Page:Report of Senate Select Committee on the Invasion of Harper's Ferry.pdf/7

Rh office near to the engine-house, and doubless would have been seized had they known where it was. There was. nothing to protect it but the ordinary safety of an iron door.

In answer to the inquiry contained in the third resolution of the series, "Whether such invasion and seizure was made under color of any organization, intended to subvert the government of any of the States of the Union, what was the character and extent of such organization, and whether any citizens of the United States, not present, were implicated therein, or accessory thereto, by contributions of money, arms, munitions, or otherwise," the committee report:

There will be found in the Appendix, a copy of the proceedings of a convention held at Chatham, in Canada, before referred to, of the provisional form of government there pretended to have been instituted, the object of which clearly was to subvert the government of one or more of the States, and of course to that extent the government of the United States. The character of the military organization is shown by the commissions issued to certain of the armed party as captains, lieutenants, &c, a specimen of which will be found in the Appendix. It clearly appeared that the scheme of Brown was take with him comparatively but few men, but those had been carefully trained by military instruction previously, and were to act as officers. For his military force he relied, very clearly, on inciting insurrection amongst the slaves, who he supposed would flock to him as soon as it became known that he had entered the State and had been able to retain his position—an expectation to no extent realized, though it was owing alone to the loyalty and well-affected disposition of the slaves that he did not succeed in inciting a servile war, with its necessary attendants of rapine and murder of all sexes, ages, and conditions. It is very certain from the proofs before the committee, that not one of the captured slaves, although arms were placed in their hands, attempted to use them; but on the contrary, as soon as their safety would admit, in the absence of their captors, their arms were thrown away and they hastened back to their homes.

It is shown that Brown brought with him for this expedition arms sufficient to have placed an effective weapon in the hands of not less than 1,500 men; besides which, had he succeeded in obtaining the aid he looked to from the slaves, he had entirely under his control all the arms of the United States deposited in the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. After his capture, beside the arms he brought in the wagon to the Ferry, there were found on the Maryland side, where he had left them, 200 Sharp's rifled carbines, and 200 revolver pistols, packed in the boxes of the manufacturers, with 900 or 1,000 pikes, carefully and strongly made, the blade of steel being securely riveted to a handle about five feet in length; many thousand percussion caps in boxes, and ample stores of fixed ammunition, besides a large supply of powder in kegs, and a chest that contained hospital and other military stores, beside a quantity of extra clothing for troops.

For an answer to the inquiry, how far "any citizens of the United States, not present, were implicated therein or accessory thereto by contributions of money, arms, munitions, or otherwise," the committee deem it best to refer to the evidence which accompanies this report. It