A PLEA/prayer/ FOR CAPTAIN
JOHN BROWN
This was an address
delivered before the citizens of
Concord on October 30,
1859, at a meeting sum-
moned by Thoreau while
John Brown was still in
jail. The entire address
follows.]
A PLEA FOR CAPTAIN JOHN
BROWN
I TRUST that you will
pardon me for being here. I do not wish
to force my thoughts upon
you, but I feel forced myself. Little
as I know of Captain
Brown, I would fain do my part to cor-
rect the tone and
statements of the newspapers, and of my
countrymen generally,
respecting his character and actions.
It costs us nothing to be
just. We can at least express
our
Sympathy with, and
admiration of, him and his companions,
and that is what I now
propose to do.
First, as to his
history. I will endeavor to omit, as much as
possible, what you have
already read. I need not describe his
person to you, for
probably most of you have seen and will
not soon forget him. I
am told that his grandfather, John
Brown, was an officer in
the Revolution; that he himself was
born in Connecticut
about the beginning of this century, but
early went with his
father to Ohio. I heard him say that his
father
was a contractor who furnished beef to the army there,
in
the war of 1812 ; that he accompanied him to the camp, and
assisted
him in that employment, seeing a good deal of mili-
tary
life, more, perhaps, than if he had been a soldier; for
he learned by experience
how armies are supplied and main-
tained in the field, a
work which, he observed, requires at
least as much experience
and skill as to lead them in battle.
He said that few persons
had any conception of the cost,
even the pecuniary/financial/cost,
of firing a single bullet in war. He
saw enough, at any rate,
to disgust him with a military life;
indeed, to excite in him a
great abhorrence of it; so much
so, that though he was
tempted by the offer of some petty
office in the army, when
he was about eighteen, he not only
683
684 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
declined that, but he also
refused to train when warned, and
was fined for it. He then
resolved that he would never have
When the troubles in
Kansas began, he sent several of his
sons thither to strengthen
the party of the Free State men,
fitting them out with such
weapons as he had; telling them
that if the troubles
should increase, and there should be need
of him, he would follow,
to assist them with his hand ard
counsel. This, as you all
know, he soon after did ; and it was
through his agency, far
more than any other's, that Kansas
was made free.
For a part of his life he
was a surveyor, and at one time he
was engaged in
wool-growing, and he went to Europe as an
agent about that business.
There, as everywhere, he had his
eyes about him, and made
many original observations. He
said, for instance, that he
saw why the soil of England was so
rich, and that of Germany
(I think it was) so poor, and he
thought of writing to some
of the crowned heads about it.
It was because in England
the peasantries live on the soil
which they cultivate, but
in Germany they are gathered into
villages at night. It is a
pity that he did not make a book of
his observations.
I should say that he was
an old-fashioned man in his re-
spect for the
Constitution, and his faith in the permanence
of this Union. Slavery he deemed to be wholly opposed to
these, and he was its
determined foe.
He was by descent and
birth a New England farmer, a man
of great common sense,
deliberate and practical as that class
is, and tenfold more so.
He was like the best of those who
stood at Concord Bridge
once, on Lexington Common, and on
Bunker Hill, only he was
firmer and higher principled than
any that I have chanced
to hear of as there. It was no aboli-
tion lecturer that
converted him. Ethan Allen and Stark, with
whom he may in some
respects be compared, were rangers in
a lower and less
important field. They could bravely face
their country's foes,
but he had the courage to face his eoun-
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN
685
try herself when she was
in the wrong. A Western writer says,
to account for his escape
from so many perils, that he was
concealed under a
"rural exterior;" as if, in that prairie land,
a hero should, by good
rights, wear a citizen's dress only.
He did not go to the
college called Harvard, good old Alma
Mater as she is. He was not fed on the pap that is there
furnished. As he phrased
it, "I know no more of grammar than
one of your calves. 7 '
But he went to the great university of
the West, where he
sedulously pursued the study of Liberty,
for which he had early
betrayed a fondness, and having taken
many degrees, he finally
commenced the public practice of
Humanity in Kansas, as you
all know. Such were his humani-
ties, and not any study of
grammar. He would have left a
Greek accent slanting the
wrong way, and righted up a falling
man.
He was one of that class
of whom we hear a great deal,
but, for the most part,
see nothing at all, the Puritans. It
would be in vain to kill
him. He died lately in the time of
Cromwell, but he
reappeared here. Why should he not? Some
of the Puritan stock are
said to have come over and settled
in New England. They
were a class that did something else
than celebrate their
forefathers' day, and eat parched corn in
remembrance of that time.
They were neither Democrats nor
Republicans, but men of
simple habits, straightforward,
pra3 r erful; not thinking
much of rulers who did not fear
God, not making many
compromises, nor seeking after avail-
able candidates.
"In his camp,"
as one has recently written, and as I have
myself heard him state,
"he permitted no profanity; no man
of loose morals was
suffered to remain there, unless, indeed,
pox,
yellow fever, and cholera, all together in my camp, than
people make, when they
think that bullies are the best
fighters, or that they are
the fit men to oppose these South-
erners. Give me men of
good principles, God-fearing men,
586 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
men who respect
themselves, and with a dozen of them I will
oppose any hundred such
men as these Buford ruffians.'
