East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1861-08-15

compact with her sister States to keep, no
plighted faith to uphold, no renown to sustain,
no glory to win ? Has she no horror of that
crime of crimes now being committed against
us by that stupendous rebellion which has arisen
like a tempest-cloud in the South? We re-
joice to know that she is still member of this
Union and as such she bas some interest in re-
sisting this rebellion that each limb of the
body has in resisting poignard whose point is
aimed at her heart. 1t is her house that is on
fire has she no interest in extinguishing the
conAagrationp Will she stand aloof and an
nounce herself neutral between the raging
flames and the brave men who are periling their
lives TO subdue them? Hundreds of thousands
Of citizens of other Statesmen Of culture and
character, of thought and Of toll; men who
have deep stake in life, and an intense appre.
citation of its duties and responsibilities who
know the worth of this blessed government of
ours, and do not prize even their own blood
above it, say, hundreds of thousands of
such men have left their homes, their work
shops, their Offices, their counting houses, and
their fields, and are now rallying about our
flag, freely offering their all to sustain it; and
since the days that crusading Europe threw its
hosts upon the embattled plains of Asia, no
deeper or more earnest or grander spirit has
stirred the souls of men, than that which now
sways those mighty masses whose cleaning ban
ners are destined ere long to make bright again
the earth and sky of the distracted South
Can Kentucky look upon this sublime spec
tacle of patriotism unmoved and then say to
herself: Il will spend neither blood nor
treasure, but will shrink away while the bat
tie RACES, and after it has been fought and won,
will return to the camp, well assured that if
cannot claim the aurels, l will at least enjoy
the blessings of the victory ?' Is this all that
remains of her chivalryY OF the chivalry of
the land of the Shelbys, the Jobnsons, the
Aliens, the Clays, the Adairs, and the Dav-
ises Is there Kentuckan within the sound
of my voice tonight, who can hear the an
guished cry of his country, as she wrestles and
wrtbes in the folds of this gigantic treason,
and then lay himself down upon his pillow with
this thought of neutrality, without feeling that
he has something in his bosom that stings him
worse than would an adder ? Have we, within
the brief period of eighty years, descended SO
far from the mountain he ghts on which our
fathers stood, that already, in our degeneracy,
we proclaim our blood too precious, our treas
ure too valuable, to be devoted to the pyeserva.
tion of such government as this? They
fought through a seven years war with the
greatest power ON earth for the hope, the bare
hope, of being able to found this Republic, and
now that it is no longer hope nor an expert
ment, but glorious reality, which has excited
the admiration aud the homage of the nations,
and has covered us with blessings, as the wa
ters cover the channels of the sea-" have we,
their children, no years of toll of sacrifice, and
of battle even, if need be, to give, to save it
from absolute destruction at the hands of men,
who, stepped in guilt, are penetrating against
us and humanity crime for which L verify be.
lieve the blacklist page of the worlds darkest
period, furnishes no parellel. Can it be pos.
sible that in the history of the American peo-
pie we hive already reached point of deeen-
eracy so low that the work of Washington and
Franklin, Adams and Jefferson, of Hancock
and Henry is to be overthrown by the morally
begrimmed and pigmied conspirators who are
now tugging at its foundations 1t would be
the overturning of the Andes by the miserable
reptiles at their base.
There is not and there cannot be, any neu-
trail ground for a loyal people between their
own government and those who at the head of
armies are menacing its destruction. Your in
action is not neutrality, though you may delude
yourselves with the belief that it is So With
this rebellion confronting you when you refuse
to cooperate actively with your government in
subduing it, you thereby condemn the govern
ment, aud assume toward it an attitude CT an
tagoaism. Your inactivity is a virtual en-
dorsement of the rebellion, and if you do not
thereby give to the rebels precisely that " aid
and comfort spoken of in the Constitution,
you certainly afford them most powerful en-
cou ragement and support.
Within the last few weeks, how many of
those gallant volunteers, who have left home
and kindred, and all that is dear to them, and
are now under Southern sun, exposing them
selves to death from disease, and to death from
battle, and are accounting their lives as nothing
in the effort they are making for the deliverauce
of your government and theirs how many of
them have said to me in sadness and in long.
ing, Will not Kentucky help me ?" How
my soul would have leaped could have an
swered promptly, confidently, exultiugly, Yes,
she will" But when l thought of this neu-
trality, my heart sank within me, and / did
not, and could not, look those brave men in the
face. And yet could not answer No."
could not crush myself to the earth under the
establishment of such reply. l therefore
said-and may my country sustain me-"I
hope, l trust, pray, nay believe, Kentucky
will yet do her duty sl... ,f. ..,i
If this government is to be destroyed by
ourselves, are you willing it shall be recorded
in history that Kentucky stood by in the great
ness of her strength aud lifted not hand to
stay the catastrophe9 If it is to be saved-as
verify believe it is-are you willing it shall
be written that, in the immeasurable glory
which must attend the achievement, Kentucky
had no partf iai eoiir I'd vf-e, =
will only add, If Kentucky wishes the wa
ters Of her beautiful Ohio to be dyed in blood
If she wishes her harvest fields, now waving
in their abundance, to be trampled under the