The Civil War in Kentucky

OCTOBER 5, 1861.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

627

(Previous Page) doubts. But it is not to be done without a blow, nor will it be accomplished before sunset.

A month ago there were many who were ready to relinquish all for lost, because the Secretary of War called for the troops to hasten to Washington. What has happened within that time to persuade them that the rebellion is a bubble ? This rebellion springs out of the perception of sagacious political leaders that the interest of slavery, and with it their power, has forever lost control of the Government of the United States. They have supposed since 1812 and 1820 that it might, that it probably would, lose that control. They resolved when the event came which should convince them that the hour had arrived, to dissolve the Government, peaceably if they could, forcibly if they must. They could not do it peaceably, and they are trying force. But they will try it, and they will be conquered only by superior force. Let us remember that. Let us not suppose that the red cloud which has rolled up from the South is going to dissolve like a morning vapor. They will resist, perhaps not on the Potomac, but wherever and however they can work most harm to their country. For they are cunning and skillful and desperate. Don't believe any escaping officer from their army who says that they are only afraid of an attack from us. Don't let them inveigle our soldiers into any more masked batteries. Our present loose confidence is only the reaction of the terror of a month ago. If we suffer ourselves to be deceived we deserve to be beaten.

PATRIOTISM BEFORE PARTY.

IT is not often that a great, dominant, united political party deliberately renounces its distinctive action, as the Republican party did at Syracuse. Those who have been in the habit of considering it peculiarly prejudiced, and even unpatriotic, can no longer deny that it has taken a more truly noble course than any party in the history of this country. Its Convention clearly perceived, what the Democratic Convention refused to allow, that in a moment of national peril party names and policies and action must be subordinated to the national safety.

It is simply ludicrous to assume, as the Democratic Convention did, that the Democratic party creed and the national existence are of equal importance. The Democratic party, as such, is nothing except the Government be maintained ; and to call it peculiarly the party of the Government is sure to provoke observation of the fact that the leading rebels and traitors against the Government were all in the fullest communion with that party. The one Convention made a party name the test of patriotism; the other recognized patriotism in every party. The first Convention said, "If you are a party Democrat, you are a patriot." The second said, " If you are a patriot, your party name is of no account." If the first be right, there is, as the election will show, but a corporal's guard of loyal men in the Empire State. If the second be right, the overwhelming mass of the citizens are patriotic, whatever their party sympathies may be.

The issue is thus simply made up before the people. There are but two tickets to vote for. One of them will get the vote of every strict party man, and of all who secretly think that the rebels are more than half right. The other will take the votes of men of all parties who believe that the Government must be unconditionally maintained against causeless rebellion.

NEW BEDFORD UPON TRUANTS.

THE church and the school-house—in other words, the conscience and the brain—are said to be the symbols and the safeguards of our system. If at this moment the pocket is asserting its claim to consideration as the chief element, there is no question that it will be put into its proper place, subordinate to the other two. This, at least, is clear : that without the church and the school-house the counting-house is sadly unstable ; and as all trade comes down at last to individual honesty, so all public prosperity is really founded upon private principle and intelligence. Take those away, and prosperity begins to crumble. Establish them in any people, and they will presently prosper.

This was always the New England doctrine. By an old law of Massachusetts Bay no dwelling-house was to be more than a mile from the meeting-house, and one of the earliest provisions of town meetings was always the support of the schoolmaster. The good old tradition survives unimpaired, as the city of New Bedford shows.

That city has lately passed an ordinance which has the honest ring of two hundred years ago. The law requires all children in the city between the ages of five and sixteen, and who have no regular and lawful occupation, to attend some public or private school. All who fail to comply, and all children of the public schools who are habitual truants, shall be fined five dollars for each conviction. Those shall be held to be habitual truants from the public schools who, without sufficient excuse, are absent three or more times in one term. In place of the fine, the Justice may send the truants to the Farm School, where they are to be under the control of the Mayor and Aldermen; who are also to choose, every year, three persons who shall alone be authorized to make the proper complaint, and to carry the sentence into execution. If these truant-officers shall find any pupil of the public schools " loafing" during school hours, without proper excuse, they shall return the truant to the school, if they do not think fit to prosecute, and shall inform the parent or guardian. The Judge of Police is to have jurisdiction of truancy.

This is a simple, direct law. It may save many a boy from becoming a criminal, and the city and State from many an expensive burden. It is a very heavy blow at vagrancy of all kinds, and the best point of it is that it recognizes the duty of every civilized community to do what it can to help its individual members. When, as will surely be the case after this war, the Constitution of the United States is made one of the chief studies

in our schools, this ordinance will compel every citizen to know something of the fundamental law ; and so far will make it impossible for any man to say what a member of Congress once told the Lounger, that he believed there were at least fifty members of the House who had never read the Constitution.

