Speech Of Wendell Phillips

Mk. Pkksideft, Lames and Gk.ntlk3iKN : - We have beea accustomed to come hero for tho laat twenty yeare, and sorno of' us Lave thóuglit that vvithin a year or two it would be possible to discontinue those meetings. I tliink that dependa very materially upon what can be done bofore tho first day of Decernbor ncxt. If during that time such a state of public opinión can be matured aa will keep the Repnbücan parly a unit, and preserve President Johnson on otar aide, then I tliink, in all human probability, theso meetings as anli-s!avery meetings will ceaee ín a twelveraonth or moro. But if, on tho contrary, tho events ef this slimmer shall divide the Republiean party, and shall lenve President Johnson where he stands to-day, then our chüdrcn will be engaged for ti i e uext fifteen or twenty yeurs in the same struggle betwcen the Norih and South that we havo taken part in for tho last thirty years. In other words, if a certain policy can be acted upon the next eight rronths, thcn the question of race will bo taken out from politics, and the strugglo between northeru and southern ideas will be cnded. If, on the contrary, the polioy at present pursued at the white Soase is continued into tho the next session of Congress, then I think that the same struggle which has been representad by battles will take place in politics, at leatj as long as yofa aud I live. Let me tul! you what T mean : The war haR been a struggle botween the ideas of the North - universal suflrage, equality, humauity - and iho iduas of the South, bascd upon aristocratie institutions, a göverning race and a subject race. Tho two ideas went to battlo. For four years the fight has gono ou. In that battle the North has conquered. Nuw comes the question, whether 1 shall be permitted to organize the southern and rebelling half of the Uaion on my policy - uuiversal, absolute equality before the law ? The idea we i'ought for, shall we be allowed to carry it out in politics 'í The radical members of the Republicau party say yes. Mr. Sumner said to Mr. Linnoln, " Those states cught tobe reconstructed on the basis ot the Declaration of Independer.ee If you agroe to that, count tce your fiiüüd; if you organize on any other basia, couut 1110 your opponent." Well, that is tho secret of the whole struggle. Precideut Johnson assumes office. The white race stand to day - how ? They hare got education, they have got weallh, they have got fashioo. Thero aro three elements of power - faehion, social prestige, education and property. What is the other element that goes to make up a state? Why, it Í3 political rights. Fastiion, wealth, money, politics - those make a state. Now the wliito race has faskion, education and property. What have we asked for the black race to countervail tl is manifest preponderance ? We have asked a share in politics. Mr. Sutnoer, Mr. WilsoD, Mr. Kelley, they say to him : " Sir, the white race bas three elements ; make the fourth impartial." The President says, " I hesiute, I do uotsee my way clear." What do these genilemeu say? " Ifyoudon't seo your way clear, stop; if the way don't "open beloie you, stand still untiï it does. It you don't seo your way cleai to reorganizo those states, keep them where thej are." That is the advice Mr, Sarrinar gave him; that is the advice Mr. Bout wali gave hiin ; that is the advice Judge Kelley gaue him. I have no disposi-tíon to bear hard on the President. The solution of the question depends upoo bis being on our side. I am only standing here to-day to take counsel with you to find out - what? Twothings - what are lbo indicatious in our possessiou to-day of rwbere the President me&s to stuud ? That is the first question. The secoud is, if he is not standing right to-day, how can he be made to ? Let me show you the importance of the question : " Where will President Johnson stand on the fourth day of next December ?" The press and tho public speakers re ccntly uudertook to disous how we could keep the rebel states out of Congruss. Men eay, " Tho noxt Congress may be relied upon ; they cannot get a majority to vote them in. No matter wbere President JohuEon stands, there is tho bulwark of Cougress ; they uever will reoognizo these states." Is uot that the comfort which every politician gives you ? There would be some hopo if tho meiubers of Congress would have an opportunity - with the aelegates of the rebel staRes outside of the doors of Congreps - to vote whether they should sit thero. But, in my opinión, they never wili have the opportuuity. 1 will teil you why. President Johnson's theory is, that the states have never been out'of the Uaion, Thoir relations have only been suspended, not deatroyed. They are goiug to have me'rnbers of Congress chqyen this summer. During the neyt five montbs they will be eleo'ed. On the 4tli day of December eighty-four southeru rtpresentatives, from JSÍortb Carolina, Suuth Oaiolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louifiana, Arkausas, lUorida, nul Texas, will march i'ritd Washington. Wil! they stay at the outsido oí the doors of Congress ? No ! they w!l walk into Congress, and sit down in their old geats. They will say, " GenÜcmen, President Johnson says the states have never been out of the Union." How can you check them ? Mr, McPherson, clerk of the House, is the only oilicer. Thp way you organize Oongress is tlrs : ÏIo rises and says, " Gentlemen, are you rcady to organice ?" " Vo aro," cry out the crowd. Hs then proceeds to calí stato aller state - Massachusetts, Maine, New Iïampshire, New