Year: 1861

W W colAlLSLOu duu AlhAAAur VI AuGule


and Jefferson, of Hancock and Henry, is


to be Overthown by the morally begrimed


and pigmied conspiratOrs who are now tug.


ging at its foundations? 1t would be the


Overturning of the Andes by the miserable


reptiles that are crawling in the sands at


their base.


But our neutral fellow-citizens. in the


tenderness of their hearts say: This efu-


sion of blood sickens u.s." Then do all in


your power to bring it to an end. Let the


whole strength Of this Commonwealth be


put forth in support of the Government, in
order that the war may be terminated by
a prompt suppression of the rebellion. The
longer the struggle continues, the fercer
will be its spirit, and the more fearful the
waste of life attending at. You therefore,
only aggraYate the calamity you deplore,


by standing alOOf from the combat But
again they say, eve cannot fight our breth-
ren." Indeed But your brethren can
fight you, and with good will, too.-
Wickedly and wantOnly, have they COM
menced this war against you and your in
stitutions, and ferociously are they prose-
cutting it. They take no account of the
fact that the massacre with which they
hope their swords will ere long be clogged,
must be the massacre of their brethren
However much we may bow our heads at
the confession, it is nevertheless true, that
every free people that have existed, have
been obliged at one period Or other of their
history, to fight for their liberties against
traitors within their own bosoms, and that
people who have not the greatness of soul
thus to fight, cannot long continue to be
free. nor do they deserve to be so.


There is not and there carnot be any
neutral ground for loyal people between
their own Government and those who, at
the head Of armies. are menacing its des-
tructiOn. Your inaetion is not neutrality,
though you may delude yourselves with
the belief that it is so. With this rebel
lion confronting you, when you refuse to
cooperate actively with your Government
in subduing it, you thereby condemn the
government, and assume towards it an at
titude of antagonism. Your inactiOn is a
virtual endorsement Of the rebellion, and
if you do not thereby give to the rebels
precisely that ''aid and comfort" spoken of
in the Constitution. you certainly afford
them most powerful encouragement and
support. That they regard your present
position as friendly to them, is proved by
the fact, that. in recent enactment of the
Confederate. Congress cOnfseatiBg the debts
due from til .ir own citizens to those of loy-
al States, the debts due to the people of
kentucky are expressly excepted. Is not
this significant? Does it leave any room
for doubt that the Confederate Congress
they had discovered under the
guise of your neutrality. lurking sympa-
thy for their cause. which entities you to
be treated as friends. if not as active al
lies? Patriotic as was the purpose of her
statesmen in placing her in
the anomalous position she now occupies, I
it cannot be denied that Kentucky by her
present attitude is exerting potent inhu- /
ence in Strengthening the rebellion, AMI .
is therefore false alike to her loyalty and .
to her fame You may rest well assured /
that this estimate of your neutrality is en-
tertained by the true men of the country
in all the States which are now sustaining
the Government Within the last few
weeks, how many of those gallant volun-
teers, who have left home and kindred and
all that is dear to them, and are now under
4 Southern sun, exposing themselves to
leath from disease and to death from bat
lie, and are accounting their lives as moth
ne in the effort they are making for the
leliverance of your Government and theirs
how many of them have said to me in
sadness and in longing "Will not Ken
lucky help us?" How nay soul would
have leaped could l have answered prompt
y, confidently, exultantly. Yes, she will
But when l thought of this neutrality, my
heart sank within me, and | did not and
could not look these brave men ID the face.
And yet l could not answer, No" | could
not crush myself to the earth under the
of such reply. l there
'ore saiG-and may my country sustain
ne-"I hope. l trust, l pray, nay, be-
ieve, Kentucky will yet do her duty"


If this Government is to be destroyed,
lsk yourselves: are you willing it shall be
.ecorded in history that Kentucky stood
,y in the greatness of her strength and
ifted not a hand to stay the catastrophe
# it is to be saved-as | verify believe it
s-are you willing it shall be written that
u the immeasurable glory which must at
end the achievement Kentucky lad no
art? i


l will only add, if Kentucky wishes the
Taters of her beautiful Ohio to be dyed in
,lood; if she wishes her harvest fields, now
Faving in their abundance to be trampled
Inder the feet of hostile sOldiery, as a fiow-
T garden is trampled beneath the thresh-
ngs of the tempest; if she wishes the homes
There the loved ones are now gathered in
eace, invaded by the proseriptivc fury of ..
military despOtism, sparing neither life /,
or property: if she wishes the streets Of
CT towns and cities grown with grass and
he steamboats, of her rivers to lie rotting
HeE MndIfeS, lHeu lcl utl JOlu blc OOulu-
rn Confederacy. But if size would have
he bright waters of that river f1w on in &
heir gladness; if she would have her har- |
ests peacefully gathered to her garners; {
she would have the lullabies Of her era 1
les and the songs Of her homes uninvaded
Y the cries and terrors of battle: if she
Tould have the streets of her towns and
tiles again filed with the hum and
hrongs of busy trade. and her rivers and
heir shores once more vocal with the
teamers' Whistle-that anthem of free !
nd prosperous eommerce-then let her
tand fast by the Stars and Stripes. and
o her duty, and her whole duty as a.
lembsr Of this Union. Let her brave ;
eople say to the President Of the United .
tates, You are our Chief Magistrate; :
be G. .vernlnent you have in charge and
re striving to save from dismember-
tent is our government; your cause IS in
eed our e1use, your battles are our bat