when, ' Virtue itself of Vice must pardon beg, Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.' " But from India a voice comes, clothed with the omnipotence of self-interest ; and the wisdom which might have been slighted from the pulpit, will be to such men oracular from the market- place. Gladly will we make a pilgrimage, and bow with more than Eastern devotion on the banks of the Ganges, if his holy waters shall be able to wear away the fetters of the slave. God speed the progress of your society ! May it soon find in its ranks the whole phalanx of scarred and veteran abolitionists, no single divided effort, but a united one to grapple with the wealth, influence, and power embattled against you! Is it not Schiller who says, ' Divide the thunder into single tones, and it becomes a lullaby for children ; but pour it forth in one quick peal, and the royal sound shall shake the heavens ' ? So may it be with you ! and God grant, that, without waiting for the United States to be 104 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. consistent, before we are dust the jubilee of emancipated millions may reach us fror* Mexico to the Potomac, and from the Atlantic to the Kocky Mountains ! " One of the most active and energetic workers in the cause of anti-slavery, at this time, was a well-bred and well-educated colored man named Charles Lenox Remond. His home was in Salem, Mass., where his parents also resided. In 1838 he was appointed an agent of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society, in which capacity he rendered abundant and valuable services. He spent the greater part of the year 1841 in Great Britain and Ireland, where he lectured before many large audiences. Mr. Phillips's interest in Charles L. Remond took him to Salem, on Remond's return from a trip to Europe ; and a scene in the old low Salem depot, as related by him and Remond before a committee of the Legislature in that year, shows that the struggle for the rights of the colored people was well prompted. They took seats side by side in one of the little old cars of that date. A person in authority came in, and ordered Remond to take his seat in a rear second-class car, a mere box with pine seats. Mr. Phillips accom- panied Remond to the inferior car, and seated himself beside him. Mr. Phillips was told that he could not remain there, as it was only for colored persons. Mr. Phillips, deprived of the society of his friend, rode in another car to Boston. PROGRESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE. 105 The appeal of Remond to the superintendent of the railroad, who stood and conversed with him at the door of the colored people's car, and the cool, unfeeling, though by no means insulting, replies of the superin- tendent, who was a prominent citizen of Salem and a gentleman of character, were as nigh pathetic as related by Remond before the committee as any words ever heard from human lips. They had no effect on the Legislature ; for, a year or two later, a poor black girl, with her little bundle, who had made the same mistake as Remond, was driven out of the car, the train being stopped for the purpose on one of those precipitous embankments between the islands on the old East- Boston route, and, screaming and crying for fear she should be left, scrambled along the fearful outside to the negro-car. All the passengers beheld the outrage with absolute indifference. Such was the cowardly indecision in regard to human rights which prevailed at that time. On the evening of Jan. 28, 1842, a large and over- whelming meeting of the citizens of Boston was held in the old Cradle of Liberty, favorable to the imme- diate abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. The resolutions, denouncing Congress for permitting slavery in the District of Columbia, were adopted by an almost unanimous vote, and in the most impressive manner. The Irish address, signed by Daniel O'Connell, 106 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Father Mathew, and sixty thousand other Irishmen, to the Irish residents in the United States, calling upon them unitedly to espouse the anti-slavery cause, and to- identify themselves with the American abolitionists, was then read, and received by the immense assem- blage with cheers and loud acclamation of applause. A large number of the Irish inhabitants of Boston and vicinity were present, and responded to the sentiments of the address, and to those which were uttered by the various speakers, in the most enthusiastic manner. Mr. Phillips offered the following resolutions, which he very eloquently advocated, and which were adopted by acclamation : "Resolved, That the voice of O'Connell, which now shakes three kingdoms, has poured across the waters a thunder-peal for the cause of liberty in our own land; and Father Mathew, having lifted, with one hand, five millions of his own countrymen into moral life, has stretched forth the other which may Heaven make equally potent ! to smite off the fetters of the American slave. " Resolved, That we receive, with the deepest gratitude, the names of the sixty thousand Irishmen, who, in the trial-hour of their own struggle for liberty, have not forgotten the slave on this side of the water; that we accept with triumphant exultation the address they have forwarded to us, and pledge ourselves to circu- late it through the length and breadth of our land, till the pulse of every man, and especially every man who claims Irish parentage, beats true to the claims of patriotism and humanity." He then made an address, which, by reason of its importance, is here given in full : PROGRESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE. 107 "I hold in my band, Mr. Chairman, a resolution expressive of our thanks to the sixty thousand Irishmen who have sent us that token of their sympathy and interest, and especially to those high and gallant spirits who lead the noble list. I must say, that never have I stood in the presence of an audience with higher hopes of the rapid progress and success of our cause than now. I remem- ber with what devoted earnestness, with what unfaltering zeal, Ireland has carried on so many years the struggle for her own freedom. It is from such men whose hearts lost no jot of their faith in the grave of Emmet, over whose zeal the loss of Curran and Grattan could throw no damp, who are now turning the trophies of one field of victory into weapons for new conquests, whom a hireling press and prejudiced public could never sever a moment from O'Connell's side, it is from the sympathy of such that we have a right to hope much. " The image of the generous Isle comes to us, not only ' crowned with the spoil of every science, and decked with the wreath of every muse ; ' but we cannot forget that she lent to Waterloo the sword which cut the despot's * shattered sceptre through ; ' and, to American ears, the crumbled walls of St. Stephen's yet stand to echo the eloquence of her Burke, when, at the foot of the British throne, he took his place side by side with that immortal rebel [pointing to the picture of Washington]. " From a priest of the Catholic Church we might expect supe- riority to that prejudice against color which freezes the sympa- thies of our own churches when humanity points to the slave. I remember that African lips may join in the chants of the Church, unrebuked, even under the dome at St. Peter's ; and I have seen the colored man in the sacred dress pass with priest and student beneath the frowning portals of the Propaganda College at Rome, with none to sneer at his complexion, or repulse him from society. " I remember that a long line of popes, from Leo to Gregory, 108 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. have denounced the sin of making merchandise of men ; that the voice of Rome was the first to be heard against the slave-trade ; and that the bull of Gregory XVI., forbidding every true Catholic to touch the accursed thing, is yet hardly a year old. " Ireland is the land of agitation and agitators. We may well learn a lesson from her in the battle of human rights. Her phi- losophy is no recluse : she doffs the cowl, and quits the cloister, to grasp in friendly effort the hands of the people. No pulse beats truer to liberty, to humanity, than those which in Dublin quicken at every good from abolition on this side of the ocean. There can be no warmer words of welcome than those which welcome the American abolitionists on their thresholds. Let not any one per- suade us, Mr. Chairman, that the question of slavery is no business of ours, but belongs entirely to the South. " I trust in that love of liberty which every Irishman brings to the country of his adoption, to make him true to her cause at the ballot-box, and throw no vote without asking if the hand to which he is about to trust political power will use it for the slave. When an American was introduced to O'Connell in the lobby of the House of Commons, he asked, without putting out his hand, ' Are you from the South ? ' * Yes, sir.' * A slaveholder, I presume ? ' 'Yes, sir.' 'Then,' said the great liberator, 'I have no hand for you ! ' and stalked away. Shall his countrymen trust that hand with political power which O'Connell deemed it pollution to touch ? " We remember, Mr. Chairman, that, when a jealous disposition tore from the walls of the City Hall of Dublin the picture of Henry Grattau, the act but did endear him the more to Ireland. The slavocracy of our land thinks to expel that ' old man eloquent ' with the dignity of seventy winters on his brow (pointing to a picture of J. Q. Adams) from the halls of Congress. They will find him only the more lastingly fixed in the hearts of his countrymen. PROGRESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE. 109 "Mr. Chairman, we stand in the presence of at least the name of Father Mathew. We remember the millions who pledged themselves to temperance from his lips. I hope his countrymen will join with me in pledging here, eternal hostility to slavery. Will you ever return to his master the slave who once sets foot on the soil of Massachusetts? [No, no, no!] Will you ever raise to office or power the man who will not pledge his utmost effort against slavery ? [No, no, no 1] " Then, may we not hope well for freedom ? Thanks to those noble men who battle in her cause the world over. The ' ocean of their philanthropy knows no shore.' Humanity knows no country; and I am proud, here in Faneuil Hall, fit place to receive their message, to learn of O'Connell's fidelity to freedom, and of Father Mathew's love to the real interests of man." These remarks were received with unbounded ap- plause. With nine cheers, the vast assembly the in- fluence of which was soon felt throughout the country adjourned. It appears in the records of those eventful days, strange as it may seem now, that the anti-slavery address of O'Connell and his sixty thousand country- men was not received well by the Irish residents in the United States. The ebullition of enthusiasm at the meeting held in Faneuil Hall soon cooled down, and a feeling characterized by marked indifference ensued. At a meeting of the Massachusetts Society held in January, 1843, Mr. Garrison offered a resolution bear- ing upon this indifference and neglect, and- declaring the same as "deeply dishonorable to the Irish of this 110 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. country, and a shame to the land of their birth ; prov- ing that Ireland has not sent us her true children, or that the democratic climate of New England is fatal to the liberty-loving spirit." In the autumn of this year (1842), George Latimer, a native colored man of Virginia, was arrested in Boston without a warrant, and claimed as a slave. The case was brought before the courts, where Chief Jus- tice Shaw ruled that " the statute of the United States authorizes the owner of the fugitive slave to arrest him in any State to which he may have fled." As soon as tidings of this proceeding were spread abroad, the intensest excitement prevailed. On the 30th of October a sabbath evening a large body of citizens met in Faneuil Hall. Speeches were made, and resolutions were presented, protesting, " by all the glorious memories of the Revolutionary struggle, in the names of justice, liberty, and right, in the awful name of God, against the deliverance of George Latimer into the hands of his pursuers." Letters were also read from John Quincy Adams, George Bancroft, Samuel Hoar, William B. Calhoun, and others. Amid hisses and uproar, Wendell Phil- lips sought to speak. " When I look," he said, " upon the crowded thousands, and see them trample on their consciences and the rights of their fellow-men at the bidding of a piece of parchment, I say, l My curse be upon the Constitution of these United States ! ' " PROGRESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE. Ill A few days later a petition, signed by many influen- tial citizens, was presented to the sheriff, demanding the dismissal of the jailer. At the same time another petition was prepared, requesting Gov. Davis to dismiss the sheriff unless he removed the jailer. Then it was that the Rev. Nathaniel Colver agreed to pay the sum of four hundred dollars " on the delivery of free papers, and the surrender of the power of attorney to reclaim his wife." The offer was accepted, and Latimer was released. The excitement, however, did not end here. A con. vention was held, and a petition was presented to the Legislature, praying that body to "forbid all persons holding office under the laws of the State from aiding in the arrest or detention of persons claimed as fugi- tives from slavery ; to forbid the use of jails, or other public property, for their detention , and to prepare amendments to the Federal Constitution that should forever separate the people of the State from all con- nection with slavery." Subsequently, certain resolves of the Legislature of Massachusetts, proposing to Congress to recommend, according to the provisions of the Fifth Article of the Constitution of the United States, an amendment to the said Constitution, in effect abolishing the represen- tation for slaves, and signed by fifty thousand of the citizens of the State, were laid upon the desk of John Quincy Adams. 112 LIFE AND TINES OF \VENDELL PHILLIPS. The resolutions were presented to the House of Rep- resentatives, Dec. 21, 1843. A great sensation was the result. Said Henry A. Wise of Virginia, " I say sol- emnly before God, as a Southern man, that we are worsted in this fight. From this day forth and forever, I withdraw from the fight. I say to my constituents, that, the way this battle has been fought, there is no hope for your rights. Your interests are doomed to be destroyed." The New-England Anti-slavery Convention, held in May, 1843, yielded to none of its predecessors in in- terest to its members and in advantage to the cause. During the day the meetings were held in the Taber- nacle in Howard Street : the evening sessions were held in Faneuil Hall. The convention had ordered an address to the slaves of the United States, on the subject of their rights, duties, and hopes ; and another to John Tyler, who was shortly expected in Boston, to assist at the Bunker-hill Monument celebration, requesting him to emancipate his slaves, to be prepared. Both addresses were submitted to the convention in Faneuil Hall. The address to Mr. Tyler was read by Mr. Phillips, and was enforced with a speech of great power. This convention was the moving cause of the great movement of the year, best known by the appella- tion of the Hundred Conventions. In the early part of the year about twenty conventions were held in as PROGRESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE. 113 many towns, chiefly in Middlesex, Worcester, Norfolk, and Plymouth Counties, in Massachusetts alone. A course of anti-slavery lectures was given during the winter, under the auspices of the Boston Female Anti- slavery Society, by Messrs. Pierpont, Phillips, Quincy, Garrison, Douglass, Bradburn, and Remond, the success of which was highly encouraging. In the summer season Mr. Phillips did excellent work in the neigh- borhood of Boston, and introduced the subject of abolition into places where it had scarcely been men- tioned before. During the year Mr. Phillips was elected general agent of the society. He retained the position until May, 1845, when the pressure of other duties forced him, with regret, to resign. In 1843 arose in the Garrisonian ranks the discussion whether an abolitionist could rightfully vote or take office under the Constitution of the land, which rec- ognized slavery, gave it a special representation in Congress, and ordered the return of fugitive slaves. Inasmuch as every officeholder swore to support the Constitution, and as every voter did so implicitly, and indeed by his vote asked his candidate to take such an oath, it was urged that no consistent abolitionist could either vote or take office. Two years before this, Mr. Phillips had taken this ground, and had refused to continue to practise in the courts where an oath to the Constitution was required of each attorney. He started the discussion in the 114 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. anti-slavery ranks, and in 1844 published an argu- ment, entitled " Can Abolitionists vote or take Office under the United-States Constitution?" in defence of this position, which was unanimously assumed by the American Anti-slavery Society in the same year. The resolution, written by Mr. Phillips, is in the following words: "Resolved, That secession from the present United-States Gov- ernment is the duty of every abolitionist ; since no one can take office under the United-States Constitution without violating his anti-slavery principles, and rendering himself an abetter of the slaveholder in his sin." In 1843 the question whether it was not the duty of the people of the free States to dissolve their polit- ical relations with the South, began to be discussed by Mr. Garrison in the colums of " The Liberator." It was, of course, a startling proposition ; and many abo- litionists, who had all along supposed that their move- ment had a tendency to preserve the Union, shrank back from it with dread. The discussion, however, was steadily maintained, until at length the American society, and then the whole Garrisonian phalanx, swung solidly round to the same position, and the movement carried aloft the banner, "No union with slaveholders." Mr. Francis Jackson resigned his office of justice of the peace on the same grounds. From this year until 1861, the cry of disunion was proclaimed in the anti- slavery journals, in pamphlets and tracts, in innu- PROGRESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVEET CAUSE. 115 merable conventions, and by the voices of a host of lecturers, with Garrison and Phillips at its head. In laying down his office, Mr. Jackson wrote a letter containing a calm but clear and able exposition of the reasons which made this course the only one he could honestly pursue. He analyzed the Constitution, and showed what were its compromises, the unworthy ser- vices which they demanded of the North, and the political servitude to the slave-power with which it had been visited in consequence of its consenting to them. "That part of the Constitution," said he, "which provides for the surrender of fugitive slaves, I never have supported, and never will. I will join in no slave-hunt. My door shall stand open, as it has long stood, to the panting and trembling victim of the slave-hunter. When I shut it against him, may God shut the door of his mercy against me ! " He thus concluded his letter : "The Constitution of the United States, both in theory and practice, is so utterly broken down by the influence and effect of slavery, so imbecile for the highest good of the nation, and so powerful for evil, that I can give no voluntary assistance in hold- ing it up any longer. Henceforth it is dead to me, and I to it. I withdraw all professions of allegiance to it, and all my voluntary efforts to sustain it. The burdens that it lays upon me, while it is held up by others, I shall endeavor to bear patiently, yet acting with reference to a higher law, and distinctly declaring, that, while I retain my own liberty, I will be a party to no compact which helps to rob any other man of his.'* 116 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. This letter, coming as it did from no hot-brained enthusiast, but from a man long known and valued for his practical good sense, and talent for the world's business, attracted a wide attention, and produced a deep impression. It was as well timed as it was well executed, and embodied the views of his fellow-aboli- tionists in a tangible and intelligible shape. There can be no doubt, that, in the sixteen years im- mediately preceding the civil war, this " disunion " movement did much to prepare the Northern people for the crisis which was coming, and through which they were called to pass. Whether it hastened the struggle, is another question. It taught the North to assert that further compromise with the slave-power was impossible : it encouraged the North to do and dare in the cause of liberty. It taught the South that the principle of morality was stronger than the Con- stitution which was so long a main dependence of the slave-power ; and it at least forced from the lips of Mr. Wise, and from those who shared his foresight, the confession that Southern interests in the slave-power were doomed to be destroyed. In an interesting letter addressed to his friend Ed- ward M. Davis, Mr. Phillips thus writes, under date of "May 23, 1844:" " Now for questions. " What is supporting, etc. ? " Why, when an officer takes an oath to support the instrument PEOGEESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVEEY CAUSE. 117 which prescribes his duties, does it not mean he will perform those duties ? "Why have oaths? " To secure the carrying out of the provisions of the Constitu- tion, are they not? Did not South Carolina, when the compromise was made in 1789, rely on the oath of Massachusetts, and go home confident that the clauses of that compromise would be fairly car- ried out, because all officers were to be sworn to do so in all coming time ? If the officers of the United States do not in their official capacity do what the Constitution prescribes, then that instrument is a dead letter. Now, in order that it may live, it enjoins that they shall be sworn to support it. Suppose a case : A man claims his slave ; the judge refuses to act. Would it not be fair argument for the slaveholder to retort, ' You, sir, assumed a place, and swore to perform its duties : this, you allow, is one (whether morally right, or not, is not the question) ; it is one set down in the bond. Do you keep your oath, sir, when you refuse this part of your office ? I have a claim on you.' "Suppose the judge to say, 'Now this case has arisen, I will resign.' Would it not be fair to reply to him, The country placed you in a certain post : you have no right to determine beforehand, that, on a certain duty arising, you will not perform it.* Suppose a general to assume command, and lead his army to the field, and then, just as the fight began, resign. " If the oath is any thing but humbug, it means, that, while the Constitution remains as it is, I will obey and carry it out as it is. " If it don't mean this, what does it mean ? "2d, Does a man support by taking office when he votes against all pro-slavery measures ? " Try it. Is not his position more than his vote ? The senator's duty is to concur in the appointment of judges whose duty it is to return fugitive slaves. 118 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. "3d, Can an abolitionist ask and authorize a man to assume such an office as that of judge? " The representative is to carry out by appropriate laws the pro- slavery clauses of the Constitution. He may be called to elect the President, who is pledged to put down domestic violence, etc. : he is to vote the salaries of the executive officers, whose duties are some of them pro-slavery. " Now, if, while he does these things, he votes against some pro- slavery measures, is he innocent ? " To vote against every thing which touches slavery would stop the wheels of government. Shall he vote supplies for the Florida war? But I have no time to enlarge on these points. I will only ask, Can the man who has just sworn, as a member of the House of Representatives, to support the Constitution, shelter a fugitive slave in his house, detain, and conceal him from his master ? Is this honest dealing, as between man and man ? "4th, Does not this strike a blow against all human govern- ments ? Answer first, Don't know : if it's right, don't care. Sec- ond, No : we submit, and carry out the will of the majority rightfully in all cases not moral, not of conscience ; and government must be so arranged that it shall be understood that no man will take any office under it which requires him to violate his conscience, or fail in his duty. I could go into the House of Commons now, and vote away right and left without violating my conscience. "5th, Is the position taken for consistency? Then, why pay taxes? " Taxes are not voluntary. Did Jesus support Nero when he paid a tax? I seek to be in this country like an alien, a traveller. Such can't avoid indirect taxation ; but are they responsible for the use government makes of the money? Of course not. We are not responsible for that we can't prevent. Now, I can prevent my money going to government only in two ways, by voting, which PROGRESS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE. 119 is wrong ; by leaving the country, which no one is required to do, because God placing us here is the highest title and message of duty we can have. " I don't think the position contravenes our section seven Con- stitution and preamble. Does taking away a political influence weaken us ? It does not take away our political influence, only our voting. Who has had more influence on the politics of this coun- try than William Lloyd Garrison, yet not by voting ? < The Ed- inburgh Review ' has political influence in this country : such we retain, and much more. . " If it did take it away, the question still is, Can we rightfully retain it ? Does giving up voting weaken us ? Us it may : we may fall into oblivion and neglect. Probably. But the non-voting position, by its disinterestedness, its consistency, its high tone, its absence of suspicion, gives tenfold stronger hold on those about us to make them act. " Never forget the distinction between weakening us and weak- ening the cause." In 1845 Mr. Phillips, in order to aid the discussion, printed an argument entitled, "The Constitution a Pro-slavery Contract ; or, Selections from the Madison Papers," the preface to which ends thus : " If, then, the Constitution be- what these debates show that our fathers intended to make it, and what, too, their descendants, this nation, say they did make it, and agree to uphold, then we affirm that it is a covenant with death, an agreement with hell, and ought to be immediately annulled. No abolitionist can consistently take office under it, or swear to support it. " But if, on the contrary, our fathers failed in their purpose, and the Constitution is all pure, and untouched by slavery, then Union itself is impossible without guilt. For it is undeniable, that the 120 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. fifty years passed under this (anti-slavery) Constitution show us the slaves trebling in numbers ; slaveholders monopolizing the offices, and dictating the policy, of the government ; prostituting the strength and influence of the nation to the support of slavery here and elsewhere ; trampling on the rights of the free States, and making the courts of the country their tools. To continue this disastrous alliance longer is madness. The trial of fifty years with the best of men and "the best of constitutions, on this suppo- sition, only proves that it is impossible for free and slave States to unite on any terms without all becoming partners in the guilt, and responsible for the sin, of slavery. We dare not prolong the argument ; and with double earnestness we repeat our demand upon every honest man to join in the outcry of the American Anti- slavery Society, No Union with slavery." i During the sessions of the society in the following years, as has already been remarked, this was the prom- inent topic ; and some of Mr. Phillips's best speeches were made to advocate the destruction of the American Church and Union as they then stood. The discussion touching the question of disunion was, of course, deeply offensive to the public mind ; and the speakers were, often mobbed. Capt. Rynders, after being defeated one day, turned the American Anti- slavery Society out of its hall. Next year no owner of a hall in New- York City would risk his building for the uses of the society : hence, for