It is an excellent principle, this of returning good
for evil; but is it not also true that nature has planted hatred in us
as a protection against future imposition? There may be such personages,
but Wendell Phillips was not one of them.
He endured the stings of the pro-slavery hornets, as they were called,
with stoical dignity and forbearance, but in spite of all good
resolutions, they had an effect upon the inner man. Like the good
Maritornes when Sancho Panza mistook her for an evil spirit, he endured
the drubbing as long as flesh-and-blood would stand it, and then
retaliated in good earnest. It was discovered at length, that Wendell
Phillips had a sharp tongue, as well as a silver one, and could use it
also with some temper. Of course he was blamed for this, and very few
considered what provocation he had, or gave him credit for his previous
forbearance. The habit increased rather than abated in him with age, and
finally acquired the nature of a familiar demon that would appear
unexpectedly in the midst of a brilliant discourse and sadly mar the
effect of it.
His tendency to exaggeration, disregard of fact, and recklessness of
statement, may all be attributed to his irregular, improvised manner of
working. There are few public speakers, indeed, who escape these faults.
What preparation he made for his speeches will probably never be known.
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