Staunton Spectator November 1859 Newspaper Transcriptions

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 1, c. 2

The following narrative of Capt. H. Clay Pate, now of Petersburg, Va., will be interesting to our readers, as it gives some of the antecedents of Capt. Brown of Harper s Ferry notoriety.--It is dated Petersburg, Oct. 21, 1859:

In the latter part of May, 1856, John Brown and his sons murdered five pro-slavery men on Pottawotamie creek in Kansas, in one night; they were old Mr. Doyle and two sons, Allen Wilkerson, a member of the first Legislature of Kansas, and a German named Wm. Sherman.- -These murders were done in cold blood, without any excuse, except that the victims were in favor of slavery for Kansas; and their only justification was Gerrit Smith s doctrine that "slavery must go out in blood."

I took the field with my company of 25 men and joined the U.S. Deputy Marshal, T. W. Hays, who was in search of Brown and his sons, to arrest them for their atrocious crimes, committed on Pottawotamie creek. Search was made for him in the neighborhood of Paola; his house was found, but not himself. In his house were arms, and evidence of lawlessness, like those found on his place near Harper's Ferry.

On discovering that Brown had left his home and haunts, the Marshal dispatched troops in various directions, in search of the murderers.

I was sent to the neighborhood of Prairie City, a point on the Santa Fe road about 45 miles from the Missouri line, and on Saturday night, the last day of May, camped at Black Jack, where there is a spring, and other conveniences for cooking, to rest over Sunday. Squads were sent out to scour the country, and find traces of Brown. I had been assured that honest free-State men all over the Territory would assist in Brown s capture, in which I was deceived.--I am sorry to say, however, that some of my scouts transcended their orders, and under the influence of liquor, perhaps, committed some indiscretions at least. Taking advantage of these, Brown, who was concealed in the neighborhood, excited all the inhabitants against my command, enlisted them in his service, and in forty-eight hours, had banded together some hundred and odd persons to overpower it.

I was attacked at sunrise Monday morning, the 2nd of June, by a company equal in numbers to my own, under the command of Captain Shore, whom we put to flight, and who afterwards left the field and incurred the censure of Brown, who charged the Captain with cowardice, in the New York Tribune.

Five of my men were wounded and disabled in the early part of the fight, as many more deserted, and after resisting the attack for over three hours, and almost exhausting our ammunition--seeing reinforcements of the enemy arriving every hour--and knowing we were surrounded, I determined to seek an interview with the commander--not even dreaming he was Brown, or I should never have done so. My object was two fold. 1st. I looked for help to arrive every moment, and wished to gain time.--2nd. I desired to apologize for and disclaim any unwarrantable conduct of my scouts, feeling that duty required my apology and disclaimer for the same--above all, I wished to be right. I expected to die, and possibly go down with every gallant fellow who stood by me; and it would have been a consolation to know that I had done all in my power to avoid bloodshed, and if no honorable compromise could be effected, after making proper concessions, I was ready and willing to die in defense of my country, and in the maintenance of the trust it had confided to my keeping. I never harbored the thought of surrender. In addition to this, my men had not eaten anything since the previous afternoon, and two of the wounded, whom I supposed dying, needed attention; they begged, in touching tones, for water and help. It was under these circumstances, and with the object just stated, that I sent out a flag of truce and asked an interview. It was granted. I went out under the flag, by the request of Capt. Brown, who would hear no proposition or explanation, but demanded my surrender. I told him he must wait fifteen minutes for my answer, and moved with the intention of returning to renew the defense, when he told me I was his prisoner; and at that moment his sons rose up from the grass where they were concealed, and forcibly took me, while the white flag was still floating over my head. Not content with this act of treachery, I and my gallant aid, Henry James, were put in front of a squad of men, so that my company could not fire and protect themselves without killing us, and seeing no alternative but instant death, being utterly surrounded, they threw down their arms. I never gave the command to surrender, and never would have done it, although it was demanded of me under penalty.--I was a prisoner and did not intend to open my mouth, preferring "to die and make no sign."--I did not compliment Brown s bravery, for I could not consider him truly brave, who would take one treacherously, when he had four to one, and every imaginable advantage on his side; for we were in a settlement of free-soilers exclusively, with an exception or two, and as it turned out, thirty or forty miles from any assistance.

This is as correct a statement as I can make in brief--there being enough matter in the affair for a book, which I am in no spirit to write now, and I would not have come before the pubic at this time, but that the misstatements of Northern have been copied into Southern papers. I expect slander and injustice from the Abolition press as long as I live, judging from the past; but when they come home to me, no one can justly impute blame to myself for defending my fair fame, which I ever intend to do "without favor or affection."

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 2

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 5

Messrs. Editors:--Now that the smoke of war has blown over, and we have seen what twenty-five determined fanatics can do in the way of conquering a Virginia town and taking a United States Arsenal, let us turn to the more peaceful occupations of our Staunton beaux. In doing so we do not feel that we wrest the minds of your readers too forcibly by drawing them from war and bloodshed to courtship and marriage; because, however different the two kinds of work may appear at first sight, when you come to examine them closely, you will find not a few points of resemblance. What is the difference between storming a town and storming a heart, or laying seige to one or the other? Are not the same qualities called into requisition? Is not the same nerve required to approach the woman you intend to marry, that is needed to carry a masked battery? You walk up to both ignorant whether the garrison is provided with means of defence, and it is only when you have gone too far to retreat that you find out its strength, and your heart or your body (according to the kind of fortress you storm) is shattered.

But it may be said, a beau who has figured in a great many flirtations, approaches his ladie love with that air of easy confidence and assurance, which betokens victory. Does not the hero of a hundred fights do the same? Both have lost that fear and trepidation which they felt when they first smelt powder or hearts.

Having, as I flatter myself, justified what I'm about to do, I proceed to give a specimen of the Staunton beau, with many fears as to my power of delineating the character, even with the assistance of Addison, from whom I intend to draw a little. That great writer, in one of his essays, says, there are a class of people who depend upon the first person they meet for their conversation during the day, and it is grave or gay as they hear of a marriage or death. This language is rather too strong to describe our Staunton beau, for while he is human and allows himself to be swayed in the least degree imaginable by what he hears, yet he is too much of a philosopher to waste much of his time in discussing any very grave subject.

To him we are indebted for that noble philosophy which teaches us to be satisfied with little--I mistake, Diogenes was the inventor, he the perfector; the former was content with a tub and the sun, the latter with fine clothes and gas. We do not know much about the table of Diogenes, though nothing more natural than to think he made up for the hard time he had in the tub by a good dinner, at least that's the way the perfector of his science argues, and he discusses the eatables with the air of a connoisseur. In fact it is by confining his mind to the necessaries of life, such as dress and eatables, that he shows his philosophy. Why, says he, should we puzzle our heads about abstractions?--"enough for the day, is the evil thereof: if my coat don't fit me or my dinner aint cooked to a turn, its enough to distress me, without thinking about Harper's Ferry riots, &c." Our friend is loud in his praise of the inventor of thermometers, for he says he can now discuss every shade of weather, a pleasure from which men of our turn of mind were debarred before his time. But I have taken too much of your space already, and will have to defer analyzing this curious animal to another issue.

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 1

Every writer occasionally feels the want expressed by Lord Byron in the opening stanza of one of his celebrated poems, and breathes a sigh for a "hero." Under the pleasure of necessity the noble bard took his "ancient friend," that graceless scamp, "Don Juan." We, in common with the entire newspaper fraternity, are disposed to seize greedily upon the veteran leader of the Harper's Ferry insurgents, and turn a paragraph upon "Old Brown"--commonly called "Ossawotamie." Old Brown is emphatically the celebrity of the day, and he will inevitably continue to be talked about and written about even after he drops from the gallows into the grave. We want to get the benefit of "Old Brown" while he is going, and as he is very nearly gone we are almost compelled to use him a little this week.

We regret that there should be such eagerness to make way with the distinguished chief of the army of invasion. We consider it bad policy for more reasons than one. In the first place the demand for summary vengeance will give some color of pretense to the claim of martyrdom which Captain Brown is disposed to set up, and which his friends at the North will assert for him. The moral effect at the North would be much better, if, instead of manifesting so much hot haste" to inflict merited punishment upon the culprits, the justice were meted out to them with cool and calm deliberation, allowing them a fair and impartial trial, not only all that the law would entitle them to, but much that they might desire themselves, but not deserve. To hurry "Old Brown" to the gallows, even after his conviction, will, in our opinion, be a grave error.--It looks too much as if the great State of Virginia was in great trepidation, lest in spite of the bristling bayonets of a whole regiment of soldiers surrounding his prison, "Old Brown," battered to pieces with balls and bleeding from sabre wounds as he is, should rally his lacerated confederates, break through the iron grates of his dungeon, raise again the standard of insurrection, and fight his way to liberty. The effect upon all who have participated in or connived at the conspiracy would be much better if the soldiers were disbanded, and Captain Brown were kept caged for a few weeks by the jailor of Jefferson, just to satisfy all concerned that the people of Virginia have not been frightened out of their wits by the crazy enterprise of a few blinded fanatics.

In the third place, we protest against the premature hanging of "Ossawotamie," because the newspapers have not yet exhausted the supply of paragraphs which he will afford daily as long as he is permitted to live. "Old Brown" makes new developments every day, but "dead men tell no tales." While he survives every editor feels it to be a solemn duty to prick him with his pen and slice him with his scissors, for his own amusement and the gratification of the community, but the chivalry which belongs to the profession would forbid any interference with his bones after they are consigned to mother earth Then, bad as "Old Brown" is, no editor will relish the work of heaping obloquy upon his memory. We feel a professional interest, therefore, in the prolongations of Capt. Brown's days, until something else occurs to furnish abundant pabulum for voracious gentlemen of the press.

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 1

A gentleman of this county has received through the Post Office, a circular from the New York Tribune office, setting forth the merits of that paper and appealing for assistance in extending its circulation. To cap the climax of assurance, several copies of the Weekly Tribune, containing an offensive article on the Harper's Ferry conspiracy, have been sent to the same address, as a specimen of what the paper is.--"Horace Greeley & Co." will perhaps be surprised to learn that the gentleman upon whose assistance they have counted, is a large slaveholder and a firm believer in the blessings of our "patriarchal institution."