several years there- after, it became necessary to hold the anniversaries in Rochester and Syracuse. CHAPTER IX. EEA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. James K. Polk becomes President of the United States. The An- nexation of Texas. Origin of the " Liberty Party." The Massa- chusetts Legislature of 1846. The "Free-Soil Party." Fleeing from Slavery. An Outrage in Boston. Election of Gen. Taylor. Growth of the Free-Soil Party. The Fugitive-Slave Bill pro- posed in Congress. Debates. Apostasy of Daniel Webster. The 7th of March Speech. Indignation Meetings. The Act signed by the President. Faneuil Hall speaks. Charles Sumner chosen Senator. The "Shadrach Case." The "Sims Case." Public Meetings. Election of Franklin Pierce. The Darkest Day in the History of the American Republic. " Because you have your prejudices, shall there be no history written? Our task is unlike that of some recent meetings, history, not flattery." " My idea of American civilization is, that it is a second part, a repetition, of that same sublime confidence in the public conscience and the public thought which made the groundwork of Grecian democracy." ""Who can adequately tell the sacredness and the value of free speech? Who can fitly describe the enormity of the crime of its violation? Free speech, at once the instrument, and the guaranty, and the bright, consummate flower, of all liberty." PHILLIPS. r I THE election of James K. Polk to the presidency -^- in 1844, and the annexation of Texas in the fol- lowing year, largely encouraged and strengthened the pro-slavery party, both in the North and in the South. Many members of the Whig party were depressed in spirits, and had already begun to doubt the expediency 121 124 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. upon the citizen-soldiers at once to enroll themselves, and to be in readiness when the exigencies of the coun- try should require their services. This course of the governor greatly displeased the abolitionists, inasmuch as the war was a direct consequence of the annexation of Texas ; of which act, when in prospect only, he had expressed himself, three years before, in the following emphatic terms : " We hold," says the solemn " Appeal to the People of the Free States," signed by him and nineteen other members of Congress, March 3, 1843, " we hold that the objects of this new acquisition are, the perpetuation of slavery, and the continued ascendency of the slave-power; . . . that there is no Constitutional power delegated to any department of government to authorize it ; that no Act of Congress or treaty of annexation can impose the least obligation upon the several States of this Union to submit to such an unwarrantable act." Very naturally, the conduct of the governor, directly opposed to his previous, profession of opinion, merited and received a severe rebuke. On the very day the proclamation was issued, the New-England Convention began its annual session in Faneuil Hall. On the fol- lowing day the meeting was held in the Melodeon, at which time Mr. Phillips arose, and introduced the following resolution : " Resolved, That at the bar of Liberty and Humanity we impeach George N. Briggs, the author of the proclamation dated yesterday, ERA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 123 arose : the motion was vehemently opposed by both Democrats and Whigs ; a compromise was tendered, and the committee was left to act without instructions. In defending his motion, Mr. Wilson said that "we must destroy slavery, or slavery will destroy liberty." For himself, Mr. Wilson was ready to act with any man or party Whig, Democrat, abolitionist, Christian, or infidel who would lend support to the cause of eman- cipation. As the result of the annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico was declared in May, 1846. This aroused at once to action men of all political parties at the North, and changed their minds as to their duties towards slavery. In September a Whig convention assembled in Faneuil Hall, and then and there Charles Sumner and others proclaimed the divorce between conscience and cotton. Mr. Stephen C. Phillips offered some minority resolutions. Daniel Webster was brought in to talk them down, and a scene ensued which will always linger in the memories of those who were pres- ent. After this the breach in the Whig party grew wider and wider, and finally led to the formation of the Free-sril party in 1848. Towards the close of May, 1846, the President of the United States, through the War Department, trans- mitted a civil request to Gov. Briggs for a regiment of infantry from Massachusetts. His Excellency issued his proclamation on the 26th of that month, calling 124 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. upon the citizen-soldiers at once to enroll themselves, and to be in readiness when the exigencies of the coun- try should require their services. This course of the governor greatly displeased the abolitionists, inasmuch as the war was a direct consequence of the annexation of Texas ; of which act, when in prospect only, he had expressed himself, three years before, in the following emphatic terms : " We hold," says the solemn " Appeal to the People of the Free States,'* signed by him and nineteen other members of Congress, March 3, 1843, " we hold that the objects of this new acquisition are, the perpetuation of slavery, and the continued ascendency of the slave-power; . . . that there is no Constitutional power delegated to any department of government to authorize it ; that no Act of Congress or treaty of annexation can impose the least obligation upon the several States of this Union to submit to such an unwarrantable act." Very naturally, the conduct of the governor, directly opposed to his previous, profession of opinion, merited and received a severe rebuke. On the very day the proclamation was issued, the New-England Convention began its annual session in Faneuil Hall. On the fol- lowing day the meeting was held in the Melodeon, at which time Mr. Phillips arose, and introduced the following resolution : " Resolved, That at the bar of Liberty and Humanity we impeach George N. Briggs, the author of the proclamation dated yesterday, ERA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 125 as perjured on his own principles, as a traitor by his own showing, as one before whose guilt the infamy of Arnold and of the Mis- souri compromisers becomes respectability and decency ; since, under oath to support the Constitution of the United States, he calls on the Commonwealth to rally to a war which is waged to defend and protect an act (the annexation of Texas) which he has himself so often declared 'a violation of the Constitution,' 'equivalent to dissolution,' a triumph of slavery and despotism, one to which it was the basest calumny to suppose that Massachu- setts would ever submit; and that we call upon the people to forget him as emphatically as they did Mason of Boston, and Shaw of Lanesborough, for their treason in 1820." This resolution created an intense excitement, not alone in the convention, but also in the community. In the evening the building was crowded to its fullest capacity, and the relations of the Church to slavery was the topic of discussion. On the following day (Thursday) the convention again met in Faneuil Hall. As the morning papers contained Mr. Phillips's resolu- tion, an immense concourse gathered in the hall for the purpose of learning what next was to occur. The Rev. William H. Channing offered a series of resolutions denying the existence of any lawful government of the United States, of any Union, of any obligation of allegiance or countenance to either, and pledging the abolitionists to give no aid or support to the Mexican war, and to exert all efforts to form a new union and a new constitution. These resolutions were sustained, amid mingled cheers and hisses, by Mr. Channing, 126 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Theodore Parker, Mr. Remond, and others, and were enthusiastically adopted. While the meeting was in progress, a notice was served upon the officers of the convention, that the chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings, Mr. Alderman Jonathan Preston, had directed the super- intendent not to allow the hall to be used by the convention for an evening session. Thus the doors were closed against free discussion. A statement of the facts, signed by Jackson, Phillips, Garrison, and Quincy, was published in the morning papers. It con- cluded as follows : " Whether it was the promptings of a base pro-slavery spirit, or a cowardly truckling before the imaginary possibility of a contin- gent mob, which impelled Mr. Alderman Preston to take this extraordinary and reprehensible course, is a question which it is important only to himself to decide. We would simply ask our fellow-citizens to consider whether he would have dared thus to insult any political party, or any other philanthropic movement." It may be a forgotten fact, and a fact, too, which the prudence of some people might wish to relegate to the shades of oblivion, but which, nevertheless, it is the duty of the historian to record, that at the dinner of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, held a little later, Gov. Briggs undertook to defend his course on the assumption that he was bound, as a public offi- cer, to do what he did, and that it was for doing a duty " prescribed by the laws," that he had been con- EEA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 127 demned. The governor evidently lacked intelligence to discern what were " the duties made imperative by his oath of office," and to distinguish between a com- mand and a permission to do a certain act. President Polk did not pretend, the secretary of war expressly disclaimed, that there was any obligation on the part of the governors of the States, to whom invitations to this work were sent, to come up to it. The question of caste in the public schools of Boston came prominently before the school committee in 1846 by a petition for the abolition of the colored schools. The committee were guilty of the indiscretion of giving their reasons for their refusing the prayer of the peti- tioners; and the city solicitor was unwise enough to commit himself, in a written opinion, on the same side. The " arguments " of the first were disposed of in an able minority report, written by Mr. Edmund Jackson, and signed by him and Dr. H. I. Bowditch. The "opinion" of the city solicitor, Mr. P. W. Chandler, was reviewed at length, and with great legal acumen, by Mr. Phillips. The report of Mr. Jackson and the review of Mr. Phillips were printed and bound together, and exten- sively circulated. A vote on the question resulted in fifty-nine to sixteen for and against the continuance of the caste-schools. In 1855 the desired change took place, and was acknowledged by the following resolution, offered by 128 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Mr. Phillips at the ensuing meeting of the Massachu- setts Anti-slavery Society : " Resolved, That this society rejoices in the abolition of the sepa- rate colored schools in the city of Boston as the triumph of law and justice over the pride of caste and wealth, and recognizes in it the marked advance of the anti-slavery sentiment of the State." Meanwhile the annexation of Texas, and the pro- spective acquisition of Mexican territory, had increased the price of, and the demand for, slaves. The bondmen were filled with dread, and many of the more intelli- gent among them sought liberty in flight. For a time Eastern Pennsylvania seemed to be the destined place of refuge ; arid to the judicious counsels and labors of such men as Thomas Shipley, Edward M. Davis, Robert Purvis, William Still, William H. Furness, and to such noble women as Esther Moore, Lucretia Mott, Sarah Pugh, and Mary Grew, all of that State, thousands of these lowly ones were indebted for shelter, food, cloth- ing, and a hearty God-speed. The frequency of escapes incensed the slave-masters, and made them more vigilant. Numerous instances of kidnapping occurred, in which masters of vessels en- gaged in the Southern trade bore a prominent part. In August, 1846, a striking case happened in Boston. The brig " Ottoman," owned by John H. Pierson, and commanded by Capt. James W. Hannum, sailed from New Orleans for Boston. When a few days out at ERA OF TEE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 129 sea, a slave was found secreted in the vessel. In Sep- tember the vessel arrived in Boston Harbor ; and the captain, after transferring the slave on a pilot-boat for safe-keeping, went into the city to arrange with the captain of the bark " Niagara," which was soon to sail for New Orleans, to take him back. The slave man- aged to ^ escape to South-Boston Point, but was hotly pursued, recaptured, and was " abducted by force from the jurisdiction of the commonwealth, and borne back to slavery." This proceeding aroused the deepest indignation ; and a crowded meeting was held at Faneuil Hall, over which John Quincy Adams presided. Dr. Samuel G. Howe related the facts in the case. John A. Andrew pre- sented a series of resolutions, and these were supported by eloquent speakers. Mr. Sumner characterized the wrong as " an injury and insult to Massachusetts, which should arouse the people to a determination to prevent .the repetition of such a crime." Wendell Phillips attributed the outrage upon the laws to the religious and social institutions of the country. The resolutions, he thought, did not go far enough, and the time had come when the people of Massachusetts should go farther than simply to an- nounce that they would sustain the laws. He would have the people come up to the point, and say, " Law or no law, Constitution or no Constitution, humanity shall be paramount. I would send a voice from Fan- 130 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. euil Hall that shall reach every hovel in South Caro- lina, and say to the slaves, 'Come here, and find an asylum of freedom here, where no talon of the national eagle shall ever snatch you away.' " Theodore Parker supported Phillips by asserting, " There is a law of God, written on the heart, that cannot be altered or revoked, that we should do unto others as we would that others should do unto us. When the laws of Massachusetts or the laws of the Union conflict w r ith the laws of God, I would keep God's law in preference, though the heavens should fall. We have officers who tell us that they are sworn to keep the laws of the State and of the United States, and we are born citizens, born to obey the laws ; but every bone of my body, and every drop of blood in my system, swears to me that I am amenable to, and must obey, the laws of God." What was the result ? Capt. Hannum boasted that he was justified in his course by the approval of his employer; Mr. Pierson boasted that he had the ap- proval of the merchants of Boston ; the merchants of Boston never allowed their opinion in the matter to go upon the records, a good fortune for their posterity. In the spring of 1847 Mr. Phillips collected in a pam- phlet the papers which he had prepared for " The Anti- slavery Standard" (published in New- York City) in reply to the work of Mr. Lysander Spooner upon the unconstitutionality of .slavery. The ingenious sophis- try of Mr. Spooner was of no consequence, excepting in so far as it was made the means of blinding the eyes ERA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 131 of persons unaccustomed to the construction of laws, and of reconciling them to give their support to the chief political bulwark of slavery, under the delusive idea that it might be made an instrument of its de- struction. It is no easy task to prove an axiom, and that which Mr. Phillips had undertaken was little less than this. It was like endeavoring to refute an antago- nist who should maintain that there is no regal or aristocratic element in the British Constitution. Mr. Phillips, however, performed his task with great acute- ness, learning, and wit. He published the edition of five thousand copies at his own expense, and presented it to the American and the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Societies. The demand for the work in Ohio and New York, the chief fields of the late Liberty party, nearly exhausted the edition. In 1848 the real anti-slavery fight began. The smouldering embers which the seeming quiet but deep planning of the preceding year had tended to keep alive, now burst into a flame. The Whig party had nominated Zachary Taylor, a slaveholder, for the presidency. Millard Fillmore was their choice for the Vice-Presidency. This action convinced the conscience Whigs that they could no longer trust the policy of the party ; and they determined to break up the party, which had shown itself incompetent to deal with the living question of the day. In June a convention of the Free-soil Democrats met at Utica, N.Y., and nomi- 132 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. nated Martin Van Buren as the presidential candidate of a new party, to represent the doctrine of " undying hostility to the farther extension of slavery." The movement spread, and Free-soil meetings were held in different States. The contest, which followed in a spir- ited manner, ended in the election of the candidates of the Whig party; and on the 4th of March, 1849, Gen. Taylor was inducted into office. Gen. Taylor's election seems to have done no great harm, and unconsciously to have been the means of great good ; since it led to the formation of the Free- soil party, of which the leading policy was free soil, free speech, free men, and opposition to the extension of slavery and of the slaveholding power. The Liberty party, which was an abolition-political party, was merged into the Free-soil party. This party, which believed in voting as well as talking against slavery (and in this respect unlike the Garrisonians), began in 1839, by casting three hundred and seven votes: it made a gradual increase until it became merged in the Free-soil party and the Republican party. Finally its ideas got control of the country, and effected emanci- pation in 1863. At the annual meeting, in January, 1849, of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society, Mr. Phillips took occasion to review some of the notable events in the history of the anti-slavery cause in Boston, from the time when Harrison Gray Otis sneeringly said that ERA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 133 he heard that the abolitionists, in their madness, put the Bible above the statute-book. He alluded to the time when Peleg Sprague stood in Faneuil Hall, and tried to awaken sympathy with the South by pointing up to the portrait of Washington, and calling him " that slaveholder : " he did not omit to call to mind Richard Fletcher's base attempts to propitiate the South, nor the encouragement given to the murderers of Lovejoy, at Alton, by "that infamous attorney- general, James Trecothick Austin." He proceeded to show what had been the position and attitude of the churches in Boston in the same period. " Where," he asked, "was Hubbard Winslow? Teaching that a minister's rule of duty, as to what he should teach and preach, is 'what the brotherhood will allow and pro- tect.' Where is the pulpit of the Old South? Sus- taining slavery as a Bible institution. Where is Park- street Church ? Refusing to receive within its walls, for funeral service, the body of the only martyr which the Orthodox Congregationalists of New England have had, Charles T. Torrey, and of whom they were not worthy. Where is Essex-street Church? Teaching that there are occasions when the Golden Rule is to be set aside. And where is Federal-street Church? Teaching that silence is the mission of the North with respect to slavery, and closing its doors to the funeral eulogy of FOLLEK, the bosom-friend of the only man who will make Federal-street pulpit to be remembered, 134 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. WILLIAM ELLEEY CHANNING. And I might ask," he said, " where are the New South and Brattle Street, but they are not." The annual meeting of the American Anti-slavery Society, held in May, 1849, was one of the most notable in the history of that organization. It was held in the Tabernacle, io. New York. Mr. Edmund Quincy pro- posed a series of resolutions, of which the three follow- ing were the concluding ones : " Resolved, That that which is giving strength, extension, and perpetuity to slavery, to wit, the UNION, on being overthrown by a peaceful withdrawal from it by the non-slaveholding States, for conscience' sake and for self-preservation, must necessarily weaken limits, and speedily extirpate slavery from the American soil; therefore, " Resolved, That the motto of every Christian and every patriot should be, ' No union with slaveholders, either religiously or politically. 1 " Resolved, That this is not a question of expediency on which action may be innocently deferred ' till a more convenient season,' but one of absolute morality, of obedience to God, and fidelity to mankind, to be met, and carried out to the letter." These resolutions, and portions of the impressive speech in support of them, made by Mr. Phillips, were quoted in the halls of Congress, and were copied exten- sively into the Southern papers. The press of the country generally gave circulation to these " incendiary ideas" by the condemnation they were swift to heap upon them. ERA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 135 On the 4th of January, 1850, Mr. Mason of Vir- ginia introduced into the Senate of the United States a bill to carry out more effectually the provision of the Constitution in relation to fugitives from service or labor, and asked thereon a speedy report from the Com- mittee on the Judiciary. This was the famous Fugitive- slave Act, which was subsequently adopted, and which excited so much feeling in the free States. In support of this Act, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun spoke at length ; and from their words the friends of liberty received nothing to encourage, but every thing to alarm. All eyes were then turned toward Mr. Webster, the idolized son, by adoption, of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. The greatest statesman and orator that New England had produced, nurtured in the spirit of the immortal Declaration of '76, and in the avowed purpose of the Constitution to " establish justice," had now an opportunity to crown his venerable head with the laurels of enviable and undying renown. Upon his words the fate of a nation seemed to hang. To redeem this nation from the thraldom of human bond- age, by eloquent speech and vote to oppose slavery extension and domination, all this he promised to do. The 7th of March came. The Senate Chamber was thronged to overflowing with eager and excited audit- ors. In words of forceful eloquence, and with a dig- nity and solemnity of manner which none better than 136 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. he understood and could command, Mr. Webster began his address. " I speak to-day," he said, " for the pres- ervation of the Union. Hear me, for my cause." Having thus challenged the attention of his coun- trymen, Mr. Webster passed rapidly over the events that had transpired from the declaration of war against Mexico to the unanimous adoption by California of its constitution excluding slavery. This he regarded as the main cause of the existing agitation. He then went into an historical review of slavery, of the differ- ences of opinion which had arisen in the North and South on account of its existence, and at length an- nounced that he should support the Fugitive-slave Act " with all its provisions, to its fullest extent." Mr. Webster's words weighed heavily on the friends of truth, justice, and freedom. Thousands who had loved, honored, and followed him as a trusted leader, now felt themselves paralyzed with grief and disap- pointment. But this only for a brief season ; for, with indignation in their hearts, they soon left him in the hands of his new-found but not steadfast friends, the slaveholding statesmen, who now looked upon Mr. Webster as they did upon their slaves, as useful but degraded. The action of Mr. Webster was very strongly con- demned by a public meeting in Faneuil Hall on the 25th of March, over which Samuel E. Sewall presided. Theodore Parker introduced a series of resolutions, and EEA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 137 supported them with an argument of great thorough- ness and force. Mr. Phillips followed with a critical examination of Mr. Webster's unfortunate speech. The saddest and most astounding evidence of the de- moralization of Northern citizens in regard to slavery, and of Mr. Webster's depraving influence upon them, is given in the following letter addressed to him soon after the delivery of his speech on the 7th of March, signed by eight hundred of the prominent citizens of Massachusetts. It was published in "The Boston Daily Advertiser " of April 2, 1850. "To THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. " Sir, Impressed with the magnitude and importance of the service to the Constitution and the Union which you have ren- dered by your recent speech in the Senate of the United States, on the subject of slavery, we desire to express to you our deep obliga- tion for what this speech has done, and is doing, to enlighten the public mind, and to bring the present crisis in our national affairs to a fortunate and peaceful termination. As citizens of the United States, we wish to thank you for recalling us to our duties under the Constitution, and for the broad, national, and patriotic views which you have sent with the weight of your great authority, and with the power of your unanswerable reasoning, into every corner of the Union. "It is, permit us to say, sir, no common good which you have thus done for the country. In a time of almost unprecedented excitement, when the minds of men have been bewildered by an apparent conflict of duties, and when multitudes have been unable to find solid ground on which to rest with security and peace, you 138 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. have pointed out to a whole people the path of duty, have con- vinced the understanding, and touched the conscience, of a nation. You have met this great exigency as a patriot and a statesman ; and, although the debt of gratitude which the people of this coun- try owe to you was large before, you have increased it by a peculiar service, which is felt throughout the land. " We desire, therefore, to express to you our entire concurrence in the sentiments of your speech, and our heartfelt thanks for the inestimable aid it has afforded towards the preservation and per- petuation of the Union. For this purpose, we respectfully present to you this, our address of thanks and congratulation, in reference to this most interesting and important occasion in your public life. " We have the honor to be, with the highest respect, " Your obedient servants, T. H. PERKINS, J. W. PAGE, CHARLES C. PARSONS, THOMAS C. AMORY, THOMAS B. WALES, CALEB LORING, WM. APPLETON, JAMES SAVAGE, CHARLES P. CURTIS, CHARLES JACKSON, GEORGE TICKNOR, BENJ. R. CURTIS, RUFUS CHOATE, JOSIAH BRADLEE, EDWARD G. LORING, THOMAS B. CURTIS, FRANCIS J. OLIVER, J. A. LOWELL, BENJ. LORING, GILES LODGE, WM. P. MASON, WM. STURGIS, W. H. PRESCOTT, SAM'L T. ARMSTRONG, SAMUEL A. ELIOT, JAMES JACKSON, MOSES STUART, LEONARD WOODS, RALPH EMERSON, JARED SPARKS, C. C. FELTON, and over seven hundred others.' EEA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 139 On the 9th of July President Taylor died, just in time to defeat his destiny, and to give his successor, Millard Fillmore, an opportunity to sign the Fugitive- slave Act, and thus forever to make his name odious in the annals of his country. The bill was signed on the 18th of September, 1850. The passage of this Act was the signal for a general commotion throughout the land. On the 14th of Octo- ber a large and highly important meeting was held in Faneuil Hall "for the denunciation of the law, and the expression of sympathy and co-operation with the fugitive." Charles Francis Adams presided, and made an eloquent address. Other speakers were Frederick Douglass, Theodore Parker, and Wendell Phillips. Instant repeal of the obnoxious statute was demanded, and a vigilance committee of fifty was appointed to take " all needful measures to protect the colored peo- ple from the new and imminent dangers to which they were exposed." The result of Mr. Webster's retreat into the ethics of barbarism was the defeat of the great Whig party at the next election, and, as he had become Mr. Fillmore's secretary of state, the filling of his place in the Senate with Robert Rantoul, jun., for the short term, and for the long term, commencing March 4, 1851, with a sort of twin-brother of Wendell Phillips, named Charles Sumner. It remains to be seen how the Fugitive-slave Act 140 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. worked in the North. In Boston, on the 15th of Feb- ruary, 1851, Shadrach, a colored waiter at the Cornhill Coffee-house, was arrested under a warrant issued by George T. Curtis, United States commissioner, on the complaint of one John de Bree of Norfolk, Va., a purser in the navy. The hearing was postponed until the 18th, and the prisoner was remanded to the custody of the deputy marshal. While his counsel were confer- ring with him, a number of colored men rushed in, seized Shadrach, carried him away in triumph, and finally sent him in safety to Canada. The excitement was intense. Tidings were sent to Washington, and the President immediately issued a proclamation call- ing upon all citizens to assist in capturing the fugi- tive. On the 3d of April occurred another case. Thomas Sims, a fugitive slave, was arrested in Boston ; and, after a hurried and summary examination before Commis- sioner Curtis, he was given up to his pursuers. The poor slave-youth begged one favor of his counsel. " Give me a knife," said he ; " and, when the commis- sioner declares me a slave, I will stab myself to the heart, and die before his eyes." About midnight the mayor of Boston, attended by his marshal and two or three hundred policemen, all heavily armed, placed Sims on board the " Acorn " (owned by John H. Pierson), and sent him again into bondage. "And this," ex- claimed the negro, " is Massachusetts liberty ! " He ERA OF THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT. 141 uttered these significant words on the memorable 19th of April. 