We trust and believe that the gallant
State of Kentucky cannot much longer look with indifference upon the efforts now being made to enslave her mother,
Virginia, and her sister States of the
South.
Can she who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, remain a passive spectator of the movements of vasts armies to crash out liberty and independence in the
South?
Can she look from her lofty hills upon the
Ohio, and see droves of those swine overrunning our Western territory, the farms and houses of her own kindred, and not born to cross the border and avenge such insults and wrongs?
She is not the
Kentucky of olden time, if she can remain neutral much longer.
Missouri has defied the oppressor to his teeth;
Maryland, gallant
Maryland, is only held down by force of arms, and if free, like
Kentucky, would lead the vanguard of the
South; and thus the whole slaveholding South, with the exception of
Kentucky, has rallied to the banner of Independence.
Surely, the leaders in that State who counsel neutrality, may well question the correctness of their judgment, when they find
Kentucky thus standing alone in the
Southern panel the only dissenting voice in a body whose interests, institutions and people are identical with her own. Let
Kentucky ask this question — Does any free State stand neutral?
As to the alleged deficiency of arms, we could almost wish that the phrase ‘"improved arms"’ had never been heard of. If the descendants of the men of '76 and of 1812, cannot defend their liberties with the same weapons with which their fathers achieved and maintained them, they do not deserve to be free.
There never yet has been a weapon invented more formidable in a brave man's hands than the old fashioned musket and the old
Virginia rifle.
With all the ‘"improved arms"’ in the hands of our enemies, they have not yet been able to kill half a dozen Southern soldiers since the beginning of the war.