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 1

Some Northern papers which condemn Brown's conduct at Harper's Ferry, still seek to mitigate his crime by asserting that he was made desperate and almost crazy by the treatment he received in Kansas. He was, however, no peaceful settler in that Territory, but went there for a bloody purpose, and thus brought his sufferings upon himself. Moreover, his admirer and associate in Kansas, James Redpath, says in reference to the recent conspiracy: "It was not a 'mad idea,' concocted at Fair in Ohio, but a mighty purpose, born of religious convictions, which he nourished in his heart for half a life time."

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 1, c. 1

The account of the trial at Charlestown which we publish, will be read with interest.-- Every citizen of the State must feel gratified at the calm manner in which the proceedings are conducted, under circumstances well calculated to inflame the Court and jury as well as other members of the community. The prisoner and his friends, however, will of course deny the fairness of the trial.

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 3

The examination of the Harper's Ferry's conspirators before the County Court of Jefferson took place at Charlestown on Tuesday last.--At half-past 10 o'clock the Sheriff was directed to bring in the prisoners, who were conducted from jail under guard of eighty armed men. A guard was also stationed around the Court House, their bayonets bristling on all sides.

Charles B. Harding, Esq., Attorney for the county, was assisted by Andrew Hunter, counsel for the Commonwealth.

The prisoners were brought in amidst profound silence. Brown and Edwin Coppee were manacled together. Brown seemed weak and haggard, with his eyes swollen from the effects of the wounds on his head. Coppee is uninjured. Stevens seemed less injured than Brown but looked haggard and depressed.--He has also a number of wounds on the head.

The Court inquired if the prisoners had counsel, whereupon Brown stated that he had none, and had not been able to advise with one. The Governor of Virginia, he said, had given him assurance of a fair trial, but he was unable to attend to it. If they wanted his blood they could have it without the mockery of a trial. His health was insufficient. There were mitigating circumstances which he wished to urge, if a fair trial were allowed.

The Court assigned C. J. Faulkner and Lawson Botts as counsel for the prisoners. Mr. Faulkner at first objected to serving, and addressed the Court in reference to the matter. After further remarks by Brown and others, it was agreed, however, that Messrs. Faulkner and Botts should act. Witnesses were then examined, and the Court remanded the prisoners for trial before the County Court.

On Wednesday, the Grand Jury of the Circuit Court returned indictments against the prisoners: First, for conspiracy with negroes to create an insurrection; second, for treason against the Commonwealth; third, for murder.

The prisoners were brought into Court accompanied by a body of armed men. They passed along through the street and entered the Court House without the slightest demonstration on the part of the people. Captain Brown looked somewhat better, his eye not being so much swollen. Stevens had to be supported, and was placed on a mattress on the floor of the Court room evidently unable to sit. He had the appearance almost of a dying man; breathing with difficulty and panting for breath.

Before the reading of the indictments, Mr. Hunter called the attention of the Court to the necessity of appointing additional counsel for the prisoners. He stated that Mr. Faulkner considered his duty in that capacity as having ended, and had left here. The Court stated that it would assign them as counsel any member of the bar they might select. After consulting with Capt. Brown Mr. Botts said that the prisoner retained him and desired to have Mr. Green to assist him. The Court requested Mr. Green to act as counsel for the prisoners and he consented to do so.

Capt. Brown then arose and said: "I do not intend to detain the Court, but barely wish to say, that as I have been promised a fair trial, that I am not now in circumstances that enable me to attend to a trial, owing to the state of my health. I have a severe injury in the back, or rather in one kidney, which enfeebles me very much, but I am doing well and I only ask for a very short delay of my trial, and I think I may then be able to listen to it. I merely ask this that, as the saying is, the devil may have his dues,--no more. I wish to say further that my hearing is impaired and rendered indistinct in consequences of the wounds I have about my head. I cannot hear distinctly at all. I could not hear what the Court has said this morning. I would be glad to hear what is said on my trial, and I am now doing better than I could expect, so that under the circumstances, a very short delay would be all I would ask. I do not presume to ask more than a very short delay, so that I may in some degree recover and be able at least to listen to my trial and hear what questions are asked of the witnesses, and what their answers are. If that could be allowed me I should be very much obliged."

The Court ordered the indictment to be read so that the prisoners could plead guilty or not guilty, and said it would then consider Brown's request. The prisoner's were compelled to stand during the arraignment. Capt. Brown standing with difficulty and Stevens being held upright by two bailiffs.

Port Crayon (the artist) was present and took sketches of the prisoners as thus arranged. The reading of the indictments occupied about twenty minutes.

The prisoners each responded to the usual question "not guilty," and desired to be tried separately.

The prosecution elected to try John Brown first, and the Judge remarked that his condition must be inquired into. Mr. Botts then made application on behalf of Brown for a delay of two or three days, that he might recover his health somewhat and that counsel of his own choice might have time to get there.

Messrs. Hunter and Harding resisted the application. The State law, said Mr. H., in making special provisions for allowing a briefer time than usual in the case of conviction of such offenders, within the discretion of the Court, between condemnation and execution, evidently indicates indirectly the necessity of acting promptly and decisively, though always justly, in proceedings of this kind.

The Court stated that if physical inability was shown a reasonable delay must be granted. As to the expectation of other counsel coming from abroad, that did not constitute a sufficient cause for delay, as there was no certainty about their coming. Witnesses were then called, and Dr. Mason expressed the opinion that Brown could go on understandingly with his trial. Other persons testified to the same effect. The Court overruled the motion for delay, and determined to proceed with the trial.

In the afternoon the prisoner, Brown, was brought into Court in a cot, as he declared himself unable to rise. He lay most of the time with his eyes closed.

The jury were then called and sworn. The jurors were questioned as to having formed or expressed any opinion that would prevent them from deciding the case impartially, on the merits of the testimony. The Court excluded those who were present at Harper's Ferry during the insurrection and saw the prisoners perpetrating the acts for which they were to be tried. The jurors called were all from distant parts of the county, mostly farmers, some of them owning a few slaves and others none. At 5 o'clock the Court adjourned.

Brown walked into Court Thursday morning, but on reaching the bar laid down at full length on his cot. Mr. Botts read a telegraphic despatch from Akron, Ohio, stating that insanity was hereditary in the prisoner's family. He stated, however, that the prisoner did not put in that plea. Mr. Botts having concluded his statement, Capt. Brown then raised himself up in bed and said: "I will add, if the Court will allow me, that I look upon it as a miserable artifice and pretext of those who ought to take a different course in regard to me, if they took any at all. And I view it with contempt, more than otherwise, as I remarked to Mr. Green. Insane persons may, so far as my experience goes, have not very little ability to judge of their own insanity; and if I am insane, of course I should think I knew more than all the rest of the world; but I do not think so. I am perfectly unconscious of insanity; and I view with utter contempt, and I reject, so far as I am capable, any attempt to interfere in my behalf on that score."

Mr. Botts then renewed the request that time be given for foreign counsel to arrive. It was probable one would arrive that night. The question was discussed by counsel, and decided adversely by the Court.

The jury were then sworn, and while the indictment was read the prisoner was permitted to remain prostrate. Mr. Harding opened the case for the Commonwealth; Mr. Green and Mr. Botts followed, in behalf of the prisoner; and Mr. Hunter concluded.

The testimony of Dr. Starry, Conductor Phelps and Col. Washington was taken, and at 7 o'clock the Court adjourned till Friday. Orders were given to the jailors to shoot the prisoners if any attempts at rescue were made.

The Court met at 11 o'clock Friday, when Brown was led over from the jail walking, but very feeble. He laid down on the cot as on Thursday.

Geo. H. Hoyt, a member of the Boston Bar having come on to act as counsel for Brown, was admitted by the Court, but announced that for the present he would not take part in the case.

The examination of witnesses was resumed.--Conductor Phelps was recalled for the defence, as also Lewis Washington. No new facts were elicited.

Mr. Hunter laid before the jury a printed constitution for a provisional government; also a large bundle of letters and a list of the members of the Conventions, headed with the name of Wm. Charles Morris, President, and H. J. Kagi, Secretary. A letter was also read from J. R. Giddings, acknowledging a letter from Brown, and stating that he would be pleased to see him. Gerrett Smith's letter about "Kansas work" was also read.

Armestead Ball, John Allstadt, Alexander Kelly and Albert Grits severally testified, substantially as has been heretofore published.

Several witnesses for the prisoner were called and did not answer. It was stated that the subpoenas had not been returned. Brown here arose from his mattress evidently excited, and starting to his feet addressed the Court. He said that notwithstanding all the promises it seemed that nothing like a fair trial was to be given him. All his money had been taken from him, and he had no one to do errands for him. He had given the names of witnesses and it seemed they had not been summoned. He had no counsel in whom he could rely, and asked that the proceedings might be postponed till Saturday when he hoped one would be here. Brown then laid down again, drew his blanket over him and closed his eyes, and appeared to sink in a tranquil slumber.

Mr. Hoyt who had been sitting quietly all day at the side of Mr. Botts arose, amid great sensation, and added his voice to Brown's appeal.--He had reason to believe that Judge Tilden, of Ohio, was on the way to Charlestown, and would undoubtedly arrive at Harper's Ferry tonight at 7 o'clock. Mr. Hunter made some remarks, allowing that the proceedings had been regular and fair, and that the prisoner had no right to complain. Messrs. Botts and Green, however, having been repudiated by Brown, withdrew from the case. The Judge remarked that he would not compel the gentleman to remain on the case, and accordingly granted the request to postpone.

On Saturday, at 11 o'clock, the prisoner was brought in Court and laid on his cot, looking feeble and haggard, and showing in his countenance the effect of last evening's excitement.-- Mr. Hoyt entered accompanied by H. Griswold, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Samuel Chilton, of Washington, the latter two gentlemen taking the oath as attorneys to defend the prisoner.--Mr. Hoyt entered as counsel the previous evening.

Mr. Chilton said that he had been called upon unexpectedly to defend the prisoner, came expecting to be associated with Messrs. Botts and Green. He had not read the indictment, and suggested a delay of a few hours. The Court decided that the trial must go on. Mr. Hoyt then objected to the papers produced on Friday, and the prosecution withdrew them.

Witnesses for the defence were then called.--Their testimony only went to show that Brown was polite &c., to his prisoners. A colloquy took place between the prisoner lying on his cot, and one of the witnesses, as to the part taken by the prisoner in not unnecessarily exposing his hostages to danger. No objection was made to Brown's asking these questions in his own way, and interposing verbal explanations relative to his conduct.

The defence having closed their testimony, Mr. Chilton submitted a motion that the prosecution be compelled to elect one of the counts in the indictment and abandon the others. After argument, the Court decided against the motion.

