Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-11-07

to confirm his nomination. No objection has
been made to him which is not also an un-
worthy imputation on the common sense
and the good judgement of the meeting
which nominated him. In district No. 20,
| wards four and five) the election of a Re-
| publican representative is not impossible. The
vote ofthe district last year was for Beach, 1873;
for Banks 264; democratic plurality IA; re-
| quiring change to the right side of about 81
votes in total of something over 900. With
a suitable candidate in the field that desirable
result ought to be easily gained.
Rev. Messrs. WayIand and Shipper, on the
Harper's Ferry Insurrection.
| Rev. Mr.. Wayland, at the Third Baptist
Church, discoursed yesterday forenoon upon
the recent "Harper's Ferry msurrection."
He took his text from Psalms, 76l0-"Surely
| the wrath of man shall praise thee the re-
mainder of wrath shalt thou restrain" After
abiding in his introduction to the various
mems by which the ways end acts of bad as
well as good men are made to serve the cause
of God, in contributing to the worlds improve
ment and the benefit and advancement of the
condition of mankind, the preacher came di-
rectly to his subject He spoke of the attempt
of John Brown, not as the crime of a bad man,
but as the mistake of good man: for a great
miscalculation it was, to suppose he could
succeed against such odds. He said bravery
was written in Browns whole nature He
had faced death, and could face it again with
|
out a tremor. HIS words, when surrounded
by enemies, when wounded, helpless, and con-
demned to an ignominious death, breathed an
undaunted herolsm. that may have been equal
ed, but had never been excelled. His words
uttered just before receiving sentence have be-
come immortal. History shall treasure them;
| youth shall repeat them upon the stage of
boyish defamation; and when the hour of
Americas emancipation has come, they shall
be revered, as now are the words of Patrick
Henry, of Adams, of Otis, or OF Warren An
honest mau, he will not lie nor prevaricate
an unselfsh man, he deprived himself, in pur-
suit of his great object of all personal comfort,
| and dlSregarded all care for personal safety a
humane man,aE have testified to his unwilling.
ness to shed blood. OF his qualities as a kind
man, | can speak from my own knowledge.
| When he was i'll this city, between two and
three years ago, it was my fortune to become
acquainted with him, and to enjoy considera.
bic intercourse with him. He partook of my
hospitality. | saw him, at that time, at the
house Of friend, and saw the children gather
about him, sitting upon his knees, and climb.
ing upon his shoulders. You never would
have supposed that that plain, farmer-looking
man, OF such tatherly aspect and such kindly
tone of voice, was the hero of many border
struggle, whose name was the cause of terror
to the hordes of Missouri barbarians. 'The
children always love me-" he said and no
doubt, as he spoke, he thought OF his noble
sons, lying under the sward of the prairie l
will take the testimony of children to his kind
ness of heart. An unkind man cannot gain
| the affection of childhood.
The preacher thought that by the acts of
Brown and his associates, although i'll advised
and misguided, the hour of emancipation had
| been fastened, inasmuch as the terror and
| alarm to the slave power attending that act
| showed the Inherent weakness OF the slave
| system, and illustrated the unstable and tot
tering foundation on which the institution
rests Such acts as these at I1arper's Ferry
were the necessary result Of holding men in
| slavery, and would continue to break out, at
one place or another, or in some way, as long
as the hour of deiyerance was postponed and
| the chains of the captive millions kept tighten
| ed. The system was an unnatural, cruel, and
| inhuman one. and unnatural and violent
means were liable to be resorted to in the at
tempt to get rid of it.
| If slavery was right then it was right to
execute Brown for what he had done; one
followed as the natural, necessary, logical Sc
| quence of the other. The necessary antagon-
ism between freedom and slavery, and their
| inconpatibility to exist side by side in this
| thp Hiptt oh
must ever exist between them until one or the
other is eXterminated as portrayed in the
! speeches OF both Webster and Seward, were
| dwelt upon and enforced.
! The crimes committed by the pro-savery
| party in Kansas against the free state men
were the precursors and real causes of the
present "insurrection" in Virginia. He trust
the ultimate result would be the awakening of
more earnest prayer and other effort for the
| abolition OF slavery. Christian men might be
defeated on the field of battle, or at the ballot
box, but never in the closet If all protesting
| Christian men would unite for but one day i'll
earnest prayer for the removal of slavery, it
would be accomplished. The preacher closed
by an earnest appeal to all to do their duty to
this end.
Rev. Mr.. Shipper, at the Church of
the Unity, preached discourse from Ro-
mails 1921 "Overcome evil with good"
in which he made appropriate allusion to
this subject After speaking of the true
method of reform, by moral and pacific rather
than by violent means, he said, in reference to
that startling tragedy just enacted at Harper's
Ferry, let lis not forget the law that evil can
never be overcome by evil, but conquered only
| by good. To the leader in the late insurrec-
ton, for his heroism that allies him to the mar
| tyrs of Bunker's Hill and to the many whom
we denounce as fanatics while living. and
whose ashes we gather and glorify when dead
| for his disinterestedness, and humanity in
saving bloodshed, and his brave bearing
through his trial, l pay the willing tribute Of
| sympathy and admiration. Let those espe-
cially who found no voice to rebuke the!bloody
tragedy of Kansas, be silent now. But, while
according to his own purpose and principles we
admire John Brown, let us not fail to see that
his act was a sad mistake throughout, and,
however it shall be over-ruled for good in the
end, its principle and method we must repudi-
ate as no right way to overthrow oppression or
benefitthe slave.
Mr.. Shipper charged this "insurrection" not
upon those at the North, or elsewhere who,
with the inalienable right of free speech, advo-
cate universal freedom and emancipation to the
slave, but upon those who advocate the per
petuation of the slave system, or refuse to lift
a finger or utter voice for the oosening of
the chains Of the ensaved. just SO long as