The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-07-31
THE COMET.-Ry J. A. M,

AZ IN the past mo cycles OF time
Shall pale them !-secure, serene, sublime
Submissive to Law, law-gtying, divine!
Speech Of, Hon. Joseph Holt At
Louisville.
Tho Union without Conditions.
Dslipsred at Louisville, July 13.
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 hearth stone
and to every heart in our distracted country,
and it is not my purpose on this occasion to
repeat these views, or to engage in any cx-
tended discussion Of the question then ex-
amined. 1t not necessary that should
do so, since the argument is exhausted, and
the popular mind is perfectly familiar with
it in all its bearings. will, however, with
your permission, submit few brief obscr-
vations upon the absorbing topics ofthe day;
and il do so with an earnestness and EN-
phasis due alike to the sincerity Of my con.
victions and to the magnitude of the inter-
ests involved, it is trusted that none will be
often led, not even those who may most wide
ly differ from me.
Could one, an entire stranger to our his,
tory, look down upon the South and see
there hundred or hundred and fifty thou
sand men marching in hostile array, threat.
ening the capture of the Capital, and the
dismcnberment Of the Territory of the Re-
public, and could he look again and see that
this army is marshalled and directed by of.
fcers recently occupying distinguished places
in the civil and military service of the coun-
try, and further, that the States from which
this army has been drawn appear to be one
vast, seething cauldron of ferocious passion,
be would very naturally conclude that the
Government of the United States had com
mitted, some great crime against its people,
and that this uprising was in resistance to
> wrongs and outrages which had been borne
until their endurance was no longer possible.
And yet, no conclusion could be further
from the truth than this. The Government
Of the United States has been. faithful to all
It's constitutional obligations. For eighty
years it has maintained the national honor
at home and abroad. and by its prowess, its
wisdom, and its Justice, has given to the
title of an American citizen an elevation
among the nations of the earth which the
citizen of no republic has enioyed. since
Rome was mistress of the world. Under its
administration the national domain has
stretched away to the Pacific, and the con. on
stellation which announced our birth as a
people had expanded from thirteen to thirty.
four stars, ali, until recently, MOVING undis.
turbed and undimmed in their orb, Of LIGHT
and grandeur. The rights OF no State have
6een invaded no mans proper,v has been
despoiled, no mans liberty abridged. no
mans life oppressiyely ;eonardized bv The
action of this Government, Under its be-.
nign influences the rills of public and nr;v.te
prosperity have swellea to rivuiets and from
rivulets into rivers ever brimm;no ,ni ,he,,
fullness. and everywhere. and At all ner;ods
of its history. its m;nistrations have fanen
as gently on the people Of the United st,te,
as do the dews Of a summers nipht on the
flowers and grass Of the ,aIrrlens and Acids
Whence, then. this revolutionary outbreak,
Whence the secret spring of this gigantic
conspiracy. which. like some huge boa b.d
completely coiled itself aronnd the limb.