Mr. Griswold then asked that the case be opened by the Commonwealth, and further discussion postponed till Monday. After some remarks by counsel on both sides, without any decision of the matter, Mr. Harding proceeded to make the opening argument. He spoke about forty minutes, and the Court then adjourned till Monday.

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 4

Arrest of Cook.--A dispatch from Chambersburg, Pa., on the 24th says: "The notorious Captain Cook, of the insurrectionary band of outlaws under Ossawatamie Brown, has as last been captured beyond a doubt, and has been fully committed to jail to await the requisition of the Governor of Virginia.

"He was brought to this town last evening.--There is no doubt of his identity, as a Captain's commission with Brown's signature and Cook's name was found on his person. He came down from the mountains to get provisions, having, from his haggard appearance, suffered greatly from want and exposure.

He admits that three others of Brown's party are in the mountains, on the strength of which information parties are now out in search of the fugitives.

Cook had also on his person a parchment memorandum formerly attached to Mr. Washington's pistol, and says the pistol is in his valise, which he left in the mountains. He was fully armed when discovered, and attempted to make resistance, but, being exhausted, was soon captured, at a point about eight miles from this place."

Gov. Parker gave orders immediately that Cook and Hazlet (the latter in prison at Carlisle and supposed to be one of the conspirators) should be delivered up to the authorities of Virginia.

One of them men who captured Cook--Mr. Fitzhugh--is said to be a near relative of Gerrit Smith.

Mr. John N. Stearns, a lawyer of Williamsburg, Long Island, has written a latter to the N. Y. Times giving a sketch of Cook. He was born in Haddon, Conn., about the year 1833, of highly respectable parentage. His general education was good, so that he had been a successful teacher before he came of age. In 1854 he entered Mr. Stearn's office to study law, but had no taste for it. He had a great passion for mineralogy, and for fire arms--was a first rate shot. He never acquired the most simple elements of legal knowledge, but could throw off verses for a lady's album with facility. His deportment was amiable and strictly correct. Did not exhibit any special interest in Abolitionism. In 1855 he went to Kansas, and his friends lost sight of him and thought he was dead. "I can well conceive," says Mr. S., from my knowledge of the character of Cook's mind, how that without forecast, and even without a purpose of crime, he would become the parasite of the first leader in a romantic adventure that might solicit his aid." He is a brother-in-law of Governor Willard, of Indiana.

Cook was brought to Charlestown on Friday. He says if Brown had taken his advice one thousand men could not have taken them. He also says that Fred Douglass acted the coward, having promised to be at Harper's Ferry's in person.

Hon. A. P. Willard, Governor of Indiana, accompanied by J. E. McDonald, Attorney General of Indiana, and D. W. Vorhees and M. M. Randolph, arrived the same day, and spent the morning with Cook.

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 4

A number of the papers brought from the Insurgent's camp at Harper's Ferry are published in the "Constitution." Some of them are signed John Smith, in the handwriting of one of the sons of Ossawottamie Brown, and endorsed by the latter. The documents show that the conspiracy extended throughout portions of Ohio, New York, New England and some towns in Pennsylvania. One letter says:--"Our hands so far are coming forward probably better than I expected, as we have called upon them." The papers give the number of pick- axes, shovels, and articles of personal comfort, together with the bills for the same, while others ask for money, &c. F. B. S., of Concord, subscribes $55. One letter is dated October 1st, in which the writer remarks: "He was in Ashtabula county, and met with some success. Our old friend, J. R. G." he says, "took stock to the amount of $8."!!

Joshua R. Gidding publishes a letter in which he says Brown never consulted him in regard to his Harper's Ferry expedition, or any other expedition or matter whatever.

The Spectator, November 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 4

A letter from Charlestown to the Baltimore American, on the 26th says: The result of the insurrection is regarded here as proving the faithfulness of the slaves. No fears are entertained of them, but a military guard is kept up to meet any attempt to rescue the prisoners.--Great consternation among the slaves has been caused by a fear of being seized like those of Col. Washington's were, and they firmly believe that the object of the prisoners was to carry them South and sell them. Not a single slave has yet been implicated as even sympathising with the Insurrectionists. Those carried off have all returned to their masters.

The Spectator, November 8, 1859, p. 2, c. 1

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.

The Spectator, November 8, 1859, p. 2, c. 3

The Baltimore American, after alluding to the influence of the political canvass in Virginia last Spring, in imparting new life to the Opposition throughout the Southern States, refers to the Convention which is to meet in Richmond on the 14th of December, as follows:

That this body will be composed of the representative men of the thinking and influential classes of Virginia, that its proceedings will be marked by every circumstance of dignity, harmony and conciliation, that its resolutions will breathe the spirit of the purest patriotism, and that its final action will meet the cordial approval of the country, there can be no doubt.-- So troubled are the affairs of the nation, so grave the issue which impends in 1860, so powerfully is the current of sectionalism setting in, that not a man will attend that Convention who does not feel that a terrible responsibility rests upon him. Personal preferences, individual aspirations will be thrown utterly aside; the safety of the country, the whole country, will be the sole, the absorbing, the paramount consideration. For many, very many reasons the people of this Union will watch the proceedings of the Virginia Convention with intense interest. In view of a recent transaction, that interest will be quadrupled. The outbreak at Harper's Ferry, though it was but an act of madness perpetrated by a handful of fanatics, is a God send to the agitators North and South. Its effect, we fear, will be to rekindle the sectional feeling which was fast dying out in the absence of the Kansas excitement. What was but a feeble spark a month ago, may be a towering flame a month or two hence.

That the abolitionists on the one hand and the fire-eaters on the other, will make all the capital they can out of the Harper's Ferry affair cannot for a moment be doubted. It will be not the least of the heavy tasks which the Whigs of Virginia will have to encounter, to anticipate the agitators, and by counsels wise and calm addressed to the good sense of the country, to thwart them effectually.

The Spectator, November 8, 1859, p. 2, c. 4

The trial of the Harper's Ferry conspirators was resumed at Charlestown, on Monday, the 31st ult. The Court met at 9 o'clock, the prisoner Brown was brought in and laid on his bed, as usual. Mr. Griswold opened the argument for the defence. He denied that the offences charged in the indictment, treason, murder &c. had been sustained by the evidence, and contended that it was only an attempt to run off negroes. Mr. Chilton followed on the same side, and Mr. Hunter, in behalf of the Commonwealth, concluded the discussion.

Mr. Chilton asked the Court to instruct the jury that if they believed the prisoner was not a citizen of Virginia, but of another State, they cannot convict him on the count of treason.-- The court declined, saying the Constitution did not give rights and immunities alone but it also imposed responsibilities.

A recess was taken for half an hour. When the jury came in with their verdict an intense excitement prevailed.

Brown sat up in bed while the verdict was rendered as follows: "The jury find the prisoner guilty of treason in advising and conspiring with slaves and others to rebel; and of murder in the first degree.

Brown laid down quickly and said nothing.--There was no demonstration of any kind.

Mr. Chilton moved an arrest of judgment, both on account of errors in the indictment, and an error in the verdict. Brown was remanded to jail.

Mr. Harding announced that he was ready to proceed with the trial of Coppee, who was brought in and took the seat between Messrs. Griswold and Hoyt, who appeared as his counsel.

The remainder of the day was spent in endeavoring to obtain a jury, but the panel was not complete, when at 5 o'clock the court adjourned.

Coppee was brought into Court Tuesday morning. He is a small man, not over five feet five inches in height, and weighing about 130 pounds. He has a stupid look, and is regarded as the least intelligent of the whole party.

Previous to proceeding with Coppee's trial, Mr. Griswold stated the points on which the arrest of judgment was asked in Brown's case. In addition to the reasons mentioned yesterday, that it had not been proved, beyond room for reasonable doubt, that the prisoner was even a citizen of the United States, he argued that treason could not be committed against a State, but only against the General Government, citing the authority of Judge Story. Also that the jury had not found the prisoner guilty of the crimes as charged in the indictment, and had not responded to the offenses charged, but had found him guilty of murder in the first degree, when the indictment don't charge him with offences constituting that crime.

Mr. Hunter replied, quoting the Virginia code, to the effect that technicalities should not arrest the administration of justice, and as to the jurisdiction over treason, it was sufficient to say that Virginia had passed a law assuming that jurisdiction and defining what constitutes that crime. The Court reserved its decision. Brown was present during the argument.

The jury were then sworn in Coppee's case. The testimony was the same as that already published. There was but a brief examination of witnesses. The case was not concluded when the Court adjourned.

On Wednesday, Coppee's trial was resumed, but no witnesses were called for the defence.--Mr. Harding opened for the Court, and Messrs. Hoyt and Griswold followed for the defendant, when Mr. Hunter closed for the prosecution. The speeches of all were marked by ability. Mr. Griswold asked for several instructions to the jury, which were all granted by the Court, when the jury retired.

Capt. Brown was then brought in, and the court house was immediately thronged. The Court gave its decision on the motion for an arrest of judgment, overruling the objection made. In regard to the objective that treason cannot be committed against the State, the Court ruled that wherever allegiance is due treason may be committed. Most of the States have passed laws against treason. The objection as to the form of the verdict rendered the Court also regarded as insufficient.

The Clerk now asked the prisoner if he had anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced against him.

Brown stood up and in a clear, distinct voice said: "I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. In the first place I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, of a design on my part to free slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clear thing of that matter, as I did last winter when I went into Missouri, and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side. Moved them through the country and finally left them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.

"I have another objection, and that is, it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner 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 testified in this case)--had I so interfered in behalf of the rich and powerful--the intelligent--the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father or mother, brother or 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.

[He then proceeded briefly to justify his course by quotations from the Bible.]

"Let me say one word further, I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on my trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been more generous than I expected, but I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated from the first what was my intention, and what was not. I never had any design against any person, nor any disposition to commit treason or excite the slaves to rebel or make any general insurrection. I never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged any idea of the kind. Let me say also in regard to the statements made by some of those connected with me, I fear it has been stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true, I do not say this to injure them, but as regretting thesr [sic] weakness. There is not one of them but joined me of his own accord, and the greater part at their own expense. A number of them I never saw and never had a word of conversation with till the day they came to me, and that was for the purpose I have stated. Now I have done!"

While Brown was speaking perfect quiet prevailed. When he had finished the Court proceeded to pronounce sentence.

