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Views and Meditations 
 
 OP" 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 BY 
 
 KDWARD W. WILLIAMS, 
 
 AUTHOR OB" 
 
 AMEEICUS MOOR; 
 
 OR, 
 
 Life Among- the American Freeclmen. 
 
 L. 
 
 ■ .^J 
 
THE 
 
 Views and Meditations 
 
 OF" 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 BDWARD W. WILLIAIVCS, 
 
 AUTHOR OB" 
 
 AMERICU8 MOOE 
 
 ' 1 
 
 OR, 
 
 Life Anioiiii' the American Freediiieii. 
 
£+5 
 
 V! 
 
 
 THE 
 
 Vietos and Meditations 
 
 — OF — 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 I deem it unnecessary here to give an account of 
 the Hfe of John Brown. The world knows of his 
 birth, early training, his occupation and the great 
 events in which he took part. But of his ideas, 
 there seems to be considerable differences of opinion ; 
 not, indeed, as to their purpose, but their sanity and 
 practicability. After carefully studying his character 
 as found in various records, I have imagined that 
 the thoughts and feelings expressed in these verses 
 were the views and meditations that engaged his 
 life. I have, therefore, represented him on the four 
 great occasions of his career. First, as leader of the 
 Anti-Slavery men in their fight with the Pro-Slavery 
 men in Kansas ; secondly, when after the Kansas 
 struggles he met his men in Iowa, and there deter- 
 mined to attack Harpers Ferry ; thirdly, the night 
 of the attack, and fourthly, before he goes to the gal- 
 lows. As this is a work solely of the imagination, I 
 here quote, for the attention of those who may criti- 
 cise me, the words of Lord. Macaulay when he Avas 
 about to put forth a work of a similar nature: 
 " The judgment passed both by the learned and by 
 the unlearned on a work of the imagination will 
 always depend much more on the general character 
 and spirit of such a work than on minute details." 
 
 Edward W. Williams, 
 July lltli. Wasliington, D. C. 
 
In Kansas Just Before the First Struggle. 
 
 1. Freedom, freedom, has been my song 
 
 And shall be till I die. 
 Or till from every Negro's tongue, 
 I hear it echo by. 
 
 2. Increase my faith, strengthen my heart. 
 
 Almighty God my King, 
 
 That I may ever do my part, 
 
 May work as well as sing. 
 
 3. The groans of thy black children 
 
 Forever reach my ears, 
 By my soul I am bidden 
 To shoulder up their cares. 
 
 4. This course, my duty, Fll pursue 
 
 Although I feel alone, 
 And fail or die my deed through you 
 Will move some others on. 
 
 5. Not for the riches of the soil "^^^^ 
 
 My brothers do we come, 
 We come to never let them spoil, 
 With slaver}'^ as its home. 
 
 6. The fertile earth, the pasturage 
 
 Invite the toiling livers. 
 But never the horde of bondage 
 With masters, hounds and drivers. 
 
 7. From tyrants its for you and me 
 
 These treasures here to save. 
 That labor true may harvest free 
 What nature freely gave. 
 
 8. Sons of my love, my own heart blood 
 
 Around me make your stand. 
 Hear now and heed my honest word, 
 And mark my rising hand. 
 
 9. Here remember all my teachings 
 
 My olden views and promise. 
 They are the things, the very things, 
 I came to put in service. 
 
 10. Sons, brothers, all, here is the spot 
 To conquer or to fall, 
 'Tis justice cause what e'er the lot. 
 So move at duty's call. 
 3 
 
11. If you have love for humaDkind 
 
 For mercy, justice, right. 
 For God's poor ones stay not behind, 
 But move in haste and might. 
 
 12. See yonder hostile masses 
 
 Standing in battle array, 
 They came to plant in Kansas, 
 The seed of Southern slavery. 
 
