The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-06-26

declaration IS FOUND the Key which unl0cks
the whole of the complicated machinery Of
this revolution. The proAigate ambition of
public men in all ages and lands has been
the rock on which republics have split
Such men have arisen in our midst--men who
because unable permanently TO grasp the
helm Of the ship, are willing to destroy itin
the hope to command some enc Of the RATS
that may float away from the wreck. The
effect is to degraded us to level with the
military bandits Of Mexico and South Amer
lea, who, when beaten at election, fly to arms
and seek to master by the sword what they
have been unable to control by the ballot
box.
The attrocious acts enumerated were acts
of war, and might have been treated as such
by the late Administration; but the Presi.
dent patriotically cultivated peace-how
anxiously and how patiently the country
we'll knows. While, however, the revolu-
tionary leaders greeted him with all hail to
his face, they did not the less diligently con-
tinue to whet their swords behind his back.
Immense military preparations were made,
so thst when the moment for striking at the
Government Of the United States arrived,
the revolutionary States leaped into the con-
test clad in full armor.
As ifnothing should be wanting to darken
this pSge of history, the seeded States have
already entered upon the work of confsca-
ting the debts due from their citizens to the
North and North West. The millions thus
gained will doubtless prove pleasant SUBJ
stitute for these guarantees now so scornful-
ly rejected. To these confiscations will prob
ably succeed soon those of lands nnd negroes
owned by the citizens of loyal States; and,
indeed, the apprehension of this step is al
ready disturbing the fidelity of the ncn resi-
dent proprietors. Fortunately, however,
infirmity of faith, springing from such a
cause is not likely to be contagious. The
war begun is being prosecuted by the Con-
federate States in temper as fierce and un-
sparing as that which charaoteriEes conflicts
between the most hostile nstions. Lett ers
of marque and reprisal are being granted to
all who seek them SO that our coasts will
soon swarm with these piratical cruisers, as
the President has properly denounced them.
Every buccaneer who desires to rob Ameri-
can commerce. upon the ocean, can for the
asking, obtain q warrant to do so, in the
name of the new republic. To crown all,
large bodies of Indians have been mustered
into the service of the revolutionary States
and are now conspicuous in the ranks of the
Southern Army. A leading North Carolina
journal noting their stalwart frames and un-
erring Workmanship, observes, with an ex-
ultation positively 6endish, that they are
armed, not only with the rifle, but also with
the skdlping knife and tomahaWk.
Is Kentucky willing to link her name in
history with the excesses and crimes which
have sullied the revolution at every etep of
its progress? Can she soil her pure hands
with it's booty? She posse sses the noblest
heritate that God has granted to his children
is she prepared to barter it away for that
mess Of pottage, which is the grat-
iication of the unholy ambition of her pub
lie men would bring to her lips? Can she,
without laying her face in the dust for very
shame, become participant in the spoila-
ton of the commerce of her neighbors and
friends, by contributing her star, hitherto
30 stainless inits glory, to light the corr
eair on his way Has the warwhoop, which
used to startle the sleep of our frontiers, SO
died away in her ears that she is willing to
take the red-handed savage to her bosom as
the champion of her rights and the repre-
Of her spirit? Must she not first
forget her own heroic sons who perished,
butchered and scalped, upon the disastrous
field of Raisin2
The object of the revolution, as avowed by
all who are pressing it forward, is the per-
dismemberment of the Confsdsracy.
The dream of reconstrnction-used during
the last winter as q lure to draw the hesita-
ing or the hopeful into the movement-.has
been formally abandoned. If Kentucky
separates herself from the Union, it must be
upon the basis that the separation is to be
final and eternal. Is there ought in the or
ganization or administration Of the Govern
ment of the United States to justify, on her
part and act SO solemn and perilous Could
the wisest of her lawyers, if called upon, find
material for on indictment in any or in all
all the pages of the history of the Republic?
Could the most leperous Tipped of its calpm.
niators pointo single State or Territory, or
community or citizen, that it has wronged or
1t would be impossible. So far
as the Slave States are concerned, their pro-
lection has been complete, and if it has not
been, it has been the fault of their statesmen
who have had the control Of the government
since its foundation.
The census returns show that during the
year 1860 the Fugitive Slave Law was exc
cuted more faithfully and successfully than
it had been during the proceeding ten years.
Since the installation of President Lincoln,
not q case has arisen in which the fugitive
has not been returned, and that, too without
fidelity with which it was understood to be
the policy of the present administration to
enforce the provisions Of this law has caused
o perfect panic among the runaway slaves in
the free States, and they have been escaping
in multitudes to Canada, unpursued and
unreclaimed by their masters. Isthere found
in this, reason for dissolution of the
Union? 81
That the slave states are notrecognized as
equals in the Confederacy, has for several
years been the cry of demagogues and COM
spirators. But what is the truth Not only
according to the theory, but the actual prac-
tice ofthe government, the Slave States have
ever been, and still are, in all respects, the
peers Of the Free. OF the fourteen Presi-
dents who have been elected, seven were cit
izens 81 Slave States, and Of the seven re .
maining, three represented Southern prin-
ciples, and received the votes of the Southern
people; SO that, in our whole history, but four
Presidents have been chosen who can be
claimed as the special champions of the poll
icy and principles of the Free States, and
even these so in modified sense. Does this
look as If the South had ever been deprived
of her equal share Of the honors and powers
Of the Government? The Supreme Court has
decided that the citizens ofthe Slave States
can, at will, take their slaves into all the
territories Of the United States; and this
decision, which has never been resisted or
interfered with in single case is the law
Of the land, and the whole power Of the gov
ernment is pledged TO maintain IT. That
il viii be loyalty enforced by the presen
Administration, entertain no doubt.
Republican Congress, at the late session, or
ganised three Territories, and in the organic
Law Of neither was there introduced or at
tempted to be introduced, the slightest re
striction upon the rights of the Southern EN-