Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-01-24

OPol u WretctleQ pallet, Will SIN lai'6"P.'S
wounds-scarcely conscious OF surrounding
~sounds-bathing his mattrasS with blood, ana
with the glostly presence Of his two dead sons
forever before him." Thus you place the un-
happy man before the world, forgetting that
| those ghastly wounds arc but the evidence of
Il more CHASTITY crime-the fearful witnesses by
which his guilt was confirmed.
1t is, indeed, q terrible picture you have
drawn; but the streets of Harper's Ferry had
one more terrible still. There, innocent men,
all unconscious Of danger, we're shot down
like wild animals. There widows, newly be.
rcaved, knclt moaning over their dead, and or
phan children cried aloud for the parents that
| John Brown mad so ru,hlcssly murdered. This
picture you have forgotten to place side by side
with the other; but We who love our country
men have sympathy for the innocent As well us
pity for the guilty.
You complain that his trial was hurried, that
the jury sat only forty minutes and that all the
proceedings were indecorously urged forward
but were they so swift as the rife balls that
| shot down unarmed men in the streets at liar
pcr's Ferry? Were they so ruthless as john
Browns midnight descent upon q sleeping VII
| lage in Kansas, where husbands AMI SONS were
dragged ont Of their beds, and shot down
within hearing Of their wives and mothers Is
this the man whom you speak Of as ''piolS,
~allstcye, animated with the old puritan spirit
inspired by the spirit of the Gospels" while
you call his companions, sacred martyrs
This, sir, is the b~lasphenly of Il highly
wrought NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. me for saying
not original with you; for wilder and more
irrcllsious men than | trust you are, have gone
to greater lengths, aud blasp!icmed more elo.
-.l.. .l.,, ,ht- Whav huya nropnt,pcnI
John Browns gallows holicr than the cross.
and held ", his rebellion as Il rcbuke TO the
unfinished mission of our Lord the Saviour.
AT this moment" you say, America at
tracts the attention Of the whole world"
Not ut this moment only, but ever Stree she
became IL free nation this has been j truth. 10
all the kinSly Governments of Europe she has
always Lccn q contrast and an irritation-a
SUBJECT for citicism, and whenever an olporti'
nifty Tor blame arose, Of dcnunciation. 1t is
not strange then that 4 rebellion in part
~Gysterel in Europe should call forth bitter re.
marks there.
Let the Judges Of Charlcstown and the
Slaveholding Jurors, and the whole population
of Virginia ponder Oh it well-lllcy are watch
cd-tliry are not alone in the world"
They have pondered on it well, and the exc.
cution of John Brown has taken place. If the
whole American Republic were responsible for
his death, rs you say it is-it would simply be
responsible for u most painful duty solemnly
performed and received with mournful rcSig-
nation even by the most merciiul, because Of
its imperative necessity. Justice demanded
the life Of this man for he had taken human
lifc-ncceSsity demanded it for he was the
spirit and soul Of n treason that threatened the
foundation of our nationality-that would for
ever have been plotting more bloodshcd so long
as he lived on earth.
You call the execution Of Brown "a broth
erhood of blooG'-you say that "lhe iaSceS Of
our splendid Republic will be bound together
by the running moose that hangs from his glib
bet
If this is truc-if any brotherhood Of blood
is connected with this painful event, it rests
neither with the "wholc" American Republic
nor with the State Of Virginia; but its red track
may he found across the foam Of the Atlantic,
linking Exeter Hall with the sensation pulpitS
on this side the ocean. The weight OF John
Browns blood lies with England and the con-
ftdcratcs oil England, who have by their teach
ings, their money and crafty sympathy, led the !
old man on To death. What but this band Of
blood did The people Of England expect when
they gathered penny contributions throughout
the length and breadth Of their lard, in order
TO urge this incendlary spirit forward in :Ameri-
ca? Penny contributions-us if Liberty were
a Tyrant or u Pauper, to be intimidatcd or
bribcd by their Infamous copper.
What was this contribution intended for ?
An insult, or a fund for incendiary USES? If
sent to the United States for the purpose Of in
citing insurrection, or in any way opposing
.. 1.-, shaw that ,,o,nt ha. lpan tho rric,I :
Of John Browns blood, and was the first
strand of the halter that hung from his gal ;
lows.
when they rent tho. American flag in twain,
and hung it, tattered and quivering beneath
the indisnity, over the head of An American
woman, who smiled benignly under the insult,
and received aims after it was offered? Out Of
such acts and such insults, the halter of John
Brown was woven; to such insldinus Ell.
enlargement the old man owes his death.
Was there an English man or woman living, !
who supposed that a great nation would allow
the treason thus instigaIed on a foreign soil. to ;
ripen II her bosom, and fail 10 punish 1t with !.
all the force Of her Just laws?
1t is the people Of England. then, with a very
small party in the United States, who are uni
ted by this ''bond of blood" It reddeDS the
vestments of our sensation ministers, not the
cr,nine Of our judges. The taoles
Of our political churches are orershadowed with
it. and the places once sacred, are orcrshadowcd
by the old mans crime. In these places when
YOU call John Brown 1.-THE champion of Christ"
it may be considered meek and holy language;
but the great mass OF our American people will
turn from such iinpiety with Il shudder.
Your letter CLOSES with an appeal to our Re
public, calling it the sister OF the French Re
public. How little YOU know Of the great
land You compliment and rcVile in the same
breath. Liberty with us subjects herself to the
laws which she has inspired, and he who re-
volts against those laws sins against her and
the whole people whom she protects. She
spranS another Minerva from the minds of pa
trint statesmen, modeslly clad, serene and
beautiful; she preSideS over our Republic, and
has so lar protected it from anarchy or oppres-
sion.
1t is that our Republic may have no sister
hood with those Of Franco that such insnrrec-
tions as You dcnominatc ~ sacred duty are
met with the whole force Of our laws. We're
they permitted to obtain a foot-holdi in the land,
our Republic might, indeed, become sister to
those of France, and perish rs they did. !
Had the inSurrection at llarper's Ferry sue
cecded, the scenes Of anarchy which left
France lying like an unnatural monster satlated
with the blood Of her OWL children, might have
been repeated here. But we are not yet prepared
to see innocent babes shot down in bat,alions,
or fair girls compelled to drink blood lrothing
from a yet warm human heart, in order to re-
deem their fathers from the Ratchet We arc
not prepared to see our pastors slaughtered at
the foot of their own affairs, or hear coarse
songs laundering through the solemn arches
Of our temples. 1t is to save our country from
consangninity with Republics founded on afro
cities like these, that our laws crush rebellion
when it first crcsts itself.
Rest. sir, upon your knees before the star
s~panglel banner. While our pulpits are turn
cd into political forums, and their ministers
..al...:an, lln,A.lnl tln Ennt nE IIilr |