eternal and self-evident truths set forth in our Declaration of Independence; therefore, we, the citizens of the United States, and the oppressed people who, by a recent decision of the Supreme Court,* are declared to have no rights which the white man is bound to respect,-together with all the other people degraded by the laws thereof,-do for the time being ordain and establish for ourselves the following provisional constitution and ordinances, the better to protect our people, property, lives, and liberties, and to govern our actions.”

The preliminary examination of Brown took place at Charleston, Virginia. He protested against the unfairness of being so hastily charged, and denounced the whole proceedings as a mockery of justice. His conviction was a foregone conclusion, as the conviction of any man must be who is taken in the very act of breaking the laws. He had challenged the strength of Virginia, and indeed of all the Southern States, and of the Federation itself. He had defied ordinances which he knew to exist, and had roused the passions and the fears of men. It was not to be expected that the slave-owners would show him any mercy. They had power on their side, and legal right; and, however great one's admiration of the motives which influenced this man, it is impossible not to see that a slaveinsurrection, had it been really brought about, would have proved the most disastrous method of settling the great difficulty that could possibly have been devised. Brown was warmly supported by the Abolitionists; but, even in the North, more temperate politicians deplored the error he had committed, and saw that there was no reasonable hope of his being spared. The case was handed over to the grand jury, and the trial took place on the 27th of October. The prisoner requested time to prepare his defence, the assistance of counsel from the Free States, and liberty of communicating with the other prisoners; but most of these demands were refused, and the trial was pushed on with cruel and indecent haste. Virginia was frightened and vindictive, and, as an excuse for not granting any delay, it was urged that the women of the State were harassed by alarm and anxiety as long as their husbands were away from home, and that the jurymen desired to return to them. When Brown was brought into court, he was so weak, owing to the wounds he had received, that he could not stand upon his feet, but lay full-length upon a bed; yet the fears of his enemies were even then predominant. The Governor of Virginia, Mr. Wise, is stated to have remarked at Richmond, before the

• The Dred Scott decision, in 1857.

members of the Legislature, that Brown was a murderer, and ought to be hanged. As it was one of the prerogatives of the Governor to grant pardons, after convictions which might appear to him not strictly in accordance with justice, it was a monstrous outrage on propriety to give utterance to such an opinion while the case was yet awaiting trial. But the remark was only of a piece with the whole procedure. The prisoner was, indeed, furnished with counsel by the court; but the gentlemen to whom the duty of defending him was assigned, had no time for preparing their speeches, for calling witnesses, or for examining the law of the case. He was supplied with no list of witnesses for the prosecution, nor had he any knowledge of who they were to be, until they were produced in court. Brown himself had sent for counsel to the Northern States; but, on arriving, they were so exhausted by their long and hurried journey that they asked for a short delay, which was denied them. All this while, the prisoner lay on his pallet, sick, feverish, and half-conscious, knowing little of the methods by which his conviction was to be secured, but feeling certain from the first that conviction was inevitable. A verdict of guilty, on the 31st of October, was followed by sentence of death, and the execution was fixed for the 2nd of December. The decision was appealed against, but ultimately confirmed. On hearing the verdict and the sentence of the Judge, Brown said, "Gentlemen, make an end of slavery, or slavery will make an end of you." It was an utterance in the spirit of prophecy.

As the fatal day approached, the feeling of apprehension on the part of the Virginians became still more intense. Governor Wise ordered out a large military force, to overawe any attempt at rescue that might be made. It was also proposed to establish martial law; but this was not done. Brown expressed entire resignation to his fate, and money was liberally contributed in the Northern and Western States to support his family. At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 2nd of December, the prisoner was brought out of jail. Before leaving, he bade adieu to his fellow-prisoners, and was very affectionate to all excepting his principal assistant, a man named Cook, whom he charged with having deceived and misled him respecting the support he was to receive from the slaves. Brown, it appears, had been led to believe that they were ripe for insurrection; but, whether from fear, or from actual disinclination, this seems not to have been the case. Cook denied the charge, but otherwise said very little. When asked whether he was ready, Brown replied, "I am always ready;" and it was the simple truth. His arms were pinioned,

1859.]

