S P E E C H E S

BEFORE THE

filawat 1152115 3fAnti- filanerg 50mm,

J A N U A R Y , 1 8 52 .

W E N DELL PH I LL I P S .

B O S T O N

IWHH J SH ED B Y R O B E R T F . VV A L L C U T ,

N O . ' I C O R N H I L L .

S P E E C H

AT THE MELODEON, WEDNESDAY EVENING , JAN . 2 8 .

[psoxoom pm caur nnposrsn BY J . M . w. r sanm ro-

NJ

Mn . PRES IDENT I have been thinkin g , while sitting h e r e , of the di ffer

ent situation s of the Anti- Slavery c ause n ow and on e year ago , when the

last anniversary of thi s Society was held. To some , it may seem that we

had more sources of interest and of publi c excitement on that occasion than

we have n ow. We had with us , during a portion , at least , of that session ,the eloquent advocate of our cause on the other side of the water . We had

the local excitement and the deep interest whi ch the first horror of the

Fugitive Slave B ill had ar oused . We had, I beli eve, in our m i dst, some

Fugitives , just ar rived from the house of bondage . It may seem to many

that, meeting as we do to - day robbed of all these , we must be content with

a session more monotonous and less effectual in arousing the community.

But, when we look over the whole land ; when we look back upon the scenes

which have transpired in our own Commonwealth , at Christiana , at Syracuse

at the passage through the country of the great Hungarian at the present

state of the public mi nd, it s eems to me that no year , during the existence

of the Society , has presented more encouraging aspects to the Abolitionists .

The vi ews which our friend (PARKER PILLSBURY) has just presented are

those upon whi ch , in our most sober calculation , we ought to rely . Give

us time, and, as he has said, talk is all- powe iful. “re are apt to feel our

selves overshadowed in the presence of colossal institutions . We are apt,in

coming up to a meeting of this kind, to ask what a few hundred o r a few

thousand persons can do against the weight of government , the mountainous

odds of majorities , the in fluence of the press, the power of the pulpit, the

organization of parti es , the omnipotence of wealth . At times , to carry a

favorite purpose, leadin g statesmen have endeavored to cajole the people

into the ide a that th is age was like the past, and that a rub - a - dub Agita

tion , as ours is contemptuously styled , was only to be despised . Tb e tim e

S P E E C H .

has been when, as our friend observed, from the steps of the R evere House—yes, and from the depots of New York railr oads—Mr . WEBSTER h as de

scribed this Anti- Slavery Movement as a succession of le ctures in school

houses the mere efforts of a few hundred men an d women to talk together ,excite each other, arouse the public , and its only resul t a little nois e . He

kn ew better . He knew better the times in whi ch he lived. No matt er

where you meet a dozen e arnest men pledged to a new idea wherever you

have met them , you have met the beginning of a Revolution . Revolutions

are n ot made,’

they c om e . A Revolution is as natural a growth as an o ak .

It comes out of the p ast. Its foundations are laid far back. The child feels

he grows into a man , and thi nks ; another, perhaps , speaks, and the world

acts out the thought . A n d thi s is the history of modern society . Men un

d e rv alue the Anti - Slavery Movement, because they imagine you can always

put your fin ge r on some illustrious moment in h istory and say, here com

m e n c e d the great change whi ch has come over the nation . Not so . The

beginning of great changes is like the rise of the Mi ssissippi. A child must

stoop and gather away the pebbles to fin d it. But soon it swells on broader

and broader, bears on its am ple bosom the navies of a mi ghty Republic, fills

the Gulf, and divi des a Continent.

I remember a story of Napoleon that illustrates my mean ing. We are apt

to tr ace hi s control of France to some noted vi cto ry, to the time when he

cam ped in the Tui lle ri e s, o r when he d issolved the Assembly by the stamp

of hi s foot . He reigned in fact when hi s hand was first felt on the helm

of the vessel of state, and that was far back of the time when he had con

quered in Italy, o r his name had been echoed over two Continents . It was

on the day when five hun dr ed irresolute men were met in that Assembly

whi ch called itself, and pretended to be , the government of France . They

heard that the mob of Paris was coming the next morning, thirty thousand

strong , to turn them, as was usual in those days, out of doors . And where did

this seem ingly great power go fo r its support and refuge ' They sent Talli e n

to se e k out a boy li eutenant, the shadow of an officer, so thin and pall id

that when he was placed on the stand before them, the President of the As

se m bly, fearful , if the fate of France rested on the shrunken form , the

ashy ch e ck before him, that all hope was gone , asked You ng man, can

you protect the Assembly ' And the ashen lips of the Corsican boy parted

only to reply I always do what I undertake. Then and there Napoleon

ascended his throne ; and the next day, from the steps of St. Roche, thun

dered forth the cannon wh ich taught the m ob of Paris, for the first time, that

it had a master . That was the comm encement of the Empire . So the Anti

Slavery Movement commenced unheeded i n that obscure hole which

Mayor OTIS could not find, occupied by a printer and a black boy.

In working these great changes , in such an age as ours, the se - called

statesman has far less i nfluence than the many little men who, at various

points,are silently maturin g a regeneration of public opinion . This is a

reading and thinking ag e , and great in terests at stake quicken the general

intellect . Stagnant times have been when a great m ind, anchored in error ,might snag the slow -moving current of society. Such i s not our era . Noth

S P E E C H .

in g but Freedom , Justice and Truth is of any perm anent advantage to the

mass of mankind . To these society, left to itself, is always tending . In our

day, great questions about them have called forth all the energies of the

com mon mind E rror suffers sad treatment in the shock of eager i ntellects .

Everybody, said Talleyrand, is cleverer than anybody ; and any name ,however il lustrious , which links itself to abuses, is sure to be over whelmed

by the impetuous current of that society which , (thanks to the press and a

readin g public ,) is potent, always, to clear its own channel . Thanks to the

Prin ting Press, the people now do their own thi nkin g , and statesmen, as

they are styled—men in otfic e—have ceased to be either the leaders o r

the clogs of society .

This view is one that Mr . WEBSTER ridiculed in the depots of N ew York .

The ti me has come when he is obliged to change his tone when he is

obliged to retrace his steps to ackn owledge the nature and the character

of the age in which he lives . Kossur n comes to this country—penn i less ,and an exile ; conquered on his own soil ; flung out as a weed upon the

wate rs ; nothin g but hi s voice left—and the Secretary of State must meethim . Now, let us see what he says of his rub - a - dub Agitation ,

' whi ch

consists of the voice only of the tongue , which our friend PILLSBUR Y has

described . Th is is that tongue which the impudent statesman declared,from the drunken steps of the Revere House, ought to be silenced—thistongue , which was a rub - a - dub Agitation ' to be despised, when he spoke

to the farmers of New York .

