Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-03-03

II will be interesting to watch the speculations
Of the radical press on the character and bearing
Of the rebel emmissary Beall, who died on the
ecaffold at Governors island on Friday. What
can men who hold ell rebels TO be necessarily
worse than infdes, and think that the site oil
Charleston ought TO be sowed with salt, say OF
think about 90 much calmness, dignity and quiet
self-asserton displayed in practical msrtyrdom
for the cause of the rebellionf We have not
read all the evidence upon which Beall was con-
victed. but, for the purpose of these remarks
We assume that he justly convicted and
hanged.
Here is a man. young. intelligent. educated
nursed in luxury, cultivated by travel, who, after
serving through three or four desperate cam
paigns in the field against the union, takes his
life in his hand and comes 20 the north, deter
mined TO carry ruin. havoc. and confusion. if be
possibly can, into the very heart of northern so
ciety. He makes himself legally pirate. an
incendiary. and spy let Us grant, too, that be
would have made himself also murderer, and
that in the most cruel and abhorrent way imag-
Unable, by planning the destruction of railway
train after such fashion as TO involve the lives
of numbers of helpless women and children.
Yet when this man, STEPPED in such bitter
imaginings of crime. comes to the gallows, and
confronts tie unseen world. what is his aspect
de meets his death not with the sullen and stol
Id bravsdo OF bandit run TO earth. Tor with the
cynical cklessness of one who laughs alike al
God aud man. He takes farewell OF his mother
and his sister, and his friends. with equal gentle
ness and self-command; he reyerenlly recognizes
the obligations OF the religion which il seems be
has for years professei; parts kindly and charita
Div from his gaolers and his fellow prisoners, snd
bids the world farewell with the words that, in
his own thought. he dies murdered for the
sake Of his country.
Between this Startling spectacle and the scene
which 50 many preachers and poets have already
hailed as he msftyrdom" at Charleston. in
Virginia sir years ago. how many and how
striking are the analogies
BY all the laws Of the land John Brown was
no less pirate aud robber than John Beall In
the midst Of a profound peace John Blown led
armed men into an unsuspecting country neigh
borhood with incendiaTy torches and proclama-
lions more incendisry sill. seized and DESTROYED
property captured citizens going about their law
ful yocatons. and shot TO death men rallying 10
protect themselves against peril equally sud
den and incomprehens The conservative
sentiment Of the whole people denounced John
Brown. and justly, enemy Of the state and a
dangerous criminal. who deserved the doom be
met. But conservatives and radicals alike men
of the north and men of the south, were forced
TO admit that. criminal as had been his course,
John Brown himself saw nothing criminal in il,
that. he bore himself in prison and a. the gal
lows like martyred soldier OF the truth, and pas
sed into the solemn outetworld with = martyr :
calmness. confidence. and hope.
John Beali trampled on the laws Of war: John
Brown on the laws of peace. But IL we admit,
as historical truth aHd ean5or compel US To ad-
mit that the one believed himself TO be acting
in the highest sense OF duty 10 law sbOve all
human laws, how can We refuse 10 admit much
in the case Of the otherl lt is not the cause but
the spirit which makes the martyr; and it Is idle
To deny that while this or that cause loses its
hold on the sorld's sympathies. With the progress
OF time. the martyr spirit commands mems ad
niration. no matter what the cause in which il
is displayed. Jshn BrOxn has been canonized.
In spite Of bis crimes. by the aboli'ioni-ts north
John Beall. We may be sure will be in like man.
ner canonzed BY the anti unionsts south
Yet what rational man can DENY that, from
the judicial point of view. the north cannot pos
sioi, oeiend the course Of the one, nor the south
the course OF the othefi
And eau anything be palmer In the light of
both .hese cases. than the duty Of all good
men. both a. The north and the south. 10 do
justice 70 the real temper and spiri, of their an
tsgouistss
TIE south refused to DO this DUTY. o. found Il