Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1859-12-30
sneeeh of Senator Wade.

to the Harper's Ferry raid, Mr.. Wade, after
some preliminary remarks, said
Why, sir, it is a strange state of things that
we find prevailing all around US. A strange
state of sentiment has sprung up all at once
l beg to know what has taken place that has
given rise to this inquiry. and 1 will say it, to
these most Incorporate speeches that have
been made on the subject? Why sir, twenty
one men, all told, deluded men yea, sir-judg-
ing from the very act they undertook to accom-
plish-insane men, have invaded a great and
powerful sovereign State, and they have met
that retribution which every sane man knew
must be their lot in undertaking what they did.
When a gang of conspiraters are apprehended
and brought to justice in every other case, as
far as l know, all excitement ceases over the
graves of the malefactors ; and why not here ?
Mr.. President, | understand it is said that
the Northern people sympathize with John
Brown in the raid that he made upon the SOW
ereignty of Virginia and that is a great cause
of complaint. Sir, I do not stand here to con-
troll the sympathies OF the human heart, under
any circumstances because they are not sub
iect to human control but I think l can ex-
plain the reason why many Northern men have
deeply sympathized with old John Brown,
the leader-of this gang. I ask you here ow-
ever, always to discriminate between the man
and the act that he committed. Gentlemen
seem incapable of drawing that line of discrim-
nation. They run both together, and they
treat old John Brown az a common maleiactor.
They have a right to treat him so, but he will
not go dow to posterity in that light at all.
[ think [ know why it is that some considcra-
BILE feeling and sympathy exist in the North for
old John Brown, and it cannot be understood
unless we go back for four years and see what
was taking place in a distant 1errirotory of the
United States, and what part John Brown &C
ted on that theater.
Sir, if Virginia is excited almost to madness
because / conspiracy has been formed and trail
tors have made a raid upon their Sovereignty,
what do you suppose were the feelings Of Nor
thern men, whose relations and friends had gone
into a far distsnt Territory. and formed colo
MES there, weak and feeble, scattered through
a wilderness when it was the deliberate pur-
pose of a great, powerful, and almost a~llperva-
ding party, to drive them out, or to cOerce
them to subscribe to opinions and institutions
which they abhorred from the bottom of their
souls? Many were murdered in cold blood, and
others were driven out and their property was
destroyed. They appealed to Congress; but
they got Insult instead of sympathy. When I
state this 1 state what I know. My blood
boiled then in view of the oppression and ty-
ranny that sacrificed that Territory. I need
not go through all the volume Of testimony on
that subject. l speak by the book. One hun
dred witnesses attest the truth Of every word l
say. This record is indclible. 1t will go down
to posterity, and it will show the damning fact
that this Government did, at least, connivc at
the acts of great bands Of conspirators, who,
arming themselves l~awlessly with arms of the
Federal Government, invaded a pcaceable Ter
ritory took possession Of the ballot-boxes F.;
drove its people from the polls expelled them
from their possessions +; exercised acts Of tyran-
ny over them deprived them of every right
and in a great many instances murdered them
r~uthcssly in cold blood.
But, sir, that was a great way of, il was in
a Territory of this Union. 1t was not every
man on this floor who had friends there expos
cd 10 those attacks, and hence they did not ere
ate the same excitement thlt is created when
the invasion comes nearer home. But l d.
clare here in my place that, in my judgment,
the only difference betwaen the two cas1s is
this that in the case of Kansas the invasion
was made with no other purpose than to fix
! slavery there at all hazards and by force OF
arms, while old John Brown and his men, with
u like unlawful purpasA, uni -rtooN 10 eAtirpate
slavery from the State Of Virginia.
The Free State men Of Kansas got no con-
ISOLATION from this Government. ! remember
well when thair petitions came III heIc asking
1for redress, and | remember that a Senator
fstool forth in his place and said We will
slbdue you; YOU are traitors we will hang
every man Of you this Government has PROV
ed itself the strongest Government under hca-
ven to protect the cival rights OF men, and now
[ want to see how strong it is to punish trai-
tors That WAS the language dealt out to the
citizens of that Territory when they appealed
to us for ~re,lress. Understand me, sir, l do
not go back to the history Of Kansas for the
purpose to jns'iiying old John Brown and his
crew in their Invasion of Virginia, but in order
to show You why it is that the II en- of the Free
States, to some considerable extent, do sympa-
THE with this old hero. Tn the darkest hour
of Kansas, when the rights Of the Free State
men were imported, when their men were muir
dcred in cod blood, scvera! Of whom were from
the State Of Ohio, when everything looked dark
and gloomy there, and when your Government
failed to interpose its strong arm in their be-
half, then it VS. that old John Brown appear
ed upon the stage OF action. Aiming himself
as well he might, he commenced to do that jus
ticc to himself and his fellows that the Govern
ment had denied, and he did it with a horoisin
and II Diet rninatiCn that then not only chal Ell
gel the admiration Of his friends, but even the
respect Of his enemies. He went forward with
q frmness and determination that carried ter
ror into the hearts of the border %ruffians, and
he hurled them from the Territory and really
conquered a peace.
Now, sir, in order to understand northern
sentiment, it is necessary fully to appreciate
the feelings Of those men whose friends were
stricken down in that defenccless Territory
Old John Brown was their champion. He car
ried himself through those scenes nobly, to the
acceptance of all and there it was as has
been often said here, that he learned the art of
war. Undoubtedly, sir, that raid was the pa
rent of this. It is true, John Brown lost two
of his sons there-they were murdered in cold
blood before his eyes. literally hewed to pisces:
aud I believe he was maddened by the scenes
through when he passed III Kansas, because L
do not believe that any sane man on earth
would have undertaken the enterprise that he
undertook at Harper's Ferry.
X x X
Mr.. President, 1 am not one of those
who suppose that all Shareholders are deep
ly criminal. | know very well how habit
and custom, and even necessity, modify all our
abstract oDiuions. understand that well and
l never mention it in the North without the
proper qualifications, Notwithstanding the Sen
ator thinks | hate slaveholding and slavchold-