BY DAVID OVER. fETTER FROM HOM. JOSEPH HOLT, j WASHISGTOX, May 81, 18C1. j J. F. SPEED, Esq., Louisville, Ky .—My Dtar j Sir ■ The rvcent overwhelming vote in favor of tho , Union in Kentucky has afforded unspeakable grati fication to all true men throughout the country. 1 That vote indicates that the people of that gallant 'State have been neither seduced by the arts nor • terrified by the menaces of the revolutionists in their midst, and that it is their fixed puipose to remain faithful to the Government which, for near ly seventy ytfers, has remained faithful to them.— Still it cannot be denied that there Is in the bosom mf that State a band of agitators, who, though few ; SB -number, are yet powerful from the public confl- j -Sknce-they have enjoyed, and who have been, and • doubtless will continue to be, unceasing in their j endeavors to force Kentucky to unite her fortunes with those of the Rebel Confederacy ol the South. ! la view of this and of the well-known fact that so- j veral of tho seceded States have by fraud and vio- 1 lence been driven to occupy their present fake fatal position, I cannot, even with the encouragement of lit?r Me vote before mo, look upon the political fu ture of native State without a painful solici tu Never have the safety and honor of her nr-anfe tho exercise of so much vigilance and of so much courage on their part. If tree to themselves, the stripes, which, like an gels' wings, have so long guarded their homes from every oppression, will aMI be theirs; but if, chas ing the dreams of men's aifltitio.., they shall prove false, the blackness of darkness can but faintly predict the gloom thai awaits them. The Legisla ture, it seems, has determined by resolution that the State, pending the preseut O.'-'happy war, shall occupv neutral ground. I must say, m ail frank ness and without daring to reflect upon tho course or sentiments of any, that, in this struggle tor the . existence of our Government, I can neither prac tice nor profess nor feel neutrality* I would as | soon-think of being neutral in a contest between t n officer of jnstice and an incendiary arrested in \ an attempt to fire the dwelling over my head; for the Government whose overthrow is sought is for •me the shelter not on'y of home, kindred and friends, but of every earthly Messing which I can hope to enjoy on this side of the grave. If, how ever, from a natural horror of fratricidal strife, or from her intimate socialand business relations with the South, Kentucky shall determine to maintain the natural attitude assumed for her by her Legis lature, her position will still be an honorable one, though fallii g lar short of that full measure of loy alty which her history has so constanily illustrated. Her Executive, ignoring, as 1 am happy to believe, alike tho popular and Legislative sentiment of the State, has, by proclamation, forbidden the Gov ernment ot the United States trom marching troops across her territory. This is, in no sense, a nentr.il step, but one of aggressive hostility. The troops of the Federal Government hive as clear a consti tutional right to pass over the sod of Kentucky as they hare to uurch along the Etreets of Was:.ing ton; and could this prohibition be effective, it would not only be a violation of the fund mental law, but would, in all its tendencies, be directly in advancement of the revolution, and might, in an em< rgency easily imagined, compromise the high est national inteiests. 4 was rejoiced tin t tbo Le gislafuie so promptly refused to indorse this proc lamation as expressive of the true policy of the Stat". Eut I turn away from even this to the brl lot-box, and find an abounding consolation in the conviction it inspires, that the popular heart ot Kentucky, in its devotion to the Union, is lar in advance alike of legislative resolve and of Execu tive proclamation. But as it is well understood that the late popular demonstration has rather scotched than killed re bellion in Kentucky, I propose inquiring briefly as practicable, whether, in the recent action or present declared policy of the Administration, or in the history of the "pending r<. volution, or in the olijects it seeks to accomplish, or :n the results which must follow from it, it successful, there can -be discov ered anv reasons why that State should sever -the ties tiut unite her with a Confederacy in whose councils and upon whose battle-fields she has won ro much honor, and under whose protection she has enjoyed so much prosperity. For more than a month after the inauguration of President Lincoln, the manifestations seemed une quivocal that his Administration would seek a peaceful solution ot our unhappy political troubles, and would look to time and amendments to the Federal Constitution, adopted in accordance with its provisions, to bring hack the revolted States to their allegiance So marked was tha ellect of these manifestations in tranquihxing the Border