1 On the day following the arrest, a great public meet- ing was held on Boston Common, which was addressed by Mr. Phillips. On the 8th a rousing convention was held at Tremont Temple of all persons opposed to the Fugitive-slave Act, and the deepest feeling was mani- fested. On the evening of the same day another and a distinct meeting was held in the same place, which was addressed by Phillips, William Henry Channing, and others. On the 12th, the day of the rendition of Sims, a meeting was held in Washington Hall; and Phillips, Garrison, and Quincy were among the speakers. After crossing the Rubicon, in 1850, the recreant statesman of Massachusetts found that he could not retrace his steps. With a chagrin which at length carried him into his grave, and yet with a bravado which he must have borrowed from his slaveholding friends, he, in 1852, was led, not only to defend the compromise measures, but even to defame the anti- slavery men and their efforts. He also aspired to the presidency, as a reward for his conduct. 1 Sims was severely whipped after arriving at Savannah, and for two months was kept closely confined in a cell. He was then sent to a slave-pen at Charleston, and thence to a slave-pen at New Orleans. He was purchased by a brick-mason, and taken to Yicksburg, whence, in 1863, he escaped to the besieging-army of Gen. Grant, who gave him transportation to the North. I do not know whether, at the present writing, he is living or dead. 142 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. In the election of that year, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, the candidate of the Democratic party, was chosen President. It was a victory for the pro-slavery party. All but four States recorded their votes in its favor. It was a victory which implied the indorsement of the compromise measures, and, further, that these measures should be regarded as final. To all this, not- withstanding the anti-slavery agitations which had been going on for nearly half a century, only one hundred and fifty thousand, out of more than three millions, refused to give their sanction. No darker day, not even in the most critical period of the war of the Rebellion, has ever marked the history of the American republic. CHAPTER X. A YEAR OF MOBS AND CONVENTIONS. Friends of Temperance assemble in New York, 1853. Women ex- cluded from the Convention. A Busy Autumn. Comments of "The Tribune." Rev. Antoinette L. Brown. Her Experience at the Temperance Convention. Exclusion of Miss Brown and Mr. Phillips. The Woman's Rights Convention. Riotous Dis- turbances. Madame Anneke. Phillips' s Bitter Invective. The Convention forced to adjourn sine die. 11 My idea of American nationality makes it the last best growth of the thought- ful mind of the century, treading under foot sex and race, caste and condition, and collecting on the broad bosom of what deserves the name of an empire, under the shelter of noble, just, and equal laws, all races, all customs, all religions, all lan- guages, all literature, and all ideas." "I welcome woman to the platform of the world's teachers; and I look upon the world, in a very important sense, as one great school." PHILLIPS. the 12th of May, 1853, the friends of temperance assembled in New- York City, to make arrange- ments for a world's temperance convention. The meet- ing was held in Dr. Spring's Old Brick Church, on Franklin Square, where "The New-York Times" build- ing now stands. It was organized by nominating the Hon. A. C. Barstow of Rhode Island chairman. The meeting opened with prayer, "asking God's blessing on the proceedings." A motion was then made, that all " gentlemen " present be admitted as delegates. Dr. 143 144 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Trail of New York moved an amendment, that the word " ladies " be inserted, as there were delegates pres- ent from the Woman's State Temperance Society. The motion was carried. A business committee of one from each State was then appointed. A motion was made, that Susan B. Anthony, secretary of the Woman's State Temperance Society, be added to the business committee ; and, after a hot de- bate, it was ruled out of order. Next Thomas Went- worth Higginson requested that he be excused from serving on the committee, and that his place be filled by Mrs. Lucy Stone. The confusion was increased. A committee of credentials was appointed, to decide who were members of the convention. They reported, that, in their opinion, the call for the meeting was not in- tended to include female delegates, and that the cre- dentials of the ladies should be rejected. The report was adopted by a vote of thirty-four to thirty-two, ten of those voting being women. The opening days-of the autumn of this year were days of intense excitement in the city of New York. The great World's Fair was in progress ; also an anti-slavery, a woman's rights, and two temperance, conventions. On the anti-slavery platform William Henry Channing, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, and other eloquent speakers, were pleading for the black man's freedom ; on the woman's rights platform these same men were asserting the equality of their mothers, wives, A YEAH OF MOBS AND CONVENTIONS. 145 and daughters; and on the temperance platform they were inculcating noble lessons for both white and black. The temperance convention, from which, of course, by a previous ruling, women were excluded, was in session in Metropolitan Hall. Truthfully character- ized, it was no other than an organized mob, under theb complete control of the clergy : In " The New- York Tribune," under date of Sept. T, 1853, Horace Greeley thus summed up the proceedings of the session : " This convention has completed three of its four business ses- sions, and the results may be summed up as follows : " First day, crowding a woman off the platform. " Second day, gagging her. "Third day, voting that she shall stay gagged. Having thus disposed of the main question, we presume the incidentals will be finished this morning." It was Antoinette L. Brown (since Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell) whom the convention crowded off the platform. How came she there, is a question which must be answered. On the day of the opening of the World's Temperance Convention, the Woman's Rights Convention was also in session. Miss Brown and Wendell Phillips sat at the latter, reconsidering the matter of the rejection of women. Miss Brown expressed the opinion, that as the Brick-chapel meeting was merely an informal, pre- 146 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. liminary meeting, and its decisions of no importance or authority upon the convention proper, perhaps, after all, women would be admitted if proper application were made. "Go, by all means," said Phillips: "if they receive you, you have only to thank them for rebuking the action of the Brick-chapel meeting. Then we will with- draw, and come back to our own meeting. If, on the other hand, they do not receive you, we will quietly and without protest withdraw, and, in that case, not be gone half an hour." Miss Brown, Mrs. Caroline M. Severance, and Mr. Phillips then wended their way to Metropolitan Hall. On arriving at the hall, Miss Brown presented her credentials to the secretary, and went down from the platform. After a little time it was decided that the call admitted all delegates, and, thinking that this decision settled her case, Miss Brown again went upon the platform. In the mean time a permanent organi- zation was effected. Miss Brown arose, and inquired of the president, Neal Dow, if she were rightly a member of the convention. He replied, "Yes, if you have credentials from any abstinence societies." She stated that she had, and then attempted to thank him ; but the convention would not receive any expression of thanks. She took her seat, and awaited a better opportunity. The first day's session came to an end. On going out of the convention, Mr. Phillips stated to persons A YEAR OF MOBS AND CONVENTIONS. 147 with whom he came in contact, that a woman delegate had been received by the president, and that she had been insulted, and nobody had risen to sustain her. He said to Miss Brown, " I shall not go to-morrow, but do you go. I can do nothing for you, because I am not a delegate." That evening a few earnest friends in New York met together, organized a society, and appointed just three delegates to that temperance convention. Those three persons were Wendell Phillips, Mr. Cleveland, one of the editors of "The Tribune," and Mr. Gibbon, son-in-law of the late Isaac T. Hopper of New York. The next morning Miss Brown and the new delegates went to the hall. Mr. Phillips presented his credentials. During the discussion Mr. Phillips took part, and per- sisted in holding the convention to parliamentary rules. "When the preliminary business was over, and various resolutions were being brought forward, Miss Brown arose, and the president gave her the floor. She was invited upon the stand; but, once there, she was not allowed to speak. For the space of three hours she endeavored to be heard. Finally some one insisted that there might be persons voting in the house who were not delegates; and it was decided that the hall should be cleared by the police, and that those who were delegates might come in, one by one, and resume their seats. There were printed lists of the delegates of the con- 148 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. vention ; but there were several new delegates, whose names were not on the lists. Mr. Phillips and his col- leagues were among the latter. He went to the presi- dent, and said, " I rely upon you to be admitted to the hall, for we know that our nanres are not yet on the list." The president assented. The delegates were re-adrnitted by the roll-call : it is needless to add that the two delegates Miss Brown and Wendell Phillips were not called. We turn now to the proceedings, so far as they fall within our present scope, of the Woman's Rights Con- vention, which was held in the Broadway Tabernacle on the 6th and 7th of September, 1853. The fact that the Anti-slavery Society held a meeting on Sunday morning, and Antoinette Brown preached to five thou- sand people the same evening, called out the denuncia- tions of the religious press which intensified the mob spirit, culminating at last in the Woman's Rights Con- vention. The Tabernacle, holding three thousand persons, was packed long before the hour of opening. Mr. Chan- ning made an opening prayer ; and the president, Mrs. Mott, made a few appropriate remarks. Then the business went on. Among the speakers of the first day were Mr. Garrison, Charles C. Burleigh, Dr. Chan- ning, and Antoinette Brown. The next morning "The Tribune" stated as fol- lows : A YEAR OF MOBS AND CONVENTIONS. 149 " The Woman's Rights Convention was somewhat disturbed last evening by persons whose ideas of the rights of free speech are these : two thousand people assemble to hear a given public ques- tion discussed, under distinct announcement that certain persons, whose general views are well known, are to speak throughout the evening. At least nineteen-twentieths come to hear those an- nounced speakers, and will be bitterly disappointed if the oppor- tunity be not afforded them. But one-twentieth have bought tickets, and taken seats on purpose to prevent the hearing of those speakers, by hissing, yelling, and stamping, and all manner of unseemly interruptions." The second day's proceedings were characterized by blackguardism, defamation, rowdyism, and profanity. The convention seemed entirely under the control of the mob. As it was inconsistent with Mrs. Mott's Quaker principles to call upon the police, she vacated the chair after inviting Ernestine L. Rose to take her place. The president then introduced a German lady, Madame Mathilde Francesea AnnekS, editor of a liberal woman's rights newspaper which had been suppressed in Germany. Madame Anneke attempted to speak, but her voice was drowned by the tumultuous yells of the ruffianly element in the audience. Quick as a flash, Mr. Phil- lips sprang upon the platform. He said, " Allow me to say one word, purely as a matter of the self-respect which you owe to yourselves. We are citizens of a great country, which, from Maine to Geor- gia, has extended a welcome to Kossuth; and this 150 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. New-York audience is now looking upon a noble woman who stood by his side in the battle-fields of Hungary, one who has faced the cannon of Francis Joseph of Austria, for the rights of the people. Is this the welcome you give her to the shores of repub- lican America ? A woman who has proved her gallan- try, and attachment to principles, wishes to say five words to you of the feelings with which she is im- pressed toward this cause. I know, fellow-citizens, that you will hear her/' Madame Annekd then addressed the audience for a few moments, and retired amid a great uproar, which increased when Mr. Phillips presented himself again. "I am not surprised at the reception I meet," he shouted in a loud voice. "As presiding officer for this evening," interposed the president, "I call upon the police. The mayor, too, promised to see that our meeting should not be disturbed ; and I now call upon him to preserve order. As citizens of New York, we have a right to this pro- tection; for we pay our money for it. My friends, keep order, and then we shall know who the disturbers are." " You are making a better speech than I can, by your conduct," continued Mr. Phillips. " This is proof posi- tive of the necessity of this convention. The time has been when other conventions have been met, like this, with hisses. [Renewed hisses.] Go on with your A YEAR OF MOBS AND CONVENTIONS'. 151 hisses: geese have hissed before now. If it be your pleasure to argue the question for us, by proving that the men here, at least, are not fit for exercising political rights " [Great uproar.] Again the president called upon the police to main- tain order. " You prove one thing to-night," concluded Mr. Phillips, "that the men of New York do not under- stand the meaning of civil liberty and free discussion." Five minutes later the convention was forced to adjourn sine die. " The Tribune " of Sept. 9 commented severely upon these disgraceful proceedings : " We do not know whether any of the gentlemen who have succeeded in breaking up the Woman's Rights Convention, or of the other gentlemen who have succeeded in three sessions at Met- ropolitan Hall in silencing a regularly appointed and admitted delegate, will ever be ashamed of their passion and hostility; but we have little doubt that some of them will live to understand their own folly." Thirty years have passed over the republic; and later generations, recalling these painful events of the past, would like to ask those gentlemen what answer? CHAPTER XL PHILLIPS AND THE WOMAN'S EIGHTS MOVEMENT. A Plan for Action first proposed. The Call. Responses. The Worcester Convention of 1850. Outline of the Proceedings. Attitude of the Press. The Convention of 1851. Mr. Phillips's Address. Harriet Martineau. The Legislature. The Boston Convention of 1854. Resolutions. The Convention of 1855. Donations. Assembling of the Seventh National Woman's Rights Convention in New York, 1856. Mr. Phillips's Speech. Indif- ference of Political Parties towards the Movement. The National Convention of 1858. The Convention of 1859. Mr. Phillips makes a Stirring Address. The Legislatures Memorialized. The New-England Convention. Mr. Phillips again. The " Drawing- Room" Convention. Mrs. DalFs Lectures. The Tenth National Convention, 1860. Marriage and Divorce discussed Mr. Phillips opposes Discussion. The Woman Question laid aside. "After the Slave then the Woman." " Throw open the doors of Congress, throw open those court-houses, throw wide open the doors of your colleges, and give to the sisters of the Motts and the Somer- villes the same opportunities for culture that men have, and let the result prove what their capacity and intellect really are." " It is on the ground of natural justice, and on the ground again of the highest expediency, and yet again it is because woman, as an immortal and intellectual being, has a right to all the means of education, it is on these grounds that we claim for her the civil rights and privileges which man enjoys." PHILLIPS. A T an anti-slavery meeting held in Boston, in 1850, -*--*- an invitation was given from the speaker's desk to all those who felt interested in a plan for a woman's 152 THE WOMAN'S BIGHTS MOVEMENT. 153 rights convention, to meet in the ante-room. Nine soli- tary women responded, and went into "the dark and dingy room," to consult together. Of the nine, seven were chosen to call a convention in Massachusetts. We are told, however, that " the work devolved upon one person. Illness hindered one, duty to a brother another, duty to the slave a third, professional engage- ments a fourth, the fear of bringing the gray hairs of a father to the grave prevented another from serving ; but the pledge was made, and could not be withdrawn." The names of this committee were, Harriot K. Hunt, Eliza J. Kenney, Lucy Stone, Abby Kelley Foster, Dora Taft (Father Taylor's daughter), Eliza J. Taft, and Paulina Wright Davis, the last named being the one active member. The call was prepared, and sent forth with earnest letters in all directions. Garrison wrote, " I doubt whether a more important movement has ever been launched, touching the destiny of the race, than this in regard to the equality of the sexes. You are at liberty to use my name." Catherine M. Sedgwick wrote, " You do me but justice in supposing me deeply interested in the question of woman's elevation." Dr. Channing wrote, " The new movement has my fullest sympathy, and my name is at its service." There was also the following : 154 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. " You are at liberty to append my own and my wife's name to your admirable call. "ANNE GREENE PHILLIPS. "WENDELL PHILLIPS." The convention was held in Brinley Hall, Worcester, Mass., Oct. 23 and 24, 1850, and was presided over by Mrs. Paulina W. Davis of Rhode Island. Nine States were represented. There were Garrison, Phillips, Bur- leigh, Foster, and Pillsbury, leaders in the anti-slavery strfiggle; Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, representing the enslaved African race ; the Channings, Sargents, Parsons, Shaws, from the liberal pulpit and the aristocracy of Boston. The proceedings, which extended through the greater part of two days, were of a most interesting character. The debates on the resolutions were spicy, pointed, and logical, and were participated in by Phillips, Channing, Garrison, and other able speakers. It is to be regretted, that, in the absence of a phonographic reporter, none of the addresses have been handed down to history. Before the close of the session, Dr. Channing, from the business committee, proposed a plan for organiza- tion, and the principles that should govern the move- ment. In accordance with his views, a national central committee was appointed, in which every State was represented. Of this committee Wendell Phillips was made treasurer. It is related that "tidings of this and of the Ohio THE WOMAN'S EIGHTS MOVEMENT. 155 convention (same year, in May) travelled across the ocean ; and their deliberations were ably discussed by Mrs. John Stuart Mill in ' The Westminster Review,' and great attention was aroused thereby as to the im- portance of the subject. It is not too much to say, that the whole woman's rights agitation in Old England, as well as in Massachusetts and in New England, may be dated from these conventions of 1850." Notwithstanding that the "Hen Convention" (so called jocosely) attracted the attention of the English quarterly, only four newspapers in Massachusetts treated the subject \fith any respect. These were, " The Lynn Pioneer," edited by George Bradborn; "The Liberator," edited by Garrison; "The Carpet Bag" (the "Punch" of those days) ; and " The Lowell American," a little Free-soil paper edited by William S. Robinson, after- wards known under the nom de plume of " Warrington." Mrs. Harriet H. Robinson remarks that, " The central idea of the woman's rights movement was sup- posed to be a desire on the part of some women to wear men's clothes, and learn to crow ; but whether like men, or like barn- yard bipeds, was never very clearly denned. When Lucy Stone went to Maiden (a suburban town, near Boston), to speak for the first time for woman's rights, a Universalist clergyman announced the proposed meeting from his pulpit, in these words : ' This even- ing, at the Town Hall, a hen will attempt to crow.' This was thought to be a huge joke." On the 15th and 16th of October, 1851, the friends 156 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. of woman suffrage assembled again in Brinley Hall. The convention was conducted mainly by the same persons who had so successfully managed the proceed- ings of the previous year. Letters were read from Henry Ward Beecher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Mann, Angelina Grimk Weld, Oliver Johnson, and many others. Among the new speakers were several noted suffragists from other States of the Union. After reading the resolutions, which in great part he had himself prepared, Mr. Phillips delivered his first speech, of which any phonographic report is in exist- ence, in support of the rights of women. It was a remarkable address, as showing not only the manly attitude which Mr. Phillips had taken towards the sub- ject, but also in its severe denunciation of all opposition in the matter. The concluding paragraphs are here given : " Woman is ground down, by the competition of her sisters, to the very point of starvation. Heavily taxed, ill paid, in degra- dation and misery, is it to be wondered at that she yields to the temptation of wealth? It is the same with men; and thus we recruit the ranks of vice by the prejudices of custom and society. We corrupt the whole social fabric, that women may be confined to two or three employments. How much do we suffer through the tyranny of prejudice ! When we penitently and gladly give to the energy and the intellect and the enterprise of woman their proper reward, their appropriate employment, this question of wages will settle itself; and it will never be settled at all until then. THE WOMAN'S EIGHTS MOVEMENT. 157 " This question is intimately connected with the great social problem, the vices of cities. You who hang your heads in terror and shame, in view of the advancing demoralization of modern civilized life, and turn away with horror-struck faces, look back now to these social prejudices which have made you close the avenues of profitable employment in the face of woman, and reconsider the conclusions you have made! Look back, I say, and see whether you are surely right here. Come up with us, and argue the question, and say whether this most artificial deli- cacy, this childish prejudice, on whose Moloch altar you sacrifice the virtue of so many, is worthy the exalted worship you pay it. Consider a moment. From what sources are the ranks of female profligacy recruited? A few, mere giddiness hurries to ruin. Their protection would be in that character and sound common sense which a wider interest in practical life would generally cre- ate. In a few, the love of sensual gratification, grown over-strong because all the other powers are dormant for want of exercise, wrecks its unhappy victim. The medicine for these would be occupation, awaking intellect, and stirring their highest energies. Give any one an earnest interest in life, something to do, some- thing that kindles emulation, and soon the gratification of the senses sinks into proper subordination. It is idle heads that are tempted to mischief ; and she is emphatically idle, half of whose nature is unemployed. Why does man, so much oftener than woman, surmount a few years or months of sensual gratification, and emerge into a worthier life ? It is not solely because the world's judgment is so much harder upon her. Man can immerse himself in business that stirs keenly all his faculties, and thus he smothers passion in honorable cares. An ordinary woman, once fallen, has no busy and stirring life in which to take refuge, where intellect will contend for mastery with passion, and where virtue is braced by high and active thoughts. Passion comes back to 158 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. the 'empty,' through < swept and garnished,' chambers, bringing with him more devils than before.' But, undoubtedly, the great temptation to this vice is the love of dress, wealth, and the lux- uries it secures. Facts will jostle theories aside. Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, there are many women, earning two or three dollars a week, who feel that they are as capable as their brothers of earning hundreds, if they could be permitted to exert themselves as freely. Fretting to see the coveted rewards of life forever forbidden them, they are tempted to shut their eyes on the character of the means by which a taste, however short, may be gained of the wealth and luxury they sigh for. Open to man a fair field for his industry, and secure to him its gains, and nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of every thou- sand will disdain to steal. Open to woman a fair field for her industry, let her do any thing her hands find to do, and enjoy her gains, and nine hundred and ninety-nine women out of every thousand will disdain to debase themselves for dress or ease. " Of this great social problem, to cure or lessen the vice of cities, there is no other solution except what this movement offers you. It is, to leave woman to choose her own employments for herself, responsible, as we are, to the common Creator, and not to her fellow-man. I exhort you, therefore, to look at this question in the spirit in which I have endeavored to present it to you. It is no fanciful, no superficial, movement, based on a few individual tastes, in morbid sympathy with tales of individual suffering. It is a great social protest against the very fabric of society. It is a question which goes down we admit it, and are willing to meet the issue goes down beneath the altar at which you worship, goes down beneath this social system in which you live. And it is true, no denying it, that, if we are right, the doctrines preached from New-England pulpits are wrong. It is true that all this affected horror at woman's deviation from her THE WOMAN'S EIGHTS MOVEMENT. 