BY DAVID OVER.
From the Louwille Journal, July 15.-
SPEECH OF
HON. JOSEPH HOLT,
At Louisville, Ky., July 13th.
"W'o have never witnessed a popular ovation to a
public man that could have proved more gratifying
to the recipieut than the demonstration at Masonic
Temple, on Saturday evening last, on the occasion
of tbe reception of the Hon. Joseph Holt. The
Temple was c rowded with citizens of both sexes,
who tuet spontaneously to do honor to the gallant
Kentuckiau, who, as tbe citizen and Statesman,
had the manliness, the courage and the patriotism
to resist the iniquitous influence brought to bear
upon him daring the late administration, bringing j
ail his great ability and tbe mighty weight of his j
influence to the support of the government whose j
existence ho bad sworn to maintain.
Mr. Holt was introduced to the audience by the j
Hon. Henry Pirtle, in the following eloquent '
terras:
MB. HOLT: YOU are welcome to Kentucky,your
native State, you are welcome to Louisville. We
are proud to shako the hand of a man who has
been so faithful to his public trust—who has done
honor to his State and honor to the nation.
Out ol Congress (there we had true men) it did
our hearts good to look towards two Kentuckians
in the service of the great public, iu the trying
times of last winter and spring ; Holt at Washing
ington (where fraud and treachery raged all around)
almost alone, with a firmness, a capability, aud a
patriotism that challenged the attention and the
judgment of Christendom ; and Anderson, left by
himself, surrounded by enemies in the Bay of
Charleston, whose tame shall live when the waves
of ages shall have worn away tbe granite of Sum
ter and it shall fall undistinguished in the sea. I
know you feel yourself honored to have his name
mentioned now. It was you who would have re
lieved him, and helped him to maintain the banner
of the Union.
When you came to the relief of the country you
infused lifo into the almost dying State ; treason
commenced scattering from Washington, and the
people ot th'S country began to hive confidence
that the Executive branch of the Government was
again true to tbem and the Constitution. Your
administration ot the most important division of
the Executive Department at the time, was under
the most embarrassing circumstances ever seen in
this country. Your ministry was short, and after
harm irretrievable had come; States were marched
•ut as ii they were uot States, but a helpless band
e-oiLr the domiuation of a mob. and under the
Iridic of the drum ahd fife ; but History will place
3 out name in houor when she writes of this epoch
of demoralization, ot war, and the woes of war.—
0 may she soon be able to write for us a page of
peace and Union 1
Mr. Holt then took the stand amid prolonged
and deafening cheers, and spoke as follows :
JTROOX PIRTLE : I beg ycu to be assured that I
am most thankful for this dintiuguished and flat
tering welcome, and for every one of the kind
words which have fallen from your lips, as I am
for the hearty response they have received.—
Spoken by anybody and anywhere, these words
would have been cherished by me, but spoken by
yourself in and tbe presence and Jon behall of those
in whose midst I commeuced the battle ot life,
whose friendship I have ever labored to deserve,
and in whose fortunes 1 have ever felt the liveliest
sympathy, they are doubly grateful to my feelings.
J take no ciedit to myself for loving and being
faithful to such a government as this, or for utter
ing, as 1 do, with every throb of my existence, a
prayer for its preservation. In regard to my of
ficial conduct, to which you have alluded with such
earnest and generous commendatioa, I must say
that no merit can bo accorded to me beyond that
of having humbly but siucerely struggled to per
form a public duty, amid embarressments which
the world cau never fully know. In reviewing
what is past, I have and shall ever have a bitter
sorrow, that, while 1 was enabled to accomplish so
little in behalf of oar betrayed and suffering coun
try, others were enabled to accomplish so much
against it. You do mo exceeding honor in as
sociating me in your remembrance with tbe hro of
Fort Sumpter. There is about his name an atmos
phere of light that can never grow dim. Sur
vounded with his little band, by battories of trea
son and by infuriated thousands, of traitors, the
tiros upon the alter of patriotism at which he min
istered, only waxed the brighter for the gloom that
enveloped him, ahd history will never forget that it
was from tbt se fires that was kindled that confla
gration that now blazes throughout the length and
breadth of the land. Brave amongst the bravest,
racorruptable and unconquerable in his loyalty,
amid all the perplexities arid trials aud sore humili
ations that beset him, be well deserves that exalted
position iu the affections and confidence of the
people that he now enjoys; and while none have
had better opportunities of knowing this than my
self, so I am snre that none could have a prouder
joy in bearing testimony to it than I have to-night.