"
He said that if one
offered himself to be a soldier under him,
who was forward to tell
what he could or would do if he could
only get sight of the
enemy, he had but little confidence in
him.
He was never able to
find more than a score or so of re-
cruits whom he would
accept, and only about a dozen, among
them his sons, in whom
he had perfect faith. When he was
here some years ago, he
showed to a few a little manuscript
book, his "orderly
book" I think he called it, containing
the names of his company
in Kansas, and the rules by whicK
they bound themselves;
and he stated that several of them
had already sealed the
contract with their blood. When some
one remarked that, with
the addition of a chaplain, it would
have been a perfect
Cromwellian troop, he observed that he
would have been glad to
add a chaplain to the list, if he could
have found one who could
fill that office worthily. It
is easy
enough to find one for the
United States army. I believe that
he had prayers in his camp
morning and evening, nevertheless.
He was a man of Spartan
habits, and at sixty was scrupu-
lous about his diet at
your table, excusing himself by saying
that he must eat sparingly
and fare hard, as became a soldier,
or one who was fitting
himself for difficult enterprises, a life
of exposure.
A man of rare common sense
and directness of speech, as
of action ; a
transcendentalist above all, a man of ideas and
Principles that were what
distinguished him. Not yielding to
a whim or transient
impulse, but carrying out the purpose of
a life. I noticed that he
did not overstate anything, but spoke
Within bounds. I remember,
particularly, how, in his speech
here, he referred to
what his family had suffered in Kansas,
without ever giving the
least vent to his pent-up fire. It was
a volcano with an
ordinary chimney-flue. Also referring to the
deeds of certain Border
Ruffians, he said, rapidly paring away
his speech, like an
experienced soldier, keeping a reserve of
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN
687
He was not in the least
a rhetorician, was not talking to Bun-
combe or his
constituents anywhere, had no need to invent
anything but to tell the
simple truth, and communicate his
own resolution;
therefore he appeared incomparably strong,
and eloquence in
Congress and elsewhere seemed to me at a
discount. It was like
the speeches of Cromwell compared with
those of an ordinary
king.
As for his tact and
prudence, I will merely say, that at a
time when scarcely a man
from the Free States was able to
reach Kansas by any direct
route, at least without having his
arms taken from him, he,
carrying what imperfect guns and
other weapons he could
collect, openly and slowly drove an
ox-cart through Missouri,
apparently in the capacity of a
surveyor, with his
surveying compass exposed in it, and so
passed unsuspected, and
had ample opportunity to learn the
designs of the enemy. For
some time after his arrival he stil)
followed the same
profession. When, for instance, he saw a
knot of the ruffians on
the prairie, discussing, of course, the
single topic which then
occupied their minds, he would, per-
haps, take his compass and
one of his sons, and proceed to run
an imaginary line right
through the very spot on which that
conclave had assembled,
and when he came up to them, he
would naturally pause and
have some talk with them, learn-
ing their news, and, at
last, all their plans perfectly; and hav-
ing thus completed his
real survey he would resume his imag-
inary one, and run on his
line till he was out of sight.
When I expressed surprise
that he could live in Kansas at
all, with a price set upon
his head, and so large a number,
including the authorities,
exasperated against him, he ac-
counted for it by saying,
"It is perfectly well understood that
I will not be taken."
Much of the time for some years he has
had to skulk in swamps,
suffering from poverty and from
sickness, which was the
consequence of exposure, befriended
only by Indians and a few
whites. But though it might be
known that he was
lurking in a particular swamp, his foe5
688 THE WRITINGS OF THOREAU
commonly did not care to
go in after him. He could even
come out into a town
where there were more Border Ruffians
than Free State men, and
transact some business, without de-
laying long, and yet not
be molested; for, said he, "no little
handful of men were
willing to undertake it, and a large body
could not be got
together in season."
As for his recent failure,
we do not know the facts about
it. It was evidently far
from being a wild and desperate at-
tempt. His enemy, Mr.
Vallandigham, is compelled to say that
"it was among the
best planned and executed conspiracies
that ever failed."
Not to mention his other
successes, was it a failure, or did
it show a want of good
management, to deliver from bondage
a dozen human beings ,
and walk off with them by broad day-
light, for weeks if not
months, at a leisurely pace, through
one State after another,
for half the length of the North, con-
spicuous to all parties,
with a price set upon his head, going
into 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
defense 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 igno-
rant 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
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN 689
party. We aspire to be something more than stupid and timid
chattels, pretending to
read history and our Bibles, but dese-
crating/blaspheming/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 criticize 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 anyone 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 writ-
ers 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
690 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
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 "sur-
prise" 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-six-
pence 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.
In the moral world, when good seed is planted, good fruit is
Inevitable, and does not depend on our watering and cultivat-
ing; that when you plant, or bury, a hero in his field, a crop
of heroes is sure to spring up. This is a seed of such force and
vitality, that it does not ask our leave to germinate.
