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    for trial before the Circuit Court . It is said to be intended to proceed with , tlie execution of the prisoners immediately after their conviction . Tlie court has refused to allow anyone to see or converse with Brown , fearing that he would say that which might , by being published , inflame the slaves against their masters . " A New York-letter contains some interesting particulars as to the leader of the outbreak : — "An elderly man , named John Brown , or as he is more commonly called " Old Brown of Ossowatomie , " a native of New England , and a settler and leading combatant on the free soil side in Kansas during the troubles thereappears to have contrived and carried it out ,

    , as far as it went . Brown is a New England puritan of the old school , and went to the west with a family of six sons , to better his fortune by farming . He was m Kansas when it was invaded by the border ruffians , and though he has always been an abolitionist he never displayed any fanaticism in the cause until his house had been burned , two or three of his sons killed under circumstances of peculiar atrocity , and numbers of his neighbours murdered , and driven from their homes before his eyes . The loss of his sons seems to have deranged his mind , and he took the field with as many men as he could muster , and at once became the terror of the pro-slavery men . He defeated an immensely superior force of them at

    Ossowatomie , and did summary execution upon large numbers of single individuals , and all in a spirit of the most exalted religious enthusiasm . He finally got it iuto his head that he was commissioned by God to wage war upon slaveholders , and liberate negroes , and seems to have inspired his followers with a portion of his own frenzy * . He at last became the bugbear and terror of all the border ruffians . Whenever " old Brown " was reported to be in the neighbourhood they instantly disappeared . When the war was over a return to his old mode of life was of course impossible . The loss of his sons had maddened him , and he > devoted himself entirely , to carrying off slaves to Canada . That he was

    countenanced and encouraged in this by many leading abolitionists there seems to be no reason to doubt ; but that any of them went any further has yet to be proved . For the last year or more the public has not heard much of him , but during this interval he seems to have been busily engaged in organising an insurrection of the slaves . With this view he went to Virginia , hired a farm in the neighbourhood of Harper ' s Ferry , and having quietly , and as it appears without exciting any observation , collected a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition , and been joined by fifteen of his most devoted followers , including his two surviving sons , on . the evening of the 13 th i ' nst . he seized upon the United States armoury in the village , arrested and imprisoned the entployds and many of the principal inhabitants in

    the neighbourhood , blocked up the railroad , cut the telegraph wires , and called on the negroes to joiii him ; The negroes did not join hi in , however , and in a skirmish with some of the railroad men he remained master of the field , but was finally driven back into the armoury , which lie loopholed und barricaded . He defended the armoury successfully until the arrival of militia from all parts of the country , and of marines from Washington . He was then summoned to surrender , refused to do so , anil the door boing burst open , ho and his surviving followers—only two out of seventeen—were captured , Brown himself being -badly wounded . One or two of his adherents , who did not succeed in entering the armoury with him , made , their escape , and are still at large .

    « ' The allUir has excited profound sensation , and , let me add , profound consternation at the South . Tho secrecy with which the plot was brought to maturity , the largo quantity of arms and ammunition which Brown had collected , the facility with which ho surprised the villnge and seized tho armoury , tho desperate tonacity with which ho held it , the resolution displayed by all his followers from first to last , and more than all , Brown ' s dauntless bearing sincq his capture , the lofty tone of moral superiority ¦ which ho assumes ovor his captors , havo made a profound impression on the Southern people . "

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    FKANCE . AND ENGLAND . Under tho title of " The Relations betwoon France and England , " the Journal des Debuts publishes the first of a series of lettors by M . Miuhel Chevalier , recording his impressions of England during jus journey horo , especially with regard to tho maintenance of pacific rotations botwocn tho two countries . , After expatiating on the vasthosa of our cotton manufacture and tho quantity of corn wo import , Mi Chevalier describes tho Groat Eastorn ana tho Bank of England as further proofs ofoui industry and our wealth . To protoot such a commerce as we carry on witli all tho world , and to guard such treasures as tho industry of uenoratlona lms accumulated at homo , it ia ossout . iul for England that tho seas should bo froo fur her ; and though

