Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-01-22

d
tucky rejects IT. and, at the same time, in
behalf of her own unqucstioncd rights as
an independent power in the control oI
her own State polity, protests against any
interference with it as unwarranted bJ the
Constitution of the United States.
After TINS disposing of what may be
considered as especially addressed to Ken
lucky, / would call your attention to the
proclamation of the President, declaring
freedom to all slaves in the rebel States,
and forbidding the interference Of the ar
mics of the United States with any who
were endeavoring to assert their freedom.
| have thought it becoming my official
station to say what have in relation to
SO much Of the proclamation as looked to
an admission or rejection oft by our State.
But Kentucky is equally involved in
the material branch OF the Proclamation
which undertakes, by q Presidential edict
to cmancipate, instantly, all the slaves Of
the rebellous States. These may, with
out an exaggeration of their numbers, be
set down at four millions. A bstracting
them from the aggregate of the slave pop.
ulaton of the United States. and there re
mains a mere fragment in Delaware, not
over one hundred thousand in Maryland;
about fifty thousand in Missouri; and by
the last census, two hundred and twenty.
five thousand in Kentucky. SO that it is
apparent that Kentucky has the largest
residnary interests. supposing that the
proclamation is enforced in the southern
States; that tho value Of this interest must
be reduced to nothing by the successful
operation Of the Presidents ultimatum i,
too manifest for argument. Is there any
reason why Kentucky should be subjected
to this indirect but no less fatal blow I?
Is there anything in the constitution of
the United States that warranted it? Was
there anything in Congressional lcgi,la-
ton that warranted it? And does any sub
scquent Endorsement by partisan Con-
grcss relieve it from its original uSurpa-
ton? | think that one may search in
vain for any such power given to the
President in tho Constitution of the Uni.
ted States; and any exercise Of power not
granted therein is an attempt to save the
Union, ont of and not IN it. Kentucky
anu ulI ID1 III bDlulcN lOlu ~ W Dc " lUnlV-
mental doctrine, that the Union, if saved
at all must be savcl in conformity to
the constitution, and not in violation Of it,
The truth is so clear that argument is su-
perfluous. No one at all versed in the
spirit or the letter of our institutions can
seriously contend for such powers as the
President undertakes to exercise in his
proclamation The assumption of them
has alarmed the American mind, and the
contemplation of the result Of them has
grieved the American heart Disguise the
purp osc as you may, it is in truth an in
ducement to servile instruction, by Civ
ing it probability Of success in forbid
ding the army to interfere / will not
pause here to depict the horrors of SER
vile war-no Imagination can conceive
of thcm-no pen can paint them. Even
the sanguinary Catiline, impressed with
the sense Of the horrors Of servile war,
and scrupulously regarding the indignity
of Roman citizenship rejected the aid OF
slaves, although they nockcd in great
numbers to his standard. And those
slaves were men of the same generic root
with the Romans, and many of them ed.
ucatcd in the arts and arms. This histo.
ric truth might have been needed with
profit By the President, and the force of
it is immensely increased from the fact
that the "Americans of African descent"
are the progeny of brutal ancestry and
Of different race from our own.
But suppose his plan succeeds so far
T. -, l. I, &
and that it is effected without scrvile in
surrection, what then is to be Il me with
them? Are they to be permitted to choose
their own domicilation, and if they are,
may they not come into Kentucky in vast
masses and as cilcctuaIly destroy the insti-
tuition here as il our State had not been
excepted ont Of the immediate operation
of the manifesto? Most ossurcdly such
would be the result. If the migratory
wave comes this way how can it be check
ed? According to the Presidents view
it will be an effort at freedom, aud tho
army is forbidden to interfere. | on the
other hand, it is tho intention to permit
them to remain where they are, and all
the laden estate to be forfeited, will it not
be all given to them as its lawful inherit
ors2 What then is to become Of the white
race? Either cxtcrmination or removal
must follow, or If they remain they will
hc reduced to the most abject poverty,
and, instead Of raising the banner of the
"gnorant whtcs,' as some Of til m, it
| will reduce all TO that level
! But the salleSt and most dcplorablo
effect OF the proclamation will be to fire
the whole South into one burning mass
of incxtinguishable hate and study for re
vengc, and to utterly destroy all hopo of
restoring the Union. This war was un-
dertaken for that purpose alonc--it was
to put down the rebellion in order that
the ancient limits of the nation and the
integrity of tho constitution might be
maintained. But what hope can there be
of bringing about such desirable results il
the attempt is made to strip the entire
South bare of all estate, real, personal,
and mixed? 1t will produce such a spir-
it Of antagoniSm-sncha fierce and I'M.
compromising resislauce-that no after
propositions will be heodel, aud will of
necessity compel .ho southern people to
fight as those only can fight who fight
for their homes and their families aud all
that makes life dear. And then, too, wha,
q future does it present to tho occupants
Of the Mississippi Valley OF what val
uc will be tho use of the great artery %
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