"But these reflections open a scene which must awaken the feelings, and excite the interest, of every friend to his country, who duly appreciates the importance of union.

"We have already seen an attempt made to expose a set of men among us, who some years since were engaged in a scheme of disunion; I mean the Spanish associates. And we have seen the desperate efforts which have been made to suppress the inquiry-to destroy the reputation and credit of those who were making, and those who were supposed to be making, the necessary development. We have seen certain newspapers devoted to the service of the conspirators, and writers prostituted to misrepresent the truth, and to impose falsehood on the public mind. By these means, under the official influence of some of the implicated characters, the public opinion is divided--and the attention of the people diverted from the real object of inquiry, to other matters of little importance to the question. Thus truth and falsehood come to be confounded; the distinctions which should characterize virtue and vice are lost, and the traitor to his country holds the place of the honest citizen. In this way is the public mind to be corrupted; in this way are the people to be prepared for conspiracy, insurrection and disunion. When it shall be clearly manifested that the public mind will bear the traitor in high office; that it will frown on those who shall dare to oppose him; and when the sympathies of the people can be enlisted on the side of the guilty-then shall we be ripe for revolution--then shall we see spring up among us, such men as the Roman Marius, Sylla, Cataline, and Cæsar. For it will then be evident that the public virtue, necessary to sustain a republican government, exists no more. And nothing but foreign war could keep the parts of the union together; nor would the dissoluted parts long retain, if they should assume the republican form. Such is the lesson taught us by the history of other nations.

"The people, if divided on the subject of union, will be made to conquer themselves, by playing the one part against the sther. To divide the people has therefore been a primary ob

ject with the conspirators, past and present. Since "divide and conquer," is a maxim as old as ambition itself. This is the doctrine which the enemies of the American union perfectly understand-it is a principle of which they never lose sight. Divide the people of any country, and a small military force settles the question of government. Thus has France conquered, as well the republics, as the monarchies of Europe. And thus may any people be conquered who permit their loyalty and love of country to be corrupted. Thus may the American union be dissolved, when once the people shall cherish and support those who are publicly convicted of holding principles and advocating measures of disunion.

"The Spanish association was but the germ of the present conspiracy against the union, as Marius, Sylla, and Cataline, produced in Cæsar, the conqueror of his country.

"In 1788 the Kentucky Spanish association was reduced to a plan which had its definite objects; its views were unfolded by the associates, and happily defeated, at that time, by a manifestation of the public will. But the people were never awakened to a full sense of their danger, and having escaped the mischief, they quietly set themselves down, and seem to have retained no suspicion, but with little or no effort, yielded themselves up to the rule of those who would have betrayed them. While the conspirators, possessing much of the wealth of the country, a great share of personal influence, but above all, most of the official power of the old district of Kentucky, by combining, by keeping each other's secrets, by concealing each other's crimes, and by mutually supporting each other's. claims to office and emolument, have contrived to occupy most of the important public offices, under the change of govern-. ment. Nor has there been any man who dared to oppose them, without feeling the effect of their power and their malice, either in his property, his reputation, or his just claims to public promotion. I do not mean to be particular, but I would awaken the public recollection, to which I fear not to appeal upon these observations. To which I will add another: These Spanish associates have been uniformly disaffected to the go

vernment of the union, and under various pretexts have contrived to disaffect a great portion of the people, and sometimes, at some places, almost to the extreme of insurrection. Under the present administration of the federal government, they have been quiet in their places, and no doubt gratified at seeing the government losing its energy and respectabilityits sinews relaxed--its nerves untoned--its whole system debilitated--its visage marked with old age--and its gait tending rapidly to dissolution--the point at which they aimed; and from which it can only be recovered by a sense of the disease, on the part of the people, with whom it rests to apply the proper remedy. A foreign war, however to be deprecated, which should press particularly on the western parts of the union, is perhaps an exception to the universality of the preceding observations, and would have a tendency to excite sympathy, and cement the union.

"This state of things, so afflicting and alarming to the real friend of his country, has given rise to a new conspiracy, for effecting disunion. The outline of which we see traced in the publication from Ohio. The means to produce the end will be various, yet reducible to two primary agents, persuasion, and force. With these, the people are to be assailed, and unless they are prepared for resistance, unless the weapons of the conspirators can be turned with effect against themselves, their purposes will be accomplished.