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    THE PAPAL GOVERNMENT , An important treatise , entitled "La Corte ili lloma e il Vangelo , " written by the Marquis Roberto d'Azcglio , father of the Sardinian Minister in Loudon , has just made its appearance . U should be observed that the Marquis is a strict Catholic and a religious man . Ho remarks that the Pope ' s Allocution , delivered on the 26 th September last , has given groat pain to the true friends of the Catholic religion , by tho manner in which ho has animadverted on tlie spontaneous movement of tho populations of Central Italy towards union with Victor Emmanuel ' s kingdom The causes of that popular resolution had

    . already been acknowledged l » y all Europe to lie in the intolerable pressure of tlie ferocious Austrian despotism , and next , in the pertinacious refusal of the Roman court to satisfy tho . just demands ot its subjects for the reform of tho various abuses under which they have suffered . "It is a Bcanilal to the whole family of Christendom , " says the Marquis , ' that tho vicar of Jesus Christ should ace and speak at tho dictation of a minister ( Cardinal An ouelli ) to whom Italy ascribes the greater part ofher preiont misfortunes , and that by .. a augac .-in tono of worldly

    Uo U o Po > o sliould . peak a indifference and levity about tho misrule ot his dominions and tho just discontent ot us people . Sincere boJlovors in tho Gospol have been led to coinimroilns , attitude of tho sovereign Pont If , Hurrou , Klecl b y the purple-robed assembly of his Cardnm s , wit i life sublime precepts of tho Ural Pastor of tho U iiiroli in . his sermon on thy mount , when ho laid down tho aw- of righ teousness and charity for all jnank ml . The eprea . i of popular education , uud the circmilut on of the printed Scriptures amongst tho vrorkmff « in .. nn . t .., ml to dliluso thoso impressions > r and

    wide . What arc tho people to think of it vriien hey look around them and behold tho luxury and irrotnuioo of the prelates , and tho ov Is which tauh to tho possession of temporal authority 'by lio head of tho Church r Whore can they find 1 , 1 / warrant for thia Papal sovereignty in tho Now Testament ? What kind ot a sensation , must bo produced on tho plain mind ot un honoat

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    she no longer affects the empire of them , and has recognised the rights of neutrals , and made other important concessions to the spirit of the age , yet there is practically a limit to these , her immense commerce compelling her to maintain the virtual sovereignty of the ocean . "England , " says M . Chevalier , " would be seriously affected in the very conditions of her existence on the day that any possible coalition of maritime powers should be able to oppose to her fleets superior or even equal fleets . It is for her a question of life and death . In this point of view it is inevitable that every time one of the groat Powers increases her navy considerably , England should increase hers in a corresponding measure . The very instinct of self preservation

    induces her to this . There are in politics laws ai absolute as that of gravitation is in the material world . England obeys these laws in adding new fleets to her fleets as soon as she sees , or thinks that she sees , any Power whose flag is respected on the seas considerably increasing its navy . At this moment of transition , when the introduction of steam is making a radical change in the conditions of naval warfare , and when all naval forces are being recruited , England has thought that France had equalled , if not surpassed , her in tlie number of her large vessels on the new model , and a commission appointed to examine the question has informed her that such was the fact . Since then she has given ear to the counsellors who recommended her to

    increase her maritime power . She appropriates every year a large sum , unanimously voted to , building ships of the line and fortifications . In this matter we may say that she follows to an unreasonable degree the recommendation of the sage—to exaggerate the forces ¦ of yout actual or possible adversaries , and on the contrary , to disparage your own as much as possible . Up to the present time , however , all that she does is purely defensive , and includes no- ' tiling at which France-: can take umbrage . It is further to be remarked that the ardour with which England is now . building a fleet is essentially transient , for the object she aims at will be attained before long . The programme of England is to have in ships of war an effective equalling ' that of the other great maritime states , and even surpassing it , to allow for the necessarv protection of her foreign

    possessions . But what does this mean , if not that the English fleet must exceed the united fleets of France and Russia ? for . beyond these States , and confining our attention to Europe only , no pretences are made to the display of these splendid and formidable apparatus of national power . Nbw . from the moment England wishes for such a result , it is in her power . It is easier for her to lauch , in a given time , a hundred ships of the line , than for France and Russia united to construct fifty , for here the ways and means are money , are building-yards , including those in which the great steam-engines are made . Now , no man of sense will dispute that England can , if she will , devote to naval purposes much more money than France and Russia together , and it is still more notorious that a comparison of tlie respective building yards is , in at least the same proportion , in favour of England .