States, and in reassuring their loyalty, that the conspirators who had set this revolution ou foot look the alarm. While affecting to despise these States os not sufficiently intensified in their dqvo tion to African servitude, tbey know Iht-'V could never succeed in their treasonable enterprise w';lh •out their support. Hence it was resolved to pre cipate a collision of arms with the Federal autho rities, in the hope that, under the panic and exas peration incident to the commencement of a civil war, the Border States, following the natural bent ■of their sympathies, would array themselves against he Government. Fort Sumter, occupied by a jeebie garrison, and girded by powerful if not im pregnable batteries, afforded convenient means for accomplishing their purpose, and foi testing also thatr lavorite theory that blood was needed to ce ment the pew Confederacy. IU provisions were t iexhgasted, and the request made by the President in the interests of peace and humanity, for the privilege ot replenishing its stores, had been refus ed. The Confederate authorities were aware—for so the gallant commander of the fort Had declairei to them—that in two day* a capitulation from starvation roust take place. A peace! ai surrender, however, wou'd not have suliserv. d their aims —— They sought the clash of arms and the effusion of blood as an instrumentality tor impressing the Bor der States, and they sought the humiliation of the Government aud the diahouor of its Dag as a means of giving prestige to their own cause. The result is known. Without the slightest provocation a heavy cannonade was opened upon the fort, and borne by its helpless garrison for hours without re ply, and when, in the progress of the bombardment, the fortification became wrapped in flames, the be sieging batteries, in violation of the usages of civilized warf..re, instead of relaxing or suspending, redoubled their fires. A more wanton or wicked war was never commenced on any government whose history has been written. Cptemporary with and following the fall of Sumter, the siege of Fort Pickens was and still is actively pressed, the property of the United States Government eon tkiucd to be seized wherever found, and ins troops, by fraud or force, captured io the State of Texas hi violation of a solemn compact with its authori ties that tbey should he permitted to embark with out molestation. This was the requital wrrich the Lone Star State mad J to brave men who, through long years of peril and privation, had guarded its frontiers against the incursions of the savages- In tbe midst of the most active aud extended warlike preparations in the SoQlh, tbe announcement was made by tbe Secretary of War of the socoled States, and echoed with taunts aad i' lot brava does by tbe Southern press, that Waahiugtou City was to be invaded and captured, and that tbe flag of the Confederate States would soon float over the done of its capiiol. Soon thereafter there followed MU invitation to ail tbe world— embracing necessarily tbe outcasts sad UospefXdoas of ever* t*~ to accept letters of marque uod reprisal, t J A Weekly Paper, Devoted to Literature, Politics, the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Ac., Ac—Terms: One Dollar and Fifty Cents in Advance. ; prcv upon the rich and unprotected commerce of the ITnited States. I In view of these events and threatening*, what ' was the duty of the Chief Magistrate of the Re ' public ? He might have taken counsel of the ' revolutionists and trembled under their menaces ; he might, upon the fall of Snmter, have directed ' that Fort Pickens should be surrendered without firing a gun in iti defense end proceeding yet ! i further, and meeting ftally the requirements of the I "let-ns-alone" policy insisted on in tho South, he j might have ordered that the stars and stripes j should be laid in Liie dust in the presence of every bit of rebel bunting that might appear. But he | did none of these things, nor could he hive done | them without forgetting his oath and betraying the j most sublime trust that has ever been confided to j,the hands of man.- With a heroic fllelity to his ! constitutional obligations, feeling justly that these | obligations charged him with the protection of ihe ; Republic and its Capital against the assaults alike I ot foreign and domestic enemies he threw himself | on the loyalty of the country for support in the struggle upon wbicfc he was about to enter, and nob'y has that appeal been responded to. States , containing an aggregate population of nineteen millions have sewered to the appeal as witn the voice of one man, offering soldiers without num ber, and treasure without limitation, for the service of the Government. In these States, 1,500,000 freemen cast their votes in favor of candidates supporting the rights of the South, at the last Presidential election, and yet j everywhere, alike iu popular assemblies and upon j the tented