The Suppressed Truth about the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Chapter 4
The Turning Point in Lincoln's Life
While the Society of Jesus was organizing its destructive forces in Vienna under the title of the St. Leopold Foundation, in 1828, two boys from the tall timbers of Spencer County, Indiana, in their teens, guided their flatboat which they had spent weeks in making, toward the wharf in New Orleans, Louisiana.
One was a tall, awkward youth, with frank gray eyes, tanned skin, a mouth of generous proportions, a shock of rather coarse black hair on a well-shaped head, which was topped by a coonskin cap, commonly worn by the men and boys from the backwoods of the interior. When the boat holding its small cargo was within reach of the pier, the taller lad climbed to it with the agility of a cat, seized the
rope, tied the boat to the pier, and helped his thickset companion up. This done, the boys strode away, soon lost in the crowd.They attracted no special attention from the pedestrians for these pioneer young merchants frequently visited the great southern metropolis. They were busy taking in the sights of a real city for the first time and it is not difficult to fancy the impressions and wonderment at what they saw, and their exchange of ideas while making their rounds.
There was one incident, however, which made a lifelong impression and proved to be the turning point in the taller boy's life, this lad who measured six feet two. Their attention was directed to a large crowd by the loud voice of a man towering above it. He had long, black hair, loose flowing tie, wore a large slouch hat, was dressed in the garb of a city man, and was calling out in the language of an auctioneer, emphasizing his points with the crack of a black snake whip.
The boys moved over, pushing their way through the crowd made up of almost every type from the gentleman in broadcloth down to the street urchin, nor did they stop until they had reached the inside of the circle around the large block upon which stood a young negro, about the age of the two youths whose curiosity had drawn them there. The colored lad was ordered to display his teeth, the fitness of his muscles, which stood out like great brown cords, demonstrating his splendid physical strength.
The bidding was snappy, being worked up by the expert tactics of the auctioneer, whose facetious remarks brought many a coarse guffaw from the bystanders. Finally, the hammer banged down on the table, which was the signal that the lad had been sold to the highest bidder, the deal was closed.
A shrill cry rang out, followed by the stifled sobs of a beautiful mulatto girl, whose refined features, glossy black hair, hanging carelessly to her waist, betokened the dominance of the white blood in her veins. She was one of the parcel of slaves who was to be auctioned off the following morning, and was the BRIDE of the boy who had just been disposed of.
There was not the slightest attention paid to the incident, for the details of the business transaction in human souls were being completed by the parties of the first and second parts. The crowd quickly dispersed as the show was over for that day.
The two boys from the timbers walked quickly away. Finally, as they were nearing the place where their boat was secured, our tall friend turned quietly to his companion and said: "John, if I ever get a chance to hit that thing, by God, I'll hit it and I'll hit it hard." He kept his oath, but no one but God and the Angels, as they looked down that night, knew the time nor the place, but God knew then that the deft brown hand which tossed the rope lightly into the old flatboat, would one day sign the emancipation of three million slaves!
Permit me here to give a close-up of our boy hero twentysix years later—a pen picture dispatched by the reporter for the Boston journal who covered the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, which made both of these men famous.
The State Convention had nominated Mr. Lincoln for the United States Senate. The report was as follows:
"The men are entirely dissimilar. Mr. Douglas is a thickset, finely built, courageous man and has the air of self-confidence that does not a little to inspire his supporters with hope. Mr. Lincoln is a tall, lank man, awkward, apparently diffident, and when not speaking, has neither firmness nor fire in his eye. He has a rich, silvery voice, enunciates with great distinctness, and has a fine command of language. He commenced by a review of the points Mr. Douglas had made. In this he shows great tact and his retorts though gentlemanly, were sharp and reached to the core of the subject in dispute. (Lincoln) "My distinguished friend says it is an insult to the emigrants of Kansas and Nebraska to suppose that they are not able to govern themselves. We must not slur over an argument of this kind because it happens to tickle the ear. It must be met and answered. I admit that the emigrants of Kansas and Nebraska are competent to govern themselves, but (the speaker rising to his full height) I deny the right to govern any other person, without that person's consent.
