is upon us, and the portentous future is hanging over us. There has been a collision, as is known to you, at Fort Sumter, between the forces of the scceded States and those of the National Government, which resulted in the capture of the fort by the army of the Confederate States. In view of this event and of other acts growing out of the secession of seven of the Southern States, the President has issued his proclamation calling out the militia of the States of the Union to suppress what the Proclamation designates a "combination too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshals by law." Let Tennessee, then, prepare thoroughly and efficiently for coming events. In the meantime, let her, as speedily as she can, hold a Conference with her sister slaveholding States yet in the Union, for the purpose of devising plans for the preservation of the peace of the land. Fellowcitizens of Tennessee, we entreat you to bring yourselves up to the magnitude of the crisis. Look in the face impending calamities. Civil war-what is it? The bloodiest and darkest pages of history answer this question. To avert this, who would not give his time, his talents, his untiring energy-his all? There may be yet time to accomplish every thing. Let us not despair. The Border Slave States may prevent this civil war; and why shall they not do it? NEIL S. BROWN, RUSSELL HOUSton, E. H. EWING, C. JOHNSON, JOHN BELL, R. J. MEIGS, NASHVILLE, April 18, 1861. S. D. MORGAN, JOHN II. CALLENDER, -Louisville Journal Army, Washington, D. C.: Tennessee is called upon by the President to furnish two regiments, and the State has, through her Executive, refused to comply with the call. This refusal of our State, we fully approve. We commend the wisdom, the justice, and the humanity of the refusal. We unqualifiedly disapprove of secession, both as a constitutional right and as a remedy for existing evils; we equally condemn the policy of the Administration in reference to the seceded States. But while we, without qualification, condemn the policy of coercion as calculated to dissolve the Union forever and to dissolve it in the blood of our fellow-citizens, and Doc. 62.-LIEUT. JONES' OFFICIAL REPORT. regard it as sufficient to justify the State in refusing her aid to the Government, in its attempt to CARLISLE BARRACKS, Pa., April 20, 1861. suppress the revolution in the seceded States, we The Assistant Adjutant-General, Head-quarters do not think it her duty, considering her position in the Union, and in view of the great question of the peace of our distracted country, to take sides against the Government. wronged no State or citizen of this Union. She has violated the rights of no State, north or south. She has been loyal to all where loyalty was due. She has not brought on this war by any act of hers. She has tried every means in her power to prevent it. She now stands ready to do any thing within her reach to stop it. And she ought, as we think, to decline joining either party. For in so doing, they would at once terminate her grand mission of peace maker between the States of the South and the General Government. Nay, more; the almost inevitable result would be the transfer of the war within her own borders the defeat of all hopes of reconciliation, and the deluging of the State with the blood of her own people. Tennesse has The present duty of Tennessee, is to maintain a position of independence-taking sides with the Union and the peace of the country against all assailants, whether from the North or South. Her position should be to maintain the sanctity of her soil, from the hostile tread of any party. We do not pretend to foretell the future of Tennessee, in connection with the other States, or in reference to the Federal Government. We do not pretend to be able to tell the future purposes of the President and Cabinet in reference to the impending war. But should a purpose be developed by the Government of overrunning and subjugating our brethren of the seceded States, we say unequivocally, that it will be the duty of the State to resist at all hazards, at any cost, and by arms, any such purpose or attempt. And to meet any and all emergencies, she ought to be fully armed, and we would respectfully call upon the authorities of the State to proceed at once to the accomplishment of this object. the night of the 18th inst., I received positive and SIR: Immediately after finishing my despatch of would reach Harper's Ferry in two hours, from Winreliable information that 2,500 or 3,000 State troops creased to 300, were advancing, and even at that chester, and that the troops from Halltown, intime-a few minutes after 10 o'clock-within 20 minutes' march of the Ferry. Under these circumstances, I decided the time had arrived to carry above referred to, and accordingly gave the order out my determination, as expressed in the despatch to apply the torch. In three minutes, or less, both of the Arsenal buildings, containing nearly 15,000 stand of arms, together with the carpenters' shop, which was at the upper end of a long and connected series of workshops of the Armory proper, were in a complete blaze. There is every reason for believing the destruction was complete. mand, marching all night, and arrived here at 24 I am, Sir, very respectfully, your obedient serv't, Doc. 63.