New England may be prim, but she is patriotic. She may be very moral, but she is very mighty. To continue the alliteration, she may be sour, but she is sagacious. In a country where ignorance is penal, you may look for an unparalleled public and private welfare.

THE DEFENDERS OF THE UNION.

M. KNOEDLER, the successor of Goupil & Company, has issued a large and handsome lithograph with the title "The Defenders of the Union." It represents the leading Generals of the United States Army at a council of war. General Scott sits in the fore-ground, with his hand resting upon a map; McClellan is at the end of the table, Fremont at the side of Scott ; while Generals Wool, Butler, Dix, Siegel, McDowell, Heinzlemann, Commodore Stringham, and others, are sitting and standing around the table. The likenesses are striking, and the execution spirited and elegant. It is much the best portrait-gallery of Generals that has yet come to our notice.

HUMORS OF THE DAY.

REGULAR BRIGANDS.—Another Fra Diavolo, we are informed by accounts from Naples, has turned actual friar, and founded a new Order of Monks in the interest of Rome, under the name of the Anthropophagites. The convent fare consists chiefly of roast Liberal—the Liberal generally having been roasted alive. The brothers are allowed to indulge in this luxury every day of the week but Friday, when of course they are forbidden to eat animal food.

The A bend Zeitung says that, in his recent valedictory address to the readers of the Daily News, " the Hon. Ben Wood compares himself to Lazarus. ' Like him,' says Mr. Wood, 'I am not dead but sleeping.' He would have made the comparison much more perfect if he had only protracted it so as to include the remark made on the occasion alluded to by Martha to our Saviour, ' Lord, by this time he stinketh.' "

UTILIZING A NUISANCE. — Mount Vesuvius is showing signs of an eruption. In eruptive cases, we believe, the doctors "throw in," as they say, a black dose. Cialdini should try a large "exhibition" of Neapolitan priests. Even if they did the mountain no good, the country would be all the better for the injection. We would give a trifle to hear their De Profundis.

UNFELINE CONDUCT.—A painful rumor got into circulation the other day at Naples, to the effect that the ex-Queen had committed suicide. The impression was, however, dispelled, and also accounted for, by the more accurate statement (given by one of our contemporaries) that her spirited Majesty had shot a cat that was a favorite with some priests.

REWARD FOR EARLY HOURS. —We say to Young Ladies : "As you prize your beauty, as you value your future prospect, go to bed early. Look at Cinderella! Whenever she went to a ball, she was bidden by her good godmamma to leave off precisely at Twelve. And what was her reward ? Why, she married a Prince!"

"Joe, why were your out so late last night?" "It wasn't so very late—only a quarter of twelve." "How dare you sit there and tell me that? I was awake when you came in, and it was three o'clock." " Well, isn't three a quarter of twelve?"

A doctor returned a coat to a tailor because it did not fit him. The tailor, seeing the doctor at the funeral of one of his patients, said, "Ah, doctor, you are a happy man!" "Why so?" asked the doctor. "Because," replied the tailor, "you never have any of your bad work returned on your hands."

AN ILLIGANT TIME.—"Barney, where have you been ?" "To Widow Mullony's ball, and an illigant time we had of it—four fights in fifty minutes, and a knockdown with the watchman, that left but one whole nose in the house, and that belonged to the tea-kettle. Bedad, the likes was never seen since we 'waked Donnelly.' " From these remarks it will be seen that some people's ideas of the "illigant" differ somewhat from others.

ADVICE GRATIS.—It won't do, when in a hurry, to eat soup with a two-pronged fork, or to try and catch fleas with a net.

A merchant writes to a London paper his complaints of female extravagance, and says his three daughters' clothes cost him £300 per annum. He pretends that he wouldn't grumble if his dinner was always dressed as well as his family.

A coxcomb, talking of the transmigration of souls, said, "In the time of Moses, I have no doubt I was a golden calf." " Very likely," replied a lady, " time has robbed
   you of nothing but the gilding."

"I'm towld they won't take this letther through the post bekase it weighs over half an ounce. What am I to do, honey?" "Why," says Pat, "put another head on it, ye omadhaun." "Bedad!" replies Mike, delighted at his friend's sagacity, " I niver thought o' that. Sure, two heads is betther nor one, anyhow!"

DO YOU GIVE IT UP?

To what church or chapel ought ladies to go who look for the ";hims?"