 13. With bayonets, guns and kettledrum 
 
 That fill our ears and sight. 
 Ah ! let us strike for freedom 
 While they for slavery fight. 
 
 14. They are fighting for a wicked cause 
 
 Of sin and shame and lust. 
 But we are for the moral laws 
 And in our God we trust. 
 
 15. Kansas alone fills not their view 
 
 They seek the Western main. 
 And may succeed if they subdue 
 Us on this very plan. 
 
 16. Then right here now in Kansas 
 
 With these obedient hands, 
 We should drive away the curse 
 Of all the Southern lands. 
 
 17. From early youth till even now 
 
 My soul detested war. 
 For love and peace I make a vow 
 To all whom e'er I saw. 
 
 18. To shed the blood of mortal man 
 
 Of any race or clime, 
 To desolate a lovely land 
 Must 1)C a moral crime. 
 
 19. But when through evil, luck or might 
 
 Men go to conquer men, 
 The true and good possess the right 
 The wronged ones to defend. 
 
 20. Then whate'er system, men or law 
 
 Seeks mankind to enslave. 
 The true and good should open war 
 For human rights to save. 
 
In Iowa, Where the Plan for an Attack on 
 
 Harper's Ferry Was Explained 
 
 and Adopted. 
 
 1. Dear friends, let me to you relate 
 
 A plan that I begot of yore, 
 A plan to conquer, extirpate 
 
 Slaveholding now and ever more. 
 
 2. When I survey the times to see 
 
 What is the best to meet our ends, 
 That plan always recurs to me 
 The visions of my hope extends. 
 
 3. It drives away all doubts and fear, 
 
 And fills my mind with prospects bright 
 Free now, thank God," I seem to hear 
 From every Negro under sight. 
 
 4. But, ah ! me what, alone am I, 
 
 With vast designs without your heart, 
 i^or want of help stern purpose high 
 Can only play a meagre part. 
 
 5. Contrivances for human good 
 
 Though creatures of the greatest mind 
 Do need the all nutritious food 
 Of Charities and aid combined. 
 
 6. So gather round— stand at my back 
 
 As you used to do in Kansas 
 'Tis all I want— naught else I lack 
 For God will ne'er forsake us. 
 
 7. Not for my sake but for the cause 
 
 Of freedom through our native land, 
 ihe cause for which in Kansas wars 
 You made such bold, successful stand. 
 
 8. The cause for which the Pro-slave press 
 
 Denounced us all as robbers, 
 But with our God and the oppressed. 
 Our names are Christian laborers.' 
 
 9. We are true " Soldiers of the Cross " 
 
 And followers of the " Lamb," 
 And Christlike try to save the lost, 
 The weak, the poor and the danined. 
 
6 
 
 10. But here we are too far away 
 
 From the Hell of master and slave, 
 Too distant here the one to slay, 
 The other one to save. 
 
 11. From the shores of the Atlantic, 
 
 The Gulf and the Mississippi, 
 I hear in mournful rhetoric 
 The prayers of the unhappy-.* 
 
 12. Hear husband, wife, " From morn to eve 
 
 We toil and strive the live-long day 
 Till evening shades our limbs relieve — 
 Half-fed, half-clad, and with no pay. 
 
 13. " Our daughters ravished 'fore our eyes. 
 
 Our sons pursued by raging hounds. 
 No hands to help them dare arise 
 Even afar nor on the grounds. 
 
 14. " Our poor little, darling infant, 
 
 Snatched, bundled and sold away 
 Hence, forever more too distant 
 Upon our loving arms to lay. 
 
 15. " We, too, will soon be sold apart, 
 
 Never to know where each will be 
 To bear through life a heavy heart. 
 But ne'er each other's, face to see." 
 
 16. From the plains of old A^irginia 
 
 They beseech us, they beseech us, 
 In the " cry of Macedonia 
 
 Come over to us and help us." 
 