He says We are too much inclined to underrate the power of moral

influence.' Who is ' Nobody but a Revere House statesman .“We are

too much inclin ed to underrate the power of moral in fluence, an d the influ

ence of publi c Opinion, and the influence of the principles to which great

men— the lights of the world and of the present age— have given theirsanction . W 11 0 doubts, that in our struggle for liberty and independence ,the majesti c eloquence of CHATHA M , the profound reasoni ng of BURKE , the

bur ning satir e and irony of Col . BARRE , had influences upon our fortunes

here i n America ' They had influences both ways . They tended, in the

first place , somewhat to diminish the confidence of the British min i stry in

their hopes of success, in attempting to subjugate an injured people . They

had influence another way, because all along the coasts of the country

an d all our people in that day lived upon the coast—there was not a readi ngman who did n o t feel stronger, bolder, and more determined in the assert ion

of hi s rights , when these exhil arating accents from the two Houses of Par

liam e n t reached him from beyond the seas . '

I thank thee, Jew Thi s rub - a - dub Ag itation , then , has influence

both ways, It dim in i shes the confidence of the Administration in its power

to execute the Fugi tive Slave Law, which it has imposed so insolently on

th e people . It acts on the r e a ding m e n of the nation, and in that single fact

is the whole story of the change . t e r e v e r you have a readi ng people ,there every tongue

,every press is a power. Mr . WEBSTER, when he ridi

ouled in New York the Agitation of the Anti - Slavery body, supposed he

was living in the old feudal times, when a statesman was an integral element

S P E E C H

in the State, an essential power in himself. He must have supp osed h imself

speaking in those ages when a great man outweighed the masses . He finds

now that he is living much later, in an age when the accumulated common

sen se of the people outweighs the greatest statesman o r the most influential

indi vidual . Let me illustr ate the difference of our times and the past in thi s

matter, by their difference in another respect . The time has been when men

cased in ir on from head to foot, and d is ciplin ed by long years of careful in

struction, went to battle . Those were the days of nobles and kni ghts ; and

in such times , ten kni ghts , clad in steel, feared not a whole field of unarmed

peasantry, and a hundred men at arms have conquered thousan ds of the

common people, o r held them at bay. Those were the times when W INK

B LR IED, the Swiss patriot , led his host against the Austrian phalanx , and,finding it impenetrable to the thousands of Swis s who thr ew themselves on

the serried lances, gathered a dozen in his arms , and drawing them together ,made thus an inlet into the close set ranks of the Austrians , and they were

overborne by the actual mass of numbers . Gunpowder came , and then , any

fin ger that coul d pull a trigger was equal to the highest born an d the best

di s ciplin ed ; kn ightly armor, and horses clad in steel, went to the groun d

before the courage and strength that dwelt in the arm of the peasant, as

well as that of the prince. Wh at gun powder did for war, the printing press

has done for the mind, and the statesman is no longer clad in the steel of

education, but every readin g man is his judge . Every thoughtful man , the

country through, that makes up an opinion , is his jury, to which he answers ,and the tribunal to which he must bow. Mr. WEBSTER, therefore, does n ot

overrate the power of this rub - a - dub Agitation ,' which KOSSUTH has now

adopted, stealing our thunder . ' (Laughte r and applause .) He does

n o t overrate the power of this rub - a - dub Agitation,' when he says

Another great mistake, gentlemen , is sometim es made . [Yes , in Bowdoin

Square We think nothing powerful enough to stand before despotic

power. There is something strong enough , quite strong enough ; and if

properly exerted,it will prove itself so ; and that is, the power of intelligent

public opinion.“ I thank the, Jew That opinion is formed, not only

in Congress, or on Hotel steps it is made also in the school houses, in the

town houses, at the hearth stones , in the rail road cars, on board the steam

boats , in the socia l circle , in these Anti Slavery gatherings whi ch he despises .

Mark you ' Ther e is nothing powerful e nough, to sta n d befo re i t It may be an

almost divin e institution ; it may be the bank vaul ts of New Englan d ; it

may be the mining interests of Pennsylvani a it may be the Harwich fish

ermen, whom he told to stand by the Union , because its bun tin g protected

their decks ; it may be the factory operative , whom he told to uphold the

Union , because it made his cloth sell for half per cent . more a yard ; it may

be a p archment Constitution , o r even a Fugitive Slave B il l signed by MIL

LARD F ILL M ORE ' I —no matter , all are dust o n the threshi ng floor of a

reading public , once roused to indignation . Remember this, when you

would look down upon a meeting of a few hundreds in the o n e scale , and

the fanatic vi olence of State Street in the other,that there is NOTH ING

,

DAN IEL WEBSTER being witness, strong enough to stand against publi c

S P E E C H .

Opini on , and if the tongue and the press are n ot parents of that, what

is

Napoleon said, I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand

bayonets . ' Mr. WEBSTER now is of the sam e Opinion . There is not a

monarch on earth,' he says, whose throne is n o t li able to be shaken by the

progress of opini on and the sentiment of the just and intelli gent part of the

people . ' I thank thee, Jew W e have been told often , that it was nothing

but a morbid sentiment thatwas opposed to the Fugitive Slave Bill,—it wasa sentiment Ofmorbid phi lanthropy. Grant it all. But take care, Mr. States

man cure or change it in tune, els e it will beat all your dead institutions todust. Hearts and sentiments ar e alive , and we all know that the gentlest of

nature’ s growths will , in time , burst asunder o r wear away the proudest

dead- weight man can heap upon them . If thi s be the power of the gentlest

growth, let the stoutest hear t tremble before the tornado of a people roused

to terrible vengeance by the sight of long years of cowardly and merciless

oppression , and oft -repeated instances of se lfish and calcul ating apostacy.

You may build your Capitol of grani te, and pile it high as the Rocky

Mountains , if it is founded on or mixed up with ini qui ty, the pul se of a girl

will in time beat it down . The re is no monarch on earth whose th rone is

not li able to be shaken by the se n tim m t of the just and intelligent part ofthe

peopl e . What is thi s but a recantation ' doin g penance for the impudence

uttered in Bowdoin Square 9 Surely thi s is the whi te sheet and lighted

to rch whi ch the Scotch church imposed as penance on its erring members .

Who would imagin e , that the same m an who said of the publi c di scussion

of the Slavery question that it must be put down, coul d have di ctated thi s

se ntiment It becomes us , in the station which we hold, to let that publi c

Opini on , so far as we form it, have free course ' What , then, is that echo

that we heard from Bowdoin Square a year ago 9 Thi s agitation must be

put down .

' It becomes us , in the station which we hold, to let that

public opinion have fr ee cour se .' B ehold the great doughface cringin g be

fore the calm eye of KO SSUTH , who had nothing but rub - a - dub agitation

with which to rescue Hungary from the bloody talons of the Austrian eagle

This is statesmanshi p The statesmanship that says to the Commonwealth

ofMassachusetts to - day, smother those prejudices , and to -morrow , there

i s no thr one on the broad earth strong enough to stand up against the senti

ment ofjus tice . Wh at is that but the prejudi ces of the Commonwealth

OfMassachusetts against man - hunting ' And this is the man before whom

the press an d the pulpit of the country would have had the Abolitioni sts

how their heads , and lay their mouth s in the dust, instead of holdin g fast to

the eternal principles of justi ce and right

It would be idl e , to be sure, to base any argument on an opini on ofMr .

WEBSTER’ S . Like the chameleon he takes his hue , on these subjects , from

the air he breathes . He has his October Sun Opinions and hi s Faneuil

Hall opinions. But the recantation here is at least noticeable and his

testimony to the power of the masses is more valuable as com i ng from an

un wi llin g witness . The best of us ar e conscious of being , at times , somewhat

awed by the colossal institutions about us , wh ich seem to be opposing our

S P E E C H .

progress . There are thos e who occasionally weary of thi s moral suasion, and

sigh for somethin g tangible ; some power that they can feel , and see its ope

ration . The advancing tide you cann ot mark . The gem forms unseen . The

grani te increases and crumbles , and you c an har dly mark either process . The

great change in a nation’ s Opinion is the same . We stand here to - day , and if

we look back twenty years, we can see a change in public Opin i on ; yes , we can

see a great change . Then the great statesmen had pledged themselves not to

t alk on thi s subject. They have been made to talk . These hounds have been

whipped into the traces ofthe nation’ s car , not by thr e e newspapers, whi ch Na

pole on dreaded, but by on e . (Cheers ) The great p arties of the country have

bee n broken to pieces and crumbled . The great sects have been broken to

pieces . Suppose you cann ot put your fin ger upon an indi vi dual fact still ,in the great result , you see whatWEBSTER tell s us in this speech Depend

upon it , gentlemen , th at between these two rival powers , the autocratic

power, maintained by arms and force, and the popular power, main tained by

opin i on, the former is constantly decreasing and, thank God, the latter is

constantly increasing. Real human liberty is gaining the ascendan t [he

must feel sad at that I] and the part whi ch we have to act in all thi s great

dr ama is to show ourselves in favor of those rights to uphold our as cend

an cy, and to carry it on , until we shall see it culmin ate in the hi ghest heaven

over our heads .'

