e disguised.
Here lies the great peril of the Government. It is not the rebel armies
that can ever overthrow the Union. It is the alarming increase of the
public debt and expenditures, and the still more appalling depreciation
of the national currency, that most imperil the great Republic.

And is the Union indeed to fall? Are we to be divided into separate
States or many confederacies, each warring against the other, the sport
of foreign oligarchs, the scorn of humanity, the betrayers of the
liberty of our country and of mankind? Can we yet save the Republic?
This is a fearful and momentous question, but it must be answered, and
answered NOW. Inaction is syncope. Delay is death. The life of the
Republic is ebbing fast, and the approaching Ides of March may toll the
funeral words, _It is too late_!

What then must be done to avert the dread catastrophe? Action, immediate
and energetic action, in the field and in Congress. Winter is the best
season for a campaign in the South. On--on--on with the banner of the
Republic, by land and sea, and with all the reinforcements, from the
Ohio and Potomac to the Gulf. On, also, with the necessary measures in
Congress to save our finances from ruin, arrest the depreciation of our
national currency, and restore the public credit. We are upon the verge
of ruin. We are hanging over the gulf of an irredeemable paper system,
and its spectral shade, repudiation, is seen dimly in the dark abyss.
The present Congress may save us; but what of the next? Would they, if
they could? Who can answer? Can they, if they would? No! no! It will
then be _too late_. Never did any representative assembly encounter so
fearful a responsibility as the present Congress. Each member must vote
as if the fate of the Union and of humanity depended upon his action. He
must rise above the passing clouds of passion and prejudice, of State,
local, or selfish interests, into the serene and holy atmosphere,
illumined by the light of truth, and warmed by the love of his country
and of mankind. His only inquiry must be, What will save the nation? The
allegiance to the Union is paramount, its maintenance 'the supreme law,'
the _lex legum_, of highest obligation, and he who, abandoning this
principle, follows in preference any real or supposed State policy, is a
secessionist in action, and a traitor to his country and mankind. Should
the catastrophe happen, no such paltry motives will save him from
disgrace and infamy; a