But I incline to the belief that, while undoubtedly
there may be great truth in the opinion, the spirit of liberty
will overcome that danger. Hungary and Hungary's chief city
seem rapidly to be asserting control in their own affairs
and an influence in the Austro-Hungary Empire which no monarch
will be able to withstand, and which it is quite likely the
royal family will not desire to withstand. In these days
monarchs are learning the love of liberty, and I believe
in most cases to-day the reigning sovereigns of Europe are
eager to promote constitutional government, and prefer the
title of Liberator to that of Despot.
I have heard Wendell Phillips speak a great many times. I
do not include him in this notice, because, if I did, I ought
to defend my estimate of him at considerable length, and to
justify it by ample quotation. I think him entitled to the
very highest rank as an orator. I do not estimate his moral
character highly. I think he exerted very little influence on
his generation, and that the influence he did exert was in the
main pernicious. I have had copied everything he said, from
the time he made his first speech, so far as it is found in
the newspapers, and have the volumes in which his speeches
are collected.
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