Year: 1861

To the General assembly Of Ohio:


1t cannot be longer disguised that th
lSouthern States, which now wage war up
on the Government of the United States
began in the seizure of tie national fort
resses, arsenals, ships, money, and othe
property, and eliminating in armed resis
tance to the Government furnishing sup
plies to the furnishing garrison at For
Sumter, have been, through the leaders
whose intsrumentality brought about tina
issue, constantly conspiring against the in
tegrity and peace of the Union, by dis
solving the compacts and long established
precedent which settled the rights of the
Government over its Territories, and thu:
contriving to subject them the State dom.
inatiop. In both aspects it is war Of
conquest on the part of the malcontents
in the South, to spread tie dominion oI
slavery where it had been prohibited by
law sanctioned by the common consent oi
all sections of the country during success:
sive generations.


Failing to accomplish this, even with the
! aid of fai,hless agents brought under tbeil
control in the several departments of the
General Government, who could not defeat
the laws of nature, these dangerous con-
federales agains: all constitutional govern
ment, have taken the sword in hand to
conquer and partition the country. Aid
ed by the treason of high officials in the
administration of Mr.. Buchanan, they
have already seized many of the most i'm
portant bulwarks erected by tie United
States to secure the commerce and protect
the shores and tie whole interior of the
country from invasion. This armed From
tier, which cost the nation more since the
establishment of its Independence than the
war which achieved it, is necessary alike TO
every portion of the Republic. Charleston.
and the harbor now commanded by the
forts built by the United States, was twice
conquered by the Confederacy from the
British. While in tie hands of for
eign power it was the basis of military
operations against the Northern States,
affecting even the remotest. Can tie
Government of the United States relin-
quish this position to the petty power now
assuming mock sovereignty over it and
the adjacent seas, without subjectiug its
commerce and the whole interior of the
country 10 the mercy of any formidable
enemy it might introduce as an ally against
the Union or which might acquire mas
terry there in any other modes Must all
the other places of strength along the
coast from the Chesapeake Bay to the Rio
Grande, which the United States has made
to frown with its fortresses and bristle with
its cannon. to repel invasion and alright
pirates, and has Illuminated with light
houses to point out the path to commerce
must all these places be surrendered to
the seeding States, to pass into the hands
of any foreign nation which may supplant
their powers If so, the slave States, in
commanding the avenues ofcommerce from
the vast interior States OF the North and
West to the Ocean, must subject them as
conquered provinces.


What is to be the condition of Ohio
and all her sister States ia the Mississippi
Valley if the slave States are TO give law
on the lower Mississippi Secession, the
seizure and appropriation Of all that be-
longs to the United States in the seeding
States, and the usurnation of all sovereign
rights over the adjacent seas and the nav
igabIe steamers and other avenues of COM
merce in that section of the Union, make
conquest which strips the interior of its
independence, and the Government of the
United States of the national attributes
conferred by the Constitution to maintain
it and all the interests of the continent
committed to its charge.


l rejoice to be able to assure you that
the executive installed at the Capital is re-
solved to repel the attempt at conquest
It will assert all the rights conferred by
the Constitution, by all the power with
which it invests the Government. The
most vigorous measures will be taken to
resume the authority of the United States
over the places from which it has been ex-
PEELED; and | cannot doubt but that the
stream which floats the commerce of the
regions between the Rocky Mountains and
and the AIeghanies will be soon delivered
by the General Government from the as
sumed sovereignty which the States, pur-
chased from France, now assert over it.
But as the contest may grow to greater
dimensions than is uow anticipated, deem
it my duty to recommend to the General
Assembly of this State TO make provision
proporiioned to its means TO assist the
National authorities in restoring the integ-
rity and strength of the Union in all its
amplitude, as the only means of recover
ing the rights of the States, and assuring
the permanent peace and prosperity of the
whole country.


earnestly recommend, also, that an ap-
preparation of not'less than four hundred
and fifty thousand dollars be Immediately
made for the purchase of arms and equip
ments for the use of the volunteer militia
of the State,


need not remind you of the pressing
exigency for the prompt organization and
arming of the military force of the State.


Accompanying this communication you
will find statement of the Quarter Mas
ter-General, relative 10 the condition of the
public arms.


W. DENNISON.
QUARTER MASTER GENERALS OFFICE,


COLUMBUS. April Is, 1851.