Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-09-01
MIR. ANDREW AND JOHN BROWN.

HarperS Ferry. Inns statement appears IN
the official record of his testimony before the
senate committee on the Harper's Ferry inva.
siou, as follows :
81 had known about old Mr. Brown, for
several years, and l approved great deal
which | heard Of touching his career in Kan.
sas thought he had been an honest, consciel-
tious, and useful assistant of the free-state
cause. My impression of him was derived
from many sources. l had never seen him
but once in my life, and then only for a few
moments. say in irankness that l felt GER
tain sympathy with a man who had, as
thought, been useful in behalf OF great cause
in which ! was interested. had no sympathy
Nth his peculiar conduct, touching Uhich he ,caS
then indicted. ! felt injured by that, person
ally, as republican"
Massachusetts was scarcely ever more wor'
thily represented, on any occasion, than by
Mr.. Andrew when under examination before
Senator Masons committee. We print this
paragraph from the record of his testimony, on
that occasion, in the hope that our amiable and
DISTINGUISHED cotemporary, the Boston Courier,
will see fit to copy it, The Courier is so fool
ish as to believe it has something TO gain by
accusing Mr.. Andrew OF John Brownism,"
and commended the John Brown invasion.
But falsehood of this kind is always hazardous
to the cause it is employed TO serve, not to
speak of what it tells concerning those who are
willing to use it.
AIR. Andrew is not the only person who has
admired some of the personal qualities of
John Brown, nor the only one who has spoken
of him as sincere and conscientious man.
He was spoken of with respect by Gov. Wise
who, after their first interview, not being able
to repress admiration of the old man, said -
He is the gamest man ever saw" And after.
ward, at Richmond, in his speech to the soldiers,
Gov. Wise eulogized Browns bravery, forti-
tude, and humanity towards his prisoners"
This speech was published at the time in the
Richmond papers. In letter published in
the Cincinnati Enquirer, Hon. C L. Vallan-
di CHAM, democratic member of congress from
Ohio, spoke as follows of John Brown =
Though engaged in wicked, mad, and IA
natical enterprise, he is the farthest possible
re move from the ordinary rufian, fanatic, or
mailman )" again-"Brown was sincere ear
nest, practical )" and again-"Captain John
Brown is as brave and resolute a man as ever
headed an insurrection." Even the Rich
mond Enquirer said che possessed many traits
of character that were worthy of better fate"
Every person, and certainly every journalist,
who gave much attention 10 what was said
and done during the Harper's Ferry excite
m ent, knows very well that such expressions
of admiration were common even among
Browns most implacable enemies His inva
sion scheme was very wild and mad; but he
himself was sincere and conscientious. He
h ad qualities which touched with a magnetic
influence, all who approached him. If
Mr.. Andrew could have been insensi-
BILE to these qualities, or if he could
have failed to regard them with generous
overflow of admiration, the quality of his
manhood must have been Of very poor and
mean sort,-certainly not such as could win
sympathy or enthusiastic admiration here in
Massachusetts,, although it might have been
more acceptable at the Courier Office, where
mummies are reverently preserved under glass
cases.
Sometime in November, 1859, meeting
was held to raise friends TO assist the family of
John Brown. This meeting was prompted by
a touching paragraph in letter written by
Capt. Brown to Lydia Maria Child, in response
TO an offer of service. He referred with much
feeling 10 the helpless condition Of his wife
and children. Among the principal actors at
this meeting were Mr.. Andrew, Rev. DR..
Neale, Rev. Mr.. Manning of the Old South
Church, Wendell Phillips and Ralph Waldo
Emerson. 1t is nowise likely that any heart
there was "cold as an iciele," for a great
food OF generous emotion made that impos.
sible. On taking the chair, Mr.. Andrew made
a brief speech, in which he said:-
81 pause not to consider, because 1t is wholly
outside of the duty Of the thought of this assembly
tonight, whether the enterprise Of John Brown
and his associates in Virginia was wisesOr fool
ish, right or wrong | know only that whether
the enterprise itself was the one or the other,
John BroDn himseLf was right.
This is the passage in MIR. Andrew record
which is quoted by the opponents of the re-
publican party to show that he has fully en-
dorsed John Browns insurrectionary proceed.
lHSo at rely. AZ thdt AhS3 SfSlg
body in the meeting knew very well that he
did not endorse them. AT that time it seemed
to him that man like Brown must be insane
TO undertake such an enterprise, and he had
said SO in his correspondence with Judge Blair.
But whatever he might think of that wild en-
terprise, he believed that John Brown himself,
personally, was fright" that is to say, honest
and sincere. The Courier may be, as it seems,
incapable Of making or approaching this dis
elimination; but it does not follow that the
conductors of that journal should put forth
gross Justification Of his views, or that they
can gain anything by doing so.
HE ABoLlrIoSIsTs IN CoUNcIL.-The
national and state conventions of the radical
"'oil'ionlsls were held in Syracuse, on We'd
ne'uay last The gathering consisted of about
one hundred men and women, delegated from
eisii. Ut Ten states. There was a spirited CON
UNNLI hIN