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Show Whittier and Garrif<)n. S t 'n tllc followincr verse, there i~ the ~amc apprccta-o, oo, 1 I:' • • • • tion of herOi.s m, wt. t 1 t . clamacrtng unpntat10n.- 10U any c- o ""When Freedom, on her natal day, lVithin her 1car-rocked cradle lay, An iron race around her stood, Baptizecl lwr h~fant brow in b:oocl, A n d , throurbr h the storm wlnch •r ound he, r swept, Their constant ward and watchmg kept. Again: " God bless New Hampshire ! -from her granite peaks, Once mote the voice of Stark and Langd o n spea /,• s.I " But John Brown was nobler in his aim, an<l less bloody in his spirit, than either Stark or Langdon. Again, says the poet:- "The voice of free, broad Middlesex- of thousand as of oneThe shaft of Bunker calling to that of Lexington ! " Is Harper's F erry a whit behind Bunker Hill or Lexington in all that constitutes true devotion of soul, or a quenchless love of liberty? Again, alluding to the invasive march of the Slave Power through the North: "It is coming, it is nigh ! Stand your homes and altars by; On your own free thresholds die ! ''Perish party- perish clan; Strike together while ye can, Like the arm of one strong man ! " Finally, Yorktown is celebrated in the following strain: "From Yorktown's ruins, ranked and still, Two lines stretch far o'er vale and hill: \Vho curbs his steed at head of one? Hark! the low murmur: \Vashington! 'Who bends his keen, approving glance, Where down the gorgeous line of France Whittier and Garrifon. Shine nightly star and plume of snow? Thou too art victor, H.ochambeau! • * * * "0 ! Ycil your faceR, young and brave ! Sleep, Scammd, in tli !/ sold ir·r gra·L'e / Sons of the ~ orth-lantl, yc who set Stout hearts against tile bayonet, And pres eel with stca<ly footfall near Tlw moatecl battery's blazi11g tier, Turn your scarred faces from the Right Let shame do homage to the right!" Neither vVashington, nor Rochambcau, n~ Scammel presented such exalted traits of character as John Brown: why, then, should he be the subject of ~pccial moral criticism and rebuke by the poet? Why was hi effort "a midnight raid with bloody hand," while their:3 was made brilliant and impo;:, ing by "knightly star and plume of snow," and by successfully meeting bayonet with bayonet? If there is danger, on the one band, lest there may be a repudiation of the doctrine of non-re ·i tancc, through the sympathy and admiration felt for J ohn Brown, there is more danger, on the other hand, that the brutal outcry raised again t him as an outlaw, traitor, and murder er by tho·c who are citl1cr too cowardly to avow their real convictions, or too pro- ·lavery to feel one throb of pity for those in bondage, will lead to unmcr- • ited censure of hb course. Difficult as it may be to hold an equal balance in such a case, it is still the duty of every one to do so. |
