Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-12-28
ElOquOnt Letter from Victor Huge.
"a WORD FDR JcHS BROWN"



We have received from Guernsey, with q re-
quest that it should appear in our columns, the
following eloquent appeal from the iIlustrious
poet Of France, who has the right to speak
with all the authority of his own noble sor-
rows in the name Of outraged freedom
VIII one thinks Of the United States of
America, majestic figure rises 10 the mind
Washington. Now. in that country Of Washs
ington see what 10 going on at this hour.
There are slaves ia The Southern States,
fact which strikes With Indignation as the most
monstTous of contradictions, the reasonable and
freer conscience Of the Northern States 49,
These slaves, these negroes, white man, a
free man, one John Brown, wanted TO deliver
Certainly If insurrectiOn bo ever sacreI duty
Il is against slavery. Brown wished to begin
the good work by the deiveraBce Of the slaves
in Virginia. Being puritan, a religious ana
austere man, and full Of the Gospel, he cned
aloud ia these men-hs brothers-the cry of
emsnci pation-"ChTist has set us free !" The
slaves, eneryated by slavery, made no response
to his appeal, slavery makes deafness IN tho
soul. Brown, finding himself abandoned,
fought with handful of heroic men; he strug.
gled; he fell riddled with bullets, his two Young
sons. martyrs of a holy cause, dead at his
side, This is what is called the Harper's Fer
ry affair,
John Brown, taken prieoner, has Just been
tried with four of his fellows-Stephens, Cop
pic, Green and Copeland. What sort of trial
Il was a word will tell
Brown stretched ON a truckle bed. with six
half CLOSED wounds-a gun-shot wound in his
arn, one in his loins, two in the chest, two in
the head-almost beTeft Of hearing, bleeding
through his mattress, the spirtts of his two
| dead sons attending him; his four fellow pris-
Sners crawling around him; Stephens with four
sabre woundP, Justice" In a hurry to have
done with the case; an attorney, Hunter. do.
manding that it be despatched with SHARP
speed; Judge Parker asserting; the defenct
cut short; ecsTcely any delay allowed; forged
or garbed documents put in evidence the wit
nCsses for the prisoners shut out; the defence
cogged; two guns loaded with grape brought
into court, with an order to the iailors 10 shoot
the prisoners in case of any attempt at rescue;
forty minutes deliberation; three sentences Ia
death. affirm, on my honor that all this took
| place, notin Turkey, but in America.
Such things are not done with impunity in
the face f the civilized world The universal
conscience of mankind is an ever watchiul
eye Let the Judges OF Charestown, and
Hunter, and Parker, and the slave holding Jurors
and the whole population of Virginia, ponder
II WE'LL they are seen. They are not alone in
the world. AT this moment the gaze of Europe
is fixed on America.
| John Brown, condemned TO die was TO have
been hanged on the 2l December-Ihis very
day. But news has this instant reached u.s.
A respite is granted him. 1t is not until tn,
10th that he is to die. The interval is short
Has cry of mercy time to make itself heard
No matter. 1t i duty to lift up the voice,
Perhaps second respite may be granted
America is a noble land, The sentiment Of hu
manity is soon quickened among free people
We hope that Brown may be saved. II il
were otherwise, il Brown should die on the
scafTod on the 10th Of December, what terri
BILE calamity.
The executionor of Brown let US avow Il
openly, Cor the day Of kings is past, and the
day of the people dawns, and to the people VIZ
are bound frankly to speak the truth)-the exc
cutiOn of Brown would be neither the attorney
Hunter, nor the judge Parker, nor the Governor
Wise, nor the State of Virginia; it would be-
we say il, and we think it with shudder, the
whole American repoblc
The more one loves, the moro one admires
the more one reveres the Republic, the NOR,
heRTtsiok one feels at such a catastrophe A
single State ought not 10 have the power to dis
honor all the rest, and in this case federal in
terVention is clear right. Otherwise, by hes
|
crime, the Union becOmt an u compice N,
matter how intense may be the Indignation o
the generous Northern States, the Southon
States associate them with this murder All o
us, whoever we may be-for whom tho demo
cratic cause is a common cOuntry-feel our
selves in manner compromised and hurt. ]
the scaiiold should be erected ON the 10Th Q
December, the incouuptibls voice of bistor
would thence orward testify that the angus
confederation Of the New World had added /
all its ties of holy brotherhood brotherhood O
blood, and the Jasees of that splendid republi
would he bound together with the runnin
moose that hung from the gibbet Of Brown.
This 10 bond that kills.
When we reflect that Brown the liberator, ,th
champion of Christ, has striven TO effect an
when we remember that he is about TO die
slaughtered by the American republic, the Grim
assumes the proportions Of the nation whic
commits IL d when we say to ourselves that thi
nation is glory Of the human race that--hk
France, like England, like Germany--she
one of the organs Of civilization that sbe som.
times even outmaTches Europe by the sublim
audaciIy Of her progress that she is the quee
of an entire world; and that she bears on he
brow an immense light Of freedom we afiin
that John Brown will not die, for we recoil, ho
ror struck, from the idea Of 80 great Grim
J. cOlnmltteu b1 80 great people.
In a political light the murder of Brow
would be an irrepaIsble fault II would pen,
trate the Union with secret fissuFs whic
would in the end tear 1t asunder Il is possb
that the execution OF Brown might eonsoldai
slavery in Virginia, but il is certain that
. would convulse the entire American Denocn
cy, You preserve your shame, but you saer
. fee your glory
In a moral light, IL seems to me that po
ton Of the light Of humanity would be eclipse
that even the idea Of justice and injustice wOn
be obscured on the day which should Witne'
the assassination Of Emancipation by LibeTt
AZ for myself, though l am but an atom, "
being, as / sm, in common with ell other me-
inspired with the conscience Of humanity,
kneel in tears before the great starry bann'
Of the new world, and with elasped hands, al
with profound and flial respect, impljFs Il
illustrious American Republic, sister Of Il
French Republic, 10 look TO the safety Of q
universal moral law, TO save Brown, TO thfo
down the threatening seaffold Of the 10th d
cember, and not to suffer that beneath its eye
and add, with shudder almost by its fau
the first fTatrciie be outdone.
FOr-yes, let America know Il and ponder
Wsll-there is something more terrible thi
Cain slaying Absl-it is Washington slayiI
spsrtAcus, VIcToR HUGO.
Hautevhle House, Dec. 2, 1859.
Tar PRooRKss Or NoK-IETRRcoURsE.--T
! FnoVsmeDta of the South towards an entire ee