CHAPTER XXIV

Suddenly the old man left Springdale. He ordered his disciples¹ tocontinue their drill until he should instruct them as to their nextmarch.
Two weeks later he was in Rochester, New York, with Frederick Douglas.
In a room in this negro's house Brown composed a remarkable² document asa substitute for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution ofthe United States.
He hurried with his finished manuscript to the home of Gerrit Smith atPeterboro for a consultation³ with Smith, Sanborn, Higginson and Stearns.
Only Sanborn and Smith appeared. Brown outlined to them in brief hisplan of precipitating⁴ a conflict by the invasion of the Black Belt ofthe South and the establishment of a negro empire. Its details were asyet locked in his own breast.
Smith and Sanborn discussed his plans and his Constitution for theGovernment of the new power. In spite of its absurdities⁵ they agreedto support him in the venture. Smith gave the first contribution whichenabled him to call the convention of negroes and radicals⁶ at Chatham,Canada, to adopt the "Constitution."Brown went all the way to Springdale, Iowa, to escort the entire body ofhis disciples to this convention. And they came across a continentwith him--Stevens, Kagi, Cook, Owen Brown, and six new men whom he hadadded--Leeman, Tidd, Gill, Taylor, Parsons, Moffit and Realf.
Thirty-four negroes gathered with them. Among the negroes were RichardO. P. Anderson and James H. Harris of North Carolina.
The presiding officer was William C. Monroe, pastor⁸ of a negro church inDetroit. Kagi, the stenographer⁹, was made Secretary of the Convention.
Brown addressed the gathering¹⁰ in an unique speech:
"For thirty years, my friends, a single passion has pursued my soul--toset at liberty the slaves of the South. I went to Europe in 1851 toinspect fortifications and study the methods of guerrilla warfare¹¹ whichhave been successfully used in the old world. I have pondered theuprisings of the slaves of Rome, the deeds of Spartacus, the successesof Schamyl, the Circassian Chief, of Touissant L'Overture in Haiti, ofthe negro Nat Turner who cut the throats of sixty Virginians in a singlenight in 1831.
"I have developed a plan of my own to sweep the South. You must trustme with its details. I shall depend on the blacks for the body of mysoldiers. And I expect every freedman in the North to flock to mystandard when the blow has fallen. I know that every slave in the Southwill answer my call. The slaveholders we will not massacre¹² unlesswe must. We will hold them as hostages for our protection and theprotection of any prisoners who may fall into their hands."The men listened in rapt attention and when he read his "Constitutionand Preamble¹³," it was unanimously adopted.
The Constitution which they adopted was a piece of insanity¹⁴ in theliteral sense of the word, a confused medley¹⁵ of absurd, inapplicableforms.
The Preamble, however, which contained the keynote of Brown's philosophyof life, was expressed in clear-cut, logical ideas.
He read it in a cold, vibrant¹⁶ voice:
"Whereas, Slavery, throughout its entire existence in the United Statesis none other than a most barbarous, unprovoked and unjustifiable war ofone portion of its citizens upon another portion: the only conditionsof which are perpetual imprisonment¹⁷, and hopeless servitude or absoluteextermination, in utter disregard and violation¹⁸ of those eternal andself-evident truths set forth¹⁹ in our Declaration of Independence:
_Therefore_, we CITIZENS OF the UNITED STATES, and the OPPRESSED PEOPLEwho by a RECENT DECISION of the SUPREME²⁰ COURT ARE DECLARED to have NORIGHTS WHICH the WHITE MAN is BOUND to RESPECT; TOGETHER WITH ALL OTHERPEOPLE DEGRADED by the LAWS THEREOF, DO, for the TIME BEING ORDAIN²¹ andESTABLISH for OURSELVES, the FOLLOWING PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION andORDINANCES the BETTER to protect, our PERSONS, PROPERTY, LIVES andLIBERTIES: and to GOVERN our ACTION."The first result of his Radical⁷ Convention was the exhaustion²² of histreasury. He had used his last dollar to bring his men on from the Westand no money had been collected to pay even their return fares.
They were compelled to go to work at various trades to earn their bread.
Brown determined²⁴ to return to Kansas and create a sensation that wouldagain stir the East and bring the money into his treasury²³. He would atthe same time test the first principle of his plan by an actual raidinto a neighboring Southern State. In the meantime, he issued his firstorder of the Great Deed. He selected John E. Cook as his scout²⁵ and spyand dispatched him to Harper's Ferry, Virginia, to map its roads, studyits people and reconnoiter the surrounding territory.
He raised the money to pay Cook's fare and saw him on the train forVirginia before he started for Kansas to spring his second nationalsensation.

1 disciples   

n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一

参考例句：

• Judas was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. 犹大是耶稣十二门徒之一。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "The names of the first two disciples were --" “最初的两个门徒的名字是——” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

4 precipitating   

adj.急落的，猛冲的v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的现在分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀

参考例句：

• Precipitating electrode plate is a key part in electrostatic precipitation equipment. 静电收尘板是静电收尘设备中的关键部件。 来自互联网
• The precipitation bond adopts a sloped tube to enhance the precipitating efficiency. 沉淀池采用斜管，提高了沉降效率。 来自互联网

5 absurdities   

n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为

参考例句：

• She has a sharp eye for social absurdities, and compassion for the victims of social change. 她独具慧眼，能够看到社会上荒唐的事情，对于社会变革的受害者寄以同情。 来自辞典例句
• The absurdities he uttered at the dinner party landed his wife in an awkward situation. 他在宴会上讲的荒唐话使他太太陷入窘境。 来自辞典例句

6 radicals   

n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals. 一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. 现在人们担忧激进分子会变得更加不妥协。 来自辞典例句

7 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

8 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

9 stenographer   

n.速记员

参考例句：

• The police stenographer recorded the man's confession word by word. 警察局速记员逐字记下了那个人的供词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A qualified stenographer is not necessarily a competent secretary. 一个合格的速记员不一定就是个称职的秘书。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

11 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

12 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

13 preamble   

n.前言；序文

参考例句：

• He spoke without preamble.他没有开场白地讲起来。
• The controversy has arisen over the text of the preamble to the unification treaty.针对统一条约的序文出现了争论。

14 insanity   

n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐

参考例句：

• In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱，为自己辩解。
• He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。

15 medley   

n.混合

参考例句：

• Today's sports meeting doesn't seem to include medley relay swimming.现在的运动会好象还没有混合接力泳这个比赛项目。
• China won the Men's 200 metres Individual Medley.中国赢得了男子200米个人混合泳比赛。

16 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

17 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

18 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

19 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

20 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

21 ordain   

vi.颁发命令；vt.命令，授以圣职，注定，任命

参考例句：

• The church's ruling body voted to ordain women as priests.该教会的管理机构投票通过接纳女性为牧师。
• The essence of management refers to its internal inevitable ordain quality,and is also called ultimate attribute.管理的本质是指管理自身内在的必然的规定性，即根本属性。

22 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

23 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

24 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

25 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。