The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1861-07-03
THE COUNSELS OF A PATRIOT.

/ LOYALTY and fetveIt patriotism, shed lusfrous
CLEAN over the closing hours of the Buchanan
Admins ration, by his connection with it first in
tie Post Office Department aud subsequently, in
that of War has placed the people of the United
States under renewed obligations bv the bold and
manly position which he has taken in his native
State against the secessicnists. and the ability
and eloquence with which he maintains it,
The Louisville Journal of the 10th inst, con-
tains a letter some four columns in lergth from
his pen, in which the canse of the Union is de-
tended, and the falsehooGs and taacies of the Sc.
cessiorists exposed with a m,sierly skill. Mr.
Holt, unlike most of those who claim to be Un-
ion men in the South. and unlike the Editor of
the Journal himself, is not content with posi-
ton o. neutrality between the loyal States and
| the rsbels-the policy decided upon at the recent
session Of the Kentucky Legislature. He SAYS !:
~ must say in all frankness and without de-
string to reflect upon the course or sentiments of
any, that, in this struggle for the existence of
our Government, can neither practice, nor pro-
fess, nor feel neutrality. | would as soon think
| OF being neutral in a contest between an officer
OF justice and an incendiary, arrested in at
| tempt to IRE the dwelling over ny head for the
government whose overthrow is sought is for me
the shelter not only of home kindred, andfriends
but of every earthly blessing which can hope to
enjoy on this side of the grave"
After pointing out the pacific policy adopted
| by Mr.. Lincoln at the commencement of his ad.
ministration, and pointing out the tranquilizing
effect which it had begun to produce in the Bor-
der States, he proceeds to show that the attack
| on Fort Sumter vas made to force upon the Fed
eral Government the he, essity of taking up arms
and thus 10 precipltate the border States into the
Secession movement. Fort Sumter was taken,
\ EAct p,ptn Of st VY,s
ted States seized wherever it could be taken, and
the National Capital threatened. Mr.. Holt con
| tnues
"ln view OF these events aud threatenings
what was the duty of the Chief Magistrate of
| the Republic? He might have taken counsel Of
| the revOutiOnsts and trembed under their me
| nances he might upon the fall of Sumter. have
directed that Fort Pickens should be surrendered
without firing gun in its defense, ard proceed
| ing yet further, and meeting fully the require
ments of the "let us-alone policy insisted on in
the South, he might have ordered that the stars
AID stripes should be laid in the dust in the pres
ence of every bit of rebel bunting that might ap
pear. But be did none of these things could
he have done them without forgetting his oath
and betraying the most sublime trust that has
ever been confded to the hands of man. With
heroic fid li,y to his constitutional obligations,
with the protection OF the Republic and its Cap
ital against the assaults alike of foreign and do
mestic enemies, he threw himself On the leyality
ths IS sesEsa way ttSE S enter and noby hr. h.,
appeal been responded 10. States containing an
| aggregate population of nineteen millions have
answered to the appeal as with the voice of one
man, offering soldiers without number, and treas.
ure without limitation, for the service of the Gov
/ In thaS St.t bu, frod hons.
and freemen have cast their votes in favor OF
candidates supporting the rights Q. the South, at
the last Presidential election and yet everywhere,
alike in popular assemblies and upon the tented
| field, this million and half OF voters are found
| Welding to none in the Zeal with which they raj
" to their country's flag. They are not less the
friends OF the South than before; but they real
ize that the question now presented is not one OF
administrative policy, or OF the claims OF the
North, the South, the East, or the West: but is
simply, whether nineteen millions of people shall
tamely and ignobly permit FIVE or six millions to
overthrow and destroy institutions which are the
common property. and have been the common
blessings and glory OF all.
| "These volunteers have been denounced by the
press of the South as "kDaves and vagrants,
1.-THE gs and offscourings of the populace,
who would rather filch a handkerchief thar
here that their discipline and bearing mos
admirable and, presume, it may be safely af
6rmed that larger amount of social position
culture, fortune, and elevation OF character, ha
never been found in SO large an army in any ast
or country. II they go to the South, IL will bt
as friends and protectors, to relieve the CnioI
sentiment of the seceeded States from the crur
domination by which it is oppressed and sllenced
to unfurl the stars and stripes in the midst o
those who long to look upon them and to restore
the flag that uears them TO the forts and srsenai
from which disloyal hands have torn it. Thei
mission viii! be one OF peace, unless wicked an
blood thirsty men shall unsheath the sword acrOs
their pathway. 1t is in vain for the revolution
is s to exclaim that this is subjugation.
Of Mr.. Lincoln, he says:
"whle far more fearful responsibility ha
, fallen upon President Lincoln than upon any @
/ his predecessors it must be admitted that he ha
met it with promptitude and fearlessness. Cice
70, in one Of his OratOns against Catalne. speak
ing of the credit due himself for having sup
pressed the conspiracy of that arch-trator, said
: if the glory Of him who founded Rome wa
l great, how much greater should be that Of hir
who had saved it from overthrow after il ha
grown TO be the mistress OF the world.
, The complaints Of severity and irregularity i
; some of the measures adopted by the Govern
ment, he answers by declaring they find thei
justification in the necessities Of the time, an
tha, man with the poignard Of murderer q
his throat is not likely to consult law books as :
the mode or measure Of his rights Of self -detenc
The man, he adds, who thinks he has becom
!. disloyal because OF what the administration hs
done, will probably find, upon clsse seli-scrntin.
that he was disoyal before.
Of the cause OF this secession movement q
says:
!, !: "The prevalence Of this pernicious heresy
mainly the fruit of that farce called Stat
. Rights which demagogues have been so Ion
playing under tragic mask, and which has doi
!; more than all things else TO unsettle the fouud
= tions of the republic, by estranging the peop
. from the Federal Government, az one I
: be d;strusted and resisted. instead of bein!
= What it is, emphaticaly their own creation,
!, all times obedient to their will. and III its hi.
= is,rations the grandest reflex Of the greatness
a benevolence of popular power that has ever e.
!. nobed the history of our race. SAID Mr. Clay
K / owe supreme allegiance 10 the General Go
# ernment, and to my State a subordinate one.
e With reference to the charge that the Mort
ern people have been Incorporate in their di
a crsson Of the slavery question. he declares tn
though it may be true, 1t is equally true that u
o We have an Asiatic desp0itisn, crushing out
+ freedom Of speech and of the press, this discu
= sion will probably continue. In this age Al
% country, all institutions, human and divine, a
,: discussed, and 90 they ought to be; and all th
il cannot bear discussion must go to the wall, whe
se they ought to 60"
D. We would gladly give more copious extrac
O from thia noble effusion of q patriotic mind.