The momentary charge at
Balaklava, in obedience to a
blundering command,
proving what a perfect machine the
soldier is, has, properly
enough, been celebrated by a poet
laureate; but the steady,
and for the most part successful,
charge of this man, for
some years, against the legions of
Slavery, in obedience to
an infinitely higher command, is as
much more memorable than
that as an intelligent and con-
scientious man is superior
to a machine. Do you think that
that will go unsung?
"Served him
right," "A dangerous man," "He is un-
doubtedly insane."
So they proceed to live their sane, and
wise, and altogether
admirable lives, reading their Plutarch
a little, but chiefly
pausing at that feat of Putnam, who was
let down into a wolf's
den; and in this wise they nourish
themselves for brave and
patriotic deeds some time or other.
The Tract Society could
afford to print that story of Putnam.
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN
691
there is nothing about Slavery or the Church in it; unless
it occurs to the reader that some pastors are wolves in sheep's
eign Missions," even,
might dare to protest against that wolf.
I have heard of boards,
and of American boards, but it
chances that I never heard
of this particular lumber till lately.
And yet I hear of Northern
men, and women, and children,
by families, buying a
"life-membership" in such societies as
these. A
life-membership in the grave! You can get buried
cheaper than that.
a
house but is divided against itself, for our foe is the all but
universal
woodenness of both head and heart, the want of
vitality
in man, which is the effect of our vice; and hence
are
begotten fear, superstition, bigotry, persecution, and slav-
ery
of all kinds. We are mere figure-heads upon a hulk, with
livers
in the place of hearts. The curse is the worship of idols,
[t7] which at
length changes the worshipper into a stone image
as the Hindoo. This man
was an exception, for he did not set
up even a political graven
image between him and his God.
ing
Christ while it exists! Away with your broad and flat
Churches,
and your narrow and tall churches! Take a step
forward,
and invent a new style of out-houses. Invent a salt
that
will save you, and defend our nostrils.
The modern Christian is a
man who has consented to say
all the prayers in the
liturgy, provided you will let him go
straight to bed and sleep
quietly afterward. All his prayers
begin with "Now I lay
me down to sleep," and he is forever
looking forward to the
time when he shall go to his "long
rest." He has
consented to perform certain old-established
charities, too, after a
fashion, but he does not wish to hear
of any new-fangled ones ;
he doesn't wish to have any supple-
mentary articles added to
the contract, to fit if to the pres*
692 THE WRITINGS OF
TtJOREAU
Stagnation of blood, but a
stagnation of spirit. Many, no
doubt, are well disposed,
but sluggish by constitution and by
habit, and they cannot
conceive of a man who is actuated by
higher motives than they
are. Accordingly they pronounce
this man insane, for they
know that they could never ict as
he does, as long as they
are themselves.
We dream of foreign
countries, of other times and ra :es
of men, placing them at
a distance in history or space ; but
let some significant
event like the present occur in our midst,
and we discover, often,
this distance and this strangeness be-
tween us and our nearest
neighbors. They are our Austrias,
and Chinas, and South
Sea Islands. Our crowded society be-
comes well spaced all at
once, clean and handsome to the
eye, a city of
magnificent distances. We discover why it
was that we never got
beyond compliments and surfaces
with them before; we
become aware of as many versts be-
tween us and them as
there are between a wandering Tartar
and a Chinese town. The
thoughtful man becomes a hermit
in the thoroughfares of
the market-place. Impassable seas
suddenly find their
level between us, or dumb steppes stretch
themselves out there. It
is the difference of constitution, of
intelligence, and faith,
and not streams and mountains, that
make the true and
impassable boundaries between individuals
ajad between states.
None but the like-minded can come pleni-
potentiary to our court.
I read all the newspapers
I could get within a week after
this event, and I do not
remember in them a single expression
of sympathy for these men.
I have since seen one noble state-
ment, in a Boston paper,
not editorial. Some voluminous
sheets decided not to
print the full report of Brown's words
to the exclusion of
other matter. It was as if a publisher
should reject the
manuscript of the New Testament, and print
Wilson's last speech. The same jourr. .1 which contained this
pregnant news was
chiefly filled, in parallel columns, with
A PLEA FOR JOHN feROWN
695
the reports of the
political conventions that were being held.
But the descent to them
was too steep. They should have
been spared this
contrast, been printed in an extra, at least
To turn from the voices
and deeds of earnest men to the
cackling of political
conventions! Office-seekers and speech-
makers, who do not so
much as lay an honest egg, but wear
their breasts bare upon
an egg of chalk! Their great game
is the game of straws,
or father that universal aboriginal
game of the platter, at
which the Indians cried hub, bub!
Exclude the reports of religious
and political conventions,
and publish the words of a
living man.
But I object not so much
to what they have omitted as to
what they have inserted.
Even the Liberator called it "a
misguided, wild, and
apparently insane effort." As
for the
herd of newspapers and
magazines, I do not chance to know
an editor in the country
who will deliberately print anything
which he knows will
ultimately and permanently reduce the
number of his subscribers.
