_A Bystander._ That is not so. You killed an unarmed man at the corner of the house over there at the water-tank, and another besides. _Brown._ See here, my friend; it is useless to dispute or contradict the report of your own neighbors who were my prisoners. * * * * * _Mr. Vallandigham (who had just entered.)_ Mr. Brown, who sent you here? _Brown._ No man sent me here; it was my own prompting and that of my Maker, or that of the Devil--whichever you please to ascribe it to. I acknowledge no master in human form. * * * * * _Vallandigham._ Did you get up this document that is called a Constitution? _Brown._ I did. They are a constitution and ordinance of my own striving and getting up. _Vallandigham._ How long have you been engaged in this business? _Brown._ From the breaking out of the difficulties in Kansas. Four of my sons had gone there to settle, and they induced me to go. I did not go there to settle, but because of the difficulties. * * * * * _Mason._ What was your object in coming? _Brown._ We came to free the slaves, and only that. * * * * * _A Volunteer._ What in the world did you suppose you could do here in Virginia with that amount of men? _Brown._ Young man, I do not wish to discuss that question here. _Volunteer._ You could not do anything. _Brown._ Well, perhaps your ideas and mine on military subjects would differ materially. * * * * * _Mason._ Did you consider this a military organization in this Constitution? I have not yet read it. _Brown._ I did in some sense. I wish you would give that paper close attention. _Mason._ You consider yourself the commander-in-chief of these "provisional" military forces? _Brown._ I was chosen, agreeably to the ordinance of a certain document, commander-in-chief of that force. _Mason._ What wages did you offer? _Brown._ None. _Stuart._ "The wages of sin is death." _Brown._ I would not have made such a remark to you if you had been a prisoner, and wounded, in my hands. * * * * * _A Bystander._ Do you consider this a religious movement? _Brown._ It is, in my opinion, the greatest service man can render to God. _Bystander._ Do you consider yourself an instrument in the hands of Providence? _Brown._ I do. _Bystander._ Upon what principle do you justify your acts?