A Plea for Captain John Brown | Page 6

a court-room on his way and telling what he had done,
thus convincing Missouri that it was not profitable to try to hold slaves
in his neighborhood?--and this, not because the government menials
were lenient, but because they were afraid of him.
Yet he did not attribute his success, foolishly, to "his star," or to any
magic. He said, truly, that the reason why such greatly superior
numbers quailed before him was, as one of his prisoners confessed,
because they lacked a cause,--a kind of armor which he and his party
never lacked. When the time came, few men were found willing to lay
down their lives in defence of what they knew to be wrong; they did
not like that this should be their last act in this world.
But to make haste to his last act, and its effects.
The newspapers seem to ignore, or perhaps are really ignorant of the
fact, that there are at least as many as two or three individuals to a town
throughout the North who think much as the present speaker does about
him and his enterprise. I do not hesitate to say that they are an
important and growing party. We aspire to be something more than
stupid and timid chattels, pretending to read history and our Bibles, but
desecrating every house and every day we breathe in. Perhaps anxious
politicians may prove that only seventeen white men and five negroes
were concerned in the late enterprise; but their very anxiety to prove
this might suggest to themselves that all is not told. Why do they still
dodge the truth? They are so anxious because of a dim consciousness of

the fact, which they do not distinctly face, that at least a million of the
free inhabitants of the United States would have rejoiced if it had
succeeded. They at most only criticise the tactics. Though we wear no
crape, the thought of that man's position and probable fate is spoiling
many a man's day here at the North for other thinking. If any one who
has seen him here can pursue successfully any other train of thought, I
do not know what he is made of. If there is any such who gets his usual
allowance of sleep, I will warrant him to fatten easily under any
circumstances which do not touch his body or purse. I put a piece of
paper and a pencil under my pillow, and when I could not sleep, I wrote
in the dark.
On the whole, my respect for my fellow-men, except as one may
outweigh a million, is not being increased these days. I have noticed the
cold-blooded way in which newspaper writers and men generally speak
of this event, as if an ordinary malefactor, though one of unusual
"pluck,"--as the Governor of Virginia is reported to have said, using the
language of the cock-pit, "the gamest man he ever saw,"--had been
caught, and were about to be hung. He was not dreaming of his foes
when the governor thought he looked so brave. It turns what sweetness
I have to gall, to hear, or hear of, the remarks of some of my neighbors.
When we heard at first that he was dead, one of my townsmen observed
that "he died as the fool dieth"; which, pardon me, for an instant
suggested a likeness in him dying to my neighbor living. Others,
craven-hearted, said disparagingly, that "he threw his life away,"
because he resisted the government. Which way have they thrown their
lives, pray?--such as would praise a man for attacking singly an
ordinary band of thieves or murderers. I hear another ask, Yankee-like,
"What will he gain by it?" as if he expected to fill his pockets by this
enterprise. Such a one has no idea of gain but in this worldly sense. If it
does not lead to a "surprise" party, if he does not get a new pair of
boots, or a vote of thanks, it must be a failure. "But he won't gain
anything by it." Well, no, I don't suppose he could get
four-and-sixpence a day for being hung, take the year round; but then
he stands a chance to save a considerable part of his soul,--and such a
soul!--when you do not. No doubt you can get more in your market for
a quart of milk than for a quart of blood, but that is not the market that

heroes carry their blood to.
Such do not know that like the seed is the fruit, and that, in the moral
world, when good seed is planted, good fruit is inevitable, and does not
depend on our watering and cultivating; that when you plant, or bury, a
hero in his field, a crop of heroes is sure to spring up.