Phillips

“ Phillips is, in private life, aside from his abolition and sectional prejudices, a worthy, accomplished gentleman. He is the most eloquent and graceful speaker to whom we ever listened. He seems to distill manna and ambrosia from his lips, but is all the while firing whole broadsides of hot shot. "He is his own antithesis"—an infernal machine set to music. ”

“ Born in the highest possible position in America, Mr. Phillips has all the advantages that birth can give to one in that country. Educated at the first University, graduating with all the honours which the College could bestow on him, and studying the law and becoming a member of the bar, he has all the accomplishments that these advantages can give to a man of a great mind. Nature has treated him as a favourite. His stature is not tall, but handsome; his expressive countenance paints and reflects every emotion of his soul. ”

“ Phillips, thrust ever between them, against the background of that hideous furniture, of those bilious wall papers—the loneliness that would ever walk with her, sit down beside her in the crowded restaurant, steal up the staircase with her, creep step by step with her from room to room—the ever unsatisfied yearning for a tender word, a kindly touch. ”

“ As a public speaker, Mr. Phillips is, without doubt, the first in the United States. Considering his great talent, his high birth, and the prospects which lay before him, and the fact that he threw everything aside to plead the slave's cause, we must be convinced that no man has sacrificed more upon the altar of humanity than Wendell Phillips.
Within the past ten years, a great impetus has been given to the anti-slavery movement in America by coloured men who have escaped from slavery. ”

“ Captain Phillips pointed towards the clump of trees where he had tied it up.
"Will you fetch it?" said Shere Ali, and as Phillips walked off, he turned towards the nobles and the old mullah who stood amongst them. Phillips heard his voice, as he began to speak, and was surprised by a masterful quiet ring in it. "The doubtful quantity seems to have grown into a man," he thought, and the thought gained strength when he rode his horse back from the clump of trees towards the group. ”

“ Wendell Phillips achieved the astonishing feat of speaking three hundred times a year. Eloquence is born of a great theme like the woes and wrongs of three million slaves. It is sometimes said that oratory is dying out in our Congress. But Congress is now a board of trade, discussing duties, protective tariffs on wool, cotton, and hides. Beecher and Phillips had a great theme—liberty, the emancipation of millions of slaves. The modern orator in the Senate discusses the mathematics of woolen goods. It is hard to be eloquent over one salt barrel and two piles of cowhides. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ From that time Phillips continued the faithful and unflinching opponent of slavery, raising his voice against it throughout the land and devoting his gifts and varied powers to the single purpose of its abolition and destruction. Although the matter of Phillips' speeches was nearly always fiery and impassioned, his delivery as well as his manner was invariably calm, reserved, perfectly easy and natural, giving him a power over audiences that compelled interest and attention, even when they most disagreed with him. ”

“ Garrison hung up his shield and sword at a definite point, and marked the era of victory with devout thankfulness; and we can but regret, that the more exacting mind of Phillips was too much fixed on what yet was wanting to share the well earned joy.
When there is strong light there must be shadow, and the only shadow we discern in the public virtues of Mr. Phillips is the want of a certain power to appreciate and make allowances for the necessary weaknesses and imperfections of human nature. ”

“ It was impossible for any one to see into the living-rooms, for the house was built upon a slope and the front door was approached by a flight of steps. Just as Phillips was turning away a man emerged from behind a belt of shrubs, followed by a truculent-looking bull-terrier. He looked like a gardener, though there was in his appearance that faint, intangible something which suggested a close familiarity with the turf. He eyed Phillips sourly and suspiciously, and none too politely requested to know his business. ”

“ Phillips among the most genial and sunny of human beings, really incapable of any malign passion, he would fool the reactive sting of this invective in his own bosom, and so become fearful of indulging it. ”

“ His shop became a depôt for the advanced democratic literature of the revolutionary epoch, and, to give further expression to his views, Phillips founded in May 1792 the ‘Leicester Herald,’ he himself acting as editor, and upholding the rights of man in no measured terms. ”

“ Phillips was one of those quiet, unobtrusive workers whose work is not much known or appreciated, but we who have been her fellow-workers for more than ten years know how real was her love for the work, and how often in great weariness and pain she did her utmost to bring the women and children to the feet of Jesus. ”

“ They became the representative orators of the antislavery party, Phillips on the platform {508} and Sumner in the Senate. The former first came before the public in his fiery speech, delivered in Faneuil Hall December 8, 1837, before a meeting called to denounce the murder of Lovejoy, who had been killed at Alton, Ill., while defending his press against a pro-slavery mob. Thenceforth Phillips's voice was never idle in behalf of the slave. His eloquence was impassioned and direct, and his English singularly pure, simple, and nervous. ”

“ Of course Charlie Phillips had not stolen the four hundred dollars. Had not he, Jed Winslow, loudly proclaimed to Ruth Armstrong that he knew her brother to be a fine young man, one who had been imprudent, it is true, but much more sinned against than sinning and who would henceforth, so he was willing to swear, be absolutely upright and honest? Of course the fact that a sum of money was missing from the Orham National Bank, where Phillips was employed, did not necessarily imply that the latter had taken it. ”

“ The condition of the laboring classes in America, where a thrifty and temperate mechanic can occupy as good a house as a country doctor in Europe, is the most favorable yet known in history; much more favorable, comparatively, than that of our professional classes; but Phillips had seen the most wealthy and highly educated people ranged against him throughout the long conflict with slavery, and had acquired the habit of considering them a dangerous element in the community. ”

