The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-06-26

OF patiently trying 10 remove III, WCulu
httle short Of national insanity. 1t woul
be to burn the house down over our head
merely because there is leak in the roof
to scuttle the snip in mid ocean merely be
cause there is difference of opinion anon
the crew as TO the point Of the compass I
which the vessel should be steered il wo'
be- in fact, to apply the knife to the throat in
stead of to the cancer of the patient.
But What remains? Though, say the Dis
unionists, the Fugitive Slave Law is honest
ly enforced and though, under shelter of tn
Supreme Conrt, we can take our slaves iRt
the territories, yet the Northern people will
persist in discussing the institution of sla
very, and therefore we will break up tn
Government. 1t is true that slavery ha
been very intemperately discussed at tn
North, and it is equally true that until VI
have an Asiatic despotism, crushing out al
freedom of speech and of the press, thi
discussion will probably continue. In thi
age and country, all institutions human aRC
divine, are discussed, and so they ought +
be; and all that cannot bear discussion mus
60 to the wall, where they,oUght to go. 1t il
not pretended, however, that the discussion o
slavery, which has been continued in oul
country for more than forty years, has in any
manner disturbed or weakened the founda.
tion of the institution. On the contrary We
learn from tbe press of the seceeded States
that their Slaves were never more TRANQUIL
or obedient. There are zealots-happilyf few
in number-both North and South, whose
language is alike deserving our condemna-
ton. Those who assert that slavery should
be extirpated by the sword, and those whc
maintain that the great mission Of the white
man upon the earth is to enslave the block
are not far apart in the folly and atrocity
Of their sentiments.
Before proceeding further Kentucky
should measure we'll the depth of the gull
she is approaching, and look well to the feet
of her guides. Before forsaking Union in
which her people have enjoyed such uninter
rnpIed and such boundless prosperity, she
should ask herself, not once, but many times
why do go, and where am l going? In
view of what has been said, it would be diff
fcult to answer the first branch of tho inqui-
ry, but to answer the second part is patent
70 all, as are the consequences which would
follow the movement. In giving her great
material and moral resources to the support
of the Southen Confederacy, Kentucky nigh.
prolong the desolating struggle that rebel
lious States are making to overthrow Gov
ernment which they have only known
in its blessings; but tie triumph Of the
Government would ney eriheless be certain
in the end. She would abandon Govern
ment strong and able to protect her, for
one that is weak, and that contains, in the
very elements Of its life, the seeds of des-
traction and early revolution. She would
adopt, as the law of her existence the right
of Secession--a right which has no founda-
ton in jurisprudence, sr logic, or in out
political history; which Madison, the father
Of the Federal Consultation, denounced /;
which has been denounced by most of the
States and prominent statesmen now insis-
ting upon its exercise which, in introdu-
cling a principle of indefinite disintegration
cuts up all confederate governments by the
roots and gives them over prey to capri
ces and passions, and transiet interests, Of
their members, as Auiumnal leaves are given
to the winds which blow upon them. In
1914, The Richmond Enquirer, then, as now,
the organ of public opinion in the South,
secession to be treason, and moth
ing else, and such was then the doctrine of
Southern statesmen. What was true then is
equally true now. The prevalence of this
perncious heresy is mainly the fruit of that
farce called estate rights" which demago-
gues have been so long playing under tragic
mask, and WHICH has done more than all
things else to unsettle the foundations of the
Republic, by estranging the people from the
Federal Government, as one to he distrusted
and resisted, instead Of being what it is,
their own creation, at al!
times obedient to their will, and in its
ministrations the grandest reflex of the
greatness and benefcence of popular power
that has ever ennobled the history Of our
race Said Mr.. Clay: sG owe q supreme
allegiance to the General Government, and
to my State subordinate one." And this
terse language disposes of the whole contro-
versy which has arisen out of the Secession
movement in regard to the allegiance of the
citizen. As the power of the State and
Federal Governments are in perfect harmo-
ny with each other, so there can be no con-
flict be tween the allegiance due to them;
each, while acting within the sphere of its
constitutional authority, is entitled to be
obeyed but when State, thorowing off all
constitutional restraints, seeks to destroy the
General Government to say that its citizens
are bound to follow 1t in this career Of crime
and discard the supreme allegiance they
owe to the Government assailed, is one OF
the shallowest and most dangerous facilities
that has ever gained credence ameng men.
Kentucky, occupying central position il
the Union, is now protected from the scourg'
of foreign war; however much its ravage'
may waste the towns and cities upon oul
coasts, or the commerce upon our seas bu
as member of the Southern Confederacy
she would be q frontier State, and necessa
rily the victim Of those border feudes ant
conflicts which have become proverbial il
history alike for their ferceness and fire.
quency. The people of the South now sleel
quietly in their beds, while there is not
home in infatuated and misguided Virgins
that is not filled with the alarms, and oppress
ed by the terrors of war. In the fate Of thi
ancient Commonwealth, dragged TO the alta
of sacrifice by those who should have stoo
between her bosom and every foe, Kentuck
may read her own. No wonder, therefor,
that she has been SO coaxingly besought
unite her fortunes with those Of the Soutl
| and to lay down the bodies Of her chivalrou
sons as breastwork, behind which the Soutf
eru people may be sheltered. Even as o.
ltached TO the Southern Confederacy, sh
would be weak for oil purpose Of self-proies
ton, as compared with her present position
But amid the mutations incident to such
helpless and self. .disintegra;ing league, Ker
lucky would probably.scon fnd herself ad
heringstoa mere fragment of the Confedel
acy, or it may be standing entirely alone,
| the presence of tiers of free States with POI
ulations exceeding by many millions hi
lown. Feeble States thus separated from poy
erful and warlike neighbors by ideal bour
daries, or by rivers as easily traversed |
rivulets, are as insects that feed upon Il
lions lip---liable ut every moment to
| crushed. The recorded doom of multitud
of such has left us o warning too solemn al
impressive to be disregarded. G
Kentucky now scarcely feels the contrib
! ton ahe makes 10 support the Governmrnt