Now I look upon this Speech as the most remarkable Mr . WEBSTER has

ever made on the Anti - Slavery agitation to which we are devoted—as amost remarkable confession , under the cir cumstances . I read it here an d to

you , because, in the circle I see around me , the larger proportion are Aboli

tionists—men attached to the movement whi ch thi s meeting representsmen whos e thoughts are occ asionally occupied with the causes and with the

effects of its real progress . I would force fr om the reluctan t lips of the Secre

tary of State, hi s testimony to the real power of the masses . I said that the

day was, before gunpowder, when the noble , clad in steel, was a match for a

thousand. Gunpowder levelled peas ant and prince . The printing press has

done the same . In the midst of thinking people, in the long run , there ar e

no great men . The accumulated intellect of the masses is greater than the

heaviest brain God ever gave to a single m an . WEBSTER , though he may

gather into his own person the confidence of parties , and the attachment of

thousan ds throughout the country, is but a feather’ s weight in the balan ce

again st the average of public sentiment on the subj ect of Slavery . A news

paper paragraph, ia county meeting , a gatherin g for conversation , a change

in the character of a dozen indi vi duals , these are the several fountain s and

sources of publi c Opinion . And, friends , when we gather, month after

month , at such meetin gs as these, we should encourage ourselves wi th con

siderations of thi s kind —that we live in an age of democrati c equality

that, for a moment , a party may stand against the age, but, in the end, it

goes by the board ;— that the man who launches a sound argument, whosets on t wo feet a startling fact, a nd bids it travel from Maine to Georgia, is

just as certain that in the end he wi ll change the government , as if, to de

stroy the Capitol, he had placed gunpowder un der the Senate Chamber .

S P E E C H .

Natural philosophers tell us , that if you will only multiply the simplest

force into enough time , it will equal the greatest . So it is with the Slowin tellectual movement of th e masses . It can scarcely be seen , but it is a

constant movement ; it is the shadow o n the dial , never still though never

seen to move ; it is the tide , it is the ocean , gaini ng on th e proudest and

strongest bulwarks that human art or strength can build . It may be defied

for a moment, but, i n the end , Nature always triumphs . So the race ,if it cannot drag a ‘V EB STER along with it, leaves him behind and forgets

him . (Loud cheers .) The race is rich enough to afford to do without the

greatest in tellects God ever let the devil buy. Stranded along the past,

there are a great many dried mummies of d ead inte l lects, which th e race

found too heavy to drag forward .

I hail the almi ghty power of the tongue .‘I swear allegiance to the om

n ipote n c e of the press . The people never err . V e x pop-uh , vox D e a

'

the

voice of the people is the voice of God . I do not mean this of any single

verdict which the people of tod ay may record . In time , the selfishn ess Ofo n e class neutralizes the selfishness of another . The interests of one age

clash against the interests of another ' but , in the great resul t, the race

always means right. The people always mean right, and, in the e n d , they

will have the right . I believe in the twenty millions—not the twentymil lions that live n ow, necessar ily—to arrange this question of Slavery ,whi ch priests and politicians have sought to keep out of sight. They have

kept it locked up in the Senate chamber , they have hidden it behind th e

communion table , th e y have appealed to the superstitious and idolatrous

veneration for the State and the Uni on to avoid this question , and so

have kept it from the influence of the great democratic tendencies of the

masses . But change all this , drag it from its concealm ent, and give it to the

people launch it on the age , and all is safe . It will find a safe harbor . A

man is always selfish enough fo r himself. The soldier will be selfish enough

for himself ; the merchant wi ll be selfish enough fo r himself ; yes , he will

be willing to go to hell to secure his own fortune , but he will not be ready

to go there to make the fortune of his neighbor . No man ever yet was

will ing to sacrifice his own character for the benefit of his neighbor ; and

whenever we shall be able to Show th is nation that the interests of a class ,not of the whole, th e interests of a portion of th e country, n o t of the masses ,are subserved by holdi ng our fellow -men in bondage , then we Shall Spike th e

guns of the enemy, or get their artill ery on our side .

I want you to turn your eyes from institutions to men . Th e d iffi cultv of

the present day and with us is , we are bullied by in stitutions . A man gets

up in the pulpit , or sits on the bench, and we allow ourselves to be bulli ed

by the judge or the clergyman , when , if he stood side by side with us , on

the brick pavement,as a simple individual, his ideas would not have dis

turb e d our clear thoughts an hour . Now , the duty of each Anti - Slavery

man is simply this—Stand on the pedestal of your own individual i ndepe n de n c e , summon these institutions about you, and judge them . The

question is deep enough to require this judgment of you . This is what the

cause asks of you , my friends ; and the moment you Shall be wil lin g to do

2

S P E E C H .

this,to rely upon yourselves , that moment the truths I have read from the

lips of one whom the country regards as its greatest statesman , wi ll

Shine over your path , assuring you that out of this agitati on , as cert ain as

the sun at noon - day, the futur e character of the American government will

be form ed .

If we lived in England, if we lived in France , the phi losophy of our move

ment mi ght be di fferent , for there stand accumulated wealth , hungry

churches, and Old nobles a class which popul ar agitation but slowly affects .

To these , publi c Opinion is obli ged to bow . We have seen , for instance , the

agitation of 1 848 in Europe , deep as it was , seemingly triumphant as it was

for six months , retire , beaten , before the undisturbed foundations of the gov

e rnm e n ts of the continent . Y ou recollect, no doubt, the tide of popular e n ~

thusiasm whi ch rolled from the B ay of B iscay to the very feet of the Czar ,and it seemed as if Europe was melted into one Republic . Men thought the

new generation had indeed come . We wai ted twelve months , and the tur

rets and towers of old institutions—the church, law, nobility, governm ent—reappeared above the subsidin g wave . ~Now, t here are no such in stitu

tions here . No law that can abide on e moment when popul ar opini on

demands its abrogation . The government is wrecked the moment the news

papers decree it . The penn y papers of thi s State, in the S I M S case , did more

to dictate the decision of Chi ef Justice SHAW , than the Legislature that sat

in the State House, o r the Statute Book of Massachusetts . I mean what I

say . The penn y papers ofNew York do more to govern this country than

the White House at Washi ngton . Mr . “TEB STER says we live under a gov

e rnm e n t of laws . He was never more mistaken , even when he thought the

Anti - Slavery agitation could be steppe d . \V e live un der a governmen t

of men and morning newspapers . (Applause .) B ENNETT and HORACE

GREELEY are more really Presidents of the United States than M ILLARD

F ILL M ORE . DAN IEL WEBSTER him self cannot even get a nomination . Why '

B ecause , long ago , the ebbin g tide of public opinion left him a wreck ,stranded on the side of the popular cur rent.

