Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-12-14
Continued from fourth page.


the quickest time possible shown them no quarter,
have tried the survivors, if any, by court martial
and have shot the condemned on the spot But
when he arrived they were prisoners, and some of
them wounded, and he was bound to protect them
and give them fair trial by the laws of the land
Speaking of the States from which the invaders
came he says, 1--WE have friends, or We have not in
these States. They must now be not only conser-
yative, but actire to prevent invaders coming We
are in arms" Referring to his preparations to pre-
vent rescue of Brown, he says:
"Information from all quarters with responsible
names, and anonymous, dated the same time, from
places far distant from each other came of organi-
zed conspiracies and combinations to o5struct our
laws to rescue and seize hostages to commit rapne
and burning along our borders on Maryland, Penn
sylvania, Ohio and Indiana. proceeding from these
States and from New York, Massachusetts, and other
States and Canada. These multiplied in every form
for weeks; and at last. on the 10th of November,
call was very properly and timely made by Col Da-
Wis for an additional force of 500 men.
These reports and rumors, from so many sources,
of every character and form, so simultaneous, from
places so far apart, at the time, from persons
unlike in evidences of education, could be from
no conspiracy to hoax; but / relied not so much
upon them as upon the earnest continued general
appeal Of sympathjzers Nth the crimes 1t oas i'm
possible for so much Of such sympthy 10 erist pith
out exciting bad to action Of rescue or rerenge
On this acted
Immediately put in motion the troops Of Rich
mond, Alexandria, Petersburg and Fauquier who
obeyed promptly-and in the time from III o'clock
Saturday, night to Tuesday morning, 563 men were
added to the guards at Charlcstown again went in
person with the troops; assembled the commanding
officers, organized the command, issued general or
ders, and returned TO Harper's Ferry, where met
General Taliaferro and accepted his services Since
then have ordered n additional fo,ca of $50 men
from Norfolk and Portsmouth and Petersburg and
Orange and Albemarle and Augusta and Rockingham
and Wheeling, and have called out corps of howit-
zerS under Colonel Smith of Virginia Military Insti
tute. And | have ordered Generals Rogers and
Hunton to do whatever is necessary to guard the
borders from the Point of Rocks to Alexandria; and
the whole border is guarded West to Piedmont. l
have exhausted this and the next years quotas in
issuing efficient arms, and have purchased arms of
the best improved models, and issued them and coats
and blankets to the troops. In word, have been
compelled by apprehension of the most unparalleled
border war, to place the State in full panopy of
military defence as if foreign enemy had invaded
Indeed, one Of the most irritating features of this
predatory war; is that it has its seat in British pro-
vinceS, which furnish asyums fer our fug ives from
justice and from labor, and sends them and their
hired outlaws back upon from depots and rendez
vous in bordering States. There is no danger from
our slaves or colored people. The slaves taken re-
fused to take arms, and the first man killed was
respectable free negro who trusted with the
baggage of the railroad and who faithful to his duty
was shot running from the phianthropists who
come to liberate the black race!
But why do our slaves on the border not take up
arms against their masters? We must look firmly
at this fact before take it as solace In the
swer to that question lies the root of our danger
Masters in tie b0rler c0untis noao hold their xlaces
by sufsrance. The slave could fly to John Brown
much easier than he could come and take him. The
slaves at will can liberate themselves by running
away The underground railroad is at their very
doors, and they may take passage when they please
They prefer to remain. John Bronn's inrasion
Startled us; Int are hare been tnmely submitting to
a greater DANGER without contrasting 1t. The plan
which silently cOrrupts and steals slaves, which
sends secret emisSaries among us to stampede y
our slaves which refuses TO execute fugitive slave
laws, which forms secret societies for mischief with
the MOTTO "alarm to their sleep. fire to their dwell
ings and poison to their food and water" and which
establishes underground railroads, and depots and
rendezvous for invasion, is more dangerous than
the invasion by John Brown. Yet the latter ex
cites US, and in the former we have been sleep
ily acquiescing. 1t is no sOace to me, then, thai
our border slaves are so liberated already by
this exterior asylum, and by this still. silent, steal
ing system, that they haze need to take up arm
for their own liberation Confederate States wei
as individuals have denounced our laws and set then
at Defiance they have by their laws encouraged ant
facilitated the escape of our slaves, and have made
| abolition cancer eating into our very vitals.
We must, then, acknowledge and act on the fac
that present relations between the States cannot b.
permitted longer to exist without abolshing SLAYER.
throughout the United States, compelling us t.
defend it by force of arms"
He says he addressed letters in relation to the in
vasion and contemplated rescue to the Governors Q
Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. From the tw
former States he has received satisfactory replies
butno reply from the latter He adds that he calle
upon the President to protect Virginia against inva
sion by persons from other States but that the Pres
idcnt replied that he had not the power to do 81
The Governor argues the question at length, insis
ing that the President has the power. He conclude
his first Message by urging the Legislature
"1st Organize ard arm.
I'd. Demand of each State in the Union what pc
sition she means to maintain for the future in n
spect to slavery and the provision of the Consttu
ton and laws of the United States, and the provi:
ions of State laws for its protection in our Federi
relations; and be governed according to the manne
l in which the demand shall be answered. Let us d
iend our own position, or yield it at once. Let |
| have action and not resolveS-defnitive settemen
and no more temporizing the Constitution, and II
more compromise.
John Brown, the leader Of the invasion of Harper
Ferry, was executed according to the sentence
the Court on the I'd instant. Hs body was delive
ed. by my request to the sheriff Of Jefferso, cou
ty, to the orders of Major General Taaferro, to
guarded safely to Iarpers Ferry, and there delive
to his widow, Mary Brown The laws Of the Cor
monwealth have reigned in his arrest, trial and ex
cuton; and when dead under the sentence, they r
leased his remains to his relatives, to whom tht
have, with dignity and decency, been handed owe
The other convicts await execution and will be e
ecuted on the 10TH unless the General Assemb
orders otherwise. l shall be guided in my cour
in respect to the reprieve, pardon or communication
punishment Of these, OF in respect to their executo
by your resolves. This will meet the open invasio
but it acts only on the individual convicts, and
don't settle the question Of peace and protectt
against future aggression. To do that we mu