field, this millien and a half of voters ! are found yielding to none in the zeal with which \ they rally to their country's flig. They are not 1 less the friends of the South than before ; but they j realize that the question now presented is not one j of administrative policy, or ot the e.laims of the \ ??crth, the South, the East, or tb West; but is, \ simpl/, Whether nineteen millions of people shall tamely anil ignobly permit five or six millions to j overthrow and destroy institutions which are the common property, and have been the common : blessings an I glory of a!?. The great throughfaros of the North, the East/and tbe West, are luminous wtth the banners and glistening With the bayonets I of citizen soldiers marching to the capital, or to uth r points of rendezvous; but they f-ome in no hostile spirit to the South. If called to pr,"" 3 ' l<3r soil, they will not ruffl) a flower of i;£ir gar-Jens, nor a blade of grass of her fields in unkinduess. — No excesses will mark the foot-steeps of the uT- • i roies of the Republic ; no institution of the States ' j will be invaded or tampered W;tb no rights of per- j j sons or ot property will be violated. The known purpose of the administration, and j ; the high character of the troops employed, alike ; : guarantee the truthfulness of the statement.— i When an insurrection was apprehended a few j weeks since in Maryland, the Massachusetts men | at once offered their sTvioes to suppress : t.— These voluteers have been denounced by the Sontli : i as I'knivus and wigrants," "the dress and off- ; j scourings of the populace," who woul 1 "rather , < filch a h.iudkerchief than fight an enemy In manly i combat," yet we know here that their discipline and hearing are most admirable, and, I presume, it may be sifeiy affirmed that a larger amount of so- ' cial position, culture, and elevation iu character, has never been found iu so I >rgo an army in any age or country, Ii they go to the Sxulii, it wili be as friends ari l protectors, to relieve the Union sentiment of the seceded States from the cruel do mination by which it is oppressed and silenced, j unfurl the stars and stripes in the midst of those | who long to look upon them, and to restore the { flig thit bears them to the forts and arsenals from ! which disloyal hands hive torn it. Tiieir mission ; will be one of peace, unless wicked aud blood -1 thirsty men shall unsbeatb the swo.rd across their j pathway. It is in vain for the Revolutionists to exeliirn | that this is •■subjugation." It is so, precisely in j the sense in which you and I and all liw-abiding citizens are subjugated. The people of the Soiitn are our brethren, and.while we obey the laws enact ed by qpr joint authority, and keep a compact to which we are all parties, we only ask that they shall be required to do the same. We believe that their safety demands this; we know that ours does. , We impose no bur Jew which we ourselves do not bear, we claim no privilege or blessing which our i brethren of the South shall not equally share.— I Their country is our country, and ours is theirs; and that unity of both country and of Government which the providence of God and tt;;, compacts of men hive created, we could not ourselves, without self immolation, destroy; sqr can we permit It to j be destroyed by otb<*7s. Equally Vain is it for them to declare that they only wish "to be lot alone," and that in - establishing the independence of the Seceded : States, they do those which remain in the old Confederacy no harm. The Free States, j if allowed the opportunity of doing so, will undonb'edly concede every guaranty needed to afford complete protection io the institution* of the South, and fgwuish assurances of her perfect equality in the .Uoion; but all such guarantees and aS'Uianoes; arc now openly spurucd, and the only Southern right now in sisted on u that.of dismembering the Repub lic. jt is perfectly ecrtiin that in the at tempted exercise of this right neither States nor statesmen wili be "let alone " Should a ruffiin meet me in the streets, and seek with an ax to hew au arm aud a leg from my body, 1 would no less resist him because, ai a dis honored and helpless trunk, 1 might perchance surrive the mutilation. It is easy .t j perceive what fatal results to the old Confederacy would follow should the blow cow struck at its integrity ultimately triumph. We oau well understand what degradation it would bring it abroad and weakness at home; what exhaustion from incessant war sod standing armies, and from the erection of foitifications along ihe thousands of miles of new frontier; what embarrassments to eommeros from bivipg its natural obanuels incumbered or eat off; what elements of disintegration and revolution would be iatrodaoeu from the pernicious cum* pie; and, above ail, .f hat humiliation would cover the whole Auierioau pooplo for having failed in their great mission to demonstrate before