ed. The absolute confidence of the Government blinded the people,
and its policy tended rather to quiet, than to excite their enthusiasm.
But whatever may have been the causes, it was for General Johnson to
consider the effect. If, after the war had lasted four months, his
immense department, composed of seceded States, could furnish him only
six thousand troops, when he advanced to Bowlinggreen, with what show of
reason could he count on obtaining from Kentucky--Kentucky that had not
yet seceded, that was divided, distracted by conflicting opinions--the
vast concourse of recruits, which so many professed to expect her to
furnish, and which she was so indignantly denounced for not furnishing?

Could General Johnson have occupied Northern Kentucky without
opposition, and have held it undisturbed for some months, it is highly
probable that all dissensions would have been allayed, that the
revolutionary fever would have spread through Kentucky (perhaps it might
even have been propagated north of the Ohio), and thousands of
Kentuckians would have joined the Confederate army, many of whom were
subsequently its most formidable foes. But it must be remembered that
the Federal Government had not been idle, that the North was on fire
with the war spirit, that a host of sturdy volunteers had been gathered
and organized for the special purpose of holding Kentucky, that, with
the abundant means at its command, the Federal Government had already
efficiently armed its soldiers, and provided all that was necessary for
active and immediate service.

In forty-eight hours after Louisville had fallen, certainly before he
could have brought up the forces to dispute its entrance at any point,
an army from the North, vastly stronger than General Johnson's, could
have been thrown into Kentucky. Could General Johnson have defeated this
army? If defeated himself in such a situation, what would have been the
consequences, not only to his hopes of revolutionizing Kentucky, not
only to the army immediately under his command, but to the Confederate
cause in the West? Would he, then, have been warranted in risking so
much upon this throw? If General Johnson had been constrained to fight
at once, and had been driven back, he would have sustained a disaster,
perhaps fatal. The effect it would have had in Kentucky can easily be
understood, and it would have had some and not a very cheering effect in
more Southern latitudes. The patriotism and integrity