56

STEPHENS'S PREACHING AND PRACTICE.

tion, and I cannot but hope that we shall advance higher still. Let us be true to our cause."1

Mr. Stephens's speech made a powerful impression throughout the Rpublic, and many men in the North expressed a wish that Mr. Lincoln might invite him to a seat in his cabinet, as a concession to the South. The true friends of the Government everywhere hoped that it might do its proposed work of allaying the storm of passion, then increasing in violence in the Slave-labor States every hour. That storm had been long gathering. Its elements were marked by intense potency, and it had now burst upon the land with such force that no human work or agency could withstand its blind fury. It was sweeping onward, roaring with the most vehement rage, like a tropical tornado, making every thing bend to its strength. Mr. Stephens himself was lifted by it from the rock of the Constitution, on which he had so ostentatiously planted his feet at this time, and within ninety days he was riding proudly upon the wings of the tempest, as the second actor in a Confederacy of rebellious men, banded for the avowed purpose of destroying that Constitution, and laying in hopeless ruins the glorious Republic which rested upon it, and which he now professed so ardently to love and admire! He did, indeed, seem to try hard to resist the storm for several weeks; and, during that time, told his countrymen some sober truths concerning the control of the National Government by the Slave interest from its beginning, which should have made the checks of every conspirator crimson with shame, because of his mean defiance of every principle of honor and true manhood-his wickedness without excuse.

In the State Convention of Georgia, early in January, 1861, Mr. Stephens said: "I must declare here, as I have often done before, and which has been repeated by the greatest and wisest of statesmen and patriots in this and other lands, that it is the best and freest Government, the most equal in its rights, the most just in its decisions, the most lenient in its measures, and the most inspiring in its principles to elevate the race of men, that the sun of heaven ever shone upon. Now, for you to attempt to overthrow such a

1 In a private letter, written eleven days after this speech (dated "Crawfordsville, Ga., Nov. 25, 1860"), Mr. Stephens revealed the fact that in him the patriot was yet subservient to the politician-that his aspirations were really more sectional than national. He avowed that his attachment to Georgia was supreme, and that the chief object of his speech at Milledgeville, on the 14th, was not so much for the preservation of the Union as the security of unity of action in his State. "The great and leading object aimed at by me, in Milledgeville," he said, "was to produce harmony on a right line of policy. If the worst comes to the worst, as it may, and our State has to quit the Union, it is of the utmost importance that all our people should be united cordially in this course." After expressing a desire that the rights of Georgia might be secured in the Union," he said:"If, after making an effort, we shall fail, then all our people will be united in making or adopting the last resort, the ultima ratio regum "-the last argument of kings-the force of arms. He then predicted, that when the Union should be dissevered, "at the North, anarchy will ensue," yet he was doubtful whether the South would be any better off.

POLITICAL RULE OF THE SLAVE INTEREST.

57

Government as this, under which we have lived for more than three-quarters of a century—in which we have gained our wealth, our standing as a nation, our domestic safety, while the elements of peril are around, with peace and tranquillity, accompanied with unbounded prosperity and rights unassailed—is the hight of madness, folly, and wickedness, to which I can neither lend my sanction nor my vote."1 A month later, he was Vice-President of a Confederacy of traitors to that Government! Indeed, in the first speech here cited he had provided himself with means for escape, should there be an occasion, growing out of a perhaps foreshadowed necessity, by declaring:"Should Georgia determine to go out of the Union, I speak for one, though my views might not agree with them, whatever the result may be, I shall bow to the will of the people of my State. Their cause is my cause, and their destiny is my destiny; and I trust this will be the ultimate course of

1 In this speech, Mr. Stephens said, truly, that the Slave-labor States had always received from the National Government all they had ever asked. When they demanded it, the Slave-trade was allowed, by a special provision in the Constitution, for twenty years. When they asked for a three-fifths representation in Congress for their slaves, it was granted. When they asked for the return of fugitive slaves, a provision of the Constitution and special laws were made for that purpose. When they asked for more territory, they received Louisiana. Florida, and Texas. "We have always had the control of the General Government," he said, “and can yet, if we remain in it, and are as united as we have been. We have had a majority of the Presidents chosen from the South, as well as the control and management of most of those chosen from the North. We have had sixty years of Southern Presidents to their twenty-four, thus controlling the Executive Department. So of the judges of the Supreme Court; there have been eighteen from the South, and but eleven from the North. Although nearly four-fifths of the judicial business has arisen in the Free States, yet a majority of the Court has always been from the South. This we have received, so as to guard against any interpretation unfavorable to us. In like manner we have been equally watchful to guard our interests in the Legislative branch of the Government. In choosing the Presidents of the Senate, pro tempore, we have had twenty-four to their eleven. Speakers of the House, we have had twenty-three and they twelve. While the majority of the Representatives, from their greater population, have always been from the North, yet we have generally secured the Speaker, because he, to a great extent, shapes and controls the legislation of the country. Nor have we had any less control in every other department of the General Government. Attorney-generals we have had fourteen, while the North have had but five. Foreign Ministers we have had eighty-six, and they but fifty-four." He then went on to show that while three-fourths of the business demanding diplomatic agents abroad was from the Free-labor States, his section had had the principal Embassies; that a vast majority of higher officers of the Army and Navy were from the South, while a larger portion of the soldiers and sailors were drawn from the North; and that twothirds of the clerks in the Departments at Washington had been taken from the Slave-labor States, while they had only about one-third of the white population. During the same time, over three-fourths of the revenue collected for the support of the Government was uniformly raised from the North. . . . The expense for the transportation of the mails in the Free-labor States was, by the Report of the Postmaster-general for 1860, a little over $18,000,000, while the income was $19,000,000. But in the Slave-labor States, the cost of the transportation of the mails was $14,716,000, while the revenue from the same was $8,001,026; leaving a deficit of $6,704,974.

