It possesses even a certain advantage, in the fact that it
never has been nor is likely to be made use of for school declamations.
It will always remain fresh, vigorous, and original as when it was first
delivered.
But Phillips was not content merely with silencing the opposition. He
claimed that the cause for which he spoke, and for which the meeting had
been called, was one of higher importance than any that had preceded it
in Faneuil Hall. When the audience murmured at this, he boldly
continued: "Insomuch as _thought_ is better than _money_, is
the cause for which Lovejoy died superior to that for which our
ancestors contended. James Otis thundered within these walls when the
king did but touch his pocket; imagine his indignant eloquence if they
had attempted to put a gag upon his lips." For this statement, if for
nothing else, Wendell Phillips deserves an immortality in the history of
his country.
With such an achievement at the age of twenty-six, what might not have
been expected of his maturer years,--of the full fruition of his genius?
What but a future candidate for the senate of the United States, or even
for the presidency? The full fruition of his genius, the development
that nature intended for him, never was realized. It is true, he
accomplished much, and was in himself even more,--but by no means what
he might have been. Even in the first hour of success, the temptation
comes to us which determines our future destiny in one way or another.
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