FELLOW Cmxxxs: A few weeks since, in an
other form, I ventured freely to express my views
upou those tragic.events which have brought sor
row in every hearthstone aud to every heart iu our
distracted counLry, and it is not my purpose on
this occasion to repeat these views, or to engage
in any extended discussion of the questions then
examined. It is not necessary that I should do so,
since tbe argument is exhausted, and the poplar
mind is perfectly familiar with it in all its bearings.
1 will, however, with your permission, submit a
few brief observations upon the absorbing topics of
the day, and it I do so with an earnestness unit
emphasis due alike to the sincerity of my convic
tions and to the magnitude ol the interests invol
ved, it is trusted that none will be offended, not
even those who may most widely differ from mo.
Could one, an entire stranger to our histo
ry, now look down apOQ the South and see
there a hundred or a hundred and fifty thous
and men maiching in hosiuo ufi*y; threatening
the capture of the Capitol, and the dismember
uient of the territory of the Republic ; and
uuld be look again and see that this army is
marshalled and directed by officers receutly oc
cupying distinguished places in the civil aud
military service of the country, and further,
ihat.tbe States from wbioh this army has been
drawn appear to be one vast, seething cauldron
of ferocious passion, be would very naturally
conclude that the Government of the United
States had committed some great orime against
ite people, and that this uprising was in resis*
t&uce to wrong and outrages which had been
borne until their endurance was no longer pos
sible. And yet, no eenohtsion could be furth
er from the truth than this. The Government
of the United States bag been faithful to all
its constitutional obligations. For eighty
years it has maintained the national honor at
Hume aud abroad, and by its prowess, its wis
dom and its justice has given to the title of an
American ottiaeu an elevation among the m*
lions of the earth wbioh the citizens of no
republic have enjoyed since Roma was mistress
of the world. Under its administration the
A Weekly Paper, Devoted to Literature, Politics, the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, &c., &c---Terms: One Dollar ind Fifty Cents in Advance.
national domain has stretched away ti the Pa- i
cifio, and that constellation which announced :
our birth as a people has expanded from tliir- j
teen to thirty four stars, all, until recently, j
moving, uudisttirbed and undintmed iu their
orbs of light aud grandeur. The rights of j
no State have been invaded; no mau's property
has been despoiled, no rnau's liberty abridge!,
no man's lifo oppressively jeopardized by the
aetion of this Government. Under it- benign !
influences the riils of public and priv.it.: pros- '
perity have swelled intu rivulets, and from riv
ulets into rivers ever brimming iu their fullness,
and everywhere, aud at ail periods of its his
tory, its ministrations have fallen as geutly on
the people of the United States as do the dews 1
of a summer's night ou the fliwers and grass
of the gardens of the fields.
Whence, then, this revolutionary outbreak?
Wbeuoe the secret spring of this gigautte con
spiracy, which like some huge boa, hid com
pletely coiled itself around the limbs and body
of the Republic, before a single hod was lilt-;
ed to resht it? Strange aud .uJetd startling
as the announcement must appear when it ;
falls upon the ears of the next generation, tne
national tragedy iu whose shadows we stand
to-night, has coma upou us because, in No
veuiber last, John 0. breckiundge was not
elected Piesidcot of the United States, and
Abraham Lincoln was. This is the whole sto
ry. And 1 would pray now to kuow on what
was John 0. Breckinridge fed that he has
' growa so great, that a republic founded by
Washington sod cemented by the best blood
that Le ever coursed iu human veius, is to be
overthrown because forsooth lie cannot be its
i Pr.sileut? Did he beeu cboseu, we well know
j that wo should not have heard of tliL nt/n
--' lion, for the lever with wuiuh it is being moved
would have been wanting to the bauds of the
conspirators. Even after his defeat, could it
j have been guaranteed, beyond all prcsuven
ture, that Jeffetson Davis or souie other kiu
-1 dred spirit would bo the successor of Mr. Liu
coin, 1 presume we hazard nothing in u-eum
■ trig that this atrocious movement against the
j Government would uot have been set on foot.
So uiucti lor the principle involved in it. This
great crime, then, with which we are graps
i pling, sprang from that "sin by which the aa-
I gies fell''—au uumastend and profligate am-
I bition—au ambition that "would rather reign
in bell tb.n serve iu heaven"—that vrouid
rather rule supremely over u shattered frag
ment of the Republic than run the chance of
sharing with others in the honors of the whole.