159 sphere is a mistake, a mistake fraught with momentous conse- quences. Understand us. We blink no fair issue. We throw down the gauntlet. We have counted the cost: we know the yoke and burden we assume. We know the sneers, the lying frauds of misstatement and misrepresentation, that await us. We have counted all ; and it is but the dust in the balance, and the small dust in the measure, compared with the inestimable blessing of doing justice to one-half of the human species, of curing this otherwise immedicable wound, stopping this overflow- ing fountain of corruption, at the very source of civilized life. Truly, it is the great question of the age. It looks all others out of countenance. It needs little aid from legislation. Specious objections, after all, are not arguments. We know we are right. We only ask an opportunity to argue the question, to set it full before the people, and then leave it to the intellects and hearts of our country, confident that the institutions under which we live, and the education which other reforms have already given to both sexes, have created men and women capable of solving a problem even more difficult, and meeting a change even more radical, than this." The proceedings of the convention were still further made memorable by the reading of a letter received from Harriet Martineau, which very clearly defined what was her position at that early day. The interest which Mr. Phillips shared with others in the woman's rights movement continued to grow stronger as the years crept on. Upon no other subject, save anti-slavery, did he bestow so much thought. In April, 1853, an appeal to the citizens of Massachusetts was made, on the question of allowing equal political 160 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. rights to women. In favor of this appeal, Mr. Phillips made a stirring address before the constitutional con- vention. He was followed by T. W. Higginson, Theo- dore Parker, and Lucy Stone. In August of that year, in committee of the whole, the report that " it is inex- pedient to act on the petition " of several parties that women may vote, was taken up. This report was, on the next clay, adopted by a vote of a hundred and eight to forty-four. But the ball was kept rolling. On the very day that saw poor Anthony Burns arrested in Boston, and con- signed back to hopeless bondage, June 2, 1854, the first woman's rights convention ever held in Boston assembled at Horticultural Hall. Though many friends of the women remained in the streets, to witness the sad surrender, still at an early hour the hall was filled with earnest representatives of both sexes. Among the resolutions reported were the follow- ing: "Resolved, That the common law, which governs the marriage relation, and blots out the legal existence of a wife, denies her right to the product of her own industry, denies her equal property rights, even denies her right to her children, and the custody of her own person, is grossly unjust to woman, dishonorable to man, and destructive to the harmony of life's holiest relation. " Resolved, That the laws which destroy the legal individuality of woman after her marriage, are equally pernicious to man as to woman, and may give to him in marriage a slave, or a tyrant, but never a wife." THE WOMAN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT. 161 Mr. Phillips, Mr. Garrison, and a number of others, took part in the debate. Sept. 19 and 20, 1855, the convention met again in Boston, with the best attendance that Boston could furnish in intelligence and respectability, and, to a ^ greater degree than usual, clerical. On the first day- Mr. Phillips addressed the members, and at other times through the six sessions managed to keep himself busy. It was largely through his efforts that the association obtained the money to enable them to carry on the agitation.. Francis Jackson and Charles F. Hov.ey, always generous towards the reforms of their time, were the first men to make a bequest to the woman's rights movement in Massachusetts. Besides giving liberally from time to time, Francis Jackson left five thousand dollars, in 1858, in the hands of Mr. Phillips ; which the latter invested so wisely, and so judiciously managed, that the fund was nearly doubled ere long. Mr. Hovey left fifty thousand dollars to be used in anti-slavery, woman suffrage, and free religion. In passing, it is well to recall the fact that Lydia Maria Child left a thousand dollars to the movement. With this single exception, no other woman of wealth has ever bequeathed any thing to the enfranchisement of her sex, a fact singularly strange, when it is re- membered that such women never forget colleges, churches, or public charities. Pursuant to a call issued by the central committee, 162 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. the Seventh National Woman's Rights Convention was held in New- York City, at the Broadway Tabernacle, Nov. 25 and 26, 1856. Mr. Phillips, who was a mem- ber of the business committee, and also treasurer, was, of course, present. His address in the evening was thoroughly characteristic, and in interest fairly rivals that which he made at the Worcester Convention in 1851. From the phonographic report, revised by him- self, the following portion is here given : " I would have it constantly kept before the public, that we do not seek to prop up woman : we only ask for her space to let her grow. Governments are not made, they grow. They are not buildings like this, with dome and pillars: they are oaks, with roots and branches ; and they grow, by God's blessing, in the soil he gives to them. Now, man has been allowed to grow ; and when Pharaoh tied him down with bars of iron, when Europe tied him down with privilege and superstition, he burst the bonds, and grew strong. We ask the same for woman. Goethe said, that, if you plant an oak in a flower- pot, one of two things was sure to hap- pen, either the oak will be dwarfed, or the flower-pot will break. So we have planted woman in a flower-pot, hemmed her in by restrictions ; and, when we move to enlarge her sphere, society cries out, 'Oh, you'll break the flower-pot!' AVell, I say, let it break. Man made it ; and, the sooner it goes to pieces, the better. Let us see how broadly the branches will throw themselves, and how beautiful will be the shape, and how glorious against the moonlit sky, or glowing sunset, the foliage shall appear ! " I say, the very first claim, the middle and last claim, of all our conventions, should be the ballot. Everywhere, in each State, we should claim it, not for any intrinsic value in the ballot, but be- THE WOMAN'S EIGHTS MOVEMENT. 163 cause it throws upon woman herself the responsibility of her posi- tion. Man never grew to his stature until he was provoked to it by the pressure and weight of responsibility ; and, I take it, woman will grow up the same way." This convention was held immediately after the elec* tion of James Buchanan to the presidency, and at a time when the anti-slavery problem was the most im- portant and absorbing in the public mind. Gen. Fr&- mont had been the candidate of the Republican party, and the name of Jessie Benton Fr&nont had been made a rallying-cry of the campaign. It appears that "the convention, taking advantage of this fact, made an appeal in its resolutions to both the Democratic and Republican parties, to do justice 'to both halves of the human race.' r To the Republican party it said, " ^ "Resolved, That the Republican party, appealing constantly, through its orators, to female sympathy, and using for its most popular rallying-cry a female name, is peculiarly pledged, by con- sistency, to do justice hereafter in those States where it holds con- trol." It need hardly be added, that no notice was taken of this appeal by those to whom it was addressed. And yet the Republican party was fast coming into power, made up of men who were old anti-slavery and Free- soi-1 political leaders, whose niotto was, Emancipation, free speech, and a free world. 164 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. "After Fremont was defeated, it seemed to those who had labored so long for the black man's freedom, and for the rights of woman, as if both causes were lost. The woman movement was silent for a period of three years." The year 1857 passed without a national convention being held in New York or elsewhere. In the follow- ing year, however, the Eighth National Convention was called in New York. The session opened in May. Mr. Phillips, as usual, was one of the speakers. On the 12th of May, 1859, the Ninth National Con- vention assembled in the same city. It proved to be a turbulent session; and all the speakers, with one accord, were forced to yield the platform to Mr. Phil- lips, who, for nearly two hours, "held the mocking crowd in the hollow of his hand." In closing, he said, " I will not attempt to detain you longer. [" Go on, go on ! "] I have neither the disposition nor the strength to trespass any longer upon your attention. The subject is so large, that it might well fill days instead of hours. It covers the whole surface of American society. It touches religion, purity, political economy, wages, the safety of cities, the growth of ideas, the very success of our experiment. I gave to-night a character of the city of Washington, which some men hissed. You know it is. true. If this experiment of self-government is to succeed, it is to succeed by some saving element introduced into the politics of the present day. You know this : your Websters, your Clays, your Calhouns, your Douglases, however intellectually able they may have been, have THE WOMAN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT. 165 never dared or cared to touch that moral element of our national life. Either the shallow and heartless trade of politics had eaten out their own moral being, or they feared to enter the unknown land of lofty right and wrong. "Neither of these great names has linked its fame with one great moral question of the day. They deal with money ques- tions, with tariffs, with parties, with State law ; and if, by chance, they touch the slave-question, it is only like Jewish hucksters trading in the relics of saints. The reformers the fanatics, as we are called are the only ones who have launched social and moral questions. I risk nothing when I say, that the anti-slavery discussion of the last twenty years has been the salt of this nation : it has actually kept it alive and wholesome. Without it our poli- tics would have sunk beyond even contempt. So with this ques- tion. It stirs the deepest sympathy; it appeals to the highest moral sense ; it inwraps within itself the greatest moral issues. Judge it, then, candidly, carefully, as Americans ; and let us show our- selves worthy of the high place to which God has called us in human affairs." A memorial was also prepared and signed by the leaders in the movement, and sent to every Legislature in the nation ; but, owing to the excitement caused by the John Brown raid, it commanded but little atten- tion. On the 27th of May, of this year, the New-England Convention was held in Boston. Rev. James Freeman Clarke made a stirring address, followed by Mrs. Caro- line H. Ball, Rev. John T. Sargent, and Mr. Phillips. The speech of Mr. Phillips abounded in felicitous thoughts; and, being still in existence as reported, it 166 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. will well repay perusal. One paragraph must be quoted here: " Many a young girl, in her married life, loses her husband, and thus is left a widow with two or three children. Now, who is to educate them and control them ? We see, if left to her own re- sources, the intellect which she possesses, and which has remained in a comparatively dormant state, displayed in its full power. What a depth of heart lay hidden in that woman ! She takes her husband's business, guides it as though it were a trifle ; she takes her S9ns, and leads them ; sets her daughters an example ; like a master-leader she governs the whole household. That is woman's influence.' What made that woman? Responsibility. Call her out from weakness, lay upon her soul the burden of her children's education, and she is no longer a girl, but a woman. " Horace Greeley once said to Margaret Fuller, ' If you should ask a woman to carry a ship round Cape Horn, how would she go to work to do it? Let her do this, and I will give up the ques- tion.' In the fall of 1856 a Boston girl, only twenty years of age, accompanied her husband to California. A brain-fever laid him low. In the presence of mutiny and delirium, she took his vacant post, preserved order, and carried her cargo safe to its destined port. Looking in the face of Mr. Greeley, Miss Fuller said, ' Lo ! my dear Horace, it is done. Now, say, what shall woman do next?'" [Cheers.] . On the 1st of June, 1860, a "drawing-room" con- vention was held at the Meionian, in Boston. It was initiated by Mrs. Caroline H. Ball, with the object of discussing the artistic and aesthetic features of the woman question. Several speakers, including Mr. Phil- lips, were in attendance, and took part in the discus- THE WOMAN'S EIGHTS MOVEMENT. 167 sions. On the whole, this convention was probably the most aristocratic meeting of the kind held up to that day. Just previous to this, Mrs. Dall had given a course of twelve lectures in Boston, on the various phases of woman's rights; and these lectures had at- tracted many ladies of culture and high social position, and induced them to take interest in the cause. It is not too much to affirm, that Mrs. Ball's lectures, and the resum of them which was published in book-form in 1868, and had a wide circulation, exerted an im- mense influence in forming public opinion, and creating interest on the subjects of which she treated. 1 The Tenth National Convention, which was held in New York, in May, 1860, was chiefly memorable be- cause of a disagreement which arose during the session. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady StantoD moved a series of resolu- tions looking towards greater freedom of divorce, and supported them in a lengthy address. Mr. Phillips, to the great surprise of many who were present, objected to the question of marriage and divorce as irrelevant to the platform, and said, " The reason why I object so emphatically to the introduction of the question here, is because it is a question which admits of so many theories, physiological and religious, and what is techni- cally called * free love,' that it is large enough for a movement of i The College, the Market, and the Court; or, Woman's Relation to Education, Employment, and Citizenship. By Mrs. C. H. Dall. Boston: Lee & Shepard. 168 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. its own. Our question is only unnecessarily burdened with it. It cannot be kept within the convenient limits of this enterprise, for this Woman's Rights Convention is not man's convention; and I hold that I, as a man, have an exactly equal interest in the essential question of marriage as woman has." Mr. Phillips moved to lay the resolutions on the table, and even went so far as to object to their being entered on the journal of the convention. Mr. Garri- son, while concurring " in opinion with his friend Mr. Phillips," thought that the resolutions ought to be adopted. The question being put, Mr. Phillips's motion was lost. The resolutions, reported by the business com- mittee, were then adopted without dissent. In 1861 came the "war of the Rebellion." The women who had so perseveringly worked for their own enfranchisement, now gave all their time and thought to saving the nation, and caring for its brave defenders. Whilst fathers and sons, husbands and lovers, were fighting and bleeding under the stars and stripes, mothers, wives, and sweethearts were busily plying their fingers in the sewing-circles, lending their assist- ance in the sanitary movement, watching the sick in the hospitals, or closing the eyes of the dying on the battle- field, as if all this were not enough to have made "justice to woman" the spontaneous cry on the return of the first days of peace. "It is not the woman's, but the negro's, hour:" THE WOMAN'S EIGHTS MOVEMENT. 169 "after the slave, then the woman," said Phillips, in his stirring speecKes of the time. From the beginning of the civil war to 1866, there is no record to be found of any public meeting on the subject of woman's rights, in which any Massachusetts speaker appeared. CHAPTER XII. THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. The Politics of 1853. Franklin Pierce, President. The "Kansas and Nebraska Bill." The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Simmer foresees the "Beginning of the End." A Convention of the Free-soil Party. The Republican Party. Workings of the Fugitive-slave Act. Arrest of Anthony Burns. A Famous Meet- ing. Indictments found against Phillips, Parker, and Others. The Result. A Petition for the Removal of "Slave Commis- sioner " Loring. Mr. Phillips's Argument. " The Crime against Kansas." Assault on Charles Sumner. Election of James Buchanan. The Signs of the Times. The John Brown Raid. Mr. Phillips's Eulogy. His Lecture in Brooklyn. Mr. Slack's Recollections. Riotous Feeling in New York and Elsewhere. Anniversary Meeting in Boston. A Riot prevented. "Insurrection of thought always precedes the insurrection of arms." "God gives us knowledge, keeps for us the weapon: all we need ask for is courage to use it." "You and I are never to see peace, we are never to see the possibility of putting the army of this nation, whether it be made up of nineteen or thirty-four States, on a peace- footing, until slavery is destroyed." " A civil war can hardly be any thing but a political war. That is, all civil wars are a struggle between opposite ideas, and armies are but the tools." PHILLIPS. TT^RANKLIN PIERCE took the oath of office on the 4th of March, 1853. Thoroughly incapable of comprehending the past history of his country, it was not strange that his dull or diseased brain should fail 170 THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 171 to forecast even the near or immediate future. The most remarkable event in the progress of the anti- slavery conflict happened during his administration. But for this event, which will ever perpetuate his name, President Pierce would long ago have faded out of remembrance. In December, 1853, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois proposed a bill in the United-States Senate, to organize the immense region extending from the confines of Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota to the crest of the Rocky Mountains, and from 36 30' north latitude to the Brit- ish Possessions, into two territories, to be known as Kansas and Nebraska. This bill contained a clause repealing the Missouri Compromise, under the plea that it was "inconsistent with the principle of non-inter- vention by Congress with slavery in the States and Territories, as recognized by the compromise measures of 1850." The people were taken by surprise ; for the question, so destructive to national harmony, and which it was hoped had been settled forever, had assumed a new form. The Missouri Compromise had been deemed a sacred compact between the North and South, and, as such, for the third of a century had received the sanc- tion of all parties. The debates on the bill extended over many weeks. On the ^5th of May, 1854, it passed Congress, and, having been signed on the following day by the Presi- dent, at once became the law of the land. 172 LIFE AND TINES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. " It is at once the worst and the best bill [exclaimed Charles Sumner] on which Congress ever acted ! It is the worst bill, inas- much as it is a present victory of slavery. ... It is the best bill, for it prepares the way for that All hail hereafter ' when slavery must disappear. Standing at the very grave of freedom in Kansas and Nebraska, I lift myself to the vision of that happy resurrection by which freedom will be secured hereafter, not only in these Terri- tories, but everywhere under the National Government. More clearly than ever before, I now see * the beginning of the end ' of slavery. Proudly I discern the flag of my country, as it ripples in every breeze, at last become, in reality as in name, the flag of free- dom, undoubted, pure, and irresistible. Sorrowfully I bend before the wrong you are about to enact : joyfully I welcome all the promises of the future." On the 31st of May a State convention of the Free- soil party was held in Boston, in Faneuil Hall, at which a series of resolutions, denunciatory of the Fugitive-slave Bill and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, was passed. " The time has come," it was said, " to forget the past, oblit- erate the Fugitive-slave Act, and to do what we can to place the country perpetually on the side of free- dom." Shortly afterwards a strong effort was made in the State, to unite the opponents of the repeal of the Mis- souri prohibition, and to form a political organization that should be untrammelled by slaveholding alliances. On the 20th of July a mass convention of the people at Worcester declared in favor of a new organization, to be called the " Republican " party ; and on the 7th THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 173 of September the first State convention of the party was held at the same place. Meanwhile the Fugitive-slave Act was in working- order. On the 23d of May Charles F. Suttle of Vir- ginia presented to Edward Greeley Loring of Boston, judge of probate, and commissioner, a complaint praying for the seizure and enslavement of Anthony Burns. The warrant was issued ; and on the next day Burns was arrested under the false pretext of burglary, and confined in the Suffolk-county court-house. At first the right of counsel was denied to the prisoner ; but, at the remonstrance of Theodore Parker and others, coun- sel were assigned, and the 27th of May was appointed as the day for the hearing. On the evening of the 26th a great meeting was held at Faneuil Hall. During the morning and after- noon of that day, certain members of the vigilance com- mittee including Parker, Phillips, Higginson, Kemp, Stowell, and Dr. Howe discussed the plan of making a sudden attack on the court-house, and of using the Faneuil-hall crowd to this end. It was voted down, however, three to one. The meeting adjourned about five o'clock, and those gentlemen who were to address the gathering at the hall in the evening were cautioned not to allow the audience to break up for any unpre- pared attack on the court-house. Between the hour of adjournment and that fixed for the public meeting, cer- tain members of the vigilance committee decided them- selves to make the attack. 174 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. At the appointed hour Faneuil Hall was filled to overflowing. Samuel G. Howe called the meeting to order ; George R. Russell presided ; and speeches were made by Parker, Phillips, and others. The suppressed excitement of the audience was intense. Said Theodore Parker, " I am a clergyman and a man of peace. I love peace. But there is a means, and there is an end. Liberty is the end, and sometimes peace is not the means toward it. There are ways of managing this matter [the Burns affair] without shooting any- body. Be sure that these men who have kidnapped a man in Boston are cowards, every mother's son of them ; and if we stand up there resolutely, and declare that this man shall not go out of the city of Boston without shooting a gun, then he won't go back. Now, I am going to propose,, that, when you adjourn, it be to meet at Court Square to-morrow morning at nine o'clock. As many as are in favor of that motion will raise their hands. Many hands were raised ; and from the audience arose shouts of, " Let's go to-night. Let's pay a visit to the slave-catchers at the Revere House." The question was put, "Do you propose to go to the Revere House to- night? Then, show your hands. It is not a vote. We shall meet at Court Square at nine o'clock to-mor- row morning." At this point in the history, there is a conflict of evi- dence. It is not possible to determine whether Parker had been informed of the new plan, and waited for the signal agreed upon, but, thinking it was not given, con- THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 175 eluded his speech as just quoted ; or whether, knowing nothing of the proposed attack, he made it his principal aim, to restrain the audience from rushing away into Court Square. There were indeed cries of alarm around the doors; but those on the platform, supposing them to be feints only, held the audience within the hall. Before the meeting adjourned, quietly, of course, Dr. Howe left the hall, and hurried to Court Square, to see whether the cries which he had heard really meant any thing. Upon arriving at the court-house, he found that a small- attack had been made ; but the doors were closed : and the crowd, if such it was, had gone. If we suppose the signal to have been given at Faneuil Hall, which is quite improbable, there surely would not have been time for the audience to make its slow way to the square in season to be of any service. Thus the affair ended. During the remainder of that night, and the whole of the next day, the marines and militia held the streets, and guarded the court-house. The slave was handed over to his master ; and on Fri- day, the 2d of June, he was marched through Court Street and State Street to the wharf, in the centre of a hollow square of armed ruffians, themselves guarded by companies of militia, protected by cannon. The bells- of the city tolled a solemn dirge, the streets were draped in black, and the whole scene was as awful as imagination can picture it. Those who witnessed the spectacle will never, never forget it. 176 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. After the rendition of Burns, indictments were found against Theodore Parker, Wendell Phillips, Mr. Hig- ginson, Martin Stowell, John Morrison, Samuel T. Proudman, and John C. Cluer. They were defended by John P. Hale, Charles M. Ellis, William L. Burt, John A. Andrew, and Henry F. Durant. The case of Mr. Stowell was first taken up. After proceeding with the arguments for quashing the indictment, Judge Curtis ordered all the writs to be quashed, thus dismiss- ing the cases. The contemptible action of "Slave Commissioner" Loring excited a deep feeling of disgust and dissatisfac- tion throughout the State. On account of it, he lost a professorship in Harvard College. Petitions signed by several thousand names were then sent to the Legis- lature, praying for his removal from his office as judge of probate. The subject was given a thorough hearing and examination. At this hearing, on the 20th of Feb- ruary, 1855, appeared for the petitioners, Wendell Phillips. His argument was lengthy, and covered all the points in issue. It concluded as follows : " Gentlemen, the petitioners have no feeling of revenge toward Mr. Edward G. Loring. Let the General Government reward him with thousands if it will. To us he is only an object of pity. There was an hour when one man trembled before him, when one hapless victim, with more than life at stake, trembled before this man's want of humanity, and ignorance of law. That hour has passed away. To-day he is but a weed on the great ocean of THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 177 humanity. To us he is nothing : but we, with you, are the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts ; and for the honor of the State, for the sake of justice, in the name of humanity, we claim his removal. We have a right to a judiciary worthy of the respect of the com- munity. We cannot respect him. Do not give us a man whose judicial character is made up of party bias, personal predilection, bad law, and ,a reckless disregard of human rights, and whose heart was too hard to melt before the mute eloquence of a hapless and terrified man! Do not commit to such a one the widows and orphans of the commonw T ealth ! Do not place such a man on a bench which only able and humane and Christian men have occu- pied before ! Do not let him escape the deserved indignation of the community, by the technical construction of a statute! The Constitution has left you, as the representatives of the original sovereignty of the people, the power to remove a judge when you think he has lost the confidence and respect of his constituents. Exercise it! Say to the United States, 'The Constitution allows the return of fugitive slaves. Find your agents where you will : you shall not find them on the supreme or any inferior bench of Massachusetts. You shall never gather round that infamous pro- cedure any respectability derived from the magistracy of the com- monwealth. If it is to be done, let it be done by men whom it does not harm the honor or the interest of Massachusetts to have dishonored and made infamous ! ' "Mr. Chairman, give free channel to the natural instincts of the commonwealth ; and let us let us be at liberty to despise the slave-hunter, without feeling that our children's hopes and lives are prejudiced thereby ! When you have done it, when you have pronounced on this hasty, reckless, inhuman court its proper judg- ment, the verdict of official reprobation, you will secure another thing. The next slave commissioner who opens his court will remember that he opens it in Massachusetts, where a man is not 178 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. to be robbed of his rights as a human being, merely