-MEETING AT LOUISVILLE, KY. MR. GUTHRIE'S SPEECH. THE Hon. James Guthrie rose amid tremendous cheering. He said: Fellow-citizens, my voice is not very strong, and I fear it cannot be heard all over this great assemblage, but I will try to make it heard. Events press upon us with haste, and we scarcely know what is to come next. When Mr. Lincoln was elected President we all felt that the remedy for a sectional President was in the Union example in the records of time; free and self-governand under the Constitution. We knew we had a ed, without oppression, without taxation to be felt, Senate against him, and hoped that we had the are now going to cut each other's throats; and why? House against him; and there would have been if Because Presidents Lincoln and Davis couldn't settle all men had stood at their posts as Kentucky has the etiquette upon which the troops were to be stood. But certain States chose to take the remedy withdrawn from Fort Sumter. Kentucky is a State into their own hands, and dissolve their connexion in this matter, on the border of the Ohio, with six with the Union; South Carolina first, and then or seven hundred miles of coast bordering upon seven other States followed. They have organized Ohio, Indiana and Illinois-States with whom we a separate Government, and one exercising govern- have ever lived in peace and good fellowship. We mental authority. Louisville spoke carly, decid- have no quarrel with them, and they must have edly, and firmly against a sectional party in the none with us. We have asked the South to stay Union, and under the Constitution. We had a their hands, for we had a great stake in this GovernLegislature called; we have had a Peace Confer- ment, and they have not. We plead with Lincoln ence at Washington, and both failed; the result of for peace, and have not been hearkened to. Shall the deliberations of both Houses of Congress failed we be hearkened to in the din of arms? There will to find a remedy for secession. The Peace Confer- be a time when Kentucky's voice, if she stands firm ence at Washington was equally unsuccessful in on her own soil, fighting with neither section-will solving this dangerous question. Mr. Lincoln was be heard by millions of people of the free States, inaugurated. He gave us his inaugural. It was who will hearken to us and say: Why should construed as an inaugural of peace and as an inau- there be strife between us and you?" I have algural of war. His chosen friends did not know how ways counselled against inconsiderate measures. to take it, and his opponents were divided as to its We are not situated to meet even our border friends meaning. I suspected it; for, like the serpent, it in arms. How long would it take to make the spoke with a forked tongue! [Cheers.] Then the northern bank of the Ohio bristle with men and troops were to be withdrawn from Fort Sumter, and bayonets and cannon hostile to us? Let us stand then not, but were to be furnished with supplies boldly and fearlessly, as is characteristic of Kenonly. Now, in the action of the Southern Confed- tuckians, and cry peace! Hold fast to that we eracy and that of Mr. Lincoln, the friends of both know to be good, and let these men who want to parties find excuses for them; but when it was the make the experiment of secession go as individual peace of the country, and the saving it from war amateurs and find congenial spirits for their work. and bloodshed, then there should have been no in- [Cheers.] I will leave to other gentlemen to dilate terference of etiquette to prevent such a dreadful upon all those subjects. We have men who want calamity. Kentucky spoke as her statesmen have us out at once. Does not that inaugurate war? always spoken, of conciliation, peace, harmony, and Does not that begin to create men of the Northern a final settlement. But war has been inaugurated; border into foes? Keep up your relations of trade Fort Sumter has fallen. The President has issued a and commerce and good fellowship; stand firm by proclamation calling for 75,000 men; but he has the cause and heed the counsels of men who have not told us what he was going to do with them! Is ever counselled peace and harmony and attendant he going to retake Fort Sumter? Is he going to de- prosperity. This thing of breaking the links of a fend Fort Pickens? If so, why does he congregate Government under which we have prospered, is a them at Washington? I was at Washington when hard thing to do. It prostrates the labor of the Lincoln came, and it was like a beleaguered city. husbandman as it has prostrated the business of We heard sounds of martial music, the tramp of merchants. How much better will the business be armed men, and the roll of artillery! And now if war is inaugurated? I tell you that you need not Lincoln wants 75,000 men, where every other believe the telegraphic reports. I know the hearts President has lived like an American citizen, as we and sentiments and feelings that will come forth have lived, and walked, in perfect security among and battle in the free States for us! If the North his fellow-citizens. We learn from the telegraph comes to ravage our land, we will meet them as that State after State is tendering men and money. Kentuckians always