The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-12-06

United States is well adapted to the home o,
one national family. 1t is we'll adapted for
two or more. Its vast extent and its vari.
ETY. OF climate and productions are Of advan.
tage in the age of our people, whatever they
might have been in former ages. Steam
and telegraph and intelligence, have brought
these to be an advantageous combination for
one united people,
In the Inaugural Address I briefly point.
ed out the total insdequacy of disunion as a
remedy for difficulties between the people
OF the two sections. did so in language
which cannot improve and which, there.
fore, | beg to repeat.
One section of our country believe slavery
is right and ought to be extended, while the
other believes it to be wrong and ought not
to be extended. This is the only substan.
tial dispute. The fugitive slave clause OF
the constitution and the law, for the sup.
preston of the African slave trade, are each
as well enforced, perhaps, as any law con
ever be in community where the moral
sense of the people inpsrfectly support the
the laws itself. The great body of the PEG.
pie abide by the legal obligations in both
cases and a few break over each. This |
think cannot be perfectly cured, and il
would be worse in both instances after the
separation Of the sections than before. The
foreign slave trade, now imperftctly sup
pressed, would be ultimately, revived with
out restriction in one section, while fugitives
now only patially surrendered, would not be
surrendered at all in tho other. 20 .v
Physically speaking, we cannot separate,
we cannot remove our respective 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 part Of our country cannot dc
this. They cannot but remain, face to face
and intercourse, either amicable or hostile
must continue between them. Is it possible
then to make that intercourse more advan.
tageous or more satisfactory after separation
than before. Can aliens make treaties eas
ser than friends can make laos? Can
treaties be more faithfully enforced between
aliens than laws can among friends. Sup.
pose you go to war, you cannot fight al.
ways, and when after much loss on both
sides, and no gain on either, you cease fight
ing, and the identical old questions AZ to'in
tercourse are upon US. There is no line
straight OF crooked. suitable fora national
boundary upon which to divide. Trace
through from east to west, upon line be.
tween the free and slave country and we shall
find little more than one third of its length
are rivers easy to be crossed, and populated
or soon to be populated thickly, on both
sides, while nearly all its remaining length
are merely surveyors lines, over which peo.
pie may walk back and forth without any
oftheir presence. No part Of
TINS line can be made any more difficult to
pass by writing it down on paper, or parch.
ment, as naAioasl boundary. ai'
The fact Of separation lift comes. eiyes
up on the part Of the seeding section, the
fugitive slave clause, along with all other
constitutional obligations, upon, the section
seeded from, while should EXPECT nc
treaty stipulation would ever be made to
take its place. ~ 7r..n a = lagTs
But there is another difficulty. The
great interior region bounded east by the
Alleghanies north by the British Dominion,
west by the Rocky Mountains, and south by
the line along which the cultivation of corn
and cotton meets, and which includes part
of Virginia, part of Tennessee, all of Ken.
lucky, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois,
Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the
territories Of Dacotah, Nebraska, and par,
ofColorado, have above ten, millions of PEG.
pie, and will have fifty millions within fifty
years, if not prevented by any political folly
or mistake. 1t contains more than one third
OF the country owned by the revolted S ates
certainly, more than one million of sur.
face miles. One half as populous as Massa.
chusetts already is, it would have more than
seventy-five millions Of people. A glance
at the map shows that territorially speaking
it is tho 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 Pacific being
the deepest and also the richest undeveloped
resources in the production of provisions
grains, grasses, and all which proceeds from
them.
This great interior region is naturally one
OF the most important in the world. Ascer.
tain from the statistics the small proportion
of the region which has as yet been brough,
into cultivation, and also the large and rap
idly increasing amount of its products, and
we shall be overwhelmed with the magnitude
of the prospect presented. And yet this
region has no sea coast and touches ps
ocean anywhere.
As part Of one nation, its people now may
find and may forever find their way 70 Eu
rope by New York. to South America and
Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia BY
San francisco But separate our common
country into nations, as designed by the
present rebellion, and every man in this
great interior region is thereby cut off from
some one or more of these outlets, not per
haps by physical barrier, but by embar
RAISING and onerous trade regulations. Ant
this is true wherever dividing or boundary
line may be fixed Place it between thu
now free and slave country, or place it south
Of Kentucky, or north Of Ohio, and still thu
truth remains that none south of IL can tr adj
to any port or place north oft, except upor
terms dictated by Government foreign Il
them. These outlets East, West, and South
are indispensable to the we'll being of tn,
people inhabiting, and to inhabit this vas
interior region. - ~. (
Which of the three may be the best is ma
proper question. All are better than either
and all Of right belong to that people ant
their successors forever. True To themselve.
they will not ask where line of separation
shall be, but will vow rather, there shall b.
no such line.
Nor are the marginal regions less interes
ted in these communications to and through
them to the great outside world. They Ok
and each one of them must have access t
their Egypt of the West without paying tol
at the crossing Of our national boundary.
Our national life springs not from ou
permanent past, not from the lands we in
habit, not from our national homestead