 | The Views and Meditations of John Brown |  |
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I deem it unnecessary here to give an account of the life of John Brown. The world knows of his birth, early training, his occupation and the great events in which he took part. But of his ideas, there seems to be considerable differences of opinion; not, indeed, as to their purpose, but their sanity and practicability. After carefully studying his character as found in various records, I have imagined that the thoughts and feelings expressed in these verses were the views and meditations that engaged his life. I have, therefore, represented him on the four great occasions of his career. First, as leader of the Anti-Slavery men in their fight with the Pro-Slavery men in Kansas; secondly, when after the Kansas struggles he met his men in Iowa, and there determined to attack Harpers Ferry; thirdly, the night of the attack, and fourthly, before he goes to the gallows. As this is a work solely of the imagination, I here quote, for the attention of those who may criticise me, the words of Lord Macaulay when he was about to put forth a work of a similar nature: “The judgment passed both by the learned and by the unlearned on a work of the imagination will always depend much more on the general character and spirit of such a work than on minute details.”
Edward W. Williams, July 11th. Washington, D. C.
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In Kansas Just Before the First Struggle.
1
Freedom, freedom, has been my songAnd shall be till I die,
Or till from every Negro's tongue,
I hear it echo by.
2
Increase my faith, strengthen my heart,Almighty God my King,
That I may ever do my part,
May work as well as sing.
3
The groans of thy black childrenForever reach my ears,
By my soul I am bidden
To shoulder up their cares.
4
This course, my duty, I'll pursueAlthough I feel alone,
And fail or die my deed through you
Will move some others on.
5
Not for the riches of the soilMy brothers do we come,
We come to never let them spoil,
With slavery as its home.
6
The fertile earth, the pasturageInvite the toiling livers,
But never the horde of bondage
With masters, hounds and drivers.
7
From tyrants its for you and meThese treasures here to save,
That labor true may harvest free
What nature freely gave.
8
Sons of my love, my own heart bloodAround me make your stand,
Hear now and heed my honest word,
And mark my rising hand.
9
Here remember all my teachingsMy olden views and promise,
They are the things, the very things,
I came to put in service.
10
Sons, brothers, all, here is the spotTo conquer or to fall,
'Tis justice cause what e'er the lot,
So move at duty's call.
4
11
If you have love for humankindFor mercy, justice, right,
For God's poor ones stay not behind,
But move in haste and might.
12
See yonder hostile massesStanding in battle array,
They came to plant in Kansas,
The seed of Southern slavery.
13
With bayonets, guns and kettledrumThat fill our ears and sight,
Ah! let us strike for freedom
While they for slavery fight.
14
They are fighting for a wicked causeOf sin and shame and lust,
But we are for the moral laws
And in our God we trust.
15
Kansas alone fills not their viewThey seek the Western main,
And may succeed if they subdue
Us on this very plan.
16
Then right here now in KansasWith these obedient hands,
We should drive away the curse
Of all the Southern lands.
17
From early youth till even nowMy soul detested war,
For love and peace I make a vow
To all whom e'er I saw.
18
To shed the blood of mortal manOf any race or clime,
To desolate a lovely land
Must be a moral crime.
19
But when through evil, luck or mightMen go to conquer men,
The true and good possess the right
The wronged ones to defend.
20
Then whate'er system, men or lawSeeks mankind to enslave,
The true and good should open war
For human rights to save.
5
In Iowa, Where the Plan for an Attack on Harper's Ferry Was Explained and Adopted.
1
Dear friends, let me to you relateA plan that I begot of yore,
A plan to conquer, extirpate
Slaveholding now and ever more.
2
When I survey the times to seeWhat is the best to meet our ends,
That plan always recurs to me
The visions of my hope extends.
3
It drives away all doubts and fear,And fills my mind with prospects bright
“Free now, thank God,” I seem to hear
From every Negro under sight.
4
But, ah! me what, alone am I,With vast designs without your heart,
For want of help stern purpose high
Can only play a meagre part.
5
Contrivances for human goodThough creatures of the greatest mind,
Do need the all nutritious food
Of Charities and aid combined.
6
So gather round—stand at my backAs you used to do in Kansas
'Tis all I want—naught else I lack
For God will ne'er forsake us.
7
Not for my sake but for the causeOf freedom through our native land,
The cause for which in Kansas wars
You made such bold, successful stand.
8
The cause for which the Pro-slave pressDenounced us all as robbers,
But with our God and the oppressed,
Our names are Christian laborers.
