John Brown, Soldier of Fortune: A CritiqueWilson, Hill Peebles
History
John Brown, Soldier of Fortune: A Critique
Wilson, Hill Peebles
Brown, John, 1800-1859
What I am trying to hint at is that the friends of Kansas
are looking with strange apathy at a movement which has all
the elements of fitness and success--a good plan, a tried
leader, and a radical purpose. If you can do anything for
it _now_, in God's name do it--and the ill result of the
new policy in Kansas may be prevented.
On August 13th, the "Cromwellian Trooper" wrote Mr. Sanborn a long
letter,[261] which he intended "as a kind of report of my progress and
success, as much for your committee or my friend Stearns as yourself."
The letter has no public significance. It is a prolonged whine because
he had not received all the _money_ that had been promised him; also it
incidentally but artistically put Mr. Stearns and Mr. Lawrence in a
position that practically compelled them to make good the thousand
dollars which he had theretofore pressed Mr. Lawrence for.[262] He said:
... It was the poor condition of my noble-hearted wife and
her young children that made me follow up that
encouragement with a tenacity that disgusted him and
completely exhausted his patience. But after such repeated
assurances from friends I so much respected that I could
not suspect they would trifle with my feelings, I made a
positive bargain for the farm; and when I found nothing for
me at Peterboro', I borrowed one hundred and ten dollars of
Mr. Smith for the men who occupied the farm, telling him
it would certainly be refunded, and the others that they
would get all their money very soon, and even before I left
the country. This has brought me only extreme mortification
and depression of feeling; for all my letters from home, up
to the last, say not a dime has been paid in to Mr. Smith.
Friends who never knew the lack of a sumptuous dinner
little comprehend the value of such trifling matters to
persons circumstanced as I am. But, my noble-hearted
friend, I am "though faint, yet pursuing."...
Brown's hope for a "disturbance" in Kansas was nourished by the reports
that he received from General Lane, which, doubtless, encouraged him to
prolong his stay at Tabor. Concerning this, Mr. Villard says:[263]
Only the erratic Lane, who was then the sole person trying
to stir up strife in Kansas, and is accused by respectable
witnesses, of planning schemes of wholesale massacre of
pro-slavery men through a secret order; was on fire for
Brown's presence in the Territory, but it was the Tabor
arms, rather than their owner, he really desired.
Lane wrote Brown, confidentially, September 7th, as follows:[264]
(Private)
SIR:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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