Staunton Spectator

The trial of Capt. Brown at Charlestown has resulted as everybody anticipated it would, and the prisoner has been sentenced to be hung on the 2nd of December. It is probable, however, that the case will be taken up to the Court of Appeals on a point of law, and if the objection is sustained a new trial will be ordered. We, for one, shall not regret any delay in the execution of the sentence which the laws authorized, as we wish the country to see that the State of Virginia is acting calmly and deliberately, and not under the influence of passion or alarm. So far, the proceedings have been conducted in admirable style, and Judge Parker is commended on all hands for his dignity and impartiality. We are glad that even the whims of the prisoner have been treated with the utmost forebearance. The State guarantees a fair trial to every man accused of crime, and that Brown had one he is obliged himself to confess, notwithstanding his complaints at the outset. In his address to the Court, when called upon as usual to say why sentence should not be pronounced, he remarked: "I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received at my trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been more generous than I expected."

The prisoner complained, however, of his sentences, because he was convicted of capital offenses--treason, murder and conspiracy with negroes--when he only intended peacefully to run off slaves; and if lives were sacrificed it was the fault of those who interfered with him! Such an apology is, of course, very absurd, but why did Brown provide so many rifles and pikes if he did not contemplate violence and bloodshed? He was, no doubt, deceived in reference to the assistance which he expected, both from the free and slave States. He calculated upon large accessions to his force from the North, as Cook admits, and the fact that, after all his preparations for months beforehand, he could muster only seventeen white men and five negroes, goes far to prove that the number of such fanatics,is very small. He also, according to his own statement, expected assistance from Maryland, Virginia, and other slave States. Upon what this expectation was founded does not appear.--It may be that he had read in the newspapers the charges of abolitionism, or unsoundness upon the slavery question, preferred against each other by the two political parties, and that these criminations and re- criminations, which are well understood here, really induced him to believe that hundreds of white men in the slave States were prepared to join his standard.--Whether this be so or not, it is high time that the sort of party warfare alluded to were discontinued. It is certainly calculated to do great injury, by giving aid and comfort to outside fanaticism.

A letter from Charlestown reports Cook as saying that the Harper's Ferry enterprise only failed through the cowardice of the negro abolitionists Fred Douglass. That individual was to have arrived at the schoolhouse with a large band early on Monday, but Cook says, "I conveyed the arms there for him, and waited till nearly night, but the coward didn't come."

Fred replies to the charge of cowardice, in a letter dated Canada West, Oct. 31. He says:-- "I have always been more distinguished for running than fighting--and tried by the Harper's Ferry insurrection test, I am most miserably deficient in courage--even more so than Cook when he deserted his brave old Captain and fled to the mountains. To this extent, Mr. Cook is entirely right, and will meet no contradiction from me or from anybody else. But wholly, grievously and unaccountably wrong is Mr. Cook when he asserts that I promised to be present in person at the Harper's Ferry insurrection.--I may have been guilty, I have never made a promise so rash and wild as this. The taking of Harper's Ferry was a measure never encouraged by my word or by my votes, at any time or place; my wisdom or my cowardice, has not only kept me from Harper's Ferry's, but has equally kept me from making any promise to go there." The time has not come, he says, for him to make a full statement of what he knows about the affair. He has no apology for keeping out of the way of United States Marshals at this time. If he has committed any offence it was done in New York, and he is willing to be tried there; but he has "insuperable objections to be caught by the hands of Mr. Buchanan, and "bagged by Gov. Wise."

Mrs. Lydia Child, the philanthropic and popular writer, is presumed to be the lady referred to by the Herald's Richmond correspondent in the following passage, dated October 28th:

"A letter was received from a Boston lady asking the Governor's permission to go to Charlestown to nurse old Brown, and pledging her honor, while she was a strong abolitionist, that she would take no improper advantage of the privilege. The letter contained a note addressed to Brown himself, which she requested the Governor to forward to him after he had read it. Both were unquestionably the best production I have ever seen from the pen of a woman and woman-like, they breathed all the sentiments of sympathy, kindness and affection that martyrdom in a holier cause might be supposed to elicit.--She avowed herself frankly a thorough abolitionist, while disapproving the means resorted to by Brown to accomplish the ends sought for. One thing was apparent from these productions, and that was she truly sincere in her opinions; and the Governor could not help expressing regret that so accomplished a person should suffer under such an illusion as seemed to have possessed her. He will grant her permission, and guaranty her perfect immunity from any violence or indignity in the State. But as to the privilege of acting nurse to Brown, that is a matter in the discretion of his physician at Charlestown, and he may admit or exclude her at will. The presumption is, however, that she will have entire liberty to exercise her humane office in behalf of that `brave veteran,' as she designated old Brown."