Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1861-07-03

ty-three whose vote can possibly be secured
which is three less than the constitutions
number
Thus we have the extraordinary and dis.
creditable spectacle of a revolution made by
certain States professedly on the ground thai
guarantees for the safety of their institutions
are denied them, and at the same time, in
stead of cooperating with their sister States
in obtaining these guarantees, they designed.
" assume hostile attitude, and thereby rem
der 1t constitutionaly impossible to secure
them. This profound dissimulation shows
that it was not the safety of the South but its
severance from the Confederacy. which was
sought from the beginning. Contemporary,
with, and, in some instances, preceding these
acts OF secession, the greatest outrages were
committed upon the Government of the Uni
ted States by the States engaged in them. Its
forts, arsenals, arms, barracks, Custom houses,
Postofices, moneys, and, indeed, every spe-
cles of its property within the limits of these
States were seized and appropriated. down to
the very hospital stores for the sick soldiers.
More than half a million of dollars was plum
dered from the mint at New Orleans. United
States vessels were received from the defiled
hands of their officers in command, and as if
in the hope of consecrating official treachery
as one of the public virtues of the age, the
surrender of an entire military department by
a General, to the keeping of whose honor it
had been confided, was deemed worthy of the
commendation and thanks. of Conventions of
several of the States. All these lawless pro-
ceedngs were well understood to have been
prompted and directed by men occupying
seats In the Capitol, some of whom were frank
enough to declare that they Could not and
would not, though in minority, live under a
Government which they could not control.
In this declaration is found the key which un-
locks the whole of the complicated machinery
of this revolution. The prohigate ambition
of public men in all ages and lands, has been
the rock on which republics have split. Such
men have arisen in our midst-men who, be-
cause una BILE to permanently grasp the helm
OF the ship, are willing to destroy it in the
hope to command some one Of the RATS that
may float away from the wreck. The effect
is to degrade us to a level with the military
bandits of Mexico and South America, who,
when beaten at an election, fly to arms, and
seek TO master by the sword what they have
been unable to control by the ballot box.
The atrocious acts enumerated were acts of
war, and might all have been treated as such
by the late Administration; but the Presi-
dent patriotically cultivated pesce-how anx-
iously and how patiently, the country well
knows. While however, the revolutionary
leaders greeted him with all halls to his face,
they did not the less diligently continue to
whet their swords behind his back. immense
military preparations were made, so that when
the United States arrived, the revolutionary
States leaped into the contest clad in full
armor.
AS if nothing should be wanting to darken
this page of history, the seeded States have
already entered upon the work of cOnfiscating
the debts due from their citizens to the North
and Northwest. The millions thus gained
will doubtless prove pleasant substitute for
those guarantees now so scornfully rejected.
To these confiscations will probably succeed,
soon, those of lands and negroes owned by
the citizens of loyal States; and, indeed, the
apprehension of the step is already sadly dis
turbing the fidelity of non resident proprietors.
Fortunately, however, infirmity Of faith,
springing from such cause, is not likely to
be contagious. The war begun is being pros
ecuted by the Confederate States in temper
as fierce and unsparing as that which charac
teriSeS conflicts between the most hostile ma
tions. Letters of marque and repriSal are be-
ing granted to all who seek them, SO that our
coasts will soon swarm with these piratical
cruisers, as the President has properly de-
nounced them. Every buccaneer who desires
to rob American commerce upon the ocean,
can, for the asking, obtain warrant to do so,
in the name of the new republic. To crown
all, large bodies of Indians have been muster
ed into the service of the revolutionary States
and are now conspicuous in the ranks of the
Southern army. A leading North Carolina
Journal noting their stalwart frames and un-
erring craftsmanship, observes, with an exul-
tation positively fiendish, that they are armed
not only with the rifle, but also with the scalp
ing -knife and tomahack.
Is Kentucky willing to link her name in
history with the eXcesses and crimes which
sullied this revolution at every step of its pro-
gress? Can she soil her pure hands with its
booty? She possesses the noblest heritage
that God has granted to his children; is she
prepared to barter it away for that miserable
mess of pottage, which the qualification of the
unhoIy ambition OF her public men would bring
to her lips? Can she, without laying her face
in the dust tor very shame, become a parti-
cipaut in the spolation of the commerce of
her neighbors and friends, by contributing her
star, hitherto so stainless in its glory, to light
the corsair on his way! Has the war whoop
which used to startle the sleep of our frontiers,
SO died away in her ears that she is willing to
take the red handed savage to her bosom as
the champion of her rights and the represen-
tatiye of her spiriti Must she not first forget
her own heroic sons who perished, butchercd
and scalped on the disastrous field of Raisin
The object of the revolution, as avowed by
all who are pressing it forward, is the perma-
nent dismembe berment of the confederacy. The
dream of reconstruction-used during the last
winter as a lure to draw the hesitating Orthe
hopeful into the movement-has been formal
ly abandoned. Ii Kentucky separates herself
from the Union, it must be upon the basis that
the separation must be final and eternal. Is
there aught in the organization or administra-
tion of the Government of the United States
to justify, on her part, an act SO solemn and so
perilousl Could the wisest of her lawyers,
if called upon, find material for an indictment
in any or in all the pages of the history of the
Republic3 Could the most leprousipped OF
its caluminators point to single State or
Territory, or community or citizen, that it has
wronged or oppressed 1t would be impossi-
BILE. So far as the slave States are concerned,
their protection has been complete, and if it