AMERICAN INVECTIVE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 114, 16 May 1931, Page 19

AMERICAN INVECTIVE

PHILLIPS, PARKHURST

AND "CHICAGO TRIBUNE"

(By "Ajax.")

Ono of the iincst specimens oJ: in.vootivo in tho English langmigo and one of tho most successful was. contained in the speech "delivcmV by. Wendell .Phillip's at Boston'on tho'Sth December, MM. Tho time was one. of groat importaivetv and .-excitement. for .iho cau.se of Abolition. At thu end of tlio prurious year the Domuenilt), who .favoured '■'Slavery,.had oloctcil Van Burcn to tlio ■• presidency, and secured a decisive miljority in' Congress. But then) were . signs of a strong -reaction, find-on tho 7th November, 1537, the. whole country w;ks got abliizo by tho murder at Alton, ■ Illinois, of a young journalist -.named Xovcjoy, who had incurred tho fury of . iho- ttiob •by his denunciutioiiH of slavery., Tlio Boston/ ■ Abolitionists . hold a mooting .to protest ugainst tho crime,"-'and Fancuil- Hall :whb packed ■ with-a crowd'of which about onci-'third was estimated to bo hostile. ' ■■"»■'■■ a. ■ '• » • • ■• ' Dr. Ch.anning-gaye the meeting'a good, start, but the proceedings.- did not become exciting till James T. Austin, the .Attorney-General, of the State, rose in the gallery, to defend tho Altou mob, to declare, that I'OveJQy had "died as tho fool dieth," and to compare hia murderers with thoso horocs of American .idolatry—tho "orderly mob," as ho .called them, who precipitated the '.Revolution by throwitig a cargo of tea into Boston Harbour as a. protect against;tho Stamp Act umjoiv.which it was to be taxed. - An audience of divided sympathies was naturally thrown into -ti state of wild escitcmCTit -by so audacious and truculent n'spoechj and it is (iiflieult to believe that fcho powerfill'• and ordcrnd reply wliich intinedi: ately'. followed ' was tho impromptu work of a young maa of 2G.whp. hitd conic: to' t!jQ; hall with no intention of spQfiking. Buttho spooch traverses so closely1 an argument which-could- not possibly fravo beou foreseen ass to preclude tho idoa of preparation which Us literary .finish naturally suggests.

A eoniparisQiv-hutf-boon 'drawn, suiij j Wendell ; Phillips,-': between -the events p£ the Revolution uncl the tragedy a(i Alton. ■ We' have hoard it: assorted here, in'" Faneuil" ;Hnllj that. Great Britain: had" -il' right' 'to tax the, Colo' ■ niea, and; wo hay'tf heard" the" mob at -'Alton,.the dminkeirniurdorers of Lovejoy, compared to tliogq patriot fathers who threw the tea overboard. (Greats upplauee.) , , gimme on the American who calls the tea tax and the Stamp Aqt hiwp! Our fathers resisted not tHo King's,prerogative, but the King's ' usurpation.. To iind any other account, you must read our Revolutionary history upside down. . . To draw the conduct ol" our ancestors iqto a precedent for mobs, ior a right 1o resint laws,wo oiireelveH havo rnuclcd, is an insult to their memory. rJ lie dill'erunfe between the excitement of those dajs and our own, which thja gcntli'iium in kindness (o the I.itlur has overlooked, in simply thins the men of that day went for the right, as se'eured by laws. They were, tlie people rising to sustain tho luwa and ronHfitution of the piovinre. The liotoia oE our day gn for their ui\ji au'lls, right or wrong. ~* The passage concludes fis L'olJuu .1: — Sir, wTjcuTT hienxfi ' the .muiljunian lay dawn prlncipW which pl.ftc'tliß murdci'ura of Alton aide by aide- witli Glib :jnd Han cock, with Qfiincy and Adauifc, I thought those pictured lips [pointing to the. portraits in the hallj would havo broken, into voice io rfjbuko the recreant. American— the sforxjerer pi' the dead! There may be invectivo with :t .sharper point or a more resounding punch, but I know nono that aurpabscu Ihis in colour, dignity, und tluill. And it is , particularly pleasing tq iind that the jwrtigiina of tho Attorney-General, who wore roused to such wrath that, i'ov a while an as&ault seemed iiinnrno.nl, were particularly 1111.11. by (ho word ' "recreant," ■ "Take that. l]«nlf!" "T/iko back the ,-'recreant'l'' '.'AJako him lute batk 'ie- , crpgnt I!'' "Ho pha'n'L yo on till lie takes • itbaqk!" -- ■ were among the cries. Wendell Phillips \yould havo ruined , a bewtji'lil passage ii' he had withdrawn ity most essential word, but of ooursQ ho fcnow better. All tho yappei's got from him when'ho was allowed to prpeoed waa this:— 1 _ ThegeiiUemau said he fcliiniM sink into , insignificance if he coudpbtended to jroin- ' nay the principles oC these resoliilfuns. I'or the sentiments he has uttered, 011 soil consecrated by the prayers of .Pui'iluns and tho blood of patriots, the earth hhauld have yawned and swallowed him ui>! V ' * O Same fji'cat examples of Aiuorieijii pulpit jnvcotive have roeenlly been rc-<-alled_ by -(he tcrriblo revVutiona of municipal, judiciul* und polico coiriiption in New York. Tammany is still aij wicked as over, and ba /irmly <-ntrpnehed that oven v KooHoyoll, i'oarful of hia chances at the Preuidontial eloetion, is. apparently ai'rnid to lajso a finger against it. ]Porty yoais ago Dr, Cliarloß IT. Parlcliurbl, Who i,s now in his !)lst year, showed a bolder front to the most ""powerful' organ of comijjr tion in New York. On tho 30th April, . 3SQJ,"ho accepted tho presidency <rf the 7 Society for the. Preyontion of Crime on the condition, that, instead o.£-egn* .:tinuing to 00-qpeiate with tho polieo, : ' the Society should henceforth deal with the police as its (ireh-aiitagpin'st, making .- With, it no alliance and giving it no . riuar-ter. ■ . * ■ c «- In Dr. Parkburst's opinion Taiumany • Hall was . . • not Kp much a political organißaliqu 'as it is a compact of freebooters' who are willing to trade to any extent on public decency and good. • • ■ • -APfl hq described tho administration/ which it had put in chargo of New York City as ■■ - -•■'..•- . the court of thieves, inurdercrss, an/.l.bujifco.steerers who are at present adtqiiiiatrat'ivcly shaping tjte destiny of this controlling .'.jiity: of.thb'greatest iiatioit'ou earth. ;; - Not often in our linio can tlio pulpit j have been .the vehicle for a inoro scathJ jjig or a more vivid pjiiiippio, I^ian that with which Dr. Pni'khiirst opfeued his. CHinpnigu against 'l'rimniany iVum his pillpit in Madison Squnru on tho J.-it,li .February, 1802. In its uiiinieipitl life, lie. said, our city ia thoroughly rotten. Here is an, im-' ipense city reaching out awns- o f ovan^elisation. to every quarter ov the globe; :aud yet every step that we-take, looking -to tho moral bo'ttwinent of tljis city I has to be taken directly in tho teeth ■of the damnable pack ,of ndminiatrative - blqqdhoundg that are-fattening- themselves );on. the ethical., fleah and blood of-our .' citizenship. ... . .There is not a form uncjer :whioh the dßvil disguises himself .that bo perplexes ua in our efforts, or so bewilders us in the devising of pur schemes, as the polluted hai-pie?) tliat, under the pretence of governing tliis; city, are feeding day and night on its' quivering vitals. They' ure- a lying, perjured, nun-soalicd • and libidinous -lot. .■-. The fnct of it is they all stand in ivith.-