because he is black. You will throw around the unfortunate victim of a cruel law, which you say you cannot annul, all the protection that Massa- chusetts incidentally can. And, doing this, you will do something to prevent seeing another such sad week as that of last May or June, in the capital of the commonwealth. Although you cannot blot out this wicked clause in the Constitution, you will render it impossible that any but reckless, unprincipled, and shameless men shall aid in its enforcement. Such men cannot long uphold a law in this commonwealth. "The petitioners ask both these things; claiming especially to have proved that you can do this work, and that, if you love justice or mercy, you ought to do it." The committee reported an address to the governor in favor of the prayer of the petitioners, which both the House and the Senate adopted. The governor's coun- cil also approved it, but Gov. Gardner refused to grant the prayer. After the inauguration of Gov. Banks, in 1858, a similar petition was presented, which resulted in the removal of Loring. By the passage, in 1854, of the Kansas and Nebraska Act, a vast extent of territory was laid open, both to free and servile labor; and immigration at once began to set in from the North and South, thus bringing free- dom and slavery hand to hand, and face to face. In the autumn of 1855 confusion reigned in the territory. Outrages of almost every kind were committed; and property, belonging in the most part to the free-State settlers, was destroyed. In the spring of 1856 a bill THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 179 was presented in Congress " for the admission of Kan- sas into the Union." In the course of the heated dis- cussion which followed, Mr. Sumner made his celebrated speech entitled " The Crime against Kansas." It created an intense madness in the hearts of the Southern and slaveholding leaders. " Such words are damaging." " He has the audacity of a Danton." " He must be silenced." Such were some of the remarks of the Southern chivalry. On the 22d of May, two days after his speech, Mr. Sumner, while seated at his desk in the Senate Chamber, engaged in writing, and after the Senate had adjourned, was assaulted and beaten to the floor by Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina. The senator fell forward, bleeding and insensible. " Do you want the pieces of your cane ? " asked a page of the Senate of the cowardly ruffian. " Only the gold head," was the response. " The next time kill him, Brooks," said his companion, who stood in the doorway with a pistol in his hand. " Come let us go and take a drink." They did so. As soon as the news reached Boston, a meeting was called in Faneuil Hall. " We must stand by him," said Gov. Gardner, " who is' the representative of Massachu- setts, under all circumstances." In the presidential election of 1856 John C. Fremont, the candidate of the Republican party, was defeated. James Buchanan, the choice of the Democratic party, was elected. If the Democratic victory was appalling, 180 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. the Republican defeat was by no means insignificant. The signs of the times pointed to the one fact, that Republican thought and feeling were increasing. Many influences helped to swell this increase, notably the labors of the American Anti-slavery Society and its affil- iated associations. The members of this society were not voters; they refrained from all political action; and still, they were workers, and their work told. They were the bitterest opponents of the slave-power; and their weapons the priii ting-press, orators, public meet- ings, and conventions were such as not even the slave- power could much longer resist. The band of heroes who fought and fell at Thermopylae are not more worthy of renown than the band of noble men and women, who, by thought and words and deeds, exposed their lives to the perils and encroachments of the slave autocracy of the South. But the crowning event of the decade was yet to happen. The raid on Harper's Ferry and its failure, the capture, trial, conviction, and execution of John Brown and his followers, are matters which have passed into history, and will not- soon be erased. The circum- stances of this affair are full of interest, and must now be related. \ It was in March, 1858, that Brown, at the suggestion of Theodore Parker, visited Boston, and first made known the plan of his proposed invasion of Virginia. He found ardent sympathizers, who lost no time in THE PREPARATION FOR WAE. 181 raising the requisite funds. At a meeting of the secret committee, held at the Revere House in May, it was agreed that the assault should be deferred till the spring of 1859. After leaving Boston, Brown went to the Kennedy farm on the Maryland side of the Potomac, five miles from Harper's Ferry, which he had rented, and which he now made his rendezvous. During the summer and autumn, recruits came to him, and due preparations were made. Just before the assault Fred- erick Douglass visited him, and, for the first time, learned of Brown's purpose to attack Harper's Ferry. Vainly urging him to join the enterprise, Brown said, " Go with me, Douglass. I don't want you to fight. I will pro- tect you with my life ; but I want you to be there when the bees swarm, and help put them into the hive." Brown undoubtedly believed that the slaves were ready to rise on their masters, would fight for liberty, and only needed a leader and a plan. On the 16th of October, 1859, in the evening, Brown assembled his little ^forces, consisting of fourteen white and five colored men, armed and equipped for war. A little after ten o'clock they entered the town, took pos- session of the United-States armory buildings, stopped the trains of the railroad, cut the telegraph-wires, cap- tured a number of the citizens, liberated several slaves, and held the town about thirty hours. After some fighting, in which several persons were killed and wounded, Brown retired to the engine-house, where he 182 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. was finally overpowered and captured by a detachment of United-States marines, under the command of Col. Robert E. Lee, afterwards commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces. Brown was wounded in several places. Eight of his band, including two of his sons, were killed or mortally wounded ; six were captured ; and five made their escape. During his confinement at the guard-house, Brown was visited by Gov. Wise, to whom he frankly stated the motives and purposes of his action. To others he remarked, "You people at the South had better pre- pare yourselves for a settlement of this question, which will come up sooner than you are prepared for it." Brown was indicted " for murder, and other crimes," brought to trial, convicted, and, on the 2d of Novem- ber, was sentenced to be hung. He was defended by George H. Hoyt, a young lawyer of Boston, Sam- uel Chilton of Washington, and Henry Griswold of Ohio. On the 2d of December the last act in this drama of blood was performed. * Immediately after the execution, the body was deliv- ered to the custody of friends, and was carried to the North. At New York, Mr. Phillips joined the little cortege; and they proceeded rapidly towards North Elba. They buried him on the 8th with services as " simple and unostentatious as were the character and life of the martyr himself, as was, too, the community in which he had lived, and for which he had labored." THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 183 Over the grave of the dead, Mr. Phillips could not but speak eloquently, and with such pathetic and pointed utterances as the event would suggest to one in sym- pathy with the objects of the deceased. "What lesson shall those lips teach us? [spoke the orator, closing his eulogy]. Before that still, calm brow let us take a new baptism. How can we stand here without a fresh and utter consecration ? These tears ! how shall we dare even to offer con- solation ? Only lips fresh from such a vow have the right to min- gle their words with your tears. We envy you your nearer place to these martyred children of God. I do not believe slavery will go down in blood. Ours is the age of thought. Hearts are stronger than swords That last fortnight ! How sublime its lesson, the Christian one of conscience, of truth ! Virginia is weak, because each man's heart said amen to John Brown. His words, they are stronger, even, than his rifles. These crushed a State. Those have changed the thoughts of millions, and will yet crush slavery Men said, * Would he had died in arms ! ' God ordered better, and granted to him and the slave those noble prison-hours, that single hour of death ; granted him a higher than the soldier's place, that of teacher : the echoes of his rifles have died away in the hills ; a million hearts guard his words. God bless this roof ! make it bless us. W T e dare not say bless you, children of this home! you stand nearer to one whose lips God touched, and we rather bend for your blessing. God make us all worthier of him whose dust we lay among these hills he loved ! Here he girded himself, and went forth to battle. Fuller success than his heart ever dreamed God granted him. He sleeps in the 'blessings of the crushed and the poor ; and men believe more firmly in virtue, now that such a man has lived. Standing here, let us thank God for a firmer faith and fuller hope." 184 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. Like most, if not all, of the opponents of slavery at that time, Mr. Phillips seemed to have no conception of the nature of the conflict itself, or of the forces that would be needful to root up and destroy American slavery. Even John Brown, whose methods were con- ceived in folly, was a better prophet. "I do not be- lieve," said Mr. Phillips, "slavery will go down in blood." One year later than the utterance of this assertion, South Carolina passed her ordinances of se- cession, and fired the train which ushered in the civil war. Truthfully has it been written, that "whatever diversities in judgment, or errors of estimate, there may have been, Mr. Phillips did not err when, stand- ing by the open grave of John Brown, he said that his words were stronger than his arms, and that, while the echoes of his rifles had died away among the hills of Virginia, his words were guarded by a million hearts. When, a few months later, the uprising nation sent forth its loyal sons to battle, his brave, humane, and generous utterances were kept in fresh remembrance. The 'John Brown Song,' extemporized in Boston Har- bor, and sung by the Massachusetts Twelfth, marching up State Street, down Broadway, and in its encamp- ment in Pleasant Valley, on the banks of the Potomac, struck responsive chords that vibrated through the land. Regiment after regiment, army after army, caught up the air; and in the camp, on the march, THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 1S5 and on the battle-field, brave men associated the body 'mouldering in the ground,' and the 'soul still march- ing on,' of the heroic old man, with the sacred idea for which he died, and for which they were fighting." : The execution gave rise to signal discussions both at home and abroad. " Slaughtered," wrote Victor Hugo, " by the American Republic, the crime assumes the pro- portions of the nation which commits it." In America, John Brown was the hero of the hour. The press, the pulpit, and the platform resounded with conflicting dis- cussions. In every city and town public meetings were held. The majority of people, while not doubting the honesty and good intention of the man, condemned his act : these same people also regarded slavery as " wise, just, and benevolent," and stigmatized the abolitionists as "drunken mutineers." A very few, including the anti-slavery people, repudiated John Brown's methods, saying with the poet Whittier, " Perish with him the folly That seeks through evil, good ; Long live the generous purpose, Unstained with human blood ! Not the raid of midnight terror, But the thought that underlies ; Not the outlaw's pride of daring, But the Christian sacrifice." In November, on the day before Brown received ,his 1 Henry Wilson, Else and Fall of the Slave-power, ii. p. 600. 186 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. sentence, Mr. Phillips lectured at Henry Ward Beech- er's church in Brooklyn, N.Y., on " The Lesson of the Hour." He said, "I think the lesson of the hour is insurrection. [Sensation.] Insurrection of thought always precedes the insurrection of arms. The last twenty years have been an insurrection of thought. We seem to be entering on a new phase of this great American strug- gle." Farther on he said, " I said the lesson of the hour was insurrection. I ought not to apply that word to John Brown of Ossawattomie, for there was no insurrection in his case. It is a great mistake to call him an insurgent. . . . But John Brown violated the law. Yes. On yonder desk lie the inspired words of men who died violent deaths for breaking the laws of Rome. Why do you listen to them so reverently ? Huss and Wickliffe violated laws : why honor them ? George Washington, had he been caught before 1783, would have died on the gibbet for breaking the laws of his sovereign. Yet I have heard that man praised within six months. Yes, you say, but these men broke bad laws. Just so. It is honorable, then, to break bad laws, and such law-breaking history loves, and God blesses. Who says, then, that slave-laws are not ten thousand times worse than any those men resisted? Whatever argument excuses them, makes John Brown a saint." The following interesting reminiscence is furnished by Mr. Charles W. Slack : " When John Brown lay in the Charlestown (Va.) prison, await- ing execution, it fell to my lot to organize the meeting in Tremont Temple for the relief of his impoverished family. The gathering had been suggested at the weekly meeting of the Parker Frater* THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 187 nity. Mr. Parker was then sick in Europe. John A. Andrew, not then governor, said he would preside. Mr. Emerson accepted my invitation to speak for the literature of New England, Rev. J. M. Manning for the Congregational theology held by John Brown, Rev. G. H. Hepworth for Unitarian good works, and Mr. Phil- lips for the anti-slavery cause, in whose behalf Brown was con- demned. The meeting was held on a Saturday evening. Mr. Manning, in accepting a participation, apologized in advance for a possible tardiness in being present ; as he should try to finish his next day's sermon before he came. Mr. Hepworth was the most confident and ready adapter of himself to the occasion, despite the conservative quality of many of his congregation, and the only one to prevaricate himself out of the meeting. Every thing went well, except Hepworth's self-condemnatory letter, saying he did not understand both sides of the question could be considered in the dis- cussion ; which drew the retort from Andrew, that he was not aware that there were two sides to the question whether or not John Brown's family should starve. Emerson made a fine address ; and so did Andrew and Phillips, of course : but little Manning, with heroic pluck unusual in the ministry of that day, put the crowning sheaf on the occasion by claiming to represent the church of Sam Adams and Wendell Phillips. * I thought I might not get here,' he said ; ' but I made an effort, and here I am : and I want all the world to know that I am not afraid to ride in the coach when Wendell Phillips sits on the box.' " That meeting passed off without disturbance from outside influences. But when, about a month later, Mr. Phillips and other friends tried to raise funds for the family of John Brown by a public meeting in New York, they were confronted by perhaps the fiercest mob that Phillips ever saw. 188 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. The following reminiscence of Mr. Hamilton Willcox, of Staten Island, illustrates the intense bitterness with which the advocates of the abolition of slavery were in those days regarded : "In the fall of 1859 [says Mr. Willcox] the North-Shore lec- ture committee, which for some time maintained a yearly course of lectures in the Park Baptist Church, Port Richmond, resolved to change their plan from having the discourses given by residents of the Island, to the 'lyceum' method of inviting distinguished lecturers from abroad. They announced a course including Horace Greeley, Henry Ward Beecher, Rev. Dr. Chapin, and Wendell Phillips. The topics were not political, but literary." " The Richmond County Gazette " at once made a vehement attack upon Mr. Phillips, and upon the lec- ture committee, of which George William Curtis was the chairman, for inviting a fanatical agitator to ad- dress an audience, although upon a topic remote from the political dissensions of the day. The mob element echoed the sentiment expressed by " The Gazette," and its mutterings were openly heard. A letter written by George A. Ward of New Brighton was published in " The Gazette," protesting against the attitude of that newspaper upon the subject. " The Gazette " printed the letter, and editorially admitted the truth of part of it, but repeated its objections to Phillips's lecturing on Staten Island, because, among other grounds, of the dreadful fact that " woman's rights conventions and like assemblages have frqeuently been enlightened by THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 189 him." Before the time set for the lecture of Mr. Phillips, which was to be upon the subject, " The Lost Arts," the remarkable Harper's Ferry episode occurred, and the name of John Brown became the synonyme of all that is to be detested. When, therefore, the strong pro-slavery element of Staten Island heard that Wen- dell Phillips had spoken, at meetings held in Cooper Union, New York, and Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, to raise funds for Brown's family, words on Brown's saintly qualities, the furious wrath of the baser part of the pro-slavery men was roused. Placards appeared along the North Shore, calling on the people to prevent Phillips being heard on Staten Island. A crowd on a North-Shore boat proposed to throw overboard, and drown, George William Curtis, chairman of the offend- ing lecture committee ; and it was stated afterwards, that, had he not landed at New Brighton instead of at Snug Harbor as usual, he would have been in great danger. Although a riot was imminent, no steps were taken by the sheriff and his deputies to avert it. Accord- ingly, about twenty of the friends of Phillips and the cause he advocated formed themselves into a guard for the purpose of defending the speaker from a possible attack, and maintaining the peace. "Before the lecture, in the early evening [says Mr. Willcox], Mr. Corbett and his friends posted themselves at the church-gate. There were no gas-lamps in the streets then, and the light was 190 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. dim. Nearly every man who entered expected a bloody riot, and was well armed. By eight o'clock a large and excited assemblage occupied the road and sidewalk, loudly objecting to Phillips's speaking; though his subject was not politics. Prominent near the gate was a Virginian named J. M. C. Loud. This worthy was forward in denouncing Phillips as 'an enemy to the Union.' When a lady drove up, Victor LeGal of West Brighton, followed by several roughs, rushed to her carriage-door, and said, ' I advise you, madam, not to go in : there is going to be trouble.' " ' What trouble, sir? ' said she calmly. "'Two hundred of us,' said LeGal, 'have sworn to tear this man from the desk, and plant him in the Jersey marshes.' " The lady looked him steadily in the face, and replied, " ' I don't think that will be allowed, sir.' "'Well,' said LeGal, 'if you know you have force enough to prevent it, go ahead ! ' " ' I do not say any such thing,' answered the lady ; ' but this is not a political meeting. I have come to hear a literary lecture, and I think there will be decent men enough here to check any disturbance.' " The intrepidity of this heroic woman abashed the crowd, and, without doubt, discouraged them from attempting to storm the church in which the lecture was delivered. It was afterward learned that LeGal spoke the real purpose of the leaders of the gang, who meant to row Mr. Phillips to a salt marsh whence he could not escape, and leave him there, to be drowned by the rising tide ere daybreak. " Mr. Phillips left his carriage at some distance from the church- door, and, wrapped in his cloak, went forward on foot. In the dim light he passed unnoticed through the multitude; but, just as he reached the gate, a rough, who had doubtless helped to disturb anti-slavery meetings in New York, recognized him. Grasping his shoulder, the fellow shouted to the populace, THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. 191 " ' Let me introduce you to Wendell Phillips ! ' " The ruffian was instantly dragged off, and Mr. Phillips entered unharmed. " Mr. Curtis, who evidently apprehended trouble [the narrator continues], took the platform, and introduced Mr. Phillips, who proceeded to deliver his address. "Voices from the street cried, 'Fetch him out! Fetch him out ! ' The janitor and his aid closed and fastened the outer door, and Mr. Phillips proceeded with his lecture. Some member of the mob outside took a ladder to a window on the south side of the church, and, climbing up, pulled the blind open. Some one inside at once jerked it back, and fastened it shut. This made a loud noise for several minutes. The assembly all looked round, but sat still. Mr. Phillips stopped, and stood watching the matter, till the noise ceased, and then went on with perfect self-possession. "When the lecture ended, which it did earlier than the row- dies expected, the speaker, instead of waiting to be spoken to by his hearers as usual, stepped at once to the pew where Mrs. Shaw and Mrs. Curtis sat, and, giving an arm to each, joined the stream of people moving out, being about midway of the line. In the midst of the outgoing congregation he passed unnoticed through the mob, and walked away. When all the audience had passed out, Mr. Shaw in a hurried manner rushed forth, and sprang into his carriage, which was driven quickly off. A rabble pursued it, yelling, cursing, and throwing stones; but, when they had gone some distance, a friend of the speaker shouted, ' You're too late ! He's not in there ! * Mortified and discouraged, the mob stopped the chase, and dispersed." The first anniversary of Brown's execution was re- membered in Boston by a public meeting proposed to be held at Tremont Temple. The times were fraught 192 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. with danger. The South was on the eve of an out- break. Abraham Lincoln had been elected President. The conservative papers were bitterly opposed to the idea of holding a public meeting. But the anti-slavery people had a fixed purpose ; and Joseph Story Fay, J. Murray Howe, and other rioters, by taking posses- sion of the hall, made that purpose successful. Finding that the use of Tremont Temple was denied to them, Mr. Phillips and his associates were forced to look elsewhere. The Joy-street church was opened to them. "There [says Mr. Slack, who was present at the meeting] Phillips spoke with regal magnificence and dauntless courage; while the court-way beside the church, and the street in front, were filled with angry and yelling Union-savers. They thought Phillips could not emerge without passing through their ranks, and they were prepared for violence towards them. But there was a rear passage-way, very narrow, from the meeting-house through to South Russell Street ; and out by that avenue, single file, walked Phillips and his friends, and thence up the hill to Myrtle, and so to Joy, Street, and across the Common to Mr. Phillips's Essex-street resi- dence. When the mob heard that Mr. Phillips had escaped, they rushed up the hill, and overtook his escort just as it had descended the stone steps leading to the Beacon-street mall. They found a oordon of young men, forty or more in number, who, with locked arms and closely compacted bodies, had Phillips in the centre of their circle, and were safely bearing him home. Timidity, or a conviction that an assault would be fruitless, prompted them to take satisfaction at the discovery only in yells and execration." CHAPTER XIII. PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. The Outbreak of Rebellion. Winter of 1860-61. The Fight for Free Speech in Boston. The Personal-Liberty Act. Status of the Press. The Virginia Peace Commission. President Lincoln inaugurated. The First Gun. The Country aroused. Phillips at New Bedford. The Call for Troops. The Patriotism of the Press. The Memorable April Twenty-first. A Morning Meeting in State Street. Wendell Phillips in Music Hall. "Under the Flag." State Conventions. The Question of Slavery ignored. The Year 1862. The Emancipation Proclamation. Ratification Meeting. Phillips favors arming the Colored Men. The " July Riot." Progress of the War. The Thirteenth Amendment. Peace. Return of Troops. Woman Suffrage. Conventions of 1866-69. " Civil war needs momentous and Bolemn justification. I think that the history of the nation and of the government, both, is an ample justification to our own times and to history for this appeal to arms." "I believe in the possibility of justice, in the certainty of union. Years hence, when the smoke of this conflict clears away, the world will see under our banner all tongues, all creeds, all races, one brotherhood, and on the banks of the Potomac, the genius of Liberty, robed in light, four and thirty stars for her diadem, broken chains under her feet, and an olive-branch in her right hand." TN his valedictory address, delivered on the 3d of IT: January, 1861, Gov. Banks alluded to one topic which had a direct bearing on the war which was so soon to open. The Legislature of 1858 had passed an Act for the protection of personal liberty, which was 193 194 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. intended to mitigate the harsh provisions of the Fugi- tive-slave Law. Judge Story had ruled that the Con- stitution contemplated the existence of a "positive, unqualified right on the part of the owner of a slave, which no State law or regulation can in any way qual- ify, regulate, control, or restrain." This opinion of the Supreme Court was approved by the State Legislature, and confirmed by the Supreme Judicial Court. Said Gov. Banks, "It is not my purpose to defend the constitutionality of the Fugitive-slave Act. The omission of a provision for jury trial, however harsh and cruel, cannot in any event be supplied by State legislation. While I am constrained to doubt the right of this State to enact such laws, I do not admit, that, in any just sense, it is a violation of the national compact. It is only when unconsti- tutional legislation is enforced by executive authority that it as- sumes that character, and no such result has occurred in this State. ... I cannot but regard the maintenance of the statute al- though it may be within the extremest limits of constitutional power, which is so unnecessary to the public service, and so detri- mental to the public peace as an inexcusable public wrong. I hope by common consent it may be removed from the statute- book, and such guaranties as individual freedom demands be sought in new legislation." 