"The vast throng was a silent as death; every eye was fixed upon the speaker. He then charged Mr. Douglas with doing nothing for freedom; with disregarding the rights and interests of the colored man, and for about forty minutes he spoke with a power we have seldom heard equaled. There was grandeur in his thoughts, a comprehensiveness in his arguments, and binding force in his conclusions, which were perfectly irresistible . . . . He was the tall man eloquent; his countenance glowed with animation, and his eye glistened with an intelligence that made it lustrous. He was no longer awkward and ungainly, but graceful, bold, commanding. Mr. Douglas had been quietly smoking up to this time, but here he forgot his cigar and listened with anxious attention. When he arose to reply, he appeared excited, disturbed and his second effort seemed to us vastly inferior to his first. Mr. Lincoln had given him a great task and Mr. Douglas had not time to answer him, even if he had the ability."
Thus we see that Mr. Lincoln made good on his boyhood promise, to hit that thing hard.
As early as 1856, Mr. Lincoln availed himself of his opportunity to "hit that thing hard" when he entered the political campaign, after an absence of several years, which he had been devoting to his law practice in which he had been devoting to his law practice in Springfield, Illinois, with the intention of never leaving it again. He was drawn into the field by the infamous Dred Scott Decision rendered by the fanatical Romanist, Judge Taney, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme bench. The Taney decision in a nutshell was, that the "Negro had no rights which the white man had to respect." This virtually placed the government endorsement on black slavery, and aroused Mr. Lincoln to action.
In November, 1855, Abraham Lincoln drew down upon him the fire in Rome when he answered a wire from the Reverend Chas. Chiniquy, Catholic priest. of Kankakee, Ills., who had been engaged in a series of court suits with the bishop of the Chicago diocese, of which he was a subject, asking his professional services. Within twenty minutes the reply came to Chiniquy: "Yes, I will defend your life and your honor at the next May term of the court at Urbana. A. Lincoln."
Promptly on May 19th, 1856, Mr. Lincoln appeared at Urbana and consulted with Father Chiniquy, but I will let him tell you of their meeting:
"He was a giant in stature, but I found him still more a giant in the noble qualities of his mind and heart. It was impossible to converse with him five minutes, without loving him. There was such an expression of kindness and honesty in his face, such an attractive magnetism in the man, that after a few minutes conversation, one felt as tied to him by all of the noblest affections of the heart.
"When pressing my hand, he told me: 'You were mistaken when you telegraphed that you were unknown to me. I know you by reputation, as the stern opponent of the tyranny of your bishop, and the fearless protector of your countrymen in Illinois. I have heard much of you from two friends, and last night your lawyers, Messrs. Osgood and Paddock, acquainted me with the fact that your bishop employs some of his tools to get rid of you. I hope it will be an easy thing to defeat his projects, and protect you against his machinations.' He then asked me how I had been induced to desire his services. I answered by giving the story of that unknown friend, a lawyer, who had advised me to have Mr. Lincoln—for the reason that he was the best and most honest man in Illinois. He smiled at my answer with that inimitable and unique smile which we may call the 'Lincoln smile' and replied: 'That unknown friend would have been more correct had he told you that Abraham Lincoln was the ugliest lawyer in the country.' and he laughed outright." (Chiniquy's Fifty Years in the Church of Rome.)
The defeat of Rome in this celebrated case by Mr. Lincoln; his terrific arraignment of the perjuring gang of priests who had left no stone unturned to ruin Father Chiniquy by a false accusation against him in which it was charged by the infamous priest La Bell that Mr. Chiniquy had made an attack upon the sister of the former. On the night before the case was to go to the jury, Mr. Lincoln, himself, had almost given up hope of an acquittal, notwithstanding the fact that he was convinced of Father Chiniquy's innocence. He frankly told Chiniquy of his fears and his last admonition to the distressed and persecuted man was: "My dear Mr. Chiniquy, though I hope tomorrow to destroy the testimony of La Bell against you, I must concede that I see great danger ahead. There is not the least doubt in my mind that every word he has said is a sworn lie, but my fear is, that the jury thinks differently. I am a pretty good judge of these matters—I have never seen two such skillful rogues as those two priests. There is really a diabolical skill in the plan they have concocted to ruin you—the only way to be sure of a favorable verdict tomorrow, is that God Almighty would take our part and show your innocence! Go to Him and pray, for He alone can save you.
Surely a more direct answer to prayer was never received, for that very night Father Chiniquy spent almost the entire time on his knees interceding that his innocence might be established, when at three o'clock in the morning he answered a knock on his door, and there stood Mr. Lincoln, "his face beaming with joy" as Chiniquy expressed it—"Cheer up, Mr. Chiniquy, I have the perjured priests in my hands. Their diabolical plot is known, and if they do not fly away before the dawn of day, they will surely be lynched. Bless the Lord, you are saved!"