\V e live under a government of men . The Constitution is noth ing in

South Carolina , but the black law is everything . The law that says th e

colored man shall sit in the jury box in the city ofBoston is noth i ng . Wh y'

Because th e Mayor and Aldermen , and th e Selectmen of Boston, for th e

last fifty years , have been such slaves of co lo rph obia , that they di d n o t

choose to execute this law of the Comm onwealth . I might go through the

Statute Book , and Show you the same result . Now , if this be true aga in st

us , it is true for us . Remember, that the penny papers may be starved into

A nti - Slavery, whenever we Shal l put behin d them an Anti - Slavery public

sentiment . WILBERFORCE an d CLARKSO N had to vanqui sh the money ed

power of England, the “rest Indi a interest, and overawe the pe erage of

G reat Britain , before th e y conquered. The settled purpose of th e great

middle class had to wait till all this was accomplished . Th e moment we

have the control of public Opinion , the women and the children, th e

school houses , the school books , the literature , and the newspapers , that

moment we have settled th e question .

S P E E C H .

Me n blame us fo r the bitterness of our language and th e personali ty of

our attacks . It results from our position . Th e great mass of the people

can never be made to stay and argue a long question . They must be made

to feel it, thr ough th e hides of their idols . Wh en you have launched your

spear i nto the rhinoceros hide of a \V EB STER o r a BENTON , every Whig and

Democrat feels it. It is on thi s principle that every reform must take for

its text , the mistakes of great m e n . G o d gives us great scoundrels for texts

to Anti - Slavery sermons . S e e to it, when Nature has provided you a mon

ster like \V EB STER , that you exhibit him , himself a whole m an ag e r i e ,

throughout the country . (Great cheering . ) It is not Often , in the wide

world’ s history, that you se e a man so lav ishly gifted by nature , and called,in the concurrence of events , to a position like that which he occupied on

the seventh ofMarch, surrender his great power, and quench the high hopes

Of his race . No man, since the age of Luther, has ever held in hi s single

hand, so palp ably, the destini es and character of a mighty people . He stood

like the Hebrew prophet betwixt the living and th e dead . He had but to

have upheld the cross of common truth and honesty, and the black dishonor

of two hundred years would have been effaced forever . He bowed hisvassal

head to the temptations of the flesh and of lucre . He gave him self up into

the lap of the Delil ah of Slavery, for the mere prom ise of a nomi nation , and

the greatest hour of the age was bartered away, not for a mess of pottage ,but for the prom ise of a mess of pottage, a promise, thank G od , which is

to be broken (Enthusiasti c applause . ) I say, it is not often that Provi

dence permits the eyes of twenty mi llions of thinking people to behold the

fall of another Lucifer, from the very battlements of Heaven , down into

that “ lower deep of the lowest deep ' of hell . (Great sensation .) On

such a text , how effective should be the sermon

Let us see to it, that , in spite of the tenderness of A merican prejudice, in

spite of the morbid charity that would have us hold up the sin , but drop

the sinner , in spite of thi s effeminate Chr istianity, that woul d let mil lions

pine,lest on e man’ s feelings be injured ; let us see to it, fri ends , that we be

harsh as truth and uncompromi sin g as justice remembering always that

every sin gle man set against this evi l may be another Moses , every S ingle

thought you launch may be the thunders of another Napoleon from the

steps of another St. Roche ; remembering that we live not in an age of i n

di vidual despotism, when a Charles the Fifth could set up o r put down the

Slave Trade , but sur roun ded by twenty m i llions, whose Opinion is om n ipo

tent—that the hundred gathered in a New England school house may bethe hundred who shall teach the risin g men of the other half of the conti

nent, and stereotype Freedom on the banks of the Pacific ; remembering

and worshi ppin g reverentially the great American idea of the omn i potence

Of thinking men , of the sentiment ofj ustice ,' against whi ch no throne

is potent enough to stand, no Constitution sacred enough to endure . R e

member thi s , when you go to an Anti - Slavery gatherin g in a school house ,and know that , weighed against its solemn purpose , its terrible resolution ,i ts earnest thought

,himself, and all huckstering statesmen , in th e

Opposite scale , shall ki ck the beam . Worshipping the tongue , let us be

S P E E C H .

willing , at all times , to be known th roughout the community as the all - talk

party. The age of bullets is over . The age of men armed in mail is over .

Th e age of thrones has gone by. The age of statesmen God be praised

such statesmen— is over. The age of thinking men has come. “r ith th e

aid of God, then , every man I can reach , I will set thinking on the subject

of Slavery. (Cheers ) The age of reading men has come . I will try to

imbue every newspaper with G a rrison iani sm . (Loud applause .) The ag e

of the masses has come. N ow, DANIEL WEBSTER counts o n e —Give himj oy of it —~ but the rub - a - dub Agitation ' cou nts at least twenty

nineteen better . N ineteen , whom no chance of nomination tempts to a

change of opini ons once a twelvemonth ; who need no Kossuth advent to

recal l them to their senses .

Wh at I want to impress you wi th is , the great weight that is attached to

the Opinion of everythi ng that can call itself a man . Give me anythi ng that

walks erect, and can read, and he Shall count on e in the millions of th e

Lord’ s sacramental host, that is yet to come up and trample all Oppression in

the dust . The weeds poured forth in nature’ s lavish luxuriance , gi ve them

but time, and their ti ny roots shall rend asunder the foun dations of palaces ,and crumble the Pyramids to the earth . WV e may be weeds in comparison with

these marked men ; but in the lavi sh luxur iance of that nature which has

at least all owed us to be thinkin g , reading men ,' I learn , WEBSTER being

my witness, that there is no throne potent enough to stand against us . It is

morbid enthusiasm thi s that I have Gran t it . But they tell us that thi s

heart of mine , which beats so unintermi ttedl y in the bosom , if its force

could be d ir e cted against a g rani te pillar, woul d wear it to dust in the

course of a man’ s life . Your Capitol, DANIEL NV EB STER , is marble , but the

pulse of every humane man is beating against it . God will give us time ,and the pulses ofmen shall beat it down . (Loud and enthusiasti c cheering .)Take the mines take the Harwich fishing skiffs take the Lowell mills

take all the coin and the cotton thank G od , the day must be our s , for th e

hearts the hearts , are on our side

There is nothing stronger than human prejudice. A crazy sentimentali sm

lik e that of Peter the Hermit hurled half Of Europe upon Asia, and changed

th e destini es of kingdom s . We may be crazy . Would to God he would

make us all crazy enough to forget for o n e in om e n t the cold deductions of

intellect , an d let these hear ts of ours beat , beat, beat , m i d cr the promptings

o f a comm on hum ani ty. They have put wickedness into the statute book ,and destruction is just as certain as if they had put gunpowder un der the

Capitol . That is my faith . That it is whi ch turns my eye from the te n

thousand newspapers,from the forty thousand pulpits , from the millions of

W higs , from the mil lions of Democrats , from the might of sect, from th e

marble government , from the iron army , from the navy riding at anchor , from

all tha t we ar e accustomed to deem great and potent—tur ns it back to th esimplest child or woma n, to the first m urm rue d protest that is hear d against

bad laws . I recognize in it the g reat future , the first rumblings of tha t

volcano destin ed to overthrow these mighty preparations . and bury in th e

ho t lava o f its full excitement a ll this laughing prosperity that now rests so

secure o n its side .

S P E E C II .

All ha il , Publi c Opini on To be sure , it is a dangerous thing under which

to live . It rules to - day in the desire to obey all kin ds of laws , and takes

your life . It rules again i n the love of liberty, and rescues S IIA DR A CH from

Boston Court House . It rules to -morrow in the manhood of him who le ads

the musket to Shoot dow n, G od be praised I the man hunter ; GORSUCH .

