Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/259

Rh cannot be done by strategic movements and success in battle. How then is it to be done? Take the State of South Carolina: You beat the rebels defending its soil, and occupy the whole State with your troops. Armed resistance to the authority of the United States becomes impossible, but you want to restore the active co-operation of the people of South Carolina in the Government of the United States, without which the restoration of the old order of things is impossible. Now, you either call upon the people of South Carolina to elect new State authorities of their own, or you impose upon them a Provisional Government, appointed by the President at Washington. In the first case, the people of South Carolina—a large majority of whom are disloyal, and those who are not disloyal, are not loyal either [applause], and to a certain extent, seem to be incorrigible—are most likely to elect a new set of secessionists to office. It will be a re-organization of treason and conspiracy; for you must know that conspiracies do not only precede rebellions, but also follow unsuccessful ones. The new State Government is at once in conflict with the Federal authorities. The latter find themselves counteracted and clogged in every imaginable way; and after a series of unsuccessful attempts to secure a cordial and trustworthy co-operation, after a season of tiresome and fruitless wrangles, they find themselves obliged to resort to sterner measures; then, forcible suppression of every combination hostile to the Union; close surveillance of press and speech; martial law where the civil tribunals are found insufficient; in one word, a steady and energetic pressure of force, by which the Federal Government overrules and coerces the refractory State authorities. You will see at once, that if this pressure be not strong enough, it will not furnish the Government of the United States the necessary guarantees of peace and security;