The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-11-10

From the National 7 raj


We give place this week to long and in-
teresting account of the revolutionary at
tempt at Harper's Ferry. We say revolu-
tionary, because it was in no sense of the
word negro insurrection. Not a single
slave was engaged in it; and it is therefore
the height Of absurdity to style it a negro
iusurrection.
Tremendous as the sensation produced bv
this affair has been, the fact is indisputable
that only twenty men il the whole Union
were found to engage in it. If anv others
shall be implicated as .aiders and abcttors.
they have not been quite insane enough to
embark their fortunes in it, and are on that
very account the more culpable, because
they cannot plead the excuse of downright
madness.
No humane or reasonable man will for a
moment sympathize with this effort to in
cite s'rvile insurrection no reasonable man
could anticipate its success; and it argues
utter ignorance of the circumstances, and of
history, to expect good results from it, even
if successful. Tie cause of emancipation
has no worse enemies than these men. They
disparage the cause of liberty by their bloody
conspracies, and bring odium and suspicion
upon its friends.
Two classes Of men will rejoice at this de-
plorable folly, viz, the misguided men who
set them upon the bloody work, and the
Democratic dernagogues who, at any sacr-
flee of the peace of the South they profess to
love SO vel, are ready to turn it into politi-
cal capital. The Douglas organ Of this city
is of this class. 1t has been God-send to
all reckless politicians, and their only regrets
arc that it did not occur two weeks sooner,
so that it's effects might have been felt upon
the October elections. The Eue and cry
they now raise, pretending to believe that the
Republican party are responsible for Browns
schemes, is gotten up in spirit of unmiti-
gated demasogism. The Washington States.
the Constitution newspaper, the New York
Herald, Express, Day Book, and other kind
red sheets, are persistently charging this af-
fair to the Republican party. They know
that their assertions are false. libelous, and
incendlary; but they havecaught at it like a
drowning man at straw, and they will per
sist in 't, though they know its tendency is
to produce the very consequences they pre-
tend to deprecate. They instill into the minds
OF the slaves that the great and powerful Re-
publican party is ready to trample on the Con-
stitution aud the rights of the States in the
effort to liberate them, even although it should
involve the determination Of the white race
This iaISehood, well stuck to, they think
Will produce reaction in favor of the Black
Democracy; and they reck not if it should
cause the very insurrectionary spirit which
they profess to abhor.
Not one Republican paper, so far as we
have seen, has failed to speak of the affair at
Harper's Ferry in terms of reprobation. The
incendiary sheets which we have referred to,
have quoted detached sentences from the
New York Tribune, and Post, IN order to
convey the impression that those journals
approve the conduct of Brown and his con-
federates, while the fact is just the contrary.
They have deeply deplored the affair, and,
like ourselves, are among the number of
those who regard itas a calamity, as well on
account Of its immediate effects in the loss of
life, as for the odiam it brings upon the noble
cause of peaceful emancipation For long
time to come, degree ofsuspicion will prob
ably attach to every Northern man who,
with legitimate objects in view, wishes to
settle in Virginia
The Democratic demagogues would rejoice
at the occurrence of such an attempt at in
surreetion prior to each election. They are
the men who instigated the Border Ruff
fan raids upon Kansas; and seeing how
much the cause of slavery lost by them, they
would be glad to see Border. Ruffia inva-
sions Of the slave States by Northern men. -
But they will be disappointed. The folly of
Brown will not be repeated Instructions
IN the South may take place, instigated by
the mendacious harangue of Democratic
demagogues, as they did in 1856; but it
may be hoped that the men of the North
who are prone to such madness will have re-
ceived a lesson in the fate of Ossawattamie
Brown and his co,npaniona His extraordi-
nary courage, which has been freely ac-
knowledged by his prisoner, Col Washing
ton, and by his captors, will not soon be found
In another. 1t must be remembered, also,
that It was not so much abolition fanati-
cisin = as the perscnal wrongs be received
from the Border Ruifians in Kansas, which
caused him to plot treason and insurrecton.
lie was these peculiarly aggravatiag wrongs,
operating upon mind naturally ardent
brave, aud strong, though uncltivated, which
conspired to produce the daring folly which
we deplore, aud over which Democratic
demagogues rejoice. 1t is not probable that
they will soon find another 0ssawattamie
Brown to manufacture political capital for
them.
Mrs. Ssasye ;lItd DIR. nsoTtsSSn's
s.ENAnSxssr