1 In the election of 1860, there were four gubernato- rial candidates in the Massachusetts field. John A. 1 These and other words embraced in Gov. Banks's address were made prominent pretexts by the Disunion party to justify a dissolution of the Union. PHILLIPS DURING WAE-TIME. 195 Andrew of Boston was the candidate of the Republi- can party, Erasmus D. Beach of Springfield of the Douglas wing of the Democrats, Amos A. Lawrence of Boston of the Conservatives, and Benjamin F. But- ler of Lowell of the Breckinridge wing of the Demo- crats. Mr. Andrew received a majority over all the opposing candidates of upward of thirty-nine thousand votes. The eight councillors elected, and all the mem- bers of Congress, were Republicans. The presidential electors in favor of the election of Mr. Lincoln of Illi- nois, and of Mr. Hamlin of Maine, for President and Vice-President of the United States, received about the same majority as did Mr. Andrew for governor. The winter of 1860-61 was one never to be forgot- ten. Party feeling ran high, and ideas clashed some- times with a fury which seemed to know no bounds. At the most critical moments Mr. Phillips was always in the van. His courage never failed him: indeed, he appeared to be the happiest when facing extreme danger. Driven out of Tremont Temple, the standing-com- mittee of the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society (Rev. Theodore Parker) invited Mr. Phillips to speak on Sunday, Dec. 16, 1860, from their pulpit in Music Hall. "The society [says Mr. Slack] was in possession of the hall Sunday forenoons by a written lease from the directors of the Music-hall Association. When it became known that Mr. Phil' 196 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. lips was invited to that pulpit, the directors became alarmed ; and a special meeting was convened, to consider their duty in the prem- ises. It was a long and exciting session, lasting till midnight. A majority of the directors were disposed to revoke the lease, and shut up the hall. The standing-committee of the society, who were in attendance at the hall, threatened a suit for damages if they did. The directors wanted to know who would be responsi- ble if injury were done to the hall through Mr. Phillips's presence. The standing-committee referred them to the mayor. The direct- ors shivered like a mainsail subjected to a tack of the craft. The standing-committee, conscious they had law, as well as right, on their side, were firm as a rock. They would not yield a jot of their possession. John P. Putnam, afterwards judge, of the di- rectors, was their friend in counsel as well as sympathy ; and he informed his colleagues, that the position of the standing-commit- tee w r as impregnable, and must be acknowledged, whatever came to the building. It was something after midnight before word came out from their council, that the directors would interpose no objection to the use of the hall the next forenoon as purposed. With the late John 11. Manley, the clerk of the society, I carried the decision to Mr. Phillips, who was up, and awaiting the result. He said, < It is well ! I will be ready ! ' We left, and the next morning Music Hall saw a crowd within its walls never exceeded since. Mr. Phillips was on hand in due course, calm as nature on a spring morning. Whoever heard that discourse never will for- get it. It was, from beginning to end, one terrible arraignment of the mob-spirit in America. He used no rose-water flavor in de- scribing the rioters of the Tremont Temple gathering, but in the most scathing language made personal issue with the well-known social and political leaders on that occasion. As he poured out his blistering anathemas, I sat trembling lest I should hear the snap of a pistol that should send a ball into his glowing and pul- PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 197 sating form. But there was no violence attempted. His sympa- thizers fully equalled the malecontents ; and the mayor, on the appeal of the directors of the hall, had the audience interspersed with policemen in plain clothes. When the services were over, and Mr. Phillips withdrew from the hall by the Winter-street en- trance, court and street were found to be rilled by the baffled riot- ers ready for assault. Just then two sections of young men, double file, took Mr. Phillips, with a friend on each side of him, between them, and escorted him up Washington Street to his resi- dence in entire safety. This escort was fully armed, and it would have been a sad day for the mob had Mr. Phillips been assaulted. For nearly a week after, a portion of these young men remained on duty at Mr. Phillips's house for his protection. Gov. Andrew was inaugurated on the 5th of Janu- ary, 1861 ; and in his address he reviewed the gloomy condition of the country, and alluded to the position which Massachusetts and her great statesmen had al- ways held in regard to it. The annual meeting of the New-England Anti-slavery Society followed the next month. Again was the Tremont Temple invaded, but under different circum- stances. A large number of the German-Turners were present, armed, every man of them, with the purpose of putting an end to whoever dared usurp the con- trol of the meeting. The body of the house was filled with ladies and gentlemen. An especial effort was made to have the ladies in contrast to the John Brown meeting, which was composed almost exclu- sively of men. Indeed, the anti-slavery ladies always 198 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. had the finest courage ; and, where danger lurked, they were sure to be present. No overt act of violence or usurpation was attempted, but the result of breaking up the meeting was achieved in a different way. Wher- ever the mob could penetrate on the sides of the hall, in the aisles, etc., both below and in the gallery, they did so ; and by groans, shuffling of the feet, stamping, outcries, etc., a perfect roar of bedlamite noise, they prevented any thing being heard from the plat- form. Mayor Wightman had the hall studded with policemen, but with orders to make no arrests unless overt acts were committed. The mob knew of these orders, and hence their course of proceeding. Finally the mayor ordered the closing of the hall for the pub- lic safety. Phillips, Garrison, and the abolitionists, protested in vain. Finally Gov. Andrew, just inaugu- rated, was appealed to, to lend the militia or a police force ; Mr. Phillips being the impassioned orator. Gov. Andrew, while sympathizing with the anti-slavery men, could not accede to their wish, first, because the mili- tia could not be ordered out without a request from the mayor, which he was not disposed to make ; and, second, because he had no police-force amenable to his order. This lack led to the subsequent establishment of the State constabulary, and the occasion gave great momentum to the cause of free speech on the part of many hitherto conservative about abolitionism. The war was nearly on, and sagacious men saw that the PHILLIPS DURING WAE-TIME. 199 North had gone far enough. The Joy- street church once more held the baffled abolitionists ; and Wightman began to lose favor, and was retired the next year. Two additional discourses from Music Hall, by Mr. Phillips, one on Jan. 20, and the other on Feb. 17, added still further to the excitement of the hour. The following letter, written by Lydia Maria Child, and addressed to her friend, Mrs. Shaw, vividly recalls some of these scenes : MEDTORD, January, 1861. " Tired in mind and body, I sit down to write you, and tell you all about it. On Wednesday evening I went to Mrs. Chapman's reception. The hall inside was beautiful with light and banners; and, outside, the street was beautiful with moonlight and prismatic icicles. All went on quietly: people walked about, and talked, occasionally enlivened by music of the Germania Band. They seemed to enjoy themselves, and I (being released from the care of unruly boys, demolishing cake, and spilling slops, as they did last year) did my best to help them have a good time. But what with being introduced to strangers, and chatting with old ac- quaintances half forgotten, I went home to Derne Street very weary, yet found it impossible for me to sleep. I knew there were very formidable preparations to mob the anti-slavery meeting the next day, and that the mayor was avowedly on the side of the mob. I would rather have given fifty dollars than attend the meeting, but conscience told me it was a duty. I was excited and anxious, not for myself, but for Wendell Phillips. Hour after hour of the night I heard the clock strike, while visions were passing through my mind of that noble head assailed by murder- ous hands, and I obliged to stand by without the power to sare him. 200 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. "I went very early in the morning, and entered the Tremont Temple by a private labyrinthine passage. There I found a com- pany of young men, a portion of the self -constituted body-guard of Mr. Phillips. They looked calm, but resolute and stern. I knew they were all armed, as well as hundreds of others ; but their weapons were not visible. The women friends came in gradually by the same private passage. It was a solemn gathering, I assure you ; for though there was a pledge not to use weapons unless Mr. Phillips or some other anti-slavery speaker was personally in dan- ger, still nobody could foresee what might happen. The meeting opened well. The anti-slavery sentiment was there in strong force, but soon the mob began to yell from the galleries. They came tumbling in by hundreds. The papers will tell you of their goings on. Such yelling, screeching, stamping, and bellowing I never heard. It was a full realization of the old phrase, ' All hell broke loose.' " Mr. Phillips stood on the front of the platform for a full hour, trying to be heard whenever the storm lulled a little. They cried, ' Throw him out ! ' ' Throw a brick-bat at him ! ' ' Your house is a-fire : don't you know your house is a-fire ? Go put out your house.' Then they'd sing, with various bellowing and shrieking accompaniments, * Tell John Andrew, tell John Andrew, John Brown's dead ! ' I should think there were four or five hundred of them. At one time they all rose up, many of them clattered down-stairs, and there was a surging forward toward the platform. My heart beat so fast I could hear it ; for I did not then know how Mr. Phillips's armed friends were stationed at every door, and in the middle of every aisle. They formed a firm wall, which the mob could not pass. At last it was announced that the police were coming. I saw and heard nothing of them, but there was a lull. Mr. Phillips tried to speak, but his voice was again drowned. Then, by a clever stroke of management, he stooped forward, and PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 201 addressed his speech to the reporters stationed directly below him. This tantalized the mob; and they began to call out, 'Speak louder ! we want to hear what you're saying ; ' whereupon he raised his voice, and for half an hour he seemed to hold them in the hol- low of his hand. But, as soon as he sat down, they began to yell and sing again, to prevent any more speaking. But Higginson made himself heard through the storm, and spoke in very manly and effective style ; the purport of which was, that to-day he would set aside the subject of slavery, and take his stand upon the right of free speech, which the members of this society were determined to maintain at every hazard. I forgot to mention that Wendell Phillips was preceded by James Freeman Clarke, whom the mob treated with such boisterous insults that he was often obliged to pause in his remarks. After Mr. Phillips, R. W. Emerson tried to address the people; but his voice was completely drowned. After the meeting adjourned, a large mob outside waited for Mr. Phillips; but he went out by the private entrance, and arrived home safely. " In the afternoon meeting the uproar was greater than it had been in the forenoon. The mob cheered and hurrahed for the Union, and for Edward Everett, for Mayor Wightman, and for Charles Francis Adams. The mayor came at last, and, mounting the platform, informed his ' fellow-citizens ' in the galleries, that the trustees of the building had requested him to disperse the meeting, and close the hall. Turning the meeting out-of-doors was precisely what they wanted him to do." The purport of the remainder of this letter was, that, on the mayor's complying with the demand that he should read the letter aloud to the meeting, it ap- peared that the trustees had desired him to disperse the mob, and not the meeting. Mr. Edmund Quincy, 202 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. the presiding officer, thereupon called upon the mayor to fulfil his duty, and eject the mob from the hall, which was done within ten minutes, to the intense cha- grin of the rioters, and the discomfiture of the mayor ; and the meeting proceeded without further interrup- tion. Mayor Wightman, on leaving the hall, promised that an adequate force of police should be sent to pro- tect the evening meeting ; and he then returned to the City Hall, to issue an order that the hall should be closed, and no meeting permitted there that evening. These events took place at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society, on the 24th of January, 1861. 1 In January the Personal-liberty Bill came before a committee of the Legislature. This committee met in a small room in the State House, to discuss the bill- and an attempt was made to report against it, for it had been the policy of some of the frightened " Union savers " in other States to repeal this bill. Mr. Phillips and other anti-slavery people, on being informed of this intention on the part of the committee, crowded into the committee-room, and nearly filled it. Mr. Phillips and others made stirring speeches, and demanded a public hearing, which was granted. On the 1st of February the first number of " The Tocsin," a cam- paign newspaper, appeared. Elizur Wright, F. W. i See Letters of Lydia Maria Child, p. 147. PHILLIPS DUEING WAR-TIME. 203 Bird, F. B. Sanborn, and William S. Robinson contrib- uted articles for its columns. Its prospectus declared it to be "published by an association of Republicans who are in earnest, and who will be heard." Its motto was, " No compromise with slavery." The six numbers which appeared contained articles against the repeal of the Personal-liberty Bill, in favor of radical anti- slavery measures, and denouncing the Virginia peace commission. Virginia had called upon all States who wanted to adjust the slavery question, to send four commissioners to that State, to confer on the subject. A meeting was held in February, on State Street, Boston, at which many bankers and brokers were present. A committee of four representative persons was chosen, to instruct the Legislature to respond to this call. Very properly, the Legislature took no notice of this interference ; but finally an order passed its branches, and seven commis- sioners were appointed. Many of the Republicans were opposed to this commission, and so was Gov. Andrew at first; but he "afterwards caved in, as he did on the Personal-liberty Bill." At this time, the only anti-slavery paper of political value published in Boston was " The Bee ; " but such short-lived campaign sheets as " The Straight Republi- can," "The Tocsin," and afterwards "The Reveille," did a good work of their kind. All of the other papers advocated a timid policy, and did not heartily support 204 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. the new abolition governor and President. The Hunker and Doughface element was in the ascendant. On the 4th of March, 1861, the people of the United States witnessed the departure of the old, and the ad- vent of the new, administration, in the midst of pend- ing serious national calamities. On that day Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President of the national government. Although rumors of revolt, of assassina- tion, and of a destruction of the Capitol, were rife, the solemn and impressive ceremonies were completed with- out disaster or crime. In his inaugural address, Presi- dent Lincoln said, " In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you : you can have no conflict without yourselves being the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government ; while I shall have the most solemn one to ' pre- serve, protect, and defend it.'" Mr. Lincoln had been o'bliged to go secretly to Wash- ington in February: five States had seceded, and the Southern Confederacy had chosen Jefferson Davis for its president. Events crowded upon one another with rapid succes- sion. On the 13th of April came the tidings that Fort Sumter had fallen. The news went like a thunderbolt through the land. The martial spirit of the nation was aroused. Law, order, peace, the foundations of the republic, had been outraged ; and never did British PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 205 blood or Celtic ire leap quicker at an insult offered to their nation's honor than did the American spring to redeem his flag from this deep disgrace. In view of the myrmidons of rebellion belching their fires upon the cherished institutions of the Union, the President of the United States had nothing to do but to strike in return. There was no cause, no time, for deliberation. From the south to the north, from the east to the west, went the cry, To arms ! Then followed a proclama- tion, calling forth seventy-five thousand of the militia of the several States ; Congress was ordered to assem- ble on the Fourth of July; the ports of South Caro- lina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina, the seceded States, were declared to be in a state of blockade. At last the war had begun. No party throughout the country was more astonished than was the aboli- tion party, whose hatred of slavery was chronic, whose martyr spirit was felt and acknowledged, whose policy was aggressive, a party which made no compromises, which sought no offices, which asked no favors, and which gave no quarter. As we have seen, this party had interpreted the Constitution as a pro-slavery instru- ment, the Union as " a covenant with hell." Up to the very day when the secessionists fired upon Sumter, the party had thus spoken, and had shown consistency in all their acts. But earnest men are not always reliable prophets. 206 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. On the evening of the 9th of April, 1861, Mr. Phillips delivered a speech at New Bedford, Mass., from which we select the following curious and remarkable pas- sages : " The telegraph [said Mr. Phillips] is said to report to-night, that the guns are firing, either out of Fort Sumter, or into it ; that to-morrow's breeze, when it sweeps from the North, will bring to us the echo of the first Lexington battle of the new Revolution. Well, what shall we say of such an hour ? My own feeling is a double one. It is like the triumph of sadness, rejoicing and sorrow. I cannot, indeed, congratulate you enough on the sublime spectacle of twenty millions of people educated in a twelvemonth up to being willing that their idolized Union should risk a battle, should risk dissolution, in order, at any risk, to put down this rebellion of slave States. " But I am sorry tliat a gun should be fired at Fort Sumter, or that a gun should be fired from it, for this reason : The Adminis- tration at Washington does not know its time. Here are a series of States girding the Gulf, who think that their peculiar institu- tions require that they should have a separate government. They have a right to decide that question, without appealing to you or me. A large body of people, sufficient to make a nation, have come to the conclusion, that they will have a government of a cer- tain form. Who denies them the right? Standing with the principles of '76 behind us, who can deny them the right ? What is a matter of a few millions of dollars, or a few forts? It is a mere drop in the bucket of the great national question. It is theirs, just as much as ours. I maintain, on the principles of 76, that Abraham Lincoln has no right to a soldier in Fort Sumter. " But the question comes, secondly, ' Suppose we had a right to interfere, what is the good of it ? ' You may punish South Caro- PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 207 lina for going out of the Union : that does not bring her in. You may subdue her by hundreds of thousands of armies, but that does not make her a State. There is no longer a Union : it is nothing but boy's play. Mr. Jefferson Davis is angry, and Mr. Abraham Lincoln is mad ; and they agree to fight. One, two, or three years hence, if the news of the afternoon is correct, we shall have gone through a war, spent millions, required the death of a hundred thousand men, and be exactly then where we are now, two nations, a little more angry, a little poorer, and a great deal wiser ; and that will be the only difference : we may just as well settle it now as then. "You cannot go through Massachusetts, and recruit men to bombard Charleston or New Orleans. The Northern mind will not bear it : you can never make such a war popular. The first onset may be borne ; the telegraph may bring us news, that Ander- son has bombarded Charleston, and you may rejoice ; but the sober second thought of Massachusetts will be, ' wasteful, unchristian, guilty.' The North never will indorse such a war. Instead of conquering Charleston, you create a Charleston in New England, you stir up sympathy for the South. Therefore it seems to me, that the inauguration of war is not a violation of principle, but it is a violation of expediency. " To be for disunion, in Boston, is to be an abolitionist : to be against disunion is to be an abolitionist to-day in the streets of Charleston. Now, that very state of things shows that the civiliza- tion of the two cities is utterly antagonistic. What is the use of trying to join them? Is Abraham Lincoln capable of making fire and powder lie down together in peace ? If he can, let him send his army to Fort Sumter, and occupy it. " But understand me : I believe in the Union, exactly as you do, in the future. This is my proposition : * Go out, gentlemen : you are welcome to your empire ; take it.' Let them try the experi- 208 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. ment of cheating with one hand, and idleness with the other. I know that God has written bankruptcy over such an experiment. If you cannonade South Carolina, you cannonade her into the sympathy of the world. I do not know now but what a majority there is on my side ; but I know this, if the telegraph speaks true to-night, that the guns are echoing around Fort Sumter, that a majority is against us ; for it will convert every man into a seces- sionist. Besides, there is another fearful element in the problem ; there is another terrible consideration : we can then no longer extend to the black race, at the South, our best sympathy and our best aid. " We stand to-night at the beginning of an epoch, which may have the peace or the ruin of a generation in its bosom. Inaugu- rate war, we know not where it will end : we are in no condition to fighti The South is poor, and we are rich. The poor man can do twice the injury to the rich man, that the rich man can do to the poor. Your wealth rides safely on the bosom of the ocean, and New England has its millions afloat. The North whitens every sea with its wealth. The South has no commerce, but she can buy the privateers of every race to prey on yours. It is a danger- ous strife when wealth quarrels with poverty. " Driven to despair, the Southern States may be poor and bank- rupt ; but the poorest man can be a pirate : and, as long as New England's tonnage is a third of that of the civilized world, the South can punish New England more than New England can pun- ish her. We provoke a strife in which we are defenceless. If, on the contrary, we hold ourselves to the strife of ideas, if we manifest that strength which despises insult, and bides its hour, we are sure to conquer in the end. " I distrust these guns at Fort Sumter. I do not believe that Abraham Lincoln means war. I do not believe in the madness of the Cabinet. Nothing but madness can provoke war with the PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 209 Gulf States. My suspicion is this : that the Administration dares not compromise. It trembles before the five hundred thousand readers of 'The New- York Tribune.' " But there is a safe way to compromise. It is this : seem to provoke war. Cannonade the forts. What will be the first result? New- York commerce is pale with bankruptcy. The affrighted sea- board sees grass growing in its streets. It will start up every man whose livelihood hangs upon trade, intensifying him into a com- promiser. Those guns fired at Fort Sumter are only to frighten the North into a compromise. " If the Administration provokes bloodshed, it is a trick, nothing else. It is the masterly cunning of the devil of compro- mise, the Secretary of State. He is not mad enough to let these States run into battle. He knows that the age of bullets is over. If a gun is fired in Southern waters, it is fired at the wharves of New York, at the bank-vaults of Boston, at the money of the North. It is meant to alarm. It is policy, not sincerity. It means concession ; and, in twelve months, you will see this Union recon- structed, with a constitution like that of Montgomery. " New England may, indeed, never be coerced into a slave con- federacy. But when the battles of Abraham Lincoln are ended, and compromises worse than Crittenden's are adopted, New Eng- land may claim the right to secede. And, as sure as a gun is fired to-night at Fort Sumter, within three years from to-day you will see thirty States gathered under a Constitution twice as damnable as that of 1787. The only hope of liberty is fidelity to principle, fidelity to peace, fidelity to the slave. Out of that, God gives us nothing but hope and brightness. In blood, there is sure to be ruin." The lecture " was interrupted by frequent hisses." On the 15th of April Gov. Andrew received a tele- gram from Washington, urging him to send forward at 210 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. once fifteen hundred men. The drum-beat of the long roll had been struck. On the morning of the 16th, vol- unteers began to arrive in Boston. The first to reach the capital were the three companies of the Eighth Regiment, belonging to Marblehead, commanded by Capts. Martin, Phillips, and Boardman, On the same day the Fifth Regiment was ordered to report, and on the 17th Brig.