They do not believe that it would
be expedient. How then can
they print truth? -If we do
not say pleasant things,
they argue, nobody will attend to
us. And so they do like
some traveling auctioneers, who
sing an obscene song, in
order to draw a crowd around
them. Republican editors,
obliged to get their sentences ready
for the morning edition,
and accustomed to look at every-
thing by the twilight of
politics, express no admiration, nor
true sorrow even, but call
these men "deluded fanatics,"
"mistaken men,"
"insane," or "craved." It suggests what a
sane set of editors we are
blessed with, not "mistaken men;'*
who know very well on
which side their bread is buttered,
at least.
A man does a brave and
humane deed, and at once, on all
sides, we hear people
and parties declaring, "I didn't do it,
nor countenance Mm to do
it, in any conceivable way. It
can't be fairly inferred
from my past career." I, for one, am
not interested to hear
you define ydur position. I don't know
that I vr was or ever
shall b& I think it is mere egotism,
694 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAtf
or impertinent at this
time. Ye needn't take so much pains
to wash your skirts of
him. No intelligent man will ever be
convinced that he was
any creature of yours. He went and
came, as he himself
informs us, "under the auspices of John
Brown and nobody
else." The Republican party does not per-
ceive how many his
failure will make to vote more correctly
than they would have
them. They have counted the votes of
Pennsylvania & Co.,
but they have not correctly counted
Captain Brown's vote. He
has taken the wind out of their
sails, the little wind
they had, and they may as well lie
to and repair.
What though he did not
belong to your clique! Though
you may not approve of
his method or his principles, recog-
nize his magnanimity.
Would you not like to claim kindred-
ship with him in that,
though in no other thing he is like,
or likely, to you? Do
you think that you would lose your
reputation so? What you
lost at the spile, you would gain at
the bung.
If they do not mean all
thi's, then they do not speak the
truth, and say what they
mean. They are simply at their old
tricks still.
"It was always
conceded to him," says one who calls him
crazy, "that he was a
conscientious man, very modest in his
demeanor, apparently
inoffensive, until the subject of Slavery
was introduced, when he
would exhibit a feeling of indigna-
tion
unparalleled."
The slave-ship is on her
way, crowded with its dying vic-
tims; new cargoes are
being added in mid-ocean ; a small crew
of slaveholders,
countenanced by a large body of passengers,
is smothering four
millions under the hatches, and yet the
politician asserts that
the only proper way by which deliver-
ance is to be obtained is
by "the
quiet diffusion of the senti-
ments of humanity were
ever found unaccompanied by its
deeds, and you could
disperse them, all finished to order, the
pure article, as easily as
water with a watering-pot, and so
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN
695
lay the dust.
What is that that I hear cast overboard? The
bodies
of the dead that have found deliverance. That is the
Prominent and influential
editors, accustomed to deal with
politicians, men of an
infinitely lower grade, say, in their
ignorance, that he acted
"on the principle of revenge.' 7 They
do not know the man. They
must enlarge themselves to con-
ceive of him. I have no
doubt that the time will come when
they will begin to see him
as he was. They have got to con-
ceive of a man of faith
and of religious principle, and not a
politician or an Indian;
of a man who did not wait till he was
personally interfered with
or thwarted in some harmless busi-
ness before he gave his
life to the cause of the oppressed.
If Walker may be
considered the representative of the
South, I wish I could say
that Brown was the representative
of the North. He was a
superior man. He did not value his
bodily life in comparison
with ideal things. He did not recog-
nize unjust human laws,
but resisted them as he was bid.
For once we are lifted out
of the trivialness and dust of politics
into the region of truth
and manhood. No man in America
has ever stood up so
persistently and effectively for the dig-
nity of human nature,
knowing himself for a man, and
the equal of any and all
governments. In -that sense he was
the most American of us
all. He needed no babbling lawyer,
making false issues, to
defend him. He was more than a
match for all the judges
that American voters, or office-
holders of whatever grade,
can create. He could not have
been tried by a jury of
his peers, because his peers did not
exist. When a man stands
up serenely against the condemna-
tion and vengeance of
mankind, rising above them literally
by a whole body, even
though he were of late the vilest
murderer, who has settled
that matter with himself, the
spectacle is a sublime
one, didn't ye know it, ye Liberators ,
ye Tribunes, ye
Republicans? and we become criminal in
comparison. Do yourselves
the honor to recognize him. He
needs none of your
respect.
696 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
As for the Democratic
journals, they are not human enough
to affect me at all. I
do not feel indignation at anything
they may say.
I am aware that I
anticipate a little, that he was still, at
the last accounts, alive
in the hands of his foes; but that
being the case, I have all
along found myself thinking and
speaking of him as
physically dead.
in our hearts, whose bones have not yet crumbled in the
earth around us, but I would rather see the statue of Cap-
tain Brown in the Massachusetts State-House yard than that
of any other man whom I know. I rejoice that I live in this
age, that I am his contemporary.
