The Kansas herald of freedom., 1859-12-17
III. Marnr.Roll Of IA. pr...u,

Brown: "He has fallen martyr to Free
DOM"
Freedom has had her martyrs, of whom
ELIJAH P. LovEJoY, who fell at Alton, de-
Tending the freedom of the press, is a
worthy example. He fell in maintenance
of his right to speak the truth on free soil
Whatever John Brown may have been
engaged in previously as a means of
achieving the triumph of free principles,
that cannot be construed as casting any
luster on his last enterprise, unless it is
proven legitimate sequence of the de-
fence of free principles. His ayowed OBJ
jeCt, and that o. his associates, was to set
on foot slave instruction. Is that a
legitimate sequence of the advocacy of
free principles? If so, then instruction
is one of the noble and Heaven ordained
means of advancing the freedom of the
African race-one which abolitionists can
advocate, good citizens commend, and
Christians laud its active promoters as men
worthy of being enshrined as better than
Washington, and equal to Jesus Christ;
and the gallows of John Brown as honored
as the cross of Jesus
No sane man pretends that instruction
is the legitimate fruit of the anti-slavery
gospel. Had John Brown taken his life
in his hand, and gone into the slave States,
preaching to slave holders and pro-slavery
men anti-slavery truth as Rev. JOHN G.
FEE and CAssIUs NJ. CLAY have done, and
then had fallen victim to violence for
that cause, he would have been worthy of
enrolment in the martyr-roll of to-day.
Professedly believing in the ultimate tri-
umph of truth, he showed his disbelief, in
-eschewing peaceful measures, and pro-
claiming "War to the knife-and the knife
to the hilt." Apparently a very saint
doing lip service as follower of the
meek and lowly Jesus" he preferred his
own cunning and the strength of his right
arm to the power either of God or his
truth. In his case Christ's words were full
flled-"He that taketh the sword shall
perish by the sword"-a fate which Christ
evidently considered neither very martyr
like nor exemplary-a course which met
his emphatic condemnation. Had John
Brown been believer in the atheism and
wild revolutionary dogmas of the French
Revolution, his course would have had
the merit of consistency. Had he succeeded
in his late attempt, and written his name
in blood as did Robespierre, and Dauton,
and Mural, he would have been enrolled on
the same martyr-list with theirs, by the
Eealots and anarchists of future centuries
but now, while conservative men shuddel
at his fate, and Christians regret that he
did not believe in the truth he professed
while they may drop silent tear ovel
the calmness with which he met his doom
while they may grant him to be sincere
but mistaken III his motives, neither sub.
jecting them to rigid analysis, nor cal
culating their tendencies-they cannot
award him place on the martyr-roll o.
the future, by the side of an ALGERNoS
SIDNEY of the past, or an ELIJAH P. LOVE
JOY of the present century.
John Browns insurrectionary attemp
was failure-the less lionized the better
1t was in violation of the brotherhood o
man-of the law Of love-of the princi
pies enunciated by Christ-hence it fall
in every essential attribute of Christian
martyrdom. The act was the result more
especially Of the intense power of concen
tration in the mental character of Johr
Brown. Whether he was large brainet
man or not, it must be admitted that h
possessed terrible power of concentrat
ing whatever of mental strength he hac
upon an isolated object. Hence, he coulC
and did hate with the most diabolical ha
tired the slave power and its minions; hi
whole soul concentrated itself upon evolv
ing the most startling, terrible and com
prehensive form of expressing that hatred
ne saw himself only in the light of ter
rible avenger for the woes of the oppressed
African-forecast, calculation of the lie
climate results of his course, testing hi
Pas in the light of prudence and reason
or weighing them in the scales of even
handed justice-all were banished by tn
hsnd-spirit which possessed him. At it
bidding, the victims Of the Pottawattami
massacre fell-s Southern insurectio
was planned, and the death of Crews i
Missouri was another milestone of pro
gress set in blood-the Harper's Fer
enterprise. entered upon as the beginnin
Of war of races, more bloody and teribl
than the world has yet witnessed, b
cherished as the grand consummation Q
vengeancs-his concentration Of characte
pictured it as an ocean wave, colossal il
size and resistless in strength-it dashe,
upon the beetling cliffs, and spent its fore
in vain. As if with q sudden rebound
his ruling attribute of character manifesto,
itself at once in StOicaI endurance Of what