-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler was detailed to command the troops at six o'clock on the afternoon of the 16th. The Third, Fourth, and Sixth Regiments were ready to start. Meanwhile new companies were being raised in all parts of the State. As if by magic, the entire character of the State was changed; from a peaceful, industrious community, it became a camp of armed men ; and the hum of labor gave place to the notes of fife and drum. And, amid the excitement that everywhere prevailed, men and women were anxious to do something, and in some way to be useful. Hundreds of the wealthier citizens of Massachusetts pledged pecuniary aid to soldiers' fami- lies. The Boston banks offered to loan the State three million six hundred thousand dollars, without security ; while other banks in the State manifested similar liber- ality. Gentlemen of the learned professions tendered their services, while ladies of every rank in life showed their willingness to minister to the sick and wounded men in the hospitals. The people of Massachusetts were deeply moved by PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 211 the departure of the three-months' men, and the attack made upon the Sixth Regiment in the streets of Balti- more. Meetings were held in city and town. Speeches were made by the most distinguished orators of the day. In some of the towns the people were called together by the ringing of church-bells, and in others by the public crier. The newspapers of the Commonwealth spoke with one voice. Party spirit was allayed: political differ- ences were forgotten. The past was buried with the past. "The Boston Post," the leading Democratic newspaper of New England, published, on the morn- ing of April 16, the following patriotic appeal to the people : " Patriotic citizens 1 choose you which you will serve, the world's best hope, our noble Republican Government, or that bottomless pit, social anarchy. Adjourn other issues until this self-preserving issue is settled. Hitherto a good Providence has smiled upon the American Union. This was the morning star that led on the men of the Revolution. It is precisely the truth to say, that, when those sages and heroes labored, they made UNION the vital condition of their labor. It was faith in Union that destroyed the tea, and thus nerved the resistance to British aggres- sion. Without it, patriots felt they were nothing; and with it they felt equal to all things. The Union flag they transmitted to their posterity. To-day it waves over those who are rallying under the standard of the LAW ; and God grant, that in the end, as it was with the old Mother Country, after wars between White and Red Roses and Roundheads and Cavaliers, so it may be with the 212 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. daughter; that she may see PEACE in her borders, and all her children loving each other better than ever 1 " " The Liberator " spoke with equal spirit in support of the government; and the religious press, without exception, invoked the blessing of Heaven upon our soldiers, and the holy cause they had gone forth to up- hold. On Sunday morning, April 21, an immense meeting was held in State Street, in front of the Merchants' Exchange. It had been announced in the newspapers of the preceding day, that Fletcher Webster the sole surviving child of Daniel Webster and other gentle- men would speak. Mr. Webster began his address from the steps of the Merchants' Exchange. The position was unfavorable : the crowd could not hear, and calls were made to adjourn to the rear of the old State House. The adjournment was carried. The crowd remained in the street ; and Mr. Webster spoke from the rear bal- cony, facing State Street. In the afternoon Wendell Phillips delivered an ad- dress in the great Music Hall, which was crowded in every part. Thousands were unable to gain admission. Many persons were afraid that he would not be permit- ted to speak, and that if he attempted to sustain the position which he assumed in his speech at New Bed- ford, ten days before, a riot would be the result. The first sentence uttered by Mr. Phillips, however, gave PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 213 assurance that the events of the preceding week had not been without their effect upon his mind. He began by saying, " Many times this winter, here and elsewhere, I have counselled peace, urged, as well as I knew how, the expediency of acknowl- edging a Southern Confederacy, and the peaceful separation of these thirty-four States. One of the journals announces to you that I coine here this morning to retract those opinions. No, not one of them! [Applause.] I need them all, every word I have spoken this winter, every act of twenty-five years of my life, to make the welcome I give this war hearty and hot. Civil war is a momentous evil. It needs the soundest, most solemn, justification. I rejoice before God to-day for every word that I have spoken counselling peace ; but I rejoice also, with an espe- cially profound gratitude, that now, the first time in my anti- slavery life, I speak under the stars and stripes, and welcome the tread of Massachusetts men marshalled for war. [Enthusiastic cheering.] No matter what the past has been or said, to-day the slave asks God for a sight of this banner, and counts it the pledge of his redemption. [Applause.] Hitherto it may have meant what you thought, or what I did : to-day it represents sovereignty and justice. [Renewed applause.] The only mistake that I have made, was in supposing Massachusetts wholly choked with cotton- dust, and cankered with gold. [Loud cheering.] The South thought her patience, and generous willingness for peace, were cowardice : to-day shows the mistake. She has been sleeping on her arms since '83, and the first cannon-shot brings her to her feet .with the war-cry of the Revolution on her lips. [Loud cheers.] Any man who loves either liberty or manhood must rejoice at such an hour. [Applause.] " Let me tell you the path by which I, at least, have trod my 214 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. way up to this conclusion. I do not acknowledge the motto, in its full significance, ' Our country, right or wrong.' If you let it trespass on the domain of morals, it is knavish. But there is a full, broad sphere for loyalty; and no war-cry ever stirred a generous people that had not in it much of truth and right. It is sublime, this rally of a great people to the defence of what they think their national honor! A 'noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man from sleep, and shaking her invincible locks.' Just now we saw her 'reposing, peaceful and motionless ; but, at the call of patriotism, she ruffles, as it were, her swelling plumage, collects her scattered elements of strength, and awakens her dormant thunders.' " But how do we justify this last appeal to the God of battles ? Let me tell you how I do. I have always believed in the sincerity of Abraham Lincoln. You have heard me express my confidence in it every time I have spoken from this desk. I only doubted sometimes whether he were really the head pf the government. To-day he is at any rate commander-in-chief. " The delay in the action of government has doubtless been necessity, but policy also. Traitors within and without made it hesitate to move till it had tried the machine of government just given it. But delay was wise ; as it matured a public opinion definite, decisive, and ready to keep step to the music of the government march. The very postponement of another session of Congress till July 4 plainly invites discussion, evidently contemplates the ripening of public opinion in the interval. Fairly to examine public affairs, and prepare a community wise to co-operate with the government, is the duty of every pulpit and every press. " Plain words, therefore, now, before the nation goes mad with excitement, is every man's duty. Every public meeting in Athens was opened with a curse on any one who should not speak what PHILLIPS DURING WAE-TIME. 215 he really thought. I have never defiled my conscience from fear or favor to my superiors,' was part of the oath every Egyptian soul was supposed to utter in the Judgment-Hall of Osiris, be- fore admission to heaven. Let us show to-day a Christian spirit as sincere and fearless. No mobs in this hour of victory, to silence those whom events have not converted. We are strong enough to tolerate dissent. That flag which floats over press or mansion at the bidding of a mob, disgraces both victor and victim. " All winter long I have acted with that party which cried for peace. The anti-slavery enterprise to which I belong started with peace written on its banner. We imagined that the age of bullets was over ; that the age of ideas had come ; that thirty millions of people were able to take a great question, and decide it by the conflict of opinions ; that, without letting the ship of state foun- der, we could lift four millions of men into Liberty and Justice. We thought, that if your statesmen would throw away personal ambition and party watchwords, and devote themselves to the great issue, this might be accomplished. To a certain extent it has been. The North has answered to the call. Year after year, event by event, has indicated the rising education of the people, the readiness for a Higher moral life, the calm, self-poised con- fidence in our own convictions that patiently waits like master for a pupil for a neighbor's conversion. The North has re- sponded to the call of that peaceful, moral, intellectual agitation which the anti-slavery idea has initiated. Our mistake, if any, has been, that we counted too much on the intelligence of the masses, on the honesty and wisdom of statesmen as a class. Per- haps we did not give weight enough to the fact we saw, that this nation is made up of different ages, not homogeneous, but a mixed mass of different centuries. The North thinks, can appreciate argument, is the nineteenth century, hardly any 216 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. struggle left in it but that between the working-class and the money-kings. The South dreams, it is the thirteenth and four- teenth century, baron and serf, noble and slave. Jack Cade and Wat Tyler loom over its horizon ; and the serf, rising, calls for another Thierry to record his struggle. There the fagot still burns which the doctors of the Sorbonne called, ages ago, ' the best light to guide the erring.' There men are tortured for opin- ions, the only punishment the Jesuits were willing their pupils should look on. This is, perhaps, too flattering a picture of the South. Better call her, as Sumner does, 'the Barbarous States.' Our struggle, therefore, is between barbarism and civilization. Such can only be settled by arms. [Prolonged cheering.] /The government has waited until its best friends almost suspected its courage or its integrity, but the cannon-shot against Fort Sumter has opened the only door out of this hour. There were but two. One was compromise : the other was battle. The integrity of the North closed the first : the generous forbearance of nineteen States closed the other. The South opened this with cannon-shot, and Lincoln shows himself at the door.) [Prolonged and enthusiastic cheering.] The war, then, is not aggressive, but in self-defence; and Washington has become the Thermopylae of Liberty and Justice. [Applause.] Rather than surrender that capital, cover every square foot of it with a living body [loud cheers] : crowd it with a million of men, and empty every bank-vault at the North to pay the cost. [Renewed cheering.] Teach tfie world once for all, that North America belongs to the stars and stripes, and under them no man shall wear a chain. [Enthusiastic cheer- ing.] In the whole of this conflict, I have looked only at Liberty, only at the slave. Perry entered the battle of the Lakes with * DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP!' floating from the mast-head of the * Lawrence.' When with his fighting-flag he left her crippled, heading north, and, mounting the deck of the Niagara,' turned PHILLIPS DURING WAE-TIME. 217 her bows due west, he did all for one and the same purpose, to rake the decks of the foe. Steer north or west, acknowledge secession or cannonade it, I care not which ; but, * Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.' [Loud cheers.] The speech was remarkable, not only for its force and vigor, its patriotic and elevated sentiments, but for its strong contrast with the speech which we have pre- viously quoted. Mr. Slack's recollections of this eventful afternoon are interesting. He said, " The outbreak of the rebellion was soon to come. Less than three months after the breaking-up of the January meeting, Sumter was fired upon. This was Friday, April 12, 1861. On Sunday week following, Mr. Phillips was again invited to the Music-hall pulpit, but under what differing circumstances ! The Union flag had been fired upon ; our national sovereignty was at stake ; the President had called for volunteers to put down the rebellion. The divorce between slavery and the government was at hand ! The standing- committee had the spirit of all the free North. They dressed their pulpit in the national colors. Over the occupant's head was an arch of bunting, decked with laurel and evergreen. Thousands crowded into the hall. Mr. Phillips was promptly on hand, with for the first time in his public career an audience wholly in sympathy with his expected speech. The atmosphere was charged with patriotism. Men's faces, especially those of the old abolition- ists, were aglow with a confident hope. Again was Mr. Phillips equal to the occasion ! He welcomed the national outbreak as the sure precursor of the death of human slavery in republican America. He built up his magnificent expectancy of the results 218 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. of the war, sentence by sentence, thrilling the audience with grand and noble aspiration. He yielded, in the furnace of his patriotic and humane warmth, all his old-time predilections, and stood, dis- inthralled, for the Union and the flag, the Constitution of the fathers, and its future interpretation in the interest of liberty on this continent. How the audience applauded ! How they cheered ! The men who were there to mob him three months before, now were his strongest indorsers. They crowded the platform to con- gratulate him when he closed, and joy and satisfaction beamed on every countenance. It had been a Pentecostal season ; and the divine outflow of humanity, justice, and the rights of man, had baptized every one of that immense throng ! It required no pha- lanx of armed men to escort Mr. Phillips home that day ; for he was almost, figuratively, borne in the arms of a grateful citizenship to his modest abode ! " Mr. Phillips's address (now published in the collected edition of his works) was thoroughly reported by Mr. Yerrington for the "Boston Journal," and the other papers also had it in type. Before the papers went to press, a committee of prudential friends of the govern- ment caused the speech to be suppressed, for fear of losing the support of the War Democrats : but, on the fact becoming known, the friends of Mr. Phillips had the speech issued as an extra to the " Anglo-African " paper, and circulated on the street-corners ; and over a hundred thousand copies were disposed of. The people in the State were a unit in support of the war. The officers and men of the regiments were com- posed of all parties ; and, in the selection of men to be PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 219 commissioned, politics were never regarded. It was the desire of a large portion of the Republican party, that, in the nomination of State officers, representative men of both the Republican and Democratic parties should be placed upon the ticket. The Republican convention met at Worcester on the 1st of October, and renominated Mr. Andrew for the governorship. The marked feature of the conven- tion was a speech of Charles Sumner, which as it openly advocated proclaiming freedom to the slaves, and using colored men as soldiers in the armies of the Union, gave great offence to the convention, and to the Repub- lican party in the State. The criticisms on this speech which appeared in the press at the time, show very plainly that the Republican party of Massachusetts did not favor the abolition of, or any interference with, slavery. Three days after the convention was held, " The Boston Daily Advertiser," in a leading editorial, remarked, " The convention certainly disavowed any intention of indors- ing the fatal doctrines announced by Mr. Sumner, with a distinct- ness that can hardly be flattering to that gentleman's conception of his own influence in Massachusetts. The resolutions offered by Rev. James Freeman Clarke, as a crucial test of the readiness of the convention to adopt open abolitionism as its creed, went to the table, and were buried, never to rise." Farther on it said, " It may not appear so to Mr. Sumner and his supporters, and it 220 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. may be forgotten by some who oppose him, but we hold it for an incontestable truth, that neither men nor money will be forthcom- ing for this war if once the people are impressed with the belief, that the abolition of slavery, and not the defence of the Union, is its object, or that its original purpose is converted into a cloak for some new design of seizing this opportunity for the destruction of the social system of the South. The people are heart and soul with the government in support of any Constitutional undertaking. We do not believe that they will follow it if they are made to suspect that they are being decoyed into the support of any un- constitutional and revolutionary designs." The Democratic convention, which met at Worcester, on the 18th of September, nominated a ticket composed of " War Democrats." All of the speakers condemned the rebellion, and favored " conquering a peace." At the election in November, the entire Republican ticket was chosen. Meanwhile the war was progressing. During the year 1862, events thickened fast ; but as yet there were no decisive results. The Union armies had met the enemy on many battle-fields : alternate victory and de- feat had marked the contest. Notwithstanding that the days were dark and gloomy, the loyal people of the North were learning many lessons. The administra- tion, as well as the people, had been educated to an anti-slavery point. On the 22d of September, 1862, the President issued his proclamation of freedom to the enslaved, to take effect on the first day of the new year. " Africa was PHILLIPS DURING WAE-TIME. 221 carried into the war." The black man was made a sol- dier, with a musket in his hand, and on his body the uniform of a loyal volunteer. On Sunday, Jan. 4, 1863, Mr. Phillips spoke to a crowded audience in the Boston Music Hall, upon the President's Proclamation. He took the occasion to note the great progress which the cause of freedom had made during the two years preceding, and the en- couraging indications of the triumph of justice, to which, in spite of all obstacles, the nation was rapidly marching on. Mr. Phillips accepted the Proclamation as a step in the progress of the work ; although he did not admit that it gave all that was desired, or which even the exigency of the war demanded. From his summing up of the situation, and his eloquent closing paragraph, the following is quoted : " I know what men say about our President's omitting Tennes- see from his list of rebel States, and sparing certain Louisiana dis- tricts. No matter : he is only stopping on the edge of Niagara, to pick up and save a few chips. He and they will go over together. I know also the threats of the Democratic party, the party of re-action. But they will not save any more chips than he. The mighty current is too strong for any reluctance of individuals, or mad ambition of desperate parties. Saints and sinners, we are all borne onward; and, even if some eddy or close nook of a few years may delay our progress, the result is certain. God's hand has launched the nation on a voyage whose only port is Liberty. Neither the reluctance of the captain, nor the mutiny of the cabin- boys, will matter much. And this is why I, once a Pisunionist, 222 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. cling to the Union. Once it had neither the right nor the wish to interfere with slavery. Then we sought to break it. That Sum- ter cannon gave it the right, the right of war. Every day since has ripened the ivish. A blundering and corrupt cabinet has made it at last an inevitable necessity, Liberty or Death ! The cowardice of Webster's followers in the cabinet has turned his empty rhetoric into solemn truth ; and now honest men are not only at liberty, but bound, to live and die under his motto, $ Lib- erty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.* 1 \ " But, after all, what is the President's Proclamation to us ? Nothing but a step in the progress of a people, rich, prosperous, independent, in spite of the world. But let me open for you the huts of three million of slaves, and what is that Proclamation there ? It is the sunlight, scattering the despair of centuries. It is a voice like that of God, that gives the slave the right to work and to walk, the right to child and to wife. It is a word that makes the prayers of the poor and the victim the corner-stones of the Republic. Other nations since Greece have built their nation- ality on a Thermopylae, or a great name, a victory, or a knightly family. Our corner-stone, thank God! is the blessings of the poor. Our flag floats in the prayers of four millions,. who recog- nize it as the pledge of their freedom. The hut of the Carolinas! They may curse that paper in ceiled houses, but the blessings of the poor bear it up to the throne of God. Our flag floats in the thanksgiving of the slave. I know it will succeed. Such a breeze never wafted a banner to defeat. The old slave, who sought the * Kingfisher ' in the Gulf of Mexico, thirty miles from the shore, in a wretched skiff of boards, rudely nailed together, when the commander asked him, 'Why! didn't you know that a breath would have sent you to the bottom ? ' said, * Lor', massa, God Al- mighty never brought me down here to send me to the bottom/ PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 223 So, God never brought the Union of 1787 to the height of that act, to sunder it in pieces ! " [Enthusiastic applause.] " < Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! Sail on, O UNION, strong and great ! Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee, are all with thee ! ' " [Loud and prolonged applause.] There is no part of the military history of Massachu- setts of greater interest than the part which relates to the recruiting and organization of the colored regi- ments, which went forth to battle for the freedom of the race. Wendell Phillips was one of the first to favor such a movement, and on every possible occasion he urged its practicability. Authority was received from the secretary of war, by an order dated Jan. 26, 1863, to raise a colored regiment in Massachusetts. The first authority given by the governor to any per- son, to recruit colored men in the State, was dated Feb. 7 ; and the regiment was filled to the maximum by May 14. Before its organization was completed, so many colored men were anxious to enlist, that it was decided to raise another regiment. These- two regiments were called the Fifty-fourth and the Fifty-fifth. Capt. Rob- ert G. Shaw, of the Second Regiment Massachusetts 224 LIFE AND TIMES OF 1VENDELL PHILLIPS. Infantry, was designated as colonel, and Capt. Edward N. Hallowell, of the Twentieth Regiment, as lieuten- ant-colonel of the Fifty-fourth. It was a pathetic sight to see this regiment march through the streets of Boston. Three hundred of them, it was said, were fugitive slaves. They had a cowed look, as if used to beseeching: they did not gaze among the throngs which filled the sidewalks, with the eager, hungry gaze of the white soldier, as if in search of a friendly face. Poor fellows ! many of them had never known a friend. But here and there a colored woman, with proud and joyful look, walked by the side of her soldier. History has kept the record of how well they fought, and how nobly they died, for their country. It seemed to many that "God was ready for the Union armies to be victorious," since the " iron-skin " brigade had hardly begun to fight when victory was achieved. Grant advanced ; Meade forced Lee back into Virginia ; and the cry, " On to Richmond ! " began to sound in earnest. Vicksburg and Port Hudson surrendered, and all was no longer "quiet on the Potomac." Says one who lived through these never- to-be-forgotten scenes, " The South grew poorer as the Xorth became richer and more prosperous. Confederate scrip was given by the peck for a gold dollar; while money was plenty at the Xorth, with gold at 2.25. Fortunes were made every day, and " shoddy " began to be a sig- PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 225 nificant word. , The soldier sent home his pay; and families that before the war had only the bare necessities of life, now revelled in luxury. While at the South, almost every man and boy was a conscript, our quota was filled without a second draft ; and " We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more," was sung in every town and city at the North. Many a young man, trained from his cradle in anti-slavery principles, enlisted for the sole purpose of "getting one good lick at slavery." The peo- ple were right at last, and led the dominant party along the line of freedom. Even the conservative portion, who had so long ob- jected to the needed medicine, were now willing, as it was coarsely expressed, to " swallow the negro." The happiest man in Boston was Wendell Phillips ; for at last he saw the day breaking upon the colored race, and heard the shackles falling from their op- pressed souls. Slavery Had, indeed, become a sin of the past. 1 On the llth and 12th of March of this year, Mr. Phillips delivered his noble panegyric on Toussaint L'Ouverture in New York and Brooklyn. Although prepared some years before, and adjudged "only a sketch " by its author, a more remarkable condensation 1 " You remember Charles Sprague's description of scenes he wit- nessed from a window near State Street ? First, Garrison dragged through the streets by a mob; second, Burns carried back to slavery by United-States troops, through the same street; third, a black regiment, marching down the same street, to the tune of ' John Brown,' to join the United-States army for the emancipation of their race. What a thrilling historical poem might be made of that 1" See Letters of L. M. Child, p. 235. 226 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. of a remarkable man's life does not stand on record. It proved to be, to many people, a conclusive answer to the absurd talk of those who affirmed that the negroes would not fight. The address may be found in the first volume of Mr. Phillips's " Speeches and Lectures." After seven months of war, on the 8th day of Jan- uary, 1861, a meeting of gentlemen, who saw that slavery was the "origin, or mainspring, of the Rebel- lion," appointed a committee to consider the propriety of organizing an Emancipation League. This com- mittee, after most careful consideration at several meet- ings, finally reported the constitution to a meeting held on the 19th of the same month. The organization of the League was completed by the choice of officers, on the 29th of January, 1862. The meeting of the League on the 25th of May, 1863, was one of the most animated of all. Robert Collyer of Chicago made a telling speech, but the great event was the debate between Mr. Phillips and Senator Wil- son. Mr. Phillips began his speech by referring to the inauguration of the League, and then alluded to the de- feats and mistakes of the administration and of the Re- publican party, which had not even learned wisdom in the way mentioned by the proverb, " He that will not be ruled by the rudder, shall be ruled by the rock." He praised Gen. Butler, and hoped he might yet come to believe in a God. Finally he demanded, in the name of the four millions of negroes now called upon PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 227 to arm in defence of the country, that they should not only be protected from the " barbarity " of the South- ern leaders, but from the hatred of their own officers, some of whom might be base enough to betray them in battle. Senator Wilson rose, and thought Mr. Phillips severe in his remarks, but admitted that there had been many errors on the part of the government. This led to a prolonged discussion, interspersed with some bitterness, which it would serve no useful purpose to recall. On the Fourth of July, there was a grand celebration at Framingham, Mass. The regular annual mass-meet- ing of the Friends of Freedom was held there, under the auspices of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society. Besides Mr. Phillips, other speakers were Mr. Garrison, Mr. Remond, and Mr. Evans, on English workmen. The prevailing feeling was one of confidence in the success of the Union cause, and the destruction of slavery by war, not by peace. The address made by Mr. Phillips was, perhaps, the most remarkable delivered by him during the war. Not everybody who lived in Boston sympathized with the cause for the Union. " Copperheads," as they were called, were numerous, and at times noisy in their hostile demonstrations. On the evening of the 14th of July a body of these "oppositionists" assembled in Boston, in the neighborhood of the armory of the Elev- enth Battery, in Cooper Street. The rioters attacked 228 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. the armory with stones and other missiles, and towards midnight the mob increased in violence and numbers. The soldiers in their comparatively small room, with guns loaded, awaited the assault without trepidation. At length the mob wearied of throwing stones, and made a concerted movement to force open the doors, and to gain possession of the few pieces of cannon in- side. The word was given to fire. Several of the rioters were killed, and many more were wounded. That one volley ended the demonstration. On the 3d of September the Democratic party held a State convention at Worcester, and nominated Henry W. Paine of Cambridge for governor. The feeling of the convention was opposed to the policy of the national administration, and the resolutions passed were a general indictment against the same. George B. Loring of Salem, whose remarkably false prophecy did not prevent him from subsequently taking shelter under the Republican wing, where he remains to-day, an office-holder, addressed to his fellow Democrats the following assertion : "This administration will pass away as the idle wind. Its name will live in history only as an administration which sub- verted the rights of the people, until they rose in their might, and overthrew it." At the election in November, Mr. Andrew received a majority of the votes cast, and was, therefore, con- tinued in office. PHILLIPS DURING WAE-TIME. 229 In the autumn of this year appeared the first volume of the collected edition of Mr. Phillips's lectures and speeches. The collection was prepared by James Red- path, under the advice and direction of the orator. The appearance of the volume created something of a stir. Horace Greeley, reviewing it in "The Independ- ent," said, "Mr. Phillips's speeches and lectures were well worth collect- ing ; they form a chapter of the history of our age ; they seem to have been well edited. ... I doubt that any other living lawyer's collected speeches would sell so extensively as theset" " The Hartford Evening Press " said, " We regard this volume as fit, and sure, to become classic, the production of one of the true New- World orators." The editor of " The New- York Evangelist " wrote, " We know nothing better calculated to send a thrill of patriotic fire, like lightning, through the heart, than some of these eloquent speeches; and, in behalf of our readers, we tender to the pub- lisher our hearty thanks that he has brought them before the public in so elegant a form." A correspondent of " The Portland Press " thus wrote, , " We understand that Edward Everett is soon to visit the West. We should be glad to hear him in this region : next to Wendell Phillips, he is the most eloquent man in the country. " A gentleman in Washington told me a short time since, that he was about to furnish his son, as an aid to his education, the 230 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. writings of "Wendell Phillips, with directions to write off and study ; these presenting the finest specimens of eloquence, especially of American eloquence." On the lst of December Mr. Phillips repeated his famous Cooper Institute speech on "The Amnesty," before the Mercantile Library Association in Boston. Many persons at the time regarded this speech as an attack on the President and Secretary Chase. Never- theless, everybody was anxious to read it ; and, while many abused Phillips, but few came forward to answer his arguments. On the evening of Dec. 22, 1863, a very large audi- ence assembled at Cooper Institute, New York, to hear Mr. Phillips's criticism on the President's "Amnesty Proclamation." No more momentous questions were ever presented to a people than those contained and involved in this proclamation ; and it was held by Mr. Phillips, that the freest discussion of these questions was among the highest duties of patriotism. While many people at the time doubted the practicability of the proclamation, others believed that it was feasible, and that such strictures as Mr. Phillips had to offer were merely an attack upon the President, and his sec- retary, Mr. Chase. The speecK itself was read by every- body, however, and was one of the most logical and memorable ever delivered by the great orator. At the present time it may well be counted as one of the most important commentaries upon that momentous period PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 231 of our national history. On the 26th of January, 1864, Mr. Phillips spoke again on the subject, at a meeting (annual) of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society. In concluding, he said, " Massachusetts is a democratic State, because every man owns his farm, and works on it. New York is like Massachusetts ; Illi- nois the same ; and we stretch away to the West, democrats, be- cause every man has something to do, and does it. He may shut off his covetous neighbor, a hundred acres, right and left, and say, * Here at last I am sovereign.' Good! such a mood against capi- talists and armies : only preserve it. Make over the South in the same likeness; plant the same seeds: then let the States come back when you please." An official call summoning a people's convention to meet at Cleveland, O., on the 21st of May, "for con- sultation, and concert of action, in respect to the ap- proaching presidential election," was looked upon by outsiders as one of the signs of the times. It meant strong dissatisfaction no less with those at the head of affairs than with those who had convened at the Balti- more convention, and who were suspected of a design to manipulate that convention to suit a foregone conclu- sion relative to the presidential election. Above all, the call to the people to send delegates to Cleveland indicated the growing demand for a more radical policy to bring the war to a successful and early conclusion, and to establish a lasting peace on the basis of universal freedom and justice to all, irrespective of race or color. 