If the Union cannot be
maintained by force, it ought not to be destroyed by force. The instinct
of self-preservation, which is but the impulse of a solemn duty, would
necessarily and rightfully lead it to suppress the lawless force that
assailed it. If this assault is wholly wrong and unjustifiable, if it is
in reality as injurious to the seceding States themselves as to those
which remain in the Union, then it is certain that, with the suppression
of the violence prevailing in the disaffected region, the spirit of
disunion itself will disappear. The Federal Government cannot escape the
necessity of performing this duty, of suppressing and destroying the
lawless power which assails it, and permitting the Southern people to
return to the Union. At the present moment, in the midst of a sanguinary
conflict, they are blinded with passion and overflowing with enmity. But
set them free from the power which now deceives and abuses them, which
arrays them against their own best interests, and makes them the
helpless victims of a wicked war, and they will, at no distant period,
gladly pronounce for the unity of the great nation with which Providence
has cast their lot. Innumerable indications of this disposition among
the masses of the Southern people are visible in the events of every
day; and these will multiply in proportion to the success of our arms
and the decline of power in the rebellion.
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