The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-11-09

pardon. or commute his sen.
tence TO imprisonment twill not be profit
able for Virginia, nor for the slayeholding in
terest, to take the life Of Brown.
There was no proof of treason, not a par,i-
Gle of it., Nor was there any proof that be |
had purpose to incite an iDsurrection among
the slavee, but the very reverse. And in re
gard to the charge of murder. the proof is
that he shed no mans blood that be was
careful of the lives OF his prisoners. and treat
ed them with humanity and kindness - that
he commanded his men to refrain from shoot
ing down uparlned citizens, and to shoot only
in selfdefence, and in necessary selfdefeDce
only. to sell themselves as dearly as possible
and at no moment did he show any vindic-
tiveBess. or lack of self possession, and but
once did be exhibit any excitement of manner.
and that was when his SOD, bearing asg of
truce. was basely shot down by the towards,
with whom he was sent to treat for a compro-
mise. s.l .a s3efa 517ze41 a-ii -.1a5y =
The whole affair shows misdirec,ed and ill.,
judged bravery on the one side. and disgrace
full and treacherous pusiIlanimity on The other.
Shareholders are beginning to be taught the
pluck of Northern hearts. and the vieor of
Northern arms. Ths fruit of their Kansas
cork is not all plucked yet They have driv-
en- their tyrsnnies. their rapiDe and their mur-
ders too far. The Harpers Ferry demonstra-
ton is o direct offshoot of slaveholding atroc-
tiles in Kansas. What will be the next de.
velopment, there is no prophet among us to
tell. 5 = 75sf-sasag5sa j 90 zz
But this is developed-nameIy, the weakness
of the guilty South. and the tnrpitude of their
enormous crimes crime that makes towards
of them all, while it cries for vengeance - q
cry that is sure to be heard and answered in
retributive wrath. asss
Another thing is developed, and that is this:
the ierocity with which debased and unscru.
pulous press has assailed Gov Chase, Senator
Seward, Senator Hale. Gerrit Smith, Horace
Greeley, and other Northern men. charging
them with completely in the Harper's Ferry
affair, and imputing to them reasonable de.
signs, shows the widespread corruption and
degrading influence of q system at war with
the laws Of God and humanity. which subsists
by rapine and fortifes itself by falsebood.
/ Another thing is OVERWHELMINGLY. that
I've are essentially, North and South, two peo.
1ple-diferent in aim. character, purpose. prin.
iciple and religion-with interests in diamet.
: rso sot Is -
policy cas equally promote the prosperity Of
North and Southland hence there must from
the necessity of the case. be an unceasiDg con
nict--'an irrepressibIe conflict if you please
la conflict full of bitterness and unhappiness
j--one which will infame the direst passions
and give no rest, no tranquility. @
/ Either Northern manhood, virtue, integrity
and principle, must be utterly crushed out, OF
the fell spirit of Slavery must give way eli
ther the National Confederation, or Slavery
must go down-but the woe and the doom oi
the latter. as we confidently believe, is already
/ 6xed-and happy will it be, if it shall go dowr
in comparatively quietHde, and without the eff
fusion of blood; without the devastation oi
cities and plansations; without the scenes OF
domestic pollution too horrible TO contemplate
Either the God.defying. hsaven-provoking
crime of American Slavery viii go out by a
voluntary surrender of the system by the
inevitable laws of nature and retribution, or it
will put itself out, by violence. How soon
the rapidly Fastening end will come. God only
/ knows.
Against General John Brown we have no
anathemas to utter. While, we repeat, we
deplore the infatuation which has caused such
a destruction of life, and which has brought
him into such extremities; IN remembrance Of
his murdered sons 10 Kansas and the personal
cruelties he endured, we can but admire the
heroic bravery Of the incensed yet calm and
fearless old man, who has thus voluntarily i'm
molated himself upon the altar of freedom
and universal brotherhood.
4, Slavery.by its uuatoned crimes in Kansas
the Virginians. by their cowardice, by their
hurried. sham. mock trial and by the judicial
murder to, which they have decreed John
Brown. take from him the. character Of q
reckless adventurer, or marauder, and invest
him with that Of a hero and a martyr. His
history is not yet, but is to be written.
4 Had i'll success attended the daring adven
!, ture Of Col. Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga, he
would have been shot as rebel and a traitor
but success crowned his rash and reckless
procedure. and history records him as a hero
; Had well sustained success crowned the eff
) forts of old John Brown at the Harpera
Ferry Armory, and had his widest or wildes
!, scheme of slave lberatioH been realized, hi
!, too, in the eye of the world, would have beer
h hero-now, he is bnt condemned malefac
I tor. to hang like q dog upon the gallows.i Is
81 But when the Muse Of History in the age
;. to come, shall impartially record the scenes o
the now passing time, and with due discrimin
alton unfolds the traits of character and th
q acts of John Brown, we are of those who be
lieve that the page which gives the life an
!, death of the gallows victim of slayeholdin
= wrath and malice to the world, will glow wit
radiance not Inferior to that which shall II
y cord the devoted, rough, but unsel6sh braver
'r Of the hero Of Ticonderoga has diaas7q
We dare thus kindly to speak of tine mani
, heroism and self.devoted bravery of one VIII,
e having given four sons to bloody graves, i
freedom's conflicts, is now himself so soon t
70 die the death of malefactor on the gibhe
.. for loving freedom, if noe too well, not wisel
And who will not sympathise in this tribu,
to the Christian manhnod, the high principle
n. the honest devotion, the fearless truthfulpes