9
We are true “Soldiers of the Cross”And followers of the “Lamb,”
And Christlike try to save the lost,
The weak, the poor and the damned.
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10
But here we are too far awayFrom the Hell of master and slave,
Too distant here the one to slay,
The other one to save.
11
From the shores of the Atlantic,The Gulf and the Mississippi,
I hear in mournful rhetoric
The prayers of the unhappy.
12
Hear husband, wife, “From morn to eveWe toil and strive the live-long day
Till evening shades our limbs relieve—
Half-fed, half-clad, and with no pay.
13
“Our daughters ravished 'fore our eyes,Our sons pursued by raging hounds,
No hands to help them dare arise
Even afar nor on the grounds.
14
“Our poor little, darling infant,Snatched, bundled and sold away
Hence, forever more too distant
Upon our loving arms to lay.
15
“We, too, will soon be sold apart,Never to know where each will be
To bear through life a heavy heart,
But ne'er each other's face to see.”
16
From the plains of old VirginiaThey beseech us, they beseech us,
In the “cry of Macedonia
Come over to us and help us.”
17
Hear the echo of their prayersAscending unto the heaven,
In voices of despair and tears,
“When shall rest and peace be given.”
18
We cannot here with empty wordsNor on the fields of Kansas,
Perform with noises, guns and swords
The work that is before us.
19
Now to conquer this great monsterThis devil of human bondage,
We need our forces to center
In a place of better vantage.
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20
We need our forces near enoughOr right upon his sinful ground,
To cut aloose his stolen serf
And throw his wicked kingdom down.
21
Now my plan is for us to goSomewhere on old Virginia soil,
And there attack their monster foe
There free his slave, his wealth despoil.
22
There to begin and never ceaseTill death, yes, death or freedom come,
We want no peace, we'll have no peace,
Unless it come with freedom.
23
Some think this plan too rash to take,Too dangerous, too difficult.
What other effort can we make
To reach the longed for good result?
24
'Tis nigh unto a centurySince men began to talk and write
Against the evil of slavery
With all their heart and all their might.
25
When I was but a little boyNear fifty years or more ago,
I used to hear with hope and joy
That slavery soon would have to go.
26
Our fathers, blessing to their name,Abolished it early and freely,
And thought Virginia whence it came
Would imitate them duly.
27
But when about manhood I grewHow changed was that opinion,
For slavery was in open view
Fast spreading his dominion.
28
Rooted and fixed in the SouthlandHe grew ambitious and prosperous,
For room and power stretched his hand
And for the future got anxious.
29
The old Missouri CompromiseFor the time obstructed his raid,
Confined her territorial size
To the region his greed had made.
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30
Bound up in his legal limitWith no one to question him there,
He invigorated that spirit
To tyrannize, scorn and to dare.
31
The bad blood of his evil heartFound arteries West and North
To circulate through every part
To scatter, and bring strength forth.
32
To rob more room in spite of law,Led on by evil ambition,
He plunged us all into a war
Upon the Mexican Nation.
33
Our citizens of the old free statesAre now no longer free men,
They all obey as he dictates,
His throne they all defend.
34
His powers reach beyond the South,Far away in the Northern lakes,
With brazen face and saucy mouth
Our laws he alters, makes or breaks.
35
Day after day he is growingIn powers and immunity,
And night after night preparing,
To live throughout eternity.
36
All his vices seen so oftenAnd talked of much more so,
Soon they will embrace and soften
The heart of many a foe.
37
What else then but some mighty blow,Hurried on by valiant hand,
Can this great monster overthrow
And hurl from our good land.
38
Just like a small poisonous tree,Nurtured and kept by foolish hand,
Unnoticed in its infancy
It flourished and weakened the land.
39
The husbandman finds that its fruitIs poisonous to human taste,
Gets his good ax and cuts the root
With all his might and all his haste.
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40
Again I ask what other planCan pull this haughty monster down
And also raise his servant man
From under his merciless frown.
41
The good old Abolitionists,For twenty-seven years or more,
To help this cause worked hardest
Of all that labored before.
42
Like the apostles of old timeThey worked with love and patience,
But what they taught was too sublime
To reach the Nation's seared conscience.
43
Forbearing witness to the truthOf brotherly love and freedom
All men, their kindred, too, forsooth
Poured on them curse and odium.
44
Wherever they went, far or nearIn search of mercy for the slaves
Women and men would laugh and jeer
Or beat their heads with stones and staves.
