erritory, its people, and its
laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability.
"One generation passeth away and another generation cometh, but the earth
abideth forever." It is of the first importance to duly consider and
estimate this ever enduring part. That portion of the earth's surface
which is owned and inhabited by the people of the United States is well
adapted to be the home of one national family, and it is not well
adapted for two or more. Its vast extent and its variety of climate and
productions are of advantage in this age for one people, whatever they
might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence have
brought these to be an advantageous combination for one united people.

In the inaugural address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of
disunion as a remedy for the differences between the people of the
two sections. I did so in language which I cannot improve, and which,
therefore, I beg to repeat:

"One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to
be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be
extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave clause
of the Constitution and the laws for the suppression of the foreign slave
trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a
community where the moral Sense of the people imperfectly supports the law
itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation
in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be
perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separation
of the sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly
suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one
section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not
be surrendered at all by the other.

"Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our
respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between
them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and
beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country
cannot do 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 advantageous or more satisfactory
after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends
can make laws? Can treati