titution were printed after the close of the Chatham gathering and
furnished evidence against Brown and his companions when their plans
came to ground and they were tried in the courts of Virginia. Brown
himself was elected commander-in-chief, J. H. Kagi was named secretary
of war, George B. Gill, secretary of the treasury, Owen Brown, one of
his sons, treasurer, Richard Realf, secretary of state, and Alfred M.
Ellsworth and Osborn Anderson, colored, were named members of
Congress.

It was more than a year before Brown could proceed to the execution of
his plan. Delays of various kinds had upset his original plans, but
early in June, 1859, he went to Harper's Ferry with three companions
and rented a farm near that town. Others joined them at intervals
until at the time of their raid he had eighteen followers, four of
whom were Negroes. The story of the attack and its failure need not be
told here. It is sufficient to say that when the fighting ended on
Tuesday morning, October 18, John Brown himself was wounded and a
prisoner; ten of his party, including two of his sons, were dead, and
the others were fugitives from justice. Brown was given a preliminary
examination on October 25th and on the following day was brought to
trial at Charlestown. Public sentiment in Virginia undoubtedly called
for a speedy trial, but there was evidence of panicky feeling in the
speed with which John Brown was rushed to punishment. On Monday,
October 31, the jury, after 45 minutes' deliberation, returned a
verdict of guilty of treason, conspiracy with slaves to rebel and
murder in the first degree. On November 2nd, sentence was pronounced,
that Brown should be hanged on December 2nd. As the trap dropped under
him that day, Col. Preston, who commanded the military escort,
pronounced the words: "So perish all such enemies of Virginia. All
such enemies of the Union. All such foes of the human race." That was
the unanimous sentiment of Virginia. But in the North Longfellow wrote
in his journal: "This will be a great date in our history; the date of
a new revolution, quite as much needed as the old one."[1] And Thoreau
declared: "Some 1800 years ago Christ was crucified; this morning,
perchance, Captain Brown was hung. These are the two ends of a chain
that is not without its links."[2]

John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry made a profound impression in
Canada. Although the Chatham convention had been secret there were
some Canadians who knew th