Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/251

Rh earnest. Of you I ask to lay aside tonight your party prejudices and passions; for this hour let your preconceived opinions be silent. I shall speak to you from the very depth of my profoundest convictions; listen to me as one sincere patriot will listen to another. [Cheering.]

Many of us will have to confess that the present state of things is contrary to our first anticipations. Eighteen months ago we did not expect that the people of the South would be so ready to rush into the suicidal course of open rebellion; nor did the people of the South, when they took the fatal step, expect that the people of the North would resist the treasonable attempt with so much determination and unanimity. In this respect the calculations of leading men on both sides have proved erroneous. But this lies behind us, and we have to deal with the nature and exigencies of the actual situation as it is. We are in open civil war. A numerous population, holding a very large portion of our country, is in arms against the Government; the rebellion against the constitutionally established authorities is organized on the largest scale. The avowed aim and object is to disrupt the union of those States, and to secure for the people of some of them a separate national existence. The first steps taken in that direction were successful; a separate government, claiming to be independent of the Union, was established; it now defends itself with armed force against the lawful authorities of this Republic.

This is, in a few words, the actual situation of things. It presents us a twofold problem; first, to put down the rebels in arms, and then, to restore the Union. The first is a military problem, the second a political one. They are, in my opinion, so distinct from each other that I can well conceive how the first can be successfully solved, and how, at the same time, in attempting to solve the second,