Staunton Spectator

Meetings were held at various places in the North, on Friday, to express sympathy for John Brown. The meeting in Philadelphia was rather stormy. Speeches were made by Lucretia Mott, Dr. Furness and others, during which there were strong demonstrations of displeasure on the part of a portion of the audience with the sentiments uttered. The disorder culminated during the address of a colored preacher. Cheers for Virginia, for the United States, and for Gov. Wise were called for and given with a will, and groans for John Brown followed for a considerable time.

Several meetings of sympathizers were also held in New York. The meetings very generally expressed sympathy with Brown--hoped that his death would be the means of breaking down slavery--congratulation at his readiness to die for liberty, and an emphatic endorsement of the doctrine that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church." At Dr. Cheever's church there was a fair attendance, though many of the audience were attracted by curiosity, rather than by any hearty confidence in the occasion and its claims.

At Boston Brown's execution attracted considerable crowds about the newspaper offices as the evening editions were issued, and several individuals promenaded the streets with crape attached to their persons. Religious services were held in several of the colored churches the most part of the day. Otherwise there were no manifestations unusual to everyday life in the city. Tremont Temple was crowded at night to commemorate the hanging, and speeches were made by Garrison, Pierpont and others.

The church bells were toiled at Worcester, Massachusetts, from 10 o'clock to 12. In the evening a great meeting was held in Mechanic's Hall, which was addressed by prominent gentlemen of the city, clergymen and others. It was the largest meeting that has been held in a long time. Three thousand persons were in the hall. At the close a collection was taken up for Brown's family, which was very successful.

At Manchester, New Hampshire, the sympathizers met with very little sympathy. An attempt was made to toll the obsequies of Old Brown from the City Hall bell. It had struck four or five times when Mayor Horrington appeared among the sympathizers in the belfry, and ordered them to desist. One of them refused, when the mayor dropped him through the scuttle by the most convenient mode, and the bell didn't ring any more.

At Providence, R. I., the sympathizers held a large meeting, at which speeches were made, &c. The feeling of the larger part of the community, it is said, was strongly against the meeting.

At Syracuse, N. Y., the City Hall was densely packed with citizens Friday evening, who listened for over three hours to speeches expressing sympathy for John Brown and his family. The City Hall bell was tolled 63 times, the strokes corresponding with Brown's age. The sympathy for Brown and his family is very strong here.

A meeting of over five thousand people was held at Cleveland, Ohio, Friday night, and many speeches were let off. Strong resolutions were adopted. The hall was dressed in mourning.

We have never entertained a doubt that the condition of the Southern slaves is the best and most desirable for the negroes, as a class, that they have ever been found in or are capable of. There is abundant evidence to prove that the black man's lot as a slave, is vastly preferable to that of his free brethren at the North. A Boston paper of recent date tells of a likely negro man, twenty-eight years old, who purchased his freedom in Virginia and removed to Boston.--He is sober, industrious and willing to work, but instead of meeting with sympathy from the Abolitionists, he had been deceived, cheated and driven from their presence. The writer describes him as bemoaning his hard lot, weeping like a child, lamenting that he had ever left his former master, and declaring that if he had the means he would gladly return to the old Virginia plantation. And this, we have reason to believe, is not an isolated case, but the experience of a large majority of emancipated slaves and run-away negroes in the Northern States.

But the most remarkable testimony on the subject, is borne by no less a personage than the notorious Henry Ward Beecher. In a recent sermon, Mr. Beecher says the free colored people at the North "are almost without education, with but little sympathy for ignorance." "They cannot even ride in the cars of our city railroads. They are snuffed at in the house of God, or tolerated with ill-disguised disgust." The negro cannot be employed as a stone mason, bricklayer, or carpenter. "There is scarcely a carpenter's shop in New York in which a journeyman would continue to work if a black man was employed in it." There is scarcely one of the common industries of life in which he can engage. "He is crowded down, down, down, through the most menial callings to the bottom of society." "We heap upon them," says Beecher, moral obloquy more atrocious than that which the master heaps upon the slave. And notwithstanding all this, we lift ourselves up to talk to the Southern people about the rights and liberties of the human soul, and especially the African soul."

