A Lover of Justice to John Brown, November 29, 1859

Philadelphia, November 29.

Dear Sir: Feeling a true, and I trust, a sincere sympathy for your being under bonds, and with desire your punishment may be commuted to imprisonment, and that thereby your life may be spared, I have implored his Excellency Gov. W ise in your behalf several times, and I trust it may be done. My dear old man, I have no doubt you have acted agreeably to what you considered a duty; but sound sense and the law of the land, show evidently you acted wrong, and have been guilty of a great folly in judgment, and I trust those who may have the power will think so, that it was an error of judgment and not of principle; and that they may be influenced by a principle of mercy, instilled by Him who is the author of all good, to show you and those who are with you mercy, and thereby allay, in a great measure, the hostile feelings in the North, that your execution will produce. If you have to suffer this severe penalty, you will be for. ever immortalized as a true martyr of Liberty, and be the cause without doubt of laying a foundation stone of the Liberty party of the North, South, East, and West, that will not rest until the fabric of the Institution of Slavery shall be shaken unto its foundations. But it must be done constitutionally, and not by violence, that would produce a greater evil than the one you attempted to eradicate, producing bloodshed and revolution, and all its horrors; and it would be trampling upon the rights of your fellow-citizens, as you did. It is a work of time. God in his own time will bring it about; fear not. I sincerely trust your life may be spared. If not, trust in the loving power of God Almighty, and He will sustain you and give you a seat among the righteous martyrs who have gone before you. Your family, no doubt, will be well taken care of, and may the Lord in His Infinite Mercy be with you in life or death, is my most earnest prayer. You are generally believed to be an honest and upright man, but a very deluded one on the subject of Slavery; and it being a delusion of judgment and not of principles, I pray you may have mercy extended to you and your associates.

Yours truly,

A Lover of Justice.

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"Needs no reply," is the comment written on this letter by John Brown himself.

SOURCE: James Redpath, Editor, Echoes of Harper’s Ferry, p. 409-10