A chapel of he's (ease).

Without my first you'd appear very strange; My second you like to be;

By whole is what many a lady has worn

At a ball, an assembly, or play.

Nose-gay (nosegay).

Why would an owl not be pleased if you were to call him a partridge?

Because it would be making game of him,.

What is the difference between the Emperor of Russia and a beggar?

One issues manifestoes, and the other manifests his toes.

Why is Punch like the aerial ship?

Because he has not made a trip yet, and never will. When is a fowl's neck like a bell?

When it is rung for dinner (wrung).

A being with two feet has four feet and three feet, and only one voice; but its feet vary, and when it has most it is weakest.

A man in infancy crawls upon all fours, in manhood stands erect upon two feet, and in old age supports his tottering legs with a staff.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

THE WAR IN KENTUCKY.

WAR has been declared by the Legislature of Kentucky, the Union Home Guards being placed under the charge of Brigadier-General Crittenden, and the troops under General Anderson, who has the supreme control of the State arms and ammunition.

The treasonable telegraphic news reporter of the Southern Associated Press, who has been the medium for the transmission of correspondence from traitors at the North to rebels in the South, has, with ex-Governor Morehead and Reuben T. Murrett, one of the proprietors of the Courier—a rebel sheet, the office of which has been forcibly taken possession of, and the paper stopped—been arrested.

The intelligence from Kentucky is of a most cheerful character. The people there are represented as most enthusiastic in favor of the immediate expulsion of all the rebel troops from the State; and no doubt, with the assistance of the Union forces from Indiana and the determination of the Kentuckians themselves, this object will soon be accomplished.

GENERAL ANDERSON'S PROCLAMATION.

The following proclamation has just been issued in Kentucky :

Kentuckians!—Called by the Legislature of this, my native State, I hereby assume command of this department. I come to enforce, not to make laws, and, God willing, to protect your property and your lives. The enemies of the country have dared to invade our soil. Kentucky is in danger. She has vainly striven to keep peace with her neighbors. Our State is now invaded by those who professed to be her friends, but who now seek to conquer her. No true son of Kentucky can longer hesitate as to his duty to his State and country. The invaders must, and, God willing, will be expelled. The leader of the hostile forces who now approaches is, I regret to say, a Kentuckian, making war on Kentucky and Kentuckians. Let all past differences of opinion be overlooked. Every one who now rallies to the support of our Union and our State is a friend. Rally, then, my countrymen, around the flag our fathers loved, and which has shielded us so long! I call you to arms for self-defense, and for the protection of all that is dear to freemen! Let us trust in God, and do our duty as did our fathers.   

ROBERT ANDERSON,

Brigadier-General United States Army.

THE REBEL BUCKNER'S PROCLAMATION.

It is rumored that General Buckner has advanced on Elizabethtown. General Anderson is believed to be advancing to meet him. The Union troops are preparing for any emergency.

The following proclamation has just been received:

TO THE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY.

The Legislature of Kentucky have been faithless to the will of the people. They have endeavored to make your gallant State a fortress, in which, under the guise of neutrality, the armed forces of the United States might secretly prepare to subjugate alike the people of Kentucky and the Southern States. It was not until after three months of covert and open violation of your neutrality with large encampments of Federal troops on your territory, and a recent official declaration of the President of the United States not to regard your neutral position, coupled with a well-prepared scheme to seize an additional point in your territory, which was of such vital importance to the safety and defense of Tennessee, that the troops of the Southern Confederacy, on the invitation of the people of Kentucky, occupied a defensive post in your State. In doing so the commander announced his purpose to evacuate your territory simultaneously with a similar movement on the part of the Federal forces, whenever the Legislature of Kentucky shall undertake to enforce against both belligerents the strict neutrality which they have so often declared. I return among you, citizens of Kentucky, at the head of a force, the advance of which is composed entirely of Kentuckians. We do not come to molest any citizen, whatever may be his political opinion. Unlike the agents of the Northern despotism, who seek to reduce us to the condition of dependent vassals, we believe that the recognition of the civil rights of citizens is the foundation of constitutional liberty; and that the claim of the President of the United States to declare martial law, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and to convert every barrack and prison in the land into a Bastile is nothing but the claim which other tyrants have assumed to subjugate a free people. The Confederate States occupy Bowling Green as a defensive position. I renew the pledges of commanders of other columns of Confederate troops to retire from the territory of Kentucky on the same conditions which will govern their movements. I further give you my own assurance that the force under my command will be used as an aid to the government of Kentucky in carrying out the strict neutrality desired by its people, whenever they undertake to enforce it against the two belligerents alike.