Every word of this is no doubt true, and yet even Mr. Beecher is an gent of the "under ground railroad," actively engaged in fomenting dissatisfaction among slaves, and stealing them away from the section where they have protection and sympathy, only that they may become, in other regions, objects of atrocious moral obloquy. Such is the philanthropy of Abolitionism!

The intelligent, christian slave-holder at the South is the best friend of the negro. He does not regard his bonds-men as mere chattel property, but as human beings to whom he owes duties. While the Northern Pharisee will not permit a negro to ride on the city railroads, Southern gentlemen and ladies are seen every day, side by side, in cars and coaches, with their faithful servants. Here the honest black man is not only protected by the laws and public sentiment, but he is respected by the community as truly as if his skin were white. Here there are ties of genuine friendship and affection between whites and blacks, leading to an interchange of all the comities of life. The slave nurses his master in sickness, and sheds tears of genuine sorrow at his grave. When sick himself, or overtaken by the infirmity of age, he is kindly cared for, and when he dies the whites grieve, not for the loss of so much property, but for the death of a member of the family.--This is the relation which slaves generally, and domestic servants universally, sustain to their white masters.

There is a vast deal of foolish talk about the delights of freedom and the hardships of slavery. In one sense no one, white or black, is free in this world. The master orders his slave to work in a certain field, when he perhaps would prefer to go elsewhere--this is slavery. But is the master free to do as he pleases! Not so.--He is driven by as stern a necessity to labor with his hands or confine himself to business, as the slave ever feels. We are all therefore slaves.--But when the man, whatever his complexion, recognizes the fact that his lot is ordained of God, and cheerfully acquiesces, he becomes a free man in the only true sense. He then chooses to do and to bear what otherwise might be irksome and intolerable.

The Charleston Mercury is extensively disgusted at the broad and pathetic farce that has been played off before the public about the hanging of that hoary villain, `Old Brown.'" The "marches and counter-marches of the ponies and cessation of ponies--Governor Wise, the energetic, and his troops," &c. &c., have stirred the bile of that journal to its lowest depths. This is certainly "the unkindest cut of all." But in the midst of its retching the Mercury finds consolidation in the growth of disunion sentiments in Virginia. It says:

"We are happy to perceive a decided change in the tone of the public press of Virginia, indicative, we trust, of a change also in her people. The Richmond Whig no longer advocates a union of Southern Whigs and Black Republicans to control the House of Representatives or win the Presidential election. The Richmond Examiner no longer urges that the South should be ignored in the Charleston Convention, and the Democratic party at the North be alone relied on to vindicate these rights, although they will not, or dare not, avow them. Hunter and Douglas do not make ugly faces from columns, in kaleidoscope harmony. Spoils and President-making, removed to an advantageous distance by the decided overthrow of the Democratic party throughout the Northern States, seem now subordinate to Southern safety and honor. The signs are cheering that Virginia will be herself again. The boast of one of her presses that `there are no disunionists in Virginia,' if true six months ago, we trust is now a thing of history, never again to be asserted, until the South is safe and free in the Union, or independent out of it."

Resolutions have been offered in the South Carolina House of Representatives looking to the establishment of a Southern Confederacy.

The following account of the last hours and execution of John Brown, was despatched from Charlestown, by telegraph, on Friday afternoon, the 2nd inst.

At an early hour the town was in more than usual stir, even for the stirring times that have fallen upon this neighborhood. Soon the movements of the military drew all the citizens of the place, and all others who had been able to gain admittance to the town, to the vicinity of the place assigned for the execution.

Brown's Interview with the Other Prisoners.
The prisoner was brought out of jail at eleven o'clock. Before leaving he bid adieu to all his fellow prisoners and was very affectionate to all except Cook. He charged Cook with having deceived and misled him in relation to the support he was to receive from the slaves. He said he was led by him to believe they were ripe for insurrection, but he had found that his representations were false. Cook denied the charge, and made but little reply to Brown. The prisoner then told the Sheriff he was ready, when his arms were pinioned, and he walked to the door apparently calm and cheerful. He wore a black slouched hat, and the same clothes worn during his trial. As he came out he was taken under guard of the military. Six companies of infantry and one troop of horse, with Gen. Talliaferro and his entire staff, were deployed in front of the jail.