Ciicli other. It is simply one solid gaiij; of vasimls, half of tho yanj; iv office, and tlio other half out, and the two halves steadily caturinjr tv each other across tlio ollk-ial line.

| Suniuipnud bei'oro a Now York Iflrand Jury to substantiate his charges, Dr. ,I'arkhursfc failed because ho had no better evidence than uncontradicted newspaper Btalumcnl,.s. But when, tliroo. weeks after this 'failure, he entered tlio Madison Square pulpit to fire his uoxt shot, ■■'.' Ilia ordiuary fuwiiture'- of the pulpit in tlio shape of-Bible and. hymn-books was ■supplemented by a copious package of affidavits. . ' Tlicro woro 284.■ affidavits in-this pn.cktigo. Tho text was.from Psiilms, xii.S:—Tho wicked'wait- on every sido., . When tho-vilest men arc exalted. '■ ■ Tho sgnnoii,. though less quotable than its predecessor, was to match. Several convictions .wo'ro obtained on the cvidoticq.cullaetcd, and ou tho,Otl> Novenibcr, 1894; Tammany itself was-convicted by. a,, populiir vote which gave a -Koform Mayor a majority, of nearly 50 por cent, c « « ■'.-. Tli q, latest .specimen of .American invce.tivc\ avaiiabJo is tiie "Cliicago Tribune's" comment on ''Big Biliv 'Thompson's, defeat for the Mayoralty, which was reported on the 10th ."April:r- ---■ It is an. unpleasant '-business, .to. .catch a,skunk, but one.docs it. For. Chicago, Thoinpßon . has .mount filth, corruption, obscenity, idiocy, and ' bankruptcy. He lias giycui tlio city an. international, reputiition I'or moroijjc biifioouciy, barbaric crime,. triumphant hooliganism, unchecked graft, and dejected.citizenship. He hns nearly riiined property, and haa completely destroyed prjdo "of city, lie has made Chicago a .byword for'the collapse of the American civilisation. '-■ . * • ''- # ' -::■ .If oven the Eatanswilleditors never did as woH as. that tho reason may 1)0 t.linfc neither of them had as good a fiubjccl;. At the same timo it nuiHfc bo admitted that tho "Chicago Tribune" has'risoit to"tho full'height of a great occasion. Not 100 words, yet ]~ooo,qoo- cloHars' >vorth p.t' libel, in them, if the victim had had-'any character'to' lose. But he. has not yet issued his writ.