Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-12-02
FRIDAY. DECEMBER e. 1850.

John Brown viii be hung to-day, between
the hours of ten and twelve. So it has been
ordered by the sentence of the Court: and
there is no reason to doubt that this is the last
morning of his earthly existence. Ordinarily
the execution of criminal excites but little
attention beyond the circle where he is known
But John Brown could not be allowed to die
in that manner The authorities of Virginia
would not allow him to die thus and, the deed
for which he suffers, as well as his own re-
markabe character, make it impossible for him
to escape becoming the foremost topic of the
whole country. The Boston Courier calls him
"that extraordinary fanatic" and its words
might have been chosen with less fitness.
He certainly is man of extraordinary charac
ter by virtue of which he has commanded the
respect of his exectioners and been lifted above
the mere criminal who waits for the gallows. 1t
is remarkable how he takes along with him
the feelings and the judgments of men! We
cannot justify what he did at Harper's Ferry;
we should be startled to hear it set forth as
standard of duty for all other men; yet we
feel that he was moved by religious earnest
ness and, because it is so impossible to re-
gard him as an ordinary criminal, we suggest
"monomania, and "ll.julged selfsacriice."
Perhaps these words of Emerson can do some
thing to explain the matter :-"Every heroic
act is also decent and causes the place and
the bystanders to shine" For, if we see mad
ness in the deed for which John Brown suffers,
neither we nor his worst enemy can fail to see
its bravery and its honesty.
But no man i'll the country should forget
that we have in this affair one of the immedi-
ate fruits of the Crime against Kansas. No
where, in modern times, has there been any
thing SO atrocious as the persistent and long
continued crusade of proslavery ruffanism
against the people of that territory. 1t filled
large portion of the country with a burning
sense of outrage; and its effect on the settlers
. in Kansas was to rouse in them the most We
hement hatred of slavery. Those who served
n the Kansas wars, fighting the Missouri ruff
fans, Buford's men, and other invaders of
their homes failed not to dream of carrying
the war into Africa" Was this unnatural to
men who saw themselves invaded by regi-
ments raised in the slave states? At any
rate, many of them had that dream; and a
few of them proceeded to put it in ex-
ecution. Brown, and a portion of those
who had served with him in Kansas,
first invaded Missouri and took away slaves
and then went to Virginia to operate against
slavery on a more extensive scale. Those
hn fI,air 10 IL
study carefully the influences by which they
were wrought up to such pitch of combatve
hatred against the institution" which had
sent robbery, arson, murder, and every species
of outrage, to desolate Kansas The chief re-
sponsibility for what was done there, as well
as at Harper's Ferry, rests on the Pierce ad-
ministration on Senator Atchison and his fell
lows, and on the INSCRIPTIONS men who re-
peaIed the Missouri Compromise. Let them
not dare to impute it to others.
John Brown did more than any other single
man to beat off the slave power from Kansas,
and, for him, fighting border rufians was an
indispensable religious duty. He could not
abstain from it and satisfy his conscience; and
he finally carried the same spirit into all his
proceedings against slavery. He said in his
speech to the court, that his only purpose was
to 'free slaves" He had freed slaves in Mis-
souri, He meant to do the same thing in Vir-
gnia con larger scale" He says This
was all l intended;" and no one acquainted
with him will doubt his word. His enemies
testify that all who approach him are impress
ed with sense Of his truth and religious ear
nestness. One ofthe late reports from Charles.
town states, that he has refused with great
emphasis to hear the religious conversation of
clergyman who defends slavery. In his
view, such defence of slavery is shocking in
fidelity, and who will question the correstness
of his feelings on this pint? He is, at any
rate, sure to be consistent and true to himself
to the last. The gallows has no power to de-
grade such man. The spirit which moved
him came out fully in that speech, thus =
eff it is deemed necessary that | should for
felt my life for the turtherance of the ends of
justice, and MINGLE MY BLOOD FURTHER WITH
THE BLOOD OF MY CHILDREN, and with the
blood Of millions IN this slave country, whose
rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel and
unjust enactments, l say, LET IT BE DONE"
as he intended He failed to do anything at
Harper's Ferry according to the plan he had
formed. But his invasion, trial, and exc
cution make a fearful assault on the institution
of slavery, by holding it up to the gaze of civ
ilized men, by unsettling the faith of its sup.
porters, and by showing how it weakens and
endangers society. 1t is astonishing that Vir-
ginians should use John Brown to promote
panic and agitation. But they have done SO
in the most oficious and theatrical way Per.
haps slavery can endure such assaults and re.
pei them unframed to believe this, however,
requires more credulity than is common.
JOHN BROWN AND VIRGINIA.
On Wednesday, this week, three passengers
hxrt laa H..