After some preliminary remarks in which the the [sic] Judge said that no reasonable doubt could exist as to the prisoner's guilt, the Court sentenced him "to be hung in public on Friday, the 2nd of December."

Brown received the sentence with composure, and the only demonstration made was a clapping of hands by a man in the crowd, who is not a resident of Jefferson county. This indecorum was promptly suppressed and much regret was expressed by citizens at its occurrence.

After being out an hour the jury came in with a verdict that Coppee was guilty on all the counts in the indictment. His counsel immediately gave notice of a motion for an arrest of judgments in Brown's case.

Shields Green, alias Emperor, was found guilty of conspiracy with slaves and murder, the prosecution abandoning the count charging treason. During the trial Mr. Sennott, counsel for Green, raised the point that the abandonment of one count vitiated the whole indictment; the Court gave no decision, and the case will probably be taken on this ground to the Court of Appeals. The case of the negro, Copeland was commenced on Saturday. There are three prisoners yet to try, Stevens, who is still in a dangerous condition from his wounds, Cook, and Wm. Harrison, arrested at Carlisle, who was on Saturday taken to Charlestown on a requisition from Gov. Wise.

Charleston, Nov. 3.--The counsel in Brown's case have filed exceptions to the decision of the Court refusing the motion for an arrest of judgment, and will carry the case to the Court of Appeals, now in session at Richmond. Mr. Chilton will argue the case before the Court. It may be taken up in that Court immediately but, if not decided before the day fixed for the execution, it is believed Gov. Wise will grant a reprieve.

The trial of Shields Green alias Emperor, negro, is now going on. Mr. Griswold appeared as his counsel. Judge Russell of Boston is also on his way here, to take part in the defence of the prisoners. In the remainder of the cases the same course will be pursued as in those of Brown and Coppee. The prosecution will prove their points, get a verdict, and the defence will move for an arrest of judgment. The decision of the Court of Appeals in Brown's case will thus settle the whole. It is believed that the Court will sentence all the prisoners to be hung on the same day.

The Spectator, November 8, 1859, p. 2, c. 5

Some imperfect extracts from the annexed letters having been published, we have thought it advisable, to a correct understanding of the subject, to give the entire correspondence. Mrs. L. Maria Child (who asks to be allowed to "nurse" and "soothe" the insurrectionist, Brown,) has heretofore been known in this section as an authoress of some pretensions, whose literary contributions have served to fill up the columns of one or two Northern periodicals. Hereafter she will be regarded, in the South at least, as belonging to the Harriet Beecher Stowe "circle," as one whose morbid enthusiasm and fanatical zeal have beclouded and vitiated a judgment, otherwise, perhaps clear and sound: [Letter from Mrs. Child to Gov. Wise.] Wayland, Mass., Oct. 26, 1859.

Governor Wise: I have heard that you were a man of chivalrous sentiments, and I know you were opposed to the iniquitous attempt to force upon Kansas a Constitution abhorrent to the moral sense of her people. Relying upon those indications of honor and justice in your character, I venture to ask a favor of you. Enclosed is a letter to Capt. John Brown. Will you have the kindness, after reading it yourself, to transmit it to the prisoner?

I, and all my large circle of abolition acquaintances, were taken by surprise when news came of Capt. Brown's recent attempt; nor do I know of a single person who would have approved of it, had they been apprised of his intentions. But I, and thousands of others, feel a natural impulse of sympathy for the brave and suffering man. Perhaps God, who sees the inmost of our souls, perceives some such sentiment in your heart also. He needs mother or sister to dress his wounds, and speak soothingly to him. Will you allow me to perform that mission of humanity? If you will, may God bless you for the generous deed!

I have been, for years, an uncompromising abolitionist, and I should scorn to deny it, or apologise for it, as much as John Brown himself would do. Believing in peace-principles, I deeply regret the step that the old veteran has taken, while I honor his humanity toward those who became his prisoners. But, because it is my habit to be as open as the daylight, I will also say that if I believed our religion justified men in fighting for freedom, I should consider the enslaved, everywhere, as best entitled to that right. Such an avowal is a simple, frank expression of my sense of natural justice. But I should despise myself utterly, if any circumstances could tempt me to see to advance these opinions, in any way, directly or indirectly, after your permission to visit Virginia had been obtained on the plea of sisterly sympathy with a brave and suffering man. I give you my word of honor, which was never broken, that I would use such permission solely and singly for the purpose of nursing your prisoner, and for no other purpose whatsoever.

Your, respectfully,

L. Maria Child.

Letter from Mrs. Child to John Brown.

Wayland, Mass., Oct. 26, 1859.

Dear Captain Brown:

Though personally unknown to you, you will recognize in my name an earnest friend of Kansas, when circumstances made that Territory the battle-ground between the antagonistic principles of slavery and freedom, which politicians so vainly strive to reconcile in the government of the United States.

Believing in peace principles, I cannot sympathize with the method you chose to advance the cause of freedom. But I honor your generous intentions. I admire your courage, moral and physical. I reverence you for the humanity which tempered your zeal. I sympathize with your cruel bereavements, your sufferings, and your wrongs. In brief, I love you and bless you.

Thousands of hearts are throbbing with sympathy, as warm as mine. I think of you night and day, bleeding in prison, surrounded by hostile faces, sustained only by trust in God, and your own strong heart. I long to nurse you, to speak to you sisterly words of sympathy and consolation. I have asked permission of Governor Wise to do so. If the request is not granted, I cherish the hope that these few words may at least reach your hands, and afford you some little solace. May you be strengthened by the conviction that no honest man ever sheds blood for freedom in vain; however much he may be mistaken in his efforts. May God sustain you, and carry you through whatsoever may be in store for you.

Yours, with heartfelt respect, sympathy and affection,

L. Maria Child.

[Governor Wise's Reply to Mrs. Child.]

Richmond, Va.

October 29, 1859.

Madam:--Yours of the 26th was received by me yesterday, and at my earliest leisure I respectfully reply to it, that I will forward the letter for John Brown, a prisoner under our law, arraigned at the bar of the Circuit Court for the county of Jefferson, at Charlestown, Va., for the crimes of murder, robbery and treason, which you ask me to transmit to him. I will comply with your request, in the only way which seems to me proper, by enclosing it to the Commonwealth's Attorney, with the request that he will ask the permission of the Court to hand it to the prisoner. Brown, the prisoner, is now in the hands of the Judiciary, not of the Executive, of this Commonwealth. You ask me further to allow you to perform the mission of "mother or sister," to dress his wounds and speak soothingly to him." By this, of course, you mean to be allowed to visit him in his cell, and to minister to him in the offices of humanity. Why should you not be so allowed, Madam? Virginia and Massachusetts are involved in no civil war, and the Constitution which unites them in one Confederacy guarantees to you the privileges and immunities of a citizen of the United States in the State of Virginia. That Constitution I am sworn to support, and am, therefore, bound to protect your privileges and immunities as a citizen of Massachusetts coming into Virginia for any lawful and peaceful purposes. Coming, as you propose, to minister to the captive in prison, you will be met, doubtless, by all our people, not only in a chivalrous but in a Christian spirit. You have the right to visit Charlestown, Va., Madam, and your mission, being merciful and humane, will not only be allowed, but be respected, if not welcomed. A few, unenlightened and inconsiderate persons, fanatical in their modes of thought and action to maintain justice and right, might molest you, or be disposed to do so, and this might suggest the imprudence of risking any experiment upon the peace of society very much excited by the crimes with whose chief author you seem to sympathize so much; but, still, I repeat, your motives and avowed purpose are lawful and peaceful, and I will, as far as I am concerned, do my duty in protecting your rights in our limits. Virginia and her authorities would be weak in deed-- weak in point of folly and weak in point of power--if her State faith and constitutional obligations cannot be redeemed in her own limits to the letter of morality as well as of law, and if her chivalry cannot courteously receive a lady's visit to a prisoner. Every army which guards Brown from rescue on the one hand and lynch law on the other, will be ready to guard your person in Virginia. I could not permit an insult even to woman in her walk of charity among us, though it be to one who whetted knives of butchery for our "mothers, sisters, daughters and babes. We have no sympathy with your sentiments of sympathy with Brown, and are surprised that you were "taken by surprise when news came of Captain Brown's recent attempt." His attempt was a natural consequence of your sympathy, and the error of that sympathy ought to make you doubt its virtue, from the effect on his conduct. But it is not of this I should speak. When you arrive at Charlestown, if you go there, it will be for the Court and its officers, the Commonwealth's Attorney, Sheriff and Jailor, to say whether you may see and wait on the prisoner. But, whether you are thus permitted or not (and you will be, if my advice can prevail) you may rest assured that he will be humanely, lawfully, and mercifully dealt by, in prison and on trial. Respectfully,

Henry A. Wise

To L. Maria Child.

The Spectator, November 8, 1859, p. 3, c. 1

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."

The Spectator, November 8, 1859, p. 3, c. 1

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."

The Spectator, November 8, 1859, p. 3, c. 1

The Richmond Dispatch says: The Governor of Virginia is in the daily receipt of a large number of letters from abolitionists in various States, threatening his life, threatening the renewal of like attempts to those of Brown if Gov. Wise does not pardon the miscreant who had just been convicted of his crimes. These letters speak of the increasing number of the abolitionists, of their ability to perform what they threaten, and of the "murderous eye," to use the language of one of them, with which they watch the progress of Brown's trial. They wind up generally with holding out to the Governor great popularity at the North, if he will deal leniently with the criminals. From all quarters in the Northern and Western States these letters come, written in every variety of styles and of penmanship; but all breathing threats of rescue or of vengeance, in case Brown and his followers are executed.

But these are not the only, nor the most important and dignified of the documents with which the Governor's mail is daily loaded.--From some of the most intelligent and respected sources in the non-slaveholding States come letters full of respect and courtesy, some of them evidently free from all sinister motive or influence, invoking the Governor to pardon Brown. The ground of good feeling is urged as the reason of their recommendation; the enemies of the Constitution, who are chagrined by the exposure of their crimes will have no chance of recovering the influence they have lost; Virginia and her Governor will be everywhere hailed with universal love and gratitude.