and, wearing a black slouched hat, and the same clothes in which he had appeared at the trial, he proceeded to the door, apparently calm and cheerful. As he stepped out into the open air, he saw a negro woman with her child in her arms: he paused for a moment, and kissed the infant tenderly. Another black woman exclaimed, “God bless you, old man! I wish I could help you, but I cannot." Six companies of infantry, and one troop of horse, were drawn up in front of the jail; close by was a waggon, containing a coffin. After talking with some persons whom he knew, Brown seated himself in the waggon, and looked at the soldiers gathered about him. The vehicle then moved off, flanked by two files of riflemen in close order. The field where the gallows had been erected was also in full possession of the military. Pickets were stationed at various localities, and the spectators were kept back at the point of the bayonet, to prevent all possibility of a rescue. When Brown had mounted the gallows, and the cap had been put on his head, together with the rope around his neck, the executioner asked him to step forward on the trap. replied, "You must lead mee-I cannot see.' All was now ready on the scaffold itself; but, owing to some fear on the part of the authorities, the soldiers were marched and countermarched, frequently changing their positions as if in the face of an enemy. This lasted ten minutes, and the executioner asked the unfortunate man if he was not tired. "No," answered Brown, "not tired; but don't keep me waiting longer than is necessary." At length the fatal act was completed; but Brown was a strong man, and the pulse did not entirely cease until after thirty-five minutes.* panions were executed in March, 1860.

He

His com

It is a curious feature in the case that the criminal had expressed a desire that no religious ceremony should be performed over his body by "ministers who consent to or approve of the enslavement of their fellow-creatures." He said he should prefer to be accompanied to the scaffold by a dozen slave-children and a good old slave-mother, with their appeal to God for blessings on his soul, rather than have all the eloquence of the whole clergy of the commonwealth combined. His first desire was that his body should be burned; but this was objected to by his wife, and it was sent in a coffin to the North. In many parts of New England, the day of Brown's death was observed as a day of mourning. Bells were tolled, and public prayers offered up; and in the State of Massachusetts an

Accounts in the newspapers of the day.-Life and Letters of Captain John Brown, edited by Richard D. Webb. London, 1861.

177

attempt was even made to adjourn the Legislature. Wendell Phillips pronounced two most magnificent orations on the occasion-one while Brown was still lying under sentence of death, the other at his grave. In the first of these he mentioned a fact which brings an element of tenderness into the forlorn and bloody drama. A New England lady

Lydia Maria Child-wrote to Governor Wise, when Brown was awaiting execution, with a request that she might be allowed to nurse the sick and wounded man while life was still permitted him. "I am an Abolitionist," she said; "I have been so thirty years. I think slavery is a sin, and John Brown a saint; but I want to come and nurse him, and I pledge my word that if you will open his prison-door, I will use the privilege under sacred honour only to nurse him. I enclose you a message to Brown; be sure and deliver it." The message was:-"Old man, God bless you! You have struck a noble blow; you have done a mighty work: God was with you; your heart was in the right place. I send you across five hundred miles the pulse of a woman's gratitude." Governor Wise was in some respects a stern man; but that letter and that message overcame him. He opened the prisondoors to Lydia Child.

The annual message of Governor Wise to the Virginian Legislature, delivered shortly after the execution of Brown, was expressed in a querulous tone, which showed how deeply the fears of Southern gentlemen had been touched by the inroad of a few enthusiasts. Virginia, he said, would resist invasion; but he was obliged to confess that the Abolitionist tendencies of the Free States were rapidly increasing, while the Conservative feeling, as he called it, was fast diminishing. He regarded it as a mockery to describe the insurgents as monomaniacs; for, if so, a large proportion of the people in many of the States were monomaniacs too. He professed to discover the source of this predatory war in the British provinces of North America, which furnished asylums for fugitives, and sent them forth into the bordering States. It would therefore be necessary for Virginia to put herself in full panoply, and to "fight for peace." In a few years she had to fight for the very existence of the wrong which was so dear to her, and to lose the battle in the end.

