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 ens 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* Terrien 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-