Newspaper Page Text
» NOTEB.
\ (1) It instead of playing king d B—c 8, the Blvks
' hail played king d S—e 8. the Whites would have played
queen b"4—b 5, and would have won.
/ (i) If the Whites had played queen b 4—b 6, the
Blacks would have played rook d 7—e 7, and would have
compelled the removal of the king of the Whites, for the
L latter could not take the rook without suffering stale
S? mate.
(8) If the Blacks here, instead of playing rook c 7—
) a 7, remove their rook, you would give successive checks
with your queen, and would soon obtain a double check
t on king and rook.
* (4) In the present position of the pieces, the Blacks
are compelled to sacrifice their rook, or submit to a check
mate,
* (5) Ilere, for example, are three supposed positions,
in which the Blacks, having the move, may, by sacrific
ing the rook, procure a drawn game, by effecting a stale
L mate.
’ POSITION FIRST.
WHITE. BLACK.
1 King on f 3, Queen on eB. King on hl, ltook on g 2.
« POSITION SECOND.
!{ King on fI, Queen on f 2. King on hl, Kook on g 4.
POSITION THIRD.
King on b 6, Queen ondC. King on cB, Book on c7.
The above and oMier analogous positions, of
which there are several, should be carefully
l j avoided by the party possessing the Queen.
5 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF CHESS.
» From the Book of the First American Chess Congress.
' (Continued from Field and Fireside, page 212.)
. Countless fables, offspring of the ardent imagi
‘ nation of Asia, or the sterner fancy of Europe,
and many of them as beautiful as they are un
t true, are extant, which pretend to explain the
1 origin of chess. Some of the old chroniclers, who
) loved to invent history, tell us that the game
was the product of the fertile braiu of an Indian
| sage, named Sissa or Sassa. True history in
forms us that this Sissa was merely a player of
more than ordinary skill. Other writers ascribe
' the invention ol the game to two brothers, Ly
dus and Tyrhene, who, starving in a desert, dis
i covered this means of appeasing the pangs of
hunger. Others again support the claims of an
> imaginary Greek philosopher, styled Xerxes,
whose object was to convince a despot that the
interests of the monarch were inseparably con
nected with those of his people. In fact, a vast
deal of erudition and an immense amount of im
' agination have been expended on this matter.
Palamedes and Zenobia, the Chinese, Egyptians,
i Persians, Arabians, Welsh, Irish, Jew's, Scy
thians, and Araucanians, have all had their zeal
» ous and credulous advocates. The sober truth
is, that a game, possessing all the essential sea-
tures of chess, was in common use in southern
Asia, some three thousand years before the com
mencement of our era, and that the oldest au
' thentic books of India speak of it as a pastime
which amused soldiers during a siege, and de
l lighted priuces and generals in their hours of
recreation. Beyond this we know nothing,
i The names of its inventors, the precise time and
exact locality ofits first appearance, are proba
| bly problems which no study of the past, how
ever acute and diligent, will ever be able to
solve.
The first great period in the history of chess
stretches from the supposed time of its origin
I down to about the sixth century of our era, com
prising a space of between three and four thou
i sand years. It may be called the age of the
chaturanga, or primeval Indian game. This
| game wus played like ou;s, upon a board of six
ty-four squares; unlike ours, it was played by
f four persons. Each player had a king, a rook,
a knight, and a bishop, which at that time was
styled a ship, and four pawns. The moves of
I these men, with a single exception, were pre
cisely the same at that remote day as they are
1 with us. The bishop, or ship, instead of rang
ing from one angle of the checkered field to the
| other, was limited to two squares at a time.