the world the capacity of oar race for self-government. While a far mora fearful responsibility bae fallen upon President Lincoln than upon any of bis predecessors, it must be admitted that he has met it with promtitude and fearlessness. Gieero in one of his orations against Gaiiiiue, speaking ot the eredit duo himself for having suppressed the conspiracy of that arob-traitor, said, "if the glory of him who founded Rome WJS great, how inuoh greater should be that of him vao had saved it from overthrow after it had grown to be the mistress of the world?" So it may be said of the glery of that etates uin oi obieftain who shall snatch Ibis repub lic from the vojtex ot revolution, now that BEDFORD. PA.. FRIDAY. JUNE 28, 1861. it has been expanded from ocean to ocean, ha* become the admiration of the world, and has rendered the fountains of the lives of thirty millions of people fountains of happiarss. The vigorous measures abopted for the safety of Washington and tho Government itself may seem open to criticism, in some of their details, to those who have yet to learn that not only baa war like peace ITS laws, but that it has also its privileges and its duties.— Whatever of severity, or even irregularity, may have arisen, will find its ju.-tifioation in the presure of terrible necessity uuder which the Administration has been called to act - When a man feels the potgnard of the des troyer at Lis bosom, he is not likely to con sult the law book* as to the mode or measure of hi* rights of self-defense. What is true of individuals is in this respect equally true of governments. The man who thinks he has become disloyal because of what the Admin istration has done, will probably discover, af ter a close self-examination, that be was dis loyal before, hut for what has been done, I Washington might ere this bavo beeu a stnoul , deriog heap of ruins. They have noted the coarse of ptiblio *f ■ ; fairs to iittlo advantage who suppose that the election of Lincoln was 'the real ground of ' (be {evolutionary outbreak that has ocoured. | The roots of the revolution may be traced back for more than a quarter cf a century, | and any unholy lust for power is the soil out of which it sprang. A prominent member of j the band of agitators declared in one of his ' speeches at (Jharlestoo, last November or December, that they bad been occupied for SO years in the work of ving rfouth Cai olina from the Union. Wheu Gen. Jackson ; clashed Notification, he said it would revive , again under the form of tho Slavery agitation, and we bavo lired to see his prediction veri- j Indeed, tbst agitation, during the list 15 or *2O Scars, bas been almost iho entire | ' ST?pk in ua- of Southern politicians. The! Souther.: reople, to be as generous io| their impulses B ® 'bey - %I ©hivalrio, were not wrought iDto a fiet.Z v of p^sa.' o ' l I'J 'he intern- J pctate words of a few ' natio Abolitionists, for ibese words, if loft to theZ lse l ve ® would have fallen to tb ground as pebbles ml ° Hie tea, and would have been heard of no mo.""* — I Hut it was the echo of these words, repeatCu , with exaggerations for the thousandth time by Southern politicians, in the balls of Congress , and io the deliberative and popular assemblies, and through tins press of the South, that pro duced the exasperation which has proved so potent a lever in the bauds of the conspira tors. The cloud was fully charged, aud the juggling revolutionists who beld (be wires and ; could at will direct its ligbtenings appeared at Charleston, broke up tLe the Democratic Convention assembled to nomioate a candi date for the Presidency, and thus secured the election or Mr. Lincoln. Having thus ren dered this certain, thev at once set to work to j bring the popular mind of Ike South to the point of determining in advance that the election of a Republican President wouid be put cause for a dissolution of the Union.— They were but too successful, and to this re sult the inaction aud indecissicn of the Bor* der States deplorably cc'utributed. When the . election of Mr. Lincoln was aonouooed, there j was rejoicing in the streets of Charleston, and, ; doubtless, at other points in the South; for it, was believed by the ooospirators that this bad ! brought a tide in the ourrent of their rnacbi- j nations which would bear them eo to victory, i The drama of Secession was now opep, and ] State after State rapidly rushrd out of the Uoiou, and their members withdrew from .Con gress. The wss pressed oo with tLi-i hot haste in order that uo time should be allowed for reaction in the Northern mind, or for any adjustment of the Slavery issues by the action of Congress or of the State Legis latures. Had the Southern members contin ued in their seats, a satisfactory compromise would, uo doubt have beeu arranged and pais e<i before tbe adjournment of Congress. As it was, after their retirement, aod after Con gress had become Republican, an amepdmeat