S. B. BUCKNER, Brigadier-General, C. S. A. BOWLING GREEN, Sept. 18, 1861.

KENTUCKY TO BE CONQUERED BY THE REBELS.

The Memphis Appeal thus notifies Kentuckians of the purpose of the rebels regarding the State : "The South needs her territory, and must have it, though at the price of blood or conquest."

INDIANIANS FOR SERVICE IN KENTUCKY.

The Governor of Indiana has gone into Kentucky, by way of Louisville, with guns and ammunition, to aid the Union cause, and has ordered all the troops on the frontier to hold themselves in readiness to follow. It is said that ten thousand additional troops are ready to leave Indiana at twenty-four hours' notice.

THE FALL OF LEXINGTON.

General Price advanced to Lexington, Missouri, with a large body of rebel forces, and on Monday, 16th, called on Acting-General Mulligan to surrender. This latter officer returned a very short but emphatic negative answer; consequently the rebels opened fire, and the battle commenced in earnest, to which the Union troops replied vigorously. Reinforcements for the beleaguered troops were sent out at once from all parts, and it was for some time expected that Mulligan would be able to hold out until they reached him. Intelligence of a reliable character, however, reached Chicago on Saturday that Colonel Mulligan was compelled to surrender to the superior force of the rebel General Price on Friday, who now occupies Lexington. Mulligan was without water, and was therefore reluctantly forced to yield from exhaustion. They had lot 37 killed and 140 wounded, while the loss of the rebels is said to be very heavy.

AFFAIRS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA.

The particulars of the battle at Carnifex Ferry, between General Rosecrans's troops and General Floyd's rebels have reached this city. The campaign in Western Virginia is likely to be far more important than was at that imagined, and the powerful check that General Lee sustained from General Reynolds may have the effect of demoralizing a great portion of the rebel army, as so much was expected from him by officers, men, and civilians.

A FIGHT ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

At Blue Mills Landing, on the Mississippi River, on the 17th inst., a desperate fight took place between 500 of the 1st Iowa Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, and about 4000 of the rebels. After an hour's fighting, Colonel Scott retired slowly and in good order. Afterward Colonel Smith's command came to his aid, but night fell before the fighting could be renewed ; when morning again came the enemy had retired, and there was no one to strive against. In this engagement Lieutenant Scott lost 5 killed, 84 wounded, 6 missing.

WHAT PROPERTY IS LIABLE TO CONFISCATION.

A circular has been issued by Mr. Seward, explanatory of the Confiscating Acts. It concludes as follows : " It will be seen, from an inspection of these provisions of the acts of Congress, that no property is confiscated or subjected to forfeiture except such as is in transit or provided for transit, to or from insurrectionary States, or used for the promotion of the insurrection. Real estate, bonds, promissory notes, moneys on deposit, and the like are,

therefore, not subject to seizure or confiscation in the absense of evidence of such unlawful use.

" All officers, while vigilant in the presentation of the conveyance of property to or from insurrectionary States, or the use of it for insurrectionary purposes, are expected to be careful in avoiding unnecessary vexation and cost by seizures not warranted by law.

" WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

ANOTHER RAILROAD ACCIDENT CAUSED BY ' TREASON.

A sad accident, said to be the result of treason, occurred near Huron, Indiana, on the night of the 17th inst. A railroad bridge, ten feet high, and having a span of sixty feet, gave way under a train of cars containing troops—a portion of the Ninteenth Illinois Volunteers—precipitating nearly the whole of the cars into the bed of the creek. About fifty poor fellows were killed and about a hundred wounded. It is believed that the bridge had been maliciously weakened, and if so it is time some permanent stop should be put to such diabolical agencies of rebels.

LL.D. RUSSELL NOT TO BE EXPELLED THE COUNTRY.

The following letter from the Secretary of State is in response to a petition for the expulsion of the correspondent of the London Times from the country:

" DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, Sept. 21, 1861.

" Many intelligent and patriotic citizens have applied to me by memorial, asking the attention of the Government to what they represent as treasonable matter, contained in a letter bearing the date of Washington, August 10, published in the London Times, and they express their conviction that the statements made in that communication are untrue, and that it is the design of the writer to bring the credit and fame of this Government into disrepute in foreign countries.

"It has been a habit of the Government of the United States to take no notice of representations, however obnoxious, made by the press of foreign nations, or even injurious utterances made by Ministers or other agents for foreign Powers, in the ordinary transaction of their own affairs. The Government, on the contrary, has hitherto recognized as worthy of its observation only the language and the action of the Executive organs of foreign States.