Two of the players (black and green) were allied
. against the other two (red and yellow). When
ever it came the turn of a player, he decided
what man to move by the throw of an oblong
i die, marked with numbers one, two, three, four,
and five. Thus, if five were thrown, the king or
i one of the pawns was moved; if four, the rook;
if three, the knight; if two, the bishop. Chess
[ was, therefore, in its infancy a game of mingled
skill and hazard. It was not until the experi
, enee of successive generations had developed
the resources which lay hid in those sixty-four
squares and thirty-two figures, that it became a
stern mental encounter, a contest of mind with
mind. But even this crude and simple form of
the game pleased the people of tropical Asia in
the younger years of the earth’s existence. Men
of the highest stations felt and confessed its en
ticements. In one of the very oldest sacred
, books of the Hindoos, written m the Sanscrit
language, the most ancient of all our Indo-Euro
pean tongues, a royal personage seeks to acquire
from a wise man a knowledge of chess. “ Ex
plain to me,” he says, “ explain to me, 0 thou
super-eminent in virtue, the nature of the game
that is played on the eight-times-eight squared
| board.” The sage proceeds to give him the in
formation he desires. He describes the game,
f and among other counsel says, “ Let each player
preserve his own forces with excessive care, and
remember that the king is the most important
i of all. 0 Prince, from inattention to the humble
forces, the King himself may fall into disaster.”.
What could be better advice either for a chess
player or a prince?
t During this period the game appears to have
spread to the eastward to China, Siam, and Ja
f pan, where, in the course of time, it took a shape
somewhat different from that which it after
wards assumed in Westeru Asia and Europe.
I Enough of similarity, however, still remains be
tween these two great branches to prove their
1 common origin. In the Celestial Empire the
chief changes were a division of the board into
( two equal parts by an imaginary river, the ad
dition of two pieces, with peculiar powers un
f known to the Indian game, and the substitution
for the queen of two pieces of very limited ac
tion. This latter alteration rendered it necessa
l ry, in order to place all the chief officers upon
the royal or first rank, to use the intersections
* of the lines instead of the squares. The moves
, of the kings, rooks, bishop, and knights, are ex
( - actly the same as in the chaturanga. The Sia
mese game very closely resembles the Chinese.
f In Japan, instead of arranging the pieces upon
the intersections of the lines, the board was en
larged to nine squares on each side. We find
) here, however, no trace of the river. A portion
of the men may be reversed when they arrive
* at certain squares, and thereby acquire increas
. ed powers, a feature resembling the queening
, of the pawn in our western game. The line of
division between these two great chess stocks
f —the Indo-European and the East-Asiatic —
seems to be very exactly defined. Eastward,
along the southernmost portion of Asia, and
f throughout the islands of the Asiatic seas, as far
as Borneo, or wberever the influence of India
> was felt, the Sanscrit form prevails. In other
, lands, further north, which received their laws
$ and customs from the country of Confucius,
chess as known in China, is predominant. Fu
. ture laborers in the historical department of
chess will find here a broad and uuharvested
field ready to reward their toil.
' (to be continued.)
XKK SOVSXIU SPIES® Ell® IXBESZUK.
FUN, FACT, AND PHILOSOPHY
(Careftilly prepared for the Southern Field and Fireside)
“ Master at home ?” “No sir, he's out”—
“ Mistress at home ?” 11 No, sir, she’s out.”
“ Then I’ll step in and sit by the fire.”
“ That's out too, sir.”
North Carolina appropriates SIBO,OOO for free
school purposes. South Carolina contributes
$74,000 for the same purpose.
Let your life be such, that if a man speak evil
of you, no one will believe him.
“ John, spell effects.” “ F-x.” “ Right.—
Next, spell seedy." “ C-d.” “ Right again.
Now spell cakes.” “ K-a-x.”
The inventor has just obtained a patent for a
glass coffin. Bodies placed in these coffins may
be preserved in their natural state for all time
to come, and when placed in vaults can alwavs
be accessible to the gaze of those who are left
behind.
Common sense can accomplish much without
great talents, but ail the talents in the world can
accomplish very little without common sense.
A lad was boasting to his companion of the
beauties of his father’s house. “It has got a
cupola,” said he, “ and its going to have some
thing else. “What is it?” asked the other.—
“ Why I heard father tell mother this morning,
that it’s going to have a mortgage on it.”