The wide publicity given the case in Chicago through the press had brought out the fact that Chiniquy would probably be convicted. This was read by the French Catholics and brought to light two witnesses, two women who were present in priest La Bell's house when he offered his sister two sections of land if she would swear falsely against Father Chiniquy. La Bell allayed her scruples by assuring her he could forgive her sin if she would confess to him. (Priests' relatives rarely ever confess to them, if it can be avoided.) One of these female witnesses whose conscience was aroused by the unjust position in which Father Chiniquy had been placed, came to Springfield that night and told the facts to Mr. Lincoln. The priests left town early in the morning, fearing the consequences as public opinion had been strongly against them, and La Bell's lawyer asked that the case be dismissed, which was granted.
Mr. Lincoln did not permit the priests to go unscathed, however, and in a most terrific scorching at their audacious attempt to corrupt the courts, he closed his rebuke as he towered above his auditors with these words:
"May it please your honor, gentlemen of the jury and American citizens, this conspiracy, I am aware, has failed in its efforts, but I have a few words which I wish to say." He then went on and depicted the career of Father Chiniquy, how he had been unjustly persecuted, and in conclusion said: "As long as God gives me a heart to feel, a brain to think, or a hand to execute my will, I shall devote it against that power which has attempted to use the machinery of the courts to destroy the rights and character of an American citizen." And this promise made by Abraham Lincoln in his maturer years he also kept. That same year when he entered the political field, tearing to tatters, as no other man could, Taney's Dred Scott Decision, in favor of black slavery, he fully understood the motive power behind it was Rome. Whenever Lincoln "hit a thing," he "hit it hard."
From that time on the black clouds of Jesuitism were fast gathering about the life of Abraham Lincoln. These enemies followed his path as a shadow follows sunshine. From that moment his doom was written in letters of blood.
A remarkable thing transpired, when, after the trial, Mr. Chiniquy asked Mr. Lincoln for his bill. While he was drawing up a note for $50.00, as his client had requested, Mr. Lincoln said to him: "Father Chiniquy, what are you crying for? You ought to be the happiest man alive. You have beaten your enemies and come out triumphant; they have fled in disgrace." To which the emotional Frenchman replied: "I am not weeping for myself, but for you, sir. They will kill you; and let me tell you this, if I were in their place and they in mine, it would be my sole, my sworn duty, to take your life myself, or to find a man to do it."
Chiniquy was right. They found their man.
LINCOLN
THE THIRD PRESIDENT
ASSASSINATED
The murder of five presidents of this Republic, by these enemies of Popular Governments in less than sixty years, is a toll, which is worthy, it would seem to the writer, of the most serious consideration of the American people. Five presidents of this Republic in 59 years were assassinated; two by the poison cup and three by the leaden bullet.
Abraham Lincoln was the third president assassinated; two before him had been given the "Poison Cup." Indeed, poison had been administered to President Lincoln, according to the Chas. Selby letter to Booth which was a conspicuous government exhibit in the trials of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt and the other conspirators, which stated:
"The cup failed us once, and might again."
There were two things the ultra-pro-slavery leaders of the South had been urging for years by which they expected to make the breach for their entering wedge. One was the invasions of Cuba; the other, the annexation of Texas. The fine Italian hand is easily discernible in both.
An invasion of Cuba would have meant war with Catholic Spain, Catholic France, Catholic Austria, Catholic Belgium, and, of course, Italy, where the Pope was king of his dominion. What chance would our young Republic have had in case they succeeded? Disruption? Not only disruption but total annihilation of Popular Governments and the setting up of the monarchial institutions pledged at Congress of Vienna in 1814, and ratified at Verona in 1822.
The PLAN of these imperialistic conspirators was to wipe out the little Republic of Mexico where the Liberals had succeeded, under the leadership of Juarez, the half-Indian, rebellious ex-priest, in throwing off the Spanish and Papal yokes. Juarez had been elected president of Mexico when Civil War broke out in the United States.
During this time the new popular government was progressing rapidly in Mexico. The first official act, was the CONFISCATION of all the Roman church property, which included over thirty-five percent of the most valuable and choicest land and holdings.
There was a certain line of policy, which these monarchical plotters were pursuing in this country through the Leopoldines. The Slave questions were becoming more acute all the time. The Jesuit-controlled leaders only, were aware of the PLAN. The masses of Southern people had no real knowledge of it. They were not permitted to have, but their political leaders had. The masses of any people cannot be corrupted. The strong sense of justice and right and fairness which God has implanted in each human heart at birth, unless destroyed by some evil influence, or system, will invariably spring into action at a crisis, if they are permitted to have a clear understanding of the issue. As a matter of fact their very instinct of self-preservation sharpens their judgment and strengthens their resolutions. The only instances of wrong decisions, or actions at such times, come from false, wicked leaders.