" For myself, I confess I have not read the publication complained of, and I am quite sure that it has not arrested the attention of any other member of the Administration, engrossed, as we all necessarily are, with urgent public duties and cares. However erroneous the facts or the inferences of the writer may be, they nevertheless stand on his own individual authority, while the whole patriotic Press of our own country is free, and is interested to refute them. The Government of the United States depends not upon the favor or good-will of foreign nations, but upon the just support of the American people. Its credit and its fame seem to me now, more than ever heretofore, safe in their keeping.

"If it be assumed that the obnoxious paper may do harm here, is it not a sufficient reply that probably not fifty copies of the London Times ever find their way to our shores? If it be said again that the obnoxious communication has been widely published in the United States, it seems to me a sufficient rejoinder that the censure of a magnanimous Government in that case ought to fall on those of its own citizens who reproduce the libel, rather than on the foreigner who wrote it exclusively for remote publication.

" Finally, interference with the Press, even in the case of an existing insurrection, can be justified only on the ground of public danger. I do not see any such danger in the present case, even if one foreigner does pervert our hospitality to shelter himself in writing injurious publications against us for a foreign Press. A hundred other foreigners as intelligent, as virtuous, and as respectable as he is, are daily enrolling themselves in the Army of the United States, to defend and maintain the Union as the chief hope of humanity in all countries and for all ages. Could there be a better illustration of that great fundamental truth of our system, that error of opinion may safely be tolerated when reason is left free to combat it?

"WM. H. SEWARD,"

DISSENSIONS AMONG THE REBELS.

The following article appears in the Richmond Whig over the initials of "F. M.;" no doubt from the pen of Franklin Miner :

" To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.—The following private letter to the editor is from an old personal friend, but long separated by party, and one first in position and intellect in the great county of Albemarle. It was obviously not designed for publication, but on that very account it may be the better sign of things unseen, and the better serve to enlighten the Administration respecting the temper of the public mind :

"' ALBEMARLE, August 29, 1861.

DEAR MOSELEY,—I am utterly disgusted with your men, Jeff Davis and his man Walker, and I want to know if you will publish my speech if I utter it.

" ' I have a letter just from Manassas. Our troops there one day last week had nothing for breakfast but salt and potatoes; were sent eight miles at double quick to meet a false alarm, and got neither dinner nor supper when they came back to camp. Now, Moseley, it is evident to me that your government is rotten in the head. Davis ought to be spiked up where men can see him. You have won a great victory and got no fruits from it. You have had charge of the government for six months and have done nothing. No meat, no bread, no powder, no wagons, no any thing but salt and potatoes, and yet you sing out, " The Government has the entire confidence of the whole people." Now, it has not mine, and I want to know whether I can get a fair hearing. The only smart thing I have seen is your proposition to postpone the Presidential election. That is excellent—most excellent. I trust that it may save us. If I were in Congress I would refuse one dollar of appropriations for the war, holy though it is, until Walker was turned out, and somebody put in his place with sense enough to attend to the duties of it. I don't know either Davis or Walker, but I have seen enough to raise suspicions in my mind that neither is the right man in the right place. Why, then, talk about the confidence of the people in the Administration ? I don't feel any such confidence myself. I believe I am not singular in my distrust.'"

NEWS FROM THE GULF.

News from the blockading force off Pass a l'Outre represents the Mississippi as hermetically sealed. New Orleans is desolate, and its inhabitants are momentarily fearing an attack and bombardment. The most reliable news from the rebel army represents disease to be prevalent. The National defenses at Fort Pickens were considered impregnable. The Wilson Zouaves were loyal and efficient.

FOREIGN NEWS.
ENGLAND.

ENGLAND TO INTERFERE IN MEXICO.

THE temporary suspension of the order detailing reinforcements to the English army in Canada is announced contemporaneously with the news of the near completion of a grand European coalition for armed intervention in the affairs of Mexico. England and France wore, it was said, to make a demonstration by sea and land, while Spain was to forward troops from Cuba to the republic.

ITALY.

STATE OF AFFAIRS.

The aspect of the Italian question was again serious. The Papal government had flatly denied the statement of Baron Ricasoli as to its evil influence in Italy; and most of the Paris journals supported it in the position. Garibaldi was in Naples with Victor Emanuel, but General Guyon had ordered the French troops in Rome and elsewhere to oppose by force any attempt of the troops of Sardinia to enter the Papal territory. Fresh disturbances had occurred in Poland, and the repressive measures of the Russian army officers were of a very severe character. A meeting of theologians at Palermo had passed resolutions hostile to the temporal sovereignty of the Pope.