xt7d513ttv28 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7d513ttv28/data/mets.xml Holt, Joseph, 1807-1894. 1861  books b92-85-27376282 English W.S. & A. Martien, : Philadelphia : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. United States Politics and government 1861-1865. United States History Civil War, 1861-1865.Everett, Edward, 1794-1865. Stewart, Charles, 1778-1869. Letters of the Hon. Joseph Holt, the Hon. Edward Everett, and Commodore Charles Stewart, on the present crisis text Letters of the Hon. Joseph Holt, the Hon. Edward Everett, and Commodore Charles Stewart, on the present crisis 1861 2002 true xt7d513ttv28 section xt7d513ttv28 






    LETTERS

         OF THE


HION. JOSEPH HOLT,

          THE



HON. EDWARD EVERETT,

             AND


 COMMODORE CHARLES STEWART,

            ON THE



PRESENT



CRISIS.



      PHILADELPHIA:
WILLIAMI S.  ALFRED MARTIEN,
     NO. COG CHESTNUT STREET.
         1861.

 
This page in the original text is blank.

 









           PREFATORY NOTE





  MR. HOLT is airealy well known to the country as the
Post-Master General, and subsequently, for a few weeks,
the Secretary of War under President Buchanan. The
ability and efficiency with which he administered these
trusts, commanded the general approval of the country;
while the personal and official corruption by which he was
surrounded, brought into bolder relief his own spotless
integrity. It was quite in keeping with the antecedents
of such a man, that he should write the Letter here re-
printed.  He saw his native State dallying with the
demon of secession-as Satan beguiled our first mother.

                     " Oft he bowed
       His turret-crest, and sleek enamelled neck,
       Fawning; and licked the ground whereon she trod."

  This was not a sight for a true patriot to see unmoved;
and he addressed the following Letter to the "People of
Kentucky." The special design of the appeal, is to keep
that State from sliding into the abyss before her. But
in aiming at this object, lie has discussed the whole sub-
ject of the pending contest with masterly ability.  Ile
traces the secession movement to its true sources; lays
bare the sordid motives of the Confederate leaders; and

 




PREFATORY NOTE.



shows that the treason which is now making war against
our just and beneficent Government, has been covertly
plotting the overthrow of the Union for many years.
   His views on these points are confirmed by the other
Letters herewith published. MR. EVERETT states it, as
of his personal knowledge, that "leading Southern poli-
ticians had for thirty years been resolved to break up
the Union," whenever the sceptre departed from their
hands. And the venerable COMMODORE STEWART traces
the roots of this foul scheme back as far as 1812. These
testimonies, in connection with the recent letter of Mr.
Russell to the London Times, seem to justify the pre-
sumption, that the State of South Carolina was never
loyal to the Union; that, however it may have been with
the mass of her people, she had nursed ab initio a nest
of traitors, who have persistently cherished the purpose
to destroy the Government whenever they could no longer
control it.
  These developments are of great moment in their bear-
ing upon the present conflict; and they will not be lost
sight of in the future adjustment of this quarrel.
  The three Letters contained in this pamphlet are of
too much value to be consigned merely to the fugitive
columns of a newspaper. The Publisher feels that he is
doing the country a good service, by presenting them in
a form suitable for preservation and reference. Without
specifying other topics which are worthy of notice, he
may be allowed to direct particular attention to the para-
graph of Mr. EVERETT'S admirable Letter (pp. 38, 39) on
the plausible claim of the South, "simply to be let alone."
PHILADELPHIA, June 2.5, 1861.



4


 










     LETTER OF THE HON. J. HOLT.






                        WASHINIGToX, Friday, May 31, 1861.
J. F. SPEED, Esq.
       My Dear Sir-The recent overwhelming vote in
favour of the Union in Kentucky has afforded unspeaka-
ble gratification to all true men throughout the country.
That vote indicates that the people of that gallant State
have been neither seduced by the arts nor terrified by
the menaces of the revolutionists in their midst, and that
it is their fixed purpose to remain faithful to a Govern-
ment which, for nearly seventy years, has remained faith-
ful to them. Still it cannot be denied that there is in the
bosom of that State a band of agitators, who, though few
in number, are yet powerful from the public confidence
they have enjoyed, and who have been, and doubtless will
continue to be, unceasing in their endeavour to force
Kentucky to unite her fortunes with those of the rebel
Confederacy of the South.  In view of this and of the
well-known fact that several of the seceded States have
by fraud and violence been driven to occupy their present
false and fatal position, I cannot, even with the encour-
agement of her late vote before me, look upon the
      A