 17. Hear the echo of their prayers 
 
 Ascending unto the heaven, 
 In voices of despair and tears, 
 
 " When shall rest and peace be given." 
 
 18. We cannot here with empty words 
 
 Nor on tlie fields of Kansas, 
 Perforin with noises, guns and swords 
 The work that is before us. 
 
 19. Now to conquer this great monster 
 
 This devil of human bondage, 
 We need our forces to center 
 In a place of better vantage. 
 
1 
 
 20. We need our forces near enough 
 
 Or right upon his sinful ground, 
 To cut aloose his stolen serf 
 
 And throw his wicked kingdom down. 
 
 21. Now my plan is for us to go 
 
 Somewhere on old Virginia soil, 
 And there attack their monster foe 
 
 There free his slave, his wealth despoil. 
 
 22. There to begin and never cease 
 
 Till death, yes, death or freedom come, 
 We want no peace, we'll have no peace. 
 Unless it come with freedom. 
 
 23. Some think this plan too rash to take, 
 
 Too dangerous, too difficult. 
 What other effort can we make 
 
 To reach the longed for good result ? 
 
 24. 'Tis nigh unto a century 
 
 Since men began to talk and write 
 Against the evil of slavery 
 
 With all their heart and all their might. 
 
 25. When I was but a little boy 
 
 Near fifty years or more ago, 
 I used to hear with hope and joy 
 That slavery soon would have to go. 
 
 26. Our fathers, blessing to their name. 
 
 Abolished it early and freely, 
 And thought Virginia whence it came 
 Would imitate them duly. 
 
 27. But when about manhood I grew 
 
 How changed was that opinion, 
 For slavery was in open view 
 Fast spreading his dominion. 
 
 28. Rooted and fixed in the Southland 
 
 He grew ambitious and prosperous. 
 For room and power stretched his hand 
 And for the future got anxious. 
 
 29. The old Missouri Compromise 
 
 For the time obstructed his raid. 
 Confined her territorial size 
 
 To the region his greed had made. 
 
8 
 
 30. Bound up in his legal limit 
 
 With no one to question him tliere, 
 He invigorated tliat spirit 
 
 To tyrannize, scorn and to dare. 
 
 31. The bad blood of his evil heart 
 
 Found arteries West and North 
 To circulate through every part 
 
 To scatter, and bring strength forth. 
 
 32. To rob more room in spite of law. 
 
 Led on by evil ambition, 
 He plunged us all into a war 
 Upon the Mexican Nation. 
 
 33. Our citizens of the old free states 
 
 Are now no longer free men, 
 They all obey as he dictates. 
 His throne they all defend. 
 
 34. His powers reach beyond the South, 
 
 Far away in the Northern lakes, 
 With brazen face and saucy mouth 
 Our laws he alters, makes or breaks. 
 
 35. Day after day he is growing 
 
 In powers and immunity, 
 And night after night preparing. 
 To live throughout eternity. 
 
 36. All his vices seen so often 
 
 And talked of much more so. 
 Soon they will embrace and soften 
 The heart of many a foe. 
 
 37. What else then but some mighty blow. 
 
 Hurried on by valiant hand, 
 Can tliis great monster overthrow 
 And hurl from our good land. 
 
 38. Just like a small poisonous tree, , 
 
 Nurtured and kept by foolish Iiand, 
 Unnoticed in its infancy 
 
 It flourished and Aveakened the land. 
 
 .'}!). The husbandman linds tliat its fruit 
 Js poisonous to human taste, 
 Gets his good ax and cuts tlie root 
 With all his might and all his haste. 
 
40. Again I ask what other plan 
 
 Can pull this haughty monster down 
 And also raise his servant man 
 From under his merciless frown. 
 
 41. The good old Abolitionists, 
 
 For twenty -seven years or morp, 
 To help this cause worked hardest 
 Of all that labored before. 
 
