American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1851-1863, 1862-11-28
Speech 81 Governor Merehead In LiF-
eTDo0i

States. The following part OF it Is an impor-
t,nt contribution to the history of the
months preceding the outbreak of the civil
war. Mr.. Norehead, after assuring his au-
dienee that be was originally a Union man.
and opposed to secession, continued:
When the legislature of Kentucky. in my
absence, elected unanimously to 90 as
one Of the delegates 10 the peace conference
accepted the oiiiee aud went to the city of
Washington, hoping, as our old mother State.
Virginia, had made she CALL aud as all the
slayrholding States that then remained in
the Union would send delegates, and perhaps
those an the North would also send delegates
that we might be able TO obtain such guarau-
tees as would avert, at least a fratricidal
We failed in that. Every offer that
made on the part of the South was in
digntntly spnFned by the representative
from the Northern States Men said In that
convention that they would see the Cnfon
shattered into ten thousand fragments before
they would give one solitary guarantee. in
that state of affairs and knowing the course
that Dir. Seward-who, it had been an
nOuHced to "a, was to be the PRIMER Of the
incoming admIaistration-had pursued, !
met bIm, and do not deem il improper to
say here, rs have said on other occasions.
that he pledged his sacred honor that there
should he no collision between the North
y
he, Governor NOrehead,' laying his hand
"a my shoulder to make It more emphatic
&c let me once hold the reins Of power Ermiv
ia my hands, and, if don't settle this mat
ter TO the entire satisfaction OF the South in
ssIty days, ! will give you my head for a
fioIb..Ij." Hear, heart Although | con
fess that had but little confidence in Mr.
Seward, | thought it utterly impossible that
an honorable man could make pledges of that
Kind and 50 shortly afterward violate them
ia tue most shameless manner Shortly
after that, Mr.. Lincoln came to Washington
city in the manner that you have all read of
aud his particular and Intimate friend, Judge
Logan, called TO me before breakfast one
morning before had got out of my bed. and
announced TO a secret the fact and
manner Of his arrival in the city of Washing
ton, speaking in terms of Indignation against
those who had advised course of that sort
aud stated AT the same time that Mr.. Lincoln
with whom | h - served in Congress aud
with whom | was upon very intimate terms J
mentioned my name first Of all after he had
met him. and desired interview with me
! said to Judge Logan that i wonld prefer
that other gentlemen should be with me- and
aot have the interview alone, aud he stated
that Mr.. LINCOLN had also named other gen
tiem"a. The gentlemen selected as the per
sons to meet him were Mr.. W. G. Rives of
Virginia, formerly CuiteJ States Minister to
France Judge SHmuer. from the same State;
Cen. Donovan, from Missoari. who distin-
asaished himself in the Mexican war, aud
nv self and Mr.. Guthrie, vino had been Sec
rotary of the Treasury IN Mr. Pierce admin
Istration. At u O'Clock his political friends
had ascertained that he in the city, aud
the room filled, and Judge Logan came
10 Us, aud informed that we must defer
the meeting until we could have il With him
alone. Several days elapsed We did meet
q a .T,.i.
vers ttiOn of several hours duration with him.
took occasion shortly afterward a. well as
II could, TO write down that conversation.
The substance Of il was about this Mr..
sLincoIu commenced the conversations, after
srecciving rs very kindly, by stating that he
was accidentally elected President of he Uni
fted States that he had never aspired to .
position of that kind that it had never en-
@tered his head but that, from the fact of his
4hIvIug made a race for the Senate of the
nited States with Judge Douglas, in the
State of Illinois, his name became prominent,
.Rnd he was accidentally selected and elected
iAfterward President of the United States
sthat running that race in a local election his
speech had been published and that any
'one might examine his speeches, and they
would find that he had said nothing against
'the interests of the South. lie defed them
10 point out any one sentence in all the
various addresses that he had made in that
canvass that could be tortured into enmity
against the South except he remarked, one
Expression, namely, that a house divided
against itself must fall they must either be
sRll slave or all free States :; and he said that
she explained afterward that that was an
abstract opinion, and never intended to be
knade the basis of his political action. He
Remarked at the same time that the clause in
7the Constitution of the United States, re-
g uiring fugitive slaves to be delivered up,
- =
fhe organic law of the land, and that he
FOuld execute that with more fidelity than
any Southern IN they could possibly find,
And that he could not imagine what was the
fause of the deep and apparently settled
fnmIty that existed toward him throughout
4he South, looking at me Mt the time if TO
3nyite answer from me- / replied that he
Nas very much mistaken if he supposed that
IL deep pervadinc opinion throughout the
%outh originated in any personal enmity to-
yard himself; that ! did not suppose that
4here was any feeling of the kind on the part
n an individual in the South that he was
PC representative of great party-of n
Rerely sectional party-eleeted on a plat
4brm which they considered would, if carried
&ut, lie destructive of their dearest and best
fights and that it was on that account, and
&hat alone-the attempt TO throw q common
government, the government of all the States,
"a aEtagouism to the interests of "A portion of
Dc very States whose government it was
finch was the cause of the deep and settled
selling which existed throughout the entire
4outh We appealed To him then TO give the
fnarantees which were demanded by the
2outhern men in that peace conference, rep
ESenting u him that ittscssi in bis power,
bat he was et tina; time power in thu Suite;
lat he held in the hollow of his hand the
estineS of thirty. millions of people; that, 1
he said the guarantee should he made aud
2ould make it, there would be no difficulty I
carrying out ANY programme that might f
adopted. He said that he was willing to
We constitutional guarantee that slavery 1
oula not be moIested in any way. directly
Indirectly, in the States; that be was
ling TO 60 further, aud give a guarantee (
M u should not be molesied IN the pistrlct +
Columbia that he would go still further,
4 say that il should not be disturbed IN .
docks, arsenals. forts. aud other places
thin the slaveholding States hut, as Tor
avery in the Territories, that his whole Tie
IS dedicated in opposition TO its extension
Pre-; that he was elected by party which