alled
to note the anomalous fact that the rebels seek a division between a
people who speak the same language, occupy a territory which has no
marked lines or features of separation, and who have from the first day
of their national existence been represented by the same national
government. Hence it is plain, whatever may be the immediate result of
the contest, that there can be no permanent peace until the territory
claimed as the territory of the United States is again subject to one
government. This may be the work of a few months, it may be the work of
a few years, or it may be the business of a century. Without the
reestablishment of the government over the whole territory of the Union
there can be no peace; and without the reestablishment of that
government there can be no prosperity.

The armies of the rebel States will march to the great lakes, or the
armies of the loyal States will march to the gulf of Mexico. We are
therefore involved in a war which does not admit of adjustment by
negotiation. In a foreign war, peace might be secured by mutual
concessions, and preserved by mutual forbearance. In ordinary civil
strife the peace of a state or of an empire might be restored by
concessions to the disaffected, by a limitation of the privileges of the
few, or an extension of the rights of the many. But none of these
expedients meet the exigency in which we find ourselves. The rebels
demand the overthrow of the government, the division of the territory of
the Union, the destruction of the nation. The question is, _Shall this
nation longer exist?_ And why is the question forced upon us? Is there a
difference of language? Not greater than is found in single States.
Indeed, Louisiana is the only one of the eleven where any appreciable
difference exists, and the number of French in that State is less than
the number of Germans in Pennsylvania. Nor has nature indicated lines of
separation like the St. Lawrence and the lakes on the north and the
Rocky Mountains on the west. The lines marked by nature--the Rocky
Mountains, the Mississippi River, and the Alleghanies--cut the line
proposed by the confederates transversely, and force the suggestion that
each section will be put in possession of three halves of different
wholes, instead of a single unit essential to permanent national
existence.

Do the products of the industry of the two sections so conflict with
each other in domestic or foreign markets as to encourage the