The clock at the Houses ot Parliament, Lon
don, now strikes the hours regularly upon the
great bell, and the souud may be heard distinct
ly for miles round the metropolis.
Put off repentance till to-morrow, and you
have a day more to repent ofj and a day less to
repent in.
A young tyro in declamation in a neighbor
ing seminary, who had been told by his teacher
that he must make gestures according to the
sense, in commencing a piece with
“ The comet lifts its fiery tail,”
lifted his coat-tail to a horizontal position.
Mr. Snow, formerly second in command of
the discovery ship Prince Albert, in the course
of a recent lecture, stated that there had been
no less than ninety expeditions fitted out to
search for Sir John Franklin, at a cost of
£850,000.
Let no one think that by acting a good part
through life he will escape slander. There will
be those even who hate them for the very qual
ities that ought to procure them esteem. There
are some folks in the world who are not willing
that others should be better than themselves.
When Bishop Leighton was one day lost in
meditation in his own sequestered walk at Dum
blane, a fair young widow came up to him, and
told him it was ordered that he should marry
her: for she had dreamed thrice that she was
married to him. “ Very well,” replied the bish
op, “ whenever I shall dream thrice that I am
married to you, I will let you know, and we
will be married immediately.”— [Mrs. Grant's
Letters.
Woman ought to measure from twenty-seven
to twenty-nine inches round the waist, but most
females do not permit themselves to grow be
yond twenty-four; thousands are laced down to
twenty-two ; some to less than twenty inches ;
and by means of wood whalebone, and steel, the
chest is often reduced to one-half its proper size.
I hold it to be a fact, says Pascal, that if all
persons knew what they said of each other,
there would not bo four friends in the world.—
This is manifested from the disputes to which in
discreet reports from one to the other give rise.
A man who had been elected major of militia,
and who was not overburdened with brains, took
it into his head, on the morning of the parade to
“ exercise ” a little by himself. The field select
ed for the purpose was his own apartment.—
Placing himself in a military attitude, with his
sword drawn, he exclaimed —
“ Attention company 1 Rear rank, three paces
march 1” and he tumbled down into the cellar.
His wife, hearing the racket, came running in,
saying:
“ My dear, have you killed yourself ?”
Go about your business, woman,” said the
hero, “what do you know about w’ar?”
A student in the University of Virginia writ
ing from that institution, states that “ no vestige
remains of the marble slab that designated the
last resting place of the author of the Declara
tion ol Independence. Visitors to his tomb, by
chipping fragments, have completely demolished
and carried it away, piecemeal. An uncouth
granite pedestal, greatly disfigured, alone re
mains to mark his grave.
He who is not a better brother, neighbor,
friend, because of his superior knowledge, may
very well doubt whether his knowledge is really
superior to the ignorance of the unlettered many
around him.
Mademoiselle Georges, the celebrated French
actress, was starring in the provinces. One eve
ning after the fall of the curtain, the beaux as
sembled around to congratulate her. “Ah I
gentlemen,” said she, “ to play that part well,
one ought to be young and beautiful.” “Oh 1
madame,” answered one, the sharpest of the
beaux, “ you have proved the contrary.”
The Natural Bridge property, in Rockbridge
county, Va., was disposed of a few days since
by Col. J. Wooten, the proprietor, to John Lus
ter, for the sum of $12,000. Upon this proper
ty is situated the celebrated Natural Bridge, one
of the wonders of this country.
-
PERSONAL.
—Hon. Edward Everett is writing an arti
cle on ■ Washington,’ for one of the foreign en
cyclopedias.
' —Our Minister to Spain, Mr. Preston, is ex
pected home by the Dext steamer. The Presi
dent has given him leave of absence for six
months.
—M. Sartiges is expected to resume the
French mission in Washington in about six
weeks, he having failed to obtain an European
transfer.
—lt is stated that Stieglitz, the great Rus
sian banker, who is about to retire, iias a capi
tal of fifty-six million dollars. The house has
been established fifty years, conducted all this
time by father and son.
—General Tom Thumb will be twenty-two
years old in January next. Ho resides in
Bridgeport, Conn., where he owns a fine house
on Main street, valued at over $50,000. He
Mrives a pony which he says will travel a mile
in three minutes.
Mrs. Brown, wife of Ossawatomie Brown,
has denied that she ever made the remark at
tributed to her in a Republican paper, that
“ four of her sons had already been slain, and
she would be willing all the rest of her family
should be made a sacrifice, if necessary, to the
cause of freedom.” In speaking of it, she said
she regretted that such a remark should have
been put into her mouth, “for they were un
motherly words ; ” that she had “ already felt
too many griefs to court any fresh sacrifices,
and that sho “ could not think without pain of
any new death stroke in her family.
—The advices by the overland route announce
the death of the celebrated pioneer and explorer,
Christopher Carson, at Taos, New Mexico,
where he had been residing as Indian Agent.—
Mr. Carson was a native of Kentucky, having
l>een bom in Madison county, at the close of
1809. His father, shortly after that period, re
moved to Missouri, where Kit, when a lad of
fifteen, was apprenticed to a saddler—occupying
himself at that business two years, at the end
of which he joined a trapping expedition, and a
trapper he remained until his familiarity with
the great far West rendered him invaluable as
a guide to explorers of the plains. For eight
years he acted as hunter at Bent’s Fort. When
Col Fremont engaged in his expeditions, Carson
accompanied him, and was over after his stead
fast companion. In 1847 he received the rank
of Lieutenant in the rifle corps U. S. Army.—
His latest and most remarkable exploit on the
plains was enacted in 1853, when he conducted
a drove of 6000 sheep safely to California.
—Louis Spoiir, the German composer, born
in Brunswick, April 5, 1784, died there in Oc
tober, 1859. In early life he was chamber mu
sician of the Duke of Brunswick, and concert
master of the Duke of Saxe Gotha. He gave
concerts in different parts of Europe, and ac
quired the reputation of being one of the great
est violinists of his time, and at the Congress of
Vienna, in 1814, eclipsed all his rivals. In
1817 he visited Italy, and after his return to
Germany lie became manager of tho Frankford
Opera. Here he brought out his charming op
era of Zemire and Azor. In 1819 he went to
London, where the symphony which he execu
ted there before the Philharmonic Society has
since remained very popular in England, where
his music was, perhaps, more appreciated than
even in his own country. After spending some
time in Dresden, he was invited, in 1822, to pre
side over the Chapel of the Elector of Hesse-
Cassel, in whose service he has since remained.
He has produced a great number of orchestral
symphonies, concertos, quartettes, and other
vocal pieces, which are popular throughout Ger
many. To the lovers of the violin lie has left
one of the most complete works of its class, en
titled the “ Violin School.”
Death of Washington Irving. —We pub
lished, yesterday morning, a brief telegraphic
dispatch announcing the death of Washington
Irving, at his residence upon the banks of the
Hudson, on Monday evening the 28th of Nov.
The father of Washington Irving was, for many
years, a merchant in the city of New York, where
the great author was born on tho 3d day of
April, 1783. He was four y r ears old when the
Constitution of the United States was adopted;
and when a boy six years old, as Griswold states
in his “ Republican Court,” was one of the crowd
which stood at the corner of Broadway and
Maiden Lane, to witness the inauguration of the
first President of the United States. He was
destined for the legal profession, and after re
ceiving an ordinary academic education com
menced, at the age of sixteen, the study of the
law. After abandoning the study once, and
then resuming it, he was finally admitted to
the bar at the age of twenty-three. But Miner
va invito, he never practiced lis profession, hav
ing early exhibited inclinations and tastes whic
unfitted him for its duties and finally determin
ed him to devote himself to literary pursuits.
Much of his time after he attained his majority
was spent in Europe, where nearly all the works
which have rendered his name immortal were
prepared and first published. His first visit to
Europe extended from 1804 to 1806. In 1815
he again revisited Europe, and was absent for
seventeen years, three of which were passed, as
Secretary of Legation at the court of St. James
and the rest in travel and in literary labors;
and in 1842 he was appointed, by President Ty
ler, without solicitation, Minister to Spain and
resided at Madrid, in that capacity until the
summer of 1846.
Mr. Irving, though he had, according to report,
but little facility in writing, accomplished during
his long life, an immense amount of literary labor,
and was one of the most voluminous authors, as
he was the greatest, which this country has
ever produced. After his last return from Eu
rope in 1846, he published “ Oliver Goldsmith,”
“ Mahomet and his Successors,” and “ The Life
of 'Washington.” But though these and espe
cially the last, are all works worthy of his ge
nius, his world-wide reputation and great pop
ularity as an author was not achieved by them
or by any of his works published during the
last two decades of his life, but by his -“ Knick
erbocker’s History of New York,” “ Sketch
Book,” “Bracebridge Hall,” “Tales of a Travel
ler,” “ Columbus,” “ Conquest of Granada ” and
by his contributions to the Knickerbocker Maga
zine, all of which were published when he was
comparatively a young man. His reputation as
a master of genial humor, true pathos, quiet sa
tire, and an unrivalled style, was established by
these productions of his earlier years, and all
his subsequent efforts, have but served to sus
tain and strengthen this reputation, which has
steadily grown w ith the lapse of years.
Mr. Irving, for several years previous to his
death, resided at a country seat on the banks
of the Hudson, twenty-five miles from tho city
of New York, which he called “Sunny-Side.”
His house, built a century or more ago, but ad
ded to and beautified, under his owm supervis
ion, stood on ground which he has rendered
classic, overlooking the great Tappaan Zee, and
“ not far from the wizard region of Sleepy Hol
low,” as he has himself expressed it. Willis has
described it, its inmates, its surroundings and
its master in one of his Letters from Idlewild,
almost as delightful as Irving’s sketch of Walter
Scott and Abbotsford. There, with the glorious
river before liim, which he declared was his first
and only love among rivers,surrounded by friends
and kindred, and by the scenes of his early
youth, with an assured and world-wide reputa
tion, he quietly waited the summons which has
called him hence, and died, honored above all
men in the Union, and beloved by thousands,
who have never known him, except in his
works. — [Augusta •Constitutionalist.
NEWS SUMMARY.
Heavy Defalcations.— The Washington cor
respondent of the New York Herald, under date
of tho 23d, says:
It is believed that Major French, late disburs
ing agent for tho Treasury extension building,
and who was under ten thousand dollars bonds
for his appearance at the criminal court for this
district to answer the charge of defalcation, has
absconded to Europe. It is now reported the
defalcations are very large.
It is stated at the Post Office Department that
it has been discovered the latePostsnaster West
cott, of Philadelphia, is a defaulter to the amount
of nearly twenty thousand dollars.
Sackville, Nov. 26.— A steamer has returned
from the steamship Indian with the remainder
of the Burvivers. The steamship has so totally
gone to pieces that very little of the cargo can
be saved. Her sails have been saved and for
warded to their places of destination.
She had on board eight cabin and thirty steer-
| age passengers, and most of the latter were Ger
mans and Hungarians.
There were seventy-seven of the crew in one
boat under the third officer of the steamer, and
all are believed to be lost.
All the cabin passengers were saved, and it is
known that twenty-seven persons are dead.
New Orleans. Nov. 25.—The Legislature of
Texas has ordered the troops to arrest Cortinas’
baud. The reports from Brownsville caused in
tense excitement throughout Texas. The small
town of Gonzales raised two hundred men in
two days.
Cortinas has returned Campbell, the deputy
Sheriff, to Brownsville, unharmed, against the
wishes of his men.
Gov. Houston recommends the Legislature to
authorize the raising of a regiment of mounted
men to protect the frontier from the attacks of
the Indians.
New Orleans, Nov. 28.—We have received
Brownsville dates to the 20th inst. Lieutenant
Gennison, of the Revenue Cutter Dodge, reports
that two hundred and ninety effective men were
guarding the city, which was closely besieged,
but as yet not attacked.
Railroad Iron. —The ship Anna F. Schmidt
arrived at Savannah Thursday, from Brisiol, with
seven hundred tons of iron for tho extension of
the Southwestern Railroad.
Alabama Iron. —The Jackson (Ala.) Republi
can learns that the “Cane Creek Ironworks,”
in Shelby county, succeeded in turning out a
very superior article of iron. Persons who have
used it pronounce it equal to the best Swedes.
The Messrs. Noble Brothers, of Rome, Ga., pro
prietors of the iron foundry and steam engine
works, pronounce it decidedly the very best they
have ever used, manufactured in Europe or
America.
The Yacht Wanderer. —We are permitted
to copy part of a letter to one of our citizens,
from a reliable source, which throws a new
light upon the supposed stealthy escape of the
Wanderer, and strongly squints to the conni
vance of the Government officials in such es
cape. We would call the attention of the au
thorities at Washington to the statements con
tained in the letter, with the suggestion that
some inquiry into the conduct of the commander
of tho revenue cutter stationed at Savannah,
and of the Federal officers of that city, may be
required in the faithful and vigorous enforce
ment of the laws of the land:
Savannah, Monday, Nov. 7, 1859.—My Dear
Sir: —I send you a few lines to let you know
how things are done here. I see accounts in
the Northern Press of the running away of the
notorious yacht Wanderer, by Capt. Martin alias
Capt. Patten. Now, in truth, this is all gam
mon. I was myself a witness of all her doings
before she sailed, and was on board of her sev
eral times while sho was loading, or I should
have said, taking in her stores. This was done
openly, in broad daylight—hundreds of citizens
looking on. All her stores came through the
cotton press, which belongs to the owner of the
yacht. It seems strange that the revenue cutter
should have watched her for two months, while
she was lying up, with no sails bent and no
stores aboard, but, as soon as she had shipped
her stores and had her sails bent, and was
hauled out into the river, that the cutter should
have had business which required her to put to
sea, and that, upon her disappearance, the yacht
should have got under weigh, and left the port.
To show the openness of the whole proceed
ing, I would state that the yacht was shipping
hands over a week before she sailed, giving them
twenty dollars a month, and four dollars a head
for every negro they land safe. All the fuss they
make about the Captain’s carrying off - the ship
ping-master and his runner is all in my eye.
The latter has a boat ffnd carries sailors down
to the ships that load in the bay, and, if I am
not much mistaken, he piloted the Wanderer
down. It would have made you laugh to see
the owner, Charley Lamar, in chase of the yacht
the next day. He could sec from the top of
the steeple on the Exchange when the yacht
got to sea. He then got a steamer and two
Custom house officers and started after her, but
he was like the Irishman looking for a day’s
work, and praying that he might not find it.
The yacht had a crew of twenty-seven men, and
plenty of arms went on board of her. What
she is going to do, time only will tell. Captain
Patten is an old slave trader.— [Philadelphia
Journal.
Completion of the Mississippi Central
Railroad. —ln a short time the gap in the Mis
sissippi Central Railroad will be closed up, com
pleting the line of railway connection between
New Orleans and the Ohio river, thus putting
that city within three and a half days of New
York. The Mississippi Central, after leaving
Grand Junction, runs north to Jackson, Tennes
see, where it connects with the Mobile and Ohio
Road, which runs thence to Columbus, Ken
tucky. The whole distance from New Orleans
to Columbus is five hundred and twenty miles,
and we believe it is tho intention of the several
companies on the route to run trains through
from one end to the other, which will be the
longest stretch of railroad traveling without
change of cars, in the United States, if not in the
world. — [Kashville Union.
