Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1861-06-20
TERMS OF ADvERTIsINar

glN9y 10 mainly lTult vi IUdL Iurce called
State rights" which demagoeues have
been so long playing under tragic mask, and
which has done more than all things else 10
unsettle the foundations Of the republic, by
estrauging the people from the Federal Gov
ernment, as one to be distrusted & resisted
instead Of being, what it is, emphatically
their own creation, at all times obedient TO
their will, and in its ministrations the grand
est intiex OF the greatness and beneGcent of
popular power that has ever ennobled the his
tory Of our race. Said Mr.. Clay: 'I owe
supreme allegiance to the General Govern
ment and to my State subordinate one."
And this terse language disposes Of the
whole controversy which has arisen out Of
the secession movement in regard 10 the
ailegience Of the citizen. As the power of
the State and Federal Governments are in
perfect harmony with each other. so there
can be no conflict between the allegiance due
TO them; each while acting within the sphere
( Of its constitutional authority, is entitled to
| be obeyed; but when State, throwing of
all constitutional restraints, seeks to destroy
the General Government, to say that its citi-
zens are bound to follow it in this career of
crime, and discard the supreme allegiance
/ they owe to the government assailed, Is one
the shallOwest and most dangerous fallacies
that has ever gained cre1ence among men.
/ Kentucky. occupying a central position in
the Union, is now protected from the scourge
Of foreign war, however much its ravages
may waste the towns and cities upon our
coasts or the commerce npon our seas but
:. a. member Of the Southern Confederacy,
she would be a frontier State, and necessar-
lily the victim OF those border feuds and con-
fiicts which have become proverbial in his.
tory alike for their tierceness and frequency
Tho r.a.,t,la nr tIn IL
in their beds. while there is not a home in
infatuated and misguided Virginia that is not
filed with alarms and oppressed by the ter
rors Of war. In the fate Of this ancient
Commonwealth, dragged to the altar of
sacrifice by those who should have stood be-
tween her bosom and every foe, Kentucky
may read her own No wonder, therefore,
1 that she has been so coaxingly besought to
unite her fortunes with those of the South,
and to lay down the bodies Of her chivalric
SONS as breastwork, behind which the
Southern people may be sheltered. Even
| as attached to the Southern Confederacy
she would be weak for all the purposes Of
selt-protection, as compared with her present
position. But amid the mutations incident
to such a helpless and self-disintograting
, league, Kentucky would probably soon find
/. herself adhering to a mere fragment Of the
Dlf IL Dc, slduultig cututly
alone, i'll presence of tiers of free States with
populations exceeding by many millions her
own. Feeble States thus separated from
, powerful and warklike neighbors by ideal
, boundaries, or by rivers as easily traversed
: as rivulets, are us insects that feed upon the
| lion lip-liable at every moment TO be
; crushed. The recorded doom Of multitudes
, Of such has left Us warning too solemn aud
4 Impressive to be disregarded.
Kentucky now scarcely feels the oontribu-
, ton she makes to support the Government
| of the United States, but as member of the
/, Southern Confederacy, of whose policy free
!, trade will be cardinal principle, she will
be burdened with direct taxation to the
amount Of double, or it may be, triple or
: qnadruple what she now pays into her own
: treasury Superadded to this will be requir-
ed of her her share Of those vast outlays neces-
sary for the creation Of navy, the erection
Of forts and custom houses along frontier
/, of several thousand miles and for the main
: tenancc ofthat large standing army, which
, will be indispensable at once for her safety,
, and for imparting 10 the new government
! that strong military character which, it has
; been openly avowed, the peculiar institutions
: OF the South will inexorably demand.
| Kentucky now enjoys for her peculiar in-
stitution, the protection of the Fugitive
| Slave Law, Loyalty enforced by the Govern.
{ nent, and it is this law, effective in its pow
er Of recapture, but infinitely more potent in
= its moral agency in preventing the escape
+ of slaves, that alone saves that institution in
= the border States from utter extinction
: She cannot carry this law with her into the
@ new Confe1eracy. She will virtually have
: Canada brought to her doors in the form of
r powerful free States, whose population, re-
L Ea,,.l % IL ,,,o-ol nd
: ton to deliver up fugitive slaves, will stand
with open arms, inviting and welcoming
: them, and defending them, fneed be, at the
/ pointof ofthe bayonet. Under such influences,
) slavery will perish rapidly away in Ken.
q lucky, as ball ofsnow would melt in sum.
I mer's sun.
Kentucky, in her soul, abhors the African
slave trade. ana turns away with unspeaka.
y bic horror and loathing from the red altars
ii OF King Dahomey. But although this traf
t tic has been temporarily interdicted by the
\ seeded States, i; is well understood that this
: step has been taken as mere measure of
G policy for the purpose ofimpressing the bor-
, der States. and ofconciliating the European
h powers. The ultimate legalizaiion of thi,
: trade, by Republic protesting tn be based
+ upon African servitude, must follow as GER
$ tainly as does the conclusion from the prem
N lsts vi II pIOpuSiUlOu. 10
r Kentucky prepared to see the hand upon the
c dial-plate of her civilization rulely thrust
l. back century, and to stand before heworld
e the confessed champion the African slave
: hunter? Is she, with her unsullied fame,
Y ready to become pander to the rapacity Of
If the African slave-trader, who burdens the
r very winds of the sea with the means of the
: wretchod captives whose limbs he has load
" ed with chains, and whose hearts he has
G broken? / 90 not, | cannot leieve it.
g For this catalogue of what Kentucky mus,
/. suffer in abandoning her present honorec
,fI and secured position, and becoming mem
m Der of the Southern Confederacy what viii
al be her indemnity? Nothing, absolutely
le nothing. The ill-weaved ambition Of some
IS Of her sons may possibly reach the Presi
d dency Of the new Republic I; that is all
IS Alas! orthat dream OF the Presidency Of {
le Southern Republic, which has disturbed Sc
A. many pillows in the South, and. perhaps,
a some in the West also, and whose lurid light
5 like demons torch, is leading a nation tG
A. perdition!
Is The clamor that in insisting upon the
h. South obeying the laws, the great principle
of that all popular governments rest upon the
d consent OF the governed, is violated, SHOULD
I'd not receive moments consideration. Pop
m ular government does, indeed, rest upon tn
r.. De-