In view of all this, Mr. Stephens might well ask, as he did, “ For what purpose will you break up this Union -this American Government, established by our common ancestry, cemented and built up by their sweat and blood, and founded on the broad principles of Right, Justice, and Humanity ?"

2 In contrast with this subserviency to the idea of State supremacy, and with more enlarged views of the duty of American citizens, Henry Clay, as much interested in Slavery as Mr. Stephens, once said on the floor of Congress, in rebuke of disunion sentiments:-" If Kentucky, to-morrow, unfurls the banner of resistance, I never will fight under that banner; I owe a paramount allegiance to the whole Union-a subordinate one to my own State." A writer in the New York Evening Post (“ W. L. P."), of February 8th, 1865, in a long poem, called "Aleck and Abe,” thus alludes to Stephens's defection, which some have attributed to “coercion:"

"But by and by, our doleful friend

Received a rousing start,

As Yancey waved his lucifers

To fire the Southern heart.'

Hold, there!' shrieked Aleck, in dismay;
Was ever wretch so rash?

If you ignite that magazine,
You'll blow us all to smash!"

Outspoke the Fire-fiend of the South:

Not so, by grandest odds

If I let off this magazine
We all become as gods!"

'You lie,' cried Aleck, in your throat;
And more, you know you lie!"

Screamed Yancey, 'You shall eat those words,

As sure as I am I'

And, sooth, he did it in a twink,

With many a wry grimace;

As Jeff. and Toombs stood by, and shook

A halter in his face.

And when the words were all devoured,
With right hand on his breast,

He whimpered, ‘Pray, forgive me, friends;
Indeed, I did but jest.

And now I've had my little joke.

And you your natural "swear;"
I'm all agog to back your aims-
What's first to do or dare?" "

58

all.

A CONVENTION AUTHORIZED.

Let us call a convention of the people; let all these matters be submitted to it; and when the will of a majority of the people has thus been expressed, the whole State will present one unanimous voice in favor of whatever may be demanded."

1860.

Influences more powerful than any Mr. Stephens could command were at work upon the public mind. Only two days before his speech November 12, was pronounced, a Military Convention was held at Milledgeville," which was addressed by the Governor of the State, in very incendiary language. He affirmed the right of secession, and also the duty of all the Southern States to sustain the action of the South Carolina Legislature. "I would like," he said "to see Federal troops dare attempt the coercion of a seceding Southern State. For every Georgian who should fall in a conflict thus incited, the lives of two Federal soldiers should expiate the outrage on State Sovereignty." These were brave words in the absence of all danger. When that danger was nigh-when "Federal solNovember, diers" under Sherman, just four years later, were marching through Georgia, in triumphant vindication of the National authority, Governor Brown and many members of the Legislature were trembling fugitives from that very capitol where Toombs, and Cobb, and Iverson, and Benning, and Brown himself, had fulminated their foolish threats.

1864.

The Military Convention, by a heavy majority, voted in favor of secession; and this action had great weight with the Legislature and the people. On • November 13, the following day, the Legislature voted an appropriation of a million of dollars for arming and equipping the militia of the State; and on the 7th of December, an act, calling a convention of the people, was passed, which provided for the election of delegates on the 2d of January, and their assemblage on the 16th. The preamble to the bill declared that, in the judgment of that Assembly, the "present crisis in National affairs demands resistance," and that "it is the privilege of the people to determine the mode, measure, and time of such resistance." Power to do this was given to the Convention by the act.

d 1861.

OSEPH E. BROWN.

On the 14th of December, a large meeting of the members of the Legislature assembled in the Senate Chamber, and agreed to an address to the people of South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, urging upon them the importance of co-operation, rather than separate State action, in the matter of secession. "Our people must be united," they said; "our common interests must be preserved." The address was signed by fifty-two members of the Legislature. It was so offensive to the Hotspurs of the South Carolina State Convention, that that body refused to receive it. We shall again refer to the action of the Georgia Legislature.

The Legislature of Mississippi assembled at Jackson early in November, and adjourned on the 30th. The special object of the session was to make

PROCEEDINGS IN MISSISSIPPI.