 42. Like the apostles of old time 
 
 They worked witli love and patience, 
 But what they taught was too sublime 
 To reach the Nation's seared conscience. 
 
 43. Forbearing witness to the truth 
 
 Of brotherly love and freedom 
 All men, their kindred, too, forsooth 
 Poured on them curse and odium. 
 
 44. Wherever they went, far or near 
 
 In search of mercy for the slaves 
 Women and men would laugh and jeer 
 Or beat their heads with stones and staves. 
 
 45. All their lives long, through scorn and pain. 
 
 For poor humanity they plead. 
 With faith and courage, but in vain, 
 For the Nation's conscience was dead. 
 
 46. Yes, dead in sin and it to wake 
 
 Needs some blows as well as prayers, 
 Needs such a blow as men can make 
 When they put away doubts and fears. 
 
 47. You see the works of these good men 
 
 Availed this cause no lasting good, 
 'Tis even farther from the end 
 Than where in infancy it stood. 
 
 48. It is not worth a precious while 
 
 To ponder o'er the politicians, 
 For they are like the weathers child 
 Too inconsistent in their missions. 
 
 49. But from the holy Church of God 
 
 We should expect a righteous course, 
 That she would spread the truth abroad 
 Of freedom pure with all her force. 
 
10 
 
 50. With that good Bible in her hand 
 
 The book for right among all men, 
 This holy Church throughout the land 
 Slaveholders wrong and lust defend. 
 
 51. That rock of justice and mercy 
 
 On which the Saviour built her, 
 She wandered off in- heresy 
 For tyranny, slaves and lucre. 
 
 52. " Let us then be up and doing " 
 
 In the words of freedom's poet, 
 Leave the priests and statesmen hoading 
 What the sins of slaver}^ profit. 
 
 53. Remember Ossawatomie ; 
 
 Think, too, of that terrible day. 
 When we went against the enemy 
 To engage in murderous fray. 
 
 54. Just like a cloud they covered the plain 
 
 Armed and equipped was ever}'^ man, 
 They showered volleys of shot like rain 
 Upon our small and feeble band. 
 
 55. Though few in number yet we stood 
 
 And drove away unnumbered host. 
 Their slain ones dyed the field in blood 
 And the victory was our boast. 
 
 56. Think of the night they sneaked their way 
 
 To us, unawares, at Black Jack ; 
 The thoughts of that terrible day 
 Disheartened and turned them back. 
 
 57. And as we drove Missourians 
 
 By our valor and devotions, 
 So can we shatter Virginians 
 And slavery's institutions. 
 
 58. But we will not be all alone. 
 
 Recruits are waiting on the ground. 
 Those who suffer, work and mourn 
 Are ready allies to be found. 
 
 59. With them we'll have a vantage ground 
 
 The enemy's prop and stronghold. 
 And will succeed to pull him down 
 Partially and on the whole. 
 
11 
 
 60. Judge not that they so long in bond 
 
 Possess a superstitious fear, 
 And could nor would not join us on 
 Against the heavy load they bear. 
 
 61. Bound up in the house of bondage. 
 
 They are armless, helpless and weak, 
 But just like animals in cage 
 
 For open holes they long and seek ; 
 
 62. Or like strong Sampson of the past, 
 
 Sightless and meek they thought him weak. 
 But when good fortune came at last 
 He vengeance on his tyrants wreaked. 
 
 63. So has it been with all mankind 
 
 Whose lot in slavery was found 
 They sought the good time to unbind 
 The galling chains that held them down. 
 
 64. The Negro race would do likewise, 
 
 ^ If chance and help to them would go. 
 Kept down by law, by men despis'd, 
 How to be free they do not know. 
 
 65. In New York city long ago 
 
 Some one made known a " Negro Plot " 
 To raze with fire the city low 
 
 And win their freedom on the spot. 
 
 QQ. Longing hard for freedom's riches, 
 They began in Carolina, 
 Years ago to lay in 'ashes 
 
 Charleston city and its harbor. 
 