 




LETTER OF TIHE 110N J. IIOLT



political future of our native State without a painful
solicitude. Never have the safety and honour of her
people required the exercise of so much vigilance and of
so much courage on their part. If true to themselves,
the Stars and Stripes, which, like angels' wings, have so
long guarded their homes from every oppression, will still
be theirs; but if, chasing the dreams of men's ambition,
they shall prove false, the blackness of darkness can but
faintly predict the gloom that awaits them. The Legisla-
ture, it seems, has determined by resolution that the
State, pending the present unhappy war, shall occupy
neutral ground. I must say, in all frankness, and with-
out desiring to reflect upon the course or sentiments of
any, that, in this struggle for the existence of our Govern-
ment, I can neither practise nor profess nor feel neutral-
ity. I would as soon think of being neutral in a contest
between an officer of justice and an incendiary arrested in
an attempt to fire the dwelling over my head; for the
Government whose overthrow is sought, is for me the shelter
not only of home, kindred and friends, but of every earthly
blessing which Ican hope to enjoy on this side of the grave.
If, however, from a natural horror of fratricidal strife, or
from her intimate social and business relations with the
South, Kentucky shall determine to maintain the neutral
attitude assumed for her by her Legislature, her position
will still be an honourable one, though falling far short of
that full measure of loyalty which her history has so con-
stantly illustrated.  Her Executive, ignoring, as I am
happy to believe, alike the popular and legislative senti-
ment of the State, has, by proclamation, forbidden the
Government of the United States from marching troops
across her territory. This is in no sense a neutral step,



6

 



ON TIHE PRESENT CRISIS.



but one of aggressive hostility. The troops of the Federal
Government have as clear a constitutional right to pass
over the soil of Kentucky as they have to march along
the streets of Washington; and could this prohibition be
effective, it would not only be a violation of the funda-
mental law, but would, in all its tendencies, be directly in
advancement of the revolution, and might, in an emer-
gency easily imagined, compromise the highest national
interests. I was rejoiced that the Legislature so promptly
refused to endorse this proclamation as expressive of the
true policy of the State.  But I turn away from even
this to the ballot-box, and find an abounding consolation
in the conviction it inspires, that the popular heart of
Kentucky, in its devotion to the Union, is far in advance
alike of legislative resolve and of Executive proclamation.
  But as it is well understood that the late popular
demonstration has rather scotched than killed rebellion
in Kentucky, I propose inquiring, as briefly as practica-
ble, whether, in the recent action or present declared
policy of the Administration, or in the history of the
pending revolution, or in the objects it seeks to accom-
plish, or in the results which must follow from it, if suc-
cessful, there can be discovered any reasons why that
State should sever the ties that unite her with a Confede-
racy in whose councils and upon whose battle-fields she
has won so much fame, and under whose protection she
has enjoyed so much prosperity.
  For more than a month after the inauguration of Presi-
dent LINCOLN, the manifestations seemed unequivocal
that his Administration would seek a peaceful solution of
our unhappy political troubles, and would look to time
and amendments to the Federal Constitution, adopted in



7

 


LETTER OF TIE RON. J. HIOLT



accordance with its provisions, to bring back the revolted
States to their allegiance. So marked was the effect of
these manifestations in tranquilizing the Border States
and in reassuring their loyalty, that the conspirators who
had set this revolution on foot took the alarm.  While
affecting to despise these States as not sufficiently intensi-
fied in their devotion to African servitude, they knew they
could never succeed in their treasonable enterprise without
their support. ience it was resolved to precipitate a
collision of arms with the Federal authorities, in the hope
that under the panic and exasperation incident to the
commencement of a civil war, the Border States, following
the natural bent of their sympathies, would array them-
selves against the Government.  Fort Sumter, occupied
by a feeble garrison, and girdled by powerful if not
impregnable batteries, afforded convenient means for
accompli4hing their purpose, and for testing also their
favorite theory, that blood was needed to cement the new
Confederacy.   Its provisions were exhausted, and the
request made by the President, in the interests of peace
and humanity, for the privilege of replenishing its stores,
had been refused.    The Confederate authorities were
aware-for so the gallant commander of the fort had
declared to them-that in two days a capitulation from
starvation must take place. A peaceful surrender, how-
ever, would not have subserved their aims. They sought
the clash of arms and the effusion of blood as an instru-
mentality for impressing the Border States, and they
sought the humiliation of the Government and the dis-
honour of its flag as a means of giving prestige to their
own cause. The result is known. Without the slightest
provocation, a heavy cannonade was opened upon the



