New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-12-10

Whoever would undeIstand ana hppftclatc uVgh
Latmer, Agernon Sidney, George Danton, and the
men Of their respective classes, must, as near as
possible, place himself in their several positions,
look at what they combatted in the light in which
they viewed it, and scan their acts from their own
chosen stand.pOints. In no other mode can he
properly estimate their motives or correctly test
heir characters, and decide whether the deeds for
which they suffered death sprang from mental or
moral Obliquity, were the result of errors Of the
understanding or of corrupt heart.
Let US try John Brown by this recognized
standard. In doing so, We must wholly ignore the
general sentiment of the country in regard to Negro
Slavery. Brown held that there was no law for
Slavery Not that the laws creating and supporting
it were bad laws-they were no laws at all; that,
defining law as q rule of action" they were no
more entitled to exact obedience than the bloody
code of an Agerine corsair. He adopted as his
own the doctrine of Lord Brougham, and which is
hut the summary of the teachings of Holt, Hale,
Litteton. BractoD, Fortescue, Coke, Noyes, Black
stone, and other fathers of the Common Law:
Tell me not of rights talk not of the property of
the planter in his slaves l deny the right; ac-
knowledge not the property. In VAN you
tell me of laws that sanction such claim. There is
law above all the enaetments Of human codes-the
same throughout the world the same IN all tme-itl
the law written by the finger OF God upon the heart
of man; and by that law, Interchangeable and eternal
while men despse fraud, and loathe raplne and aohor
blood thew will reject with indignation the wild and
guilty phantasy that can hold property IN man.
Brown was descended from brave Revolution
AIRY stock. He held that The doctrines OF the Dec
lhration of Independence were the property OF the
slaves of Virginia in day, as really as of their
masters in I'VE; that the equality of birth, the in
alienable right to liberty the duty of governments
to protect this right, and failing to do so, the duty
of the oppressed to overthrow such governments,
which that Declaration prOclaims, were principles
universally applicable to all ranks and conditions of
men.
Brown traced his lineage from one of the pilgrims
of the May fower. His religion was of the antique
type of the English Commonwealth faith of
Baxter and Bates, Of Bunyan and Brewster. He
trusted in God, and kept his powder dry Like
Samuel the prophet, with al cor keenly susceptible
to the CRY of the oppressed and the needy, he could
on due proyocaton, with relentless hand, hew
Agag in pieces before the Lord. Believing that
Slavery was not only wrong, but cruel, he received
IN their literal import and strove to obey the Divine
ipiunctions-"R Remember them that are in bonds
" as bound with them;" "Delyer the prey out of
" the hands of the spoiler;" Whatsoever e would
" that men should do unto you, DO ye even so unto
" them"
Brown held, therefore, that every slave in Vir
gnia had as perfect right to walk out of the State
at bis pleasure as Henry A. Wise; that every so
called law which prevented his thus doing was In
valid in its inception and oppressive in its opera
ion and was no law, but sheer piracy; that if the
slaves, through Ignorance or timldity, retrained
from exercising their "inalienable rights, it was
his duty to enlighten and assist them; and that any
law which forbade his doing so to be treated as
an invasion of his own rights, and set at defiance.
Brown had remarkably practical mind. He
went straight at whatever he undertook. Doubt
less be was too much of literaist, and possessed
too mathematical judgment, to take the wisest
view of the complicated question of American
Slavery in all its relations. The emancipation OF
slaves was the great idea of his life. 1t was his
ayocatiOD, his mission, his passion; and dscardlng
mere moral suasion and direct political action, like
that of the Liberty party" or indirect, like that
of the Republican party, he went at his work as
he would solve mathematical problem For ex-
ample: the last census revealed to him the fact that
there were 1900 slaves in Jefferson County, Vir-
ginia. Now, if he could, by bold stroke take of
500 of these, he would reduce the number in that
county cne-eighth. If the blow proved successful,
it could be repeated again and again there or else
where. and 40 on till his mission closed with the
termination of his life. That was has way of doing
his part of the work.
Now, there is not candid, well-informed person
in the country who believes that Brown, in his De-
tOber raid at Harper's Ferry, contemplated any
thing beyond this. He, undoubtedly, through the
misrepresentation of Cook hoped to lead off a
large body of slaves. Believing fully in the right
and duty of sefdefense, he had provided wea-
pons for the protection of his party if attacked
on their march out of Virginia and through Mary
land to the Free States. Every shred Of evidence
in relation to his pixies rifles, and revolyers, tends
in this direction, and no other. The idea that he
aimed to excite ar Instruction, in the ordinary
and sanguinsry of that phrase, is secuted BY
every mind capable of weighing testimony. As to
the inchoate plan of Provisional Government"
found in the possession Of Brown, it evidently
a mere system of rules for the government Of bis
party in their contemplated scheme Of emancipat-
ing slaves. He and his coadjutors unquestionably
intended to carry on this work on a large scale
and through series of years, and these rules were
10 be the bylaws the articles, for the government
of this novel Voluntary Association. Brown be-