The Richmond palladium., 1875-01-13
John Brown.

port, py the chicago lnter-Oeean,
of the lecture OF FRED. DOUGLASS, in
Farwell Hall in that city, on the hero
o. Harper's Ferry, John Brown:
The famous battle of Black Jack
was rehearsed, and the wondrous skill
OF the old warrior of the Kansas plain
was shown to be one of the leading
elements in his character. With only
eighteen men he shook the whole So
cial pillars of Nirginil; with them he
captured town OF 5000 inhabitants:
with them he repulsed twelve COM
panies of Virginia militia, and made
them call Justify for Federal bayonets
to protect them. Applause. There
was no word from the people at the
injustice of this call. Now, when the
government sends few regiments
down to the South to protect the
white men and negroes there against
the White Iaeaeuers and ku klux,
howl of indignation went from one
end of the country to the other
Loud and prolonged applause
When John Brown went down TO
Virginia the peoples first conclusion
was that he went there for plunder
Others were of opinion that he went
down there to be made the President,
and this was borne out when IN his
satchel they found constitution
which was agreed to for those who
were to join him In the mountains.
The Shareholders of that section where
he operared and few OF his personal
friends knew John Brown, and his
plans were fully explained. General
Lee. Governor Wise, Il. b. Mason,
~ ii o,l athars who were
beside the old man when he lay
wounded down in Virginia tried to
wiring from the hero that the late
Joshua II. Giddings. the lamented
Gerrit Smith. and Howe, the aboli-
ZIONIST. were implicated in the raid.
But he stood there, more than ever
hero. and claimed for himself all the
+ authorship of the raid. He boldly
stated he alone was the one upon
whom the thunderbolt should tall.
He would stand there aud take the
results. And the men who were
around him. while they called Brown
+ a criminal in the outward act, yet IN
their hearts they called him a hero.
Old Virginia might have spared him.
It was useless for them to attempt to
eXtort from him the confession that
would implicate any one. lie had
gone there. and he was willing and
ready to die on the head of it Colonel
Hoyt. who lett Massachusetts to save
his friend, might have saved his labor,
for the plea Of a Choate, a " Webster
or Clay would at that hour have
been unayailing lie was. doomed
He had dared to trample under foot
one of Virginia's greatest, dearest
idols. She could have laid aside any
thing, but this was striking an evil
whose fruits studded every hillside
and valley in the old State, and that
they could not avert. The man 5
| greatest heroism was shown at that
hour of death He laid down his life
for those who were bvior hiuI III the
social scale Then ii was not white
man for white man, or black man Tor
black man, but white man for black
man, black man for white man. lAp-
plaise.l The best days of John
Brown were his last. In this he re-
sembles the greatest. His last hours
were like all those of all great men,
He was his grandest at his death
scene. He told the men who sur
rounded him on that occasion, that in
eighteen months after his death that
for which he fought would come be-
fore the people in a way they were not
then prepared for, and each OF them
would see it and participate IN 1t. 1t
was prophecy which came true to
the letter. Mason was arrested for
treason. Vallandigham was vacilla-
ting between North and South, sought
bv none. rejected by both The same
house where Governor Wise had lived,
eighteen months later was turned into
a school, with the daughter of John
Brown teaching colored children.
Applause. He was plain man.
He was possessed of all the family
virtues. He was a bold man. 1t
might be said that the only reason to
be given for the existence of such
men as John Brown was that when
they we're needed they lived. When
ever John Brown saw there was a
right. there beside it he saw thus
saith the Lord applause All
legislation on slavery was to such q
man as John Brown but as eobwebs
which had accumulated only to be
swept away by the hand OF the one
who was to sweep the world. The
events which preceded the incidents
at Harper's Ferry were preparatory tc
the great struggle of his life. WheI
John Brown was seen the last time
by the lecturer he met him in Penn
sylvania In stone quarry. The am
munition and arms with which he
was to attack Harper Ferry were
there. He told John Brown that hs
could not go with him to the Ferry
And he was glad he didn't. Laugh
teri The reason why John Brown
was not successful was not, as some
said, that the forces promised hin
from the North failed to come; wa:
not that the cowardly negroes had de
serted him; but that when he stopped
the Baltimore train. he let the pas
sengers go. who were swept down OF
around Harper's Ferry, to make hin
a prisoner and a martyr. What wa:
the cause of his failure. or was it /:
failure? If he went there to raise anc
head an army, and thus free the slave:
of the South, then it was failure. |
John Brown went down to Harper
Ferry TO make himself leader, then
he was a failure. But did JohI
Brown go there to save his life? Tha
was his prime object beside freeing
the slaves He went to that dread
conflict to lay down his life for the
black man. and If he did not perform
the act that closed the war, he wa!
the first to precipitate the struggH
before Fremont in his proclamation
and before Abraham Lincoln. LIE
none call his the lost cause, bu
rather that of the ones who brough
about his death. [Applausel.
A dispatch from Ottawa, tn