To look for a continuation of harmony between a number of independent, unconnected sovereignties, situated in the same neighborhood, would be to disregard the uniform course of human events, and to set at defiance the accumulated experience of ages.’

From a consideration of the true import of the Constitution, in relation to slavery and the fallacy and wickedness of the doctrine of Secession, we are now prepared to deduce, from what has been said, the following reflections:  First, the war in which the nation is now plunged should have strictly for its great end, the restoration of the Constitution and the Union to its original integrity; all side issues, all mere party questions should be now merged in one mighty effort, one persevering and self-sacrificing aim to maintain the Constitution and the Union.  As essential for this purpose, it is indispensable that all the rights guaranteed to loyal citizens in the slave States should be respected.  The reason is two-fold.  First, this war, upon the part of the North, is for the maintenance of the Constitution as our fathers gave it to us.  Its object is not a crusade against slavery.  What may be the results of the war in relation to slavery is one thing; what should be the simple purpose of the North is another.  That this war, however it may turn, will be disastrous to slavery, is evident from a great variety of considerations.  But that we should pretend to fight for the Constitution and the Union, and yet against its express provisions, in respect to those held in bondage by loyal citizens, is simply to act a part subversive of the true intent of the Constitution.  To violate its provisions, in relation to loyal citizens South, is in the highest degree impolitic and suicidal.  It is the constant aim of the enemies now in armed rebellion against the Union, to misrepresent the North upon this very point.  By systematic lying, they have induced thousands South to believe that the election of Lincoln was designed as an act of war upon slave institutions, and to subvert the Constitution that protects them in all that they call their property.

There is nothing that the rebels South are more anxious to see than the Government adopting a policy that will give them a plausible pretense for continuing in rebellion.  The Constitution places the local institution of slavery under the exclusive control of those States where it exists.  Its language, faithfully interpreted, is simply this:  Your own domestic affairs you have a right to manage as you please, so long as you do not trespass upon the Union, or seek its ruin.  All loyal citizens should be encouraged to stand by the Union in every Southern State, with the unequivocal declaration that all their rights will be respected, and that their true safety, even as noblest interests, must lie in upholding the North in the effort made to put down the vilest rebellion under the sun.  My second reflection is, that those South, who are in armed rebellion against the Constitution