"treaty," as it was called, but "Osawatomie Brown' wanted no treaty, and counseled resistance. On the 21st of May, 1856, when occurred the "sacking of Lawrence,' and the destruction of the Free State hotel, and the Herald of Freedom and Free State newspaper offices, John Brown, his sons, and a son-in-law, were in Lawrence and witnessed all that happened, and on the night of the 24th of May, five Pro-slavery settlers on Pottawatomie creek were killed. This was the "Pottawatomie Massacre,' over John Brown's complicity in which there has been much controversy. John Brown, when asked by his son, Jason Brown, who was horrified by the deed, "Father, did you have anything to do with that bloody affair on the Pottawatomie?" said, "I approved it."

120.

John Brown in the Field. From this time forward, John Brown may be said to have taken and kept the field. He seldom joined himself with what may be called the masses of the Free State party. He did not aspire to the civil or military leadership of that party, but, with a small and chosen company, he kept the wood and prairie; attacking and attacked. A few days after the "Pottawatomie Massacre," Captain H. Clay Pate, a Deputy United States Marshal, with a posse, captured John Brown, Jr., and Jason Brown. They were turned over to the United States troops and marched to Lecompton, prisoners. On the road they were treated with such severity that John Brown, Jr., was driven insane. On the 2d of June, Captain John Brown, at Black Jack, captured Captain Pate and twenty-eight of his party, and held them prisoners till they were taken from him by United States troops, but treating them, as Captain Pate himself stated, with

*

humanity. On the 30th of August occurred the second attack on Osawatomie. John Brown, with forty-two men, unavailingly fought the assailants, the town was burned, and his son Frederick was shot down in the road.

121. John Brown in Massachusetts.-In February of the next year, 1857, John Brown appeared before a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature and told of the suffering in Kansas as he had seen it, the burnings, the robberies, the murders, the houseless people, the fire, smoke and desolation.

122. John Brown in Missouri.-After this Eastern visit he appeared again in Kansas, made a raid into Missouri, brought out fourteen slaves, and went away to the North with them. The Governor of Missouri offered $3,000 reward for him, and the President of the United States $250. An attempt made to capture Brown on his northward way at Holton, Kan., was a failure.

123. The Parallels.-In the early days of January, there appeared in a Kansas paper, the Lawrence Republican, a communication signed by Brown, and usually called "John Brown's Parallels." It was his farewell to Kansas. He recited his action in carrying off the slaves from Missouri, and contrasted it with the "Maraís des Cygnes Massacre," which had happened in the May previous. When this article appeared, Brown had gone from Kansas. In March, 1859, he reached Canada with twelve fugitive slaves. The rest of his history belongs to that of the country and of the world.

124. The Defense.-One rainy Sunday night, at the Kennedy farm house, he said to his eighteen men: "Men, get on your arms, we will proceed to the Ferry," and so

they went. On the 1st of November, 1859, Captain Brown stood up in court at Charlestown, Virginia, to answer, if he might, why sentence of death should not be passed upon him, and he drew some further "parallels."

"I have another objection, and that is, that it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner in which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case), had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, or mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right, and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.

I

"This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or, at least, the New Testament. That teaches me that all things 'Whatsoever I would that men should do unto me, I should do even so to them.' It teaches me further, 'to remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.' I endeavored to act up to that instruction. say, I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always freely admitted I have done, in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country, whose rights are

disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments. I submit, so let it be done."

125. He Lives in the Hearts of Kansans.-In Kansas, the name of John Brown is held in remembrance in many ways, both by the old who knew his face, and the young who have but heard his name. In 1877 a marble monument was reared to his name at Osawatomie, near the old field of fearful odds. In the collection of the State Historical Society are preserved the garments he wore, and some of the last lines he is known to have written. A Kansas poet, Eugene F. Ware, has written of him:

From boulevards,

O'erlooking both Nyanzas,

The statued bronze shall glitter in the sun,

With rugged lettering:

"John Brown, of Kansas;

He dared begin;

He lost,

But losing, won."

SUMMARY.

1. John Brown arrived in Kansas, October 6, 1855, a day memorable in the chronicles of freedom.

2. John Brown active in attack and defense at and near Osawatomie.

3. He pleads before a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature in behalf of the suffering of Kansas.

4. He took fourteen slaves from Missouri to the North.

5. In court at Charlestown, Va., he gave as his defense, "I believe that to have interfered as I have done, in behalf of the despised poor, was not wrong but right.'

6. His memory in Kansas.

CHAPTER XIV.

LAST OF TERRITORY AND FIRST OF STATE.

126. Action of Congress.-The people of Kansas had spoken, but the will of the people was not yet to be consummated. The admission of Kansas as a Free State was yet to be opposed in the Senate of the United States. On the 11th of April, 1860, the House passed the bill admitting Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution. The bill went to the Senate and was there rejected. On the 21st of January, 1861, Jefferson Davis and other Southern Senators announced their withdrawal from the Senate of the United States. the same day William H. Seward called up in the Senate the bill for the admission of Kansas and it was passed, 36 to 16. It was then returned to the House and passed out of the regular order, 117 to 42, and on the 29th of January, the Act was signed by James Buchanan, President of the United States, and that January day was thereafter "Kansas Day."

On

127. Action of Legislature.-The fifth and last Territorial Legislature of Kansas met at Lecompton on the 2d of January, 1860, and in spite of the protests of Governor Medary, adjourned to Lawrence. The Governor and Secretary remaining at Lecompton, the Legislature adjourned sine die. The Governor called the Legislature to meet in special session at Lecompton. The Legislature met and passed a bill adjourning to Lawrence; the Governor vetoed the bill and it was passed over his veto, and the Legislature assembled in