The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-01 00:00:00

Letter from the Vice• President of the

Confederate States.

The following letter from the Hon. Alexander H.
Stephens, giving his views upon the peace move-
ment, was written in answer to a letter addresed to
him by several of his fellow-citizens of Georgia
Crawfordsville, Ga., Sept. 22.
Gentlemen,—You will please excuse mo not answering
your letter of the 16th instant sooner. I have been absent
nearly a week on a visit to my brother at Sparata, who has
been quite out of health for some time. Your letter I found
here on my return home yesterday. The delay of my reply
thus occasioned my zegret.
Without further explanation or apology, allow me now to
say to you that no person living can possibly feel a more

ardent desire for en end to be put to this unnatural and
merciless war upon honourable and just terms than I do.
But I really do not BC3 that it is in my power or yours, or

that of any Lumber of persons in our positiJn, to inaugurate
any movement that will ev..n tend to aid in bringing abc.ut
a result that we and so many mere desire.
The movement by our leg slature at its hist session, at the
swzgestion of the executive, on this eubject, was by autho-
rity properly constituted for such a purpose.
That movement, in my judgment, was timely, judicious,

and in the right direction. Nor has it been without results,
The organisation of that party in the North to which you
refer may justly be claimed as a part of the fruits of it.
These, it is to be hoped, will be followed by others of a
more marked character, if all in both sections who sincerely
desire peace upon correct terms will give the movement
thus inaugurated all the aid in their power.
Tho resolutions of the Georgia Legislature, at its last
session upon the subject of peace, in my judgment embodied
and set forth very clearly those principles upon which alone
there can be permanent peace between the different sections
of this extensive, once happy and prosperous, but now disa
tracted country.
Easy aid perfect solutions to all present troubles, and
those far more grievous ones which loom in prospect, and

portentously threaten in the coming future, is nothing more
than the simple recognition of the fundamental principle

and truth upon which all American constitutional libel ty is
founded, and upon the maintenance of which alone it can

be preserved—that is, the sovereignty, the ultimate abso-
lute sovereignty of the States. This doctrine our Legis-
lature announce—to the people at the North and to the
world. It is the only key note to peace—permanent, lasting
peace—consistent with the security of the public liberty.
The old Confederation was formed upon this principle.

The old Union was afterwards formed upon this principle.
No league can ever be formed or maintained between any
State, North or South, securing public liberty, upon any
other principle.
The whole framework of American institutions, which in
so short a time had won the admiration of the world, and
to which we were indebted for such an unparalleled career
of prosperity and happiness was formed upon this principle.
All our present troubles sprung from a departure from this
principle, from a violation of this essential law of our poli-

tical organisation.
In 1776 our ancestors, and the ancestors of those who are
waging this unholy crusade against us, together proclaimed
the great and eternal truth, for the maintenance of which
they jointly pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their
sacred honour,thatgovernments are instituted amongst men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
—and that whenever any form of government becomes de-
structive of those ends for which it was formed, it is the
right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute a new
government, laying its foundations on such principles and
organising its powers in such a form as to them may seem
most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
It is needless hero to state that by " people," and
"governed," in this annunciation, is meant communities
and bodies of men capable of organising and maintaining a
government, not individual members of society. The con-
sent of the governed refers to the will of the mass of the
community or State in its organised form, and expressed
through the legitimate and properly constituted organs. It
was upon this principle the colonists stood justified before
the world in effecting their separation from the mother
country. it was upon this principle that the original 13
co-equal and co-Sovereign States formed the Federal com-
pact of the old Union in 1787, It is upon the same principle
that the present co-equal and co-sovereign State of our con-
federacy formed their new compact of union.
The idea that the old Union, or any union between sove-
reign States, consistently with this fundamental truth, can
be maintained by force, is preposterous. This war springs
from an attempt to do this preposterous thing. Superior
power may compel a union of some sort, but it would not be
the union of the old constitution or of our new.

The subjugation of the people of the South by the people
of the North would necessarily involve the destruction of
the constitution and the overthrow of their liberties as well
as ours. The men or party at the North to whom you refer
who favour peace, must be brought to a full realisation of
this truth in all its bearings, before their efforts will result
in much practical good. Any peace glowing out of a union
of States established by force will 134 as ruinous to them
as to us.