to tbe Constitution was adopted by a two-tbird vote, declaring tbat Congress should never interfere with Sluvery in tbe States, and de claring, further, tbat this amendment should be irrevocable. Thus was falsified the olainor so long anl so insidiously ruog in the ears of the Southern people,tbat the abolition of Slavery in tbe States was tho ultimate aim of the .Republican party. But even this amend ment, and all others which may be needeJ to furoish the guaranties demanded, are now defeated by the secession of eleven States, which claiming to be out of the Uuion, will refuse to vote upon, and in effect will vote agaiust any proposals to modify the Federal Constitution. There are now thirty-four States in the Confederacy, three-fourths of which, being twenty-six, must oocur in tbe adoption of any aiuendmeut before it cap become a part of tbe Constitution; but tbe of eleven States leaves but twenty-ihree whose vote ean possibly be secured, wiiioh is less tbap tbe constitutional number. Thus we have tjie extraordinary aod dis creditable spectacle of a revcluticn made by certain States professedly on ibe grouod thai guaranties foi tbe safety of their institutions ate denied them, end it the same time, instead of cooperating with their sister States, in ob taining these guareuties, tbi J designedly as sume a hostile attitude, ant thereby reuder it constitutionally impossible to secure ibem.— This profound dissimulation shows that it was not the safety of tbe Soelb hut its eevereoee from tbe Confederacy which was sought from tbe beginning. Cotemporary wi|b aod ID some instanoes proceeding these acts of Secession, tbe greatest outrages were committed upon •he Government of the United States by tho Statee engaged in them, its forts, arseoale, ! irms, barracks, custom bouses, post offices, [ moneys, sod, indeed, every species of its property within the limitsVof these States wore seised ami appropriated, down to the hospital : stores for the sick soldiers. More than half a million of dollars was plundered from the mint at New-Orleans. U. S. vessels were! |received from the defiled bands of their offieera in command, and, as if in the hope of oonse- ; crating official treachery as one of the public! virtues of the age, the surrender of an entire military department by a general, to the keep* log of whose honor it bad been confided, wss . leuned worthy of the commendation and , dianks of the conventions of sevetal States.— ; All these lawless proceedings wore well on* : | ierstood to have been prompted and directed : :of men oeeupying seats in the Capitol, some . 'if whom were frank enough to deolsre that ; hey could not and would not, though in a uinority, live under a Government which thoy : jould not control. In this doclaratiou is found the key which unlooks th whole of the emu- ■ I plicated machinery of this revolution. The profligate ambition of pubfto men in all ages : and lands has been the rock on which rcpub i lies have been split. Such mon hive arisen , in our midst—men who, becauso unable per- j wanently to grasp the helm of the ship, are willing to destroy it in the hope to command • seme ouo of the rafts that may float away from the wreck. The effect is to degrade us to a level with the military baodits of Mex ico and South Amerie;', who; when beaten at an election, fly to arms, and aeefc to master by the sword what tbey have been unable to con trol by the ballot-oox. The atrocious acts enumerated were acts ;o' war, and might all have been treated as i such by the late Administration; but the President patriotically cultivated peace— how ! anxiously and how patiently the country well knows. While, however, the revolutionary | leaders greeted him with all bails to bis faoc, I :bev did not the less diligently continue to | whet their swords behind his hack. Immense I military preparations were made, so that when ; the moment for striking at the Government ot the United States armed, the revolutionary States leaped into the coutcst clad in full ar< mor. As if nothing should be wanting to darken this p?ee of hi*tory, tbo seceded States bavo ai'C*dy entered upon the work of confiscating the debvi due from their eitizen* to the North ! and Norih vl'est. The millions thus gained rwill doubtless prove a pleasant subritute for i those guaranties now /to scornfully rejected.