The Spectator, November 15, 1859, p. 2, c. 2

On Saturday night last about ten o'clock the attention of our citizens was attracted by the startling music of the drum and fife in the streets, which was occasioned, as we learned upon enquiry, by the rumored intelligence of a contemplated attempt to arrest the Harper's Ferry insurgents. The West Augusta Guard were promptly summoned together, and determined to proceed to Charlestown, upon the strength of the rumors, without awaiting orders from headquarters. The information received was to the effect that something very serious was going on or anticipated at Charlestown, and that Gov. Wise with a large body of military had left Richmond. The Guard, 47 strong, left Staunton on the passenger train Sunday morning, under command of Lieutenant J. H. Waters, and it is now said that they received orders to proceed at Gordonsville. In this connection we mention with profound regret that Capt. Wm. S. H. Baylor, the popular commander of the Guard, is now lying dangerously ill in the city of New York, and is thus prevented from having command of the corps upon this their first expedition in regular service.

Passengers on the train Sunday confirmed the news in reference to Gov. Wise's departure with troops, and state that he had received information from Gov. Chase, of Ohio, and Gov. Packer, of Pennsylvania, that several hundred men, in small gangs, were on their way to Charlestown for the purpose of attempting a rescue of Brown and his confederates. Others stated that the dispatch was from Col. Davis, and not the Governors of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and that the invaders, numbering four or five hundred men, were between Wheeling and Charlestown, having passed through the former city in small parties. We shall probably learn the real condition of affairs by the mail of this (Monday) evening, and will make an addition of any intelligence that may be received.

The mails of Monday evening bring an explanation of the recent military movements, from which it will be seen that all is quiet at Charlestown. Our decided opinion is that Col. J. Lucien Davis is too nervous for the position he holds. The whole affair is assuming a ludicrous aspect, which we hope may have a happy effect. It is well enough to use every necessary precaution, but the idea of starting the military from all quarters of the State whenever Col. Davis becomes slightly excited is, to say the least of it, a little funny. A despatch from Harper's Ferry's, dated Sunday evening, says:

The excitement on Saturday morning was caused first by the receipt of a rumor that a desperate fight was going on in Clarke county between a party of strangers and citizens, and the Alexandria Artillery, which was then at Winchester, was despatched with a number of armed volunteers to the seat of the rumored disturbances. Whilst this excitement was at its height, and before the report was discovered to be without foundation, a gentleman named Smith Crane arrived here from Belair, near Wheeling, where he reported a number of strange men to be congregating, between two of whom he accidentally overheard a conversation, the purport of which was that a body of five hundred men were to seize of train of cars at that place, rush through to Harper's Ferry, and attempt the rescue of Brown and his companions. He immediately set out for Harper's Ferry to apprise the inhabitants of what he had overheard.

On reaching Charlestown he reported to Col. Davis, who immediately telegraphed to Gov. Wise for five hundred more troops. The troops have arrived. Gov. Wise has gone to Charlestown, and all is again quiet and will doubtless remain so.

A despatch from Richmond, says:

It is authoritatively stated that the present movement is more to quiet the alarmed population of the upper counties and by the presence of an overpowering force to prevent any futile attempt at a rescue of Brown, which otherwise might result in bloody work, than fears of any armed body of men from Ohio or elsewhere. It is known that it was Gov. Wise's intention to order a regiment to Charlestown in a few days, for camp duty, previous to the execution, but the prevalence of these groundless alarms tended to accelerate the movement.

The West Augusta Guard returned yesterday evening having received information at Alexandria that their services would not be needed. They deserve much credit for their prompt action, and doubtless regret that they did not get a chance to exhibit that bravery which we know they possess.

The Spectator, November 22, 1859, p. 2, c. 3

Harper's Ferry, November 17.--There is considerable excitement here and at Charlestown in regard to the numerous cases of incendiarism occurring. There were five barns and outhouses burnt to-day in the neighborhood of Charlestown, and we learn that in consequence of this Colonel Davis, who was placed in charge of the military at Charlestown, has telegraphed to Governor Wise requesting immediately two companies of cavalry to aid in arresting all suspected parties found lurking in the neighborhood.

Second Despatch.--There are numerous exciting rumors here relative to an attempted rescue being contemplated. One rumor says there are some two or three hundred men armed with Sharp's rifles encamped near Berryville, near Charlestown, but doubtless it is unfounded. A messenger has been sent to ascertain the facts, but has not yet returned.

Washington, November 17.--Owing to dispatches received from Charlestown, Governor Wise has ordered three hundred men and two pieces of artillery to leave Alexandria at day break for Charlestown. The Richmond forces will probably leave on an express train at an early hour. This prompt action is understood to be in response to the request made by Col. Davis, at Charlestown, for troops to aid in arresting the incendiaries who infest that section of the State and other obnoxious individuals.

Harper's Ferry, Nov. 18.--The messenger sent last night from this place to Charlestown, to ascertain the truth or falsity of the exciting rumors that have been circulating through this region, touching incendiary attempts to destroy the property of citizens of Jefferson county, and of anticipated attempts to rescue the condemned prisoners now confined in jail there, did not return until about 4 o'clock this morning.

It appears that when he reached the outskirts of Charlestown he was stopped by some of the guards, who were on the watch for suspicious individuals, and detained for some two and a half hours before he could be permitted to enter the village. The military had been ordered out, and were guarding all the roads in anticipation of an attack, by whom, or from what quarter, is not stated. The night, however, was passed undisturbed.

The only fact gathered is that a very large fire had been burning at a distance of some four miles from Charlestown, the exact locality of which was not known.

There were any amount of rumors afloat, and a considerable amount of nervous excitement manifested by the citizens.

Second Despatch.--Evening--The excitement here last night was caused by the burning of a wheat stack about three miles from Charlestown. The military and populace were called to arms, and the wildest terror prevailed among the people, the supposition being that Col. Davis had some information of approaching danger. The panic of the people extended to Col. Davis, and a messenger was sent by him to the Ferry with a despatch for the Governor, calling for two companies of cavalry. This morning the fire was found to have been the work of an unknown incendiary, but no person could be found in the county on whom suspicion could rest.--There are now one thousand men under arms and no enemy to be found for them to encounter.--The troops from Alexandria arrived at Charlestown this afternoon, and those sent by the Mayor of Winchester are expected tomorrow morning.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company have sent Col. A. P. Shutt with an armed posse to Harper's Ferry, to guard the bridge and the property of the company at that point.

There is much dissatisfaction expressed both here and at Charlestown at the precipitate action of Col. Davis in sending despatches for troops, instead of first sending out a posse to inquire into the cause of the fire. They think they have been made to appear in a ridiculous light before the country, and they are more than half right on that point.

10 P. M.--Despatches just received from Charlestown say that there is no cause for alarm, and there has been no evidence of any kind of an attempt to rescue the prisoners. Some four or five suspicious characters were traced and driven off. The whole alarm is perfectly ridiculous and without foundation.

Washington, Nov. 18.--The government today ordered two thousand pounds of powder to be sent to Harper's Ferry's with a large number of Minie rifle bal's and some howitzer shells from the Washington Arsenal.

The Spectator, November 22, 1859, p. 2, c. 4

It has already been mentioned that a Dr. Wm. A. Palmer has been arrested at Memphis, Tenn., of suspicion of being connected with the Harper's Ferry business. The Memphis Enquirer says:

It seems that Palmer has been a resident of this vicinity for a number of years past; that he married a lady residing near town, but procured a divorce some months since on account of domestic difficulties, and has since that time boarded at the Redford House, where he was arrested. Palmer is a man about 40 years of age, very respectable in appearance, five feet eight inches in height, slightly stooping, and hesitates somewhat in his speech.

It appears that some two weeks ago, during the excitement of the Harper's Ferry insurrection, a gentleman, seated in a railroad car between Baltimore and Philadelphia, on his way to New York, observed a man on a seat near him closely muffled, appearing to use every means possible to prevent recognition, and shield himself from observation. On the arrival of the train at a station, the man hurriedly gathered up and left the car. The attention of the gentleman who had previously noticed his movements was attracted to a number of letters and papers on the floor beneath the seat, which had accidently been dropped in his haste. He gathered the papers, but the car at that moment starting, he was obliged to return to his seat, with the documents in his possession. They proved to be two letters and a small memorandum. This being, as stated, at the time when the whole community was aroused to the movements of the insurrection, the defeat and imprisonment of its leader, and the letter being addressed to John Brown, connected with the suspicious movements of the man in whose possession they had been, excited his curiosity not a little. The idea flashed on his mind that he had in his possession something which would throw light on this subject. He accordingly perused the open letter, which greatly confirmed his suspicions. On his arrival in New York he addressed Gov. Wise of Virginia, an anonymous letter, enclosing the documents, stating the circumstances connected with his possession of them, and his suspicion. On their receipt Gov. Wise immediately forwarded them to Gov. Harris, who thought the matter of sufficient importance to demand an investigation. He accordingly dispatched John B. Church, of Chattanooga, to this city, who arrived some time last week, and after various inquiries and investigations arrested Palmer as previously stated.

The court room during his examination was densely crowded, and a great deal of excitement was manifested. After a thorough examination into all the facts of the case, Palmer was required to enter into bonds of $2,500 for his appearance at the District Court, in default of which he was committed to prison.

The letters were addressed respectively to Captain J. Brown, Harper's Ferry, and to Wm. Horner, the former being signed by Lawrence Thatcher, and dated Memphis, October 3, 1859, the latter by Mary Horner, at Chambersburg, October 20, being an entreaty that William, her husband, would not go to Harper's Ferry. The writer of the letter signed Lawrence Thatcher, and addressed to Captain Brown, says: "I have just completed my tour through the Southern States, and am now on my way to Kentucky.--In my last letter to you, I mentioned that I should give the States of Tennessee and Arkansas a thorough scouring. I did so, and am satisfied that of all the States in the South, Tennessee and Arkansas are the best fitted to make the first strike in." He also states that on arriving at Memphis he had an interview with Palmer, who sympathized with Captain Brown. He (Palmer) had made arrangements to take five hundred or a thousand slaves off to the swamps of Indiana. That he had friends in Cincinnati who had promised to have one of the largest and swiftest steamers on the river sent to tie up and wait for them at the mouth of the Hatchie river, under the pretence of undergoing repairs.