What a contrast, when we
turn to that political party
which is so anxiously
shuffling him and his plot out of its
way, and looking around
for some available slaveholder, per-
haps, to be its candidate,
at least for one who will execute
the Fugitive Slave Law,
and all those other unjust laws which
he took up arms to annul/cancel/
!
Insane! A father and six
sons, and one son-in-law, and
several more men
besides, as many at least as
twelve dis-
ciples,' all struck with insanity at once ; while the sane tyrant
fiolds with a firmer
gripe than ever his four millions of slaves,
and a thousand sane
editors, his abettors, are saving their
country and their bacon!
Just as insane were his efforts in
Kansas. Ask the tyrant
who is his most dangerous foe, the
sane man or the insane?
Do the thousands who know him
best, who have rejoiced
at his deeds in Kansas, and have
afforded him material
aid there, think him insane? Such a
use of this word is a
mere trope with most who persist in
using it, and I have no
doubt that many of the rest have
already in silence
retracted their words.
Read his admirable answers
to Mason and others. How
they are dwarfed and
defeated by the contrast! On the one
side, half-brutish,
half-timid questioning; on the other, truth,
clear as lightning,
crashing into their obscene temples. They
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN 697
are made to stand with
Pilate, and Gessler, and the Inqui-
sition. How ineffectual
their speech and action! and what a
void their silence! They
are but helpless tools in this great
work. It was no human
power that gathered them about this
preacher.
What have Massachusetts
and the North sent a few sane
representatives to
Congress for, of late years? to declare
with effect what kind of
sentiments? All their speeches put
together and boiled down
and probably they themselves
will confess it do not
match for manly directness and force,
and for simple truth, the
few casual remarks of crazy John
Brown on the floor of the
Harper's Ferry engine-house,
that man whom you are
about to hang, to send to the other
world, though not to
represent you there. No, he was not our
representative in any
sense. He was too fair a specimen of a
man to represent the like
of us. Who, then, were his constit-
uents? If you read his
words understandingly you will find
out. In his case there is
no idle eloquence, no made, nor
maiden speech, no
compliments to the oppressor. Truth is his
could afford to lose his
Sharps rifles, while he retained his
faculty of speech, a
Sharps rifle of infinitely surer and
longer range.
And the New York Herald
reports the conversation ver-
batim! It does not know
of what undying words it is made
the vehicle.
I have no respect for
the penetration of any man who can
read the report of that
conversation and still call the prin-
cipal in it insane. It
has the ring of a saner sanity than an
ordinary discipline and
habits of life, than an ordinary organ-
ization, secure. Take
any sentence of it, "Any questions that
I can honorably answer,
I will; not otherwise. So far as I am
myself concerned, I have
told everything truthfully. I value
my word, sir." The
few who talk about his vindictive spirit,
while they really admire
his heroism, have no test by which
698 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
to detect a noble man,
no amalgam to combine with his pure
gold. They mix their own
dross with it.
It is a relief to turn
from these slanders to the testimony
of his more truthful,
but frightened jailers and hangmen.
Governor Wise speaks far
more justly and appreciatingly of
him than any Northern
editor, or politician, or public per-
sonage, that I chance to
have heard from. I know that you
can afford to hear him
again on this subject. He says: "They
are themselves mistaken
who take him to be a madman. .
. *
He is cool, collected, and
indomitable, and it is but just
to him to say that he was
humane to his prisoners. . . . And
he inspired me with great
trust in his integrity as a man of
truth. He is a fanatic,
vain and garrulous" (I leave that part
to Mr. Wise), "but
firm, truthful, and intelligent. His men,
too, who survive, are like
him. . . . Colonel Washington says
that he was the coolest
and firmest man he ever saw in defy-
ing danger and death. With
one son dead by his side, and
another shot through, he
felt the pulse of his dying son with
one hand, and held his
rifle with the other, and commanded
his men with the utmost
composure, encouraging them to be
firm, and to sell their
lives as dear as they could. Of the three
white prisoners, Brown,
Stevens, and Coppoc, it was hard to
say which was most
firm."
Almost the first
Northern men whom the slaveholder has
learned to respect!
The testimony of Mr.
Vallandigham, though less valuable,
is of the same purport,
that "it is vain to underrate either the
man or his conspiracy.
... He is the farthest possible re-
moved from the ordinary
ruffian, fanatic, or madman."
"All is quiet at
Harper's Ferry," say the journals. What
is the character of that
calm which follows when the law
and the slaveholder
prevail? I regard this event as a touch-
stone designed to bring
out, with glaring distinctness, the
character of this
government. We needed to be thus assisted
to see it by the light
of history. It needed to see itself. When
a, government puts forth
its strength on the side of injustice >
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN
69V
as ours to maintain
slavery and kill the liberators of the slave,
it reveals itself a
merely brute force, or worse, a demoniacal
force. It is the head of
the Plug-Uglies. It is more manifest
than ever that tyranny
rules. I see this government to be
effectually allied with
France and Austria in oppressing
mankind. There sits a
tyrant holding fettered four millions
of slaves ; here comes
their heroic liberator. This most hypo-
critical and diabolical
government looks up from its seat on
the gasping four
millions, and inquires with an assumption
of innocence: "What do you assault me for? Am I not an
honest man? Cease
agitation on this subject, or I will make a
slave of you, too, or else
hang you."