meet their foes. We will Is the party now in possession of the Government meet them as Kentuckians should meet them, so going to conquer the seven scceding States, and long as there is a tree for a fortification, or a foot of hold them as subjugated provinces? If they are, land for a freeman to stand upon. [Applause.] I Lincoln should, like an honest man, have told us in am for holding fast to that she knows to be his inaugural, and some say he is an honest man. good, and for her standing firm for right, and for In all these free States sending men and money, we abiding events as heroes should do. Why should a hear no voice of peace, and after his legions have man be scared by the first danger and fly into still drowned the South in carnage, is there to be no greater peril? You were startled at the reports peace? What is the end of all wars-peace! No from Cincinnati; last evening Louisville was exfree people were ever conquered until they were cited; to-day you are reconciled, for there was exterminated. Why shall not the people of Amer- nothing in the reports. You will hear of great ica have peace before, rather than after war, when battles, but you will often hear of great battles that its desolating influence has blighted the land? I were never fought. Now, I don't believe that the want Kentucky to take her stand for peace-overruling Providence that was with us through the [Cheers, and appeal to that still small voice in the North crying for peace. There are religious men from habit, education and from profession, whose hearts, when Kentucky calls for peace, will be reached, and whose voice will reach the powers that be, and we will have peace. What a spectacle we present! A people that have prospered beyond | Revolution, in the councils of the framers of this Government, and has been with us ever since, has deserted us, and I hope He has chosen Kentucky to be the great mediator for the restoration of peace and the preservation of our country. The Hon. Nat. Wolfe, from the Committee on Resolutions, reported the following preamble and resolutions, which were adopted with hardly a dis- | latter is to march upon the City of Washington and senting voice: capture the Capitol, and when, in its march thither, it must pass through States which have not yet renounced their allegiance to the Union. 4. That secession is a remedy for no evil, real or imaginary, but an aggravation and complication of existing difficulties. 5. That the memories of the past, the interests of the present, and the solemn convictions of fu ture duty and usefulness in the hope of mediation, prevent Kentucky from taking part with the seceding States against the General Government. 6. That "the present duty of Kentucky is to maintain her present independent position, taking sides not with the Administration, nor with the scceding States, but with the Union against them both, declaring her soil to be sacred from the hostile tread of either, and if necessary, to make the declaration good with her strong right arm." 7. That to the end Kentucky may be prepared for any contingency, "we would have her arm herself thoroughly at the earliest practicable moment," by regular legal action. Events of commanding importance to the future safety and honor of Kentucky have occurred which call for action on the part of her citizens; and every consideration of self-interest, and every dictate of wisdom and patriotism must prompt our State to maintain most resolutely her position of loyalty. Situated on the border of the Slave States, with 700 miles of territory exposed to the hostile attack, should the Union be divided into two separate sovereignties, and with but one million of population to oppose the four or five millions of the States contiguous to her, which might become unfriendly, Kentucky owes it to herself to exercise a wise precaution before she precipitates any course of action which may involve her in an internecine war. She has no reason to distrust the present kindly feelings of the people who reside on the north bank of the Ohio River, long her friendly neighbors, and connected by a thousand ties of consanguinity; but she must realize the fact that if Kentucky separates from the Federal Union and assumes her sovereign powers as an independent State, that Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, remaining loyal to the Federal Union, must become her political antagonists. If Kentucky deserts the Stars and Stripes, and those States adhere to the flag of the Union, it seems impossible to imagine a continuance of our old friendly relations when constantly-recurring causes of irritation could not be avoided. It is from no fear that Kentucky would not always prove herself equal to the exigencies of any new position she might see proper to assume, and from no distrust of the bravery of her sons, that these suggestions are made; but as, "when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, a decent respect to the Fellow-Citizens: Whose flag is that which waves opinions of mankind requires that they should de- over us? To whom does it belong? Is it not yours, clare the causes which impel them to the separation," is it not our own Stars and Stripes, and do we mean so an equal necessity exists that we should not dis- ever to