question, why was the aid given John Brown
by the Canadian Negroes so meagre? That Brown had counted on
considerable help in his enterprise from the men who joined with him
in drafting the "provisional constitution" is certain. John Edwin
Cook, one of Brown's close associates, declared in his confession made
after Harper's Ferry, that "men and money had both been promised from
Chatham and other parts of Canada."[16] Yet, apart from Anderson, a
Negro, only one other Canadian of either color seems to have had any
share in the raid. Dr. Alexander Milton Ross went to Richmond,
Virginia, before the blow was struck, as he had promised Brown he
would do, and was there when word came of its unhappy ending. Brown
evidently counted on Ross being able to keep him in touch with
developments at the capital of Virginia.

Chatham had been chosen as the place of meeting with special reference
to the effect it might have on the large Negro population resident in
the immediate vicinity. There were more Negroes within fifty miles of
Chatham than in any other section of Canadian territory and among them
were men of intelligence, education and daring, some of them
experienced in slave raiding. Brown was justified in expecting help
from them. There is also evidence that among the Negroes themselves
there existed a secret organization, known under various names, having
as its object to assist fugitives and resist their masters. Help from
this organization was also expected.[17] Hinton says that Brown "never
expected any more aid from them than that which would give a good
impetus."[18] John Brown himself is quoted by Realf, one of his
associates, as saying that he expected aid from the Negroes generally,
both in Canada and the United States,[19] but it must be remembered
that his plans called for quality rather than quantity of assistance.
A few daring men, planted in the mountains of Virginia, would have
accomplished his initial purpose better than a thousand.

The real reason why the Canadian Negroes failed to respond in the
summer of 1860 when Brown's men were gathering near the boundary line
of slavery seems to be that too great a delay followed after the
Chatham convention. The convention was held on May 8 and 10, 1858; but
Brown did not attack Harper's Ferry until the night of October 16,
1859, nearly a year and a half later. The zeal for action that
manifested itself in May, 1858, had cooled off by October, 1859, the
magnetic influ