The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1884-02-28

In a recent number of the North
American Review some fellow calling
himself David n. Utter, attacked the
character Of Old John Brown, calling
him coward, murderer, SC. In the
February number of the Review, SEN
ator ingalls,, of Kansas, answers this
fellow, closing as follows:
''In December, 1858, negro from
Missouri came to his cabin on the
Usage, and informed him that he was
about to be sold, with his family, and
begged for aid to escape. John Brown
Immediately organized two companies,
invaded Missouri, liberated eleven
slaves, and returned, with the supplies
necessary for their support. The Gov
ernor of the State offered three thou
sand dollars reward for the arrest Of
John Brown, which the President of
the United States supplemented with
an offer Of two hundred and fifty more
John Brown retorted by a printed
proclamation offering two dollars and
fifty cents for the delivery Of James
Buchanan to him in camp. He moved
slowly northward with his four fami-
lies of emigrants, colonized them near
Windsor in Canada, in March, 1859,
and returned to Kansas no more.
His subsequent career belongs to the
history Of the nation. Out of the
portentous and menacing cloud Of
anti-slavery sentiment that had long
brooded with sullen discomfort, bale
full meteor above the North, he sprang
like a terrific thunderbolt, whose lurid
glare illuminated the continent with
its devastating fame, and whose rever-
berations among the splintered crags
of Harper's Ferry were repeated on a
thousand battle-felds from Gettysburg
to the Gulf. From the instant that
shot was fired the discussion and de-
bate Of centuries was at an end. He
who was not for slavery was against
it. The North became vertebrated,
and the age Of cartilage and compro-
mise was at an end The nation seized
the standard Of universal emaneipa-
ton which dropped from his dying
hand on the scatfold at Charleston, and
bore it in triumph to Appomattox.
He died as he had lived, a Puritan
of the Puritans. There was no per-
turbation in his serene and Gteadfast
soul. Few productions in literature
are more remarkable than his letters
written in prison, while he was under
sentence Of death. He said:
Il can trust God with both the time
and the manner Of my death, believing,
as now do, that for me at this time
to seal my testimony for God and hu-
manity with my blood will do vastly
more toward advancing the cause |
have earnestly endeavored to promote
than all have done in my life before. -"
"As believe most firmly that God
reigns, / cannot believe that anything
I have done, suffered, or may yet suf-
fer, will be lost to the cause of God Or
humanity: and before ] began my
work at Harper's Ferry felt assured
that, in the worst event, it would cer-
tainly pay"
II am quite cheerful. I do not feel
myself in the least degraded by my
Imprisonment, my chains, or the near
prospect of the gallows. Men cannot
imprison, chain. nor hang the soul, ,
I am endesyyaring TO get ready
Cos another field Of action, where no
defeat befalls the truly brave
''It is a great comfort to feel assured
that | am permitted to die for g cause,
and not merely to pay the debt of ma
ture which all must. | feel myself to
be most unworthy of so great dis
tinction." J"
Il fell just as content to die for
Gods eternal truth, and for suffering g
humanity, ON the scaffold as in any
other way"
II think ] canQat now better serve
the cause | love so much than to die
for it: and in my death [ may do more
than in my life.
II do not believe | shall deny my
Lord and Master Jesus Christ, and
should if I denied my principles
against slavery"
What immortal and dauntless cour
age breathes in this procession o.
stately sentences; what fortitude
what patience; what radiant and eter
nal hope! No pagan philosopher, NJ
Hebrew prophet, no Christisn martyr
eyer spoke in ioftier and more heroi
strains than this "Coward and Muir
derer," who declared, from the nea
brink Of an ignominious grave, tina
: there was no acquisition so splendi
|, as moral purity; no inheritance so de
sirable as personal liberty; nothin!
on this earth nor in the world to com
so valuable as the soul, whatever tn
hue of it's habitation; no impulse S
noble as an unconquerable purpose t