59

preparations for the secession of the State. An act was passed, providing for a Convention, to be held on the 7th of January; and the 20th of December was the day appointed by it for the election of delegates thereto. The Governor (John J. Pettus) was authorized to appoint commissioners to visit each of the Slave-labor States, for the purpose of officially informing the governors or legislatures thereof, that the State of Mississippi had called a Convention, "to consider the present threatening relations of the Northern and Southern sections of the Confederacy, aggravated by the recent election of a President upon principles of hostility to the States of the South; and to express the earnest hope of Mississippi, that those States will co-operate with her in the adoption of efficient measures for their common defense and safety." A portion of the Legislature was for immediate separation and secession. The press of the State was divided in sentiment, and so were the people, while their representatives in Congress were active traitors to their government. One of these (Lucius Quintius Curtius Lamar, a native of Georgia, who remained in Congress until the 12th of January, 1861, and was afterward sent to the Russian Court, as a diplomatic agent of the conspirators), submitted to the people of Mississippi, before the close of November, 1860, a plan for a "Southern Confederacy." After reciting the ordinance by which Mississippi was created a State of the Union, and proposing her formal withdrawal therefrom, the plan proposed that the State of Mississippi should "consent to form a Federal Union" with all the Slave-labor States, the Territory of New Mexico, and the Indian Territory west of Arkansas, "under the name and style of the United States of America, and according to the tenor and effect of the Constitution of the United States," with slight exceptions. It proposed to continue in force all laws and treaties of the United States, so far as they applied to Mississippi, until the new Confederation should be organized, and that all regulations, contracts, and engagements made by the old Government should remain in force. It provided that the Governor of Mississippi should perform the functions of President of the new United States, within the limits of that State, and that all public officers should remain in place until the new government should be established. It was also provided that the accession of nine States should give effect to the proposed ordinance of confederation; and that, when such accession should occur, it should be the duty of the Governor to order an election of Congressmen and Presidential Electors. This scheme, like a score of others put forth by disloyal men, ambitious to appear in history as the founders of a new empire, soon found its appropriate place in the tomb of forgotten things.

The southern portion of Alabama was strongly in favor of secession, while the northern portion was as strongly in favor of Union. The Governor (Andrew B. Moore) sympathized with the secessionists, and, with Yancey

60

1860

PROCEEDINGS IN ALABAMA.

and others, stirred up the people to revolt. He had been active in procuring the passage of joint resolutions by the Legislature of that State, February 24, long before the Presidential election," which provided, in the event of the election of the Republican candidate, for a convention to consider what should be done; in other words, to declare the secession of the State from the Union, in accordance with the long and welldevised plan of the conspirators. So early as October, Herschell V. John

1861.

ston, the candidate for Vice-President on the Douglas ticket, › October 24. declared, in a speech in the Cooper Institute, New York,' that Alabama was ripe for revolt, in the event of Mr. Lincoln's election-" pledged," he said, "to withdraw from the Union, and has appropriated two hundred thousand dollars for military contingencies." In an address to the people of the State, early in November, the Governor declared that, in his opinion, "the only hope and future security for Alabama and other Slaveholding States, is in secession from the Union." On the 6th of December he issued a proclamation, assuring the people that the contingency contemplated by the Legislature had occurred, namely the election of Mr. Lincoln, and, by the authority given him by that body, he ordered delegates to be chosen on the 24th of December, to meet in convention on the 7th of January. Five days before that election, the Alabama Conference of the "Methodist Church South," a very large and most influential body, sitting at Montgomery, resolved that they believed "African Slavery, as it existed in the Southern States of the Republic, to be a wise, humane, and righteous institution, approved of God, and calculated to promote, to the highest possible degree, the welfare of the slave; that the election of a sectional President of the United States was evidence of the hostility of the majority to the people of the South,' and which, in fact, if not in form, dissolves the compact of Union between the States, and drives the aggrieved party to assert their independence;" and therefore they said, our hearts are with the South, and should they ever need our hands to assist in achieving our independence, we shall not be found wanting in the hour of danger."

66

Florida, the most dependent upon the Union for its prosperity of all the States, and the recipient of most generous favors from the National Government, was, by the action of its treasonable politicians, and especially by its representatives in Congress, made the theater of some of the earliest and most active measures for the destruction of the Republic. Its Legislature met at Tallahassee on the 26th of November, and its Governor, Madison S. Perry, in his message at the opening of the session, declared that the

1 Report of Johnson's speech, in the New York World, October 25, 1860.

2 See Note 3, page 38.

3 In the first act of the melodrama of the rebellion, there were some broad farces. One of these is seen in the action of the Grand Jury of the United States for the Middle District of Alabama. That body made the following presentment at the December Term, 1860:

"That the several States of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Ohio, and others, have nullified, by acts of their several Legislatures, several laws enacted by the Congress of the Confederation for the protection of persons and property; and that for many years said States have occupied an attitude of hostility to the interests of the people of the said Middle District of Alabama. And the said Federal Government, having failed to execute its enactments for the protection of the property and interests of said Middle District, and this court having no jurisdiction in the premises, this Grand Jury do present the said Government as worthless, impotent, and a nuisance. C. G. GUNTHER, Foreman,

and nineteen others."