We talk about a
representative government; but what a
monster of a government is
that where the noblest faculties
of the mind, and the whole
heart, are not represented. A semi-
human tiger or ox,
stalking over the earth, with its heart
taken out and the top of
its brain shot away. Heroes have
fought well on their
stumps when their legs were shot off, but
I never heard of any good
done by such a government as
that.
The only government that I
recognize and it matters not
how few are at the head of
it, or how small its army is
that power that
establishes justice in the land, never that
which establishes
injustice. What shall we think of a govern-
ment to which all the
truly brave and just men in the land
are enemies, standing
between it and those whom it op-
help thinking of you as you deserve, ye governments. Can
you dry up the fountains of thought? High treason, when
it is resistance to tyranny here below, has its origin in, and
is first committed by, the power that makes and forever recre-
ates man. When you have caught and hung all these human
rebels, you have accomplished nothing but your own guilt,
700 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
contend with a foe
against whom West Point cadets and rifled
cannon point not. Can
all the art of the cannon founder tempt
matter to turn against
its maker? Is the form in which the
founder thinks he casts
it more essential than the constitu-
tion of it and of
himself?
The United States have a
coffle of four millions of slaves.
They are determined to
keep them in this condition; and
Massachusetts is one of
the confederated overseers to pre-
vent their escape. Such
are not all the inhabitants of Massa-
chusetts, but such are
they who rule and are obeyed here. It
was Massachusetts, as well
as Virginia, that put down this
insurrection at Harper's
Ferry. She sent the marines there,
and she will have to pay
the penalty of her sin.
Suppose that there is a
society in this State that out of
its own purse and magnanimity
saves all the fugitive slaves
that run to us, and
protects our colored fellow-citizens, and
leaves the other work to
the government, so called. Is not
that government fast
losing its occupation, and becoming
contemptible to mankind?
If private men are obliged to per-
form the offices of
government, to protect the weak and dis-
pense justice, then the
government becomes only a hired
man^ or clerk, to perform
menial or indifferent services. Of
course, that is but the
shadow of a government whose exist-
think of the Oriental
Cacli even, behind whom worked in
secret a Vigilant
Committee? But such is the character of
our Northern States
generally; each has its Vigilant Com-
mittee. And, to a certain
extent, these crazy governments
recognize and accept this
relation. They say, virtually,
"We'll be glad to
work for you on these terms, only don't
make a noise about
it." And thus the government, its salary
being insured, withdraws
into the back shop, taking the Con-
stitution with it, and
bestows most of its labor on repairing
that. When I hear it at
work sometimes, as I go by, it re-
minds me, at best, of
those farmers who in winter contrive
to turn a penny by
following the coopering business. And
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN 701
what kind of spirit is
their barrel made to hold? They specu-
late in stocks, and bore
holes in mountains, but they are not
competent to lay out even
a decent highway. The only free
road, the Underground
Railroad, is owned and managed by
the Vigilant Committee.
They have tunneled under the whole
breadth of the land. Such
a government is losing its power
and respectability as
surely as water runs out of a leaky
vessel, and is held by one
that can contain it.
I hear many condemn these
men because they were so few.
When were the good and the
brave ever in a majority? Would
you have had him wait till
that time came? till you and I
came over to him? The very
fact that he had no rabble or
troop of hirelings about
him would alone distinguish him from
ordinary heroes. His
company was small indeed, because few
could be found worthy to
pass muster. Each one who there
laid down his life for the
poor and oppressed was a picked
man, culled out of many
thousands, if not millions; appar-
ently a man of principle,
of rare courage, and devoted
humanity; ready to
sacrifice his life at any moment for the
benefit of his fellow-man.
It may be doubted if there were
as many more their equals
in these respects in all the coun-
try, I speak of his
followers only, for their leader, no
doubt, scoured the land
far and wide, seeking to swell his
troop. These alone were ready
to step between the oppressor
and the oppressed.
Surely they were the very best men you
could select to be hung.
That was the greatest compliment
which this country could
pay them. They were ripe for her
gallows. She has tried a
long time, she has hung a good many,
but never found the right
one before.
When I think of him, and
his six sons, and his son-in-law,
not to enumerate the
others, enlisted for this fight, proceed-
ing coolly, reverently,
humanely to work, for months if not
years, sleeping and waking
upon it, summering and winter-
ing the thought, without
expecting any reward but a good
other side, I say again
that it affects me as a sublime spec-
702 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
tacle. If he had had any journal advocating "his cause/' any
organ, as the phrase is,
monotonously and wearisomely play-
ing the same old tune,
and then passing round the hat, it
would have been fatal to
his efficiency. If he had acted in
any way so as to be let
alone by the government, he might
have been suspected. It
was the fact that the tyrant must
give place to him, or he
to the tyrant, that distinguished him
from all the reformers
of the day that I know.
