in Morton, Frank Sanborn, and other
prominent Anti-slavery men, the brave old man, not only avowed his
object to be the emancipation of the slaves, but serenely and proudly
announced himself as solely responsible for all that had happened.
Though some thought of his own life might at such a moment have seemed
natural and excusable, he showed none, and scornfully rejected the
idea that he acted as the agent or instrument of any man or set of
men. He admitted that he had friends and sympathizers, but to his own
head he invited all the bolts of slave-holding wrath and fury, and
welcomed them to do their worst. His manly courage and self-forgetful
nobleness were not lost upon the crowd about him, nor upon the
country. They drew applause from his bitterest enemies. Said Henry A.
Wise, "He is the gamest man I ever met." "He was kind and humane to
his prisoners," said Col. Lewis Washington.

To the outward eye of men, John Brown was a criminal, but to their
inward eye he was a just man and true. His deeds might be disowned,
but the spirit which made those deeds possible was worthy highest
honor. It has been often asked, why did not Virginia spare the life of
this man? why did she not avail herself of this grand opportunity to
add to her other glory that of a lofty magnanimity? Had they spared
the good old man's life--had they said to him, "You see we have you in
our power, and could easily take your life, but we have no desire to
hurt you in any way; you have committed a terrible crime against
society; you have invaded us at midnight and attacked a sleeping
community, but we recognize you as a fanatic, and in some sense
instigated by others; and on this ground and others, we release you.
Go about your business, and tell those who sent you that we can afford
to be magnanimous to our enemies." I say, had Virginia held some such
language as this to John Brown, she would have inflicted a heavy blow
on the whole Northern abolition movement, one which only the
omnipotence of truth and the force of truth could have overcome. I
have no doubt Gov. Wise would have done so gladly, but, alas, he was
the executive of a State which thought she could not afford such
magnanimity. She had that within her bosom which could more safely
tolerate the presence of a criminal than a saint, a highway robber
than a moral hero. All her hills and valleys were studded with
material for a disastrous conflagration, and one spark of the
dauntless spirit of