 67. Nat Turner, the true and the brave. 
 
 Tired waiting for rights to come, 
 Aroused and led his brother slave 
 To the jaws of death for freedom. 
 
 68. These plans were nippe d just in their buds 
 
 For want of outside helping hand. 
 But yet they show much more than words 
 That with our band the slave would stand. 
 
 69. I was assured by their own mouth 
 
 Sometime before our fight in Kansas, 
 That if we should go in the South 
 Their race would never forsake us. 
 
12 
 
 70. Yes, hundreds of them I beheld, 
 
 Called fugitives but were heroes, 
 
 For tears would fall to hear them tell 
 
 Their stories of flight and of woes. 
 
 71. So glad were they to reach free land 
 
 Off from the vale of human lust, 
 They gave God thanks with uplift hand 
 Mindless of hunger, rags and thirst. 
 
 72. In moods of pity one would speak, 
 
 " I run from old Virginia State, 
 O'er rivers, hills, I come to seek 
 Some refuge from the worst of fate. 
 
 73. " These bruises and scars are marks I brought 
 
 From the hands of my old master. 
 Borne down by work the woods I sought. 
 My sore weary limbs to shelter. 
 
 74. " But could not stay there very long 
 
 For hounds were soon upon my track, 
 I took this M^ay with courage strong 
 To come or die ere I go back. 
 
 75. " To rest and sleep day after day 
 
 I made my bed in swampy wood, 
 But all night long I hunt the way 
 Or ramble round in search of food." 
 
 76. Say to me not that men like these 
 
 Would not revolt for slavish fear. 
 If aid would come they would be pleased 
 All the horrors of war to bear. 
 
 77. Their struggle and their privation 
 
 For themselves and for our country. 
 Merit from ihis unkind Nation 
 The patriots richest bounty. 
 
 78. In all the wars our country had 
 
 As many historians say. 
 Unto its guard the blacks did add 
 Without murmurings and delay. 
 
 79. Let us go on and strike the blow 
 
 Not blacks alone will rise and come. 
 Others will come who were before 
 Indiil'erent as to freedom. 
 
13 
 
 80. Our timid friends that fear our course 
 
 Will then shake off their doubts and fear, 
 Will fall in line with all their force 
 Seeking the front and not the rear. 
 
 81. We go with gladness, oh ! my God, 
 
 To duty where duty we see. 
 Easy or hard, home or abroad, 
 To do and leave the rest to Thee. 
 
 At Harper's Ferry Just Before the Attack. 
 
 1. The hour, the spot, are here at last 
 
 Their purpose, cause and hope we know, 
 Our duty is to hold on fast 
 
 To all the vows we made before. 
 
 2. To such as yield to our demand 
 
 For freedom here and everywhere, 
 In homes of safety let them stand 
 
 And all their household comforts spare. 
 
 3. Those who refuse us or resist. 
 
 Be as it may by words or arms, 
 Enroll their names on death's black list 
 To meet their dooms at war's alarms. 
 
 4. The blood that must be shed to-night 
 
 Can never stain the name we bear. 
 We fight for God's own holy right 
 Which is to all mankind so dear. 
 
 5. Virginia robbed it from a race 
 
 For over two sad hundred years. 
 Abused and kept it in disgrace 
 Regardless of entreating tears. 
 
 6. Those ancient tears rejoice to see 
 
 This retributive night's advance, 
 While Negro blood to you, to me, 
 Is crying aloud for vengeance. 
 
 7. Around us stand with cheering hand 
 
 The ghost of every Negro dead. 
 Each blesses the freedom we demand 
 Each bids us press with zeal ahead. 
 
14 
 
 8. Angels rejoice with gladness, too, 
 
 While round the throne on high they stand, 
 To see poor mortal men pursue 
 The common foe of God and man. 
 
