KENTUCKY. 



565 



freedom of slaves and their deportation to some for- 

 eign country, and has invited the border Slave States 

 (including Kentucky) to liberate their Slaves, with 

 promises of compensation from the Federal Treasury. 



He has set aside the Constitution of the United 

 States by giving his official sanction to an act of Con- 

 gress creating a new State within the territory of 

 Virginia without her consent. 



He has, without constitutional authority, aided in 

 freeing the slaves of the District of Columbia. 



He has, in violation of the Constitution, by procla- 

 mation, declared free all the slaves in many of the 

 States, invited them to vindicate their freedom by 

 force, and sought an alliance with them in a war waged 

 against their masters a monstrous and iniquitous act 

 sanctioned by no law human or divine, finding no 

 parallel in atrocity in the history of barbarous nations. 



He is spending large sums of money, appropriated by 

 Congress for the support of the Army, in feeding and 

 clothing slaves stolen from their masters. 



In view of the foregoing facts, the truth of which 

 cannot be denied, we do firmly believe, and solemnly 

 declare, that any assistance furnished the Executive in 

 the further prosecution of the war upon the basis of 

 his present policy, tends immediately and directly to 

 the overthrow ot both the Federal and State Govern- 

 ments : Wherefore, 



1. Resolved by the General Assembly of the Common' 

 wealth of Kentucky, That Kentucky will, by all con- 

 stitutional means in her power, protect her citizens in 

 the enjoyment of the elective franchise, the benefits of 

 the writ of habeas corpus, the security of their persons 

 and property against the unconstitutional edicts of the 

 Federal Executive, and their enforcement by the Army 

 under his control. 



2. Resolved, That, by the constitution of the State of 

 Kentucky, " the right of the owner of the slave to such 

 slave, and its increase, is the same and as inviolable as 

 the right of the owner to any property whatever ; " 

 that "Kentucky understands her own interests too well 

 to be thankful for gratuitous advice as to the mode in 

 which she should manage them ; and when she wants 

 the assistance of any outside administration of her 

 affairs, she claims the privilege of originating the sug- 



f;stion ;" consequently the proposition made by 

 braham Lincoln, for her to emancipate her slaves, w 

 hereby rejected. 



3. Resolved, That the object and purpose of the war 

 having been perverted by the party now in control of 

 the Government, in violation of its oft-repeated and 

 most solemn pledges, our Senators in Congress are 

 instructed, and our Representatives are requested, to 

 oppose any further aid in its prosecution by furnishing 

 either men or money. 



4. Resolved, That the proclamations of the President, 

 dated September 22d, 1862, and January 1st, 1863, pur- 

 porting to emancipate the slaves in certain States and 

 parts of States, set forth therein, are unwarranted by 

 any code, either civil or military, and of such character 

 and tendency as not to be submitted to by a people 

 jealous of their liberties. 



5. Resolved, That the act of Congress, approved by 

 the President, admitting Western Virginia as a State, 

 without the consent of the State of Virginia, is such 

 a palpable violation of the Constitution as to warrant 

 Kentucky in refusing to recognize the validity of such 

 proceeding. 



6. Resolved, That Kentucky will cordially unite with 

 the democracy of the Northern States in an earnest en- 

 deavor to bring about a speedy termination of the ex- 

 isting war; and to this end we insist upon a suspen- 

 sion of hostilities and an armistice, to enable the belli- 

 gerents to agree upon terms of peace. 



7. Resolved, That commissioners from this State 

 be appointed, whose duty it shall be to visit the Fed- 

 eral and Confederate Governments, at Washington 

 and Richmond, and urge them respectfully to agree 

 upon an armistice for the purposes therein contem- 

 plated. 



3. Resolved, That the Governor <f Kentucky is here- 

 by requested to forward a copy of the foregoing pre- 



amble and resolutions to the President of the United 

 States, and to each of our senators and representatires 

 in Congress. 



On the 29th of January, the minority mem- 

 bers of the Legislature, and a large number of 

 persons from various counties of the State, met 

 in the evening in the Senate Chamber, in the 

 Capitol, and organized a meeting, and adopted 

 the preceding preamble and resolutions in the 

 form in which they had been offered in both 

 Houses of the Legislature. Various proposi- 

 tions were then discussed in reference to call- 

 ing a convention of the people, nominating 

 candidates fjpr State officers and members of 

 Congress, to be chosen at the usual election in 

 August, when the meeting adjourned to the next 

 day. At the second meeting a State Central 

 Committee was appointed, and instructed to 

 call a State Conventi6n to nominate candidates 

 for governor and other officers, to meet at 

 Frankfort on the 18th of February. On the 

 next day, January 31st, this committee issued a 

 call for a Convention. Previous to its meeting 

 an application was made to the Assembly of 

 the Legislature for the use of its hall, which 

 was refused. At the nppointed time the Con- 

 vention assembled at Frankfort, but was soon 

 dispersed by Col. Gilbert, the commander of a 

 regiment of Federal soldiers. On the next day 

 one of the members of the Convention, who 

 was also a member of the lower branch of the 

 Legislature, moved in the House a suspension 

 of the rules, in order to enable him to present 

 the following memorial : 



February 19/A, 1868. 



To the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of 

 Kentucky : 



The undersigned citizens of the State of Kentucky, 

 respectfully represent : That they are citizens of said 

 State, and legal voters under the laws and Constitution 

 thereof; that, in pursuance of public notification, they 

 and many other citizens and voters met at the Metro- 

 politan Hall in the city of Frankfort, on the 18th inst., 

 for the purpose of holding a Democratic Convention, 

 and nominating candidates to be voted for at the next 

 August election for the offices of Governor, Lieutenant- 

 Governor, and other State officers to be elected at that 

 time, in obedience to the Constitution of the State; 

 that they and their associates are peaceable and un- 

 armed citizens, and in no wise connected with any 

 military organization ; that they met in a peaceable 

 and orderly manner, and for a lawful purpose. 



They further state, that soon after they had conven- 

 ed, Col. Gilbert, the military commandant of the post, 

 appeared in said hall, attended by a large military 

 force, surrounding the building, and caused to be read 

 military order No. 3, to the effect that information had 

 been received at headquarters that a large' number of 

 rebel spies and emissaries were present, and requiring 

 all persons not residents of the city or members of the 

 Legislature to report themselves immediately at his 

 headquarters ; but stated that, for mutual convenience, 

 he had brought his adjutant to the hall, and that they 

 could there and then report themselves, and give satis- 

 factory reference as to their identity ; that no person 

 E resent would be permitted to leave the hall, unless 

 y his order, until all had so reported themselves. 

 The Convention, then, with his permission, proceeded 

 to elect a chairman, and made a call of the counties of 

 the State, the delegates present from each county re- 

 porting their names, and giving reference as their 

 counties were respectively called. 



When this was done the Convention was about to 



