Ronald Raygun wrote:

The crux is that that no matter where you "slice" the electrolyte,
there will be charge flowing across that slice boundary, equal to -10
going West inside the battery for every -10 going East outside the
battery.

In particular, if you were in reality to slice the electrolyte and
block it off, by building a plastic wall in the middle of the cell,
in effect making two cells, one with just the - plate in it, and and one
with just the + plate, then no current would flow on the outside.

Deny that!!

No current would flow on the ouside *because* no current can flow on
the inside either. Blocking off the electrolyte shuts the circuit
down every bit as much as would cutting the wire.