 9. Though we are few in numbers now 
 
 We trust the promise Jesus made. 
 That where a few for good shall bow 
 His spirit will be there to aid. 
 
 10. The saints are singing music sweet 
 
 All around the heavenl}^ strand, 
 To see us here as Christians meet 
 To help and save our brother man. 
 
 11. Oh ! Saviour, Angels, Saints, look on 
 
 While we the fathers will obey. 
 Befriend and comfort them that morn 
 And in the dust their burdens lay. 
 
 12. 'We open war at once to-night 
 
 And liberty for all proclaim, 
 We'll lead from darkness unto light 
 
 The weak, the poor, the blind and lame. 
 
 13. Before to-morrow's sun displa3's 
 
 Its golden colors in the East, 
 We'll wake slaveholders in amaze 
 To breakfast on a bloody feast. 
 
 14. My brothers what a holy war 
 
 In which we all will soon engage, 
 It will assert free equal law 
 Against the tyrants of the age. 
 
 15. The broken heart, the tearful eyes 
 
 The cheerless face none sought to please, 
 Will ere the morning sun arise 
 Have symptoms of a time of ease. 
 
 16. The runaways in forest wilds 
 
 And children sold to foreign shore. 
 Will soon return with happy smiles 
 
 To see their parents, friends, once more. 
 
 17. The screws, the lashes and the hounds 
 
 Shall no more glut off Negro blood, 
 Our forward march, our bugle sounds. 
 Will scatter them as by a flood. 
 
15 
 
 18. Husband and wife, daughters and son, 
 
 Forever more shall ne'er be sold, 
 Together they shall live as one 
 
 Till choice or Heaven breaks the fold. 
 
 19. The fertile earth shall no more yield 
 
 Her fruits for unrequited toil, 
 The riches of the harvest field 
 
 Must be for him who tills the soil. 
 
 20. Ye children all of Africa 
 
 " Possess your soul " and weep no more. 
 This night will force America 
 
 To grant you all \'ou asked of yore. 
 
 21. The laws of God your rights ordain 
 
 We are the instruments the}^ send — 
 To cut your way, to break your chain, 
 And ages long of troubles end. 
 
 The Morning Before He Goes to the 
 Gallows. 
 
 1. My race of life is almost run. 
 
 Rings even now the last sad knell, 
 When I must from this whole world turn 
 And bid it ever more farewell. 
 
 2. Cut off from all my works and plans. 
 
 To leave my faithful loving ones, 
 No more to hold my good wife's hands, 
 Nor see my daughters and my sons. 
 
 3. This heart must moulder in the grave 
 
 And beat no more for fellow man. 
 Can no more move these hands to save 
 And purify a single land. 
 
 4. The day, oh ! Lord, I long to see 
 
 Is ever hidden from my sight. 
 To see Thy children all set free 
 
 And breathe the air of human right. 
 
 5. But let me not my fate bemoan 
 
 Oh, Father dear and King above. 
 Thy will be done and not my own 
 With me, my work and all I love. 
 
16 
 
 6. To know and do Thy will below 
 
 I lived and am prepared to die, 
 To serve thy creatures high or low 
 Where they dwell beneath the sky. 
 
 7. It was to wipe the crime away, 
 
 Forever more of man to man, 
 That I pursued, day after day, 
 
 The cause and charge for which I stand. 
 
 8. I go before Thy judgment seat 
 
 Where all m}^ feelings, thoughts, are known. 
 With naught of fear or shame to meet 
 The sentence of Thy righteous throne 
 
 9. But send Thy holy spirit. Lord, 
 
 To comfort, strengthen those I leave, 
 Teach them to know that Thou art God 
 In Thee to trust and to believe. 
 
 10. Make plain Thy ways, make known Thy will. 
 That they may see, walk and obey. 
 Urge, quicken them ' gainst slavery still 
 To battle till the free-born day. 
 
L'BRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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