(Applause .) It rul es in Syracuse , and the Slave escapes to Canada . It is

our i nterest to educate thi s pCOplC in humanity , and in deep reverence for

the rights of the lowest and humblest individual that makes up our num

bers . Each man here,in fact , holds his property and his life dependent o n

th e constant presence of an Agitation like this of Anti- Slavery. Eternal

vigilance is the price of liberty—power is ever steali ng from the many to th efew . The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day, o r it is

rotten . The livin g sap of to - day outgrows the dead rind of yesterday . Th e

hand entrusted with power becomes, either from human depravity or e spr it

(la co rps, the necessary enemy of the people . Only by continual oversight

can the democrat in office be prevented from hardeni ng into a despot only

by uninterm itted Agitation can a people be kept sufficiently awake to prin

c iple not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity. All clouds , it

is said, have sunshine behi nd them , and all evils have some good result ; so

Slavery, by the necessity of its aboli tion, has saved the freedom of th e white

race from being melted in the luxur y or buried beneath the gold of its own

success . Never look , therefore, for an age when the people can be quiet

and safe . At such times Despotism , like a Shrouding mist, steals over th e

mir ror of Freedom . The Dutch, a thousand years ago , buil t against the

ocean their bulwarks of will ow and mud . Do they trust to that ' No .

Each year the patient, industrious peasant gives so much tim e from the

cul tivation of his soil and the c are .of his chil dren , to stop the breaks and

replace the will ow which insects have eaten , that he may keep the land

hi s fathers rescued from the water, and bid defiance to the waves that roar

above hi s head, as if demanding back the broad fields man has stolen from

their realm .

Some men suppose that , in order to the peeple’ s governing themselves

,

it is only necessary, as F ISHER A n Es said, that the “ Rights of Man be

printed, and that every citizen have a copy.

' As the Epicureans , two thou

sand years ago , imagined God a being who ar ranged this marv ellous ma

chinery, set it goin g , and then sunk to sleep . Republics exist only on th e

tenure of being constantly agitated . The An ti - Slavery Agitation is an i m

portant, nay, an essential part of the machi nery of the State . It is not a

di sease nor a medic ine . No ; it is the normal state— the normal state ofthe Nation . Never, to our latest po sterity, can we afford to do without

prophets , like GARR ISO N , to stir up th e monotony of wealth, and r e - awake

the people to th e great ideas that are constantly fading out of their min ds ,to trouble the waters that there may be health in their flow. Every govern

ment is always growing corrupt . Every Secretary of State is, by the veryn ecessity o f hi s position , an apostate . (I

-Iisscs and cheers . ) I mean wha t Isay . He is an enemy to the people

,of necessity

,because th e moment he

joins the government , he gravitates against that popular Agitation which is

I

LIBRQRY OF CONGRESS l

S P E E C H .

the life of a Republic . A Republi c is nothing but a constant overflow of

lava . The principles of JEFFERSON are not up to the principles of to - day .

It was well s aid of WV EB STER , that he knows well the HAN CO CK and ADA M S

of 1 7 7 6 , but he does not know the HANCO CKS and A DAMSES of to - day. The

Republic that Sinks to sleep , trusting to constituti ons and machinery, to

politicians and statesmen for the safety of its li berties , never will have any .

The people are to be waked to a new effort, just as the Church has to be

regenerated, in each age . The Anti - Slavery Agitation is a necessity of

each age , to keep ever on the alert thi s faithful vigilance so constantly in

danger of sleep . We must live lik e our Puritan fathers , who always went

to Church , and sat down to dinner, when the Indians were in their neigh

borhood, with their musket - lock on the on e Side an d a drawn sword on the

other .

If I had time o r voice to - night, I might proceed to a further development

of thi s idea, and I trust I coul d make it clear, whi ch I fear I have n o t yet

done . To my conviction , it is Gospel truth, that, instead of the Anti

Slavery Agitation bein g an evil , or even the unwelcome cure of a di s ease in

this government, the youngest child that lives may lay his hand on the

youngest child that his gray hairs may see, and say, The Agitation was

commenced when the Declaration of Independence was signed ; it took its

Second tide when the Anti - Slavery Declaration was signed in 18 3 3 ; a move

ment , n ot the cure but the diet of a free people ; n ot the h om ce opathic o r

the allopath ic dose , to whi ch a sick land has recourse , but the daily cold

water and the simple bread—the daily di et and absolute necessity—the mam ra

of a people wanderin g in the wilderness .' There is no Canaan in politics . As

health lies in labor, and there is no royal road to it but thr ough toil , so

there is no republican road to safety but in constant di strust . In di strust ,'

said Demosthenes , “ are the nerves of the mi nd .

'

Let us see to it that

these sentinel nerves ar e ever on the alert . If the Alps, pil ed in cold and stil l

sublirn i ty, be the emblem of Despotism, the ever restless O cean is ours ,which

,girt withi n the eternal laws of Gravitation , i s pure only becaus e

never still. (Long continued applause .)

S P E E C H

AT FANEUIL HALL , FRIDAY EVENING , JANUARY 3 0.

[PIION OGRAPHICALLY REPORTED B Y J . M. W . YER RINTON .]

MR . PRES IDENT '— I do not feel disposed to talk about Coloniz ation to

night, and I am glad to think that, after the remarks already submitted to

us , it is unn ecessary anything more should be said on that topic . I mean,

the coloni zation of black men to Afr ica . I have been co lon ize d myself from

th is Hall for some time ; an d in getting here again , I prefer to go back to the

old note, and try to get the hang o f thi s school house .'

(Laughter .) You

know Baron Munchausen says , in one of his marvellous stories , that it was

so cold one day in Russia, when he began to play a tune on his trumpet , that

half of it froze i n the instrument before it could get out ; and a few months

afterwards , he was startled, in Italy, to hear , of a sudden , the rest of the

tune come pealing forth . We were somewhat frozen up a while ago in this

Hall, with GEORGE THO M P SON on the platform ; now we want the rest of th e

tune. (Laughter and cheers . )The Ma il of thi s morning says that we have no right to this Hall , because

it was refused to the greatest statesman of the land to DANIEL W'

EBSTER .

I believe thi s is a mi stake . The Mayor and Aldermen went to hi m , meta

ph orically, on their knees , and entreated the great man to ma ke use of the

old wall s . It was the fir st time Faneuil Hall ever begged anybody to enter

it ; but DAN IEL was pettish , and would not come . Very proper in him , too

it is not the place in which to defend the Fugitive Slave B ill . He did right

when he refused to come . \Vho built these wall s PETER FANEUIL ’S anecs

tors were themselves fug itives from an edi ct a lm ost as cruel as the Fugitive

Slave Law and only he whose soul and body refuse to crouch beneath in

human legislation, has a right to be heard here— nobody else . (Cheers )A Huguenot built thi s Hall , wh o was not permitted to live o n the soil of his

own beautiful France, and it may naturally be supposed , that he dedicated

it to the most ul tra, outside idea of liberty . It is a place for th e run ning

Slave to find a shelter n o t for a recreant Statesman (De a i'

e n in g cheers . )

S P E E C H .

