No rational men does or can entertain a doubt, that Kentucky, if she secede from the Union, will, by the speediest of operations, be drained of her slaves––that there will be upon her soil at the end of two or three years at farthest no slaves except those, who, from their helplessness, will be a burden to their owners.
Men clearly see all this, and they are preparing for it. A great many are making arrangements to quit Kentucky with their slaves in the event of her secession and to establish themselves further South where slave stampedes into free territory will be less easy. Men have deposited money in our banks, state in that they will have no occasion for it if Kentucky remains in the Union, but that, if she shall secede, they will need it to purchase and open Southern plantations.
Every Kentuckian, who advocates secession, is, consciously, an enemy of his State, and the very worst and most pestilent kind of a practical abolitionist.––Louisville Journal
"Kentucky and Secession," Cleveland (OH) Herald, February 28, 1861, p. 2.