The Spectator, November 22, 1859, p. 2, c. 4

The New York correspondent of the National Intelligencer, in his letter of the 14th inst., sustains the views which we presented last week in regard to the sentiments of the Northern people about the Harper's Ferry affair. He says: "The Express speaks wisely and well when it advises calmness and contempt, rather than angry recrimination towards the ultra editors and preachers in the North who fulminate violent diatribes in the South and manifest maudlin sympathy for John Brown and his guilty followers. It is right in the declaration that expressions of sympathy for the treasonable outbreak at Harper's Ferry, and those engaged in it as the chief actors, are confined principally to certain leading politicians and fanatical literateurs, who in no way express the sentiments of the mess of the Northern people. It protests against holding the conservative men of the country responsible for the extremists of the North; and it repeats what can be confirmed by indubitable proof, that there are three- quarter of a million of voters in the Free States, disgusted alike with both the Republican and Democratic parties, who have remained at home at the recent State elections. It is to be hoped the assertion will be verified that these voters will be heard from in 1860, in such a manner as to give practical evidence that no merely sectional man or sectional party can receive at the hands of the people an election for the first office in the Government.

The Spectator, November 22, 1859, p. 3, c. 1

We learn that considerable excitement still exists as Charlestown, Va., caused by numerous incendiary fires in the neighborhood, and a belief among the inhabitants that emissaries of old Brown are still lingering about. The Mayor of Charlestown, Mr. Green, issued a proclamation on the 12th stating that all strangers who could not give a satisfactory account of themselves must leave the town, and authorizing Col. Davis, the Town Sergeant, and others to arrest suspected persons.

On the appearance of this proclamation, Mr. Hoyt, who had returned to the town, Mr. Sennott, one of the counsel for the prisoners, and Mr. Jewett, connected with Frank Leslie's, received an intimation from Col. Davis that they were among the strangers whose presence was not satisfactory to the people, and that their personal safety would best be secured by an early departure. Mr. Sennott declined leaving until he had concluded his business. Mr. Hoyt had already made arrangements for his departure before the proclamation appeared, and he, with Mr. Jewett, left there on Saturday. Mr. Jewett was suspected--unjustly, he declares--of being the correspondent of the New York Tribune, which paper has recently published some letters from Charlestown of an irritating character.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 1, c. 3

The Charlestown correspondent of the New York Tribune gives the subjoined sketches of the two prosecuting attorneys at the recent trials at that place. The intelligent readers will of course make all due allowance for the abolition proclivities of the writer. The sketches follow:

Andrew Hunter

This gentleman I take to be a sort of modern Caesar, who would rather be the first man in a village than second in an empire. In no other way can I account for his hiding his talents in so dreary and desolate a place as this. In intellect as in stature, he stands lofty above those by who he is surrounded. He leads the town.--The course of public affairs in the late disturbances has been wholly directed by him. Engaged by the Government to conduct the prosecution of the prisoners, and to supply the admitted deficiencies of the regular prosecuting attorney, he has all along controlled events, and shaped circumstances as he chose. He has held within his grasp the populace, the officers of justice, the Court itself. I have many times seen the judge awaiting Mr. Hunter's gesture of assent or dissent before determining a disputed point. Public opinion, too, has been guided by him, although, as is common enough, it has often ran beyond the limits of his precepts, and tumbled into all sorts of wild extravagance.--Perhaps his well known relations with Gov. Wise have contributed to his superiority of position at this time. He has been in constant communication with Gov. Wise and they have managed matters pretty much as they pleased; with very little regard to the voice of the people, or the clamors of legal routine, the later sometimes vociferously uttered by his ostensible coadjutor, the regular prosecuting Attorney.--Mr. Hunter, in fact, has been the man of his occasion. He has condemned to death all the prisoners that came before him, excepting one, whom he has reserved for the purpose of aiding in the capture of "higher and richer game"--as he himself expressed it. He has suspended trials at his pleasure in spite of all opposition.--He has even been so confident in his strength that he has used comparatively little exertion in the disposition of Court affairs. His indictments were most bunglingly drawn up, showing a carelessness that in any but a Virginia Court, would have been fatal to his cases. His arguments, except when aroused to unwonted energy, were careless and ineffective, though usually to the point. As for discussing the questions of law, which were raised in profusion by Mr. Sennott, he never thought of it. Sure of his object, he would simply say that he was obliged to nurse his voice, which threatened to fail him; or that he had often before made such and such a subject clear to the Court; or that the time pressed to that degree that he absolutely must be excused from entering upon irrelevant details.--Knowing that he was arguing upon a foregone conclusion, he naturally shrunk from over exercise of the brain and body, which after all, could in reality no wise effect the result, that being already settled. But when urged to great efforts as he sometimes was, Mr. Hunter gave abundant evidence of his real power. More impressive forensic orators are rare. His manner of speaking is mostly quiet and grave. His tone of voice is deep and full, singularly like Rufus Choate's. His gestures are few, but always replete with expression. Generally his style is that of subdued conversation and very persuasive it is but at times he rises to an eloquence that rings through the court- room, and moves listeners to approving outbursts that call for subjugation by sheriff and constable. In the case of the free negro Green, allusion was made by the counsel for the defense to an attempt to introduce impertinent evidence respecting the advances of the prisoner toward a mulatto girl at the time of the midnight entrance into the plantations. Mr. Hunter pursued his answering argument quietly, until he reached this point, and then, lifting himself to his full height, and compressing his fine features to unwonted sternness--for he usually wears a smile--he turned upon the negro, and with a rapidity that certainly exhibited a wonderful acquaintance with the vocabulary of invective, hurled for a while incessant denunciation upon the guilty passions which he assumed to have inspired Shields Green to join the expedition. How the negro sat so stolid under it, I cannot understand, but the crowd that filled the hall blazed with fury, and clenched fists in agonies of virtuous indignation. I suppose that the consciousness of having offered endless similar impure examples never entered their minds at all. Mr. Hunter, however, gained new and blushing honors. It was his best display of the season, and far surpassed anything offered by other orators.

Mr. Hunter is apparently about fifty-five years old, is six feet tall, very erect, and well proportioned. His countenance is always agreeable though seared with many lines, and his elegance of manner is equal to his dignity of presence.--He does not at all resemble the pictures of him that have been published.

Charles R. Harding

This is an unfortunate man. That a person so enslaved by degrading habits should be intrusted with the delicate and responsible office he holds, speaks ill for the judgment of the citizens of Charlestown. He is the regular prosecuting attorney for the district. He has legally the right to conduct all cases which come before the Court in which the invaders have recently been tried. He has to be sure been induced to waive a portion of his right, for the past few weeks, to Mr. Hunter, but his uncontrollable wits have often, during that period, got the better of him, and he has broken in on the regular flow of proceeding after a fashion which severely tried the patience of the Court. Toward the end he became intolerable, and was icily cut short whenever he strove to encumber the way of justice. Repeated snubbing nearly drove him frantic, and more than a dozen times I have heard him delivering street addresses of great violence, declaring defiance to the Judge, to Mr. Hunter, to Governor Wise, to the American Union, and to all the universe. The way in which he has been ridden over is another proof of the flexibility of legal restrictions in this locality.--The right he has claimed, of managing the cases are clearly his, but as he would have fallen in an instant before the sharper intellects and clearer logic of the lawyers who came in for the defense, it was deemed safest to hold him in close restraint. But for this, indeed, there would have been no hanging in Jefferson county next month. Mr. Harding's daily occupations are not of a nature to fit for the management of an important case.

On the first day of Brown's trial, after delivering the opening speech for the Government, he issued forth from the Court House, and flushed with imagined triumph, entered into conflict with a blind negro, and got rather badly beaten. Variegated disfigurements clung to his face for many days thereafter, and furnished an amusing topic of conversation for the juries in succeeding cases. I think, however, that Mr. Harding's evident inclination to bring all possible injury upon the prisoners, saves his reputation in the public esteem. He is happiest when picturing to his hearers the horrors of the fate in waiting for them. He is pleased with every reminiscence of insult which has been flung upon Brown. I heard him yesterday narrating a lively anecdote of the captain of one of the volunteer companies which hastened to Harper's Ferry as soon as the U.S. troops had done all the hot work. It ran somewhat thus:

The captain approached Brown, who lay, seemingly dying, upon the wagon which was bearing him to Charlestown.

"Well," old Brown," he said, "how is it; are you going to die?"

"Oh no," said Brown, "I think not."

"Well responded the jocular warrior, "If you were going to die, I should take one of your teeth, but as you mean to live, I'll only take a piece of your hair to remember you," which he did.

Mr. Harding's ferocious exultation over this and many kindred recitals is enough to make the heart sick to witness. I have never heard more monstrous cruelties of language, not even in Virginia than habitually proceeded from him.

In person Mr. Harding is unprepossessing.--He carries the worst marks of intemperance.-- His face is a vindictive as well as degraded one.--His long curved nose seems always on the point of collision with his rising chin. There is no speculation in his eye. His very dress indicates his utter recklessness to appearance. His manner is as outre as his aspect. He is forever ridiculed. He commands no respect. When he talks in Court the Judge falls into a reverie, the lawyers turn their backs, the bystanders jeer.--He never seems to heed it, but after saying his word, long or short, falls back into his chair, and sleeps, while the nearest of his neighbors tickle his nose with a straw. Excepting in the air of general dilapidation, he, too, is wholly unlike the published portraits of him.

Judge Parker

The Judge is a handsome man. He is, too, an amiable man, and that he is open to gentle emotions, his evident struggle to retain his composure the other day when sentencing Cook, Coppie, and the two negroes, very plainly showed. Judge Parker, I believe, has presided over these trials with as much fairness as in the nature of the case could be expected. That he has been strongly influenced by Mr. Hunter, it would be hard to deny. That he has been strangely deaf to some very powerful arguments for the defence--especially those of Mr. Green, in the case of Cook--is sufficiently evident.--But no one has doubted the integrity of his intentions. Outside of the Court, too, he has displayed a degree of courtesy to strangers who needed it, even when Mr. Hunter failed in his regard. Judge Parker has every appearance of a keen lawyer. His face almost always seems to be shaded by a frown, owing to the deep lines in his brow and around his mouth; but his voice is invariably gentle, and his manner kind. His age must be a little under fifty. He is prone to comforts of posture, and social pleasantries, for in court he sits forever with his judicial legs aloft, resting among piles of law books on his table, and of evenings he whiles away some cozy hours in the snug bar-room of his hotel, extracting heart-beams from the rare old rye that flows in odorous streams around. He, again, is in no respect like the published portraits.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 1

The Lockport Chronicle, published in the State of New York, near the Canada line, copies a paragraph from this paper, on the subject of Brown's conviction at Charlestown, and bases upon it some very kind and complimentary remarks in reference to the general character of the Spectator. We appreciate and heartily reciprocate the kind feeling expressed by our New York contemporary, and its honest and free-spoken denunciations of Brown's conspiracy have heretofore afforded us unmingled gratification. But the pleasure with which we read the friendly greeting from a distant journal, whose editor is personally an entire stranger to us, was greatly marred by the fact that the Chronicle proceeded to advocate the commutation of John Brown's punishment! It says:--"however much we may deplore the fact, it is nevertheless true, that the execution of Brown is awaited with keen appetite by the Abolitionists of the North, who expect by holding him up as a martyr, to increase the zeal and number of their followers." The Chronicle thinks, therefore, that it would have a good effect for the State of Virginia to disappoint the expectations of the friends of the misguided fanatics who are now under sentence of death.

