Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-08-08
KENTUCKY.

KENTUCKY.
Fer the State OF Kentucky, and for its peo-
pie we have always entertained the very
highest respect They and those of our own
State entered the Union almost together, be-
ing the first out-growth of the 'sorigfnal 13
They have stood together since. Kentucky
has supported Tennessee's great statesmen
and Tennessee has supported Kentucky's
great statesmen. They have stood together
shoulder to shoulder in embattled columns,
and have won together triumph and renown
In the same hour and in the same cause. In
the great present we have fondly wished they
would stand together as two peoples. and
meet together the enemies of Southern rights,
or die together in the last entrenchment win
their feet to the foe and with the benign hea-
vens smiling in their faces We know how
great, how brave and how strong are her
people. We knew they were our brothers IN
endurance and in deeds of chivalry and be-
roism. We ardently wished they would stand
with us as people and, if need be, fall with
us, in the sublime epic which is being now
enacted. But, from time to time we have
been disappointed. Her leaders have forsa-
ken the God of Freedom and are Joined to
their idols. By trick and intrigue and out
rage she has, az State, been drawn from
the ancient landmarks of patriotism. She
has been forced to consent to her own shame.
Northern men have seized her Union presses
and by all sorts of fraud and artifce, have
overcome and laid in ruins her ancient viz
tue. While her people retain all the indi-
yidual and personal courage they Inherited
from a brave and great ancestry, they bave
been led unwittingly into the traps of their
enemies and the enemies of their rights and
liberties But 1t is not yet too late for them
TO rise in their power and break the chains
that are forging for their enslavement. Let
Kentuckians sleep no longer upon the brink
of the precipice. Let them break the letters
that. in the name of Union, are being placed
nm their wrists and ankles. They were told
In the beginning of the struggle that they
must BE- neutral We ventured then to sug-
gest that the proposition was humoug and
a cheat, because it was an imposslbillty. 1t
was q weak Invention 10 deceive and hood
wink the people. Only two alternatives
were presented to the people OF Kentucky,
to go with the North or the South. Her
Northern counsellors, conducting her public
press, told her that they must take neither
side. This was months ago but now they
boldly tell her to take sides with the North.
They yield the position of neutrality, and go
for the Lincoln despotism- In April the abo-
Etiou leaders, the editors of the Union press,
told the people to maintain their neutrality
but they now tell them to stand by the Union
at all hazards and to the last extremity.
The next thing will be to invite and welcome
the arrival of Lincoln iuto the State-Ken-
tuckians must pay taxes to support the war
wased by Lincoln upon their kinsmen of the
South, and it may be ere long they will be
required absolutely to enter the field and
fight against US. Let them be prepared to
meet the demand. Let them correct the er-
rors of the past, and henceforth assume q
bold front.
It Is nonsense to talk of neutrality longer
with the hope of preventing conflict On
Kentucky soil. 1t will carry the conflict
there. We know there are fifty thousand
Kertuckians ready to resist the despotism of
Lincoln, and they will have Southern aid
enough to meet successfully their foes on
their own soil. Let the Yankee editors OF
Kentucky lead Lincoln's columns, and raise
Kentucky reg meuts to fight his battles
They have talked enough, the time for ac-
tion has come for them. Let their deeds now
come up to their high-sOunding prOnuncia
mentos. By their own course of fraud and
DECEPTION they have brought the State to its
present attitude-let them eXtricate it, if
they can. Let the friends Of the South leave
Louisville, and let it stand to meet the fate
of Babylon. of old. Let the South and the
friends of the South vindicate their homes
and drive the abolitionists beyond the Ohio.
We do not despair of Kentucky. Her brave, |
patrfotic and heroic sons are with US. Her |
Hessian horde of alien editors and abolition |
lists are not Of her loins, and only desecrate
her soil by their temporary continuance upon
1t. The vile pollution will be swept away in
due time. Let them do heir worst, and yet
we will stake our all on Kentucky. Let it,
"a 1t will, be re-baptised ''the Dark and Bloody
Ground,n with record Of new brilliancy,
new proves and new glory.