I say again, that it was the evil, Un-Christian, un-American influence of the Roman Church that dominated and controlled the ultra-pro-slavery leaders, which led on to its own destruction. They carried on a constant Rule or ruin policy in state and national affairs. They were, in fact, the strong element in the beginning but with the advent of the Abolitionists of the North, a weakening of their hold began, for the SLAVERY was thrust out in the open and could not be further obscured.
First President Assassinated
In 1841 General Wm. Henry Harrison of Ohio, was elected President by a large majority. The loyalty to the Union of General Harrison was above question. and it was out of the power of the Leopoldines to defeat him. It was with his election that the Big Stick of intimidation was first raised when political intrigue had failed.
In his inaugural address, which was a masterpiece, President Harrison clearly, definitely and finally cut any ground for hope from under them, which these enemies to the Union of States might have had when he said:
"We admit of no government by divine right, believing that so far as power is concerned, the beneficent Creator has made no distinction among men; that all are upon an equality, and that the only legitimate right to govern, is upon the express grant of power from the governed."
With these unmistakable words President Harrison made his position clear; he hurled defiance to the Divine Right enemies of our Popular Government. Aye, he did more—for those were the words that signed his death warrant. Just one month and five days from that day, President Harrison lay a corpse in the White House. He died from arsenic poisoning, administered by the tools of Rome. The Jesuit oath had been swiftly carried out:
"1 do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage, relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, extirpate them and exterminate them from the face of the earth . . . .
"That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poison cup . . . regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons . . . whatsoever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith of the Society of Jesus."
Allow me to quote for you from U.S. Senator Benton's Thirty Years View, volume 11, page 21, regarding the death of President Harrison:
"There was no failure of health or strength to indicate such an event or to excite apprehension that he would not go through his term with the same vigor with which he commenced it. His attack was sudden and evidently fatal from the beginning."
Vice President John Tyler, who had been approached by these assassins previous to the election of him and Harrison, had replied to their interrogations on the annexation of Texas question:
"If I should ever become president, I would exert the entire influence of that office to accomplish it."
President Tyler made good his promise and the annexation of Texas which was tricked through, caused the resignation of every member of President Harrison's Cabinet, with the exception of Daniel Webster, but let us again quote from Benton's Thirty Years' View:
"He (Webster) had remained with Mr. Tyler until the Spring of 1843, when the progress of the Texas annexation scheme carried on privately, not to say clandestinely, had reached a point to take an official form, and to become the subject of government negotiation, though still secret. Mr. Webster, Secretary of State, was an obstacle to that negotiation. He could not be trusted with the secret, much less conduct the negotiations. How to get rid of him was a question of some delicacy. Abrupt dismissal would have revolted his friends. Voluntary resignation was not to be expected . . . . A middle course was fallen upon—that of compelling a resignation. Mr. Tyler became reserved and indifferent to him. Mr. Gilmer and Mr. Upshur, with whom he had few affinities, took but little pains to conceal their distaste to him.
". . . Mr. Webster felt it and told some of his friends. They said "resign." He did and his resignation was accepted with an alacrity which showed it was waited for. Mr. Upshur took his place and quickly the Texas negotiations became official, still secretly." (Thirty Years' View, p. 562.)
Circumstances pointed to the Messrs. Gilmer and Upshur, as being the actual assassins of President Harrison. Thus, at last, they accomplished, after years of effort, one of their daring schemes—the annexation of Texas.
And at the close of the chapter in senator Benton's book, we read this significant bit of information, which should be well pondered regarding the Harrison's family:
"That the deceased President had been closely preceded and was rapidly followed by the deaths of almost all of his numerous family, sons and daughters."
That is extirpation with a vengeance, is it not? WHOLESALE extirpation. In fact, there was but one of his eight children, a son, permitted to live.
INTIMIDATION was the covert motive behind this wholesale assassination of the Harrison family of Liberal heretics, whose distinguished father had been martyred for his belief in the POPULAR GOVERNMENT of which he had been made the highest representative by the PEOPLE.