The Execution.
At the door of the jail an open wagon with a pine box, in which was a fine oak coffin, was waiting for him. He looked around and spoke to several persons whom he recognised, and, walking down the steps, was assisted to enter the wagon and took his seat on the box containing his coffin along with Jailor Avis. He looked with interest on the fine military display, but made no remark. The wagon moved off as soon as he had taken his seat, flanked with two files of riflemen in close order.

On reaching the field the military had already full possession, and pickets were stationed at various points. The citizens were kept back at the point of the bayonet fro m taking any position except that assigned them--nearly a quarter of a mile from the scaffold. Through the determined persistence of Dr. Rawlings, of Frank Leslie's paper, the order excluding the press was partially rescinded, and the reporters were assigned a position near the General's Staff. The prisoner walked up the steps firmly and was the first man on the gallows. Jailor Avis and Sheriff Campbell stood by his side, and after shaking hands and bidding an affectionate adieu, he thanked them for their kindness. They then put the cap over his face and the rope around his neck. Mr. Avis asked him to step forward on the step. He replied, "you must lead me, as I cannot see."

The rope now being adjusted, the military order was given. The soldiers marched and counter-marched and took their position as if an enemy was in sight. Nearly ten minutes were thus occupied, the prisoner standing meanwhile, Mr. Avis inquired if he was not tired. Brown replied--"No, not tired; but don't keep me waiting longer than necessary." The arrangements of the military having been completed, at fifteen minutes past eleven the trap fell. A slight grasping of the hands and twitching of the muscles was visible, and then all was quiet. The body was several times examined and his pulse did not cease beating for 35 minutes. It was then cut down and placed in the coffin and conveyed under a military escort to the depot, and there put in a car to be conveyed to Harper's Ferry's by special train, at 4 o'clock.

The whole arrangements were carried out with a precision and military strictness that was most annoying. The general conviction is everywhere entertained that the rumors of the intended rescue were altogether an egregious hoax.

Incidents Previous to the Execution
This morning Capt. Brown executed an instrument empowering Sheriff Campbell to administer on all property of his in this State, with directions to pay over the proceeds of the sale of his weapons, if received, to his widow and children.

Sheriff Campbell bid Brown farewell in the cell. He returned him thanks for his kindness. Brown was then taken to the cell of the negroes, Copeland and Green. He told them to stand up like men and not betray their friends, then handed to each a quarter of a dollar, saying that he had no more use for money, and bid them good bye. They made no remark except to return his salutation. He next visited the cell in which Cook and Coppie were confined, chained together. To Cook he said, "you have made false statements."

Brown--"Why, by stating that I sent you to Harper's Ferry."

Cook--"Did you not tell me in Pittsburg to come to Harper's Ferry and see if Forbes had made disclosures?"

Brown--"No sir. You know that I protested against your coming."

Cook closed the conversation by replying--"Captain Brown, we remember differently," at the same time dropping his head.

Brown then turned to Coppie and said: "Coppie, you also have made false statements, but I am glad to hear you have contradicted them. Stand up like a man."

He then handed Coppie a quarter, shook him and Cook by the hand and left the cell.

He then returned to Stevens' cell and spoke kindly to him.

Stevens said--"Good bye, Captain; I know you are going to a better land."

Brown--"Yes, I know I am." He then counselled Stevens to firmness, warned him against betraying his friends, and closed by also presenting him with a quarter.

He did not visit Haslett's cell, having always persisted in denying any knowledge of him.

On his way to the scaffold, Mr. Sadler, the undertaker, who was in the wagon with him, remarked--

"Captain Brown, you are a game man."

Brown--"Yes, I was so trained up. It was one of the lessons of my mother. But it is hard to part from friends, even when newly made." Brown continued the conversation by remarking on the beauty of the country, which he said "he never had the pleasure of seeing before."--On reaching the gallows field, he said--"Why are none but the military allowed within the enclosure. I am sorry the citizens have been kept out." Observing Mr. Hunter and Mayor Green standing by, he said to them--"Gentlemen, good bye," his voice not faltering in the least.