45
All their lives long, through scorn and pain,For poor humanity they plead,
With faith and courage, but in vain,
For the Nation's conscience was dead.
46
Yes, dead in sin and it to wakeNeeds some blows as well as prayers,
Needs such a blow as men can make
When they put away doubts and fears.
47
You see the works of these good menAvailed this cause no lasting good,
'Tis even farther from the end
Than where in infancy it stood.
48
It is not worth a precious whileTo ponder o'er the politicians,
For they are like the weathers child
Too inconsistent in their missions.
49
But from the holy Church of GodWe should expect a righteous course,
That she would spread the truth abroad
Of freedom pure with all her force.
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50
With that good Bible in her handThe book for right among all men,
This holy Church throughout the land
Slaveholders wrong and lust defend.
51
That rock of justice and mercyOn which the Saviour built her,
She wandered off in heresy
For tyranny, slaves and lucre.
52
“Let us then be up and doing”In the words of freedom's poet,
Leave the priests and statesmen hoading
What the sins of slavery profit.
53
Remember Ossawatomie;Think, too, of that terrible day,
When we went against the enemy
To engage in murderous fray.
54
Just like a cloud they covered the plainArmed and equipped was every man,
They showered volleys of shot like rain
Upon our small and feeble band.
55
Though few in number yet we stoodAnd drove away unnumbered host,
Their slain ones dyed the field in blood
And the victory was our boast.
56
Think of the night they sneaked their wayTo us, unawares, at Black Jack;
The thoughts of that terrible day
Disheartened and turned them back.
57
And as we drove MissouriansBy our valor and devotions,
So can we shatter Virginians
And slavery's institutions.
58
But we will not be all alone,Recruits are waiting on the ground,
Those who suffer, work and mourn
Are ready allies to be found.
59
With them we'll have a vantage groundThe enemy's prop and stronghold,
And will succeed to pull him down
Partially and on the whole.
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60
Judge not that they so long in bondPossess a superstitious fear,
And could nor would not join us on
Against the heavy load they bear.
61
Bound up in the house of bondage,They are armless, helpless and weak,
But just like animals in cage
For open holes they long and seek;
62
Or like strong Sampson of the past,Sightless and meek they thought him weak,
But when good fortune came at last
He vengeance on his tyrants wreaked.
63
So has it been with all mankindWhose lot in slavery was found
They sought the good time to unbind
The galling chains that held them down.
64
The Negro race would do likewise,If chance and help to them would go,
Kept down by law, by men despis'd,
How to be free they do not know.
65
In New York city long agoSome one made known a “Negro Plot”
To raze with fire the city low
And win their freedom on the spot.
66
Longing hard for freedom's riches,They began in Carolina,
Years ago to lay in ashes
Charleston city and its harbor.
67
Nat Turner, the true and the brave,Tired waiting for rights to come,
Aroused and led his brother slave
To the jaws of death for freedom.
68
These plans were nipped just in their budsFor want of outside helping hand,
But yet they show much more than words
That with our band the slave would stand.
69
I was assured by their own mouthSometime before our fight in Kansas,
That if we should go in the South
Their race would never forsake us.
12
70
Yes, hundreds of them I beheld,Called fugitives but were heroes,
For tears would fall to hear them tell
Their stories of flight and of woes.
71
So glad were they to reach free landOff from the vale of human lust,
They gave God thanks with uplift hand
Mindless of hunger, rags and thirst.
72
In moods of pity one would speak,“I run from old Virginia State,
O'er rivers, hills, I come to seek
Some refuge from the worst of fate.
73
“These bruises and scars are marks I broughtFrom the hands of my old master,
Borne down by work the woods I sought,
My sore weary limbs to shelter.
74
“But could not stay there very longFor hounds were soon upon my track,
I took this way with courage strong
To come or die ere I go back.
75
“To rest and sleep day after dayI made my bed in swampy wood,
But all night long I hunt the way
Or ramble round in search of food.”
76
Say to me not that men like theseWould not revolt for slavish fear,
If aid would come they would be pleased
All the horrors of war to bear.
77
Their struggle and their privationFor themselves and for our country,
Merit from this unkind Nation
The patriots richest bounty.
78
In all the wars our country hadAs many historians say,
Unto its guard the blacks did add
Without murmurings and delay.
79
Let us go on and strike the blowNot blacks alone will rise and come,
Others will come who were before
Indifferent as to freedom.
