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Show Whittier ~nd Garrifon. min(led man doubts the word of (Tohn Brown? His wrnpons were purely for , elf-<ld('nrc on til' part of the flying bondrnl'n -an extremity, whicl1, eightrc·n eenturie:) aftr r Christ, justifies tlwir use in the belief of' Catholie a1Hl Prote. tant Chri::;tenuom, and in aecorclancc with the common law of the wol'ld. lie was of such stuff as tl1c " 'a ldeus('s nnd Albig<>nsc::, the Seotclt Covenanter:=;, the Smithfitlu l\Iartyrs, the l\I:tyflower l)ilgrim~, were composed; apparently a' true to his convictions of duty towards God, as any man who ever walketl the earth before him. This does not prove that he did well to r<'ly on .'Ome other than spiritual w apons for the succe s of his plan ; but it doc demand that the full e;;;t justice hould be uonc to hi· character, and thnt every reference to him should be as re~pectfu l and as nppreciatiYe as to any of the patriots aud martyrs to whom all the ci vili.zed nation. of the cnrth bow down in homage. Every man who votes to uphold (as docs the Quaker poet himself) the Con. titution of l\Ias, ac!Jusetts and the American Con~titntion, votes to u.pl10ld the war s,ystam -army, naYy, militia, with all their accompaniment ; and no such person, therefor e, can consi:-;tently ~'P('ak of" the ra~h and bloody lwn<l" of John Brown, nor of ''the folly that ~ceks through evil good,"~ that is, that cek · to emancipate the enslaved, peaceably if it can, forcibly if it mu~t. Pos ·ibly, before entering Harper's Ferry, John Drown had been rea(ling the following soul- ·tin·ing line. of 'Vhitticr,giving them a more literal interpretation than the poet intended: " Speak out in acts! - the time for words Has pas. ed, and deeds alone suffice; In the loud clang of meeting swords The softer music dies ! Act- act, in God's name, while ye may! Smite from the Church her leprous limb ! Throw open to the light of day The bondman's cell, and break away The chains the State has bound on him! • * Whittier and Garrifon. "One lnst great battle for the H.in·ht - 0 I One :-hort, shnrp struggle to be free!- To do is to succeed- our fi.rht n Is waged in llcnven's approving sight- The . mile of God is Victory! " It i:-; <'<Tin in that when ,Jolm Brown was at the N 'W England Anti-Siavcry Coavention itt Boston hvt l\Iny, he was heard to ·ay, at iL conclu ·ion, " These men are all ta lk : what is needed is action- action!" lie did uncon .. cious inju ~ticc to the men alluded to, but it hows what wa · then upJ)('rmost in hi mind. ln the follo,ring line by 'Vhittier, the martial r cfr.rcn c<'S arc very different fi·om those in hi , effusion in tbc "Indel>endcnt": "Our fellow-countrymen in c·hnins! Slaves - in a land of light nncl law! Slaves - crouC'hing on the very plains JJ ?1rrc rolled Utr storm of J·hwlom' s war! A groan from Entau'H haunted woodA wail where CanHkn's martyrs fellB !J el't'I'!J slu·ine of pat riot blood, From ::\Ioultrie's 'rall aud .Ta per's well! 13y storied hill and hallowed "T Ot 0 I By mossy wood nncl mar~hy glen, H?wnce m11r; of old t!te rifll'-sltot Aurlllllrryinr; sl10ut of Jlfarion's mc>n!" * * * * "No- by each E~pot ofhauntcdrrround, " 'here J'recdom weeps her children's fallBy J>Jym outh's Rock, and Bunker's mound By Gris?colrl's stained and sl1atlered ?rallBy JVan·en's r;l10st - by Langdon's shade - JJy all t!tc memories of ow· dead! ~ * * * "By their enlarging souls, ?rl1iclt burst Tl1e bands anclfettt•rs ?'Olmd t lwm set ! Dy the free l)ilgrim spirit nursed \Yi thin our inmost bosornH yetJJy nll above- around- below- De ours th' indignant answer-NO ! " |