abandon it? That flag has ever waved over solve those bands with our friends and neighbors Kentucky soil with honor and glory. It is our flag without calling to our aid every suggestion of pru-it is my flag-it is Kentucky's flag! When that dence, and exhausting every effort to reconcile difficulties, before taking steps which cannot be retraced, and may lead to exasperation, collisions, and eventual war; therefore be it Resolved, 1. That, as the Confederate States have, by overt acts, commenced war against the United States, without consultation with Kentucky and their sister Southern States, Kentucky reserves to herself the right to choose her own position, and that while her natural sympathies are with those who have a common interest in the protection of Slavery, she still acknowledges her loyalty and fealty to the Government of the United States, which she will cheerfully render until that Government becomes aggressive, tyrannical, and regardless of our rights in slave property. 2. That the National Government should be tried by its acts, and that the several States, as its peers in their appropriate spheres, will hold it to a rigid accountability, and require that its acts should be fraternal in their efforts to bring back the seceding States, and not sanguinary or coercive. 3. That, as we oppose the call of the President for volunteers for the purpose of coercing the seceding States, so we oppose the raising of troops in this State to coöperate with the Southern Confederacy, when the acknowledged intention of the 8. That we look to the young men of the Kentucky State guard, as the bulwarks of the safety of our Commonwealth, and that we conjure them to remember that they are pledged equally to fidelity to the United States and Kentucky. 9. That the Union and the Constitution, being mainly the work of Southern soldiers and statesmen, in our opinion furnish a surer guaranty for "Southern Rights" than can be found under any other system of government yet devised by men. The Hon. Archie Dixon then spoke as follows: MR. DIXON'S SPEECH. Turning to the flag which graced the stand, he said: flag is trailed in the dust and destroyed, I pray Heaven that the earth may be destroyed with it, for I do not wish, and I trust I shall never look upon its dishonor. It is our flag-ours while we have a country and a Government. I shall never surrender that flag. I have loved it from boyhood, and have watched it everywhere, and imagine it in this dark hour still waving amid the gloom, and feel that its stars will still shine forth in the smoke of battle, and lead our country back to honor and glory! Why is our country so stricken down, and why is our glory shaded in gloom-our Constitution and Government destroyed? What cause has brought about all this difference between the North and the South? Some say it was the Territories. Some say the Government wars on the South; that Mr. Lincoln was elected as a sectional candidate, and on a principle of hostility to an institution of the South. It is true. But has the Government ever warred on the South? This contest should be with Mr. Lincoln, and not with that flag-with the Union! It is Lincoln and his party who are the enemies of the country-they are the foes of the Constitution. [Cheers.] It is that party of the North whose purpose is to sever the States. It is with them that we should war, and not with the Government—the Union under which we have been so prosperous. Look to the history of the country and tell me, has the Government ever made war on the South? I boldly affirm it that the amendment to the Constitution, which affects Southern interests, has been made at the instance of Southern men. Was not the act of 1850 enacted at the instance of Southern men, and was it not framed and advocated by our own immortal statesman-Kentucky's noble and gallant Clay? The principle upon which all our Territories have been organized holds that people who owned slaves might take them there, and the Territories could be admitted as Slave States. Those acts thus providing are still in force. The South asked for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and it was done. What next? Even since the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, his party has given sanction to three new Territories under the same existing laws. All have the right to take their slaves there. What, then, is the cause of our difficulty? Look at it clearly. Is it the tariff? Was it not made as the South wanted it, and was it not South Carolina who changed it? Did not the General Government change the then existing value of silver and gold for the benefit of the South? We were told the other day that if Lincoln was elected his intention was to destroy Slavery. Did he not declare that the Fugitive Slave law should be enforced? How has it been done? Were not five slaves only lately taken from Chicago and delivered to their owners? He declares he will enforce the laws, and not interfere with Slavery. Then why this war? I will tell you why. Because Mr. Lincoln has been elected President of the country, and Mr. Davis could not be, and therefore a Southern Confederacy was to be formed by Southern demagogues, and now they are attempting to drag you on with them. That is the plain state of the