his intentions he gives the
world this leaf of history:

"And now, gentlemen, let me press this one thing on your minds.
You all know how dear life is to you, and how dear your lives are
to your friends: and in remembering that, consider that the lives
of others are as dear to them as yours are to you. Do not,
therefore, take the life of any one if you can possibly avoid it;
but if it is necessary to take life in order to save your own,
then make sure work of it."--John Brown, before the battle at
Harper's Ferry.

"I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of
property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make
insurrection. The design on my part was to free the
slaves."--John Brown, after the battle at Harper's Ferry.

Distance lends enchantment to the view. What the world condemns to-day
is applauded to-morrow.

We must have a "fair count" on the history of yesterday and last year.
The events chronicled yesterday, when the imagination was wrought upon
by exciting circumstances, need revision to-day.

The bitter words spoken this morning reproach at eventide the smarting
conscience. And the judgments prematurely formed, and the conclusions
rapidly reached, maybe rectified and repaired in the light of departed
years and enlarged knowledge.

John Brown is rapidly settling down to his proper place in history,
and "the madman" has been transformed into a "saint." When Brown
struck his first blow for freedom, at the head of his little band of
liberators, it was almost the universal judgment of both Americans and
foreigners that he was a "fanatic." It seemed the very soul of
weakness and arrogance for John Brown to attempt to do so great a work
with so small a force. Men reached a decision with the outer and
surface facts. But many of the most important and historically
trustworthy truths bearing upon the motive, object, and import of that
"bold move," have been hidden from the public view, either by
prejudice or fear.

Some people have thought John Brown--"_The Hero of Harper's Ferry_"--a
hot-headed, blood-thirsty brigand; they animadverted against the
precipitancy of his measures, and the severity of his invectives; said
that he was lacking in courage and deficient in judgment; that he
retarded rather than accelerated the cause he championed. But this
was the verdict of other times, not the judgment of to-day.

John Brown sai