Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1874-03-07
JOHN BROWN.

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evening December 18th, 1878, by
Frederick Douglass, in the North Rus
sell Street Church, Boston, upon the
career of John Brown, who has passed
into history as "The hero of Ossawata-
mie" and "The martyr of Harpers
Ferry" Mr.. George l.. Rufin presided.
Mr.. Douglass remarked, in beginning,
that in what he should say he had no
purpose of tanning the flame OF section
al discord, now happily in the process
of rapid, and as he believed, permanent
extinction. His purpose was TO pay q
Just debt, long due; to yindicate, in
some humble measure, great historic
character, whose confidence and friend
ship it was his good fortune to share; in
short, to give such facts, impressions
and recollections as he had of good
old man. No event in the great anti
slavery struggle, excepting that of the
civil war, will, when fully written out
make a more thrilling chapter than that
relating to the sad, wild, mournful and
bloody drama of Harpers Ferry. The
familiar facts in regard to the Harpers
Ferry enterprise was narrated. and IN
the course of the narration one incident
was stated which may have escaped the
memory of some, that the United States
troops that captured Brown and his
party were in the command of Colonel
Robert E. Lee.
Could the attack on Harper's Ferry
be regarded as a simple transaction, 1T
would have to be pronounced one OF
the vilest outrages ever perpetrated on
a peaceful community But it will not
consent to stand alone any more than
the other outrages committed by Sherl-
dams army in their march to the sea. 1t
was not an isolated fact, but it was a
part of something else, and reason In
sists that it must be so viewed. There
is a seed time and harvest in the moral
world not less than in the physical
world, though the periods may not be
so well defined. The sower may die
and his body may return to dust and be
blown away by the four winds of heav-
en-, yet the harvest shall appear and i'll
due time must be reaped. Many distin-
guished Americans have expressed opin-
ion that the lecturer was badly mixed
up in this Harper's Ferry affair Among
others was Governor Henry A. Wise OF
Virginia, who induced President Buch-
anan to send him a special invitation by
United States Marshals to come down
into Virginia. Unfortunately, or fortu-
natsly, he, the lecturer, happened to
have left Rochester some hours before
the marshals arrived, and thus he es-
caped in interview with Governor Wise.
He wished, however, to claim no prom
inence in the transactions which have
made the name of John Brown. forever
glorious. His own zeal for the colored
man as compme1 with that Of Brown
was but as the taper of the burning sun.
In looking over the John Brown
scriptures for anything that might aid
him in preparing the lecture, he had
found but little to his purpose. Each
of the great men of the day had sought
to express his appreciation of the work
and character of this man, but each had
seemed to return from the attempt as if
dissatisfied with his effort. Mr.. Emer-
son felt that he had not said anything
equal to the occasion in saying that
"John Brown had made the gallows,
like the cross, glorious" W. Fl. Seward
had said that Brown was justly hanged.
John Andrew had said that "John
Brown was right" and this verdict of
Andrew would correspond To the calm,
clear, wide-sweeping judgment of the
future. Indeed, he had been justified
by some OF the best people Of the time,
especially the New England people,
who had recognized in him something
of Plymouth Rock, something of that
spirit that poured the tea into Boston
Harbor, something of the saint and the
martyr. Many persons that condemned
his law-breaking, nevertheless, honored
the man. We were hard pressed, not
long afterwards, for the same qualities
of calm courage and fortitude he dis
played, and this circumstance led to a
more general appreciation of him. Men
like John Brown appear at long inter
walls in history. 1t is not always easy
| to find in their autecedents that which
shall account for the genius they dis
| play, nor easy to explain the subtle in
| huence that sustains them at the height