It was his peculiar
doctrine that a man has a perfect right
to interfere by force with
the slaveholder, in order to rescue
the slave. I agree with
him. They who are continually shocked
by slavery have some right
to be shocked by the violent death
of the slaveholder, but no
others. Such will be more shocked
by his life than by his
death. I shall not be forward to think
him mistaken in his method
who quickest succeeds to liberate
the slave. I speak for the
slave when I say that I prefer the
philanthropy of Captain
Brown to that philanthropy which
neither shoots me nor
liberates me. At any rate, I do not
think it is quite sane for
one to spend his whole life in talk-
ing or writing about this
matter, unless he is continuously
inspired, and I have not
done so. A man may have other af-
fairs to attend to. I do
not wish to kill nor to be killed, but
I can foresee
circumstances in which both these things would
be by me unavoidable. We
preserve the so-called peace of
our community by deeds of
petty violence every day. Look
at the policeman's billy
and handcuffs! Look at the jail!
Look at the gallows! Look
at the chaplain of the regiment!
We are hoping only to live
safely on the outskirts of this
provisional army. So we
defend ourselves and our hen-roosts,
and maintain slavery. I
know that the mass of my country-
men think that the only
righteous use that can be made of
Sharps rifles and
revolvers is to fight duels with them, when
we are insulted by other
nations, or to hunt Indians, or shoot
fugitive slaves with them,
or the like. I think that for once the
Sharps rifles and the
revolvers were employed in a righteous
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN 703
cause. The tools were in
the hands of one who could use
them.
Temple
once will clear it again. The question is not
about
peared in America, as yet,
who loved his fellow-man so well,
and treated him so
tenderly. He lived for him. He took up
his life and he laid it
down for him. What sort of violence is
that which is encouraged,
not by soldiers, but by peaceable
citizens, not so much by
laymen as by ministers of the Gospel,
not so much by the
fighting sects as by the Quakers, and not
so much by Quaker men as
by Quaker women?
This event advertises me
that there is such a fact as death,
the possibility of a man's
dying. It seems as if no man had
ever died in America before;
for in order to die you must
first have lived. I don't
believe in the hearses, and palls, and
funerals that they have
had. There was no death in the case,
temple's veil was rent, only a hole
dug somewhere. Let the
a clock. Franklin,
Washington, they were let off without
dying; they were merely
missing one day. I hear a good
many pretend that they are going to
die ; or that they have
died, for aught that I know.
Nonsense! I'll defy them to do
it. They haven't got life enough in
them. They'll deliquesce
like fungi, and keep a
hundred eulogists mopping the spot,
where they left off. Only
half a dozen or so have died since
the world began. Do you
think that you are going to die,
sir? No! there's no hope
of you. You haven't got your lesson
yet. You've got to stay
after school. We make a needless ado
about
capital punishment, taking lives, when there is no
lime sentence which some
worthy got sculptured on his grave-
stone once. We've
interpreted it in a groveling and sniveling
704 THE WRITINGS OF THOREAU
But
be sure you do die nevertheless. Do your work, and
finish
it. If you know how to begin, you will know when
to
end.
These
men, in teaching us how to die, have at the same
time
taught us how to live. If this man's acts and words do
not
create a revival, it will be the severest possible satire
on
the acts and words that do. It is the best news that America
has
ever heard. It has already quickened the feeble pulse of
the
North, and infused more and more generous blood into
her
veins and heart than any number of years of what is called
commercial
and political prosperity could. How many a man
who
was lately contemplating suicide has now something to
live
for !
[t25] One writer
says that Brown's peculiar monomania made
him to be "dreaded by
the Missourians as a supernatural
being." Sure enough,
a hero in the midst of us cowards is
always so dreaded. He is
just that thing. He shows himself
superior to nature. He has
a spark of divinity in him.
Newspaper editors argue
also that it is a proof of his
Insanity that he thought
he was appointed to do this work
which he did, that he did
not suspect himself for a moment!
They talk as if it were
impossible that a man could be
as if vows and religion
were out of date as connected with
any man's daily work; as
if the agent to abolish slavery
could only be somebody
appointed by the President, or by
some political party. They
talk as if a man's death were a
failure, and his continued
life, be it of whatever character,
were a success.
When I reflect to what a
cause this man devoted himself,
and how religiously, and
then reflect to what cause his judges
and all who condemn him so
angrily and fluently devote
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN 70S
themselves, I see that
they are as far apart as the heavens
and earth are asunder.
The amount of it is, our
"leading men" are a harmless kind
of folk, and they know
well enough that they were not
divinely appointed, but
elected by the votes of their party.
Who is it whose safety
requires that Captain Brown be
hung? Is it indispensable
to any Northern man? Is there no
resource but to cast this
man also to the Minotaur? If you
do not wish it, say so
distinctly. While these things are being
done, beauty stands veiled
and music is a screeching lie.