Whilst on the scaffold Sheriff Campbell asked him if he would take a handerkerchief in his hand and drop it as a signal when he was ready.--Brown replied. "No, I do not want it. But do not detain me longer than is actually necessary."

Military Arrangements
. It is understood that a portion of each of the military companies now assembled here are to have leave of absence, but that all are to return and be present at the execution of the other prisoners on the 16th.

The Remains of Brown
A despatch from Harper's Ferry, dated 10 o'clock, P. M., Friday night, says: The remains of Brown arrived here in a special train at 9 o'clock, and will be taken on by Mrs. Brown and her friends, by express direct to Albany, New York. It is their desire to avoid all public demonstration, and it is determined that the body shall not be visible anywhere on the route to North Elba, New York, where it will be interred in the family burying ground. Mrs. Brown acknowledges very warmly the courtesy and kind treatment extended to her by the citizens and authorities of Virginia.

At a called meeting of the State Opposition Committee, held in their room in the Whig building, the night of 28th November, 1859, the following proceedings were had.

Whereas, the State Central Committee of the Opposition party of Virginia have recommended that a State Convention be held in the city of Richmond, on the 14th day of December next, for the purpose of suggesting to the country at large some basis on which Union loving men of all sections might combine, to form a constitutional, national and conservative party, to secure the rights and to preserve the Union of the States, and to supersede the party now in power: And, whereas, the recent invasion of our State at Harper's Ferry, and other hostile demonstrations have produced a state of feeling, which, if not incompatible with, at least endangers, a calm and reflective survey of the difficulties and embarrassments which now disturb the peace and harmony of the country; trusting that the lapse of a short period of time may bring forth a distinct demonstration of a sounder and more conservative sentiment--desiring to use all honorable means to tranquilize the disturbances which now so unhappily threaten the general weal and public welfare--and ardently wishing to bring about some national organization, by virtue of the supremacy of which the Union of the States and the States of the Union shall be and remain as they were contemplated by the Constitution and its framers:--Now, therefore, the State Central Committee of the Opposition party of Virginia do recommend that the holding of the said Convention be postponed until the 22nd day of February next.

The Committee are aware and regret that the time between now and the 14th of December is short, yet there is abundant time to inform all the delegates of the proposed change, so as not to subject them to inconvenience; and they are also aware that most of the counties of the State have deputed delegates to attend, on the 14th of December, but this is not a matter of important consideration, as the same delegates will of course attend as delegates, on the 22nd day of February next. Believing that, at this particular time, the people would be reluctant to leave their homes, and, under all the circumstances, deeming it wise to postpone the holding of the Convention, the Committee do earnestly recommend the adoption of the foregoing suggestions, and invoke all the counties of the State, which have not appointed delegates to do so between now and the 22nd day of February, and thus let the Opposition party of Virginia form a nucleus, around which Union-loving men may gather, and by which the Constitution may be preserved.

The New York Observer speaking of the sermons on Thanksgiving Day, says: "Of the five hundred pulpits of this city, we believe that not five uttered a word of approbation of the John Brown invasion of Virginia. We do not speak with positive knowledge of any great number. But we know that the radical pulpit is the noisiest and runs the most readily into the newspapers: that the sympathizers with the conspiracy are blatant in their denunciations of the law that has the murderers in its righteous hand.

"Of the five hundred preachers in this city we have heard of but TWO, who ventured to give the sanction of their pulpits to the support of the highest crime perpetrated in this country since the treason of Benedict Arnold. One of these preachers, of course, was the man who curses from Union Square, and the other is still so obscure that we will not give him the notoriety he would be glad to get by a notice in the newspapers. On the other hand, we hear from a large number of the most commanding, influential, popular and intelligent pulpits of this city, that they bore explicit, uniform, earnest and unanimous testimony against the conspiracy in all its features, designs, plans and acts. And with one voice they consented to the sentence of death pronounced upon the conspirators as just and necessary."