We confess that arguments of this kind from such journals as the Lockport Chronicle and a few others which might be named, have caused the only apprehension which we have felt in connection with the recent occurrence at Harper's Ferry. We expected that Garrison, Philips, Beecher, Greeley and such like, would rave and jibe and jeer; but when the true friends of the Constitution and the Union at the North tell us that the criminal laws of Virginia ought not to be enforced, for the reason mentioned, it is a confession of weakness on their part which we did not expect to hear. We beg leave to say to our friend of the Lockport Chronicle that justice is not administered in this State with a view to political effect. The law under which Brown and his followers have been tried and convicted, was not manufactured to meet the present emergency; it has been on our statute book for years past, and whoever violates it, outsider or citizen, incurs its penalty. The Harper's Ferry conspirators have been legally tried, convicted and sentenced.--the laws of God and man both call for their execution, and whatever the effect may be, whether the Abolitionists are encouraged or discouraged, John Brown will be hung on Friday next. There is no difference of opinion amongst us on this subject, and every citizen of the State will assist at the execution if it be necessary.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 2

While the crazy fanatics of the North imagine that the poor negro, smarting under a galling sense of his degradation, and inspired by a noble impulse of resistance to tyranny, is ready at a moment's warning to grasp the murderous pike and fight for his freedom, the people of the South feel the most perfect security in the full assurance that they possess not only the willing obedience but the strong attachment of their slaves. It is a most egregious blunder to suppose that we who live in the enjoyment of all the benefits of the "peculiar institution, live also in constant dread of insurrection and rebellion, and go to our beds at night with the terrible apprehension that our throats may be cut before morning. Not a bit of it. We sleep as soundly and sweetly as though we were surrounded by an armed body guard of chosen defenders, in the confident belief that our ebony friends will not feel the slightest disposition to "rise" until we chunk them up with a long pole at the break of day. Some of them sleep so soundly after the toils of the day that nothing can arouse them from their slumbers short of the most vigorous shakes and downright pummeling. It is a fixed fact that Cuffee is an unleavened and unleavenable lump. Garrison and Giddings may call upon him at a respectable distance; Beecher and Cheever may exhort him in the highest strains of their eloquence; Old Brown may even thrust pike staffs into his hands; but "nigger will be nigger still"--he wont rise. This fact has been demonstrated beyond a cavil by the experience of the negrophilists at Harper's Ferry. Col. Washington's negro man took the murderous weapon, but expressed his determination to watch which side ass Lewis" fought on, and do battle beside him, and the other poor creatures penned with Old Brown in the Engine House, snoozed away their hours of confinement in comfortable slumber. With the hour of deliverance at hand, surrounded by professed hands, prepared to lead them to the Canaan of deliverance, with arms and ammunition in abundance within their reach, there Cuffee snored, and in defiance of entreaties and exhortations and commands positively refused to "rise."

The state of public feeling at present establishes the fact that no apprehension of danger from servile insurrection is felt by the people of the South. The danger is apprehended outside of the State, from the insane crew who entertain such unfounded opinions in regard to the condition of the slaves, and their disposition to free themselves from bondage. In the prospect of further invasion of our State for the purpose of rescuing those who have already stained its soil with blood, we see the people of Virginia leaving their wives and children in the hands of their faithful domestics, and repairing to the borders of Virginia, far away from their homes, to repel the insolent foe. They leave their families behind without an apprehension of danger from those who are supposed at the North to be ready to massacre them at the first favorable opportunity. On the contrary they feel confident that their little ones are safe in the hands of their "Mammys," and that Sambo and Cuffy will fight to the death in defence of "Missus and the childern."

But in addition to their confidence in their own servants, the people of the South place their trust in a higher power, whose protecting care they expect in time of peril. They believe that an institution of slavery is ordained in Heaven, and that the slaveholder who trusts in the Almighty arm will find that arm a refuge and a fortress. They expect to be delivered from the snare of the Abolition fowler and the noisome pestilence of fanaticism. Truth is their shield and buckler, and they are not afraid of the terror by night nor the arrow that flieth by day.--And in any contest that may arise in so righteous a cause will have an abiding confidence that a thousand shall fall at their side and ten thousand at their right hand, until they come off conquerors.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 1

The Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute, under command of Maj. Gilham, numbering about eighty picked men of the corps, reached Staunton on Saturday morning a little too late for the cars, and, consequently, remained with us until the afternoon, when they proceeded on their way to Charlestown in a special train.--Before leaving, at the request of many of our citizens, the corps was drilled as a battalion for a short time, executing the various movements to the admiration of everybody.

The Cadets had scarcely left, when orders came by telegraph for the West Augusta Guard, of Staunton, and the Mountain Guard, of Spring Hill, Capt. Bushong, to repair immediately to Charlestown. Our Company were on parade at the time, engaged in target-shooting, and were, of course, taken by surprise. All seemed delighted, however, to exchange their sport for actual service. Capt. Bushong, who happened to be in town, immediately started to notify his company, and by half-past 8 o'clock Sunday morning had about fifty of his men at the depot of the Central Railroad. When we remember that these men were scattered in various parts of the country, it is wonderful that notice could be given to so many in so short a time. A large number of people assembled to witness the departure of our troops, and three hearty cheers were given to them as the train moved off.--The alacrity with which the call of the Governor is responded to in all quarters, shows the spirit that is abroad among the people, and affords a guarantee that we have nothing to fear from rebellion at home or invasion abroad.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 1

This new volunteer company, numbering eighty men, rank and file, which is the complement fixed by law, was organized last night by the election of the following officers:

Jno. D. Imboden, Captain.

Thos. L. Harman, 1st Lieut.

Jno. O. Michie, 2nd Lieut.

Wm. H. Peyton, 3rd. " (brevet.)

A. W. Garber, 4th. " (brevet.)

G. W. Imboden, 1st. Sergeant.

G. A. Armentrout, 2nd "

M. G. Garber, 3rd. "

H. M. Stoddard, 4th. "

The Captain will appointing the Corporals.--There will be a meeting of the company to- night, at the Armory of the West Augusta Guard, to receive the report of Committees, &c.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 3

Correspondence of the Baltimore American.

Charlestown, Nov. 23.

Editors American: Yesterday was another bustling day in this village, now the centre of excitement, and although no actual or probable demonstration was made against the peace, the dignity and the honor of the glorious old Commonwealth, yet there were men enough to have repelled an assault of the most formidable character.

Gov. Wise, accompanied by his staff, a good looking but inexperienced body of officers, left in the morning train for Harper's Ferry, where he remained until to-day. Before leaving, he made known the contents of a despatch received by him from Governor Packer, of Pennsylvania, in which that official tendered the services of 10,000 men, and also offering to station a guard along the dividing line between the States of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Governor Wise, in his reply, thanked him for the kind offer of help, but is still confident that Virginia will be able to maintain her honor in any emergency.

Nothing of interest transpired during the morning. Acting- Colonel Wyatt M. Elliott visited each company belonging to the First Regiment, and read them the rules governing officers and soldiers in the United States army, informing them at the same time he would exact strict obedience to them. He also addressed them a few appropriate remarks, telling them the eyes of the country were upon them, and that it was at least possible they might have to undergo arduous and perilous duty. He felt sure that the First Regiment would do honor to itself and Virginia, and if our venerated old Commonwealth should be invaded that they would wipe out the stain attempted to be placed upon her.

The remainder of the day until 4 o'clock in the afternoon was occupied by the soldiers in various amusements. Some would form a group and rehearse tragedy from ancient and modern dramatists; other would add to their own and the citizens pleasure by singing choice musical selections in a manner infinitely amusing if not on scientific musical principles. Again a number would gather around the wagon of the daguerreotype man, and have their "phizes" taken for the dear ones they had left behind them. Another party formed a regular cotillion in their barracks, and had a gay time generally. All seemed gratified that permission had been granted them to stay, and appeared perfectly at home. At four o'clock a dress parade of the First Regiment took place, much to the gratification of the citizens, after which they were dismissed and wandered about in various directions, none seeming to apprehend an attack.

Sentinels were posted at six o'clock, after which time it is impossible to pass the outposts without the countersign Gov. Wise, whilst on his way our to Mr. Hunter's on Monday night, was hailed, and had to remain with the sentinel some time before he could pass, although the man knew him well. A great many citizens grumble at this, as they argue, needless precaution, but the men only obey orders.

About nine o'clock last night, an alarm was sounded through our streets, the sentinel on one of the outposts having fired his gun. Military orders were sounded from one end of the town whose nervous system have become much disordered by late events, was very great, and window shutters were closed and lights extinguished in a shorter space of time than is usually the case amongst our people. The cavalry companies, armed with old rusty swords, which look as if they had not been polished for centuries, formed in the Western section of the town, and really frightened a great many people by their unwearthy yells. On inquiry as to the cause of such consternation, I was informed by one gentleman that the sentinel had mistaken a post for an enemy, whilst another friend informed me that it was a cow quietly grazing by the roadside that had excited the suspicions of the vigilant sentinel. The cow not coming to a halt, vigilant sentinel blazed away, but did not hurt the cow much.

The fears of our people having been once more quieted, a large number sought their homes and embraced that "sweet restorer, balmy sleep," which has been much interrupted for a few nights. But they were again aroused about two o'clock in the morning by the firing of guns. A sentinel from the outskirts of the town rushed in and reported he had been shot at three times by the same number of men, and that, too, after giving them the command to halt. Scouts were immediately sent out, but nothing in the shape of a man could be found where reported.--Whether it was really three men or three goats the sentinel saw will probably be determined today.

These constant alarms and the lack of discipline among the military, are beginning to be regarded as serious evils, and it is to be hoped that measures will be taken to prevent them in future. Yours, H. D. B.

