opportunities. May I ask you a question?

_Lincoln_: Certainly, ma'am.

_Mrs. Otherly_: Isn't it possible for you to stop this war? In the
name of a suffering country, I ask you that.

_Mrs. Blow_: I'm sure such a question would never have entered my
head.

_Lincoln_: It is a perfectly right question. Ma'am, I have but one
thought always--how can this thing be stopped? But we must ensure
the integrity of the Union. In two years war has become an hourly
bitterness to me. I believe I suffer no less than any man. But it must
be endured. The cause was a right one two years ago. It is unchanged.

_Mrs. Otherly_: I know you are noble and generous. But I believe that
war must be wrong under any circumstances, for any cause.

_Mrs. Blow_: I'm afraid the President would have but little
encouragement if he listened often to this kind of talk.

_Lincoln_: I beg you not to harass yourself, madam. Ma'am, I too
believe war to be wrong. It is the weakness and the jealousy and the
folly of men that make a thing so wrong possible. But we are all weak,
and jealous, and foolish. That's how the world is, ma'am, and we
cannot outstrip the world. Some of the worst of us are sullen,
aggressive still--just clumsy, greedy pirates. Some of us have grown
out of that. But the best of us have an instinct to resist aggression
if it won't listen to persuasion. You may say it's a wrong instinct. I