“ But I have learnt worldly wisdom, and can imagine how it would be if Sir George were suddenly face to face with poverty. He is completely under Copley's thumb. If these two men bring off their coup, they will make an enormous fortune. But it must be prevented at all costs, Phillips. Think out some scheme of checkmate, and I shall be your debtor for the rest of my life."
"I think I can manage that," Phillips said. "I'll tell you what my plan is when we get back to my rooms."
[167] CHAPTER XXII
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE MAJOR CARDEN sat over the breakfast which his daughter had prepared for him. ”

“ At a later period, when the rising generation caught the living spark as it fell from the lips of their giant fathers; a Phillips has pleased and fascinated by the grace and vigor of his action, the strength and fervor of his imagination, and the dignity and suavity of his manner ”

“ Phillips, just come down stairs, please; I want to speak to you.—Come into the library, only Mr. D'Aubrey is here.'
(Humph! Only Mr. D'Aubrey!—'Oh, for to-morrow!')
Enter Mrs. Phillips, one of those fat, pylygastric nurses, who divide the twenty-four hours into four days, so as to have three meals to each of their diurnal revolutions; whose digestive organs, if they could speak, would strike for wages; whose eyes move but never look; their atmosphere [Pg 5] —what Germans might call expression—being that of massive rest. ”

“ PHILLIPS, WILLIAM (1775–1828) , mineralogist and geologist, born on 10 May 1775, was the son of James Phillips, a printer and bookseller in George Yard, Lombard Street, London, and a member of the Society of Friends. Catherine Phillips [q. v.] was his grandmother. William engaged in his father's business as printer and bookseller, and at his father's death succeeded to the full control. About 1796 he and his younger brother, Richard [q. v.] , took a leading part in founding a society, called the Askesian (ἄσκησις) , for the discussion of scientific and philosophical questions. ”

“ There is nothing I can compare with the unconscious grace and purity of Phillips in his best moments except a picture by Raphael, or one of Milton's shorter poems. It was no lurid brilliancy or artificial light that shone from him, but rather the cheerful radiance of spring sunshine. No matter how gloomy the political outlook might be, or in what sombre colors he depicted it, this light from the man himself illuminated his subject and gave encouragement to his hearers. ”

“ PHILLIPS, GEORGE (1804–1892) , oriental scholar, third son of Francis Phillips, farmer, was born at Dunwich in Suffolk on 11 Jan., and baptised at Westleton on 5 Feb. 1804. His father removed soon afterwards to Otley, where, in 1887, Phillips placed a clock, to be called ‘the Phillips clock,’ in the tower of the parish church, in remembrance of the early years of his life. After spending his early years in farmwork, and acquiring a knowledge of mathematics in his leisure, he became a master in the grammar school of Woodbridge, whence he removed to the grammar school of Worcester. ”

“ In this occupation every man faced his own responsibilities single-handed, for there were neither drays nor carts nor vehicles of any sort.
As Phillips looked on at the disorder along the water's edge, as he stared up the fir-flanked Dyea valley, whither a steady stream of traffic flowed, he began to feel a fretful eagerness to join in it, to be up and going. 'Way yonder through those hills towered the Chilkoot, and beyond that was the mighty river rushing toward Dawson City, toward Life and Adventure, for that was what the gold-fields signified to Phillips. Yes, Life! ”

“ We are glad, though at a late hour, to pay, with many others, our tribute to the ability and worth of Wendell Phillips, and to review his life and work. Glad to do this, for his life was clean and clear, the kind men love to honor; his work was that of the philanthropist and patriot. He had entered his seventy-third year, having been born November 29, 1811, in a house which is still standing on the lower corner of Beacon and Walnut streets, Boston. He came from one of Boston’s aristocratic families; for several generations the Phillipses were well known, rich and influential. ”

“ The South had gone one step too far. Abolition stood suddenly in a new light; "More abolitionists had been made by this single piece of hostile legislation," said Greeley, "than Garrison [Pg 89] and Phillips could have made in half a century."
For thirty years Wendell Phillips was the crowned king of the lecture platform. It was the golden age of the lyceum. Men had more leisure than to-day. Our era of the drama, music, and travel pictures had not yet come. The winter nights were long, books few, magazines had not yet developed, and the people were hungry for instruction and eloquence. ”

“ Thus an organized and secret, and, when practicable, open war on all religion, on God, on all authority, all law, and especially on capital or individual property. What positive result is to follow, Mr. Phillips confesses his inability to tell.
From Mr. Phillips we learn that they aim at the destruction of the whole modern industrial system, and propose that the workmen shall take possession of the establishments created by capitalists, incorporated or not, and run them on their own account, and share the profits among themselves, without any indemnification to the owners. ”

“ But why, Sears? There's nothing wrong in a man like Mr. Phillips bein' interested in such things, is there? I should think it would be—well, sort of natural for a person who has been rich as he used to be to keep up his interest."
"I presume likely it is."
"Then why do you want to know about it?"
The captain picked up his hat. "Oh, for no particular reason, maybe, Sarah," he replied. "Perhaps I shall be rich sometime—if I live to be a hundred and eighty and save a dollar a day as I go along—and then I shall want to know how to invest my money. ”

“ Phillips who might receive the attentions of the constable.
Egbert stopped staring and once more looked at the clock. Quarter past two! He turned again quickly.
"Kendrick," he snapped, "what is your proposition?"
"My proposition? I want you to pay me the sixteen hundred dollars Kent put into that C. M. stock deal. If you do that I'll give you his signed paper turnin' over to you all interest in the deal. You can make all the profit on it yourself—when it comes. Then in matter of Cordelia's bonds——"
Phillips lifted a hand.
"The bonds are not to be considered," he said, decisively. ”