The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1861-09-27

| people of the State await in deep sus-
pense, your action in the premises.
have the honor to be, your obedient
servant, &c., JOHN NJ. JOHNSON.
Chairman of Committee.
LETTER FROM GEN. FOLK TO THE KENTUCKY
COMMISSIONERS.
CoLuMBrs, KY, Sept. 0, 1861.
TO JonN NJ. JOHNSON, Chairman Committee
Senate Of Kentucky:
Sir: have the honor to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter of this date con-
veying to me a copy of a resolution of the
Senate of Kentucky under which COM
mittee (of which you are chairman,) was
raised "ior the purpose of considering the
reported occupation of Hickman and 9th
ell points in Kentucky by the Confederate
troops, and that they take into considera-
ton the reported occupation of Paducah
and other points in Kentucky by the
Federal authorities, and report thereon"
also, that they be "directed to obtain all
the facts they can in reference to the re-
cent occupation of Kentucky soil by the
Confederate and Federal forces, and re-
port thereon in writing at as early day
as practicable"
iciii VIC tNl vi tilc ltStlutlOll III
pears your Office, as committee men, was
restricted merely to collecting the facts in
reference to the recent occupation of Ken
tucky soil by the Confederate and FEEDER
al forces, and report thereon in writing at
as early day as possible.
In answer to these resolutions, | have
respectfully to say that so far as the Con-
tederate forces are concerned, the facts are
plain and shortly stated. The government
which they represent recognizing as a
fundamental principle the right Of sover-
eign States to take such position as they
choose, in regard to their relations with
other States, was compelled by that prin-
ciple to concede to Kentucky the right to
assume the position of neutrality, which
she had chosen in the passing struggle
This it has done on all occasions and with
out an exception. The cases alluded to
by his EXcdlency, Gov. Magoflin, in his
recent message as "raids," presume, are
the cases of the steamers Cheney and
Orr. The former was the unauthorized
and unrecognized act of certain citizens of
Alabama, and the latter the act of certain
citizens of Tennessee and others, and was
an act of reprisal. They cannot, there
fore, be charged in any sense as acts of
the Confederate Government.
The first and only instance in which the
neutrality of Kentucky has been disre-
garded is that in which the troops under
my command, and by my direction, took
possession of the place now hold, and 50
much OF the territory between it and the
Tennessee line as was necessary for me to
pass over in order to reach it. This act
finds abundant justification in the history
OF the Concessions granted to the Federal
l,,r IL
wal began, Notwithstanding the position
of neutrality which she had assumed, and
the firmness with which she proclaimed
her intention to maintain it. That history
shows the following among other facts: II
January the House of Representatives of
Kentucky passed anti-coercion resolutions
only four dissenting. The Governor in
| May issued his neutrality proclamation.
| The addresses of the Union Central Com
mittee, including Mr.. James Speed, Mr..
| Prentice, and other prominent Union
men, in April proclaimed neutrality as
| the policy of Kentucky, and claimed that
an attempt to coerce the South should in
duce Kentucky to make common cause
with her and take part in the contest on
her side without counting the COST
The Union speakers and papers, with few
exceptions, claimed up to the last election
that the Union vote was strict neutrality
and peace. These facts and events gave
assurance of the integrity of the avowed
purpose of your State, and we were con-
tent with the position she assumed.
Since the election, however, she has al
lowed the seizure in her ports (Paducah)
Of property of citizens of the Confederate
States; sho has, by her members in the
Congress of the United States, voted sup
| ~ o,,1 To ha
war against the Confederate States; she
has allowed the Federal Government to
cut timber from her forests for the pur-
pose of building armed boats for the in
vasion of the Southern States; she is per-
hitting to be enlisted in her territory
troops, not only of her own citizens, but
| the citizens of other States, for the pur-
pose of being armed and used in offensive
| warfare against the Confederate States.-
| At Comp Robinson, in the county of Gar
rard, there are now ten thousand troops,
if the newspapers can be relied upon, in
which men from Tennessee, Ohio, Indi-
ana, and Illinois, are mustered with Ken
tuckans into the service of the United
States, and armed by thatGovernment for
the ayowed purpose of giving aid to the
disaflected in one of the Confederate
States, and of carrying out the designs OF
that Government for their eirisubjugation.-
Notwithstanding all these, and other acts
of a similar character, the Confederate
States have continued to respect the atti
tude which Kentucky had assumed as q
neutral, and foreborno from reprisals, in
the hope that Kentucky would yet en-
force respect for her position on the par,
of the Government OF the United States
Our patient expectation has been disap
pointed, and it was only when we perceiv
ed that this continued indifference to oul
rights and our safety was about to culmi
nate in the seizure of an important par