The conspirators of the South read iu the
election of Mr. Lincolu a deolarutiuu that the
Democratic party had been prostrated, if uot
finally destroyed, by tbe selfish intrigues and
corruptions of its loaders; they road, too, that
the vicious, emaciated aud spavined bobby of
the slavery agitation, on which they had so
ofteu rode into power, could no longer carry
beyond a given geograpuical line of our tci-
aud that in truth this factious and trea
sonable agitation, en which so many of them
had gtowu great by debauching and denation
alizing tbe uiind of the people naturally gen
erous aud patriotic, had run its acourse, and
hence, that from the national disgust lor this
deniagogutiug and from bs inexorable law of
population, that the tiiue had come when all
those who had no other political capital than
this would have to prepare for retirement to
i private life, so far at least as the highest offi
ces of the country were coucarued. Under
; the influence of these grim discouragements
tuey resolved to consummate at once—what
our political history shows to have been with
tbeoi a long cherished purpose— the dismeui
l hermeut of the Government. They said to
themselves. "Since we cau no longer monop
olize the great offices of the Republic as we
have been accustomed to do, we will destroy
' it aud build upou its ruius au empire that shall
i he all our owu, and whose spoils neither the
North nor the East nor the West shall share
with us." Deplorable and humiliating us this
certainly is, it is hut a rehcaual of the sad,
sad story of the past. We had, iudeod, sup
posed that under our Christian civilization
we bad reached a point iu human progress, when
a republic could exist without haviug its life
j sought by its own offspring, but the Catalines
lof the .South have proved that we were luuta-
I keu. Let uo man imagine that because tins
1 rebellion has been made by ineu renowned iu
| our civil and military history, that it is there
! fore the less guilty or the less courageously tJ
be resisted. It is nresisolv this class of UHU
I who have subverted the beat goverumeuts that
j have ever existed. The purest spirits that
have lived iu the tide of times, the noblest
institutions that have arisen to bless our race,
have (ouud thoso in whom they had most eou
j tided and whom they had most honored, men
' wicked enough, either secretly to betray them |
: unto death, or openly to seek their overthrow
hy lawless violence. The Republic of En
gland had its Monk; the republic of Frauoe
bad its Bonaparte; the republic of Home had
its Ctßiar and its Oataiine, aud the Saviour of
the world had ilia Judas Iseariot. it cannot
be necessary that I should declare to you, for
you know them well, who tbey are whose part
riuidal swords are now unsheathed ugainst the
Republic of the United States. Tueir names
are tnseribed upou a scroll of iufamy thai can
never perish. The most distinguished of them
were educated by the charity of the Govern*
ment ou which thy are now making war.—
For long years tbey were fed from its table,
and clothed from UJ wardrobe, aud had their
biows garlanded by its honors. loey are the
uugrateiai sons of a fond mother who dandled
them upon her knee, who lavished up JQ them
the gashing love of her ujble and Jev.dad na
ture, and who uuitaied them iron (be very
bosom of her life; aud oow, ia the treueied
excesses of a licentious and baffled ambition,
tbey are stabbing at that bosom with the fero
city with which the tiger springs upon his prey.
BEDFORD, PA.. FRIDAY, AUG. 80. [B6l.
The President of the Uuited States is heroi
cally and patriotically struggling to baffle the
mvcbiDatious of these most wicked men. 1
have unbounded gratification in knowing that
he has the courage to look traitors in the face,
and that, in discharging the duties of his great
office, he takes no counsel of his fears. lie
is entitled to the zealous support of the whole
country, and, uuy I not add without offence,
that he will receive tbe support of all wh
justly appreciate tbe boundless blessings of our
free institutions?