The Christian Observer of Philadelphia gives the same report of the sermons preached in that city on Thanksgiving Day Even the Rev. Dr. Bacon, of New Haven, who, if we mistake not, was a Sharp's rifle man in the days of the Kansas trouble, has undergone a reaction. In his Thanksgiving Day sermon he took the opportunity sharply to rebuke the unmanly, unpatriotic, unchristian spirit manifested at the North in regard to the Harper's Ferry's affair.

A letter from Charlestown, on Thursday, the 1st inst., says: At day break this morning the reveille sounded from the head quarters of twenty different companies, arousing those who retired late rather earlier than comfort would warrant. The morning was spent in counter- marching, drilling, and rifle-practice, and nothing of special interest occurred until 12 o'clock, when a carriage accompanied by twelve mounted guards was dispatched for Harper's Ferry to bring up Mrs. Brown, the wife of the prisoner, who arrived there last evening. She was accompanied by a gentleman and lady, two of her relatives, whom rumor soon announced to be the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and lady, but like rumor generally in this region was altogether unfounded. The directions given to the guard, however, was not to allow them to accompany her--that the order of the Governor was to give her permission alone to enter the town, and all others must be excluded.

At 3 o'clock a dress parade of the entire military here assembled, and eight companies were directed to form in front of the jail, from whence they were ordered to clear an open space of about three hundred yards on each side, forming a hollow square with all the pomp of a grand military reception. The four brass howitzers were stationed in the centre of the square, and there seemed to be an evident intention to appal the poor woman with the military majesty of the Commonwealth of Virginia. All the citizens were compelled to fall back, and there was even some disposition to prevent them from standing in their own doors to witness the spectacle. At half-past 3 o'clock, the cavalcade from the Ferry, surrounding the carriage containing Mrs. Brown, and Captain Moore, of the Black Hawk Rangers, who had been delegated to accompany her, arrived in front of the Court House, when the military escort reported to General Taliaferro the accomplishment of their mission.

During this scene Mrs. Brown seemed calm and collected, but bore on her features the evidence of an internal anguish that was unmistakable. She was met at the steps of the jail by Sheriff Campbell, who took her arm and escorted her within the walls to take her last interview with her husband.

The interview lasted from four o'clock in the afternoon until near eight o'clock in the evening, when Gen. Taliaferro informed them that the period allowed them had elapsed, and that she must prepare for her departure to the Ferry. The carriage was again brought up to the door, the military took possession of the square, and with an escort of twenty mounted men, the cortege moved off, Captain Moore, of the Montgomery Guards, accompanying her.

The interview was, I learn, not a very affecting one, but rather of a practical character with regard to the future of herself and children, and the arrangement and settlement of business affairs. On first meeting they kissed and affectionately embraced, and Mrs. Brown shed a few tear, but immediately checked her feelings.--They stood embraced and she sobbing for nearly five minutes, and he was apparently unable to speak. The prisoner only gave way for a moment and was soon calm and collected, and remained firm throughout the interview. At the close they shook hands but did not embrace, and as they parted he said, "God bless you and the children," Mrs. Brown replied, "God have mercy on you, and continued calm until she left the room, when she remained in tears a few moments and then prepared to depart. The interview took place in the parlor of Captain Alvis, and the prisoner was free from manacles of any kind.

During the course of the conversation Mrs. Brown asked him if he had heard that Gerrit Smith had become insane, and had been sent to an Asylum at Utica. He replied that he had read of it in the papers, and was sorry to hear it, but immediately changed the subject.

Brown dictated his will, which directed that all his property should go to his wife, with the exception of a few presents and bequests which he made. On the way to Charlestown, Mrs. Brown informed Capt. Moore that she had not seen her husband since last June, about six months ago, and that they had been separated, with the exception of a few days, for nearly two years.--They had, however, corresponded, and she always felt a deep interest in the cause in which he was engaged.

There was an impression that the prisoner might possibly be furnished with a weapon or with strychnine by his wife, and before the interview her person was searched by the wife of the jailor, and a strict watch kept over them during the time they were together. Mrs. Brown has undoubtedly been received with every courtesy and respect, and her coming gives general satisfaction to the community.