case. Demagogues at the North and demagogues at the South have divided the country; they would strike the dagger to the hearts of their brothers; they inaugurated the civil war raging, and wish to drag you on with them. I say, for my part, I am not to be forced. I will not be driven to desert my country and my country's flag, nor turn to strike my dagger at her heart, but ever stand forward to defend her glory and her honor. What are we to do with South Carolina and her seceded sisters? Do you mean to tell me they will come back? What if you give them over, will they ever come back? They have turned their backs on their country, and now they want you to march with them. In a just cause I will defend our State at every point and against every combination; but when she battles against the law and the Constitution, I have not the heart-I have not the courage to do it! I cannot do it-I will not do it! Never! strike at that flag of our country-follow Davis to tear down the Stars and Stripes, the eagle which has soared so high aloft as the emblem of so mighty a nation-give up that flag for the Palmetto-strike that eagle from his high place and coil around the stars the rattlesnake! The serpent stole into the garden of Eden and whispered treason to Heaven in the ear of Eve. And now the serpent would seduce us from our allegiance to our country. Were it possible for him to coil himself around the flag, I would tear him from the folds and crush him beneath my feet. The rattlesnake for the eagle! If you follow the serpent your fate will be as Adam's. Measureless woe, for all generations, has been that fate. Hell Doc.-16 now was created because of that treason to Heaven, and if we follow after the serpent our fate will be to sink into the hell of Secession. This is the fate which befalls you if you follow Davis. But you must take a position. One side advises us to go out, while some say remain in the Union. They tell us that we are bound to fight, no matter how we decide. Kentucky is always ready to fight. She was born to fight when necessary, and when the soil of Kentucky is stained with blood, and the spirit of her sons aroused, let her enemies tremble! But she should ever fight upon the right side. But why is the Union broken up? Is it not because Lincoln is President? How long is his rule to last? In the history of nations, what is four years? How soon will he be dragged down and another and a better man raised to his high place? The American people are powerful when they are aroused to action, but they should act calmly. Now they are wild with excitement and act without judgment. What would we do if invaded? We would fly from house to house and rush together, but would we be in any capacity to defend ourselves? Calmness and not excitement should characterize us. Seven States have seceded, and the General Government attempts to enforce the laws. The war commences and blood is shed, and forces are ready arrayed against each other in hostile action. If we move out, what is our fate? Who is to defend? How are you to defend yourself if you go out of the Union? If you do, you at once declare war against the Union-you oppose the Stars and Stripes. We have a million of white population resident in a State only separated by the Ohio River from Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio, with a population of five millions. Through each State are numerous railroads, able to transport an army in a few days to our doors. What roads have we but those to Nashville and Lexington? And what can we do with them? In sixty days the North can. pour an army of one hundred thousand men upon every part of us. What can we do? The State could raise perhaps sixty thousand men for her defence, but what can they do? Can they save your State and your city? From the heights beyond the river they can bombard your city and destroy it. They can cut off all communication with the South, and every foot of Kentucky soil eventually become desecrated by the invader. Can the South help you? She has got more than enough to do to defend herself, for the North can with her fleet cut off all communication with the outside world, and by the Mississippi River with Western States, and actually starve the South into subjection. One hope for Kentucky remains-stand still, with the Border States, and defy invasion from either side. My sympathies are wholly with the South, but I am not prepared to aid her in fighting against our Government. If we remain in the Union we are safe; if we go out we will be invaded; if we hold as we are we are safe, if we go out we will be overpowered. There is but one position to assume for honor and safety, and that position taken we can save the country. Another point: If an army invades us can we save, can we protect, our homes aud families? When, in our city, the sentinel struts the streets, and we are powerless before him, who is to protect our families? Those who have plenty of money can flee, but what is the poor man to do? He will have to fight. Think of it-who is to protect them then from brutality and shame, our Judge Bullock was generally called for, and responded in a clear, forcible, and logical speech, indorsing the spirit of the preamble and resolutions adopted, and urging Kentucky to pursue the course