York. Coonecticut, Rhode Island. Suppoae ho goes I on, aud calis North Carolina, Al;ibaúyi Mississippi. They respond. lt remaius witli hiiu, and with him only, wlielbüi' he símil qoII thoso eighty-four i raen inside. When lie has done it they ! vote for speaker. But you may say, " Mr. Boutwcll won't let them." Gen tlemen, it s not in order to object. If MoPhorson admita thein you cannot object to the speaker chosen. Wel), th.3 speaker is choseo. Mr. Boutwell rises and suya, " I move that Louisiana has uo right to sit on the floor." The subject is reforred to a comiuittee. Suppose the committee report that she is uot, or that sho ia, no matter whieh, The six gentlemen walk outside the bar. Of the eighty lour soulherners, sevontyeight reniaiu, and they vote 011 the question. Seveutyeight rebel representativea are to join in the decisión. But you sny, " Mr. McPherson won't do it." Why, there is not one politician to a tliousand coukl resist it, if the administration wished him to do it. If President Johnson says it ia to bo done, it will be done. If uot, it will not bo done That is the importauce of knovving whero the Piesidaat ineaus to stand on the fourth day of December. If he Iets the eolored race ktituy that he thinks thosa states have not dissolved their relatióos with the goverurnent, and have a right to resumo them, then ighty-four voters will walk inside of that Congress, and the question will be, not símil we admit thom, but ehall we put them out? Ou that question of putting them out, seveuty-eight of them will vote. The Democratie, party will join with them. A large share of the Republicau party will join with thein, if the President wishes it. So you see, gentlemen, our fate reets in the hands of the eolored race, and the disposition of Andrew Johnaon on the fourth day of 'December next. He, to-day, stands ui'ging those states to choose those men to Congress. Now, the question is, " Can we exert any auoh power on him as that, when he has got thera chosen, ha should allow them to etand outside 'of Oongress, and abide the judgtnent of the loyal members of that body ? We are hoping that thoso states will stand outside of Congross, and our llepublican party shall say, " You cannot come in until you send us a ratification of the conslituüonal amendment.-" But suppose when they stand there the clerk of the House drugs them in without giving us time to impose that condition ? Wliy, then, they will say, " Gentlemen here we are. If you want that amendment ratified we will treat. If you want it ratified, ratify the rebel debt ; if you want it ratifiad, ratify the eonstitulion. Here we are inside, unconditionally, unpledged." While they are out, the helm is in our hands. Whethor John McPherson cal!s those state in or leaves theni out - that is the hub of our politics, that the pivot of the natioual future. In order to prevent him you have got lo koep Andy Johnaon within the eight and sound of Charles Sumner and Judge Kelley's voioe and advice. To-day ho's not thore. What are the iudications of whero the President is ? The leading radicáis did not aak him to accept negro sufirngoThey only said to him, " If you cannot accept it, stop. Keep the states under military rule, send down military governors, reorganize iudustry and cotunieroe. L)o not let the states reorgauize as states, Reorganize coinmerce, protect iudustry, but let politics wait until the ÏN'orth ripens and tho Sou'.h recogoizes her position." If President Johnson really agreed with Charles Sumner, would he not have laken this adviee ? Where waa the harm of it - the danger ? He says to Mr. Sumuer, " I agree with you exactly;" says to Jalge Kelley, " Your, ideas are mine ; goes into the next chamber and organizes a state exactly opposite. What is the explanation ? Oh, men say, " He is trying an experiment." Gentlemen, go into the agrieultural country and propose a ncw method of culture. A man has got a hundred acres; does he plant his wholo hundred acres ? He saya, " Take twenty acres and try the experiment." If the President is trying an experiment,why did he not content himself with the State of North Carolina ? (A vniee - "How about South Carolina ?") It is said that he has organized South Carolina on the basis that every loyal man ahall vote. Suppose he has ? 1 would suggest to the friend that asked the question, that the only defenso oflered fr the President is that he had no lega! right to admit the negro. If he organued South Carolina on any other basi, he owng up that tliat excuse was a shain. If he could do it in South Carolina, he could do .t, in the whole. Why, he told the South Caro,liua delegation what his ground was - if the negro votes, he would vote as his maator wants him. He did not mean to put the poor whits into tliG hands of' the riuh white. . The negro voting as tbe rich white told him, Ihe paor vhito would be overw hchned. Now, gentletnen, 1 have never wished to blame the President, but he is a southerner. The mistake of this whole battlé is: that when there was a fight be tween out northern and eoutheru ideas we have had a suutlurn President. If liainlin had been Vice President, you might stay at homo. If Hamlin liad beon Vice-President, every negro m the Southern States to-day would have the same rights as tho white nin. Who turned liiin put ? Massachusetts íui-ihmI him out. Williaii) CliiíHin, of West Newton, eugincored this man into tlie presidenoy and ei:gineered Ilnmlin out, und Massachussetls must bear the blamo. The íact is, we have, in this strugglo betwcen norlhern and