Government must
deal with it upon the principles of common sense, without embarrassing
itself by any mere theories which would be troublesome and inapplicable
in any emergency. How long after subjugation the Government will wait
for the return of any State to its allegiance, and what indications of
sincere loyalty will be accepted, as well as what fair and honorable
inducements will be held out to lure the erring population back into the
fold of the Union, are matters for the gravest consideration, and can
only be determined when the occasion for decision shall arise. To thrust
a State back into the Union, and clothe it with all its former
constitutional privileges, while the masses of its people are still
hostile to the Federal authority, would evince a degree of recklessness,
and even insanity, which, it is to be hoped, the Government will never
exhibit. But when a State is fit to return, and may properly and safely
be received, let her be welcomed cordially and heartily, without the
least reminiscence of her sad and disastrous error.

The true difficulty is not in the principle which is to control our
action in any given circumstances. That is sufficiently plain in itself;
it is only the application which is difficult. We cannot acknowledge the
equality and sisterhood of a State, which, though subdued, is still
hostile and not to be trusted in the Union: but we can and will receive
all those which truly accept the result of the war and honestly return
to their allegiance. We cannot create a State in the midst of a hostile
population, and maintain the sovereign right of an inconsiderable few
against the voice of the vast majority; but we can favor, encourage, and
build up the loyal minority when that is sufficiently important, so as
to make it the majority, and clothe it with the power of the
resuscitated State.

So long as there is no loyal State authority fairly representing the
people, the State must be considered as disabled, and its rights _in
abeyance_. There is no necessity of considering the State as
extinguished, while there is hope of a favorable change. To reduce the
States to the condition of territories would be an act of extreme
hostility, and could only be the ultimate result of incorrigible
treason, holding out against subjugation and against all the reasonable
inducements which can be offered to a rebellious people by a magnanimous
Government. We can never receive into the bosom of the Union a hosti