If this rebellion succeeds it will involve r.G
oessarily the destruction of our nationality, the
division of our territory, the permanent dis
ruption of the republic. It must rapidly dry
up the sources of our material prosperity, and
year by year wo shall grow more and more
impoverished, more and more revolutionary, en- j
fcebiod and debased. Kacb returning ejection f
will bring with it gvounis for new civil coto- !
motions, and traitors, prepared to strike at the
country 'bat has rejected their claims to pow
er, will spring up on every side. Disunion
oooe begun will go on and on iudefiuitsly, aud
under the influence of tbe fatal doctrioo of
soce-sioo, not only will States cecedo Irom
States, but counties will seced# from States 1
also, and towos aud cities from counties, until
uuiversal anarchy will be consuuitutted iu
oacb individual who can make good his posi
tion by force of ai ms, olaiming the right to
defy tbe power of the Government. Thus we
should have brought baok to us the days of the
robber Barons with their molted Cistl -s and
tuaiailderi ig retainers. This uoetri' 1 w'\ u
analyzed is dimply a -declaration ihaißO j:lr -
teal town shell over be cu.pl ... .u. x,i.cutitig
too laws or upholding t-m government into
whose practical uduitniatratiuo such a principle
has been introduced, could no more contiuue j
to exist than a mm could iivc with AD angrcJ j
cobra iu his bosom.
If you would know what are the legitimate
fruits of accession, look at Virgiuia an<t Ten* j
nessee, which have so lately given themselves
up to the embrace of 'his mouster. There the 1
schools ate desert, d ; the courts of justice ,
closed ; public and private credit destroyed,
commerce annihilated ; debts repudiated ;
confiscations and spoliations everywhere pre
vailing; every cheek blanched with fear, and !
every heart frozen with despair; aud all over j
that desolate laud tbe hand of infuriated pass j
sion and crime is waving, with a vulture's
scream for blood, the sword of civil war. And
; this H tbe Pandemonium which some would
have transferred to Kentucky.
But 1 atn uot here to discuss this proposi
tion to-night. J wish soleniuly iodeolar be
fore you aud tbe world, that 1 am for this Uuiou
without conditions, one and indivisible, now
aud forever. lam for its preservation at any
and every cost of blood aud treasure against j
all its assailants. I know no neutrality be. !
tweon my couutry and its fees, whether they ;
be foreign or domestic; no neutrality between !
that gloiious fug which uow ff iat over us, and j
the ingr .tea aud traitots who would trample it
ia the dust. My prayer is for viotory, com- j
plete, euduring and overwhelming, to the ar
mies of tbe republic over all its enemies. I i
am against any aud every compromise that may
be proposed to be made under the guns of the
rebels, while at the same lime, lam decidedly
iu faver of affording every reasonable guaran- j
tec tor the safety of Southern institutions,
which the honest convictions of the people— 1
uot the conspirator-—of the South may do- j
uiand, If he never they shall lay down their j
arms, but not until then. Tbe arbitrament of j
j the swotd has been definitely ttriist into the j
face of the Government and country, and there j
is no honorable escape front it. All guaran- 1
tees and ail attempts at adjustment by amend- '
meats to the Constitution are now scornfully
rejected, aud the leaders of the rebellion open
ly proclaim that they are fighting for iudepen
j deuce. In this contemptuous rejection of
| guarantees, and in this avowal of the objects
| of the rebellion uow so audaciously made, we \
have a complete exposure of that fraud winch
through the slavery agitation has boeu practic*
ed upon the public credulity for the last fif
teen or twenty years. Iu the light of this rev
elation, we feel as oue awakened from tbe suf
focating tortures of a uightuiaie, and realize
what a baseless dream our oppressions huvo
been, and of what a traitorous swindle we
have beeu made the victims. They are fight*
ing for their independence! Independence of ;
of what? Independence of those laws which
they themselves have aided iu enactiog; iudo- !
pendent of the Constitution which their fathers ;
: framed aud to which they arc paities aud sub
> jeot by inheritance; independence of that be
j uiticcut Government on whose treasury and
j bouors they have grown strong and illustrious,
j When a man commits a robbery ou the high
way, or a murder in tbe daik, be thereby de
clares his independence of the laws under
which be lives, aud of tbe society of wbioh he
is a member. Should he when arraigDe d
avow aud justify the offeuoe, he thereby be
comes the advocate of tbe independence he has
thus declared; and, if he /eai-ts by force of
arms the officer, when daggiug bun to the pris
on, the penitentiary, or tbe gallows, he is
thereby lighting lav thi indspeudeooe be lias
thus denial ed auo udvooated: and such is the
condition of the conspirators of the South at
this moment. It is no longer a question of
Southern rights, which havo never beeu vio
lated, nor of seourity of Southern institutions,
which wc know perteetly well hav-c never beeu
1 interfered* with by ibo General Government,
i but it is purely with us a q testiou ot uatioual
; existence. In tneetiug witu this terrible issue
i which rebellion has made up with the loyal men
ot tbe country, we stand upon ground iufiuitely
' above all party lines and party platforms —
i ground as sublime as that on which our fathers
! stood when they fought the battles of the
Revolution. lam for throwing into the eon-
test thus forced upon us all the material and
moral resources atuil euergies of the Dation, in !
