The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1859-12-21

, put pike or q rife in the hands Of twenty.
We hundred men, to be used against their
elbows, inhabitants Of the same town, in
mates of the same houses, with an ulterior
Intention and purpose Of wrapping the whole
in civil war Of the deadIiest and
'loodiest type, in which mans foes should
70 those OF his own household suppose, |
'ay, the person who planned and plotted
his, and with his own hand or that of his
associates acting by bis command, had taken
he lives OF several fellow beings, should be
sxtolled, cannonized, placed on a level with
the great heroes Of humanity, nay, assimilat-
ed to the great Saviour Of msnkind and all
this not the effect Of solitary individual i'm.
pulse, bu: the ripe fruit Of a systematic sgi-
tation pursued in the South unrebuked for
years What, sir, should we feel, think,
say, under such state Of things? Should
we weigh every phrase Of indignant remon.
strsnce with critical accuracy, and divide
our murmurs with nice discrimination among
those whom we might believe, however un.
justly, might be directly or indirectly con
cerned in the murderous aggression Mr..
Chairman, those who look upon the existing
excitement at the South as Fictitious or ex
travagant, have, | fear, formed very inad-
equate idea Of the nature ofsuch an attempt
as that which was made at Harper's Ferry
was intended to be, and would have been had
it proved successful. 1t is To want Of refec-
ton on this point that we must nseribe the
fact, that any civilized man In his right mind,
and still more any man Of intelligence and
moral discernment, in other respects, can be
found to approve and sympathize with it,
(Applause.) am sure il such persons will
bring home to their minds, in any distinct
conception, the real nature Of the undertak
iog, they would bo themselves amazed that
they had over given it their sympathy. 1t
appears from his own statements and those
OF his deluded associates, OF his biographer,
of his wretched wife, that the unhsppy man
who has just paid the forfeit of his life had
Tor years medltated general insurreclion in
the Southern States that he thought the
time had now come to effect il; that the
slaves were ready to rise and the non.slave.
holding whites to join them and both united
were ready to form new commonwealth, OF
which the Constitution was organized and
the. officers chosen. With this wild, but
thoroughly matured plan, he provides weap.
ons for those on whose rsing he calculated
at Harper's Ferry ; he seizes the nationa
arsenal, where there was q supply Of arms
for hundred thousand men, and he intend.
ed il unable to maintain himself at once in
the open country, to retreat to the noun
tnins, and from their Businesses harass, par.
alyze and at length revoutionize the South.
To talk of the pixies and rifles not being in
tended for offensive purposes, is simply alb.
surd. (Applause.) The first act almost oI
the party was to shoot down free colorec
man, whom they were attempting to impress
and who fed from them. One might as wei
say that the riaed ordnance of Louis Napo
leon was intended only for self-defence, tt
be used only in case the Austrians shoult
undertake to arrest his march. cloud sp
plause.
No, sir, it was an attempt to do on vas
scale what was done in ST. Domingo il
1891, where the colored population wa
about equal to that Virginia; and if any on
would form distinct ides OF what such al
| operation is, let him see it--not 40 a matte
OF vague conception--a crude project--i
the mind OF heated fanstic. but as it shoul
appear in the sober pages of history, tha
record the revolt in that leland; the midnigh
burnngs, the wholesale massacres, the mer
ciless tortures, the denominations not to
mentioned by Christian lips in the hearin
| OF Christian earS--some OF which,, too VI
utteras sly atrocious for the English language
are of necessity veiled in the obscurity {
tie Latin tongue. Allow me to read you
few sentences from the historian of thes
events
"In the town itself the general belief fl
some time was that the revolt wac by (
means an extensive one, but sudden 81
partial insurrection only. The largest sug
plantation on the plain Yves that Of Mons
Gallifet, situated about eight miles from ii
town, the negroes belonging to which hs
always been treated with such kindness or
liberality, and possessed so many advant
ges, that It became proyerbiAl expressit
among the lower white people, in speakir
of any ones good fortune,to say, IL es hsure'
eomme un negrs de Galitet Che is happy
oAe of M. Gallifet's negroes. M. Odelu
= an attorney or agent for this plantation, W
q member of the General Assembly, and b
ing fully persuaded that the negroes belon
. ing to it would remain firm in their Oh
= dience, determined to repair thither to e
{. courage them in opposing the inSurgen
4 to which end he desired the assistance ol
few soldiers from the town guard which "
, granted him. He proceeded according
= = but on approaching the estate, to his 81
a prise he foupd all the negroes in arms on
. >. eide of the rebels, and (horrid to telD th
II standard. was the body of white infa
which they had recently impaled on staI
MIR. Odeluc had advanced too far to retr
:. undiscovered, and both he and friend W
!. :. had accompanied him, with most Of the
:. diers, were killed without mercy. Two
- = three only Of the patrol escaped by fig
POI i..lI..l lsl;. a. A.. AhS