Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/257

Rh Davis should come to-morrow and give up his sword to President Lincoln, and all the rebel armies were captured in one day, and forced to do penance in sackcloth and ashes at the foot of Capitol Hill, the old Union would not be restored. [Cheers.] That circle of ideas in which the political transactions of the old Union moved is forever broken. [Sensation.] It cannot be restored. The mutual confidence on which the political transactions of the old Union rested has been discovered to be illusory; it is irretrievably gone. [Applause.]

I repeat, either you will submit to the South, or you will rule the South by the force of a strong Central Government, or Southern society must be so reformed that the Union can safely trust itself to its loyalty. Submit to the rebellious South! Submit after a victory! [“No, no, no.”] You will tell me that this is impossible. Is it, indeed? There are those in the South who have fought and will fight the Union as long as the rebellion has a chance of success, who will apparently come over to our side as soon as our victory is decided, and who will then claim the right to control our policy. [“That's it.”] And there are those in the North, who, either actuated by party spirit or misled by short-sightedness, stand ready to co-operate with the former. [Sensation.] The attempt will be made—whether it will succeed, who knows? But if it does succeed, it will lead to new struggles more acrimonious, dangerous,and destructive in their nature, but also more radical and permanent in their result. [Cheers.]

The second possibility I indicated is the establishment of a strong, consolidated Central Government. Look at the course you have taken since the outbreak of the rebellion. It was natural that, when the necessity of vigorous action pressed upon us, the Government was clothed with extraordinary powers. As its duties and