Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1861-07-31

CIR. BUCHANANiS SECRETARY-oF
Delivered at Louisville, Ky, on July 18th, 1861.
A welcome was extended to Mr.. Holt on hi
| arrival at Louisville. Judge Pirtle in a few
brief, plthy and pointed remarks, greeted Mr.
ii. in the name of Kentucky, who then arose
and addressed his neighbors as follows:
JUDGE PIRTLE: | beg you to be assured thai
| am most thankful for this distinguished and
ftattering welcome, and for every of the
kind words which have just fallen from your
lips, as am for the hearty response they have
received. Spoken by anybody and anywhere.
these words would have been cherished by
me; but spoken by yourself, and in the pres
ence and on behalf of those in whose midst ]
commenced the battle of life, whose friend
ship [ have ever labored to deserve, and in
whose fortunes l have ever felt the liyeliest
sympathy, they are doubly grateful to my
feelings. take no credit to myself for low
ing and being faithful 70 such a government
as this, or for uttering, as do, with every
throb of my existence, a prayer for it's preser-
vation. In regard to my official conduct, to
which you have alluded with such earnest aud
generous commendation, | must say that no
merit can be accorded to me beyond that of
having humbly but sincerely struggled to per-
form public duty, amid embarrassments
which the world can never fully know. In re-
viewing what is past, l have and shall ever
have bitter sorrow, that, while l was enabled
to accomplish so little in behalf of our be-
trayed and suffering country, others were ena-
bled to accomplish so much against it. You
do me exceeding honor in associating me in
your remembrance with the hero of Fort Sum-
ter. There is about his name an atmosphere
of light that can never grow dim. Surround
ed with his little band, by batteries of treason
and by infuriated thousands of traitors, the
fires upon the altar of patriotism at which he
ministered only waxed the brighter for the
gloom that enveloped him, and history will
never forget that it was from these fires that
was kindled that cOnfagratior that now blaZes
throughout the length and breadth of the
land. Brave among the bravest, incorrupti-
BILE and unconquerabe in his loyalty, amid all
the perplexities and trials and sore humlia-
tions that beset him, he well deserves that ex-
aited position in the affections and confidence
of the people that he now enjoys and while
none have had better opportunities of know
ing this than myself, so l am sure that none
could have proudcr joy in bearing testimony
to 1t than l have tonight.
FELLOW CITIZENS: A few weeks since, in
another form, ventured freely to express my
views upon those tragic events which have
brought sorrow to every hearthstone and to
every heart in our distracted country and it
is now my purpose on this occasion to repeat
these views, or to engage in any extended
discussion of the questions then examined. 1t
".
is exhausted, and the pupular mind
is perfectly familiar with it in all its bearings
l Will, however, with your permission, SUBJ
nit few brief observations upon the absorb
ing topics of the day, and if do SO with an
earnestness and emphasis due alike to tie
of my convictions and to the magni-
tude OF the interests involved, it is trusted
that none will be offended, not even those
who may most widely differ from me.
Could one, an entire stranger to our history
now look down upon the South and see there
a hundred or a hundred and fifty thousand
men marching in hostile array, threatening
the capture Of the Capital, and the dismem-
berment of the territory of the Republic and
could he look again and see that this army is
marshaled and directed by officers recently
occupying distinguished places in the civil
and military service of the country, and fur
ther, that the States from which this army has
been drawn appear to be one vast, seething
caudron of ferocious passion, he would very
conclude that the Government OF
the United States had committed some great
crime against its people, and that this upri-
sing was in resistance to wrongs and outrages
which had been borne until their endurance
was no longer possible. And yet, no conclu-
sion could be further from the truth than this |
The Government of the United States has been |
faithful to its constitutional obligations. For
eighty years it has maintained the national |
honor at home and abroad, and by it's PROV |
ess, its wisdom, and its justice, has given to |
the title OF an American citizen an elevation |
among the nations of the earth which the cit |
zens of no republic has enjoyed since Rome |
was mistress of the world. Under its admin |
stration the national domain has stretched |
lway to the Pacific, and that constellation |
which announced our birth as people has |
from thirteen to thirty-four stars,
all. until recently moving undisturbed and un-
@t1,. 1.e.I..
rhe rights of no State have been invaded no |
mans property has been despoiled, no mans |
liberty abridged, no mans life oppressively |
eopardiZed by the action of this Government. |
Under its benign influences the rils of pub |
ic and private property have swelled into riv-
llets and from rivulets into rivers ever brim-
hing in their fulness, and everywhere, and at |
I'll periods of its history, its mnistrations have
allen as gently on the people of the United !
States as do the dews of Summers night on
he flowers and grass of the gardens and fields.
Whence, then, this revolutionary outbreak
Whence the secret spring of this gigantic con-
piracy, which, like some huge boa, had COM
,letely coiled itself around the limbs and body
If the Republic. before single hand was lf-
ed to resist it 2 Strange, and indeed start
ing as the announcement must appear when
t fails upon the ears of the next generation,
he national tragedy in whose shadow we
tand to- night, has come upon US because, in
November last, John C. Breckenridge was not
elected President of the United States, and
l abraham Lincoln was. This is the whole sto-
y. And would pray now to know on what
vas John C.. Breckenridge fed that he has
,rown SO great, that Republic founded by
Y Washington, and cemented by the best blood
hat has ever coursed in human veins, is to be
verthrown because, forsooth, he cannot be
Is President? Had he been chosen, we well
now that we should not have heard of this
ebellion, for the lever with which it is being
moved would have been wanting to the hands
f the conspirators. Even after his defeat, |