order that the struggle may be brief and as j
little sanguinary as possible It is hoped that
we .shall soon see in tho field half a million of
patriotic voluutoers, inarching iu columns
which will be perfectly irresistable, and, borne
in their hands—for no purpose of conquest or
subjugation, but of protection only— we may
expect within nine month* to see the stars and
snipes Soaring in every t-outhem breeze and
hear goiflg up, wild as the storui the oxultaut
shout of that emancipated people over their
deliverauce from the revolutionary terror and
despotism, by which they ore now tormented i
and oppressed.
The war conducted on audi a scale will uot
cost exceeding four or five hundred millions of
doll-us; and none tiecd be startled at the vani
ties- of this expenditure. The debt thus crea
ted will press bub slightly upon us; it will
he paid aud gladly paid by posterity, who will
make tbe best burgaiu which has been uiide
since the world begun, if they can s-cure to
themselves in its integrity aud blesaiQgs such a
goveronieui as this, at uuh a cost. Rut if iu
this anticipation we are doomed to disappoint
iii:uts; if tho people of the United S'ates have
already become so degenerate—uiay 1 uot say
so craven—iu the presence of their foes as to
surrender up this Republic to bo dismembered
and subverted by the traitors wbo have reared
tbe standard of lovolt agaii.-t it, then I trust
the volume of American iii-tiry wlii be closed
and s-.UJCU up for vr, r.d t thusO who
sbcit survive ibis national b urn Hi a'ion will take
uot > tt.ouiSuitc*. vjuii. oiuer name—some name
having no relation to the pist no r<-latiou to
our great ancestors, uo relation to those monu
ments and battle-fields which commemorate
alike their heroism their locality and their
glory.
Rut with tbe curled lip of scorn wo are told
by ths disuniouist*, that in tbus supporting a
Republican adiuinistratiou iu its eudeavjrs to
uphold the constitution and laws, we are "sub
misaiouists," aud when they have prououuoed
this word, they suppose they have imputed to
us the sum of all buuiao abasement. Well, let it
be confessed; we are" sobmissionists," and weak
and spiritless as it uiy oo deemed by souis,
wo glory in the position we occupy. For ex
ample; the law says "Thou saaitpot steß;" we
submit to this law, and would uot for tbe
world's worth, rob our neighbor of bis forts,
his arsenals, bis hospital stores, or anything
that is his. Indeed, so impressed arc we with
the obligations of this law. that we would no
more think of plundering from our ueighbor
half a milliou of dollars because found in one
of his unprotected uiiuts, than we would think
of filching a purse from his pocket in a crow
ded thoroughfare. Write us dowo, therefore,
"submissionists.' 1 ' Again: the law "Thou
shalt not swear falsely;" we submit to this hw,
and while in the civil or military service of tbe
country, with an oatb to support the Constitu
tion of the United States resting upon our
consciences, we would not for any earthly con
sideration, engage in the foimation or execu
tion of a conspiracy to subvert that very con
stitu'ioD, aud wiih it the government to which
it has given birth. Write us down therefore
agaio "submtssionivts." Yet again: When a
Ptefideut has beou elected in strict accordance
with tbe forms and spirit of the constitution,
and has been regularly instilled into office,and
is honestly striving to discharge his duty by
auatchiug riie republic from the jaws ot a gi
gantic treason which threatens to crush it; we
care not what his uaiue may le or what the
designation of bis p iitioul party, or what ihe
platform on which be stood during tho Presi
dcutiß canvass:, we believe we fulfil in sight
of earth and benv n our highest obligations to
our country, in giving to Litu r.ti earnest and
loyal support iu the struggle iu which he is
engaged.