"Solemnly impressed by a view of the scene before me, greatly devoted to the union of America, and confidently believing that the great body of the people are possessed of public virtue, and attached to the constitution;-I have felt it a duty which I owe to my country, to sound the alarm-to awaken the people to a sense of their danger-to attempt to rally them round the standard of the union; and to call forth an expression of their will, upon a subject so momentous to their future peace and happiness.

"In this attempt I shall not be charged with personal motives, for they are lost in the magnitude of the subject. Besides, it is upon the occasion, and the feeling which it excites, that I

rely for attention. It is the facts and the sentiments, and not the signature, that should influence public opinion. Was there another to perform this task, I would forego it with cheerfulness.

"Indeed, I know that the man who addresses you, with the hope of raising you from your present fatal security, and of convincing your judgments that the Union is in danger, should be little less than a messenger from heaven: such is your confidence in your present rulers:--nor do I wish to diminish that confidence. But I well know that an awakened apprehension of danger, on the part of the people, naturally begets vigilance on the part of governors who prize their safety. I know that a man who addresses a great and magnanimous people, with the hope of commanding their attention, ought to be charged with a gospel, or revelation: Such is the importance of the subject that I now offer to your consideration; and such the people whom I address. Great and magnanimous, they may continue to be. It is but to assume their natural and just character in the American union; it is but to manifest a manly determination to oppose, and to punish, upon all proper occa sions, the intriguer and conspirator in favour of disunion. It is but to take a firm and dignified stand among the western states, in support of the federal government. In this point of view, the local situation of Kentucky is all-commanding. Were it necessary to resort to argument to enforce a conviction of these truths, and I had a mind powerful as the storm, and penetrating as the lightning, I would devote its energies to the attainment of so grateful and brilliant an acquisition; but I take them to be self-evident.

"Had I the tongues of saints and of angels, I would exert their utmost eloquence to impress on your minds the importance of Union.-Union! an idea inspired by Heaven itself, when in the councils of its benevolence, it determined to make this, with the Atlantic portion of America, free and independent. An idea confirmed by the omnipotent God of battles, when he gave to our infant struggles the palm of success, and the laurel of victory. An idea which should be endeared to the heart of every citizen of the United States, by the recollection of an

arduous war, a glorious peace, and an ample territory. An idea which should excite in the mind of every such citizen, a degree of enthusiasm, when he surveys within the comprehension of his country, a variety of genial climates--a diversity of fruitful soils-and a multiplicity of convenient and spacious harbours. The sources of health, wealth, and prosperity. Union!--Rapturous thought! It associates whatever is most desirable to man, and most amiable in life. In union! there are peace, safety, and happiness--there are laws, justice, and humanity--there are morality, religion, and piety--there are the sympathies of the heart, the charities of the soul, the elegancies, comforts, and decorations of life. There are riches, honour, and glory-domestic tranquillity, internal security, civil liberty, and national independence.

"In disunion! what a melancholy and distressing contrast; separate confederacies or state sovereignties; the perpetual rivals, and inveterate enemies of each other. Hence ruthless. jealousy, hot contention, and bloody war-heavy expenses, dissolute morals, private misery, and public distress. These observations, or predictions, need no reasoning to enforce their truth. For if we cannot live in union--we cannot live in peace. The rest follows in the train of war. Let us then penetrate ourselves with the conviction, that union is all-important and essential. Let us teach it as a moral precept to our children, and practice on it as a religious tenet ourselves. Let us guard it as a sacred deposite intrusted to our care by the hand of heaven, and protect it from abuse as we would the altar of our holy religion. Let us believe that it is to our temporal happiness, what a faith in Jesus Christ is to our future felicity.

"These are the tidings which I announce--and the seals of reason and experience, attest their truth.

"Oct. 15th, 1306."

"AN OBSERVER.

The foregoing needs no commentary-its effect has been acknowledged in the course of judicial investigation, and was otherwise known to have animated the country, at least with vigilance.