, 1860-05-11
PTJGET SOUND HERALD.
STELACOON, W. r, FRIDAY, NAY II, 1860.
LETTER OF ROBT. c. .BREcKINRIDGE TO
his nephew, John c. BreclxinTidgs.


ME Of Kentucky, even from the moment Of their
own existence as free and separate Common
wealth, have bestowed, first upon your grand
father, and then upon your father, and then
upon yourself, every mark Of confidence and
love Il was in their power to bestow; and in no
instance did they ever refuse to either Of you
anv distinction that either Of you was willing to
accent, and il no instance did they ever COM
plain that either of you had come short Of what
they expected from you. Such testimonies on
the part Of such people, accumulated until you
now find yourself in position for good or evil
to the whole nation, scarcely inferior to that OF
any other person, increase all tho ordinary re-
sponsibilities which rest upon you to the very
highest degree, and add new ones the most af.
fecting which can address themselves tn true
heart. Every man in this nation, still more
every one in this Commonwealth which has so
signally honored you, will ponder these things
just in the degree that they hope or expect any
thing from you, in this season, which you have
yourself in the most public and emphatic manner,
declared TO be full Of peril to the whole Amcri-
can people, and most peculiarly to the people OF
Kentucky. know you will admit that every
one Of them has the right to address to you these
noble eAectiOns-waTning you by them, in q
manner at once earnest and confiding, that your
people do not expect you to allow their destiny
to be compromised, and yourself tn be overborne
and carried away by events and parties; but
that tho xpect and desire that, let what may
l3l should so counsel and act that Ken
,ct her part as becomes her, for the
r-.v 80 ory Of tho whole-and that when
,t. les, she may live or die according
g.. h.r g,su re and separate Sense Of her duty
ma .H ,..mor. Nor ia there one among them
:, who, from private station and impelled only
by the deepest interest in this country and in
you, could more properly than myself address
70 you words Of confidence and Of hore, aid
urge upon you considerations connected alike
with your own fame and the glory Of your conn
try, whose due weight may be easily overlooked
amidst the passionate violence which to all calm
men seems TO prevail in Washington,
As TO the dissolution Of the American Union
the settled and deliberate conviction Of Kentucky
Is, that Il Is no remedy for anything whatever,
but that It is itself the dircst Of al caAmities.
Kentucky never had any existence rs Com
monwealth, except a. one Of the States OF the
American Union. She never had dfsloyal
thought towards that Union-Or towards any
sister State; she never fnr one instant desired
to enlarge her rights under the Federal Consti-
tution-or to exercise any Of those rights Often
Sive!y--or 10 deny to others their equal rights
under tat Constitution. Wholly unable to
comprehend how II can be 10 the interest Of any
State to seeede from the UniOn--Or how the
right to secede can be considered anything else
but purely revolutionary; she SECS nothing IN
the past conduct Of the Federal Government tn
justify secession Il il werV a constitutional rcm'
edy; nothing IN the aspect Of the tunes pronlis-
ing anything bat disaster to the country, 10 every
Ecccding Stats, and most especially To herselL
from the application Of any sacn remedy,
whether by war, by revolution. by the form 'tinn
~ IN
dividual States As far as she can understand,
It Is mainly the unruly passions Of unreasonable
men, and the yident assertion Of dubious, or, to
say tbs least extreme rights-and the madness
Of political parties in their struggle for power.
that has brought the country to its present per-
ilous condition. The true remedy for sdch dis
0r,lors Is not the breaking up Of the govrrnment
hut the due enforcement Of the laws; and pos
terity will execraR 10 the end Of time whatever
9ovcfnment shall allow the lawless conduct OF
any portion Of thspcople to run into secession,
or TO drive others hto Il. Tho lives Of traitors
ought not 10 weigh a feather against the peace
or security, much less against the very existence
Of the nation and their blood eements instead
Of weakens the lDundations 0f society. Civil
war itself within The Union, horrible AZ civil war
always Is, is neeesArilv temporary, and Is con.
sistent with the Ultimate preservation Of every
thing distinctive II our present nationality, and
In all our institutidns, general and particular;
and universal civil war at this time, within the
Union, could hAfdli Gail 10 end In the permanent
establishment, fDr The whole country, OF just
what our fathers established from lT76 to 1883.
But after the division gf the Union upon the
slave line, aid the necessary breaking out Of
fierce and iuterininable war along frontier ex
tending flom the Atlantic ocean to the western
border Of Missouri, no man can tOresee state OF
case when peace can be ever preserved along
that frontier, as well rs Il can be In the Union,
and every man can sle that any future Union OF
the divided portions &c the conIederacy, If any
union shall ever be possible, must be upon the
very terms which now exist The inevitable e.
feet Of the recent evetts at Harpcrs Ferry taken
altogether, must be 70 give degree Of security
to the whole slave frontier 1ithin the URiOR which
no part Of Il can ever have out If tie UniOR;
snd the handfll Of white nen and negroes whose
toiled and crimes were consuInuiated there would
probably be the last, as they were the first, TO
try such an attempt The whole case ought to
be, to every reAecting man, demonstration Of
the inestiInablS value q the Union, both as i
sets bounds to the passions Of men, and as Il
enables Us to punish crime by due course Of law,
instead Of by private of public war.
j Kentucky Is through choice slave State.
When forming her first Constitution, In 1902,
when forming her second Constitution, In 1799,
and when forming her ,Tesent Constitution, in
1850 the whole subject was carefully considered
BY her people, and each time decided In the same
manner and It Is probable that at the present
moment there isless disposition aUOug her peo-
pie 10 maAe any change on that subject than at
any fOrmSr period Two facts Of great impor.
tance must not however, be overlooked. The
hrst is that no considerable portion Of Kentucky
have ever held extreme views in lavOrOf slavery,
while very large proportion have tolerated
without preferring Il; and while the common
opinion Of the people has always been that the
relative growth Of the white over the black race
would Be greater aud greater continually, and at
some future, perhaps distant period, slavery