Nor are we at all disturbed by the flippy! !
tauut that iu thus submitting to the authority '
of our government, we arc necessairly cowards. i
We know whence this tauut comes, and we
estimate it at its value. We hold that there
is a higher courage in the performance of duty
than in the commission of crime. The tiger of !
the jungle and the cannibal ot the South Sea
IsUuds have that eouiagc iu which the revolu
tionists of the day make their especial boast; \
the angels of Gad and the spirits of just men
made perfect have had, and have that courage
which submits io the laws. Lucifer was a
uon submi-sionist, and the first secessionist of
whom history has giveu us any account, aud
the chains which he wears fitly express the fate
| due to all who openly defy the laws of their
[ Creator and of their country. He rebelled
j because the Almighty would not yield to him
j the throue of Heavcu; the principle of the
Southern rebellion is the same. Indeed, in
this submission to the laws is found the chief
disiiuction between good men and devils. A
good mau obeys the laws of truth, of hoDesty,
of morality, and ail those laws which have been
enacted by competent authority for the govero-
I ment aud protection of the country in which
1 iic lives: . devil obeys only hi? o.wu lcrocious
j aud profligate passions The priuoiplo on
I which this rebellion proceeds, thai laws have
| ui taeuiselves no sanctions, no binding force
! upou the conscience, and that every nun, nndor
the prompting ot interest or passion or caprice,
may at will, and honorably, too, strike at the
government that shelters him, is one of uiter
demoralization, and should be tiodden out, as
you w<>uld tiead out a spark (hat has fallen
!on the root ol your dweiiiug. Its unchecked
prevalence would resolve society into chaos,
i and leave you without the sligbtest # guarniee
for life, liberty, or property. It is timo that,
in their majesty, the people of the United
States should tuako known to the world that
this government, its dignity and power, is
something more thau a moot court, aod that
the citizm who makes war upon it is a traitor,
in not only theory but in fct, and should have
ineted out to hiin a traitor's doom. The coun
try wants no bloody sacrifices, but it must and
will have peace, coat what it may.
Before closing, 1 desire to say a few words
on the relations of Kentucky to the pending |
rebellion; and, as we arc all Kentuckians here
together to-night, and as all this is purely a
family mutter, which concerns the honor of us
ail. 1 hope we uiy he permitted to speak to ]
each other upon it with entire freedom. I
shall not detain you with observations on the
hostile and defiant position assumed by the
Governor of your State. In his reply to tbe
requisition made upon h ui for volunteers un
der the proclamation of the President, he has,
in my judguieut, written and tioisbed his own
history, his epitaph included, aud it is proba
ble that in future the world will little concern
itself as to what he may propose to do or at
to whit he may propose not to do. That
response has made for Kentucky a record
that has already brought a blush to tbe cheek
of many of her sous, aud is destined to bring
it to the cheek of many more iu the years which j
are to come. It is a sbanoe, indeed crying j
shame, that a State with so illustrious a past
should Lave written for her by her own chief
magistrate a page ol history so utterly humili
ating as this, liut your Legislature have des
teruiirjfld that during tbe present unhappy war,
the attitude of the State shall ho that of strict '
neutrality, and it is upon this determination !
that I w! b respectfully, hut frankly to com*
meut. As h> motives which governed tbe
L. were doubtless patriotic and con
servative, the conclusion arrived at cannot he
condemned as dishonorable, still, in view of
the manifest duty of the State and of possible
results, 1 canuot but regard it as mistaken aud
false, and one which may have fatal conse
quenoes. Strictly aud legally speaking, Ken
tuekey must go out of tbe Union before she
can te neutral. Witlftu it she is neoessarily
either faithful to the government of the Uni
ted States, or she is disloyal to it. If this
crutch of neutrality upou which her well-mean
iug bit ill-judging politicians ure hairing, can
find any middle ground on which to rest, it has
escaped my researches though 1 bavo diligent
ly sought it. Neutrality, in the sense of those
who uow use tbe term, however patriotically
designed is, in effect, hut a snake in the grass
of rebellion, aud those who haudle it, will
sooner or later fuel its fangs. Said one who ;
spake as uiau never spoke "he who is not with !
us is against us," ami of none of the conflicts j
which have arisen between meu or between |
nation*, could this be more truthfully said, j
than of that iu which we are now involved.— j
Neutrality necessarily implies indifference.