THE ASSASSINATION OF ZACHARY TAYLOR
As these plotters against the Union had tried President Harrison out on the annexation of Texas, they used the invasion of Cuba as the test for Zachary Taylor, and had their plans ready to launch their nefarious scheme in the early part of his administration, but from the very beginning President Taylor snuffed out all hope of its consummation during his term. In his first message to Congress, he said:
"But attachment to the UNION of States should be fostered in every American heart. For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken . . . . In my judgment its dissolution would be the greatest of calamities, and to avert that should be the steady aim of every American. Upon its preservation must depend our own happiness and that of generations to come. Whatever dangers may threaten it, I shall stand by it and maintain it in its integrity to the full extent of the obligations imposed, and power conferred on me by the Constitution."
There was no quibbling in this. The pro-slavery leaders had nothing to count on in Taylor, therefore they decided on his assassination. While these politicians were not influential enough to name the President, they were cunning enough to be able to control the nomination of the Vice President, and it goes without saying that they always chose a man who was in full symathy with their plans. They pursued this as the next best thing. It had become practically a trade between the two groups of politicians. Millard Filmore, a staunch pro-slavery man, strong for the things his party wanted, was chosen as Vice President for Taylor. The President, knowing the calibre of this running mate, had no sympathy, and as little to do with him as possible. The archplotters, fearing that suspicion might be aroused by the death of the President early in his administration, as in the case of President Harrison, permitted him to serve one year and four months, when on the Fourth of July, arsenic was administered to him during a celebration in Washington at which he was invited to deliver the address. He went in perfect health in the morning and was taken ill in the afternoon about five o'clock and died on the Monday following, having been sick the same number of days and with precisely the same symptoms as was his predecessor, President Harrison. I quote again from Senator Benton's Thirty Years View:
"He sat out all the speeches and omitted no attention which he believed the decorum of his station required . . . . The violent attack began soon after his return to the Presidential mansion." (Vol, 11, P. 763.)
The Vice President, Millard Filmore, was immediately sworn in as President, after the death of Old Rough and Ready as Zachary Taylor's friends affectionately called him.
THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION
OF THE FIFTEENTH PRESIDENT
The Presidential election of 1856 was a hotly contested one for the pro-slavery forces fully realized that never again would they be able to dominate or control the presidency. The newly AWAKENED SOCIAL CONSCIENCE of the North had animated PUBLIC SENTIMENT to such an extent that this would be impossible. so they were ready to take the most desperate chances to elect James Buchanan as the only presidential possibility, in whom they could have any hope. Not being absolutely certain of his dependableness, they resorted to their old policy of being doubly sure of his running mate and nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky.
In order that the Dred Scott Decision should not in any way hazard the chances of Buchanan's election, these Jesuit schemers compelled Judge Roger E. Taney to withhold his decision until after the election. It was not published until two days after the Inauguration, March 6th, 1857.
The new President proved himself a decided Trimmer. Although he was a Northern man, he had strongly courted the Southern leaders, and given them to understand that he was With them heart and soul, in short, he double-crossed them. He was invited to deliver an address on Washington's birthday, and made a reservation at the National Hotel, (which, by the way was the headquarters for the Jesuit traitors) for himself and friends. The Southern leaders immediately got in touch with him with the intention of testing him out and learning precisely whether he intended to make good on his pre-election promises or not.
The gentleman had had his ear to the ground evidently and heard the rumble of the Abolitionists' wheels, and when the committee asked for a conference, he coolly informed them that he was President of the North, as well as of the South. This change of attitude was indicated by his very decided stand against Jefferson Davis and his party, and he made known his intention of settling the question of Slavery in the Free States to the satisfaction of the people in those States.
The following quotations from the New York herald and the Post at the time chronicled what followed:
"The appointments favoring the North by the Jeff Davis faction will doubtless be accepted, and treated as a declaration of war, and a war of extermination on one side or the other." (Feb. 25, 1857.)
"On Washington's birthday, Buchanan's stand became known and the next day (23rd) he was poisoned. The plot was deep and planned with skill. Mr. Buchman, as was customary with men in his station, had a table and chairs reserved for himself and friends in the dining room at the National Hotel. The President was known to be an inveterate tea drinker; in fact, Northern people rarely drink anything else in the evening. Southern men prefer coffee. Thus, to make sure of Buchanan and his Northern friends, arsenic was sprinkled in the bowls containing the tea and lump sugar and set on the table where he was to sit. The pulverized sugar in the bowls used for coffee on the other tables was kept free from the poison. Not a single Southern man was affected or harmed. Fifty or sixty persons dined at the table that evening, and as nearly as can be learned, about thirty-eight died from the effects of the poison.