8

 
ON TILE PRESENT CRISIS.



fort, and borne by its helpless garrison for hours without
reply; and when, in the progress of the bombardment,
the fortification became wrapped in flames, the besieging
batteries, in violation of the usages of civilized warfare,
instead of relaxing or suspending, redoubled their fires.
-A more wanton or wicked war was never conmnenced on
any Government whose history has been written.  Cotem-
porary with and following the fall of Sumter, the siege
of Fort Pickens was and still is actively pressed; the
property of the United States Government continued to
be seized wherever found, and its troops, by fraud or
force, captured in the State of Texas, in violation of a
solemn compact with its authorities that they should be
permitted to embark without molestation. This was the
requital which the Lone Star State made to brave men,
who, through long years of peril and privation, had
guarded its frontiers against the incursions of the savages.
In the midst of the most active and extended warlike
preparations in the South, the announcement was made
by the Secretary of War of the seceded States, and
echoed with taunts and insolent bravadoes by the South-
ern press, that Washington City was to be invaded and
captured, and that the flag of the Confederate States
would soon float over the dome of its capitol.  Soon
thereafter there followed an invitation to all the world-
embracing necessarily the outcasts and desperadoes of
every sea-to accept letters of marque and reprisal, to
prey upon the rich and unprotected commerce of the
United States.
  In view of these events and threatenings, what was the
duty of the Chief Magistrate of the Republic He might
have taken counsel of the revolutionists and trembled



9

 
LETTER OF THIE lION. J. HOLT



under their menaces; he might, upon the fall of Sumter,
have directed that Fort Pickens should be surrendered
without firing a gun in its defence, and proceeding yet
further, and meeting fully the requirements of the "let
us alone" policy insisted on in the South, he might have
ordered that the Stars and Stripes should be laid in the
dust in the presence of every bit of rebel bunting that
might appear. But he did none of these things, nor could
he have done them without forfeiting his oath and betray-
ing the most sublime trust that has ever been confided to
the hands of man. With a heroic fidelity to his consti-
tutional obligations, feeling justly that these obligations
charged him with the protection of the Republic and its
Capital against the assaults alike of foreign and domestic
enemies, he threw himself on the loyalty of the country for
support in the struggle upon which he was about to enter,
and nobly has that appeal been responded to. States
containing an aggregate population of nineteen millions
have answered to the appeal as with the voice of one
man, offering soldiers without number, and treasure with-
out limitation for the service of the Government. In these
States, fifteen hundred thousand freemen cast their votes
in favour of candidates supporting the rights of the South,
at the last Presidential election, and yet everywhere,
alike in popular assembles and upon the tented field, this
million and a half of voters are found yielding to none in
the zeal with which they rally to their country's flag.
They are not less the friends of the South than before;
but they realize that the question now presented is not
one of administrative policy, or of the claims of the North,
the South, the East, or the West; but is, simply, whether
nineteen millions of people shall tamely and ignobly per-



10

 


ON THE PRESENT CRISIS.



mit five or six millions to overthrow and destroy institu-
tions which are the common property, and have been the
common blessings and glory of all. The great thorough-
fares of the North, the East, and the West, are luminous
with the banners and glistening with the bayonets of
citizen soldiers marching to the Capital, or to the other
points of rendevouz; but they come in no hostile spirit to
the South.  If called to press her soil, they will not ruffle
aflower of her gardens, nor a blade of grass of her fields
in unkindness. No excesses will mark the footsteps of the
armies af the Republic; no institution of the States will
be invaded or tampered with, no rights of persons or of
property will be violated.  The known purposes of the
Administration, and the high character of the troops em-
ployed, alike guarantee the trutkfulness of this statement.
When an insurrection was apprehended a few weeks
since in Maryland, the Massachusetts' Regiment at once
offered their services to suppress it. These volunteers
have been denounced by the Press of the South as
"knaves and vagrants," "the dregs and offscourings of
the populace," who would "rather filch a handkerchief
than fight an enemy in manly combat;" yet we know
here that their discipline and bearing are most admirable,
and, I presume, it may be safely affirmed, that a larger
amount of social position, culture, fortune, and elevation
of character, has never been found in so large an army in
any age or country. If they go to the South, it will be
as friends and protectors, to relieve the Union sentiment
of the seceded States from the cruel domination by which
it is oppressed and silenced, to unfurl the Stars and
Stripes in the midst of those who long to look upon them,
and to restore the flaq that bears them to the forts and



