Wendell Phillips speaks against mobs in Boston and almost causes a riot

Tensions in Boston were still high after anti-abolitionists had broken up a meeting earlier in the month in the city.  Wendell Phillips gave a ninety minutes morning speech at the Music Hall condemning both the violence against abolitionists and the complicity of the police and the Mayor in not protecting legally constituted meetings from "the mob."  An hostile crowd was waiting outside the hall when he emerged and he had to escorted home by a large force of police.  (By John Osborne)