Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1859-11-10


ty which rescued Dr. Dov. who had
been kidnapped IN Kansas and taken
to Missouri. That fac; was published
in our papers, and | supposed it true.
That was a subject in which | took a
deep interest. and understanding that
he was in want Of money. gave three
dollars to his son to relieve his neces-
sites.
think there was not a day from
the time that Browns son was mur-
dered in Kansas. to that Of his capture
at Harper's Ferry. that | would have
hesitated to give him whatever money
had, If informed that he was in want.
But / little dreamed that this three
dollars was to lit out a military ex-
pedition with arms, ammunition and
men, capture Harper's Ferry. effect the
conquest of the Old Dominion. strike
terror to the Executive heart and i'm
peril the Government. OF Stephens,
who was said to refuse giving answers
relating to me. | have no recollection
whatever. He may have seen me Of
ten, may have spoken with me, but ]
have no recollection of him.
When | left home, the capture of
Brown had been known some few
days since; but | heard no intimation
that any man from that county was
with him. | never at any time heard
of his being, or intending To be, In
Virginia. | never heard from him.
nor from any person his name, or in
tentions connected with that State. or
with Harper's Ferry; and when read
the account of his being there. it was
as much news to me as to the Presi-
dent of the United States; and when |
read the account Of his long residence
there | was as much astoniShed as any
other man.
And now having stated the facts, |
would say that If Gerrit Smith and
other men contributed money and
arms for Brown and his party. with
the full knowledge that his intentions
were as Brown himself states them to
have been-that is. the liberation OF
slaves without the shedding of blood.
otherwise than of those who endeavor-
ed to hold the slaves in bondage
they certainly offended against no law
of OHIO, or, so far as my knowledge
extends, OF any other free State. Mr.
Smith is an intelligent Christian gen
tleman, who knows his rights. and
understands his duty to God and man
kind.
| have been panied at seeing the ef-
forts of editors and sensation commit
tees to represent Mr.. Smith as guilty
of crime. and about to be sent for by
Gov. Wise of Va. to be taken to that
State for trial. These things have ex
hibited an ignorance in this Chris
tian land. and in this nineteenth Gen.
tury, that | little dreamed of. Indeed
the idea that man if guilty of vio-
lating law in New York. must be sent
to Virginia for trial, is bnt an illustra-
ton OF those minds who though living
in the free States. look to the South
for religious. moral and political in
struction. They had better study and
know their own rights before assailing
those of their fellow men. To them |
would say the lovers OF liberty are in
formed. They know their rights
The time for frightening men has gone
by forever Such men are behind the
age. They may be compared to those
whom Swedenborg says he met in the
spirit world, who, although they had
been there twenty, thirty, and some Of
them forty years, had not found out
they were dead"
Having disposed ofthese extraneous
considerations, ! recall the attention of
the audience to the remote and proxi-
mate causes of the recent emeute.-
Those causes consist of series of des-
potic acts on the part of those who
have welded the Executive, the Leg
islative and Judicial powers of govern
ment during the last twenty five years.
Those acts are not laws, they are vlo-
lations of law. They are not consti-
tutionsl but violations of the constitu-
tion, not in favor OF life. liberty and
happiness, but destructive of those
rights.
These despotic acts have aroused the
spirit of the people, and there is, in
serious truth, IAN irrepressible con-
flict" now in progress. 1t is that ir-
repressibIe conflict between Freedom
and Slavery, which has been in prog
ress for centuries. 1t is one of those
revolutions which never goes back
ward.
Our statesmen have misrepresented
the philosophy of free governments.-
They have attempted to rule free
people by brute force, instead Of a Just
administration of legitimate powers
They have preferred the crime Of Slave
ry to the God-given rights of liberty
They have trampled upon the rights Of
our Free States to obtain political ia
vor with the slave power. They have
+ stained the soil of our Free States
with Innocent blood. Men are cap
tured in our Northern villages, their
limbs manacled, and they are carried
to slavery as though our territory lay
upon the African coast, subjected t.
the pollution of slave-dealing pirates.
, while the stars and stripes. those en-
blems of liberty, are prostituted to the
protection of an execrable commerce
: in human flesh. The Indignation Of
our people is awakened. In some To-
cations it is intense. Let no man mis-
take or belittle that feeling. 1t has
long been forseeD- All retiecting men
know it must come. During fifteen
, years | have constantly pointed il ont