11

 


LETTER OF THE HON. J. HOLT



arsenals from which disloyal hands have torn it. Their
mission will be one of peace, unless wicked and blood-
thirsty men shall unsheath the sword across their pathway.
   It is in vain for the revolutionists to exclaim that this
is "subjugation." It is so, precisely in the sense in which
you and I and all law-abiding citizens are subjugated.
The people of the South are our brethren, and while we
obey the laws enacted by our joint authority, and keep a
compact to which we all are parties, we only ask that
they shall be required to do the same. We believe that
their safety demands this; we know that ours does. We
impose no burden which we ourselves do not bear; we
claim no privilege or blessing which our brethren of the
South shall not equally share. Their country is our
country, and ours is theirs; and that unity both of
country and of government which the providence of God
and the compacts of men have created we could not our-
selves, without self-immolation, destroy, nor can we per-
mit it to be destroyed by others.
  Equally vain is it for them to declare that they only
wish " to be let alone," and that, in establishing the in-
dependence of the seceded States, they do those which
remain in the old Confederacy no harm. The Free States,
if allowed the opportunity of doing so, will undoubtedly
concede every guarantee needed to afford complete pro-
tection to the institutions of the South, and to furnish
assurances of her perfect equality in the Union; but all
such guarantees and assurances are now openly spurned,
and the only Southern right now insisted on is that of
dismembering the Republic. It is perfectly certain, that
in the attempted exercise of this right, neither States nor
statesmen will be "let alone."  Should a ruffian meet me



12

 
ON THE PRESENT CRISIS.



in the streets, and seek, with his axe, to hew an arm and
a leg from my body, I would not the less resist him be-
cause, as a dishonoured and helpless trunk, I might per-
chance survive the mutilation. It is easy to perceive what
fatal results to the old Confederacy would follow, should
the blow now struck at its integrity ultimately triumph.
We can well understand what degradation it would bring
to it abroad, and what weakness at home; what exhaus-
tion from incessant war and standing armies, and from
the erection of fortifications along the thousands of miles
of new frontiers; what embarrassments to commerce from
having its natural channels encumbered or cut off; what
elements of disintregation and revolution would be intro-
duced from the pernicious example; and, above all, what
humiliation would cover the whole American people for
having failed in their great mission to demonstrate before
the world the capacity of our race for self-government.
   While a far more fearful responsibility has fallen upon
President Lincoln than upon any of his predecessors, it
must be admitted that he has met it with promptitude and
.fearlessness. CICERO, in one of his orations against
CATALINE, speaking of the credit due himself for having
suppressed the conspiracy of that arch-traitor, said, " If
the glory of him who founded Rome was great, how much
greater should be that of him who had saved it from over-
throw, after it had grown to be mistress of the world " So
may it be said of the glory of that statesman or chieftain
who shall snatch this Republic from the vortex of revolu-
tion, now that it has expanded from ocean to ocean,-has
become the admiration of the world, and has rendered the
fountains of the lives of thirty millions of people fountains
of happiness.
       B

 


LETTER OF THE HON. J. HOLT



  The vigorous measures adopted for the safety of Wash-
ington, and the Government itself, may seem open to
criticism, in some of their details, to those who have yet
to learn that not only has war, like peace, its laws, but
that it has also its privileges and its duties. Whatever
of severity, or even of irregularity, may have arisen, will
find its justification in the pressure of the terrible neces-
sity under which the Administration has been called to
act. When a man feels the poignard of the destroyer at
his bosom, he is not likely to consult the law-books as to
the mode or measure of his rights of self-defence. What
is true of individuals is in this respect equally true of
governments. The man who thinks he has become dis-
loyal because of what the Administration has done, will
probably discover, after a close examination, that he was
disloya;l before. But for what has been done, Washington
might ere this have been a smouldering heap of ruins.
  They have noted the course of public affairs to little
advantage who suppose that the election of LINCOLN was
the real ground of the revolutionary outbreak that has
occurred. The roots of the revolution may be traced back
for more than a quarter of a century, and an unholy lust
for power is the soil out of which it sprang. A prominent
member of the band of agitators declared in one of his
speeches at Charleston, last November or December, that
they had beeit occupied for thirty years in the work of
severing South Carolina from the Union. When General
JACKSON crushed nullification, he said it would revive
again under the form of the slavery agitation, and we have
lived to see his prediction verified. Indeed, that agita-
tion, during the last fifteen or twenty years, has been
almost the entire stock in trade of Southern politicians.