— • these confiscations will probab y succeed j feseo lhoie of lands and negroes owned by tfc) citizens of loyal Stales: and, indeed, toe 1 apprehension of this step is already sadly j disturbing the fidelity- °f non-resident pro prieters. Fortunaislyj however, ittJWy 0 faith, springing from such a ctUsr, ' 9 not ly to be contagious. The is prosecuted by the (Confederate Slates tn a temper a* fierce aud unsparing as that which characterizes conflicts between tbo most hos tile oatious. Letters of rnaique and reprisal itrcbeing granted to all who seek tbcni, so that our ooast9 will soon swarm with these piratical cruisers, as the President has prop erly denounced them. Every baoci-nier who desires to rob American commeroe upon the ocean can for the asking, obtain a warrcnt to ,do so, in ibe name of tbe new republic. To crown all, large bodies of ludiacs have been j mustered into the service of tbe revolutioua t ry States, and are now oonspicuons in the ranks ]of tbo Southern Army- A leading North j Carolina journal, noting their stalwart frames and unerring marksmanship,, observes, with • an exultation positively fiendish, that they are arm< d, not only, wi h the rifle, but also wiib the scalping knije and tomahawk If Kentucky willing to link her name in history with tuo excesses and crimes which have sullied the Revolution at every step of its pro gress? Can she soil her pare bands with its booty? She possesses the noblest heritage that God has granted to his children; is she prepar ed to barter it away for that miserable wets of pottage, which the gratification of the unholy ambition of her public men would bring to her lips? (Juu she without lajiog bet face in tbe dust for very sbsme, become a participant IU the spoliation of the commerce off her neigh bors aud friends, by coutribuliog iier star hitherto so stainless in its glory, to light the corsair ou his way* Has the war-whoop, which used to turtle the sleep of oor frontiers, so died away in her ears that she is willing to tako the red-baoded savage to her bosom as the champion of her l ights and the representative of her spirit? Must <-he not first forgot her own heroic sons wbo pciiibcd, butohc-red and scalp ed, upon the disastrous field of Rah-u? Tbe object of tbo revolution, as avowed by all who are pressing it forward, is the pprmas neut dismembermeut of the Confederacy. Ihe dicam of reconstruction—used during the Let winter as a lure to draw tbe hesitating or the hopeful imto the movement —has been formerly abandoned. If Kentucky separates herself from (be Union, it must be upon the basis that tbe separation is to to final and eternal, la there ought in the organization or administra tion of tbe Government ot tbe Uuiied States to justify, uo her part, an aet so solemn and so perilous? Could tbe wisest of her lawyers, if called upon, find material for an indictment in any or iu all the pages of the h:atory of the Republic? Could the most leprous-lipped of its caluuiuiustora point to a single State or Territory, or eotnmuoity or that it has wronged or oppressed? It would be impossible. So far as tbe Slave Slates are oouoerucd, their protect ion has teen complete* and it it has not beeo, it bas been tbe fault of tbeir statesmen, •bo have bad tbe oontrol of tbe Government aiuce its foundation. The census returns shew that during the year 1860 tbe Fugitive Siavo was exetuu f tad more faithfully and successfully than it had been during the preceding tan years. Since tba instaUtion of President Lincoln, Dot a : case has arisen in which the fugitive has not beeo returned, and that, too, without any op- J position from the people, indeed, the fide.i --j ty with which it was understood to be the poK 1 iey of tue present Administration to enforco J the provisions of this law has eaused a perfect ! panic among the runaway slaves in the Eree ; States, and they have beeo escaping io tnnlti- j tudes to Canada, unpursued and unreclaimed j by their masters. Is there found in this rea- j son tor a disolutioo of the Union, That the Slave States are not reoognized as ! ! equals io the Confederacy, has for eeveral ! years been the cry of demagogues sod conspi raters. Bat what is the truth? Not only ao ' cording to the theory, but the actual practice | of the Government, the Slave States have ever been, and still arc, in all peers ; of the Free. Of the fourteen Presidents who j have been elected, seven were citizens of Stave , States; and of rhe seveo remaining, three rep- i resented Southern principles, and received the i votes of the Southern people; so that, io our j ; whole history, but four Presidents have been cboseu who can be claimed as the special cham pions of the policy and principles of the Free States, and even these so only io a modified seose. Does this look as if the South hud ever beeu deprived of her equal share of the honors and powers of the Government? The Supreme Court has decided that the o:t z >ns of the Slave States oao, at will, take thetr slaves into all the Territories of the United States; aud this decision, which has never been resisted or iuterferred with io a single case, is : the law of the laud, aud the wools power of ihc Government is pleged to enforce it. That it will he loyally euforoed by the present Ad ministration, i entertain ui doubt. A Repub lican Congress, at the late session, orgau zed three us* Terri<ones, and in the organic law of neither was (here introduced, or attempted to 1 be introduced, the slightest restriction upon j ilu rights of ihe