Wendell Phillips did not at first take an interest in the anti-slavery
cause. The abolitionists were not personally known to him, and his mind
was largely occupied with the pleasures of fashionable society, where he
shone before all others. There was a certain strength and good sense in
this; the reserve of a man who waits for opportunity, and who does not
risk shipwreck at the start by rushing hastily into troubled waters. In
October 1837, he was married to Miss Mary Anna Green, the daughter of
Benjamin Green of Boston, and cousin, or other near relative, to Mrs.
Maria Chapman, a friend of Harriet Martineau and other English
philanthropists. In November occurred the riot at Alton, Illinois, and
the assassination of Lovejoy. Dr. Channing's first petition for an
indignation-meeting in Faneuil Hall was refused by the authorities; but
a second and more urgent one was granted: evidently with the
anticipation that the anti-slavery people might, after all, find
themselves in a minority.
As it happened, the audience was nearly divided between the two parties,
but the pro-slavery faction, led by government officials, had the
advantage of being able to make all the noise and disturbance they
wished without being interfered with by the police for it. It seemed as
if the meeting would end in confusion and a vote of disagreement.
Twenty-five years later Wendell Phillips said of it: "I went there
without the least intention of making a speech or taking any part in the
proceedings.
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