I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which both would be by me unavoidable. For once the Sharps rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them.
Original passage & context
"I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which both these things would be by me unavoidable. [...] I think that for once the Sharp's rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them."
Delivered at Concord Town Hall while Brown stood trial — the first major Northern intellectual defense of the raid as righteous violence. Fragments from the same address joined with [...].
Read it in the original — A Plea for Captain John Brown, Project Gutenberg ↗