Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-01-21
From the Llberstor.
WHITTIER ON JOHN BROWN.

We have copied int our poeticsl department,
from the New York Independent, SOM lines on
John Brown Of Osawstomie, from the pen Of our
gifted friend. John g.. Whittier; but, though the
sentiment Is gracefully expressed, we think there
10 not the same maguanimous recognition of the
hbertyloving heroism Of John Brown, which Is
found IN many Of the poets illusions relating to
the war-!ikc streggle Of 1850. and our revolution
airy fathers For example-he speaks Of the rash
and bloody hand'-tbe guilty means with the
good intent-'the grisly lighters hair'-'the folly
tina! seek, through evil gooi'-'tho raid oil
midnight tsrror'-the outlaws pride Of daring,
DC. There is an apparent nvidiousness or sever
ity OF imputation in these cpithe,s, which does not
seem to be called for, though softened by some
approving illusions in close juxtaposition. Let
such OF US oe arc believers in the doctrines of
peace be careful to award to John Brown at least
as much credit as we do to a Joshua or Gideon, q
Washington or Warren, and especially not to do
him the slightest injustice. Though he was Jar
from being a non-resistant, yet he was not q man
OF violence and blood, in a lawless sense ANY more
than those Jewish and American heroes; and if no
reproachful epiihets ought to be cast upon their
memories, none ought to be cast upon his. In all
that constitutes moral grandeur Of character, and
entire disiutedness Of actien, he was their supe.
rior. He periiicd all that was dear to him, not to
achieve liberty for himself, or those Of his own
complexion, but to break the letters Of a race not
colored like his own most wickedly abhorred.
universally prescribed, and subjected to a bondage
full Of unuttcrable woe and horror. But, even in
their behalf, he sought no retaliation nor revenge.
but only (f possible) a peaceful exodus from Vir-
ginia. lie explicitly declared to the Cours-I
never had any design against the liberty Of any
person, nor any disposition to commit treason or
destroy property, or to excite or incite slaves to
rebellion, or to make Instruction. And what
fair-minded man doubts the word of John Brown?
His weapons were purely for selfJefence on the
part OF the flying bondmen-an extremity, which,
Gig teen centuries after Christ. %justifes their use
in the belief Of Catholic and Protestant Christen-
dom, and in accordance with the common Law Of
the world. lie was of such stuff as the Walden
ses and Al5igenses, the Scotch Covenanters, the
Smithhold martyrs, the Mayhower Pilgrims we're
composed; apparently as true to his convictions of
duty toward God, as any man WAC ever walked the
earth before him, This does not prove that he
ola wei to rely on some other than spiritual weap-
ems for the success of his plan; but it does demand
that the fullest Justice should be done to his char
acter. and that every reference to him should be as
respectful and as appreciative as to any of the
patriots and martyrs to whom all the civilized ma
tioDs of the earth bow down in homage. Every
man who votes to uphold las does the Quaker poet
himsel0 the Constitution of Massachusetts, and the
American Constitution, cetes TO uphold the uuy
system-army, navy. militia, with all their
accompaninents; and no such person, therefore
-. al ----E r IA
hand Of John Brown, nor of the folly that seeks
through evil good, that is, that seeks to emarci-
pate the snslaved, peaceably if it comfortably if
it must.
Possibly, before entering Harper's Ferry, John
Brown had been reading the following soul-stir-
ring lines of Whittier, giving them a more literal
Interpretation than perhaps the poet intended -
Speak out in acts the time for words
Has passed, and deeds alone suffice;
In the loud clang of meeting swords
The softer music dies
Acs-act, in Gods name, while ye may
Smite from the Church her leprous limb,
Throw open to the light of day
The b~ondman's cell, and break away
The chains the State has bound on him
One last great battle for the Right
One short, sharp struggle to be free -
To do is to succeed-our fight
Is waged in Heavens approving sight
The smile Of God is Victory |!
1t is certain that when John Brown was at the
New England Anti-Slavery Convention in Boston
last May. he was heard to say, at lite conclusion
These men are all talk what 10 needed is ac-
ton. action! lie did unconcious injustice to the
men alluded to, but it shows what was then up
psrmos: 10 his mind.
In the following lines by Whittier, the martial
references are very different from those in his efu-
sion in the Independent:
Our fellow-countrymen in chains
Slaves, in a land of light and law
Slaves, crouching on the very plains
Hhere rolled The storm IF freedoms ,rar
A groan from Eutau's haunted wood,
A wall where Camdeu's martyrs fell,
BY eUery Shrine ofpatriot blood.
From Mouluie's wall to Jasper's well
By storied hill and hallowed grot,
By messy wood ant marshy glen;
Rhere rang Of old The riae-shot
And hurrying shout Of Marion's men
mo. by each spot Of haunted ground,
Where freedom weeps her children's fall,
BY Plymouth's Rock, and Buaker's mound,
By Griswold's stained and shattered waH,
BY Warren's ghost, by Langdon's shade.
BY all the memories Of our dead!
By their ~enlarging souls. which burst
The bands and letters round them set,
BY the free Pilgrim spirit nursed
Within cur limos. bOsoms yet,
BY all above. around, below,
Be ours III indignant answer, MOP
So. too. in the following verse, there is the same
appreciation Of heroism, without any damaging
imputation: