vote was regarded as very
significant. The Supreme Court decided differently from the people, and
a ruling was handed down to the effect that fugitive slaves were liable
to re-capture. The court held that the law as to slavery was paramount
in free as well as slave States, and that every law-abiding citizen must
recognize these rights and not interfere with them. Feeling became very
intense after this, and for a time it threatened to extend far beyond
rational limits. In the church the controversy waxed warm, and in more
than one instance division as well as dissension arose.

In 1858, a new phase was given to the controversy by John Brown. Every
one has heard of this remarkable man, who was regarded by some as a
martyr, and by others as a dangerous crank. As one writer very aptly
puts it, John Brown was both the one and the other. That his intentions
were in the main good, few doubt, but his methods were open to the
gravest censure, and according to some deep thinkers he was, in a large
degree, responsible for the bitter feeling which made war between the
North and the South inevitable. Probably this is giving undue importance
to this much-discussed enthusiast, who regarded himself as a divine
messenger sent to liberate the slaves and punish the slave-holders.

He conceived the idea of rallying all the colored people around him in
the impregnable mountains of Virginia, and having drafted a
constitution, he proceeded to unfurl his flag and call out his
supporters. In October, 1859, he took possession of the United States
Armory at Harper's Ferry, interfered with the running of trains, and
practically held the town with a force of some eighteen men, of whom
four were colored. Colonel Robert E. Lee quickly came on the scene with
a detachment of troops and drove the Brown following into an
engine-house. They declined to surrender, and thirteen were either
killed or mortally wounded. Two of Brown's sons were among those who
fell, and the leader himself was captured. He treated his trial with the
utmost indifference, and went to the scaffold erect and apparently
unconcerned. His body was taken to his old home in New York State, where
it was buried.

Abraham Lincoln must not be included in the list of enthusiastic
Abolitionists, although he eventually freed the slaves. In speeches made
prior to the war he expressed the opinion that in slave States general
emancipation would be ill-advised, and although his election was loo