Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-01-31

me he tlOlSll llcTC WIS ITO ncCesSitt ~,
and that | should be subjected to General
Ridicule." We'll, sir" said |, "it may be;
but there in another General that / fear more
| fear General Disgrace" Applause ana
laughter. And there was another General OIL
whom he had not heard, and who was intro
duccd to me especially by sixty letters n Jay
for sixty days, with whose designs OF invasion
I was mucl more converSant than was my in
terogator-" General Sympathy" fer John
Brown, from Canada to Virginia, from Maine
to Iowa.
Well, sir, | brought the regiment on to the
Relay House, where another gentleman met
me and said: "What do you want with all this
army? What is it for? Is there danger
of rescue? Is all thisf force necessary to guard
the prisoners Why, sir, I could not stop TO
explain all my purposes to every man who GU
riously inquired of INC on the highway. had
not time, and | would not then have explained
had time allowed. 1t was not my purpose to
cause agitation, but rather to allay excitement.
I told him, and I have no doubt it was a very
satisfactory reply, that it was only to train my
boys and teach them where to put their biscuit
in their knapsackS. He went away and wrote
8 letter about it; and that, believe, is now
called q confession. But now I do make n con-
lCSSlOll. L wv III llltlI II a. VIZ t'"N '0H
been sent to Harper's Ferry-an overwhelming
force-there would have been a bloody attempt
at rescue.
But ! have no hesitation in saying to you,
now, that my motives were far above and be-
yond the mere motirc Of guarding the few
miserable prisoners. When asked whether
feared invasion or rescue, I could truly have
answered that in respect to every phase Of the
whole affair, | .JedTcG nothing. The motives Of
my action went beyond the uncertainty Of fear.
| had Just seen a handful Of outlaws capture an
arsenal Of the United States, by the neglect of
even an anonymous warning, and of the duty
OF protection by 4 military guard. | had just
seen hundreds Of militia batllcd for days in re-
capturing that arsenal, by the neglect of our
own Legislature to arm and organize our people.
| had just seen twelve trained marines do be-
fore their eyes what their commander declined
to do with hundreds Of able, willing and brave,
but undrillcd and unarlned men. ! had heard
and seen the jest Of women and the scorn of
men, which blew undeservcdly upon the credit
Of our courage, but not altogether undcscrrcdly
upon the inetiicicncy Of our undeyclopcd power
Of defence. ! had seen the hot indignation of
all ut this utter weakness, and / had seen the
CONSERVATION it had excited among some whom
it made to cover like the ''covey under the
hawk" I:had seen and felt the hot blush on
the check of Il Virginian regular officer of the
United States Army at the hclplcssncss which
this red raid had betrayed on our border.
For fifteen or twenty years, Virginia has been
sleeping with he rpopulation undrilled, u%narncd,
until they have almost forgotten the use of
arms, until they have lost all military organiza-
ton. | brought that force into the field then,
in the first place to rouse the military spirit of
the State; and, in my humble estimation, that
alone was worth all the money spent.
In the next place, | called forth that military
force to assure the people Of the border Of their
safety and defence. But few can realiZc-thc
people themselves will never acknowledge, even
to their own minds, what knew to be the fact
the danger of decentralization that was likely to
occur from the sense Of insecurity, then felt
on the border. give you an example,
When a few captors had taken Cook prisoner,
and were returning with him, as they reported
to me, they lost their way near Shepardstown.
The prisoner, manaclel, was every moment
looking out Of the carriage expecting Il rcscu-
ing party on the highway, until they were
compelled to threaten him that if he dared
again to look to the right hand or the left he
would be shot Thus losing their way, they
came to q house where there was a light. They
called and instantly the light was %cxtinguishcd.
They could not get man, woman, OF child
to put a head out OF door or window.
And again, and again. and again, from house
to house, from light to light, they went. only
to see each light extinguished. Silence reigned.
At last, coming to the fifth or sixth house, the
prisoner himself looking around, exclaimed
"Why, gentlemen, this is Mr.. Allstadt's house,
where ] took Mr. Allstadt from his bed I
know where we are now" He did happen to
know, and thus the prisoner himself guided
his captors safely to the Jail at Charlcstown.
Will you please ask yourselves for a moment,
gentlemen, what was to be the effect upon ne
gro property, and what upon real estate, in all
that region Of country, under a state of things
like this? ! sent then a full, an ovcrpowcring
force there, in order to assure the people on the
border, in order to assure the people every
where, that the State was guarding her people,
and guarding them with a force that should
be overwhelming and irresistible.
a voicc-'You did right."I
In the third place, there was an excitement
prevailing in the country, Il dccp-toncd indig-
nation that was higher than the roar of any
rabblc. The silence that rcigncd here, from the
highest authority TO the huInblcst citizen. was
but the indication Of the deep toned indigna.
ton Of the State. The firm set mouth, the
clcnchcd fist, the burning eye told that South
crn society was trcmulous with excitement,
not with fear. There was a danger that
the people of Charlcstown, that the poo
pie here, that the people everywhere in the
Southern country, with that excitement for the
moment pent up and suppressed, still and silent
as 1t was, would burst out in some wild, I'M
comfortable guerilla war. Who could tell what
would be the result Of such a cause of such
deep excitement? What, then, was the con-
s%crvativc action of the conservative forces
at Charlestown? Why, gentlemen, that
force at Charcstown was but as q waste
gate to the rising waters that threatened
to carry away dam, mill, and every structure
below them and around them and about them.
1t was n wastc.gate Of feeling; it was q safety.
valve which inspired confidence, consciousness
Of strength and 4 sense Of security.
My fourth reason for sending so large a
force TO CharleStown was this: The inccn.
diary element in the North has been, as
| said in my message, the active clement.
The conservative element in the North has
been, on the other hand, the passive element
there. They cannot realize as we 10 the danger
and death that is in the interference with our
concerns, that is in the condition, that is in
the causes which hayc produced effects like
the raid Of John Brown. 1t was not only to
arouse the militia Of my own State and to in
spire confidence at home and provide against
an nnorsanlzcd and uncomfortable popular out
break, but II was to arouse the conservative
force and clement in the North. It was to con-
vince them that il they would save their coun-
try, save her Union and liberty, if they would
save her from all the horrors of civil war, they
had better be up and doing. active in the cause
Of the Constitution and the Union. ZAP
plause.f y
Then it was:
lst 10 prevent the actual violence, blood.
shed, murder and arson which would have at.
tended even an unsuccessful attempt to rescue
the prisoners at Charlestown an attempt, too,
which was seriously threatened, and the means
for which were in the actual course of prepare