Think of him, of his rare
qualities! such a man as it takes
ages to make, and ages to
understand; no mock hero, nor the
representative of any
party. A man such as the sun may not
rise upon again in this
benighted land. To whose making went
the costliest material,
the finest adamant; sent to be the re-
deemer of those in
captivity; and the only use to which you
can put him is to hang him
at the end of a rope! You who
pretend to care for Christ
crucified, consider what you are
about to do to him who
offered himself to be the saviour of
four millions of men.
Any man knows when he is
Justified, and all the wits in the
world cannot enlighten him
on that point. The murderer al-
ways knows that he is
justly punished ; but when a govern-
ment takes the life of a
man without the consent of his con-
science, it is an
audacious government, and is taking a step
towards its own
dissolution. Is it not possible that an indi-
vidual may be right and a
government wrong? Are laws to
be enforced simply because
they were made? or declared by
any number of men to be
good, if they are not good? Is there
any necessity for a man's
being a tool to perform a deed of
which his better nature
disapproves? Is it the intention of law-
makers that good men shall
be hung ever? Are judges to
interpret the law
according to the letter, and not the spirit?
What right have you to
enter into a compact with yourself
that you will do thus or
so, against the light within you? Is
it for you to make up your
mind, to form any resolution
706 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
whatever, and not accept the convictions that are forced
upon you, and which ever
pass your understanding? I do not
believe in lawyers, in
that mode of attacking or defending a
man, because you descend
to meet the judge on his own
ground, and, in cases of
the highest importance, it is of no
consequence whether a man
breaks a human law or not. Let
lawyers decide trivial cases.
Business men may arrange that
among themselves. If they
were the interpreters of the ever-
lasting laws which
rightfully bind man, that would be another
thing. A counterfeiting
law-factory, standing half in a slave
land and half in a free!
What kind of laws for free men can
you expect from that?
life, but for his character, his immortal life; and so it be-
comes your cause wholly, and is not his in the least. Some
eighteen hundred years ago Christ was crucified ; this morn-
ing, perchance, Captain Brown was hung. These are the two
ends of a chain which is not without its links. He is not Old
Brown any longer; he is an angel of light.
I see now that it was
necessary that the bravest and human-
est man in all the country
should be hung. Perhaps he saw it
himself. I almost jeer
that I may yet hear of his deliverance,
doubting if a prolonged
life, if any life, can do as much good
as
his death.
"Misguided!"
"Garrulous!" "Insane!" "Vindictive!" So
ye write in your
easy-chairs, and thus he wounded responds
from the floor of the
Armory, clear as a cloudless sky, true as
the voice of nature is:
"No man sent me here; it was my own
prompting and that of my
Maker. I acknowledge no master
in human form."
And in what a sweet and
noble strain he proceeds, address-
ing his captors, who stand
over him : "I think, my friends, you
are guilty of a great
wrong against God and humanity, and
it would be perfectly
right for anyone to interfere with you
so far as to free those
you willfully and wickedly hold in
bondage/ 5
A PLEA FOR JOHN BROWN 707
And, referring to his
movement: "It is, in my opinion, the
greatest service a man can render to
God."
"I pity the poor in
bondage that have none to help them;
that is why I am here; not
to gratify any personal animosity,
revenge, or vindictive
spirit. It is my sympathy with the op-
pressed and the wronged,
that are as good as you, and as
precious in the sight of
God."
You don't know your
testament when you see it.
"I want you to
understand that I respect the rights of the
poorest and weakest of
colored people, oppressed by the slave
power, just as much as I
do those of the most wealthy and
powerful."
"I wish to say,
furthermore, that you had better, all you
people at the South,
prepare yourselves for a settlement of
that question, that must
come up for settlement sooner than
you are prepared for it. The sooner
you are prepared the
posed of now; but this
question is still to be settled, this
no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it;
the historian record it; and, with the Landing of the Pilgrims
and the Declaration of Independence, it will be the ornament
of some future national gallery, when at least the present form
of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty
to weep for Captain Brown. Then, and not till then, we will
take our revenge.
[t1]Back
ground!
[t2]Man
of Purpose!
[t3]A
Man of Principles!
[t4]Oh,
Thoreau!
[t5]Fruitfulness!
[t6]Wolves
in sheep’s clothing!
[t7]Wow!
[t8]Wow!
[t9]Signal!
[t10]O
My God!
[t11]No
Outbreak!
[t12]Deliverance!
[t13]John
Brown Statue!
[t14]Truth
the Inspirer!
[t15]The
anti-Christ’s!
[t16]Fountains
of thought!!
[t17]The
Government only a Vigilant Committee
[t18]A
good conscience!
[t19]Temple
Clearance!
[t20]Wow!
[t21]Let
the dead bury their dead!
[t22]Capital
punishment!
[t23]Memento
mori!
[t24]Gravestone!
[t25]Stg
to live for!
[t26]The
Super-Man!
[t27]Divine
Appointment!
[t28]The
Angel of Light!
[t29]The
sooner the better!
[t30]Negro
Question!
ምንም አስተያየቶች የሉም:
አስተያየት ይለጥፉ