Never in the history of an American commonwealth was a trial conductedwith more reverence for Law than the arraignment of John Brown and hisfollowers in the stately old Court House at Charlestown, Virginia.
The people whom he had assaulted with intent to kill, the people againstwhom he had incited slaves to rise in bloody insurrection, the kinsmenof the dead whom his rifles had slain, stood in line on the street andwatched him pass into the building manacled to one of his disciples.
They did not hoot, nor hiss, nor curse. They watched him walk in silencebetween the tall granite pillars of the House of Justice.
The behavior of this crowd was highwater mark in the development ofSouthern character. The structure of their society rested on thesanctity of Law. It was being put to the supreme test.
A Northern crowd under similar conditions, had they followed theprinciples which John Brown preached, would have torn those prisoners topieces without the formality of a trial.
It was precisely this trait of character in his enemies on which Brownrelied for the martyrdom he so passionately desired. When the witnessesat the preliminary hearing had testified to his guilt and the Court hadordered the trial set, he was asked if he had counsel.
He rose from his seat and addressed the nation, not the Court:
"Virginians, I did not ask for any quarter at the time I was taken.
I did not ask to have my life spared. The Governor of the State ofVirginia tenders me his assurance that I shall have a fair trial, butunder no circumstances whatever will I be able to have a fair trial. Ifyou seek my blood, you can have it at any moment, without this mockeryof a trial. I have no counsel. I am ready for my fate. I do not wish atrial. I have now little further to ask, other than that I may not befoolishly insulted, as cowardly barbarians insult those who fall intotheir power."The posing martyr was courting insults which had not been offeredhim. He was grieved that he could not bring the charge of barbaroustreatment. He had been treated by Colonel Lee with the utmostconsideration. His wounds had been dressed. He had received the bestmedical care. He had eaten wholesome food. His jailer had provenfriendly and sympathetic.
He went out of his way to insult the Court and the people and inviteabuse. He demanded that he be executed without trial.
The Court calmly assigned him two of the ablest lawyers in the county,and ordered the trial to proceed.
At noon the following day the Grand Jury returned a true bill againsteach of the prisoners for treason to the commonwealth, and forconspiring with slaves to commit both treason and murder, and formurder.
Captain Avis, the kindly jailer, was ordered to bring his prisoners intoCourt. He found old Brown in bed, pretending to be ill. He refused torise. He was determined to get the effect of an arraignment of hisprostrate body in the court room. He had foreseen the effect of thispicture on the imagination of the North. The crowd of eager reporters atthe preliminary hearing had given him the cue.
He was carried into the court room exactly as he had desired, on a cot.
While the hearing proceeded he lay with his eyes closed as if in deepsuffering. He had carefully prepared a plea for delay which he knewwould not be granted. Its effect on the mob mind of the North was whathe sought. The press would give it wings.
He lifted himself on his elbow and asked Judge Parker to allow him tomake a protest:
"I have been promised a fair trial. I am not now in circumstances thatenable me to attend a trial, owing to the state of my health. I have asevere wound in the back, or rather in one kidney which enfeebles mevery much. But I am doing well, and I only ask for a very short delayof my trial, that I may be able to listen to it! And I merely ask thisthat, as the saying is, the devil may have his dues, no more. I wish tosay further that my hearing is impaired by wounds I have about my head.
I could not hear what the Court said this morning. I would be glad tohear what is said at my trial. Any short delay would be all I would ask.
I do not presume to ask more than a very short delay so that I may insome degree recover and be able at least to listen to my trial."Dr. Mason the attending physician, swore that he had examined Brown,and that his wounds had effected neither his hearing nor his mind. Hefurther swore that he was not seriously disabled.
Brown knew that this was true, but he had entered his plea. His wordswould flash over the nation. The effect was what he foresaw. Although hehad defied the laws of God and man, he dared demand more than justiceunder the laws which he had spit upon. And, however inconsistent hisposition, he knew that as the poison of the Blood Feud which he wasraising filled the souls of the people through the press, he would beglorified from day to day and new power given to every word he mightutter.
He had already composed his last message destined to sway the minds ofmillions. The response of the radical press to his pose of illness wasquick and sharp. The Lawrence, Kansas, _Republican_ voiced the feelingsof thousands:
"We defy an instance to be shown in any civilized community where aprisoner has been forced to trial for his life, when so disabled bysickness or ghastly wounds as to be unable even to sit up during theproceedings, and compelled to be carried to the judgment hall upon alitter. Such a proceeding shames the name of Justice, and only finds acongenial place amid the records of the bloody Inquisition."Even so conservative a paper as the Boston _Transcript_ said:
"Whatever may be his guilt or folly, a man convicted under suchcircumstances, and, especially, a man executed after such a trial, willbe the most terrible fruit that Slavery has ever borne, and will excitethe execration of the civilized world."The canny old poseur was on his way to an immortal martyrdom. He knewthat every article of the Virginia Code was being scrupulously obeyed.
He knew that the Grand Jury was in session and that the trial was setat the first term of the court following the crime. There had been nohaste. He also knew that the impartial Judge who was presiding was thesoul of justice in his dealings both with the clamorous people, theprosecution and the counsel appointed for the defense. But he also knewthat the mob mind to whom he was appealing would not believe that heknew this. In appeals to the crowd he was a past master. In this appealhe knew that facts would count for nothing--beliefs, illusions foreverything.
He played each opportunity for all it was worth.
When the Court opened the following morning, his counsel, Mr. Botts,amazed the prisoner and............