The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-12-25
A KENTUCKIAN ON SLAVERY.
SPEECH BY REV. DIR. BRECKENRIDGE.

a AENIUCAAAN On SAAVEAxs
SPEECH BY REV. DIR. BRECKENRIDGE.
The Cincinnati Gazette publishes an alb
stract of discourse delivered by Rev. DR..
BRECKINRIDaE, the well-known divine at
Danville, Kentucky, on Thanksgiving Day,
from the text, "Thanks be to God which
giveth rs the victory, through our Lord
Jesus Christ. The argument of the main
body of the discourse was developed under
the following seven heads, comprising the
reasons which the loyal people of the
United States have to-day for rendering
special thanksgiving to God:
l. That the Government of the United
States, against which this rebellion is
waged, has not, in any department. of it.
in any manner, or at any time, from its
origin to the present day, done any act
which could possibly justify, before God
or man, the sin, crime and madness of it's
attempted overthrow. ,p fo:F,g ha,
And yet somebody is to be held respon-
sihle to God ard man for all the blood,
murder, rapine, cruelty and desolation
which now pervade the land for this re-
bellion is sin, and the duty of sustainin-
this government is religious duty, made
so by the clearest teachings all through
the word of God.
II. That when this rebellion occurred
the people of the loyal States rose up as
one man to put it down; and, though evil
men, instigated by the devil, have tried
to divide AID distract the loyal people,
and did for a time SO far succeed as to
humble US, yet we are now, as recent
events show, thoroughly united, and more
determined to put down the rebellion than
ever.
Under this head he pictured the condi-
ton Kentucky two years ago, when there
were seventy thousand rebel soldiers in
the State, with only small body of
troops at Camp Dick Robinson, and an
other similar body opposite Louisville, and
then said that all the blood and treasu e
thus far spent would have been we'll spent
if for no other purpose than to preserve
the border States from being the theatre
Of war; and that all the powers on earth
could not now take Kentucky out of the
Union without killing every loyal man in
the State. ~ ...' ,0.... ....
III. Tnat God had so completely frus-
trated all the calculations of the rebellion,
on which their hopes of success had been
built. -- b. .a.)
| He referred to cotton and their boosted
valor, &C., said they had never admitted
a defeat, and yet our armies had steadily
moved forward on line fifteen hundred
miles long, from east to west, and had
penetrated several hundred miles into the
disloyal territory that the cotton States
were richer, pecuniarily, when the war
began, than almost any equal part of ter
| ritOry, and before it was over they would
be the poorest and most desolate OF any
part of the whole earth. ..., ....,
". That God had restrained the great
powers of the world so as to prevent their
interference in our quarrel. 7iar
V. That it was matter for devOut thank
fulness, that, Notwithstanding our mistakes
in the field, reverses, drawbacks. through
the incOmpetency of our Generals or
| others, our course was still onward in the
| great purpose of saving the nation. .
! We are better prepared now to do what
remained to be done by our military and
naval forces, than we were at first to do
| what was before us, or than we had been
at any previous period in the history of
| the war;
vi. That in the midst of so much peril,
responsibility and temptation before our
| rulers, in the exercise of such vast powers
as were essential for them to WELD in
putting down the rebellion, they had been
preserved by an overriding Providence
from committing more mistakes than they
| had done.
| .; This was: 'petHaps' the point of the
7 gre$tast:mS ORIENT Of any ID she,se,ies H.,
spoke of slavery and the Constitution. and
met the complaints. made by those ,,waf,o
alags that the: government has aiterferea
with them.
AS to slavery, he said, substantially ::
"From my earliest recollection have
been unfriendly to slavery, and have
sought, at what l have thought proper
times and in proper ways, to rid Kentucky
and the country of it. In 1880 Ohis was
when he was lawyer) ] risked all had
at stake in endeavoring to induce the State
to rid herself of it, and sacrificed for this
end what political prospects may then
have had in the unsuccessful attempt. IL
1049 l'again vainly endeavored to bring
the people to measures for removing it
And what | then did I would do again to-
morrow l have never been in favor of
one portion Of the human race holding any
other in bondage, but have ever been in
favor of freedom to all and hope the day
shall come when it shall be enjoyed every
where.
In regard to the bearings of the war
upon slavery, while l have said did not
approve of all the government has doue,
have always held that whatever was neces--
sary for the government to do, 10 order to
crush the rebellion. shonld be done. and |