The action of the Chicago convention, so far as it plat-
form of principle goes, presents, as I have said, on another
occasion, a ray of light which, under Providence, may prove
the dawn of the day to this long and cheerless night, the first
ray of light I have seen from the North since the war began.
This cheers the heart, and towards it I could almost ex-
claim, " Hail, holy light, offspring of heaven, first-born of
the eternal co-eternal beam. May I express thee uu-
blamed, since God is light."
Indeed, I could have quite so exclaimed, but for the sad
reflection that whether it shall bring healing in its beams or
be lost in a dark and ominous eclipse ere its good work be
done, depends so much upon the action of others who may
of regard it and view it as I do. So at best it is but a ray,
a small and tremulous ray, enough only to gladden the
heart and quicken the hope.
The prominent and leading idea of that convention seems
to have been a desire to reaoh a peaceful adjustment of our
present difficulties and strife through the medium of a con-
vention of the States. They proposed to suspend hostilities
to see what can be done, if anything, by negotiations of
some sort. This is one step in the right direction. To such
a convention of the States I have no objection, as a peaceful
conference and interchange of views between equal and
sovereign Powers, just as the convention of 1787 was
called and assembled.

The properly constituted authorities of Washington and
Richmond, the duly authorised representatives of the two
confederacies of States now at war with each other, might
give their assent to such a proposition. GJod might re-
sult from it. It would be an appeal on both sides from the
sword to reason and justice. All wars which do not result
in the extinc' ion and extermination of one side or the other
must bo ended sooner or later by some sort of negotiation.
From the discussion or interchange of views in such a
convention, the history as well as the true nature of our in-
stitutions, and the relation of the States toward each other
and towards the Federal head, would doubtless be much
better understood, generally, than they now are ; but I
should faveur such a proposition only as a peace:al confer-
ence, as the convention;of 1787 was. I should be opposed
to leaving the questions at issue to the absolute decision of
such a body.

Delegates might be clothed with powers to consult and
agree, if they could, upon some plan of adjustment, to be
submitted for subsequent ratification by the sovereign State
whom it affected, before it should be obligatory or binding,
and then binding only on such as should so ratify it. It
becomes the people of the South, as well as the people of
the North, to be quite as watchful and jealous of their
rights as their common ancestors were.
The maintenance of liberty in all ages, times, and coun-

tries when and where it has existed, has required not only
constant vigilance and jealousy, but it has often required
the greatest privations, and sufferings, and sacrifices that
people or States are ever subjected to. Through such an
ordeal we are now passing. Through a like and even
severer ordeal our ancestors passed, in their struggle for

the principles which it has devolved upon us to defend and
maintain.

But great es our sufferings and sacrifices have been and
are, to which you allude, they are as yet far short of the
like sufferings and sacrifices which our fathers bore with
patience, courage, and fortitude, in the crisis that tried
men's soul's in their day. These are the virtues that sus-
tained them in their hour of need. Their illustrious and
glorious example bids us not to under-estimate the priceless

inheritance they achieved for us at such a cost of treasure
and blood.

Great as are the odds we are struggling against, they are
not greater than those against which they successfully
struggled. In point of reverses our condition is not to be
compared with theirs. Should Mobile, Savannah, Charles-
ton, Augusta, Macon, Montgomery, and even Petersburg
and Richmond fell, our condition would not then be worse
or less hopeful than theirs was in the darkest hour that
rested on their fortunss. _ _

With wisdom on the part of those who control our destiny

.• _ _
in the cabinet and in the field, in husbanding and properly
wielding our resources at their command, and in securing
the hearts and affections of the people in the great cause of
right and liberty for which we are struggling, we could
suffer all these losses and calamities, and greater even, and
still triumph in the end.

At present, however, I do not see, as I stated in the
outset, that you or I or any number of persons in our posi-
tion, can do anything toward inaugurating any new move
went looking to a peaceful solution of the present strife.
The war on our part is fairly and entirely defensive in its
character. How long it will continue to be thus wickedly
and mercilessly waged against us depends upon the people
of the North.

Georgia, our own State, to whom we owe allegiance, has
with great unanimity proclaimed the principles upon which
a just and permanent peace ought to be bought and ob-
tained. The Congress of the Confederate States has fel-

lowed with an indorsement cf these principles. All you
and I, and others in your position therefore can do on that
line at this time is to sustain the movement already in-
augurated, and to the utmost of our ability to hold up those
principles as the surest hope of restoring soundness to the
public mind of the North, as the braz 311 serpent was held up
for the healing of Israel in the wilderness.

The chic! aid and encouragement we can give the peace
party at the North is to keep before thew these great