"President Buchanan was poisoned, and with great difficulty his life was saved. His physicians treated him understandingly from instructions given by himself as to the cause of his illness, for he understood well what was the matter.
"Since the appearance of the epidemic, the tables at the National Hotel have been almost empty. But more remarkable than the appearance of the epidemic itself, is the supineness of the authorities of Washington, in regad to it.
"Have the proprietors of the Hotel, or clerks, or servants, suffered from it? If not, in what respect did their diet and accommodations differ from those of the guests (Northern)?
"There is more in this calamity than meets the eye. It is a matter that should not be trifled with." (N.Y. Post, March 18, 1857.)
Thus again, we see the Jesuits found their man and kept their oath that:
"I do further promise and declare, that I will have no opinion or will of my own, or any mental reservation whatsoever, even as a corpse or cadaver, but I will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the Militia of the Pope, and of Jesus Christ.
"That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poison cup . . . the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet regardless of honor, rank, dignity, or authority, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed to do."
The close call to death frightened and made James Buchanan the most subservient tool the Jesuits ever had. An old friend who visited him in Washington a few months after, said he had "aged twenty-five years." He had been the picture of health, robust and straight as an arrow, when he arrived in Washington for his inauguration. After he had gotten his dose he was emaciated and bent. An item from the Newark news Advertiser of March 18th, 1857, said:
"SYMPTOMS OF THE ATTACK AND NAMES OF SOME OF THE MURDERED DEAD"
"A persistent diarrhea, in some cases accompanied by violent vomiting, and always with a most distressing loss of strength and spirits in the person. Sometimes the person for one day would be filled with hopes of recovery, then relapse again to loss of spirits and illness.
"Elliott Eskridge, the nephew of President Buchanan, died from the effects of the poisoning."
During the Buchanan administration seven States seceded, headed by South Carolina, taking seven forts, four arsenals and one Navy Yard, and the United States Mint at New Orleans, with five hundred and eleven thousand dollars. The total value of the government property stolen at this time was TWENTY-SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS AND EIGHT MILLION OF INDIAN TRUST BONDS!
Allow me here to give the following, graphic picture of the situation in 1850-60, taken from a eulogy, delivered on Wendell Phillips in Boston, April 9th, 1884, by the Rev. Dr. Archibald H. Grimke of Washington, D.C., one of the most scholarly and eloquent thinkers of his race:
"But when the year 1859 came and the slave power hung its Black bill over the Free States, non-resistance had no longer any place in the conflict. The time for argument had passed; the time for arms had arrived. On the first wave of this momentous change Wendell Phillips mounted to leadership. His speeches were the first billows breaking in prophetic fury against the South. They were the first blasts of the tempest; the first shock on the utmost verge of the Civil War. Forcible resistance of the Black bill was now obedience to God . . . The passage of the Bill was the actual opening of hostilities between two sections. The Union from that moment was in the state of war. Of course there were not then any of the visible signs of war;—no opposite armies—two belligerent governments . . . . It was none the less real, however . . . . The peaceable surrender of a fugitive slave becomes new treason to freedom. Wendell Phillips comprehended the gravity of the situation. He refused to cry peace when there was no peace. He answered the Southern manifesto with the thunder of his great speech on the anniversary of the rendition of Sims . . . He is in command and has called for guns . . . He saw clearly that the danger of the reform lay in the stupor and indifference, which repeated executions under the law, would produce.
"The South was united and highly organized, impelled by a single purpose, and in possession of the whole machinery of government. He saw the North timid, irresolute, sordid, drugged by Whigs and Democrats, and frozen with the fear of disunion . . . . Peace was slavery, and sleep was death. The only hope of freedom lay now in the finger that could pull the trigger. This might beat back the advancing apathy and save the citadel of liberty. It is the glory of Phillips that he saw this . . . . He was an army in himself. His eloquence poured out month after month, and year after year, a kind of imminent presence . . . the very air of the Free States vibrated with the disembodied soul of his mighty invectives . . . . Shock after shock has loosened the ice from the conscience and courage of the North. The Republican party is born, and then comes the first political freedom. Abraham Lincoln has entered the White House, and Jeff Davis has turned his back upon Washington forever The trial morning is rising gloomily upon the republic. The gray light is haunted with strange voices, winged portents, bloody apparitions. Right and Wrong, Freedom and Slavery have reached the plains of '60!"
Thus we have been given a glimpse of the decade from the murder of Taylor to the Election of Lincoln.
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