The Great Balloon. —Prof. Lowe at last
gives it up as a bad operation, and announces
that he has determined not to make an ascen
sion this season. His monster balloon is packed
up and stowed away in a house in Fourteenth
street, and the life boat, caloric engine, and the
other appliances with which he was about to
astonish the people of the old world, are locked
up safely, to bo trotted out again next Spring,
when the Professor promises to again make an
attempt to make an serial trip to Europe.
There is such information in Washington, as
to warrant the belief that all the differences be
tween the United States and Great Britain grow
ing out of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, will be
adjusted through the agency of Mr. Tyke, the
the English Minister to Central America. A
part of the arrangement was the recent settle
ment of the boundary of British Honduras.
Harper’s Ferry Insurrection. —Richmond,
Va., Nov. 28.—The number of well armed
troops stationed at Charlestown, now numbers
about 2,000. It is generally believed that Gov.
Wise had good reasons to warrant him in con
centrating this large force at Charlestown.
The Confession of Cook. —The confession of
John E. Cook, one of John Brown’s accompli
ces, now under sentence of death, is published
in several of the Northern papers. It does not
disclose any new fact of importance, nor impli
cate any persons whose names have not already
been mentioned in connection with the Harper’s
Ferry affair. .In regard to the more prominent
citizens at the North, he disclaims ail knowledge
which could implicate them.
The story of their journey from Kansas across
the country, with a supply of Sharpe’s rifles and
ammunition, halting here and there, and finally
settling at Harper’s Ferry, is related, but devel
ops nothing now of importance. The outsiders
who had any knowledge of Brown's operations
were a few radical abolitionists, such as Fred
Douglas, and as Cook thinks, Gerrit Smith. All
that Cook says, apparently implicating them is
as follows :
“He (Brown) came to Harper’s Ferry about
the last of June, though I did not see him till
late in July, or the early part of August; when
we met on Shenandoah street, Harper’s Ferry,
opposite Teamey’s store. Ido not know who
were his aiders or abettors, but have heard him
mention in connection with it the names of tier
rit Smith, of New York, Howe of Boston, and
Sanborne, and Thaddeus Hyatt of New York
city. A
The attack at Harper’s Ferry was made soon
er than it was intended, owing to some friends in
Boston writing a letter and finding fault with
the management of Captain 8., and what to them
seemed his unnecessary delay and expense. I
do not know who those persons were, or how far
they were cognizant of his (Capt. B.’s) plans.—
But I do know that Dr. Howe gave Capt. Brown
a breech-loading carbine and a pair of muzzle
loading pistols, all of government manufacture.
They were left either at the house of Capt.
Brown, or at the school-house where most of the
arms were conveyed.
A short time before the attack on Harper's
Ferry, Capt. Brown requested me to find out in
some way, without creating suspicion, the num
ber of male slaves on or near the roads leading
from the Ferry, for a distance of eight or ten
miles, and to make such memoranda that it would
be unintelligible to others, but in such a manner
that I could make it plain to him and the rest
of the company.
The remainder of the confession relates prin
cipally to the abortive attack on Harper’s Ferry.
Os his own participation in the fight, he says :
After going down opposite the Ferry, I as
cended the mountain in order to get a better
view of the position/Of our opponents. I saw
that our party were completely surrounded, and
I saw a body of men on High street firing down
upon them—they were dbout a mile and a half
distant from me—l thought f "would draw their
fire upon myself; I therefore raised my rifle and
took the best aim I could and fired. It bad the
desired effect, for the very instant the party re
turned it. Several shots were exchanged. The
last one they fired at me cut a small limb I had
hold of just below my hand, and gave me a fall
of about fifteen feet, by which I was severely
bruised and my flesh somewhat lacerated.
He then narrates his subsequent movements,
after despairing of rescuing Brown and his con
federates. With Merriam and others they slept
on the side of the mountain beyond Brown’s
houso, until three o'clock next morning, when
they went to the top of the mountain, and in a
few hours passed over to the opposite side, re
mained until dark and then escaped.
