Lincoln
and his military subordinates. While yet holding an important
political trust, confided by Kentucky, I was compelled to leave
my home and family, or suffer imprisonment and exile. If it is
asked why I did not meet the arrest and seek a trial, my answer
is, that I would have welcomed an arrest to be followed by a
judge and jury; but you well know that I could not have secured
these constitutional rights. I would have been transported
beyond the State, to languish in some Federal fortress during
the pleasure of the oppressor. Witness the fate of Morehead and
his Kentucky associates in their distant and gloomy prison.
"The case of the gentleman just mentioned is an example of many
others, and it meets every element in a definition of despotism.
If it should occur in England it would be righted, or it would
overturn the British Empire. He is a citizen and native of
Kentucky. As a member of the Legislature, Speaker of the House,
Representative in Congress from the Ashland district, and
Governor of the State, you have known, trusted, and honored him
during a public service of a quarter of a century. He is eminent
for his ability, his amiable character, and his blameless life.
Yet this man, without indictment, without warrant, without
accusation, but by the order of President Lincoln, was seized at
midnight, in his own house, and in the midst of his own family,
and led through the streets of Louisville, as I am informed,
with his hands crossed and pinioned before him--was carried out
of the State and district, and now lies a prisoner in a fortress
in New York Harbor, a thousand miles away.
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