Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1862-12-11

Physically speaking, we cannot
separate. We cannot remove our re-
spcctive sections from each other,
nor build an impossible wall between
them. A husband and wife may be
divorced and 60 out of the presence
and beyond the reach of each other |;
but the different parts of our country
cannot do this, They cannot but re.
main face to face and intercourse,
either amicablc or hostile, must con.
tinue between them. Is il possible,
then, to make that intercourse more
advantageous or more satisfactory
after separation than before? Can
aliens make treaties, easier than
friends can make laws? Can treaties
be more faithfully enforced between
aliens than laws can among friends !?
Suppose you go to war, you cannot
fight always and when, after much
loss on both sides, and no gain on the
other. you cease fighting, the identic-
al old questions, as to terms OF inter
course, are again upon you" ....
There is no line, straight or crook
ed, suitable for national boundary
upon which to divide. Trace through
from east to west, upon the line be-
tween the free and slave country, and
we shall find a little more than one
third of its length are rivers, easy to
bc crossed, and populated. or soon to
be populated, thickly upon both sides;
while nearly all its remaining length
are merely surveyors lines, over which
people may walk back and forth with
out any consciousness Of their pres
ence. No part Of this line can be
made any more difficult to pass by
writing it down on paper or parch-
ment as a national boundary.
The fact of separation, If it comes,
gives up on the part of the seeding
section, the fugitive slave clause
along with all other constitutional OBJ
| legations, upon the section seeded
from, while should expect no treaty
stipulation would ever be made to take
its place.
But there is another difficulty. The
great interior region, bounded east by
the Alleshanies, north by the British
Dominious, west by the Rocky Noun
tains. and south by the line along
which the cultivation Of corn and cot
{ ton meets, and which includes part of
/ Nirgini,, part of Tennessee. all of Ken
f tucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wis
cousin, Illinois. Missouri, Kansas, Iowa,
Minnesota, aud the territories of Da-
+ cotah, Nebraska, and part Of Colora,
4 do has about ten millions of people,
and will have fifty millions within iif.
~ years If not prevented by any pc.
I litical fDlly or mistake. 1t contains
more than one-third of The country
owned by the United States-certain
ly more than one million Of square
miles. Once half as populous as Mas.
sachnsetts already is, it would have
more than scventy-fve millions of peo-
pie. A glance at the map shows that,
tcrritorially speaking. it is the great
body Of the Republic. The other
parts are but marginal borders to it.
The magnificent region sloping west
from the Rocky Mountains to the Pa
cific being the deepest and also the
richest in undcvcloped resources. In
the production of provisions, grains
grasses, and all which proceeds from
then, this great interior region is natu
rally one of the most important i'm The
world. Ascertain from the statistic,
the small proportion of the region
, which has as yet brought into cnltiva
| nj, hn 10 nd -,
crcasing amount of it's products, ant
we shall be overwhelmed with tn,
magnitude of the prospect presented
And yet this region has no sea-coas
and touches no ocean any where.
As part of one nation, its peo
pie now find and may forever find
their way to Europe by New York, e
South America and Africa by New Or
leans, and to Asia by San Francisco
But separate our common country into
two nations, as designed by the pres
ent rebellion, and every man in this
great interior region is thereby Cut
off from some one or more Of these
outlets, not perhaps by a physical bar
rier, but by embarrassing and onerous
trade regulations. And this is true
wherever dividing or boundary line
may be fixed. Place it between the
now free and slave country. or place
it south Of Kentucky, or north of Ohio
and still the truth remains that none
south Of it can trade at any port Oh
place north of it, and none north of il
can trade at any port or place south
OF it, except upon terms dictated by
a government foreign to them. These
outlets, East, West and South, are in.
dispensablc to the wcll-being of tho
people inhabiting, and to inhabit, this
vast interior region.
Which of the three may be the best
is no proper question. All are better
than either, aud all of right belong to
that people aud their Successors forcv.
err True to themselves, they will not
ask where line of separation shall
be, but will vow rather that there
shall be no such line.
Nor are the marginal regions less
interested in these communications
to and through them to the great out
side world. They too, and each one
of them, must have access to their
Egypt of the West without paying
toll at the crossing of any national
boundary.
Our national strife springs not from
our permanent part, not from the land
we inhabit, not from our national
homestead. There is no possible
severing of this but would multiply,
not mitigate, evils among us. In
all its adaptations and aptitudes it de-
mands union and abhors separation.
In fact. it would ere long force re-
union, however much Of blood and
treasure the separation might have
cost. Our strife pertains to ourselves,
to the passing generation, and it can,
not without convulsion, be hushed for
ever, with the passing Of one genera
ton.
With this view / recommend the
adoption of the following resolution
and articles amendatory to the consti-