Year: 1861

4AoLt.


CONTINUED


The object of the revolution, as avowed
by all who are pressing it forward, is the
permanent dlsmemberment of the Confed-
| eracy, The dream Of reconstruetion-us


during the last winter as lure to draw
J Inc hesllatlng or the ha72aG.l-; ;-a-- -AI---.---
| ment-has been formally abandoned. Il


Kentucky separate herself from the Union


it must be upon the basis that the separa.
! ton is to be final and eternal. Is there
! aught in the organization or administra-
/ ton Of the Government Of the United


States to justify on her part, an act so soil
/ emn and 50 perilous2 Could the wisest OF
her lawyers, if called upon, find material


for an indictment in any or in all the pages
Of the history of the Republic Could the


most leprous-lipped of its calumniators point


to a single State or Territory or community


or citizen that it has wronged or oppressed ?
! 1t would be impossible.


So far as the slave States are concerned,
their protection has been complete, and If
it has not been, it has been the fault Of
their statesmen, who have had the control
of the Government since its foundation


The census returns show that during the
year 1860 the Fugitive Slave Law was en-
acted more faithfully and successfully than
it had been during the preceding ten years
Since the installation of President Lincoln,
not a case has arisen in which the fugitive
has not been returned, and that, too, with
out any opposition from the people. In
deed, the fidelity with which it was under
stood to be the policy Of the present Ad-
ministration to enforce the provisions of
this law, has caused a perfect panic among
the runaway slaves IN the free States and
they have been escaping in multitudes to
Canada, unpursued and unreclaimed by
their masters. Is there found in this rea-
son for dissolution of the Union


That the slave States are not recognized
as equals in the Coniederacy, has, for sever
al years, been the cry of demagogues and
conspirators. But what is the truth Not
only according to the theory, but the actual
practice Of the Government, the slave States
have ever been, and still are, in ali respects.
peers of the free. OF the fourteen Presi-
dents who have been elected, seven were cit
liens of the slave States, and of the seven
remaining, three Represented Southern prin-
ciples and received the votes Of the South
ern people; so that, in our whole history,
but four Presidents have been chosen who
can be claimed as the special champions Of
the policy and principles Of the free States
and even these so only in a modified sense.





been deprived of her equal share of the hon
ors and powers of the Government The
Supreme Court has decided that the citizens
of the slave States can, at will, take their
slaves into all the Territories of the United
States and this decision, which has never
been resisted or interfered with in a single
case is the law of the land, and the whole
power of the Government is pledged to
enforce it. That il will be Loyalty enforced
by the present administration, entertain no
doubt a Republican Congress, ut the late
session, organized three new territories, and
in the organic law of neither was introdu-
ced, or attempted to be introduced, the
slightest restriction upon the rights Of the
Southern emigrant to bring his slaves with
him At this moment therefore-and / state
it without quaiifcation-there is not a Ter
ritory belonging to the United States into
which the Southern people may not intro
6uce their slaves at pleasure, and enjoy their
complete protection. Kentucky should
consider this great ard undeniable feet, be-
fore which all the frothy rant Of dema-
gogues and disunionists must disappear az
a bank of fog before the wind. But were
it otherwise, and did a defect exist in our
organic law or in the practical administra-
ton of the Government, in reference to the
ElRlL3 OF DOuLDeIu bidFtuDlQGAS III tAlg IL
ritories, still the question would be mere
abstraction, since the laws Of climate forbid
the establishment OF slavery in such ATTITUDES;
and to destroy such institutions as ours for
such cause, instead of patiently trying to
remove il, would be little short Of national in
sanity. II would be to burn the house
down over our heads merely because there
is a leak in the roof; to scuttle the ship in
mid-ocean merely because there is a differ
ence Of opinion among the crew as to the
point Of the compass 10 which the vessel
should be steered it would be, in fact, TO
apply the knife to the throat instead Of to
the cancer Of the patient.


But what remains Though, say the
disunionists, the Fugitive Slave Law is
honestly enforced, and though, under the
shelter of the Supreme Court, we can take
our slaves into the Territories, yet the
Northern people will persist in discussing
the institution of Slavery, and therefore we
will break up the Government. II IS true
that Slavery has been very intemperately
discussed in the North and il is equally
true that until we have an Asatic 1espot-
ism crushing out all freedom ofispeech and
of tho pregs this discussion will probably
continue. In this age and country all instl
tDtions. human and divine, are discussed,
and so they ought to be and all that can
not bear discussion must 90 TO the wall,
where they ought to 60. 1t is not pretend
ed, however, that the discussion Of Slavery
which has been continued in our country
for more than forty years, has in any man
ner disturbed or weakened the foundation
of the institution. On the contrary, We
learn from the press Of the seeded STATES
that their slaves were nevet more tranqui
or obedient. There are zealots--happily
few in number-both North and South
whose language upon this question is alike
,,tSs,aoo1t and alike deserving our con-
dernnation. Those who assert that Slavery
sbould be extirpated by the sword, and
those who maintain that the great mission
Of the " hite man upon earth is to enslavs
the black, are not far apart a the folly aud
atrocity Of their sentiments.


Before proceeding further Kentucky
should measure well the depth Of the guilt