Those who desire to read the entire document
will have to procure a pamphlet copy, as it is
said to have been copyrighted and published for
the benefit of one of the wounded at Har
per’s Ferry. The pith of it, given above, is ta
ken from what purports to be the confession, as
published in the New York Tribune.
Transfer of Stevens to the United States Court. —
The transfer of Stevens to the United States
Court, which will meet in Staunton, does not
meet the gracious approval of some of the free
soil journals of the North. They do not like
the idea of some of their magnates being called
as witnesses before a tribunal in Virginia. They
affect to apprehend personal peril to those indi
viduals. They need give themselves no concern
on that head. The card of Mr. Sennot, one of
Brown’s counsel, shows that, even in the justly
excited community where Brown’s crimes were
committed, his lawyers from the free States
were treated with forbearance and kindness.
The people of Staunton and that neighborhood
are eminently quiet and law-abiding, and the
witnesses will be much more secure there than
those of our own people who have been exposed
to abolition machinations.— Richmond Dispatch.
Return of Mr. Voorhies — Conservative Senti
ments. —The Indianapolis Sentinel makes the fol
lowing statement touching the return of Messrs.
Voorhies and McDonald, (who came to Charles
town as counsel for Cook,) and their report of
their treatment at Charlestown, and the proceed
ings of the Court there. The Sentinel takes oc
casion to express itself in some very sound
opinions, to which we invite attention, the more
particularly as the appearance of anything like
justice or fairness to the South, in the Northern
press, is so very rare:
Hon. J. E. McDonald and Hon. D. W. Voor
hies returned home from Chaalestown on Friday
night last. The public are already advised of
the conviction of young Cook upon the indict
ments for murder and insurrection, and the sen
tence of the Court that he should be hung upon
the 16th of December. Messrs. McDonald and
Voorhies desire us to state, that from the time
of their arrival to their departure, they had
every attention and kindness shown them by
the citizens of Charlestown and vicinity, and
the old fashioned Virginia hospitality, for
which the people of that portion of the State are
distinguished, was everywhere extended to
them. They spoke of Judge Parker as a cour
teous gentleman, upright and able, anil that he
administers his court with great dignity and
strict impartiality. The trial of the prisoners
was fair, as much latitude was allowed in the
defense as could be, and the Virginia lawyers
allotted to the prisoners made all the defense
that the cases were capable of—manifesting in
their conduct of them both ability and earnest
ness. The prisoners themselves admit the fair
ness of their trials, and the humanity and kind
ness with which they were treated. The prompt
ness of the trials was accidental, the court being
in session at the time of the outbreak. Tins
fact, however, does not militate against the fair
ness of the trials, nor is it presumable that any
different result would have been reached, if they
had longer been delayed.
The evidence against the prisoners' was most
direct and conclusive, and, with the exception
of Cook, they were arrested while violating the
laws and commiting the offences for which they
were convicted, and arc to be punished. The
prisoners can offer no justification for this
wicked attempt to incite a servile insurrection.
They had no personal wrongs to avenge. The
act on their part was voluntary, and they vol
untarily assumed all the consequences of a fail
ure. They can make no appeal for sympathy
which should find a response. Whatever may
be the moral responsibility of those who hold
and teach the “irrepressible conflict” doctrine
for the acts of these misguided men, that is no
apology which the prisoners can offer for their
crime. There is too much morbid sensibility
in the public mind for criminals, and too much
willingness to relax that maintenance of law
and justice, upon which rests public peace,
security and good order. Our pity for those
who voluntarily disregaid law, should not lead
any so far as to be willing that criminals should
go unpunished for their crimes. We sll owe a
different duty to society. We have not a doubt
but that the sober verdict of the people of the
country will justify the punishment decreed to
the Harper’s Ferry insurgents by the courts of
Virgfhia.
221