laid down in them as the safest, wisest, and most noble for the first-born of the Union. His speech was characterized by that eloquence of diction so well known as an attribute of Judge Bullock's oratorical efforts. He was frequently interrupted in the course of his remarks by cheers and applause. The Hon. John Young Brown followed in a speech unsurpassed in power and brilliancy. This gifted young orator rehearsed the history of the last Congress, the efforts for compromise, the surrender by the Republicans of the fundamental idea of the Chicago platform, in the positive non-extension of Slavery in the formation of the new Territories. He held his audience spell-bound, as it were, for more than an hour, as he poured out burning words of indignation upon those who have brought the country into its present unfortunate condition, or depicted the horrors of civil war. He earnestly urged the neutrality of Kentucky in the present crisis, as the best and most practicable position for Kentucky to maintain her integrity in the Union, and to mediate between the antagonistic sections. The meeting, which was entirely orderly, adjourned after giving rounds of cheers for the Union and for the American flag. -Louisville Journal, April 21. city from pillage and destruction? And it will surely befall us if we do not stand by our flag. We do not mean to submit to Lincoln. He has commanded us to send troops. We send word that Kentucky will not do it. Will he compel us? Let him not dare it! Let him not rouse the sleeping lions of the Border States. She sleeps nowstill and quiet, but it is not from lack of strength, courage, or power. She waits for the assault. Let it come, and, roused, she will crush the power that assails, and drag Mr. Lincoln from his high place. Can he make Kentucky help him kill? He has a right to demand troops, and he did. Glendower could, as he said, call spirits from the vasty deep, but would they come when they were called? Will the troops from Kentucky come at his call? No, they will never lend themselves to such a cause. But, Kentucky will stand firm with her sister Border States in the centre of the Republic, to calm the distracted sections. This is her true position, and in it she saves the Union and frowns down Secession. Let us wait for reason to resume her seat. Let us not fight the North or South, but firm in our position tell our sister Border States that with them we will stand to maintain the Union, to preserve the peace, and uphold our honor, and our flag, which they would trail in the dust. We will rear ourselves as a rock in the midst of the ocean, against which the waves, lashed by sectional strife, in fury breaking, shall recoil and overwhelm those who have raised them! If we give up the Union, all is lost. There will then be no breakwater, but instead, Kentucky will be the battle-ground-the scene of a conflict between brethren-such a conflict as no country has yet witnessed. But if we Doc. 64.-MAJOR ANDERSON'S DESPATCHES take the true stand, the tide of war and desolation will be rolled back on both sides. If we must fight, let us fight Lincoln and not our Government. To go out of the Union is to raise a new issue with the North and turn the whole country against you. The ship of state is one in which we all sail, and when thus launched into the ocean, and about to founder because part of the crew rebel against the commander, it is the duty of all, unhesitatingly, to aid and save. Safety demands that we stand by the flag, by the Government, by the Constitution! In the distance you hear the shouts of men and the roaring of cannon. The foemen are gathering for the dreadful conflict, and when you cut loose from the Union it is to take a part. But you are secure from both as long as you remain neutral. You are to determine now. Examine all the points; look where you are going before you take the step that plunges you into ruin, and, calmly reasoning, free from excitement, determine to stand forever by the country, the Constitution, and the Stars and Stripes, and be still the mightiest nation the world ever saw. Judge Nicholas made a beautiful, eloquent, and patriotic speech, which was greatly applauded, and closed by offering a series of resolutions, the last of which, as follows, was adopted, the balance Doc. 65.-PROCLAMATION OF THE GOVERbeing withdrawn: Resolved, That we hail in Major Robert Anderson, the gallant defender of Fort Sumter against overwhelming odds, a worthy Kentuckian, the worthy son of a patriot sire, who has given so heroic an example of what ought always to be the conduct of a patriot soldier, in the presence of the armed assailants of his country's flag; that he, his officers, and men, have well earned the admiration and gratitude of the nation. TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT. STEAMSHIP BALTIC, OFF SANDY Нook, April 13, 1861. SIR-Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty- NOR OF MARYLAND. TO THE PEOPLE OF MARYLAND. -Times. THE unfortunate state of affairs now existing in the country has greatly excited the people of Maryland. In consequence of our peculiar position, it is not to be expected that the people of the State can unanimously agree upon the best mode of preserv ing the honor and integrity of the State, and of |