This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Without paying the slightest attention to this brave speech, calmly delivered in the midst of infuriated enemies, the Court assigned Charles J. Faulkner and Lawson Botts, both Virginians and pro-slavery men, as counsel for the defendants. Mr. Faulkner, after consultation with the prisoners, desired to decline the appointment,--because he doubted the authority of the Court to order him to defend them; because John Brown had declared that such a defence would be a mockery; and because, having been at the place of action, and having heard all the admissions of the defendants, it would be improper and inexpedient for him to be their counsel. But if the Court peremptorily ordered him, and the prisoners consented, he would see that full justice was done them. Mr. Botts accepted. Mr. Harding then asked John Brown if he was willing to accept these gentlemen as counsel. John Brown replied: “I wish to say that I have sent for counsel. I did apply, through the advice of some persons here, to some persons whose names I do not now recollect, to act as counsel for me; and I have sent for other counsel, who have not had time to reach here, and have had no possible opportunity to see me. I wish for counsel, if I am to have a trial; but if I am to have nothing but the mockery of a ”
Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.
Tufts University provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.