Concord, Mass.
March 12th, 1845.
Mr. Editor: —
We have now,
for the third winter, had our spirits refreshed, and our faith in the destiny
of the commonwealth strengthened, by the presence and the eloquence of
Wendell Phillips;
and we wish to tender to him our thanks and our sympathy. The admission of
this gentleman into
the Lyceum has
been strenuously opposed by a respectable portion of our fellow citizens, who
themselves, we trust, whose descendants, at least, we know, will be as
faithful conservers of the true order, whenever that shall be the order of
the day — and in each instance, the people have voted that they
would hear him, by coming themselves and bringing their friends to
the lecture room, and being very silent that they might hear. We saw
some men and women, who had long ago
come out,
going in once more through the free and hospitable portals of the
Lyceum; and many of our neighbors confessed, that they had had a “sound
season” this once.
It was the speaker’s aim to show what the State, and above all the
Church, had to do, and now, alas! have done, with Texas and slavery, and how
much, on the other hand, the individual should have to do with church and
state. These were fair themes, and not mistimed; and his words were addressed
to “fit audience, and not few.”
We must give Mr. Phillips the credit of being
a clean, erect, and what was once called a consistent man. He at least is not
responsible for slavery, nor for American Independence; for the hypocrisy and
superstition of the Church, nor the timidity and selfishness of the State;
nor for the indifference and willing ignorance of any. He stands so
distinctly, so firmly, and so effectively, alone, and one honest man is so
much more than a host, that we cannot but feel that he does himself injustice
when he reminds us of “the American Society, which he
represents.” It is rare that we have the pleasure of listening to so
clear and orthodox a speaker, who obviously has so few cracks or flaws in his
moral nature — who, having words at his command in a remarkable degree,
has much more than words, if these should fail, in his unquestionable
earnestness and integrity — and, aside from their admiration at his
rhetoric, secures the genuine respect of his audience. He unconsciously tells
his biography as he proceeds, and we see him early and earnestly deliberating
on these subjects, and wisely and bravely, without counsel or consent of any,
occupying a ground at first, from which the varying tides of public opinion
cannot drive him.
No one could mistake the genuine modesty and truth with which he affirmed,
when speaking of the framers of the Constitution — “I am wiser
than they,” which with him has improved these sixty years’
experience of its working; or the uncompromising consistency and frankness of
the prayer which concluded, not like the Thanksgiving proclamations, with
— “God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” but
God dash it into a thousand pieces, till there shall not remain a fragment on
which a man can stand, and dare not tell his name — referring to the
case of Frederick
——.
