The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1861-08-09
SPEECH OF HON. JOSEPH HOLT AT
LOUISVILLE.
The Union Without Conditions.

tDolivered at Louisville, July l3th.l
FELLOW CITIZENS A fow weeks since. in
another form, | vouturod freely to express
my views upon these tragic events which
have brought sorrow TO every huarthstona.
and to every hoart in our distracted coun-
try, and it is not my purpose on this occa.
sion to repeat these views, or to oreago in
any extended discussion of tho oucstiuu
then examined. II is not necessary that |
should 10 SO, since the argument is exhaust
cd, aud tho popular mind is perfectly ia
miiar with IL in all its bearings. | will,
however, with your permission, submit a
fow brief observations, upon tho absorbing
topics OF the day; and il l do so with al,
carnestness and emphasis due aliko to tho
sincerity o! my convictions and to tho mag
nitude of the interests involved, it is trusted
that none will DO otfeudcd. not even those
who may most widely differ from mo.
Could one, an ontire stranger to our his.
tory, now look down upon tho South, and
soc there hundred and fifty thousand mon
marching in hostile array, threatening tho
capture Of the Captul, and tho dismenlber-
munt of the territory OF tho Republic, and
could he look again aud see that this army
is marshaled and directed by officers ru-
Gently occupying distinguished places in tho
civil aud military service of tho country, and
further, that the States from which this
army has been drawn appears to 10 ono
vast soothing cauldron of fcrocious passion,
he would very naturally conclude that the
Gvvernment of thu United States had com.
mittad some great crime against its people,
and that this uprising was in resistance to
wrongs and Outragos which had been boruo
until their endurance was no longer posi-
BILE. Aud yet. no conclusion could 10 fur
thor from tho truth than this. Tho Gov.
ernment of the u. S. mas been faithful TO
its constitutional obligations For eighty
years it has maintained tho national honor
nt home AID abroad, and by its rrowess, It's
wisdom and its justice, has given to the title
of an American citizcn an elevation among
the nations of tho earth, which tho citizens
of no Republic have erjoyod, since Rome
was mistress OF tho world. Under its ad.
ministration tho national Gomain has
stretched away to tho Pacific, and the con-
stellation which announced our birth as a
people. has expanded from thirteen to thirty
four stars, all until recently, moving un-
distui bed ard undimmed in their orbs OF
light and granducr. The rights of no state
have been invaded no man's property has
boon despoiled, no mans liberty abridged.
|
the cotton of this Government. Under its
benign Influences the rills of public and pri
vate prosperity have swelled Into rivulets
und from rivers, ever brimming in their ful
ness, and everywhere and at all periods o.
its history, its ministrations havo fallen o.
gepk,y on the people of the United States
as do the dews OF a summers night on the
grass of tho gardens and fields.
Whence, then, this revolutionary out
break Whence the secret spring of thi,
gigantic conspiracy, which, like some huge
boa. had completely coiled itself around the
limbs and body of tho Republic, before q
single hand was lifted to resist it Strange
and indeed startling ns the announcement
must appear when il falls upon tho ears o
tho next generation, the national trage
dy in whose shadow we stand tonight, has
come upon us, because in November last
John G. Breckenridge was not elected Presi
don't of the United States and Abraham
Lincoln was. This is the whole story. And
| would pray now to know on what was
John G. Breckenridge fed that he has grown
SO great that republic founded by Wash
ington and cemented by the best blood that
has ever coursed in, human veins, is to be
overthrown because, forsootb, he cannot DO
its President Had he been chosen We
well know that VIC should not have heard
of this rebellion, for the lever with which il
is being moved would have been wanting tc
the hands Of tho conspiratOrs. Even aftel
this defeat could it have been guara n nteed
beyond all peradventure, that Jefferson
Davis or some other Kindred spirit woulC
be tho successor Of Mr.. Lincoln, | presume
We hazard nothing in assuming that thi
atrocious movement against tho Govern
ment would not have been set on foot. 81
much for tho principle involved In it. Thi
great crime, then, with which we are crap
pling. sprang from that ''sin by which tn
angels fell"--an unmastered and profligat
ambition that "would rathor reign in hel
than serve in heaVon"-that would ratbo
rule supremely over shattered fragment o
the Republic than run the chances of shar:n,
with others the honOrs of the whole.
The coDspirators ef the South read II
the election of Mr.. Lincoln a declaration
that the Democratic party had been pros
trated, If not finally destroyed, by the sol
fish intrigues and corruptions of Its leaders
they road, too, that the vicious, emaciate
and spawned hobby of the Slavery agitation
on which they had so often rode into pow
or, could no longer carry them beyond
given geographical line of our territory
and that In truth this factous and treasona
BILE agitation. on which SO MANY of thor
had grown great by debauching and de
Matchmaking the mind of a people naturall
generous aud patriotic, had run it's cours,
and hence, that from the national disgus
for this demagoguing and from the inexora
Bile law of population, tho time had com
when all those who had no other politics
capital than this. would have to prepar
for retirement to private life, 80 far O