The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1862-12-03


when after much loss on both sides and no
gain on either you cease lighting, the identi
cal old questions as TO terms ofintercourse are
again upon you. There is no line, straight or
crooked, suitable for national boundary upon
which to divide.
Trace through from east to west upon the
line between the free and slave country. and
we shall find a little more than one third of its
length are river, easy TO be crossed, aud popu-
lated, or soon to be populated thickly upon
both sides, while in nearly all Its remaining
length are surveyors lines over which people
may walk back and forth without any cODcous-
ness Of their presence No part Of this line can
be made any more difficult 10 pass by writing
IL down on paper or parchment as . national
boundary The fact OF separation, II 1t comes,
gives up on the part OF the seeding section
the fugitive slave clause, along with all other
constitutional obligations upon the section
seeded, from which should expect no treaty
stipulation would ever be made to take Its
place. But there Ia another difficulty The
great interior regions bounded east by the AL
legancs, north by the British domlnions. west
by the Rocky Mountains, and south by the line
cotton meets, and which includes
Sec, ali of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana,
Michigan, Wisconsin. Illinois, Missouri Kan.
sas Iowa, Minnesota, and the territories Of
Dacotah, Nebraska and part of Colorado,
have Hfty millions within fifty years, If not pre-
vented ~ any political folly or mistake. 1t
contains more than Onc-third OF the country
| owned by the rcvolted States, certainly more
than one million Of surface miles. One-haf rs
populoas ~ Massachusetts, already Is, it would.
have seventy-ive millions o. people. glance
at the map shows that, territorially speaking, 1t
10 the great body Of the Republic. TIE other
parts are but marginal borders To 1t, the mag
nitcent region sloping West from the Rocky
Mountains to the Pacific, being the deepest
and also the richest In the undeveloped
grains, grasses. and all which pro
coed from them. This great interior
region Is naturally one of the most impor-
tant In the world. Ascertain from the Stats
tics the small proportion Of the region which
has as yet been brought into cultivation AMI
also the large and rapidly 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, touches no
ocean anywhere. As part Of one nation, its
people now find and may forever find their way
10 Europe by New York, to South America and
Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia 10y San
Francisco. But separate our common county
into two nations rs designed by the present re-
Dellion, and every man in this great interior
region Is thereby cut off from some one OF more
of these outlets, not, perhaps, by physical bar
rier, but by embarrassing and Onerous trade
dividing and boundary line may be fixed.
Place 1t between the now free and slave coun-
try or place 1t south Of Kentucky or north OF
Ohio, and still the truth remains that none
south OF 1t can trade to any port or place north
of it, and none north OF 1t, trade to any port or
place south of 1t, except upon terms dictated
by Government foreign to them. These out.
lets east, st, and south, are Indispensable to
the well-being Of the people inhablting and to
inhabit this vast interior region. Which OF the
three maybe the best Is no proper question all
are better than either and all OF right belong to
that people and to their successors forever.
True to themselves they will not ask where a
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 outside world. They do and
each OF them must have access 10 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 lands we inh,bit, not from our national
homestead. There Is no possible severing OF
this, but would multiply and not mitigate evils
among us. In all its adaptations and apttudes
1t demands Union and abhors separation. In
fact, It would ere long force reunion, however
much of blood and treasure the separation
might have cost. Our strif iunssrtains to our,
selves, to the passing genera - OF men, ana
| 1t cannot without convusOn be hushcd Tor ever,
| with the passipy of one generation. In this
view, recommend the adoption Of the follow
| ing resolution and articles, ann auditory to the
| Constitution of the United States
Resolved By the Senate and house Of Rep.
| seutatiyes of the United States Of Amer
| lea In Congress assembled, two-thirds
| of both Houses concurring, that the fol.
| lowing articles be proposed to the Legisla-
lures, or conventions of the several States, as
| amendments to the Constitution of the United
States, all or any of which articles when rati-
| ned by threefourths OF the said Legislatures
or conventions. to b, valid as pars or parts Of
the aid Constitution, namely:
Artiole.-Every State wherein slavery now
exists, which shall abolish the same therein q,
any time or times before the first day of Janu
AIRY, In the year Of our Lord 1900, shall receive
com pensatiop from the United States ~ fol.