The attempt of Brown had failed. It was rash, it was hopeless, it was ill-advised, if we consider nothing but the immediate consequences; but it led to vast results in a future which was not distant. It made still more obvious the utter incompatibility of a Free North and a Slave-holding South. It quickened throughout all the Northern States a

1859.]

was not at that time delivered. The Senate, however, at once proceeded to business. Mr. Mason, of Virginia, moved for the appointment of a select committee to make a full and searching investigation into all the circumstances connected with the Harper's Ferry outbreak, and also to report what legislation was necessary for the future preservation of the peace of the country, and the safety of public property. To this Mr. Trumbull moved an amendment, extending the inquiry to an investigation of the circumstances connected with the seizure of the arsenal at Franklin, Missouri, during the civil war in Kansas; but, after a long debate, the Senate adjourned without coming to any definite resolution. When at length the House of Representatives was able to commence its proceedings, another difficulty presented itself, which was not overcome for several weeks. Sixteen candidates were put in nomination for the office of Speaker; but not one succeeded in obtaining the requisite number of votes. The division turned upon the general question of slavery, intensified and embittered by the recent outbreak at Harper's Ferry. No Speaker was elected until the 1st of February, 1860, when a gentleman holding strong anti-slavery views was chosen, to the disgust and mortification of the South; and Mr. Buchanan, tired of waiting for the other branch of the Legislature, sent in his Message to the Senate on the 27th of December, 1859. With reference to the Harper's Ferry affair, the President expressed the strange belief that it would be the means of allaying excitement on the question of negro bondage. The extinction of the slave-trade had always, Mr. Buchanan protested, been among the chief aims of his policy; but, if so, he had certainly been very unfortunate in the selection of means for bringing about that result.

He con

gratulated his countrymen on its having been finally settled by the Supreme Court of the United States that every citizen had a right to take his property of any kind, including slaves, into the common Territories belonging equally to all the States of the Federation, and have it protected there under the Federal Constitution. Neither Congress, nor any Territorial Legislature, nor any human power, had authority (the President declared) to annul or impair this vested right. These principles of constitutional law were described by Mr. Buchanan, in the face of all that had happened in Kansas, at Harper's Ferry, and elsewhere, as "manifestly just in themselves, and well calculated to promote peace and harmony among the States."

As regarded the foreign relations of the country, complaints were urged against no other European Power than Spain, which still delayed the settle

179

ment of the United States' claims. The purchase of Cuba was earnestly recommended to the national representatives, in accordance with the policy which Mr. Buchanan himself had been instrumental in putting forth in the celebrated letter from Aix-laChapelle, in October, 1854. The San Juan affair was referred to in a conciliatory spirit; but the condition of Mexico drew from the President some remarks which were little short of a declaration of war. "I regret to inform you," he said, "that there has been no improvement in the affairs of Mexico since my last Message, and I am again obliged to ask the earnest attention of Congress to the unhappy condition of that Republic. Outrages of the worst description are committed on persons and property. There is scarcely any form of injury which has not been suffered by our citizens in Mexico during the last few years. We have been nominally at peace with that Republic; but, so far as the interests of our commerce or of our citizens who have visited the country as merchants, shipmasters, or in other capacities, are concerned, we might as well have been at war. I recommend Congress to pass a law authorising the President, under such restrictions as they may deem necessary, to employ military force against Mexico, for the purpose of obtaining indemnity for the past, and security for the future." Mexico was unquestionably in a state which was disgraceful to any nation calling itself civilised. The two Governmentsthat of Miramon at the capital, and that of Juarez at Vera Cruz-were desolating the land by their contending forces, and there was no immediate prospect of either completely vanquishing the other. Mr. Buchanan's Administration inclined to Juarez, as representing more liberal and progressive principles than his rival, and even went so far as to lend him four million dollars, in consideration of the right of transit which had been granted to the United States.

