Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-07-13
political.
REPORT or MIR. COlLAMEB,
From the Minority Of The Select Committee o
he Harpcr's Ferry Inuasion.

REPORT or MIR. COlLAMEB,
From the Minority Of the Select Committee on
he Hapcrs Ferry Inuasion.
The reasonable conspiracy of John Brown
and his associates, and its fatal development
at Harpor's Ferry, in Virginia. in October
last, has become matter Of history, and all its
details are too well known to require recapit-
ulation.
While the excitement, alarm and suspicion
were rife in the public mind, the Senate adopt
cd the resolutions raising the committee Of
inquiry in relation thereto. Their only 'cgd-
innate purpose was to inquire whether any
thing had transpircd which required further
legislation by Congress for future security
Though drawn in very general and underlined
terms, in some part almost implying the OK
eroise of judicial inquisition, yet from an un-
willingness TO incur the imputation Of ombar-
rassing full investigation, no one objected to
their adoption. In the exercise Of the same
feeling We have mado no objection to the
great latitude Of inquiry taken by the COM
mittce We, however, distinctly understand
that if tho resolutions and their peculiar
phraseology were drawn or are used for any
other purpose than that Of furnishing 20 the
Senate information for its own legislative ac-
tion, it is pcryersion and departure from the
only justifable purpose Of their adoption.
The objects Of inquiry as stated in the res
olutions, arc the following, which arc stated,
not in the ordor Of the resolutions, but in the
order Of their consecutive relation. for the
purpose of their more orderly answer. to wit
First. The facts in relation to the invasion
and seizure of the armory and arsenal at Har-
per's Ferry
Second Whether it was in pursuance OF
an organization, and the nature and purpose
thereof
Third. The arms and munitions there pos
sessed by the insurgents, and where and how
obtained
Fourth. Were any citizens, not present,
implicated in, or accessory thereto, by contri-
buttons Of arms, money, ammunition, or 9TH
erwisc.
In relation TO tho first inquiry, the testmo-
ny taken before the committee discloses no
material facts but such as appeared on the
trial OF the couspirators, and have been long
since published and are fully known. They
are briefly as follows;
On the night of tine 9th day of October,
1859, John Brown, together with sixteen
white men and five negroes as conspirators.
took armed possession Of the United States
armory at Harpcr's Ferry. IN Virginia, killed
four Of thc inhabitants, and were dslodged by
armed force, which they resisted. and in the
action seven of the white coaspirators were
killed. and three of the negroes. John Brown
was wounded and taken prisoner, and he, to-
gether with four others Of the white conspira-
tors. and two Of the negroes, were tried, con-
yctod, and executed, and five escaped.
Oh This tnoL n1ara in t,urauanpa G con-
spiracy commenced in Kansas by John Brown
and most of these conspirators, in the last part
Of 1857 or beginning Of 1853 They were
young men and entirely under the influence
of Brown, and had been, as well as Brown,
deeply engaged in the conflicts in Kansas in
1855, 1856 and 1851 From Kansas they
passed into Iowa, and from thence they were
led by Brown to Chatham, in Canada West.
There they, together with number Of ne
groes, formed a secret organization, with writ
ten articles of association, drawn up by Brown,
having for its object the raising OF slave in
surrection in the slavoholding States and sub
yortug the government thereof
81. They had two hundred Sharp's carbines
and two hundred revolver pistols and about
one thousand pixies, together with quantity
of clothing and ammunition. The carbines
and rcyolycrs had been procured by contribu-
tions iu Massachusetts,, ia 1856, and forward
ed to Iowa 20 be sent into Kansas for the aid
and in the defense of the frco-Statc people in
the struggle then existing there, and they had
been intrustcd to John Brown for that pur-
pose, together with the ammunition. The
clothing, which had been contributed for the
suffering people OF Kansas, had been intrust-
ed to him there for that purpose In 1887
tlaea fr,uhl.a Karsag in .rr.,t ,l,..r,.,
subsidized. The associations and committees,
who had made contributions, ceased opera
tions, and these arms and munitions, in the
hands of Brown, came to be almost overlook
ed and dsregardod, until the summer of 1858,
when a suggestion came to the persons hay-
ing control of them, at Boston, that John
Brown was about to make somo improper use
OF them, and thereupon he was particularly
charged to make no use of them but in Kan
sas, and for the defence of the free State peo-
pie there, the purpose for which they had been
furnished. 1t seems that this, together with
being unable to procure money, and an APP
prehension of being exposed, prevented him
from executing the purpose of his conspiracy
for that year
In 1859, he procured to be completed in
Connecticut one thousand pixies, for which he
had contracted and partly paid in 1856 or
1857, for like service in Kansas, and then in
1859, he procured those pixies, and also those
carbines and revolvers, and the ammunition
and clothing, to be privately conveyed and
seorctod at or near Harper's Ferry, without
the knowledge or consent Of those who had
contributed them for use in Kansas, and con-
trary to the order so given him by those in
control
18th. There is no evidence that any other
citizen than those there with Brown were ac-
cossory to this outbreak or invasion, by con
tributions thereto or otherwise, nor any proof
that any others had any knowledge Of the
conspiracy or it's purposes in the year 1859,
though Realf Forbes, and some very few may
have understood il in 1858, when it failed OF
Although some of the testimony tends TO
show that some aboltionists have at times
contributed money to what is occasionally
called practical abolitionsm--tha is, in aid
ing the escape of slayes--and may have
placed too implicit confidence in John Brown,
yot there is no evidence to show, or cause to
believe, they had any completely with this
conspiracy, or any suspicion Of its existence
or design, before its explosion.
There was no evidence tending to show
that there ever was any conspiracy or design,
by any one, to rescue John Brown or his as
sociatos from prison in Virginia.