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Show ) Fales Henry Newhall. tlers coukl get no protection from the nation against rcekle s mamuuer .s: who burned their homes, . acketl thc it· to wll ~, cle~ s troyetl property and life. They were forced to fight or ily; l3rown cho~e to fight for his son and his property. lie wa rirrht if it is ever ribrrht to draw the sword. Kan as looks 0 ' n pon him as a deliver er. At Harper's F erry he tells us his purpo e was simply to liberate slaves on a large scale. This we arc bound to believe, for all know that J olm Brown was too brave a man to lie. Had there been a r easonable pro.sp 'et of s u ece ~~, his attempt would have been right; but he certainly expected s u ccc~s, and, therefore, to him it was rig ht, though as we sec the odds agnin. t such an attempt, it would be wrong for you and me. Success would haYc made his " monoma~ nia " and " fanati c i~m" N apuleonic . trategy. lie dcfenus himself better than I or any other man can defend him. lie calmly tells the jury who convictccl him, tit at had l1c done for them, their wi \ 'C::; and children, what he did ior "God'::; dc~pi.'ed poor," it would ha\·e 1 eeu all r ight. This defence is impregnable. Had John Brown done pre~ cisely the ·ame ac·t to ave the white man {i·om the tyranny of the black ma n, ~ ucces ' ful or un ucccssful, the deed woulcl have been ·ung ancl. celebrated as her oic with the deeds of liamr)den and 'Van·cn. IIad he been a black man fi rrhtinrr 0 b for his own race, some say, it would have been right. But John Brown believed the Bible, wl1ich makes no di ' tinction of races, and declares that God "hath made of one b1ood all nations of m,en." But was he not a. r ebel, guilty of sedition and trea~on? Y es, all thi . But we are to r emember that the words " rebel" and "trca on" have been made holy in the American language. Arc not our children fed on revolutionary reminiscences whieh make "rebel" and " patriot" synonymous in their chiltli h apprehension? "'Vhat means that stone and that tablet aL L exiugton, that in~cription which patriots • Fales H enry N cwhall. 205 come from the end of tltc ear th to read, commencing: " Sacred to Liberf.IJ and the R,-gllls of lllrmkz'nrl! " It mc:1ns that eight l\{assachusctts rebels da"h <l t h e m~e h·e: against an empire on that village g reen, and that J\Ia~sa ·hu 'etts is proud of their very ashe·. '\Vhat means tl1at monumental uronze on Court Square? It mean.' that we g lory in tl1e trea.~on of that arelt r ebel B enjamin Franklin, " who i'llat ·hcd th ' ligh tning from heaven and the sceptre fr om tyrants." 'Vhat 111 <':111 t hOi'C ma~s iv granite blocks thaL a rc pil<·<.l on Hunk<·r llill r It mean that we glory in the deed of' those r ·bel:-; wll<) knelt in a trench there one June ll101'11ing, Ulltkr th' gl:ire o(' l.lllrnjng Charle, town, to "alute with powder and bullets the ,oldien; oft heir " rightful sovereign," and wait <'cl, the fowling pil'Ce to the shoulder and the finger on the t rigger, ti ll they co1dcl St'e the white of their eyes! I do not .ny thaL 1\Ia. ~aclw~ ctts ha. any right to glory in those deeds a· she tlors, but I do ay that sh has no rig ht to glory in the trcnson of IIancock, Adam,·, :1ml Franklin, a , noble ancl Chri~tian, nnd then bran<l tbc trca.'Oil of J ohn Brown a. ittfam ou~. Y ·a, is noL his clee<l nobler than the de 'd of him wltom you, <'itizcns of' Hoxbury, are ~o proud to call nn anec=-to r, as you exultingly tell the tranger that h ere the hero \Varr 'n wa::; lJom, and on this stree t, cl o~ e by this a.nctuary, he fi r."t drew the breath of life? "\Vhieh is nobler, more Christian, to . trike a blow for my elf or for others oppresE""ed? l)o. tc rity will marvel at the heathc ni .'m of Chri. tian America, the cl1ildren wm be ashamed of the heathenism of their father .. ~, which gave 'Yarren a statue and John Brow11 a gibb t. Brown, fighting for the n egro Hgnin ~ t the white man, i ~ pre ·iscly parnlld with Byron* fi crhtinrr for the Greeks ngninst the Turk~, with Ko - 0 0 ciu =-ko and Lnfayctte fighting 'rith Olll' father:3 agn in.'t tlJC Briti~ h. IIi - deeds take rank with theirs in ('If-devotion and lteroism ; hi.'=' tory will wri te their names on the . a me page; * HPt ter ~ lill, to ~:~ay Dr. Howe, of Uoslon, nn Amorintn, whom nll Amorict\ npplautieu for tho tluo<.l. J. lt. 18 |