Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/808

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PHILLIPS
PHILLIPS

popular resort. He was at all times an earnest champion of temperance, and in later years the advocate of prohibition. He was also foremost among those claiming the ballot for woman. He advocated the rights of the Indians, and labored to reform the penal institutions of the country after the slavery question was settled. He espoused the cause of the labor reformers, and in 1870 accepted from them and from the Prohibitionists a nomination as candidate for governor. He advocated what has been called the “greenback” theory of finance. “The wages system,” he said, “demoralizes alike the hirer and the hired, cheats both, and enslaves the workingman,” while “the present system of finance robs labor, gorges capital, makes the rich richer and the poor poorer, and turns a republic into an aristocracy of capital.” He lent his aid to the agitation for the redress of the wrongs of Ireland. In 1881 he delivered an address at the centennial anniversary of the Phi Beta Kappa of Harvard college, which was pronounced, on very high authority, “an oration of great power and beauty, full of strong thoughts and happy illustrations, not unworthy of any university platform or academic scholar,” though containing some sentiments from which a portion of his audience strongly dissented. As an avowed critic of public men and measures, speaking year after year, almost always extemporaneously, and often amidst scenes of the greatest excitement, nothing less than a miracle could have prevented him from sometimes falling into mistakes and doing injustice to opponents; but it is believed that there is nothing in his record to cast a shadow upon his reputation as one who consecrated great gifts and attainments to the welfare of his country. His last public address was delivered on 26 Dec., 1883, at the unveiling of Miss Whitney's statue of Harriet Martineau, at the Old South church, in Boston. A little more than a month after this the great orator passed from earth. The event was followed by a memorial meeting in Faneuil hall, and by appropriate action on the part of the legislature and the city government. After the funeral the remains were taken from the church to Faneuil hall, whither they were followed by a vast multitude. Mr. Phillips published “The Constitution a Pro-Slavery Contract” (Boston, 1840) and “Review of Webster's 7th of March Speech” (1850). A collection of his speeches, letters, and lectures, revised by himself, was published in 1863 in Boston. Among his lectures on other than anti-slavery topics were “The Lost Arts,” “Toussaint l'Ouverture,” and “Daniel O'Connell.” His life has been written by George Lowell Austin (Boston, 1888).


PHILLIPS, Morris, journalist, b. in London England, 9 May, 1834. After receiving a liberal education in New York he entered a law-office, then accepted a post in a mercantile firm in Cleve- land, but returned again to law in Buffalo. In 1854 he became secretary of George P. Morris, editor of the " Home Journal," with which paper he has been connected ever since, occupying every post from proof-reader to editor-in-chief. On Gen. Morris's death, in 1864, he became co-editor with Nathaniel P. Willis, and on the latter's demise in 1866, sole proprietor, associating with himself in 1867 George Perry. Mr. Phillips introduced soci- ety journalism in this country.


PHILLIPS, Philip, singer, b. in Chautauqua county, N. Y., 13 Aug., 1834; d. in Delaware, 25 June, 1895. He developed a talent for music, and later studied under LoweJI Mason. In 1853 he be- gan to conduct singing-schools in Alleghany and in other towns and cities. He united with the Methodist church with his wife in 1860; before that time he had been a Baptist. In the same year he brought out his first'musical publication, " Earlv Blossoms," of which he sold 20,000 copies. The next year he opened a music-store in Cincinnati, where he published " Musical Leaves " (Cincinnati, 1862 ; revised ed.. 1867), which had a sale of 700,000 copies. During the civil war he gave powerful aid to the Christian commission by his services of song in different parts of the country. In 1866 he came to New York, and two years later he visited Eng- land, where he held services in all parts of the country. He also prepared, for the British Sun- day-school union, " The American Sacred Songster " (London, 1868), of which 1,100,000 copies were sold. Several years later he made a tour of the world, holding praise services in the Sandwich islands, Australia, New Zealand, Palestine, Egypt, and India, and in the cities of Europe. He had published a large number of song collections, in- cluding "Spring Blossoms" (Cincinnati, 1865); " Singing Pilgrim " (New York, 1866) ; " Day-School Singer " (Cincinnati, 1869) ; " Gospel Singer" (Bos- ton, 1874) ; " Song Sermons " (New York, 1877), and others, and also " Song Pilgrimage around and throughout the World, with an Introduction by John H. Vincent, and a Biographical Sketch by A. Clark" (Chicago. 1880).


PHILLIPS, Samuel, clergyman, b. in Salem, Mass., 17 Feb., 1690 ; d. in Andover, Mass., 5 June, 1771. He was the grandson of the Rev. Samuel Phillips, of Rowley, and eldest child of Samuel, a goldsmith of Salem. He was graduated at Harvard in 1708, subsequently taught at Chebacco, then studied theology, and was ordained minister of the south parish of Andover in October, 1711, which relationship lasted during his lifetime. He pub- lished an "Elegy" (1718), and numerous religious treatises and occasional sermons (1727-'67). — His son, John, benefactor, b. in Andover, Mass., 6 Dec, 1719; d. in Exeter, N. H., 21 April, 1795, was graduated at Harvard in 1735, studied theology, and preached for a time. He subsequently became a merchant at Exeter, N. H., and was for several years a member of the New Hampshire council. He endowed a professorship in Dartmouth, and contributed liberally to Princeton. With his brother Samuel he founded Phillips Andover academy, 21 April, 1778, giving to it |31,000, be- sides a third interest in his estate, and in 1781 he founded Phillips Exeter academy, and endowed it with $134,000.— John's nephew^ Samuel, Jr., b. in North Andover, Mass., 7 Feb., 1751 ; d. there, 10 Feb., 1802, was graduated at Harvard in 1771, was a member of the Provincial congress, and of the Constitutional convention of 1779, for twenty years a state senator, and for fifteen years its president. He was a judge of the court of common pleas in 1781-98, a commissioner of the state in Shays's in- surrection, and was lieutenant-governor at the time of his death. He was also much engaged in agriculture, manufactures, and mercantile pursuits. He planned and organized Phillips Andover acade- my, the first incorporated academy in the state and one of the first in the country, gave it some lands, and procured endowments for it from his father, uncles, and cousin. At his death he left a fund to the town of Andover, the income of which was to be applied to the cause of education. He was one of the founders of the American academy of arts and sciences at Boston. See " Memoir of Hon. Samuel Phillips " by John L. Taylor (Boston, 1856). — His wife, Phoebe Foxcraft, d. in Andover in 1818, assisted in founding Andover theological seminary after her husband's death.