Thi s Hal l has never been made ridicul ous but once never was made th elaughin g - stock ofNew England but once . That was about nin e months ago

,

when the Sims brigade were left soundly asleep here , in the gray of the

morning , while the awkwar d squad ofMarshal TUKEY stole down State Street

with THO M AS S I M S , not deigning to ask their permission or their aid, and

leaving them to find out the next morn ing, that the great deed had beendon e , without their so much as hearing a noise . Soldiers asleep in Fan

e ui l Hall, while m i schi ef was doing so near as State street ' 0 ,what gallant

soldiers they must have been . (Loud laughter and cheers . )Times have changed since we were here before . The last time I stood on

thi s platform, there sat beside me a heroine worthy to sit in the hall of the

o ld Huguenot— on e ELI'ABETH B LAHELEY , a mulatto girl, of Wilm ington ,N . C . , who , loving freedom more than Slavery, concealed herself on board a

Boston brig , in the little narrow passage between the Side of the vessel and

the partition that formed the cabin two feet eight inches of room . There

she lay , while her inhuman master, almost certain Sh e was on board th e

vessel, had it smoked with sulphur an d tobacco thr ee times over . Still she

bore it . She came North, half frozen , in the most inclement month of the

year— thi s month . She reached B oston just able to crawl. \V h e r e di d she

come ' 0 , those were better times then She came here . Just able to

stand, fresh from that baptism of suffering for liberty, Sh e came he r e . We

told her story. And with us that night within ten feet of where I stand

sat FREDER IKA BRE M ER, the representative of the li terature of the old

world her humane sym pathies were moved so much , that the rose bud

Sh e held in her hand, she sent (honoring me by sending it by my hand) to

the first representative of American Slavery Sh e had s e en . It was the tri

bute ofErn '

0pe’

s hear t an d in tellect to a heroine of th e black race , in Faueui l

Hall . Times have changed since . N o t to speak of the incense which Miss

BRE M ER has, half ignorantly, I hope , laid on the demon altar of our land , it

would n ot be safe to put that B ETSEY BLAKELEY on this platform to - ni ght

it would not be safe for her to appear in a publi c meeting . \V hat has

changed this publi c opinion 9 I wi sh it was some single man . I wish it was

some official of the city, that SO we could make him the scapegoat of public

indignation , let him carry it forth , and thus the fair fam e of our city be freed .

This,Mr . President, br ings me to my subj ect . The resolutions I wi sh to

Speak to are these . I think they ought to be read in Faneuil Hall , at this, the

first m eeting the Aboli tioni sts have held here since the foul de e d ofApril 1 2 th

disgraced the city. I feel that these peddlin g hucksters of State and Mi lk

Streets owe me full atonement for the foul di shonor they have brought upon

the city ofmy birth .

R e so lve d , That, as citiz ens of Boston and the Commonwealth, we recordour deep disapprobation and indignant protest against the surrender of

THO M AS S I M S by the City , its sanction of the cowardly and lying policy ofthe poli ce , its serv ile and volu nteer zeal i n behalf of the man - hunters , andits deliberate

, waurton and avowed violation of th e laws of the Commonwealth

,for the basest of all purposes Slave - trading , selling a free m an into

bondage,that State street and Milk street might ma ke money.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

S P E E C H .

their badges in their pockets , and lied, lest their prey should be torn from

their grasp , in the first burst of popular indignation . It was the first tim e

in Boston—I hope it will be the last—that the laws were obliged to be “

ex

e cute d by lyin g and behind bayonets , in the night . So much, though it bevery little

,may still be said for Boston , “ that S I M S was arrested by lying

and d isgui sed policemen he was judged by a Commissioner who sat behi nd

bayonets ; and was carried Off in the gray of the morn in g , after the moon

set , and before the sun rose, by a police body armed with swords . She was

d isgraced, but it was by force whi le, the reverse of the Roman rul e , ce da n t

a rm a togae , the robe gave way to the sword . The law was executed ; but it

was behind bayonets . Such laws do not last long . (Loud cheers . ) Courts

that sit behind chains , seldom sit more than once . (Renewed cheerin g .)

[A Voice The Whi gs defend it.

O , I kn ow that Mr . CHOATE has been here ,—I heard him , and before a

Whig caucus , defend the policy of the Fugitive Slave Bill . He told us ,while I sat in the gallery, of the “ in famous ethics —the “ infam ous e thics,

that , from the Declaration of Independence and the Sermon on the Moun t

deduced the duty ofM edi ate emancipation .

' The se n tim e nfl'

ivas received ,I am thankful to say, with a solem n silence, though RUFUS CHOATE uttered

it to an assembly Of Webster Whi gs . I heard i t said to - day, that the Abo

li tion ists had done nothing , because a Fugitive , within the last twelve

months, had been taken out Of Boston . They have done a great deal , since ,s ixteen or seventeen years ago , PELEG SPRAGUE , standin g on thi s platform ,

pointed to that portrait [the port rai t of Washington , ] and call e d him that

Slaveholder .' It is not now considered a merit in Washi ngton that he held

Slaves ; men apologize fo r it now. I stood in thi s hall , sixteen years ago ,when Abolitionist was linked with epithets of contempt, in the silver

tones of OTIS , and all the charms that a divin e eloquence and most felicitous

diction could throw ar oun d a bad cause were given it the excited multitude

seemed actually ready to leap up beneath the magic of his speech . It would

be something , if o n e must die, to die by such a hand ; a hand somewhat

wo rthy and able to stifle A nti - Slavery, if it could be stifled . The orator was

worthy of the gigantic task he attempted ; and thousands crowded before

him, every on e of their hear ts melted in the glowing enthusiasm of that

eloquence , beneath whi ch Massachusetts had bowed, n ot unworthil y, for

more than thirty years . I came here again this last fall . It was the first

time that I had been present since at a Whig meeting . I fou nd RUFUS

CHOATE on the platform . Compared with the calm grace and di gnity ofOH S , the thought of which came rushing back, he struck me like a monkey

in convulsions . (Ro ars of laughter and cheers .) Alas , I said, if the party

that has own ed Massachusetts so long , which spoke to me, as a boy, through

the lips of QUINCY and SULL IV AN , of WEBSTER an d OTIS , has sunk down to

the miserable sophistry of this mountebank and I felt proud of the cityo f my birth , as I looked over the murmur ing multitude beneath me , on

whom his spasmodic chatter fell lik e a we t blanket . (Great laughter and

cheering . ) He did not dare to touch a second time on the Fugitive Slave

B ill . He tried it once , with his doctrine of in famous ethics , and th e men

S P E E C H .

were as silent as the pillars around them . Ah , thought I , we have been here

a little too Often before and if we have not M pre sse d the seal of our senti

ments very deeply on the people , they have at least learned that immediate

emancipation , though possibly it be a dream, is n ot infamous ethics and

that such doctrine , th e Declaration of Independence and th e Sermon on th e

Mount , need more than the flashy rhetoric of a Webster retainer to tear

them asunder . (Great cheering . )The judges Of the Commonwealth—the judges of the Commonwealth

I have something to say of them . I wish sometimes we lived in England,and I will tell you why. Because John Bull has some degree of self- respect

left . There is an innate, dogged obstinacy in him, that would never permit

the successors of a HALE, a BULLER, a MANSF IELD , or a BROUGHA M , to

stoop beneath any chain that a City Constable could put round NV e st

minster Hall . I was once a member Of the profession myself, but glad

I am so no longer, Sin ce the head of it has bowed his burly person to

FRAN C IS TUE EY ’

S chain . (Cheers ) D id he not know that he was making

hi story that hour, when the Chief Justice of the Commonwealth entered

his own Court , bowin g down like a criminal beneath a chain four feet from

the soil ' D id he not know that he was the author of that decision which

shal l be remembered when every other case in Pickering’ s Reports is lost,declaring the Slave MED a free woman the moment she sat foot on the soil

ofMassachusetts, and that he owed more respect to him self and hi s own

fame , than to d isgrace the ermine by passing beneath a chain ' There is

something in emblems . There is something , on great occasions , even in the

attitude of a man . Chi ef Justice SHAw betrayed the Bench and the Courts

of the Commonwealth, and the honor of a noble profession , when for any

purpose , still less for the purpose of enabli ng GEORGE T . CURTIS to act his

melancholy farce in peace , he crept under a chain into his own court room .

