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

| rights, which demagogues have been long
| playing under tragic mask, and which has done
more than ali things else to unsettle the foun-
dations of the republic by estranging the peo-
pie from the Federal Government, as one to
be distrusted and resisted, instead of being,
what it is, emphatically their own creation, at
all times obedient to their will, and in its min
istrations the grandest reflex of the greatness
and benefcence of popular power that has eS-
er ennobed the history of our race. Said Mr..
Clay s'I supreme allegiance to the
General Government and to my State sub
ordinate one." And this terse language dis
poses of the whole controversy which has a.
risen 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 harmony with each other, there can
be no conflict between the allegiance due to
them each while acting within the sphere OF
its constitutional authority, is entitled to be
obeyed but when State, throwing of all
constitutional restraints, seeks to destroy the
General Government, to say that its citizens
are bound to follow it in this career of crime,
and discard the supreme allegiance they owe
to the government as sailed, is one OF the shall
lowest and most dangerous fallaces that has
ever gained credence among men.
kentucky, occupying a central position in
the Union, is now protected from the scourge
OF foreign war, however much its ravages may
waste the towns and cities upon our coasts or
Der Of the Southern Confederacy, she would
be frontier State, and necessarily the victim
OF those border feudS and conflicts which have
become proyerbial in history alike for their
ferceness and frequency. The people OF the
South now sleep quietly in their beds, while
there is not home in infatuated and misgui-
ded Virginia that is not filed with the alarms,
and oppressed by the terrors of the war. In
the fate of this ancient Commonwealth, drag
ged TO the altar Of sacrifice by those who
should have stood between her bosom and ev-
cry foe, Kentucky may read her own. No
wonder, therefore, that she has been so coax
lngiy besought to unite her fortunes with those
OF the South, and to lay down the bodies Of
her chivalric sons as a breast ork, behind
which the Southern people may be sheltered.
Even as attached TO the Southern Confedera-
cy she would be weak for all the purposes of
Self-protection, as compared with her present
position. But amid the mutations incident
to such a helpless and self-disntegrating
league, Kentucky would probably soon find
herself adhcrlng to mere fragment of the
Confederacy, or, it may be, standing entirely
alone, in presence OF tiers of free States with
populations exceeding by many millions her
own. Feeble States thus separated from DOW
ertul and warlike neighburs by ideal bounda-
rles, or by rivers easily trayersed as riyu-
lets, are as insects that feed upon the lions
Hp-lable at every moment to be crushed
The recorded doom of multitudes of such has
left US warning too solemn and impressive
to be diSregarded.
Kentucky now scarcely feels the contrbu-
tion she makes to support the Government of
the United States, but as member OF the
Southern Confederacy, of whose policy free
trade will be cardinal principle, she will be
burdened with direct taxation TO the amount
of double, or it may be triple or quadruplc
what she now pays into her own treasury.
Superadded to this will be required OF her her
share OF those vast outlays necessary for the
creation of a navy, the erection of forts and
custom houses along frontier of several
thousand miles and for the maintenance OF
that large standing army, which will be indis-
pensable at once for her safety, and for ina-
parting to the new government that strong
military character which, it has been openly
ayowed, the peculiar institutions of the South
will inexorably demand.
Kentucky now enjoys for her peculiar insti-
tuition, the protection Of the Fugitive Slave
Law, Loyalty enforced by the Government
and it is this law, effective in its power Of re-
capture, but infinitely more potent in its NOR
al agency In preventing the escape of slaves,
that alone saves that institution in the border
States from utter extinction. She cannot car
ry this law with her into the new Confederacy.
She viii virtually have Canada brought TO her
doors in the form of powerful free States,
whose population, relieved of all moral and
constitutional obligation TO deliver up fugi-
tive slaves, will stand with open arms, inri-
ting and welcoming them, and defending them.
if need be, at the point of the bayonet. UB-
der such influences, slavery will perish rapid
ly away i'll Kentucky, as ball of snow would
melt in summers sun.
Kentucky, in her soul, abhorS the African
slave trade, and turns away with unspeakablc
horror and loathiDg from the red altars of
King Dahomey. But although this traffic has
been temporarily interdicted by the seeded
States, it is well understood that this step has
been taken as a mere measure of policy for
the purpose OF impressing the border States,
and of conciliating the European powers. The
ultimate legaliZation of this trade, by Re
public protesting to be based upon African
servitude, must follow certainly does the
conclusion from the premises of a mathemati-
cal proposition. Is Kentucky prepared to sac
the hand upon the dial-plate of her civiliza-
tion rudely thrust back a century, and to
stand before the world the confessed champi-
on of the African slave-hunter ? Is she, with
her unsullied fame, ready to become pander
to the rapacity of the African slave trader,
who burdens the very winds of the sea with
the means Of the wretched eaptiyes whose
limbs be has loaded with chains, and whose
hearts he has broken? 1 do not, 1 cannot,
believe it.
Fo- this catalogue of what Kentucky must
suffer in abandoning her present honoTed aud
secured position, and becoming member OF
the Southern ConfedeTacy, what VIII be her
indemnify Nothing, absolutely nothing.
The ill-weaved ambition of some of her sons
may possibly reach the Presidency of the new
Republic that is all Alas for the dream of
the Presidency of Southern Republic, which
has disturbed so many pillows in the South,
and perhaps. some in the West also, and
whose lurid light, like demons torch, is
leading a nation to perdition
The clamor that in insisting upon the South
obeying the laws, the great principle that all