Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/163

 THE RANDALL FAMILY 155

which have inherited too much die of dissipation, Hke in- dividuals.

But, to avoid declamation, I will say that I think it very- possible that the South may be broken as a military power, though the conquest of Virginia will not do it. Neither must we look for Union men in our sense. The Southern people believe themselves in the right as much as we do ourselves. The doctrine of State rights in opposition to National is not now new with them. Neither can it be sup- posed that Davis and his comrades have power to coerce 400,000 unwilling men into their army ; which is evidently better officered than ours, and does not permit itself, like ours, to be ever weakest at the point of attack.

Neither do I think that the proclamation of abolition will reduce the enemy; for the slaves are among them, and they will doubtless invite us to come and take them. Moreover, in whatever points we abandon the Constitu- tion, on the plea that they deserve none, we also abandon it for ourselves, and shall find it difficult enough to create another. 'Tis like going out to sea in a boat with an- other, and there scuttling it to sink him. If we cannot put down this rebellion by constitutional means, we are plainly either dissolved or we hold the South by conquest. When the question comes what to do with it, we shall be deep enough in debt without keeping a garrison of 200,000 men to hold useless dependencies.

I think indeed that, if we can secure the Border States, we may colonize the rebel parts of them and induce the disaffected to leave. But I do not see what we can do with the Southern States proper, which will gain strength when their armies are kept within their own borders. Meantime many of our men will settle at the South, which will be a good thing. The West will also gain

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