The weekly Anglo-African., 1859-12-10
JOHN BROWN. THE MARTYR.

I fear.
This most solemn utterance of the litur
@gy strikes the heart of this nation with fit
sting chord, connected with the events O
athe second of December, for on that day
j ohm Brown departed this life in the "faitf
Sand fear" of God. 1t is but truth to say
! THAT million of eyes turned sadly, earn
testify, hopefully toward that gibbet in th'
sfeld near Charlestown-a million of hearts
Hyearned towards the old man in his agony
sand prayed earnestly that he might b.
spared the bitter pangs of sudden death
salso knowing and believing that, far from
sentering into "death eternal" he but pass
] ed the veil which shuts Us out from sights
] too glorious for mortal vision; and millions
sof people in these United States now "bles
! His holy Name" for this, His servant, whC
has departed in His "faith and fear"
The lightning wires and the press sum
smoned a larger number of witnesses than
lever before looked upon the dying of one
imam. That sad hour from eleven till noon
found concentrated on John Browns cal.
j flows the attention, the sympathy, the hate
sor the love of thirty millions of people
What an audience to gather, and how no
/ bly, taught
We are yet too near this event, too en-
stirely in sympathy with its hero, to pass
sober Judgment upon its probable results.
Ia plain old man, who sat but yesterday in
that chair at our freside-a real home
body, yet somehow a. homeless wanderer--
speaking of them in bonds "as bound With
Ithem,' narrating his duty to "do unto 9TH
'erS as he would that they should do untoI
him" CLEAN in his cold blue eye as he
spoke of shareholders, bowie-knife inI
either bootleg, volcanic repeater doubled
up in his side pocket, quietly asking if wei
would be willing to sleep under a tent
with him; we miss him a week or two, andI
he has Settled the case" for Kansas. Hell
comes our way again, sits in the same quill
ct CHER, himself more restless than before,E
his smooth-shaven face covered with longE
beard, his iron-grey hair bristling up, and
just possibly wilder CLEAN in his cold,
glittering eye-leading the women folks toI
ask, us Capt. Brown insane ?"-yet the
same calm voice; and we miss him again
Tor more than year, when a sudden and /
confused announcement in the afternoons
paper speaks of the improbable rumors
about Harper's Ferry, and we all exclaim,
That's Captain Brown !"
The thing difficult to believe is, that one
so supplemented should be so great-thatt
we had entertained an angel unawares
In like manner the nation is too near L
90 familiar with John Brown, to think or I
peak calmly of him. Some years ago, h
when on board of national ship, the
oeace-maker burst, scattering death and
lismay among navy and government Off
ials present, when Capt. Stockton, his hair
burned off and his face blackened With 4
powder, sprang from the deck to the gun 4
arriage, and, uncertain which world he I
night be in, uttered, most strange for him,
pious ejaculation. So this sudden explo- &
ion at Harper's Ferry has startled the en- u
ire nation, North as well as South, and all d
re alike unconscious of the present; able y
ditors, earnest politicians, and the rever- 8
nd, the clergy, have all lost their "calm. 8
The South ferociously, insanely, scolds y
he North, and the North, with unseemly s
nd unnatural mirth, derides the fears of D
he South. "John Brown" says the "Tr- e
une, "has frightened all Virginia" A
idiculous scare" and an unnecessary
of two thousand military to guard
gainst rescue which nobody dreams Of" NJ
leither, Oh most able editor, did any bo- u
y dream of Harpers Ferry on the night q
the 18th of October; yet good many q
ave dreamed..of it since. Besides, John 8
rown did not brighten all Virginia; there
re in that State some half million of slaves IS
nd we have no reports that they were ter n
fed. The probabilities are that they felt
nd yet feel a glow of John Browns spirit
ashing through their dark bosoms; and ita
as to crush that spirit, and prevent the II
nance of a rescue from the slaves them q
lives, which caused Gov. Wise to call out
is imposing military display. The early q
oast of Judge Parker that not slave or
&c man of color had joined John Brown,
&C ltradicted by the fact that Col. Wash h
Igton's coachman was found among then
ain insurgents; and Gov. Wise, who E
nows more than he publishes, has been VI
silent on this point of late; and 4
lie numerous slave-owners who no longerf
ire sleep on their plantations, the many