Year: 1860

the Republicans were directly or indi-
reetly responsible for the acts of John
Brown; one class was knaves, and the
other fools but since / came here /
have changed my mind. believe that
the knaves' of the North have fooled
some very sensible people in the South
but at the North there is not sensible |
man that does not belong to the first
class who even brings the charge.


Senators ask us why we have no SYM
pathy for Virginia in this instance /?
Sir, we do not understand the case at
all. What are the facts in this case
Seventeen white men and FIVE unwill-
ing negroes surrounded and captured
town of two thousand people, with a
U. 5. armory, any quantity of arms
and ammunition, with three hundred
men, as | am informed, employed in
it under civil officer, and held it for
two days. These L understand to be
the facts of the case, and you ask why
we have not sympathy? We do not
understand any such case as that. The
Senator from Mississippi (Mr. BROWN
asks, what would you say if Virginia
and Carolina were to attack the armory
at Springfield? / do not know what is
the population at Springfield, but will
guarantee that if seventeen or twenty
two of the generals, not captains, (they
say these men were to be captains,
of the States of Virginia and North
Carolina were to attack Spring gfeld, ifl
there was not man within five thou
sand miles of there, the women would
bind them in thirty minutes, and
would not ask sympathy, and the mat
ter would not be deemed of sufficient
Importance to ask for a committee of
investigation on the part of the corpor-
alton. Why, sir, Gov. Wise compared
the people of Harper's Ferry to sheep,
as the public press states. 1t is libel,
it is not true, for | never saws a flock
fifty or hundred sheep in my life that
had not belligerent ram among them.
We do not understand this case, sir.
We understand no such panic as this
If seventeen, or fifty or one hundred
men, were to attack town of the size
of Harper's Ferry anywhere through
out the region with which | am ac-
quainted, they would simply be put in
jail in thirty minutes, and then they
would be tried for their crimes and, if
guilty, they would be punished, and
there would be no row made about it.
II seventeen men were to attack the
city of Detroit in capacity, and the
Mayor should appoint as guard more
than seventeen constables to take care
of them, the City Auditor would de-
cline to audit the account; he would
not pay it.


The facts in this ease, as they appear
to be, are these: The fugitive slaves at
Chatham, in Canada, got together
some time ago, | do not know when,
and organized provisional govern
ment for the United States. There
are, understand, about sixty thousand
fugitive slaves in the Province of Cana
da. They got together in Chatham. in
Canada, and there resolved to organ
ize provisional Government for these
United States. They did so, and sent
as their agents-this / gather from
newspaper accounts-to put their gov
ernment in motion, John Brown and
sixteen other white men and five ne
groes, without any hopes of support
from any source. Now, gentleman
l ask, where did these funds come
from ? All that was needed would
amount to about probably twenty cents
on each head of your fugitive slaves in


Canada; and yet the Republican party
of the North, representing one million
three hundred thousand votes, is to be
charged with completely in this misera-
BILE fugitive slave government, estab-
lished in Chatham some time-God


knows when, and | neither know nor


care. Sir, it is too ridiculous. / can


not treat it with any sort of seriousness.


As said before, no man of common


sense at the North even thinks of charg-


ing it upon the Republican party. The


Democratic party and Democratic


press, from which the Senator from


Georgia read copious extracts, is known


not to represent the sentiment there.


1t is a third, pampered press. Look at


that Identical paper from which he read


and | will guarantee you will find hun


dreds of dollars worth of Government


advertisements in it. Sir, it is a vii


famous press, hired to do dirty work,


and it does it faithfully.


The Senator from Georgia state that


your Northern allies are in hopeless


minority. Well, sir, that is true. You


have crowded them little too far.


You have left their bones bleaching all
over the land. They are politically
dead, hopelessly dead, beyond any re-


surrection. The trumpet of the arch


ange will never reach them, politi


cally. You have crowded them toe


far, sir You have forced them to vote
for your Lecompton constitution. You


forced them to vote for the repeal Of
the time-honored Missouri compromise


You have kept the ''nigger" eternally
before them, and whether he was ac
ceptible or obnoxious to them, you
made them swallow the "nigger" in
large or small doses as you saw fit tc
, present him, and it has been a fata
dose; you have given to much.


Sir, hope this resolution will pass
unanimously, and l hope the action o
this committee will be effective. ]
hope IL will be searching and thorough