That Mr. Buchanan gave his best services to the slave-interest, was a fact constantly appearing in his principles and his political actions. He did indeed make some pretence of checking the revived slavetrade; but the disgraceful traffic went on, nevertheless. In the early part of 1860, the public were made acquainted with a letter addressed, on the 23rd of February, 1859, by Mr. Secretary Cass to Mr. Dallas, the American Minister in London. The general upshot of this communication was-that the United States had the most fervent desire to suppress the slave-trade, and had made great efforts to that end; that the law had of course been evaded at times, and must necessarily be so now and then, in spite of the utmost vigilance; that the Washington

Government, at the date of the despatch, contemplated still greater efforts to secure the desired result, and proposed to substitute light, rapid, armed steamers for heavy sailing vessels; that England could on this question do more than America, by ensuring the complete fulfilment of her treaty stipulations with Spain; but that, in any case, the United States would never grant to the ships of any other nation the right of searching suspected vessels carrying the American colours. Such were Mr. Cass's assertions and promises: the fact still remained that the slave-trade flourished, in spite of prohibitions, explanations, steamers of light draught, and despatches of heavy burden. An American writer, the special correspondent of the New York Times on the west coast of Africa, gave a shocking account, in 1860, of the traffic in Africans, and of the utter insincerity of the boasted efforts at suppression. The correspondent, when he first went out, was inclined to believe that the asserted revival of the slave-trade was little better than a party cry: it was not long ere he came to a contrary opinion. He found that the American squadron was a mere pretence. The vessels were often away, on one pretext or another; and when they were on the spot, their captains were prone to accept hospitable invitations from the captains or slavers, and to become very friendly with them. The law itself was so contrived as to deter and discourage all zeal in its execution. Unless conviction followed the capture of a slaver, the officer effecting the capture was liable to a civil suit and damages. The consequence was that three out of every four vessels clearing from the coast with live cargoes succeeded in getting off safely. Commonly, there were not more than two or three of the American squadron off the coast at one time, and it was said that the English vessels captured six slavers to one taken by the Americans. Even when captured, the wrong-doers often escaped punishment. Nominally, the punishment was death; but death was never inflicted. Juries, indeed, seized upon every excuse for returning verdicts of acquittal; so that the law could be safely defied, and was in fact a nullity.

Where there was so elastic a law, and so great a disposition on the part of the authorities to connive at its evasion, any pretence was sufficient to cover the operations of the slavers. The usual pretext was that the vessels were engaged in the palm-oil trade, and it was customary to take out a large number of casks, ostensibly for containing the oil, but really for holding water for the wretched Africans. The necessity of effecting the shipment of the negroes hurriedly, and carrying them away

concealed, led to sickening cruelties. A craft of three hundred tons burden was often made to hold a thousand human beings. If the water was de ficient in quantity, the captives perished of thirst, and were thrown overboard. Slavers who saved two-thirds of their cargo were held to do well; and cases were not uncommon in which half the original, number of slaves packed on board a given ship died before the end of the voyage. The horrors of "the middle passage," as it was called, may be judged from a terrible story told by this American correspondent on the western coast of Africa. "A short time since," he wrote, "her Majesty's ship Viper captured the brig Tavernier of New York, having a cargo of near six hundred negroes aboard. When first seen, she was flying American colours. Capture being inevitable, she threw her papers overboard, and hauled down her flag. The scene between decks was shocking. Stowed in a sitting posture, with their knees drawn up close to their breasts, were over five hundred human beings whose skins were black, mostly children and young persons, and some women. So close were they packed that they could not move, and could hardly breathe. In this suffocating condition they were struggling for life. The strong were killing the weak, to make room for themselves, and that a little more of God's air might be had. Disease was among them in many other forms, and especially ophthalmia. Sea-sick, home-sick, starving, crying for air and water, these poor wretches crowded this But the slavers were merfloating charnel-house.

ciful, for they helped the slave to die. When one was sick nigh unto death, they kindly assisted him or her overboard, before the soul had left the body. The quality of their mercy was not strained either, for they sometimes would substitute another death for drowning-the negro was knocked on the head with an axe. Disease breaking out, it was supposed to be contagious, and the sufferers were made away with without any scruples of that troublesome thing called conscience. An idea of the mortality on board the Tavernier may be formed when I state that, after her capture by the Viper, upon her passage over to St. Helena, whither she was sent in charge of a prize crew, nearly one hundred of her negroes died. This was during a run of only about ten days' duration." The slave-trade was checked by only one circumstance, and that in no great degree. Many of the slave-holders in the older Southern States were themselves inclined to suppress the traffic, in order that others might not be enabled, by obtaining negroes cheap, to destroy the monopoly. But the desire on the part of those others to share in the profits of servile labour was