The New York Times editor laments the loss of Frankfort, and expects that anti-Unionist outrages will likely ensue But maybe it’ll arouse some Union ire. He predicts the confederates will install John C. Breckinridge as military governor, which isn’t a bad guess, him being the local favorite.
KENTUCKY’S CAPITAL GONE– The destruction of bridges by the rebels, on the railroad between Frankfort and Louisville, shows that they are in complete control of the capital and entire interior of that State. The Governor had previously removed to Louisville, with the Legislature; and we presume the State archives are all safe. Still, the fact that the capital of Kentucky is in the hands of the rebels, as well as the present capital of Maryland, is a mortifying fact, and should certainly inflame the patriotism of the two States and beget a feeling of resentment that the loyalists in no part of the country have yet manifested.
In Kentucky, the rebel rule will doubtless be extremely severe. The lines have been tightly drawn in that State, nearly a year, and the bitterest feuds exist between the Unionists and secession sympathizers. The latter will gloat in the present opportunity to be revenged, and immense waste of Union property and severe persecution of active and outspoken Union families must ensue. But all this, in the end, will work out good, and tend to break down the “wall of partition” that, in spite of good intentions on both sides, has too much separated the Unionists of the Free and of the Border States in times past.
The Provisional Governor of Kentucky chosen last year by the rebels, was killed at Shiloh, and we have never heard that a successor to him was named. If they have such an officer, he might easily issue his “proclamations” from the State Capitol at Frankfort, and thus have the semblance, at least, of a rightful Government. But this trick will, perhaps, be omitted now, as it was so shallow and so fruitlessly played before as to be despised. BRECKINRIDGE will probably be appointed Military Governor, and no effort be made to organize a State Government.