And besides,what a wanton and gratuitous insult it was ' What danger

was there,with two hundred men inside the Cour t House , and thr ee hun

dred m e n aroun d it on the sidewalk ' Near five hundred sworn policemen

in and around that building—what need for any chain 9 It was put there

in wanton insult to the feelings of the citizens of Boston , nothing else in

wanton servility to the Slave Power, nothin g else ;— in wanton flattery

to DAN IEL WEBSTER. Yes , it was the gratuitousness Of the insul t that makes

it all the more unbearable And the Old chief,' as we loved to call him ,

made himself,in timid servili ty, party to the in sult and the degradation .

How truly American ' Ah , our Slave system by no means exists only on

Southern plantations

We are said to be unr easonable in th is manner Of cri ticising the in stitu

tions,laws and men of our country. It is thought that, as li ttle men, we

are borm d to tune our voices and how our heads to the great intellects , as

they are c alled,Of the land—Mr . WEBSTER and others . He tells us , that

there are certain important interests concerned in this question , whi ch we

are bound to regard,and not abstract theori es about the equality of men ,

and the freedom of humble indi vi duals . Well, all I say to that is , when

doll ars are to be di scussed , let hi m discuss them with FRAN KL IN HAV EN, in

S P E E C H .

the directors ’ room of the Merchants B ank . Let him di scuss them over the

bursting ledgers OfMilk street that is the place for dollar t alks . But there

is no room for dollars in Faneui l Hall . The idea Of liberty is the great fun

d am e n tal principle of this Spot — that a man is worth more than a bankvault . (Loud cheers .)I know Mr . WEBSTER has , on various occasions , in timated that thi s is not

statesmanshi p in the United States that the cotton mil ls of Lowell, the

s chooners of Cape Cod, the coasters of Marblehead, the coal and iron mines

of Penn sylvani a, and the business of Wall street , are the great interests

which thi s government is fram ed to protect . He intimated, all through the

recent d iscussion , that property is the great element thi s government is to

stand by and protect— the test by whi ch its success is to be appreciated .

Perhaps it is so ; perhaps it is SO ; and if the maki ng of money, if ten per

cent . a year , if the placing of o n e dollar on the top of another, h e the highest

effort ofhuman skill if the answer to the old Pur itan catechi sm What

is the chief end ofman is to be changed, as , accordi ng to modern State

craft it ought to be, why , be it so . Nicholas , of Russia, made a catechism

for the Poles, in whi ch they are taught that Christ is next below God, and

the Emperor of all the Russias is next below Chr ist. SO , j udging by the

tenor Of his recent speeches, DANIEL has got a catechi sm ,“ IV h at is the

chi ef end ofman i The old on e of the IV e sm in ste r divines , of SELDEN and

HUGH PETERS , of COTTON and the MATHERS , used to answer, To glorify

God and enjoy him forever ; that is KANE - treason now . The chi ef end

ofm an P why , it is to save the Union

A VO ICE . Three cheers for the Union

Mr . PH ILLIP S . - Feeble cheers those (Great applause) and a very

thankless office it is to defend the Union on that lay. Did you ever read the

fable of the wolf that met the dog ' The on e was fat, the other gaunt and

fami ne struck . The wolf said to the dog , Y ou are very fat . Yes , r e

plied the dog, “ I get al ong very well at home . “roll , said the wolf,could you take me home '

'

0 , certainly.

' So they trott ed along to

gether but as they neared the house, the wolf caught sight of several ugly

scars on the neck of the dog , and ste ppin g , cried, XV h e r e did you g e t those

scars on your neck ; they look very sore and bloody ' 0 , said the do g ,they tie me up at night, and I have rather an inconvenient iron collar on

my neck . But that ’s a small matter ; they feed me well . On the

whole ,' said the wolf, taking the food and the collar together, I prefer to

remain in the woods . ' Now , if I am allowed to choose , I do not like the

collar of DANIEL WEBSTER and Parson DEW EY, and there are certain ugly

scars I see about their necks . I Should not like , Dr . DEW EY, to promise to

return my mother to Slavery ; and, Mr. WEBSTER , I prefer to be lean and

keep my prejudi ces , to getting fat by smothering them . I do not like

your idea of the Yankee character , which seems to be too near that of the

Scotsman , of whom Dr . JOHNSO N said that if he saw a doll ar o n the other

side ofhell , he would make a spring for it at the risk Of fall in g in . (Laugh

ter .) Under correction of these great statesmen and divi nes , I c annot thi nk

this the be a n ide a l of human perfection . I do not care whether the

S P E E C H .

schooners of Harwich, under Slaveholdin g bunting , catch fish and keep

them or not I do not care whether the mill s of ABBOT LAW RENCE make

him worth two millions or on e whether the iron and coal mines ofPenn

sylvani a are profitable or not , if in order to have them profitable , we must

go down on our marrow bones and thank DAN IEL WEBSTER for saving

his Union , cal l Mayor B i G ELow an honorable man and Mayor , and a ckn owl

edge FRAN C IS TUKEY as Chief Ja stice of the Commonwealth . I prefer hun

ger and the woods to the hopeless task of maintain ing the sincerity ofDANIEL

WV EB STER , o r bending under the chain of FRANC IS TUR EY . (Tremendous

cheerin g . )Sir , I have someth ing to say of this o ld Commonwealth . I went up one

day into the Senate Chamber of Massachusetts , i n which the OTISES , the

Q U INCYS , and the A DAMSES , PARSONS and SEDGW ICK , SEW ALL and STRONG ,have s at and spoke i n times gone by ; in whi ch the noblest legislation in the

world, on many great points of human concern, has made her the noblest

State in the world , the good old Commonwealth of Massachusetts , and

I stood there to see this impudent City Marshal tell the Senate of Massa

chuse tts that he knew he was tramplin g on the laws of the Commonwealth ,and th at he intended to , so long as cotton - born and bought Mayors told hi m

to do so 1 And there was n o t spirit enough in the Free Soil party, no , nor

in the Democratic p arty ,— there was not self- respect enough in the verySenators who were sworn to mai ntain these laws , to defend them against th is

insolent boast of a City Constable. Now , fellow- citizens , you may , and

probably do , think me a fanatic til l you judge men and thin gs on different

principles, I do not care much what you think me I have outgrown that

interesting anx iety,— but I tell you th i s, if I see the Commonwealth upsidedown , I mean to keep my neck free enough from collars to say so ; and I

thin k it is upside down when a City Constable dictates law in the Senate

Chamber of Massachusetts . (Loud cheers .)Mr . President, let me add on e thing more . Fo r FRAN CIS TUKEY, I have no

epithet of contempt , o r of indignation . He may, and does , fo r aught I know ,

perform his duties as City Marshal efficiently and well . I know he would,had he been present , have done his duty, and h is Deputy stood ready to do it

that night in GEORGE THO M P SON ’ S presence , if we ha d really h ad a Mayor,and not an old woman in th e Mayor’ s chair . (Great laughter and cheerin g . )I find little fault, comparatively, wi th the City Marshal of Boston , that he

di d the infamous duty which the merchants of Boston set him . The fault I

rather Choose to note is that the owner of the br ig Acorn can walk up State

Street, and be as honored a man as he was before that JOHN H . PEARSO N

walks our streets as erect as ever , and n o merchant shrinks from his side .

But we wil l put the fact that h e owned that brig , and th e infamous use he

made of it, so blackly o n record , that his chi ldren— yes , H IS CH ILDREN ,woul d gladl y, twenty years li e xl

c e , forego all the wealth he will leave them ,

to blot out that single record . (Enthusiastic applause The time shall

come when it will be thought the unkindest thi ng in the world for an y o n e

to remi nd th e son of that man , that his father's name was JOHN H . P EARSON ,

and that he owned the Acorn . (Renewed cheerin g

S P E E C H .