souüjern ideas, a Bouthernar - a man who cannot sec the negro impartially, who has the prejudioe of tle vvhitc race agaiust him. We havo got fivo montln to work in Tlierc (H a possibility tlial ha, likt' Abraham Linaoln, uny bc brouwt unto tb right basis He sent down Oail SehuPZ to . ine into the stales lie lias iiiiiugurLited. T lio New-York Jlernld says it was a wi.e thing. Well, ïiow Atidrew Juhusoii knows slavery root and braiic.h, ■ by bis owu neck, by his uhjldréi}, by every houi' of his lile. He did not Deed a report. D yu sjppo&e thai, offiour can penétrate this eubjoeL bitter , Üiiin n man boni and bied in sightofi tbis aystcm. No. Audrew Johnson knows tbnt wheu lie Orgánijad thee six states be gave up tlio black raüe to tho control of tho white slavehulder, and your duty and mine is - and lot it be know as Mr. Sumucr lat Abraham Linooln know it - that if this is his attitude j he must oount us as opponenis; thut , where he stands to-day we do not trust hiin. Not that wc give lam up, but that we wateh him. ïhe present policy is worse than an error, it is a oiiina. Two hündred and fifty thousand loyal graves; three liundred and t'.venty-five thousand meu sac rilioed iu this war; four billions of dollars, a dobt that is to hang over and shorten the comforts oí our ehildren. Now comes tho crisis. "What is the ue gro ? Well, I say in the face of allprejudice, that amid the gallantry, the pattence, the heroüm of this tvar, the negro bears the palm. (Applause.) Governor Andrew. writing to the Faneuil Hall meeting, said : " I don't want the suflrage question raised yet. The South is destined to a graat deal of confusión. I don't want the black man mixed ia " Well, that would be a good counsel, if be could bo kopt out of it. Friendo, I grow siok in any game whon the couotwra are living men. The governor's game has four millions oí black men for its counters. They are to be whipped, tortured, shot, mutilated, driven 10 ohains to work, as they are to day. What say the loyal writers in South Carolina ? W hy, we find the black man murdered in the woods, his noso, ears, feet, hands, cut off; mutilated, murdered bocause bc refuses to work, beuause he asks wages. It is said that Stanton and Harían and Speed are in favor of sufFrage, but I have reason to know that thoso gentlemen don't take the liberty to stand up against the President in favor of thoir own views. Whan President Johuson says, " Have I your advico to reorganiza MÍssissippi ?;' " Yes, sir." They. don't say no. They are not to be reüed upou. Now, I don't oount the President oa our side. He is uot to be countod as a forcé on our sida. He is to bo flanked or sub dued ; to be convertid. Hisjattitudo is to be changed ; if not, the republic is gone. My policy is the policy of Gen. Grant - " I propose to move immodiately upon your works. Mr. Johnson, you are wrong; your plan is wrong; it bears within it the sceds oí death to the republic; we move instantly upon yonr works. We suinmon the publio, and exposé your plan, show that your attitude is fatal, hope that you will change it, beg you to change it, exhort you to change it, and if you won't chance it, thn roll the wheo's of tho republio, and crush it and you. The last governor yeur President sent South was taken f rom the confedérate bench. Is that the dass of men, President Johnson, for provisional governors and judgos. Our hope is in divertïng the purpose of Andrew Johnson ; to mnke him shut the door of the House of Representativos upon the fourth day of December until we oan rally the Korth. Tlmy cannot get into the Senate because the Senate i.s a permnnently orgnnized body but no one will suppose, if the House of" Represen tatives admits them, if the ad ninistration acknowledge?, and if, bowing to theadministration, the Republican party thronghout the North,by its press, supports them, that the Sonate will be able to stand up against sucli a pressure. 1 only show what the truth is. When Grant stood before Vicksburg, the dangor was trivial comparecí to what it ra to-day. When Pope was driven back to Washington, the danger was nothing to what it ia to-day. We are to ciay in the maelstrom of politics. 'I he difficulty is in mustering up public opinión strong enough to pverawe the President. To-day there ought to go a voice forward from Massachusotts, as it has from Faneuil Hall, (rom the Board of ïYade in Boston, letting the President know that Now Englattd look-j upon his present attitude as a surrender to the rebels. Stnnton said, when the news eame of Sherrnan's offer to Johnston, " herman has surreudered to Johnsten." And so we say, -in the things they are now doing, ': Tlio North surrender.s to the South, and we shall be fjoverned by the white moe of the Southern States." .J533T Dunngthe last illncss of Dr. Cibraoe, a celobriited Frepeh physiciaD, he was attaoked with delirium, on recovering from which "he folt his own pulse, misiaking hirnself for onc ot his patients. " Why was I not called before ? " he said. " It is too lato ; haa the gentle man beon bied ?" His attendant answercd ia t'.ie negativo. ' The! he is h dead man," answered Oibrace ; " he will uot live six hours;" and his prediction was verilied. When Nelson's famoqs pignal vne hoistod, " England expectn oyery man to do his duty, two Seotclnncïi were standing by. Orio pulled a Iouíí, gpur face and said, " Ech, Sandie, there's naething there aboot pour aulcl Bootiai.d." Hoof, man," said Sandio, " Scotland kens well enough Lor bairns always do their duty. lts orriy a hint to tLoHu aluggish Knglibhord."