Southern emigrant to bring i his slaves with him. At this moment, there* ' iere— and I state it without qualification— there j is not a Territory bdougiug to the United i States into which the Southern p.ople may not ! introduce their slaves at pleasure, and enjoy i there complete protection. Kentucky should < cousider this great and undeniable fact, before ' which all the iroihy rant of demagogues and Disuuiooists must disappear sa a bauk of tog ! before the wind. But were it otherwise and did a defect exist in our organic law, or io the practical Administration of the Government, IU reference to the r gbts of Souther n slave holders in the Territories, soil the quatioo would be • tncre abstraction, since the laws of climate forbid the establishment of Siaypyy in such latitudes; and to destroy snob institu tions as ours for such a cause, instead of pa tiently tryicg to rt'lAOve jt,|would be little short of natlv-*' insanity. It would be to burn the bouse down over our heads merely because there 19 a leak in the loof; to soQttiC 'be ship io midaceean merely because there is t u." fcrence of opiuion among the erew as to the ; point of the compass to which the vessel should be .it would be, in fact, to apply the kuife to the tbroat instead of the cancer of the patient. But what remains? Though, say the Dis uniouists, the Fugitive Suva Law is honestly enforced, .and though, under shelter of the Supreme Court, we can take our Slaves into the Territories, yet the Northern people will persii-t in discussing the institution of Slavery, and thorefore we willjbreak up tho Government. It is true that Slavery bas been very intem peratcly discussed at the North, and it is equally true that until we have an Asiatic des potism, crusbiog out all freedom of speech aud of tbe press, this discussion will probably continue. In this age and country, institu tions, human and divine, are discussed, and so they ought to be.: and all that cannot bear discussion must go to the wall, where they ought to go. It is not pretended, however, 1 that the di6cass : -on of Slavery, which has been continued in our oountry for mora thin forty j has in any manner ,d siurbei or weak ; eued the foundation of tho instriutiun. On j tho contrary, we learn from the press of tbe 1 seceded States that their alavea were never more tranquil or obedient. There are zealots —happily few io number —beeo Noith and ! South, whose language upon this subject is j alike extravagant and alike deserving our eon. aemuation. Those who assart that Slavery ! should be exterpated by the sword, and those who maintain tba great nd'aioo of the white man upon the earth to enslave the .black, are uot far apart iu the folly aud .ntroeitj of ! their euteitainmenti. Before proceeding further Kentucky should measure well the depth of the gnlf she is aps pi? 4 cbiDg end look well to the feet of her guides, before forsaking a Union in which her pecplc have enjoyed suob and such boundless prosperity, should ask herself, not once but many times, tcAy do I eo, and iD/iere am I ben said, il would be difficult to enewer the first branob of tbe inquiry, but to answer tbe second part is patent to all, as are tbe cones quences which would follow the movement. Iu giving I.er great materia land moral resour ces to the support of the Southern Confederacy, Kentucky miaht prolong the desolating strug gle that rebellious Burns ate making to over tbiow a Government which tbey have only kuown iu its blessing*-, but the triumph of the Government would nevertheless be oertaiu in the end. She wonld abandon a Government strong and able to protcot her, for one that is weak, and that contains, in tho veiy ele ments of its life, the seeds of diatraotion and early dissolution. She would adopt, as the law of her existence, the ngbt of Secession—a right which bag o fotiudattoQ iaj uriaprud^oee VOL. 34, NO. 26. or logic, or is oar poltical history; which Maditoo, the father of the Federal Constitution, denounced; which has been denounced by most of the Slates and prominent statesmen now - dieting upoa its exercise; which, in introducing a priuciple of iudefineot disintegration, cats up all confederate governments by the roots, ant) gives tbem ever a prey to the ceprioes, and passions, and transient interests, of tbeir members, as Aatumaal leaves are given to tba . wiodi which blow upon tbeoi. Io 1814, Tht Richmond Inquirer , then, as now, the organ of pnbiie opinion in too South, pronounced secession to be treason, and nothing else, and such was then the doctrioe of Southern states* ■ men. What was true then is equally true | now. The prevalence of this precious heresy i is mainly the fruit of that farce called "Stat* ; rights," wbioh demagogues have been so long playing under tngie mask, and which has ■ done tnoro than all things el-e to unsettle the : foundation* Of the Republic, bj estranging the people from the Federal Government, s "no to I be distrusted