14

 
ON THE PRESENT CRISIS.



The Southern people, known to be as generous in their
impulses as they are chivalric, were not wrought into a
frenzy of passion by the intemperate words of a few fana-
tical abolitionists; for these words, if left to themselves,
would have fallen to the ground as pebbles into the sea,
and would have been heard of no more. But it was the
echo of those words, repeated with exaggerations for the
thousandth time by Southern politicians, in the halls of
Congress, and in the deliberative and popular assemblies,
and through the Press of the South, that produced the
exasperation which has proved so potent a lever in the
hands of the conspirators. The cloud was fully charged,
and the juggling revolutionists who held the wires, and
could at will direct its lightnings, appeared at Charleston,
broke up the Democratic Convention assembled to nomi-
nate a candidate for the Presidency, and thus secured the
election of Mr. LINCOLN. Having thus rendered this cer-
tain, they at once set to work to bring the popular mind
of the South to the point of determining in advance that
the election of a Republican President would be per se
cause for a dissolution of the Union. They were but too
successful, and to this result the inaction and indecision
of the Border States deplorably contributed. When the
election of Mr. LINCOLN was announced, there was rejoic-
ing, in the streets of Charleston, and doubtless at other
points in the South; for it was believed by the conspira-
tors that this had brought a tide in the current of their
machinations which would bear them on to victory. The
drama of secession was now open, and State after State
rapidly rushed out of the Union, and their members with-
drew from Congress. The revolution was pressed on with
this hot haste in order that no time should be allowed for



15

 


LETTER OF THE HON. J. HOLT



reaction in the Northern mind, or for any adjustment of
the Slavery issues by the action of Congress or of the
State Legislatures. Had the Southern members con-
tinued in their seats, a satisfactory compromise would, no
doubt, have been arranged and passed before the adjourn-
ment of Congress. As it was, after their retirement, and
after Congress had become Republican, an amendment to
the Constitution was adopted by a two-thirds vote, declar-
ing that Congress should never interfere with Slavery in
the States, and declaring, further, that this amendment
should be irrevocable. Thus we falsified the clamor so
long and so insidiously rung in the ears of the Southern
people, that the abolition of Slavery in the States was the
ultimate aim of the Republican party. But even this
amendment, and all others which may be needed to furnish
the guarantees demanded, are now defeated by the seces-
sion of eleven States, which, claiming to be out of the
Union, will refuse to vote upon, and, in effect, will vote
against, any proposals to modify the Federal Constitution.
There are now thirty-four States in the Confederacy,
three-fourths of which, being twenty-six, must concur in
the adoption of any amendment before it can become a
Part of the Constitution; but the secession of eleven States
leaves but twenty-three whose vote can possibly be secured,
which is less than the constitutional number.
  Thus we have the extraordinary and discreditable spec-
tacle of a revolution made by certain States professedly
on the ground that guarantees for the safety of their
institutions are denied them, and, at the same time, in-
stead of co-operating with their sister States in obtaining
these guarantees, they designedly assume a hostile atti-
tude, and thereby render it constitutionally impossible to



16

 


ON TIHE PRESENT CRISIS.



secure them. This profound dissimulation shows that it
was not the safety of the South but its severance from
the Confederacy, which was sought from the beginning.
Cotemporary with, and in some cases preceding, these
acts of secession, the greatest outrages were committed
upon the Government of the United States by the States
engaged in them. Its forts, arsenals, arms, barracks,
custom-houses, post-offices, moneys, and, indeed, every
species of its property within the limits of these States,
were seized and appropriated, down to the very hospital
stores for the sick soldiers. More than half a million of
dollars was plundered from the mint at New Orleans.
U nited States vessels were received from the defiled hands
of their officers in command, and, as if in the hope of
consecrating official treachery as one of the public virtues
of the age, the surrender of an entire military depart-
ment by a General, to the keeping of whose honour it
had been confided, was deemed worthy of the commenda-
tion and thanks of the Conventions of several States.
All these lawless proceedings were well understood to
have been prompted and directed by men occupying seats
in the Capitol, some of whom were frank enough to de-
clare that they could not and would not, though in a
minority, live under a Government which they could not
control. In this declaration is found the key which un-
locks the whole of the complicated machinery of this
revolution. The profligate ambition of public men in all
ages and lands has been the rock on. which republics have
been split. Such men have arisen in our midst-men
who, because unable permanently to grasp the helm of
the ship, are willing to destroy it in the hope to command
some one of the rafts that may float away from the wreck.
       B3



