Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1860-02-03

tions asids NTH calm farbeasanss. feelrl
| ing how little knowledge you possess
on . subject which agis.tes you 80
deeply.
Bst if the great mass OF my country
men Join in your pity for the unhappy
man, it isnot becauss they condemn his
execution or sympathize with his revolt.
Probably Twenty-Five millions and nine
hundred thousand Of our people look up
on execution as full and solemn atone-
ment for crimes in which they have no
sympathy. Our country is now divided
into three political parties, none OF which
will endorse this rebellion or condemn
the course Justice has taken. When
You call upon the Federal Union to in
terpose its authority against the laws Of
Virginis, there 10 not q schOolboy
throughout the land-for oil such our
Constitution is a text-book--who would
not smile at your idea that the general
government has any right to interfere
with the legal acts Of an Independent
commonwealth, or that the majority Of
= single state would interfere, if it had
the power.
Your picture of John Browns trial is
a painful ono. 1t must be hard heart
which does not swel with compassion
as it presents itself: "Upon wretched
pallet, with six half gaping wounds,
scarcely conscious of surrounding sounds
bathing his mattress with blood, and
with the ghostly presence OF his two
dead sons forever before him ~ Thus
you place the unhappy man before the
world, forgetting that tho.e ghastly
wounds are but the evidence Of . more
CHASTITY crime-thc fearful witnesses BY
which his guilt was confirmed.
1t is, indeed, terrible picture you
have drawn, but the streets of Harper's
Ferry had one more terrible still. There
innocent men, al unconscious of danger
were shot down like wild animals
There widows, newly bereavcd, kuelt
moaning over their dead, and orphan
children cried aloud for the parents that
John Brown had so ruthlessly murdered.
This picture you have forgotten to place
side BY side with the other but we who
love our countrymen have sympathy tor
the innocent as we'll Is pity for the
guilty.
You complain that his trial was hur-
ried; that all the proceedings we're in:
dscorously urged forward; but were
they 30 swift as the rifle balls that shot
down unarmed men in the streets at
Harpcr's Ferry? Were they so ruthless
as John Browns midnight descent upon
q sleeping village in Kansas, where hus-
bands and sons we're dragged out of
their beds, and shot down within hear
ing Of their wives and mothers? Is this
the man whom you speak of As "pious,
austere, animated with the old puritan
spirit, inspired by the spirit of the Cos
pei while you call his companions ''sa-
cred martyrs 2"
This, sir, is the blasphemy of highly
wrought imagination-excusc me for
saying-not original with you; for Wild
er and more irreligious men than trust
you are have gone to greater lengths,
and blasphemed more eloquently than
this. They have pronounced John
Browns gallows holier than the cross,
and held up his rebellion as rcbuke to
the unfinished mission of our Lord and
Savior.
"At this moment, you say America
attracts the attention of the whole
world"
| Not at this moment only, but ever
since she became free nation this has
been truth. To all the kingly govern
ments Of Europe she has always been q
contrast and an irRitation-a subject for
criticism, and whonever an opportunity
for blame arose, of denunciation. 1t is
not strange then, that rebellion in part
fostered in Europe should call forth such
bitter remarks there.
Let the judges at Charlestown aud
the slaveholding jurors, and the whole
population Of Virginia ponder on it well
-they.are watched-they are not alone
in the world"
They have pondered on it we'll, and
the execution of John Brown has taken
place.
II the whole American Republic were
responsible tor his death, ~ you say it is
it would simply be responsible for .
most painful duty, solemnly performed !;
and received with mourning resignation
even by the most merciful, because Of its
imperative necessity. Justice demanded
the life Of this man, for he had taken hu-
man life-necessity demanded it, for he
was the spirit and soul of treason tha at
throat ened the foundation of our nation
ality-that would forever have been
plotting more bloodshed 90 long Is VIC
lived on earth.
| You call the execution of Brown
brotherhood of bIood"-you say that
1.-THE fasccs Of our splendid republic will
be bound together by the running moose
that hangs from the gibbet."
II this we're truc-if any brotherhood
of blood is connected with this painful
event, it rests neither with the "whole"
American Republic nor with tho State
of Virginia, but its red track may be
found across the foam of the Atlantic,
linking Exeter Hall with tho seusation
pulpits on this side of the ocean. The
weight Of John Browns blood lies with
England and the confederates of England
who have BY their teachings, their mon
ey and crafty sympathy tod the old man
on to death. What bu, this /" bond Of