lsKentueky indifferent to the issues of this
contest? lias she no compact with her sister
States to ke< p, no plighted faith to uphold, no
renown to sustain, no gloiy to wiu? lias she
no horror of that crime of cri.tes now being
commuted against us by that stupendous re
bellion which has arisen like a tempest cloud
in the South? We rejoice fe know that she is
still a member of this Union, and as such she
has tbe sums interest iu resistiug this rebellion,
that each limb of tLe body has in resisting a
poignard whose point is aimed at the heart.—
It is her bouse that is on Are, has she DO inter
est iu extinguishing the conflagration? Will
she stand aloof and announce herself neutral i
between the raging flames and tbe brave men j
who are periling their lives to subdue t.|em ? J
Hundreds of thousands of citizens of other
: States—men of culture and character, of
thought and of toil; men who have a deep
stake iu life, and an intense appreciation of its
duties aud responsibilities; who know the worth
of this blessed gcerurucut of ours, and do
not prizs even their owu blood above it— I sty,
hundreds of thousands of such men have left
their homes, their workshops, their offices, their
couutiog houses, and th>ir fields, ud arc now
rallying about our flag, freely offering their all
to sostaiu it, aud, since the days that crusading
Eoglaud threw its hosts upon the embattled j
i plains of Asia uo deeper or more earnest or gran- j
der spirit has stirred the souls of men, than
that which uow sways those mighty masses
whose gleaming banners are destined ere long j
to nuke bright again the earth aud sky of the
distraoted South. Cau Kentucky look upon
this sublime spectacle of patriotism unmoved,
aud then say to herself: "I will speud ueither
blood nor treasure, hut I will shrink away while
the b&tilc rages, and after it has been fought
and wou, 1 will return to the camp, well as
sured that if I canuot claim the laurels, 1 will
at least enjoy the blessings of the victory? Is
that all that remains of her chivalry?— of the
chivalry of the land of the Shelbys, the John
| sons, the Aliens, the Glays, tbe Adairs, and
tbe Davisses? Is there a Keniuckian within
the sound of tny voice to-night, who can bear
the anguishod cry of his country, as she wres
tles aud writhes in the folds of this gigantic
treusou, and then lay himself down upon bis
i pillow with this thought of neutrality, without
tending that he has something in bis bosom '
which stings him worse than would an adder?
Have we, within the brief period of eighty
ysars, descended so far from the mountain
heights ou which our fathers stood, that already,
in our degeneracy, wo proclaim our blood too
precious, our treasure too valuable to be de
voted to tbe preservation of such a government
as this? They fought through a seven years
war with tbe greatest power ou earth for the
hope, the bare hope of betug able to found
this .Republic, and now tb* 1 it is no longer a
hope nor an experiment, but "a glorious reality,
which has excited tbe admit attoo and the horn
j age of tbe nations, aud has covered us with
blessings, as "the waters cover the channels
of the sea," have we, their oiiildren, no years
of toil, of sacrifice, and of battle, even, if
need be, to give to save it from absolute de
i stiuction at the bauds of men, who, steeped in
! guilt, are perpetrating agaiust us and human!*
t - ,
VOL. U, I ) ei
ty a crime, for vtLicli, I veril ' .
blackest page of the history ! <\
darkest period furnishes oop
be possible that in the history of
people we have already renehe
degeneraoy so low, that tbe work o r • v ,>:i
and Franklin, of Adams aud J-E
Hancock snd Heory, is to be overly b,
the morally begritnmed aud pigtnied coi.
tors who arc now tugging at its foundations'
Ii would be the overturuiug of the Ande* uy
tbe miserable reptiles tbat are crawliog in tc.o
sands at their base
Hut our neutral fellow-cttizeos io the teu
derness of tbeir hearts say; "This effusion of
blood sickens us." Then do all io your power
to bting it to an end. Let tbe whole streDgtb
of this Commonwealth be put forth in support
of the Government, in order that the war may
be terminated by a prompt suppression of tbe
rebellion. The longer the struggle continue,
iba fiercer will be its spirit, and the more fears
ful the wiste of life attending if. You there
fore oooly aggravate the calamity you deplore,
by standing aloof from the combat. But
again they say, "we caunot fight our brethren."
Indeed! But your brethren cau fight you and
wi'h a good will to. Wickedly and wantonly
have they commenced this war against you and
your institutions, and ferociously are they
ptosecuting it. They tuke no account of the
fact that the uB3icre with which tbey hope
their swords will ere long be clogged, iun-t bo
the tnass'iore of tbeir brethren. However
much we may bow our heals to the confession,
it is nevertheless true that every free people
that have existed have been obliged at one
period or other of their history, to fight for
their liberties against traitors witbiD their owu
bosoms, and that people who bave not the
greatness of soul thus to fight, cannot lmg
continue to be free, nor do they deserve to be
so.
