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
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; 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-