"But the principle, sir! The right of the thing, and the wrong of the
thing! Can we parley with traitors? Can we negotiate with armed
rebellion? Is it not our paramount duty to set at rest forever the
doctrine of secession?"

"As a matter of policy, perhaps. But as a right, I doubt it. Your
government I look upon as a mere agency appointed by contracting parties
to transact certain affairs for their convenience. Should one or more of
those contracting parties, sovereignties in themselves, hold it to their
interest to transact their business without the assistance of an agent,
I cannot perceive that the right can be denied by any provision of the
contract. In your case, the employers have dismissed their agent, who
seeks to reinstate the office by force of arms. As justly might my
lawyer, when I no longer need his services, attempt to coerce me into a
continuance of business relations, by invading my residence with a
loaded pistol. The States, without extinguishing their sovereignty,
created the Federal Government; it is the child of State legislation,
and now the child seeks to chastise and control the parent. The General
Government can possess no inherent or self-created function; its power,
its very existence, were granted for certain uses. As regards your
State's connection with that Government, no other State has the right to
interfere; but as for another State's connection with it, the power that
made it can unmake."

"So you would have the government quietly acquiesce in the robbery of
public property, the occupation of Federal strongholds and the seizure
of ships and revenues in which they have but a share?"

"If, by the necessity of the case, the seceded States hold in their
possession more than their share of public property, a division should