Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1865-03-17
KENTUCKY AND The AMENDMENT.

The German poet and philosopher, Goethe
Wilhelm MieSter, says of Shakspeare's "Ham-
let" that be was character upon whom great
events had devolved, to which he was incom>
petent by his moral weakness, and that the
calamities which befell innocent people in the
drama, were the natural sequences of a great
crime permitted to run its course. 1t has
been the melancholy fate of the State of Ken
lucky, to furnish vivid illustration of this
idea. A clear perception of duty, and a
prompt and vigorous performance of it's obi
cations at the outset of this rebellion, would
have ayerted from Kentucky a large proper.
tion of the ravages of war, and kept her es-
cutcheon as spotless as it was in the days
when Henry Clay stood its faithful guardian.
But with strange perversity of reason, the
State deliberately assumed a false and untena-
BILE position. The foolish and criminal atti-
tude OF neutrality was taken. Forgetting
that allegiance was due the government which
had invested her with the name and privileges
of a State, the absurd idea was adopted, that
the scheme of a-few traitors had dissolved the
Union, and left two belligereut governments,
with neither Of which was she obliged TO fra
ternize, and from the bloody contentious of
which, she could stand aloof. There was a
moral cowardice in this, leaving aside its semi
reasonable aspect, which justly sank Kentucky
beneath the contempt OF both the loyal and
disloyal sections of the country.
What was the result? The rebels determ.
ined to make the State pay tribute in horses,
forage and men. The United States Govern
ment determined to treat the State as virtual
ly In rebellion, until her people were cured of
their folly, and voluntarily came forward to
do their share in the great crisis of the Union.
The rebels were encouraged by her false posi-
ton, TO make efforts to dragoon her, body and
| soul, into open rebellion. The United States
Government held her for military and polite
al reasons, but bestowed no confidence and felt
little sympathy for her sufferings A day of
repentance came. The Union element became
fairly in the ascendant, and the people of
Kentucky, ashamed of their record, came
maniully forward to swell the armies of the
nation, and assist in its public councils They
have done much to atone for past transgres-
slons. But the sting of transgressiun still
pierces. The cup of bitterness still waits to
be quafed. Guerras swarm the INTERIOR
Public roads are unsafe for travel Farms
are stripped of fences and stock. Houses are
burned. Neighborhood feuds are rife. Cen
eral discord and confusion prevail. Such are
the fruits of temporizing with a question OF
duty, and endeavoring to evade its RESPONSE
| bilties.
Folly, like history, repeats ITSELF Ken
lucky has had another chance, and has reck-
lessly spurned it. She has had an opportunity
to welcome and adopt!the great constitutional
amendment abolishiug slavery, and both
branches Of her Legislature have been stone
blind and deaf and stupid enough to refuse
She might have said to the sister State of
Ohio: "Ny waste places shall blossom like
your fertile fields. My towns shall rival your
hourshing cities. will compete with you in
population, in school houses, in churches, in
manufactures, in commerce, in good laws,
steady morals and stable institutions We
shall be free alike, No laws of man or eli.
mate shall make us alien to each other" But
with obliquity Of vision and muddle-headed
obstinacy Of temper, the State has resolved