232 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. The call was signed by Hon. B. Gratz Brown of Missouri, and forty-one others, citizens of influence in their respective States. The following letter from Mr. Phillips forms a part of the history of the convention : JUDGE STALLO. Dear Sir, Since you asked my judgment as to the course to be taken in nominating a candidate for the presidency, I have been requested to sign a call for a convention for that purpose, to meet at Cleveland in May next. Let me tell you the national policy I advocate. Subdue the South as rapidly as possible. The moment terri- tory comes under our flag, reconstruct States thus : Confiscate and divide the lands of rebels, extend the right of suffrage as broadly as possible to whites and blacks, let the Federal Constitution pro- hibit slavery throughout the Union, and forbid the States to make any distinction among their citizens on account of color or race. I shall make every effort to have this policy pursued. Believing that the present administration repudiates it, and is carrying us to a point where we shall be obliged either to acknowledge the South- ern Confederacy, or to reconstruct the Union on terms grossly unjust, intolerable to the masses, and sure soon to result in another war, I earnestly advise an unpledged and independent convention, like that proposed, to consider public affairs, and nominate for the presidency a statesman and a patriot. Yours faithfully, WENDELL PHILLIPS. BOSTON, April 21, 1864. On the 23d of May the members and friends of the Emancipation League met in Tremont Temple, Boston, to transact the usual business of such occasions. Mr. PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 233 Phillips was one of the speakers. He made a brilliant address, which was listened to with rapt attention At the close, a gentleman in the audience arose, and in- quired of Mr. Phillips if he considered himself a citizen of the United States, and in duty bound to support the Constitution. Mr. Phillips replied that every man and woman born on the soil of the United States was a citizen ; but, so far as regarded the support of the Constitution by voting, he could not do it until its pro-slavery clauses were stricken out. The fault he found with the administration, he said, was, that, hav- ing had the means in their hands of amending the Con- stitution so that any abolitionist could vote under it, they had not done so. The interrogator said he did not see how any one in Mr. Phillips's position could appreciate that of Mr. Lincoln, and it seemed to him that Mr. Phillips had misrepresented the position of the President. Mr. Phillips replied, that he, in common with all other abolitionists, agreed with Mr. Lincoln in his view of the Constitution. He found no fault with Mr. Lincoln for saying, that, as President of the United States, he had no right to abolish because he thought it a sin. All he (Phillips) said in that point of view, was, that no negro was bound to entertain any gratitude to Mr. Lincoln ; because he had distinctly declared that he had never done any thing for the negro out of regard for him, only out of regard for the white man. 234 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. During the fall and winter of 1864 Mr. Phillips's voice was heard often in public. In the last week of October, he spoke at Tremont Temple on " The Presi- dential Election," and stated that he had dared, for twenty years, for the sake of the negro, to risk a divis- ion of the Union, and that he now dared, for his sake, to risk a division of the Republican party. " I dread Mr. Lincoln's re-election," he said, " because the press- ure against him is diminishing; and only under such pressure has he ever done an anti-slavery act." Though it was evident that the audience was strongly Republican in politics, the force and justice of many of his statements drew frequent and vigorous applause from the listeners. On the 6th of December Mr. Phillips gratified another large audience in Boston by his philanthropic discussion of "The Situation." So general was the approbation of the effort, that the orator wittily re- marked in private that he needed only to have an income of thirty thousand dollars to become "highly respectable." The annual meeting of the Anti-slavery Society opened on the 25th of January (1865) ; and Music Hall, Boston, was filled with a choice company of the old and tried friends of freedom, together with a mul- titude of more recent converts. The session lasted three days, and the leading theme of discussion was "Reconstruction." Mr. A. Bronson Alcott, in a brief PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 235 address, paid a beautiful tribute to Mr. Garrison, and predicted that his work was to be taken up, and car- ried on to completion, by younger hands, and that the leadership would pass naturally into the hands of his " son and disciple, Wendell Phillips." Mr. Garrison followed, disclaiming any leadership. Mr. Phillips then remarked that nothing could be more painful to him than any thing said on that plat- form which placed him, seemingly, in an attitude of antagonism to Mr. Garrison. Whatever the value of his anti-slavery labors, he owed it all to his teacher and leader. As to the leadership of Garrison, no denial of it had ever come from any but his own modest lips. Mr. Phillips then reverted to the topic of the hour, reconstruction, the admission of Louisiana with her system of negro apprenticeship, which he thought was merely a modified form of slavery. Among other things, he affirmed, "I will attend to the amendment of the Constitution when I have leisure ; but one thing at a time. The question now is, Shall Louisiana be admitted? The White House has set its foot down that she shall: I have set my foot down that she sha'n't." The speaker, it was remarked at the time, was never more sublimely inspired than in this defiant declara- tion. The vote was taken on the resolutions, and Mr. Phillips's series was carried without a dissenting voice. 236 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. He was, therefore, master of the situation in the old- school anti-slavery organization. At the risk of interrupting our narrative, we must revert to some of the leading events in the progress of the war. A hasty recapitulation alone will suffice. In May, 1864, Grant had made the declaration, which will go far to save his name from oblivion, that he would " fight it out on this line if it takes all sum- mer," and was in hot pursuit of Gen. Lee. In Septem- ber Atlanta was taken by Sherman, and Sheridan was achieving his victories in the valley of the Shenandoah. In December Savannah surrendered, and the "back of the Rebellion was broken." Gen. McClellan had been nominated for the presidency by the Democrats, in opposition to President Lincoln. Intense excitement prevailed, which only those who witnessed it can now understand. Mr. Lincoln was re-elected by an unex- pectedly large majority. On the 6th of January, 1865, Charleston was evacu- ated ; and the old flag again waved its stars and stripes over the ramparts of Fort Sumter. Wilmington had been captured, and Sherman was marching northward. On the 20th of March the Confederate Congress ad- journed sine die; and, in May, Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, was taken prisoner. The Confederates were on the point of arming their slaves, but it was too late. On the 2d of April Rich- mond fell: on the 9th Gen. Lee surrendered, and PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 237 President Lincoln (who, on the 4th of February pre- ceding, had consummated the crowning act of his life, by signing the amendment to the Constitution prohib- iting slavery forever) went to the front. The people of the North were rejoiced. But the oil of joy was suddenly changed for mourning. On the 14th of April the President was assassinated ; and he was gone, again and forever to the front. It was a sad, sad day for the nation; and South as well as North shared in the universal sorrow. The war was over. On both sides the soldiers had done their part well. Each believed itself in the right: each had acted as God had given it to see the right. Far be it from our purpose to now recall old animosities, or open anew wounds that time has healed. We live for the future, guided by our recollections of the past. " Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment day, Love and tears for the * blue,' Tears and love for the 'gray.'" The regiments had come home. As though they had lain them down but yesterday, they took up the hammer, the trowel, the hoe, or the pen. It was a grand spectacle, worthy of the Republic. Said Wen- dell Phillips, "There never was such a thing known before in the history of the world as so large an army of soldiers disbanding, and returning peacefully to the environments of civil life." 238 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. On the afternoon of the 25th of July of this year (1865) occurred the annual school festival in Boston. The following recollections of Mr. Slack, relative thereto, are interesting. He says, " It was very nearly twenty^years ago, that, chancing to be on the school committee of Boston, I suggested to the sub-committee in charge, that Wendell Phillips be invited to speak at the annual school festival in Music Hall. I knew he had never received an invitation carrying civic honor, since he took his stand with the abolitionists in 1835. Social and political, if not religious, influ- ences were all against his recognition. I nevertheless ventured the suggestion, and warmly advocated it. The committee was a kindly and sympathetic one, but feared popular opposition. They thought he might say some ultra or exasperating thing. I said, Let us have the courage to try him. I will answer that the city will be honored, and the company delighted.' After much talk and deliberation I brought my colleagues to say, that if I would take the invitation in charge, and be personally responsible if any thing disagreeable occurred, they would assent to the selection. .1 only too gladly accepted the trust, and at once conferred with Mr. Phillips. The invitation touched him. He said to me, that though a Boston school-boy, and always a dweller in the city which he loved as his very being, this was the first intimation he had ever received that he was deemed worthy to represent her. Mr. Phillips attended the festival, and, after the mayor's welcome, was called up. He spoke, only as he could speak, of his school- days, and gave a vivid portraiture of his part with his associates in the reception of Gen. Lafayette in 1824. The description and whole speech were simply charming, not a word misplaced or ill-timed, not a sentence that was not charged with graceful cadence, and most attractive courtesy. Everybody was delighted, PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 239 and committee-men and all long quoted his presence as a pre- eminent success." Mr. Phillips's address was not long, but abounding in reminiscences. It is here given in full, for the benefit of the young people of to-day. "FELLOW-CITIZENS, I was invited by the mayor to address the scholars of the schools of Boston; but like my friend Mr. Dana, who preceded me, I hardly know in what direction to look in the course of this address for the scholars. I can hardly turn my back on them, nor can I turn my back on you. I shall have to make a compromise, that everlasting refuge of Americans. I recollect, that when I was in college, when any classmate came upon the stage, we could recognize in the audience where the family, the mother, or sister, or the father, were, by noticing him when he made his first bow. He would look toward them, and they would invariably bow in return. By this inevitable sign I have distinguished many a mother, sister, and father among the audience to-day. " This is the first time for many years that I have participated in a school festival. I have received no invitation since 1824, when I was a little boy in a class in the Latin School, when we were turned out on yonder Common in a grand procession at nine o'clock in the morning. And for what? Not to hear eloquent music, no: but for the sight of something better than art or music, that thrilled more than eloquence, a sight which should live in the memory forever, the best sight which Boston ever saw, the welcome of Lafayette on his return to this country, after an absence of a score of years. I can boast, boys and girls, more than you. I can boast that these eyes have beheld the hero of three revolutions, this hand has touched the right hand that held 240 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. up Hancock and Washington. Not all this glorious celebration can equal that glad reception of the nation's benefactor by all that Boston could offer him, a sight of its children. It was a long procession ; and, unlike other processions, we started punctu- ally at the hour published. They would not let us wander about, and did not wish us to sit down. I there received my first lesson in hero-worship. I was so tired after four-hours' waiting, I could scarcely stand ; but when I saw him that glorious old French- man ! I could have stood until to-day. "Well, now, boys, those were very small times compared with this. Our public examinations were held up in Boylston Hall. I do not believe we ever were afforded banners : I know we never had any music. Now they take the classes out to walk on the Common at eleven o'clock. We were let out into a small place, eight feet by eleven, solid walls on one side, and a paling on the other, which looked like a hencoop. There the public Latin schol- ars recreated themselves. They were very small times compared with these. As Mr. Dana referred to the facilities and oppor- tunities that the Boston boys enjoy, I could not but think what it is that makes the efficient man. Not by going with the current : you must swim against it to develop strength and power. The danger is, that a boy with all these facilities, books, and libraries, may never make that sturdy scholar, that energetic man, we would wish him to become. When I look on such a scene as this, I go back to that precedent alluded to by you, sir, to him who trav- elled eighteen miles, and worked all day, to earn a book, and sat up all night to read it. By the side of me, in this same city of Boston, sat a boy in the Latin School who bought his dictionary with money earned by picking chestnuts. Do you remember Cobbett ? and Frederick Douglass, whose eloquent notes still echo through these arches, who learned to read from the posters and bits of writing on the highway ? and Theodore Parker, who laid PHILLIPS DURING WAE-TIME. 241 the foundation of his great library with the dictionary for which he spent three weeks in picking berries ? "Boys, you will not be moved to action by starvation and want. Where will you get the motive-power ? You will have the spur of ambition to be worthy of the fathers that have given you these opportunities. Remember, boys, what fame it is you bear up, this old name of Boston. A certain well-known poet says it is the hub of the universe. Well, this is a gentle and generous satire. In Revolutionary days they talked of the Boston revolution. When Samuel Johnson wrote his work against the American colo- nies, it was Boston he ridiculed. When the king could not sleep over night, he got up, and muttered, " Boston. " When the proc- lamation pardon was issued, the only two excepted were the two Boston fanatics, John Hancock and Sam Adams. But what did Boston do? They sent Hancock to Philadelphia, to write his name first on the Declaration of Independence in letters large enough, almost, for the king to read on the other side of the ocean. Boston then meant liberty. Come down forty or fifty years. What did Boston mean when the South went mad, and got up a new flag, and said they would put it in Boston on Faneuil Hall ? It was Boston that meant liberty, as Boston had meant independence. And, when our troops went out in the recent war, what was it that gave them their superiority ? It was the brains they carried from these schools. When Gen. Butler was stopped near the Relay House with a broken locomotive, he turned to the Eighth Regiment, and asked if any man could mend it; and a private walked out of the ranks, and patted it on the back, and said, " I ought to know it: I made it." When we went down to Charles- ton, and were kept seven miles off from the city, the Yankees sent down a Parrott gun that would send a two-hundred-pound shot into their midst. The great ability of New England has been proved. 242 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. " Now, boys, ' the glory of a father is his children.' That father has done his work well who has left a child better than himself. The German phrase is, ' Lord, grant I may be as well off to-mor- row as yesterday 1 ' No Yankee ever uttered that prayer. He always means that his son shall have a better starting-point in life than himself. ' The glory of a father is his children. ' Our fathers made themselves independent seventy or eighty years ago. It remains for us to devote ourselves to liberty, and the welfare of others, with the generous willingness to be and to do towards others as we would have others do to us. Now, boys, this is my lesson to you to-day, stated as an Irishism : You are not as good as your fathers, unless you are better. You have your father's ex- ample, the opportunities and advantages they have accumulated, and to be only as good is not enough. You must be better. You must copy only the spirit of your fathers, and not their im- perfections. There was an old Boston merchant, years ago, who wanted a set of china made in Peking. You know that Boston men, sixty years ago, looked at both sides of a cent before they spent it ; and, if they earned twelve cents, they would save eight. He could not spare a whole plate, so he sent a cracked one ; and, when he received the set, there was a crack in every piece. The Chinese had imitated the pattern exactly. Now, boys, do not imi- tate us, or there will be a great many cracks. Be better than we. We have invented a telegraph, but what of that ? I expect, if I live forty years, to see a telegraph that will send messages without wire, both ways, at the same time. If you do not invent it, you are not as good as we are. You are bound to go ahead of us. The old London physician said the way to be well was to live on a sixpence, and earn it. That is education under the laws of ne- cessity. We cannot give you that. Underneath you is the ever- watchful hand of city culture and wealth. All the motive we can give you is the name you bear. Bear it nobly! I was in the PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 243 West, where they partly love, and partly hate, the Yankee. A man undertook to explain the difference between the time by a watch in Boston and in Chicago. It was but a bungling explanation at best. He asked me what I thought of it? I answered him as a Boston man should : ' We always do what we undertake to do thoroughly.' That is Boston. What Boston claims you should know, know it. Boston has set the example of doing : do better. Sir Robert Peel said, in the last hours of his life, ' I have left the Queen's service ; I have held the highest offices in the gift of the crown; and now, going out of public life (he had just removed the tax from bread), the happiest thought I have is, that, when the poor man breaks his bread in his cottage, he thanks God that I ever lived.' Fellow-citizens, the warmest compliment I ever heard was breathed into my ears from the lips of a fugitive from South Carolina. In his hovel at home he had said, 'I thank God for Boston, and hope, before I die, I may tread upon its pavements/ Boston has meant liberty and protection. See to it in all coming time, young men and women, you make it stand for good learning, upright character, sturdy love of liberty, willingness to be and do unto others as you would have others be and do unto you. But make it, young men and women, make it a dread to every man who seeks to do evil ! Make it a home and a refuge for the op- pressed of all lands ! " The closing paragraphs of this whole-hearted and beautiful address, so eloquently inculcating the lesson " to be and do unto others as we would have others be and do unto us," recalls the following incident : One day during the war Mr. Phillips spoke before the lyceum at Gloucester, Mass., and, returning home by the cars the next morning, fell in with a lady who 244 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. got upon the train at a way-station. She was a South- ern refugee, who had been suddenly reduced from affluence to poverty, and was supporting herself and her fatherless children by giving an occasional lecture before a country audience. It was a struggle ; for the field was full, and she was almost unknown and friend- less : but with a brave heart she worked on, never asking a dollar of aid from any society or individual. Mr. Phillips saw her get upon the car, and asked her to take a seat beside him. It was a winter day ; and she was thinly clad, shivering from the exposure of a long ride in the open air of the cold morning. Observing this, Mr. Phillips asked, " Where did you speak last night ? " She told him it was at a town about ten miles distant from the railway. "And I wouldn't be impertinent how much did they pay you ? " " Five dollars, and the fare to and from Boston." " Five dollars ! " he exclaimed ; " why, I always get fifty or a hundred : and your lecture must be worth more than mine, you can give them facts, I only opinions." " Small as it is, I am very glad to get it, Mr. Phillips," answered the lady. " I would talk at that rate every night during the winter." He sat for a moment in silence : then he put his hand into his pocket, drew out a roll of bank-notes, and said, in a hesitating way, PHILLIPS DURING WAR-TIME. 245 " I don't want to give offence, but you know I preach that a woman is entitled to the same as a man if she does the same work. Now, my price is fifty or a hun- dred dollars ; and, if you will let me divide it with you, I shall not have had any more than you, and the thing will be even." The lady at first refused; but, after a little gentle urging, she put the bank-notes into her purse. At the end of her journey, she counted the roll, and found it contained fifty dollars, every dollar that he had received for his lecture at Gloucester. It may add a point to this simple incident to say (what is the truth) that the lady was a niece of Jefferson Davis. The American Anti-slavery Society held a meeting in Boston, on the 24th of January, 1866, with a very slim attendance. On the next day the Massachusetts Society assembled, bent, on the part of its officers, on dissolving. Mr. Garrison, Edmund Quincy, Mr. Buf- fum, and others, favored this course earnestly ; but Mr. Phillips, Mr. S. S. Foster, and others, resisted the move- ment, and carried their side handsomely. The address which Mr. Phillips made on the occasion, was remark- able for the closeness of its logic, its earnestness of purpose, its familiarity with current events, its perti- nency of illustration, and its downright good sense. The resistance of Mr. Phillips to the dissolution of the Anti-slavery Society greatly nettled Mr. Garrison, 246 LIFE AND TIMES OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. and caused him to send a letter to " The Independent," wherein he defined his position on the questions of the day, and expressed his indignation at the misrepresen- tations and aspersions of certain gentlemen with whom he had long " been associated in the anti-slavery strug- gle," meaning mainly Mr. Phillips. Mr. Garrison showed plainly that he considered the breach between himself and Mr. Phillips one which could never be bridged. He quoted largely from Mr. Phillips's speech at the late meeting, exclaimed "Hit tu, Brute!" and went on to accuse Mr. Phillips of an undue fondness for speech-making, of " swollen self-complacency," and of " egotistical assumption," and the like. Everybody regretted the breach ; but it must be said, that, in all their personal intercourse, Mr. Phillips treated his old associate with the utmost respect, even with deference. Mr. Phillips, in public, was bound to defend his own views ; and it may be added, that his audiences invaria- bly coincided with him. Possibly it was Mr. Phillips's success which nettled Mr. Garrison. It was, at least, singular, that a reformer like Mr. Garrison, who had ever held that individual conscience and conviction should be the guide of conduct, should now be unwill- ing to follow this opinion when it conflicted with his desire to have the anti-slavery agitation terminate with his own retirement from the field. On the 13th of April Edward W. Green, convicted on a charge of murder, was hung in the Cambridge jail. PHILLIPS DUEING WAE-TIME. 247 Many persons believed him innocent ; and Mr. Phillips went so far as to publish a letter to Gov. Bullock, criti- cising in scathing terms the action of that official in the hanging. Again Mr. Phillips's clear vision anticipated the verdict of the future. " The New- York Tribune " printed the letter, and remarked editorially, " The execution of that man was one of the most culpable that any State has ever been guilty of, and the day is not distant when governor and council and court will be equally glad to escape if they can the responsibility for it. We believe Mr. Phillips's letter rests on a basis of facts that cannot be impeached." " The Boston Daily Advertiser," which, throughout its whole history, has appeared to have a very indiffer- ent opinion of the value of its