Cleveland Morning Leader

An Example to be Remembered

For the first time in the history of this country, a man has been hung for the crime of treason. John Brown, attempting to resist, by military force, the constituted authorities of a State, and to set up a revolutionary government instead, has been made to pay the forfeit of his life upon the gallows. In other words, he has been executed for doing precisely what the Democratic leaders throughout the South declare they will do, in the event of the defeat of their party in the Presidential election of 1860

But the State of Virginia has set an example which these plotters of treason against the Union will do well to remember. If John Brown and his followers deserved to swing upon the gallows for attempting to subvert, by military force, the constituted authorities of Virginia, what will they deserve who attempt to subvert the Government of the United States by similar means, rather than submit to the authority of a constitutionally-elected President! We rather think that those who are threatening to prevent the inauguration of a Republican President in 1861, by an armed force from the South, will, before attempting such an enterprise, remember the fate of John Brown—and that it will have a salutary influence upon their conduct.

—Washington Republic.