17

 


LFTTER OF THE HON. J. HOLT



The effect is to degrade us to a level with the military
bandits of Mexico and South America, who, when beaten
at an election, fly to arms, and seek to master by the
sword what they have been unable to control by the bal-
lot-box.
   The atrocious acts enumerated were acts of war, and
might all have been treated as such by the late Adminis-
tration; but the President patriotically cultivated peace-
how anxiously and how patiently the country well knows.
While, however, the revolutionary leaders greeted him
with all hails to his face, they did not the less diligently
continue to whet their swords behind his back. Immense
military preparations were made, so that when the mo-
ment for striking at the Government of the United States
arrived, the revolutionary States leaped into the contest
clad in full armour.
   As if nothing should be wanting to darken this page of
history, the seceded States have already entered upon the
work of confiscating the debts due from their citizens to
the North and Northwest. The millions thus gained will
doubtless prove a pleasant substitute for those guarantees
now so scornfully rejected. To these confiscations will
probably succeed soon those of lands and negroes owned
by citizens of loyal States; and, indeed, the apprehen-
sion of this step is already sadly disturbing the fidelity
of non-resident proprietors. Fortunately, however, in-
firmity of faith, springing from such a cause, is not likely
to be contagious. The war begun is being prosecuted by
the (Confederate States in a temper as fierce and unspar-
ing as that which characterizes conflicts between the most
hostile nations. Letters of marque and reprisal are being
granted to all who seek them, so that our coasts will soon



18

 


ON TilE PRESENT CRISIS.



swarm with these piratical cruisers, as the President has
properly denounced them. Every buccaneer who desires
to rob American commerce upon the ocean, can, for the
asking, obtain a warrant to do so, in the name of the new
republic. To crown all, large bodies of Indians have
been mustered into the service of the revolutionary States,
and are now conspicuous in the ranks of the Southern
army. A leading North Carolina journal, noting their
stalwart frames and unerring markmanship, observes,
with an exultation positively fiendish, that they are armed,
not only with the rifle, but also with the 8calping-knife
and tomahawk.
  Is Kentucky willing to link her name in history with
the excesses and crimes which have sullied this revolution
at every step of its progress Can she soil her pure
hands with its booty  She possesses the noblest heritage
that God has granted to his children; is she prepared to
barter it away for that miserable mess of pottage which
the gratification of the unholy ambition of her public
men would bring to her lips Can she, without laying
her face in the very dust for shame, become a participant
in the spoliation of the commerce of her neighbours and
friends, by contributing her star, hitherto so stainless in
its glory, to light the corsair on his way Has the war-
whoop, which used to startle the sleep of our frontiers, so
died away in her ears that she is willing to take the red-
handed savage to her bosom as the champion of her rights
and the representative of her spirit Must she not first
forget her own heroic sons who perished, butchered and
scalped, upon the disastrous field of Raisin 
  The object of the revolution, as avowed by all who are
pressing it forward, is the permanent dismemberment of the



19

 


LETTER OF THIE 1ON. J. HIOLT



Confederacy. The dream of reconstruction-used during
the last winter as a lure to draw the hesitating or the
hopeful into the movement-has been formally abandoned.
If Kentucky separates herself from the Union, it must
be upon the basis that the separation is to be final and
eternal. Is there aught in the organization or adminis-
tration of the Government of the United States to justify,
on her part, an act so solemn and so perilous 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 com-
munity or citizen, that it has wronged or oppressed  It
would be impossible.  So far as the Slave States arc
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 founda-
tion.
  The census returns show that during the year 1860 the
Fugitive Slave Law was executed 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 re-
turned, and that, too, without any opposition from the
people. Indeed, the fidelity with which it was understood
to be the policy of the Administration to enforce the pro-
visions 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 unre-
claimed by their masters. Is there found in this, reason
for a dissolution of the Union
  That the Slave States are not recognized as equals in



20

 


ON THE PRESENT CRISIS.



the Confederacy, has for several 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 all respects, the peers of the Free. Of the
fourteen