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Show ) Edwin M. Whce1ock. he decided, I say that such a baruari ~m, waR, in it elf; an organz'zed and perpetual wm· a,c;aiust Cod and man, and could be best met by the direct i ~ u e of arms. For he was 110 sentimrntali~ t and no non-resistant. lie believed in human brotherhood, in George '\Va hington, in Bunker IIill, and in a God, "all of whose attributes take sides against the oppressor." Ile Rtartled our effeminacy with the t:ight of a man whose seminal principle was justice, who. e polar star wa' right. No ''WtH.ler he is awful to politician . The idea which made our nation, which plit u, off from the Briti 'h Empire, and denying whieh we bcrrin to die, - the idea of the upremc sacrcdnc·s of man, i ' Rp~lking throngh his r ifle and through hi~ lip . lie ~"as a Puritan on uoth ide ; and that blood i:-; always re,·olutJOnary. lie had the blood of Engli ;.;h IIamptlcu, who, rather than pay an unju:-'t tax of tw 'nty ~hillin~ , began a movement that IJUrl 'd a king from hi ~ throne to the block. lie ltatl. the .ulood of IIancock and Adam~, who, wh 11 King Georg~ hud lll ' hand on the American pocket, arou cd every New Englander to be a revolution in him:elf. IIe .knew that the crime of the slave faction against humamty were more atrocious by far than tho e which tumed England into a rep ublic, and the Stuarts into exile; and his glorious fault it was that he could not look calmly on while four million. of our people are trodden in the bloouy mire of despoti m. It is the f~t ' hion now to call him a "crazy" fanatic; but ~1ist?ry will do the !wad of J ohn Brown the same ample JUStice that even his enemies give to hi heart. It is no impo ible feat to plant a permanent armed insm·· rection in Virginia. The mountains are near to IIm·per's F erry, and within a few days' march lies the Great Di ·mal Swa~1p, whose interior depth are forever untro(lden save by the f<:~('t of fugitive slnvcs. A few resolute white men har-b l . . ' on.·c m It · deep rcces e., raising tltc flag of slave revolt, would Edwin M. Wheelock. gather thou:anus to their . tandanl, wouhl C'OnYu lRe the whole State with panic, and make servile war O!lC of' the in::;epamble feli ci tic~ of Slavery. Let us not forget that three hun(1r<'(l hair-arm ed Indians, houseu in similar swamps in Florida, w:1ged a seven yenr:-,' war ngainst the whole power of the United State:-~, and wct·c taken, at 1:1. t, not by warfare, but by t rcacl1ery and l>ribe~. A single year of uch warfare woulJ. unhinge the slave f~tcl i o n in Virginia. Said Napoleon, when preparing for the inva:-;iou of England, " I do not expect to conqu r England; but I s!Jail do more, - I shall ruin it. The mere pre:~ 'IlCC of my troops on her coast, wbcther U<'fcat ed or not, will ::3hakc her gov-ern ment to th ' grounu-1 , an<.1 d estroy 1w r . oct.a 1 sy:::. t em." 'Vith qual corrcctue s reasoned the hero antl marty r of H arper's F erry. lie knew that lave revolt could l>c plantetl upon a , p<'rmancnt and chronic a basis as the Undergrou1Hl Railroad, ancl that once done, ~lavery would quickly bleed to death. Ili::; plan was not Quixotic. His means were am pic. None , o well a~ he knew the wcakne" of thi~ ~iant sin. llacl he avoided the F cllcral arm, he might have o,·eiTun the heaving, rocking soil of the fifteen Stat ·s, breaking ev<:ry :--lave chain in hi ::; way; while the "terrors of the Lord " wt.:rc smiting to the heart of thi::~ huge barbnri:-;m, with one ghastly sense of guilt, and feebleness, and punishment. 'V e have seen the knees of a great slave Stale smitmg together, and her teeth chattering with fear, while wild atHl craven panic , preau far and wide, from the light ·kirmi ~h of a single day, with le s than a score of men, and can .J.udg.e somewhat of lwr po. ition if insurrection h::td become an lll"'tltution in he1· miclst. If Brown hnd not, in pity to hi::~ prison >rs~ lin ~Tere<l in the captured to'vvn till be~ct by the F ctlernl bayo-o . nets, he would now have been lO<lge1l in the monnl:un;:; oe swamp::;, while every corner of the State wou1<1 hnse fh:med with revolt. lie <lid not "throw his life a way ; '' 1JC (.ltes a "natural death,"- to be hung is the only natural dent h pos- 1 6~·:. |