insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation.
I have always wondered why historian omit this little piece of history.....
Could it be because of the very next sentence, which accurately describes the situation?
Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.
This attitude in the CSA continued till the very end of the war. In a meeting with Confederate emissaries in February of 1865, when even the most idiotic of southerners could see the war would be lost shortly, Lincoln had only two non-negotiable points: emancipation and return to the Union.
Even at this late date, the CSA insisted on independence as its precondition for peace. Presumably the CSA would have also insisted that Union troops withdraw from the considerable majority of its territory that had been conquered. Obviously this would have been impossible for any president, to just turn and walk away after hundreds of thousands had died.
What was perishing? The USA would have survived and the newly formed CSA would exit had Lincoln not prosecuted his war. Seems to NOTHING was perishing. This twisted Goebellesque remark by the Illinois Butcher™ was typical BS from a hated President.