So, weak and wounded, he
had to lie upon his pallet with a blanket thrown over him. His
words were few, and to the same effect as those we have quoted.
There was only one verdict possible in that court--GUILTY--and he
was sentenced to be hanged. Technically there was no other
course possible. The calm verdict of the CAMBRIDGE MODERN
HISTORY upon the raid is correct: 'It was the mad folly of an
almost crazed fanatic . . . the stain still upon him of the
bloodiest of the lawless work done in the name of Freedom; a
terrible outlaw because an outlaw for conscience' sake; intense
to the point of ungovernable passion--heeding nothing but his own
will and sense of right; a revolutionist upon principle; a
lawless incendiary, and yet seeking nothing for himself.'
But while we feel the veracity of these words there comes to our
mind one of Charles Kingsley's impulsive sayings: 'Get hold of
one truth, let it blaze in your sky like a Greenland sun, never
setting day or night. See it in everything, and everything in
it. The world will call you a bigot and fanatic, and then fifty
years after will wonder how it was the bigot and fanatic managed
to do so much more than all the sensible men round about him.
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