[At this point a voice called out , Three cheers “for JOHN H . PEARSON .

After what had been said fr om the platform , such a call was n ot likely to

be very warmly r e spofide d to ; but one or two voices were rais ed, and Mr .

PH ILL IPS continued ]Yes , it is fitting that the cheer should be a poor one, when , in the

presence of that merchant, [pointing to the portrait of JOHN HANCO CK]of that merchant, who led the noblest movement for civ il liberty evermade on this side the ocean, when, in his presence , you attempt to cheer

the ’ miserable carrier o f Slaves , who calls himself, and al as ' according tothe present average of State Street , has a right to call h imself, a Boston

merchant .

I want to remark on e other change , Since we were shut out of Faneuil

Hall . It is this \V ithi n a few months , I stood in thi s Hall , when CHARLES

FRANC IS ADA M S was o n the platform ;—a noble representative , a worthy

son , let me say in passing , of the two A DAMS ES that hung here above him .

\V hi le h ere he had occasion to mention the name of DAN IEL WEBSTER , as I

have once o r twice tO - night , and it was received with cheer on cheer, four ,

fiv e and six times repeated dur ing the cour se of his speech . In fact, h e

could hardly go on for th e noisy opposition . That was at a time when some

m e n were crazy enough to think that DANIEL would yet be nominated for

th e Presidency ; but those gaudy soap bubbles have all burst . [“ Three

ch eers for DAN IEL Yes , th ree ch eers fo r S ir Pertinax

M'

S y c oph an t , who , all hi s l ife long h as been bowing down to the Slave

Power to secure the Presidency ; willing to sacrifice his manhood for the

p rom ise of a mess Of pottage , an d destined to be outwitted at last . (Cheers .)Th ree cheers for the man who , after “ many great and swelling words

against Texas , when fin ally the question of the Mex ican war was before the

Senate,did not dare to vote , but dodged the question , afraid to be wh o llv

Southerner o r Northerner, and strivin g , in vai n, to outdo W IN THOP in facing

bo th ways . (Cheers . ) Three cheers for the man wh o went into Virgini a ,and under an October sun of the Old Dominion , pledged himself— therecreant New Englander I— to silence on the Slave question ; a pledge in fa

mous enough in itself, but whose infa my was doubled when he broke it only

to speak again st the Slave on the seventh of Mar ch , 1 850. Three cheers for

him [Th e y were given , but so fain tly, that a shout of derision went up

from the whole audience ] Three cheers for the statesman who said On th e

steps of the Revere House , that “ this Agitation must be put down ,'

and

th e A gitation ists have entered Faneuil Hall before hi m . (G reat applause . )Three cheers for the man wh o could afford no better name to the Abolition

ists than rub—a - dub Agitators ,' till KO SSUTH fou nd no method but theirs

to chain th e milli ons to himself ; and then this far - sighted statesman d iscov

ered that there were people inclined to un derrate the influence of publi c

Opinion . (Cheers . ) Three cheers for the 1118111 wh o gave the State a new

motive to send HORACE MANN back to“rashin gton , lest we should be thought

guil ty abro ad of shocking bad taste in the Old Imperial tongue o f the

lomans . (Cheers .) Three cheers for th e man (0 , I lik e to repeat the

Book of Daniel ) three cheers for the \V h ig the Massachusetts Whig

S P E E C H .

the Faneuil Hall t i g , who came home to Massachusetts his own Mas

sa chuse tts, the State he thought he owned, body and soul—that camehome to Massachusetts, and lobbied SO effi ciently as to secure the election

of CHARLES SU M NER to the Senate of the United States (Loud cheers .)A Voice Three cheers for CHARLES SU M NER . (Overwhelming ap

plause .) Three cheers for

Mr . PHILL IP S continued I do not know that I care , Mr . Chairman , which

way the balance Of cheers goes in respect to the gentleman whose name has

just been mentioned [Mn WEBSTER .] It is said, you know , that when

Washington stood before the surrenderin g army of Cornwallis , some of the

American troops , as Cornwallis came forward to sur render hi s sword, began ,in very bad taste , to cheer . The noble Virgini an turned to them and said ,Let posteri ty cheer fo r us ; and they were silent. Now, if DANIEL

WEBSTER has done anythin g on the subject Of Slavery whi ch posterity will

n ot have the kindness to forget, may he get cheers for it, fifty years hence,and in this Hall ; using my Yankee priv ilege , however, I rather guess

some future D '

Israe li will be able to put that down in contin uation of hi s

grandfather ’s chapter of Events that never took place . I much , I very

much doubt , whether, fifty years hence , Massachusetts will n ot choose men

with back bones to send to \Vashin gton not men who go there to yield up ,to the great temptations, social and poli tical, of the capital , the di stinctive

interests of Massachusetts and New England . I believe, no matter whether

the Abolitionists have done much or little , that the average of political inde

pe n d e n c e has risen within the last ten or fifteen years . I know that strange

sounds have been heard fiom the House of Representatives and the Senate

within the last ten o r fifteen years ' that the Old tone SO often breathed

there of Northern subm i ssion has very much changed since JOHN QU INCY

ADA M S vindicated free Speech on the floor Of that House . I read just n ow

a speech worthy, in some respects, of Faneui l Hall, from the lips of ROBERT

RANTOUL , in rebuke of a recrean t Aboli tionist from the banks of the Con

n e cticut [ GEORGE T . DA v1 s.] I know n ot what may be the futur e

course of Mr. RANTOUL on this question ; I know not how erect he may

stand hereafter ; but I am willing to give him good credit in the futur e , so

well paid has been this his fir st bill of exchange . (Great cheering .) He

has done , at least , his duty to the constituency he represented. He looked

North for hi s instructions . The time has been when no Massachusetts rep

re se n tativ e looked North ; we saw only their backs . They have always

looked to the Southern Cross ; they never turned their eyes to the North

Star . They never looked back to the Massachusetts that sent them .

CHARLES ALLEN and HORACE MANN, no matter how far they may be from

the level of what we call Anti - Slavery, Show us at least this cheering Sign .

Whi le speaking, they have turned their faces toward Massachusetts . They

reflect the public Opin i on of the State they represent. They look to Faneuil

Hall, not to the October sun of the Old Domini on . N ow, Mr . Chairman ,ifwe c an come to this Hall, year after year if we can hold these meetings

if we can sustain any amoun t of ridi cule for the sake Of Anti - Slavery ; if

we can fill yonder State House with legislative action that shall vindi cate

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LIBRARY OFCONGRESS

S P E E C H 001 1 8 9 9 603 3

the old of the State if we can fill every town house and school house

in the State with Anti - Slavery agitation , then the eyes of every caucus and

every political meeting , and of Congress , will all tur n North, an d, God

willi ng , they shall se e a North worth looking at . IV e will have better e v i

dence than the somewhat apocryphal assurance of Mr . WEBSTER , at Marsh

fie ld , in’

48 , that the North Star is at last dis covered . There will n ot only

be a shrine , but worshi ppers . (Cheers . )I have not the voice to detain this meeting an y longer . I am rejoiced to

find myself again in Faneuil Hall , and am glad it has so happened that the

very first meeting Of the Massachusetts Anti - Slavery Society, since April

1 2 th , 1 851 , has b een within these walls , and that the first note of their

rebuk e of the City Government, and of the Mi lk Street interest whose

servant it stooped to be , has been from the platform of Faneuil Hall .

(Applause.)