    It is not , then , to be presumed that any Power would enter on a hopeless rivalry with England and essay to equal her in the greatness of her fleets , for every ono well knows that England would leave behind any one who should wish to follow her . Therefore it is within probability that England will soon become moro moderate in preparations which , we admit once more , are merely defensive . There is a case in which England might pass from the defensive to tlie offensive attitude with that vigour which belongs to her tomporamenfc , ancl which is well enough described by the self-eonferr . ed name of John Bull ; and that is , supposing any one of tho irreat Powers . of Europe should provoke or

    threaten her . It would be the same if , without'seeing herself to be the object of open attacks , she conceived that thero was on the part of any ono of tlie Great Powers a premeditated plan of keeping lior in an incessant state pt alarm . Wo might then expect to soe England , irritated by degrees , at longth displaying her anger in a remarkable mannor , and striking with all her might a thundering blow . But , j urging from tlie observations I have been able to mako and the information I have boon able to acquire , sho would not proceed to that formidable extremity without a deliberate examination and a deliberate

    conviction that there was a design against her poaco and her safety . That is to say , it . seems to mo that it is oasy to uvoid tluit collision whiuh would wring a deep groan from civilisation , or rather it is to admit that such a calamity will bo averted . M . Louis Joimlun , ono of tho principal editors ot the Sluclo , lias just published a pamphlet , entitled ' La Guerro a TAnglais , " from whioh we extract tho following :- — " We havo tho advantage over England of a warlike population , i \ n army which tlie principle of oquallty raises above all tho armies of Europej wo have all tho powers of doiaocruqy j England has

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    over us only one real , incontestable , uncon tested superiority— - she has liberty in its widest acceptation , liberty of the press , liberty of assembling , of association , &c . II is to that conquest that she owes her true greatness . Liberty and equality are in the arsenal of moral forces what rifled cannon and steam are in the arsenal of material forces . Equality our fathers have gained , and it has . penetrated our manners , our institutions , our laws , it is ineradicable . England has liberty ; why should we not have it too ? Why should we deprive ourselves of an offensive and defensive weapon of such power ? England does not fear to borrow froth , us cur rifled cannon ; why should ' we not borrow from her a

    weapon a thousand times more precious and more useful- —a weapon which creates instead of destroying , which builds instead of overthrowing ? Why leave to our ally , who may be an adversary to-morrow , the exclusive possession of an advantage which wemay adopMind whoseuse is already 'familiar to us ? We admit that England has over us only one real superiority , but a superiority which may , on a given day , become overwhelming . Can we have , can we enjoy this superiority ? Yes , because we have alreadv enjoyed it . Ought we to adopt it ? Yes , because it represents an invincible force . We are not examining the question whether it is necessary to our internal life , whether it would render the play

    of our social machinery more useful . We have no doubt about the matter ; but the only point we wish to elucidate is the following .: — Does England owe to liberty the power of which unfortunately she does not ahvavs make good use , and which she is too much inclined to direct to selfish ends ? With history in our hands we can answer in the affirmative . It is to liberty that England owes that initiative , that boldness of conception and of execution , which have placed her 'in the first rank among the nations ; it is liberty that has enabled her to surmount all the

    obstacles that have been heaped up in her path ; it -was to liberty that the great Pee ) addressed himself -when he wished to solve the problem of free trade ; -and , in short , if it were necessary to prove the excessive value which England sets on liberty , we ni . ed only recall the efforts which she has made , at all times to keep a monopoly , of it , to prevent other , nations from enjoying it , or to provoke i \ n abuse of it among those who enjoyed it already . Since liberty is so powerful a weapon , " let us possess it ; let us inscribe libertv in our codes of law . Tho Ihiglisli

    Government believes itself so ¦ much-the stronger against us and against Europe , that it knows Europe , to-be unarmed at so important a point . Let us arm ourselves , and this resolution will perhaps be sufiicient to make England understand the anachronism of her pretensions , and . to bring her to more just views of her own situation and the situation of France . "

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    No- 503 . Nov . 12 , 1859 1 ' THE LEA DEB , 1245

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1859, page 1245, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2320/page/9/