St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-01-12

The universal conscience of humanity i
an ever-watcSf',l eye. Let the judges O
Charlestown, and Hunter, and Parker
and the slavcholding Jurors, and the Who'll,
population OF Virginia, ponder on it we'll
they are watched. They are not alone j,
the world.n
AT this moment America attracts tn,
eyes OF the whole Of Europe.
! John Brown, condemned to die, was tt
have been hanged on tho I'd Of Decem
ber--this very day. 49,; -,
but news has just reached us. A res
pite has been granted him. It is not unit
the 10th that he is to die.
| The interval is brief one. Before j,
has ended will cry t"r mercy have had
time to make itself etiectually heard?
No matter! It is Our duty to speak
out.
| Perhaps q second respite nay be grant
ca. America is a noble nation. The
Impulse 1!1p of humanity springs quickly into
Il !lie among free people. We may yet
! nope that Brown will be saved.
=. Il 1t were otherwise, if Brown shoald
d1e on the scatfold. on the 10Th Of Deeem.
Der, What terrible calamity
The exccutioncr Of Brown. let na avow
1t openly (tor the day Of the Kings IS
past, and the day Of the peoples dawns,
and to the people we are bound frankly to
speak the truth)-thc cxccut;oncr Of
rrown would be neither the attorney
hunter, nor the judge Parker, nor the
Governor Wise, nor The State of Vireinia: ::
1T would be, though we can scarce think
or speak Of it without shudder. the
Whole American Republic
me more one loves, the more one al.
mlres, the more one venerates that Renuh-
''c' the more hearts;ck one feels at the
contemplation of such q catastrophe. A
single State ought not to have the nower
20 o'shonor all the rest, and in this case
there "a an obvious justification for a~ratd.
esai ."servension. Q,hesw;sc, by hcs;ta-
ting 70 interfere when il might prevent
cf'me' the Union becomes q participator
IN its guilt. No matter how intense NAV
be the indignation Of the generoGs Nor,%-
efn >tat's' the Southern States force them
10 . $ snare the opprooium of this murder.
All o. Us, no matter who We may be, who
arc bound together as compatriots ,by the
common tie Of democratic creed. feel onr.
se1'es n some measure compromised. IF
'ne scahold should be crested On the 10th
o. beoember, the incorruptible voice Of
history would thsncetorward testify that
the august Confederation of the New
N'er'd had added to ali its ties Of holy
brotherhood brotherhood of blood, and
the ~/4sces of that splendid Republic would
DC bound together with the running moose
that hung from the gibbet of Brown.
IL Is bond chat can only kill.
When we.s>hect on what Brown the
hoerator, the champion Of Christ, has
strlven to effect, and when We remember
that he is about to die, slaughtered by the
American Republic, the crime assumes an
Importance coextensive with that Of the
nation which would commit it; and when
we say to ourselves that this nation is one
OF the glorics Of the human race; that,
like France, like England, like Germany,
she Is one Of the great agents Of ciyiliza-
ton; that'she sometimes even leaves Eu-
rope IN the rear by the sublime audacitv
OF some Of her progressive movements
that she Is the Queen of an entire world.
and that her brow is irradiated with ylo.
rlous halo Of freedom, we declare our con.
v'ction that John Brown will not die, for
we recoll horror-struck from the idea Of
so great crime committed by 90 great
people. :.
Viewed ia a political light, the murder
OF Brown would be an irreparable fault.
1t would penetrate the Union with gap
ing assure which would lead in the end
to its entire disruption. 1t is possible that
the execution Of Brown might establish
Slavery On firm basis in Virginia, but it
is certain that it would shake to its center
the entire fabric Of American democracy.
You preserve your infamy, but you sacri-
tee your glory.
Viewed in moral light, it seems to
me that portion of the enlightenment
OF humanity would be cclipsed, that even
the Ideas Of justice and injustice would
be obscurcd on tic day which should wit.
M, ness the assassination Of emancipation by
liberty. - =
AS for myself, though I am but mere
atom, yet being, as / am, in common with
sill other m:n, inspired With the conscience
Of humanity, I fall on my knees weeping
before the great span glcd banner of the
New World, and with clasped hands, and
with nvofnuna and fi|ial respcct. I implOre
the illustrious American Republic, sister
Of the French Republic, to sec to the
safety Of the universal moral law, to save
John Brown, to demolish the threatning
scaffold Of the 10Th Of December, and
not to suffer that, beneath its eyes, and I
add, with C. ahuader, almost by iss fault,
q crime sllould be pe..petrased surprising