One of the bug-bears that the Secessionists have created for the purpose of frightening the timid, is that of COERCION... To “govern” means to “coerce.” It is involved in the very idea of Government... The individual rebel is the accountable being which requires the coercion.
Original passage & context
"One of the bug-bears that the Secessionists have created for the purpose of frightening the timid, is that of COERCION. It is a magic word, but unfortunately its magic applies only to the Federal Government. You cannot coerce a Sovereign State, say these State Right Abstractionists. Is that so? [...] It is worth nothing as a Government, unless there is some idea of force in its very construction. To “govern” means to “coerce.” It is involved in the very idea of Government. [...] The individual rebel is the accountable being which requires the coercion, and on whom we hope to see it exercised."
The exact answer to the Herald six days earlier (se-030), and the opposite Northern pole: coercion is not tyranny, it is what a government IS. The Courant's move is to dissolve the sovereign state into the individuals composing it — you need not coerce South Carolina, only the rebel. Capitals and small-caps as printed. Non-contiguous sentences from the one editorial joined with [...].
Read it in the original — Hartford Daily Courant, Feb 11, 1861 ↗