WENDELL PHILLIPS BEFORE THE CONCORD LYCEUM.[1]
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;
- ↑ From "The Liberator," March 28, 1845.
