The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1860-02-01
TIMELY CoUNSELS or A PATRIOT
AND SAGE.

AND SAGE.
The subjoined views Of distinguished
Divine, in regard to the uneasy political
condition Of the country, cannot tail to com
mand attention and respect. 1t is copied
from the Louisville Journal.
TO THE HON. JOHN C. BRECKENRIDGE,
Vice President of e Uaited STATES and Senator elect
from The Commonwealth of Kcatucsy.
For period of nearly seventy years the
people Of Kentucky, even from the moment
of their own existence as a free and separate
Commonwealth, have bestowed, first upon
your grandfather, and then upon your iather,
and then upon yourself, every mark Of conf
dence and love it was in their power to bestow;
and In no instance did they ever refuse to Ell
ther Of you any distinction that either Of you
was willing to accept, and IN no instance did
they ever complain that either Of you had
come short Of what they expected from you.
Such testimonies on the part of such a peo-
pie, accumulated until you now find your self
in position for good or evil 10 the whole
nation, scarcely inferior TO that of any other
person, increase all the ordinary rcsrnnsi-
bilities which rest upon you TO the very high
est degree, and add new ones the most al
fecting which can address themselves to
true heart. Every man in this nation, still
more every man in the Commonwealth which
has so signaly honored you, will ponder
these things Just in the degree that they ex.
pect or hope ans thing from you, in this sea-
son, which you have yourself, in the most
public and emphatic manner, declared TO be
full Of peril to the whole American people.
and most peculiarly TO the people Of Ken
tucky. know you will admit that every
one of them has the right 10 address to you
these noble reflections = warming you BY
them, in a manner at once earnest and con-
fiding, that yoar people do not expect YOU
to allow their destiny to BE- compromised,
and Yourself to be Oyerborne and carried
away by events and parties but that they
expect and desire that, let what may come,
YOU should SO counsel aud act that Kentucky
NAV do her part, as becomes her, for the
safety and glory of the whole aud that when
the worst comes she may live or die accord
ing to her own free and separate sense Of
her duty and her honor. Nor Is there one
among them all, who. from priyate station
and impelled only BY the deepest interest IN
the country and in you. could mere properly
than myself address to yOl words Of eouf-
dencc aud Of hope. and urge upan yen con.
siderations connected alike with yOgr 0W
fame and the glory Of your country, whose
due weight may be easily overlooked amidst
the passionate violence which 10 Ill calm
men seems TO prevail at Washington.
As to the dissolution of the American Tn
ion, the settled and deliberate conviction of
Kentucky is that il is no remedy Tor any
thing whatever. but that il is itself the iiresl
Of all calamities. Kentucky never had any
existence as Commonwealth except as enc
OF the States nf the American Union. She
never had jisioyal though; towards that
Union, or towards any sister State she ne.
yer for one instant desired 10 enlarge her
rights under tie Federal Constitution. III u
exercise any Of thuse rights Extensively. ar 10
deny TO others their equal ghts under tlIpt
Constitution. Wholly unable u comprehend
how il can be 90 the interest Of any State to
seCede from the uaion. or how the right 10
secede can be considered any thing Gle hrt
purely revolutionary. She sess nothing III thr
past conduct of the Federal Government 10
justify secession IL il we're constitutional
remedy, nothing 10 the aspect Of the times
promising any thing bu, disaster to the eoun.
try, to every seeding State. aud most e.pc.
cially to herself. from tie application of any
such remedy. whether by war. by revolution,
BY the formation Of new Cuniederacies. Or b,
TIE secession Of individual States. is ar
as she can understand. It is mainly the un.
ruly passions Ol unreasonable men. aud the
violent assertion OF dubious. Or, 20 say the
least. extreme rights, and ,he madness Of
political par.ies IN their struggle for pawer.
that has brought the country 70 its present
peFilous condition.
The true remedy Tor such disorders Is not
IN the breaking up Of the Government, but
IN the due enforcement of the laws: aud pos.
tcrity will execratc IL the end ui time what.
ever Government shall allow the laylcss
conduct or any portion Of the people to run
into secession, or to drive others into i.
The lives Of traitors ought not TO weigh 4
feather against the peace or security, much
less against the very existence Of the nation I;
aud their blood ccmcnts instead 81 weaken.
ing the foundations Of society. Civil war
itself within the Union, horrible as civil war
always i. Il necessarily temporary, ard Is
consistent VITA ,he ultimate preservation Of
every thing distinctive in our present na.
tionality. aud 10 all our Institutions. general
aud particular and universal civil war az
this time trifhin fhe Union could hardly fail
10 cad 10 the permanent establishment, Tor