The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1861-08-28
Extracts freml Speech OF Hon.
HNSanEe HOLT of Kentucky.

Extracts frGHE SpeeCh Oh ESON'
Joseph Holt. of Kentucky.
Delivered at LOUISVILLE 10 an immense audience
The Republic of England had its
Monk; the Republic of France had its
Bonaparte; the Republic of Rome had It's
Caesar aud its Cataline, and the Saviour
Of the world had his Judas lscarlot. 1t
cannot be necessary that | should de-
clare to you, for you know them well, who
they are whose parricdal swords are now
unsheathed against the Republic OF the
United States. Their names are inscrlb-
ed upon roll of infamy that can never
perish The most distinguished was cd
ucated by the charity Of the Government
on which they are now making war. For
,ong years they were fed at lis table, and
clothed from its wardrobe, and had their
brows garlanded by its honors. They are
the ungrateful sons of fond mother, who
daudled them upon her knee. who lavish
ed upon them the gushing love of her
noble and devoted nature, and who nur
tured them from the very bosom of her
life and now in the frenzied excess OF a
licentous and baffled ambition, they are
stabDing at that bosom with the ferocity
with which the tiger springs upon Its
prey. The President of the Uni,ed
States is heroically struggling to battle the
Vaccinations of these wicked meu. |
have unbounded qualification in knowing
that he has the courage to look traitors
in the face, and that, in discharging the
duties of his great Office, ne takes no
counsel of his fears. He is entitled to
the jealous support of the whole country,
and, may | not add without offence, that
he will receive the support of all who
Justly appreciate the boundless blessings
of cur free institutions
But with the curled lip of scorn we are
told by the disunionists that in thus sup
porting a Republican administration in
its endeavors to uphold the Constitution
and the laws, We are submissionlsts," !"
and when they have pronounced this
word, they suppose they have imputed to
US the sum of all human abasement. -
Well, let it be confessed, we are "sub-
missionists," and weak and spirtless as
it may be deemed by some, we glory in
the position we occupy. For example :
the law says ''Thou shalt not steal;'' we
submit to this law, and would not for the
worlds worth rob our neighbor of his
forts, his arsenals, his arms, his muni-
tions of war, his hospital stores, or any.
thing that is his, Indeed, so impressed
are we with the obligations of this law,
that we would no more think of plunder-
ing from our neighbor half million of
dollars because found in his unprotected
mints, than we would think of f,ching a
purse in a crowded thoroughfare. Write
US down, therefore, "submissionists" -
\ gain: the law says Thou shalt not
swear falsely;" we submit to this law,
and while in the civil or military service
Of the country, with an oath to support
the Constitution Of the United States
resting upon our consciences, we would
not for any earthly consideration engage
in the formation or execution of con-
spiracy to subvert that very Constitution
and with it the government to which it
has given birth. Write US down, there
fore, again, "submissionists. Yet again
when a President has been elected in
strict accordance with the form and spirit
of the Constitution, and has been regu-
larly installed in,o Office, and is honestly
striving to discharge his duty by snatch
ing the Republic from the jaws of gi
gantic treason which threatens to crush
it, we care not what his name may or
may not be, or what the designation of
his political party or what the platform
on which he stood during the Presiden-
tial canvass; we believe we fulfill III the
sight of earth and heaven our highe> oh.
legations to our country, in giving to him
an earnest support in the struggle in
which he is engaged.
If this government is to be destroyed,
ask yourselves are you willing it shall be
recorded in history that Kentucky stood
by in the greatness of her strength and
lifted not hand to stay the catastrophe?
If it is to be saved, as [ verify believe it
Is, are you willing it shall be written that,
in the Unreasonable glory which must
attend the Achievement, Kentucky had
no part?
[ will only add, if Kentucky wishes
the waters of her beautiful Ohio to be
dyed in blood if she wishes her harvest
fields, now waving in their abundance, TO
be trauIpled under the feet of hostile
soldiery as flower garden is tramplei
beneath the threshing of the tempest; if
she wishes the homes where her loved
ones are now gathered in peace, invaded
by the proscriptive fury Of a military
despotlsm, sparing neither life nor prop
erty, if she wishes the streets Of her
towns and cities grown with grass, and
the steamboats, OF her rivers to lie rotting