A despatch from Harper's Ferry's on the 23rd says:

Major General Taliaferro arrived here by the express train last evening from Gloucester county, and has assumed by the direction of Gov. Wise the command of all the forces. Gen. Taliaferro does not supersede Col. Davis, but was entitled by rank to command the whole of the forces. Col. Davis has been disfranchised under the anti-duelling act from holding any office, civil or military, in Virginia. He has acted here as an advising officer.

There are now about one thousand troops in arms here. A rumor was afloat to-day that there were a party of outlaws in the mountains near Cherry Run, but it is not credited. The sentinels at Charlestown are reported to have been fired on last night.

Gov. Wise exhibits no sort of fear of a rescue being attempted. He thinks it best to have a good force out. In reply to a gentleman, this morning, he said that he never had the least fear on the subject, but considered it the finest opportunity ever offered to put the State in military training. I can now, he said, teach my boys how to carry biscuit in their knapsacks and to arrange bullets in their cartridge-boxes.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 4

At a meeting of the citizens of Staunton, on Saturday evening, the 26th ins., N. K. Trout, Esq., Mayor of the town, was called to the Chair, and the editors of the two papers of the town appointed Secretaries. The object of the meeting having been explained, on motion of Gen. Harman, a Committee of five was appointed to prepare resolutions for the consideration of the meeting. The Committee consisted of Gen. W. H. Harman, R. G. Bickle, C. R. Mason, Jno. D. Imboden, and L. Waddell, Jr., who, through their Chairman, reported the following resolutions, which were adopted.

Whereas, the people of Staunton being solemnly impressed with the alarming condition of public affairs, feel called upon as good citizens and ardent lovers of their State, its Constitution and laws, to assemble and give expression to their feelings and firm resolve in the present order.--This crisis, which has been brought about by a mockish and sacrilegious sentiment, fostered and encourage among a large number of the citizens of the non- slaveholding States of this Confederacy under the false name of philanthropy, it becomes our duty as loyal citizens of Virginia to meet without shrinking and with manly courage.

The foray upon our border at Harper's Ferry we recognize as the legitimate result of the fanatical and treasonable teachings of Wm. H. Seward and his party, and whilst we claim to be "order loving and law abiding citizens," we are yet prepared to say to the non-slaveholding States, with the determination of freemen, thus far you have gone, but you shall go no farther!

1st. Resolved, That we applaud the Governor of this time honored Commonwealth, for the patriotic zeal and vigilance with which he has taken "care that the laws shall be faithfully executed."

2d. Resolved, That in his preparations to maintain the majesty of the laws, in the execution of the condemned felons at Commonwealth, he has given proof of his patriotic fidelity to that Commonwealth whose dignity and honor were outraged by the thieves and assassins who invaded her borders at Harper's Ferry.

3d. Resolved, That now, or hereafter, whenever our chief magistrate calls upon us to assist him in the defence of Virginia institutions, Virginia homes and the Virginia laws, we will respond with the offer of our lives and fortunes, and the pledge of our sacred honor to sustain him.

4th. Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting the cultivation of a military spirit among our young men and the organization of volunteer military companies for the protection of our own firesides, the defence of the honor of our State and the resistance of invasion, come from what quarter it may, is demanded by the threatening aspect of affairs at the present time; and that it is not only the duty, but should be esteemed the high privilege, of the old and substantial men of the town and county; to lend "material aid" in the way of pecuniary contributions to those who may be willing to risk their lives in defence of the lives and property of others.

5th. Resolved, That the Chairman appoint a Committee of _______, to solicit contributions for the full equipment of our military companies, such as will insure their preparation and readiness for every emergency.

On motion of M. G. Harman,

6th. Resolved, That there be raised $400 forthwith to carry out in part the purpose of the above resolutions.

7th. Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the newspapers of the town.

The blank in the 5th resolution was filled up with the names of M. G. Harman, Col. R. Turk, Capt. Peck, R. G. Bickle, C. R. Mason, and H. M. Bell.

During the progress of the meeting animated addresses were delivered by Gen. Harman, Jno. D. Imboden, Esq., Maj. Watts, Powell Harrison, B. B. Stuart, and others, and in response to the solicitations of the Committee, nearly $500 were raised on the spot for the purposes indicated in the 4th resolution. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.

N. K. Trout, Chairman.

H. B. Michie, Jr.,

L. Waddell, Jr., Acting Secretaries.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 4

At a large meeting of the people of Augusta county, held at the Court-house, on Monday, the 28th inst., Capt. Kenton Harper was called to the Chair, and the editors of the papers in Staunton were appointed Secretaries. The object of the meeting having been explained, and addresses delivered by several gentlemen, the Chairman appointed the following committee to prepare and report resolutions, viz: Jno. L. Peyton, J. D. Imboden, Wm. H. Harman, Robert Guy, J. M. McCue, T. J. Michie, R. G. Bickle, J. B. Baldwin, H. W. Sheffey, and G. T. Antrim.

The Committee, after a brief retirement from the meeting, reported the following:

1. That the present aspect of public affairs is well calculated to excite the serious alarm of all true lovers of their country; and while we deprecate all acts calculated to add to the public excitement and to weaken the bonds of the Union, yet, in view of the recent lawless acts of violence at Harper's Ferry's, resulting in the wanton spilling of Virginia blood upon Virginia soil, it is the imperative duty of the people to arm and prepare for the public defence, and we hold ourselves now and at all times ready to sustain the executive of Virginia and all other lawful authorities in upholding the rights, interest and honor of the State.

2. That we heartily approve the prompt, patriotic and gallant conduct of Governor Wise in his efforts to ensure a faithful execution of our laws upon those who have recently violated them by an invasion of our State, the murder of our citizens, and an assault upon our cherished domestic institution.

3. That we commend the movement of the young men of Staunton in forming an Artillery Company.

4. That we heartily approve of the formation of Volunteer Companies throughout the county and the State, and our thanks are especially due to the young volunteers of Augusta for the promptness with which they have responded to the call of the Executive.

5. That ----- be appointed a committee to solicit contributions in aid of the equipment of such volunteer companies as have been, or may be formed in the county.

The resolutions were adopted unanimously, and the Chairman appointed the following members of the committee mentioned in the 5th resolution, taking time for the appointment of others, viz: R. Turk, R. G. Bickle, C. R. Mason, and M. G. Harman.

On motion of Hugh W. Sheffey, Esq., the following resolution was adopted:

Resolved, That the funds collected by the Committee be paid over by the collectors to Gen. W. H. Harman, and be equitably distributed by him among the volunteer companies raised or to be raised in the different regiments of the county. Kenton Harper, Ch'rm.

W. B. Michie

L. Waddell, jr. Secretaries

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 5

Pursuant to a meeting of the "Mountain Guard," held in Spring Hill, November 21st, Captain Isaac A. Bushong was called to the Chair and B. H. Kibler appointed Secretary.

The house having been called to order the object of said meeting was briefly explained by the Chairman and the following preamble and resolutions unanimously adopted.

Whereas, the recent attempt by a band of armed insurgents to enter the confines of our "Old Dominion" and confer with and excite to servile insurrection our slave population; seizing a portion of our citizens and holding them as hostages of war; murdering our fellow men in cold blood; taking possession of our Armory grounds, &c., has justly excited our indignation against the vile perpetrators of these unmitigated and daring acts, therefore,

Resolved, That we pledge ourselves to sustain, protect and defend to the bitter end the institutions of our beloved Virginia against the marauding attempts of Black Republicans and fanatics from whatever source they may arise.

Resolved, That we hold ourselves in readiness for the promptest action in any emergency that may arise demanding our co-operation for the protection of our citizens and their immunities, and to keep inviolate our sacred laws.

Resolved, That we cordially approve of the bold and decisive step taken by our patriotic Governor in suppressing this treasonable and murderous foray, and his uncompromising efforts in ferreting out and bringing to justice the guilty actors in this infamous and bloody drama.

Appreciating, as we do, in the highest possible degree, the resolutions passed in the Legislature of Georgia--pledging the State of Georgia to uphold and support the arms of Virginia in the maintenance of her just and inalienable rights, therefore,

Resolved, That we tender the Legislature of Georgia our heartfelt appreciation and warmest gratitude for those wholesome and conservative demonstrations of their sense of right and justice.

Resolved, That the Staunton papers and Richmond Enquirer be requested to publish the above resolutions.

On motion, the meeting adjourned.

J. A. Bushong, Chairman

B. H. Kibler, Secretary.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 6

The Albany Argus (Democratic) does not like Gov. Wise treatment of John Brown. It says in its issue of Monday:

"We regret that Virginia has not the cool head and firm hand of its Governor elect, Letcher, to guide it in the crisis. He would not busy himself writing letters to abolition women, or seeing how much parade, fuss and political capital he could make out of the public calamity by exaggerating it. He would not have given a theatrical character to the scene, and made the prisoners heroes, for the purpose of sharing in the clap-trap! We can imagine how effectually he would have dealt with the affair--placing the whole gang in jail, eliciting their confessions, probing the conspiracy to the bottom, reaching the accessories, and executing justice with a firm hand, or tempering it with mercy, as he saw fit, without either apologizing or explaining to the people or press of other States the reasons of his course.

"Mr. Letcher takes his seat as Governor in January next, when Gov. Wise retires!"

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 6

The execution of Capt. Brown is to take place on Friday next before the hour of 12 o'clock, and it is expected there will be a large attendance from the Northern States. We learn that a second letter has been received by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Mr. Perbam, the great excursionist, stating that he has already made arrangements by bring 2,000 as far as Baltimore. The Richmond Dispatch of Saturday, in alluding to visiters to the execution, says:

It is rumored that a great multitude from the free States will be present at Brown's execution.

It is to be hoped that the citizens of Virginia, who are not enrolled in the military, will stay away. At all events, the commander of the military, will make such arrangements as to prevent strangers from crowding between the innocent spectators and the soldiery. Probably, visitors from other States, if they are permitted to be present at all, will be assigned a position where they can do no mischief.

The Spectator, November 29, 1859, p. 2, c. 6

Under this caption, the New York Observer comments upon an advertisement which lately appeared in the Richmond Whig, proposing to raise $10,000 as a reward for the capture of Giddings, or $5,000 for his head! The Observer says such a proposal "is well fitted to prompt the exasperation of feeling now so fiercely excited, and to create a deeper hostility at the North against the South. We deplore every fresh faggot thrown on this fire. For Christ's sake, brethren, stay your hands. We are brethren yet. The few conspirators left alive and at large are flying for safety to Canada and Europe where we hope they will stay and die. Let us not prolong this war, but study the things that make for peace, and that will edify (build up) one another."