Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-06-21
NUMBER rs

North, and it is equallytrue that until
we have an Asiatic despotism, crushing.
out all freedom of speech and of the
presa, this discussion will probably con
tinue. In this age and country all in =
stitutions, human and divine, are dis
cussed, and SO they ought to be; and ali
that cannot bear discussion must 90 to
the wall, where they ought to- GO. Its
not pretended, however, that the discus
sion Of slavery, which has been eontin-
ued in our country for more than forty
years, in any manner disturbed or weak
ened the foundation Of the institution.
On the contrary, we learn from the press
OF the seeded states that their slaves
were never more tranquil or obedient.
There are zealots--happily few in num-
Ser-both North and South, whose Lam
uage,gpon this question is alike ex-
tFaya9aat and alike .deserying oureea-
demnation. Those who assert tllas ],
slavery should be extirpated by the
sword, and those who maintain that the
great mission of the white man on earth
is to enslave the black, are not far apart
in the folly and atrocity of their senti-
ments.
Before proceeding further, Kentucky
should measure we'll the depth of the
gulf she is approaching, and look we'll
to the feet of her guides. Before for
saking . Union in which her people
have enjoyed such uninterrupted and
such boundless prosperity, she should
ask herself, not once, but many times,
WHY dy go, and WHERE am I going?
In view of what has been said, it would
be difficult to answer the first branch of
the inquiry, but to answer the second
part is patent to all, as are the conse-
quences which would follow the moves
ment. In giving her great material and
moral resources to the support of the
Southern Confederaey, Kentucky might
prolong the desolsting struggle that re-
bellious States are making to overthrow
a Government which they have only
known in its blessings; but the triumph
Of the Government would nevertheless
be certain in the end She would aban-
don Government strong and able to
protect her, for one that is weak, and
that contains in the very elements of its
life, the seeds Of destruction and early
dissolution She would adopt, as the
law of her existence, the right of seees7e
sion--a right which has no foundation
in Jurisprudence, or logic, or in our po-
litical history; which Madison, the father
Of the Federal Constitution, denounced,
which has been denounced by most of
the States and prominent Statesmen nov
insisting upon its exercise; which, in in
PRODUCING principle of indefinite dis
integration, cuts up all confederate gov
ernments by the roots, and gives them
over, prey to the caprices, and pas
sions, and transient interests of their
members, as autumnal leaves are to the
winds which blow upon them. In 1914
the Richn.ond Eaqnifer-thea, as now,
the organ OF public opinion in the South
pronounced secession to be treason,
and nothing else, and such was then the
doctrine Of Southern Statesmen. What
was true then is equally true now. The
prevalence Of this peraicious heresy is
mainly the fruit OF that farce called
Estate rights which demagogues have
been SO long playing under tragic mask,
and which has done more than all things
else to settle the foundations Of the re-
public, by estrangirg the people from
the Federal Government, as one to be
distrusted and resisted, instead Of being,
what it is, emphatieally their own crea-
ton, at all times obedient to their will,
and in its ministrations the grandest re-
aex of the greatness and benefcence of
popular power that has ever ennobled
the history OF our race. Said Mr.. Clay:
sI owe supreme allegiance to the Cen
eral Government and TO my State a sub
ordinate one" And this terse language
disposes Of the whole controversy which
has arisen cut of the hesecession movement
in regard to the allegiance OF the citizen.
As the power Of the State and Federal
Government are in perfect harmony
with each other, SO there can be no con
fict 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 citizens are bound to follow itin
this career OF crime, and discard the su-
preme allegiance they owe to the govern
lnent assailed, is one Of the shallowest
and most dangerous fallacies that has.
ever gained credence among men.
Kentucky, occupying central posi-
ton in the Union, is new protected from
the scourge Of foreign war, however
much It's rava@as may waste the towns
and cities upon our coasts or the com
mcrce upon our seas; but as a member
Of the Southern Coniedaracy, she would
be frontier Safe, and necessarily the
victim Of those border teuds aud con
aicts which have become proverbial in
history alike for their ferceness and
frequency. The people of the South
now sleep quietly in their beds, while
there is not home in infatuated and mis-
guided Virginia that IS not filed with
the alarms and oppressed by the terrors
OF war In the taUe OF this ancient Com
Imonwealth, dragged to the altar Of sac
rlGce by those who should have stood
tbetwcen her bosom and every foe, Ken
,ucky may read her own. No wonder,
therefore, that she La, been so coaxingly
besou9ht to unite her fortunes with
those OF the South, and to lay down the
bodies OF her chira!ric sons as breast
wo. k, behind which the Southern people
.uay he sheltered. Even as attached to
the Southern Confe;leracy she would be
weak Tor all the purposes Of self-pro
. secI.ou, as compared with her present
position. But asaia :Ae mutations incl
dent to such helpless and self disin
ttgta,iag leagne, Kentucky would prob
ably soon find herself adhcring to mere
fragment Of the Contetetacy, or, it may
be- standing entirely alone, in presence
Of tiers e Free States with populations