Volume I Part 34 (2/2)
”B. Magoffin.”
”Was.h.i.+ngton, August 24, 1861.
”To his Excellency B. Magoffin, Governor of the State of Kentucky.
”Sir: Your letter of the 19th instant, in which you 'urge the removal from the limits of Kentucky of the military force now organized and in camp within that State,' is received.
”I may not possess full and precisely accurate knowledge upon this subject; but I believe it is true that there is a military force in camp within Kentucky, acting by authority of the United States, which force is not very large, and is not now being augmented.
”I also believe that some arms have been furnished to this force by the United States.
[pg 389]
”I also believe this force consists exclusively of Kentuckians, having their camp in the immediate vicinity of their own homes, and not a.s.sailing or menacing any of the good people of Kentucky.
”In all I have done in the premises, I have acted upon the urgent solicitation of many Kentuckians, and in accordance with what I believed, and still believe, to be the wish of a majority of all the Union-loving people of Kentucky.
”While I have conversed on this subject with many of the eminent men of Kentucky, including a large majority of her members of Congress, I do not remember that any one of them, or any other person except your Excellency and the bearers of your Excellency's letter, has urged me to remove the military force from Kentucky, or to disband it. One very worthy citizen of Kentucky did solicit me to have the augmenting of the force suspended for a time.
”Taking all the means within my reach to form a judgment, I do not believe it is the popular wish of Kentucky that this force shall be removed beyond her limits; and, with this impression, I must respectfully decline to so remove it.
”I most cordially sympathize with your Excellency in the wish to preserve the peace of my own native State, Kentucky. It is with regret I search for, and can not find, in your not very short letter, any declaration or intimation that you entertain any desire for the preservation of the Federal Union.
”Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.”
”Commonwealth of Kentucky, Executive Department,
”Frankfort, August 24, 1861.
”Hon. Jefferson Davis, Richmond, Virginia.
”Sir: Since the commencement of the unhappy difficulties pending in the country, the people of Kentucky have indicated a steadfast desire and purpose to maintain a position of strict neutrality between the belligerent parties. They have earnestly striven by their policy to avert from themselves the calamity of war, and protect their own soil from the presence of contending armies. Up to this period they have enjoyed comparative tranquillity and entire domestic peace.
”Recently a military force has been enlisted and quartered by the United States authorities within this State. I have on this day addressed a communication and dispatched commissioners to [pg 390] the President of the United States, urging the removal of these troops from the soil of Kentucky, and thus exerting myself to carry out the will of the people in the maintenance of a neutral position. The people of this State desire to be free from the presence of the soldiers of either belligerent, and to that end my efforts are now directed.
”Although I have no reason to presume that the Government of the Confederate States contemplate or have ever proposed any violation of the neutral att.i.tude thus a.s.sumed by Kentucky, there seems to be some uneasiness felt among the people of some portion of the State, occasioned by the collection of bodies of troops along their southern frontier. In order to quiet this apprehension, and to secure to the people their cherished object of peace, this communication is to present these facts and elicit an authoritative a.s.surance that the Government of the Confederate States will continue to respect and observe the position indicated as a.s.sumed by Kentucky.
”Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
”B. Magoffin.”
”Richmond, August 28, 1861.
”To Hon. B. Magoffin, Governor of Kentucky, etc.
”Sir: I have received your letter informing me that 'since the commencement of the unhappy difficulties pending in the country, the people of Kentucky have indicated a steadfast desire to maintain a position of strict neutrality between the belligerent parties.' In the same communication you express your desire to elicit 'an authoritative a.s.surance that the Government of the Confederate States will continue to respect and observe the neutral position of Kentucky.'
”In reply to this request, I lose no time in a.s.suring you that the Government of the Confederate States neither desires nor intends to disturb the neutrality of Kentucky. The a.s.semblage of troops in Tennessee, to which you refer, had no other object than to repel the lawless invasion of that State by the forces of the United States, should their Government seek to approach it through Kentucky, without respect for its position of neutrality. That such apprehensions were not groundless has been proved by the course of that Government in the States of Maryland and Missouri, and more recently in Kentucky itself, in which, as you inform [pg 391] me, 'a military force has been enlisted and quartered by the United States authorities.'
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