There is uot and there cannot ba any nen
trai ground for a loyal people between tbuir
own government aud those who at the bead of
armies are menacing its destruction. Your
inaction is not neutrality, though yoa may de
lude yourselves with the belief that it is so.—
With this rebellion confronting you, wbeu you
refuse to co operate actively with your gov*
eminent in subduing it, you thereby condemn
the government and assume towards it an at"
tuude of antagonism. Yonr inaction is a vir
tual endorsement of the rebellion, and if yoa
do not thereby give to the rebels precisely that
"aid and comfort" spoken of in tbe Constitution
you certainly afford them a mOBt powerful eu-.
conragement aud support. That they regard
your present positiou as frieodly to tbeui, is
proved by the fact, that, in a recent enactment
of tbe Confederate Congress confiscating tbe
debts due from their own citizens to those of
loyal States, the debts due to the people of
Kentucky are expressly excepted, is ibis not
significant? Does it leave any room for doubt
tbat ibe Confederate Congress supposo they
have discovered ur.dor the guise of your neu"
trality a lurking sympathy jfor their cause
which entitles you to be treated as fiieuds if
not as active allic#? Pat iotio as was the pur
pose of her apprehensive statesmen in placing
her in tbe anomalous position she now occupies,
it cannot be denied that Kentucky by her
present altitude is exerting a potent influence
m strengthening the rebellion, aud is therefore
false alike to her loyality and to iier fame. You
may rest assured that this estimate of your neu
trality is entertained by the true men of (he
country io ail tho Sates which are now sustaining
the Government. Within the last few week- how
many of those gallaut volunteers, who have ielt
borne and kindred and all tbat is dear to them,
tQi are now under a Southern sun, exposing
themselves to death from disease and to death
from battle, and are accounting tbeic lives as
nothing effort they are miking for the de
liverance of your Government and theirs; how
many of them have said tome in sadness and in
longing, "Will uot Kentucky help me?" How
my soul would have leaped could i have answer
ed promptly, confidently, exulting!/, "'yes, she
win." But when I thought of this neutrality, my
heart sank within me, and I did not and I could
not look those brava men in the face. And vet I
; could not answer "no." I could not not crush
myself to the earth under tbe self-abasement of
such a reply. I therefore sai t—and may my coun
try sustain me—"l hope,l trust, I pray, nay, I
believe, Kentucky wilt yet do her duty."
It this Government is to be destroyed, ask your
selves ; are yon willing it shall be recorded in his
tory that Keutucky stood by in the greatness of
her streugth and lifted not a hand to stay the c&t
astrope i 1/ it is to be saved—as 1 verily believe
it is—are you willing it shall be written that in the
immeasurable glory which must attend the achieve
ments, Kentucky had no part ?
I will only add, if Kentucky wishes the waters
of her beautiful Ohio to be dyed in blood ; if she
wishes her harvest fields, now waiving in their
abundance, to ho trampled beneath the threshings
of tha tempest j if she wishes the homes where
her loved ones are now gathered in peace, invaded
by the prescriptive iury of a military despotism,
spairing neither life nor property ; if she wishes
the streets of her towns aud cities grown with grass
i aud the steamboats of her rivers to lie rottening at
j her wharves, thun let her joiu the Southern Cou
i tederacy. But if she would have the bright waters
iof that river (low on in their gladness; if she
j would have her harvests peace!ully gathered to her
j garners ; if she would have the lullabies of her
j cradles aud the songs of her homes uninvaded by
| the cries and terrors of battle ; if she would have
| the streets of towns and cities again filled with the
! hum and throngs of busy trade, and her rivers arid
I their shores once more vocal with the steamer's
j whistle—tbat authem of a free .and prosperous com
merce—tuen let her stand by the stars and stripes,
and do her duty and her whole duty as a member
of this Uuiou. Let her brave people say to tha
i'lesident of the United States, "You are our
Uhiuf Magistrate; the government you have i
charge aud are striving to savu from dishonor ana
dismemberment is our government; your cause is
indeed our cause; your battles are our battles
make room lor us therefore in the ranks of your
armies, that your triumph may be our triumph
also."
Even as with the Father of us all I would plead
lor Salvation, so my countrymen, as upon my ver
keea, would I plead with you for the lile, of on
great and benificont institut ions. But it the trr