and resisted, instead of being. I what it is, emphatically their own creation, M all times obedient to their will, and m h* ministrations the grandest riSex of the greni ' ncss and henefi euce of popular power tba* bP ever ennobled the history of our race. Said Mr. Oleyt " 1 owe a supreme allegiance ; to the General Government, and to uy Suta a subordinate ouc." And th s terse language dispose* of the whole controversy wbicb be* arisen out of the Secession movement in regar<| to the all- giatice of the cit an. As tbo power #f ' the State and Federal Governments are io per | feet harmony with each ether, so cau hi no conflict between the allegiance due to them; 1 each while acting within tbo sphere of its i constitutional authoriiy, is entitled to be obey* | ed; but when a State, throwing off all consti tutional restraints, seeks to destroy the Gen* eral Gov. rnmerit, 'o a*y that its citizens arc hound to follow it in this career of crime, and discard the supreme allegiance they '.wo to the Government availed, is one of the rlu lie west and m*t dangerous fallacies that Las ever gained credence among mm. Kentucky, ocupjiag a eentr* p. sition in tho Union, is now £ ejected from the scourge of ! foreign war, however much its ravages may I waa.o the towns and cities upon our roasts, or , the commerce upon our aeas; but as a member jof the Southern Confederacy, she would be a [frontier State, and necessarily the ?ietiu of , those border feuds and cobflicfc which have be* | eome proverbi.i in history alike for 'heir ) fierceots* and lr queucy. The people of it* South now sleep quietly in their beds, while there is not a borne in infatuated and misguided Virginia that is oot filled with the aUruis, nd oppresed by the lerrors of war. Id the fate of tUis auoieut Commonwealth, dragged frj th* alter o f sacrifice by those who should liava atood between her bosom, ami every foe, Ken tucky may. read her own. No wonder, there fore, that she has been so egjxiDgiy tasou-Lt to unite her fortune* with those of the South, and to lay down the bvdios of her chivalrous sons as a breastwork, behind wfcjph tnsSjutb erO pev-pi? may be ftbeWred. L>en as atleeh ed io th) Southern Confederacy, au3 would be weak for all purposes of self- protection, as compared with her present position. But amid mutations incident to 9ueh a helpless and self disintegrating league, Kentucky would proba bly toon find herself adhering to a more frag ment of the Confederacy, or it may be stand ing entirely alone, in the presence of tiers of free States with populations exceeding by many millions her own. Foeble Slates tbo* separated from powerful and warlike neighbors by ideal boundaries, or by rivers as easily traversed as c rivulets, are as insects that feed upon the lion's lip—liable at every moment to be ciasbed. The recorded doom of multi tudes of such has left us a warning too solemn and impressive to be disregarded. Kentucky now scarcely feels the contribution, sbe makes to support the Government of the United States, bat ss a msmb r of the South ern Confederacy, of whose policy freeitrade will be a cardinal principle, sbe will be bur dened with dire.t taxation to the amount of double, or, it may be, triple or quadruple that wbieb she now pays iufo her treasury. Su% peradded to this wiii be required from her share of Ibose vast outlays necessary for the creatioo of a navy, the ereoiioo of forts and custom bouses along a frontisr of several thousand miles; and for the saiutenanse of that large standing army which will bo indis. pensibie atouoe for that strong military char acter wbicb, it has beeu openly avowed th* peculiar institutions of -the South will inexor ably demand. Kentucky now enjoys for her peculiar 1 tuticn the protection of me Fugitive Slave Law, loyally enforced by th* Gve.emenr, and it is mis law, e&otive in its moral agen cy in picvtnting tne escape of slave.s thul alone saveß that institution h the Bordojr States from utter extinction- Sbe canuo.* carry ibis law with her into the new eraey. She will virtually have Ctnada brought to her doors in the form of Free States, whose population, relieved .of all mor. I and oODstitutmoal obligations to deliver up fugitive slaves, will stand with open arim in viting sod welcoming ihem, if need be, at the pout of the bayonet. Under su. h ; t>iiueocef. Slavery wid perish rapidly away iu Ke. tajky. as a ball of snow would melt iu a Summer's SUD. Kentucky, iu her soul, abbots the Afiioau •lave trade, and turus awoy with unspeakable horror and loathing from tba red aitais of King Dabmnet. But although tbi tr.ffij ha been temp, rarily iuterdi-ted by the aeoeced States, it is Weil under* ood thai 4! >s aiep has been taken as a mere u • euro of p ,licy fur th* purpose of impressing the Border •>**.-•, and of aoociiiating the Kuropcau powers. The ultimate Itgaiuattoa of this 4car|W. by RepttO-
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