The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1861-08-07
VOL. I, NO. l6.-WHOLE NO. 32S

that people who have not the greatness of soul
thus TO fight cannot long continue 10 be tree.
nor do they deserve to be So
There is not and there cannot he any neutral
ground for loyal people between their own
government and those who at the h, ad OF armies
are menacing its destruction. Your inaction is
not neutrality, though You may delude YOUR
selves with the belief that il is 50. With this
rebellion confronting you. when you refuse 10
cooperate actively with your government in
subduing it, You thereby condemn the govern
ment and assume towards il an attitude OF an
tagonism. Your inacton is a virtual indorse-
ment OF the rebellion. and il you DO not thereby
give the rebels precisely that aid and COM
fort spoken OF In the Constitution. you certain
y afford them a most powerful encouragement
and support. That they regard your present
position as friendly 10 them is proved by the
TACT, that. M n recent enactment OF the Cont,d
crate Congress contscating the debts due from
their own citizens TO those of the loyal States,
the debts due the people of Kentucky are cN-
pressly excepted. l. not this signiticants Does
il leave any room for doub, that the Coniede-
rate Congress suppose they hav. discovered un-
der the guise of Your neutrality lurking sym
patty for their cause which entities you To be
treated as friends if not active alless Pa
tr.otic rs was the purpose OF her alprehensiye
statesmen in plac ng her in the anomal lus posi-
Kentucky by hr present attitude is cNcrting
potent influence IN ngthening the rebellion
and is therefore false alike 10 her LOYALTY and
10 her fame. You may rest we'll assured that
this estimate OF your neutrality Is entertained
10y the true men of the country i'll all the States
which are now sustaining the government.
Within the last few weeks. how many ot those
gallant volunteers, who have left home and kin
dred aud all that is dear to them. aud now
under Southern sun. exposing themselves tn
death from disease and 10 death from hattie,
and are accounting their lives as nothing in the
effort they are making for the deliverance Of
your government and theirs; how many cf
them have said 10 me in sadness and in long
ing, Will not Kentucky help me-" How NV
soul would have leaped could have answered
promptly. confidently. exultingly, ''yes. she
WILL But when l thought of this neutrality,
my heart sank within me, aud did not and
could not look those brave men in the face.
And yet l could not answer no." could not
crush myself to the earth nnder the seli-abase-
ment of such a reply. l therefore said-and
may my country sustain me-" hope, l trust,
pray. nay, believe. Kentucky will yet do her
duty
If this government is tn be destroyed. ask
yourselves, are you willing il shall be recorded
in history that Kentucky stood by in the great
ness of her strength and lifted not a hand to
stay the catastrophe? If it is to be savcd--as
| verify believe il is--are you willing il shall
be written that in the mmeasurable glory which
must attend the achievment Kentucky had no
part?
will only add. if Kentucky wishes the wa
ters of her beautiful Ohio to be dyed in blood;
| if she wishes her harvest fields now waving in
| their abundance, to be trampled under the feet
of hostile sOldery q flower garden is tram
pied beneath the threshing OF the tempest il
,he wishes the homes where her loved ones are
now gathered in peace Invaded by the proscrip-
tive fury of a military despotism, sparing nei
ther life nor property; if she wishes the streets
Of her towns and cities grown with grass and
the steamboats, Of her rivers to lie rOtting at
her wharves, then let her join the Southern
Confederacy. But il she would have the bright
waters of that river flow on in their eladness !;
| if she would have her harvests peacefully gath
| cred in her gamers; il she would have the lul
labies of her cradles and the songs OF her homes
uninvaded by the cries and terrOrs of battle
if she would have the streets If her towns and
cities again filed with the hum and throngs of
busy trade, and her rivers and their shores
once more vocal with the steamer whistle
that anthem Of free and prosperous commerce
then let her stand fast 10y the stars and stripes,
and do her duty and her whole duty a mem-
Der of this Union. Let her brave people say TO
the President of the United States, You are
our chief magistrate; the government you have
IN charge and are striving to save from dishon-
or and dismemberment is our government
your cause is indeed our cause your battle.
are our battles; make room for US, therefore, in
the ranks of your armies. that your triumph
may be our triumph Also
Even as with the Father of us all / would
plead for salvation, 80 my countrymen. as upon
my very knees, would plead with you for tn,
| tha fnrt ~. of nd ta
nefcent institutions. But if the traitors knif'
now at the throat Of the republic is to do il
work. and this government is fated to add ye
another to that long line of sepulchres which
whiten the highway OF the past, then my heart
felt prayer to God is that it may he written il
history, that the blood Of its life was not foun'
upon the skirts of Kentucky.