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80
Our timid friends that fear our courseWill then shake off their doubts and fear,
Will fall in line with all their force
Seeking the front and not the rear.
81
We go with gladness, oh! my God,To duty where duty we see,
Easy or hard, home or abroad,
To do and leave the rest to Thee.
At Harper's Ferry Just Before the Attack.
1
The hour, the spot, are here at lastTheir purpose, cause and hope we know,
Our duty is to hold on fast
To all the vows we made before.
2
To such as yield to our demandFor freedom here and everywhere,
In homes of safety let them stand
And all their household comforts spare.
3
Those who refuse us or resist,Be as it may by words or arms,
Enroll their names on death's black list
To meet their dooms at war's alarms.
4
The blood that must be shed to-nightCan never stain the name we bear,
We fight for God's own holy right
Which is to all mankind so dear.
5
Virginia robbed it from a raceFor over two sad hundred years,
Abused and kept it in disgrace
Regardless of entreating tears.
6
Those ancient tears rejoice to seeThis retributive night's advance,
While Negro blood to you, to me,
Is crying aloud for vengeance.
7
Around us stand with cheering handThe ghost of every Negro dead,
Each blesses the freedom we demand
Each bids us press with zeal ahead.
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8
Angels rejoice with gladness, too,While round the throne on high they stand,
To see poor mortal men pursue
The common foe of God and man.
9
Though we are few in numbers nowWe trust the promise Jesus made,
That where a few for good shall bow
His spirit will be there to aid.
10
The saints are singing music sweetAll around the heavenly strand,
To see us here as Christians meet
To help and save our brother man.
11
Oh! Saviour, Angels, Saints, look onWhile we the fathers will obey,
Befriend and comfort them that morn
And in the dust their burdens lay.
12
We open war at once to-nightAnd liberty for all proclaim,
We'll lead from darkness unto light
The weak, the poor, the blind and lame.
13
Before to-morrow's sun displaysIts golden colors in the East,
We'll wake slaveholders in amaze
To breakfast on a bloody feast.
14
My brothers what a holy warIn which we all will soon engage,
It will assert free equal law
Against the tyrants of the age.
15
The broken heart, the tearful eyesThe cheerless face none sought to please,
Will ere the morning sun arise
Have symptoms of a time of ease.
16
The runaways in forest wildsAnd children sold to foreign shore,
Will soon return with happy smiles
To see their parents, friends, once more.
17
The screws, the lashes and the houndsShall no more glut off Negro blood,
Our forward march, our bugle sounds,
Will scatter them as by a flood.
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18
Husband and wife, daughters and son,Forever more shall ne'er be sold,
Together they shall live as one
Till choice or Heaven breaks the fold.
19
The fertile earth shall no more yieldHer fruits for unrequited toil,
The riches of the harvest field
Must be for him who tills the soil.
20
Ye children all of Africa“Possess your soul” and weep no more,
This night will force America
To grant you all you asked of yore.
21
The laws of God your rights ordainWe are the instruments they send—
To cut your way, to break your chain,
And ages long of troubles end.
The Morning Before He Goes to the Gallows.
1
My race of life is almost run,Rings even now the last sad knell,
When I must from this whole world turn
And bid it ever more farewell.
2
Cut off from all my works and plans,To leave my faithful loving ones,
No more to hold my good wife's hands,
Nor see my daughters and my sons.
3
This heart must moulder in the graveAnd beat no more for fellow man,
Can no more move these hands to save
And purify a single land.
4
The day, oh! Lord, I long to seeIs ever hidden from my sight,
To see Thy children all set free
And breathe the air of human right.
5
But let me not my fate bemoanOh, Father dear and King above,
Thy will be done and not my own
With me, my work and all I love.
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6
To know and do Thy will belowI lived and am prepared to die,
To serve thy creatures high or low
Where they dwell beneath the sky.
7
It was to wipe the crime away,Forever more of man to man,
That I pursued, day after day,
The cause and charge for which I stand.
8
I go before Thy judgment seatWhere all my feelings, thoughts, are known,
With naught of fear or shame to meet
The sentence of Thy righteous throne
9
But send Thy holy spirit, Lord,To comfort, strengthen those I leave,
Teach them to know that Thou art God
In Thee to trust and to believe.
10
Make plain Thy ways, make known Thy will,That they may see, walk and obey.
Urge, quicken them 'gainst slavery still
To battle till the free-born day.
| The Views and Meditations of John Brown | |