Year: 1861

SE2IE UF TEE UhION,


The patient in consumption, or with cancer,
feels and acts as If ho was doomed long before be
will confess il; and though be may profess to be
recovering, and even think so, he actually pre-
pares for death. The cough and the hectic fever
do not alarm him; because theg are facts, estab.
lished by the ncipient dissolution Of his system.
So with this Nation. The work Of dissolution has
come to exist and all that seems left fcr us, is to
acknowledge it. We feel it, see il, hear it, and
may desire and hope to cure it, and inst ired by
that hope we may deny it. But that will not, and
does not change the case. We intuitively behave
as if tSe thought there was no union of the North
and the South. The whole North is united. We
trustfully turn to any State in it, and feel that
there is union in it, But towards the South there
is no such feeling. And what is more, we cannot
make tho feeling to exist, any more than the poor
oonsumptive car make sound lungs for himself
by passing resolution to declare himself well,
or enacling that his suffering breast shall not be
oonvulsed by cough.


With this view Of the matter what can be more
futile than compromises aud concessions, to plasl-
or up the deoaying Union. II it is dead, i! will
stink on our hands, however We may cover it up.
If we would heal it. we must remove the cause OF
the disease. 1t will thon live, and its life will
conserve it: But We cannot embalm it and keep
it in use. This government is Iivin$ creature,
as much as any individual-with the difference
that its life is a moral one. 1t is the embodiment
of the thoughts and affections Of the individuals
that make up the nation. If they harmonize, they
will cohere, and grow into an existence 1t they
do not non-existence is consequence, beyond the
reach OF either Resclrions Statutes, or Uonsttu-
tons The laws Of life, which in this case are tho
laws Of Union, are eternal. We merely discover
them and fall into them, where we conform to
them. We never make them. Our best enact
msnts are oily their oppression,


That the Union with the Cotton States is dead,
we are forced to believe. With the border Slave
States it may exist by virtue of the living quality
remaining, which is most sickly, 1t is not quite
dead. Can We recall it to vigori The old ladies'
Of the Peace Congress think SO and they have
been preparing a poultice, which they say is Of
elder bark pee!ed both ways; and they ask Con-
gress to put it the patient, where he won't feel
| il much. or COARSE like most "yarbs," ii will
give deal Of disc6mf6rt, but will do no good and
not, much harm, Something else must bo done
after they hsygexhaustsd their skill. [


What that real cure is it is scarcely necessary
for US to say. Il will be what the experience Of
the world has established TO no the remedy, and
what common sense teaches US is such--the un-
qualified recognition of the rights of all, and the
protection of those who are unable to protect
themselves. We must make literal application
of the doctrines we have confessed 10 the Declara
ton Of independence to tho practice Of the gov
ornment. Nationally we must live those truths,
fiom cultivated love Of them. This will be ma
tional regeneration Of course. 1t will also be
iional cure and health. 1t cannot be achieved at
once, any moro than man can put of his evils
at once. But the national heart can be set IN the
right direction by beginning the reform, from a
sincere recognition of the truths indicated. and u
willingness to come into the practical observance
of them. This is impossible as long Us the Slave
States insist that slavery shall De perpeuated,
and Northern men will acquiesce in that demand
by adopting compromises to allow it, Our nat
ional views have eliminated in this evil of slave
ry. We might as well confess the wrong; and we
must cease Ae practise of it, either directly or in
directly. In the North we must cease to abet it,
and in the South we must admit the wrong, and
agree to reform, as rapidly as possible. Then we
may escape the threatened death, But if we
insist tia. it is right and justi6able-a and Of the
spirit of Reform, cry away with hipl cruelty
him his blood be upon Us and our children!' des-
truction and dissolution are certain; and all that
will be left for US will be to admit the fact Of
hopeless disunion, as we are now almost forced
to do.