Mason's committee found no sentiment in the North justifying Brown, but the irritating and offensive course of the Virginia senator called forth a great deal of defiant anti-slavery expression which, in his judgment, was tantamount to treason.
Blaine discusses the Northern response to John Brown's actions and the political ramifications that followed.
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In all the revolted states, upon the testimony of your ablest generals, there is no safety to the property or lives of loyal men.
Their pirates burned your unarmed commerce upon every sea.
The haste with which the question was brought to a decision can hardly be justified, and is a striking illustration of the intense party-feeling which had been engendered by the war.
In my judgment our sole authority for the acts which we have done during the last four years was the authority communicated to Congress by the Constitution to suppress insurrection.
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