The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-02-25
Front iAs .dsgsstd ds.) OhroNselt and seshnst
Letter frem Mr.. Stephens.

| L6gt0k lHOn ME- Cg0puSuos
We need scarcely rem nix that the ubjoned
letter from the Hon. A. Ii. Stephens, in reply to
one from gentlemen in the interior of the
State, and which we authorized TO publish,
aft ,rds US sincere qualification.
II is just such a letter rs We expected from
him, on the questions which it discusses with
so much point, force and ability, and cannot
fail to command the respect Of if it should not
carry conviction to, all classes of readers.
i WASHINGTON Cry, February 7, 1852
My DEAR SIR Your esteemed favor Of the
ID inst, was received yesterday. You ask what
think of the late movement of our friends IN
Milledgeville. In reply | say, briefly and plain
w. that so far rs it may be considered as iudicat
ing the expression Of an opinion in favor of
sending delegates to the Baltimore convention,
l am utterly opposed to H.
The first and second of the resolutions Of that
meeting have my cordial approval. The first
re.aifirms the principles Of the Constitutional
Union party and reiterates determination to
adhere to them. The second provides for the
call Of convention in the State ut some suit.
able time hereafter, to take into consideration
the subject of the Presidential election, and to
adopt such course in relation to it as duty and
patriotism may then dictate as proper This is
all right. Aud while cannot concur with some
in, believing that the third resolution was in
tended by those who adopted it, to bear the
construction which has been put upon it, to wit
that its object was to commit the party, in ad.
vance, to send delegates to the Baltimore con
venton-st mean simply 10 say, that if such
was the intention, / am unqudlifediy opposed 10
IT,
The new organization in Georgia was called
into existence upon an extraordinary crisis in
our public affairs. That crisis has not yet
passed by. Those who think so, draw differ
ent conclusions from the signs of the times from
what do. The present (apparenD calm is but
temporary suspension of the dangerous ele-
ments which then ragged 80 furiousy. That
party was formed upon the principles set forth
and embodied in the action Of the State con
vention in December, 1850. Those principles
| need not repeat to you. They were such as
a large majority of the people of Georgia then
thought and rs / still think, essential to the
maintenance of the rights Of her people and the
union of the States. They were, moreover, not
sectional either in their character or objects.
They were, and are, rs broad as the Union, and
as wide az the limits of the jurisdiction Of the
| Constitution and in the very organization of
that party, which was formed by an abjuration
and remuneration Of all old party names and af-
6lations by all who entered into it, we offered
to unite with any and all men, irrespective of
past party distinctions, in every section of the
country, whether in the South or North, who
would make these principles cardinal point in
their creed. The same position we still hold.
AS yet, no party at the North has given any such
assurance. The Baltimore convention has not
been called with any such view or object so
far from it, many of our bitterest assailants, at
the South as we'll as at the North, have already
been duly appointed members of it. Could any
idea be more preposterous than the project of
sending delegates to convention of our Oppo-
nents, for fear that they may not conduct their
proceedings according to our liking? Such
would certainly be novel course in our poti-
| cal tactics.
If those members of that convention from the
South who were lately so loud in their denun-
citation of all men at the North, and who were
SO particularly censorous- of our position at
home, shall acknowledge their errors and put
themselves upon our principles, and shall purge
that body of it's Freesoii elements, and shall also
present to the country good candidate for the
Presidency, it will be time enough for us to con-
meet ourselves with their action after they shall
have given us these evidences of their being en-
titled to our confidence and cooperation A
good candidate, standing on our principles, and
put forward by an organization standing upon
the same principles, is all we want.
Whether that convention will come up to
these requisitions is one of the problems that
future developments only can solve. MY APP
prehension is, that it will not Upon what in
dications others found more favorable expecta-
4 tons, am at loss to conjecture. Is it from the
fact that Colonel Folks resolution was rejected
in the congressional caucus at the beginning of
the present session? Is it from the fact that
Mr.. Bartlett whose name appears as one of the
committee who called that convention, was
elected to the seat he now holds in the House
of Representatives as an open and avowed Free
| sOiler? Is it from the fact that Mr.. Rantoul,
the champion and defender of that most unprin.
ciped of all coalitions in the annals of political
prohigacy in Massachusetts,, is one of the mem
! bers of that convention Or is it from the fact
that the Union newspaper in this city puts
down the most ultra men of the South and the
| most rabid Free-soers at the. North, now in
Congress, as all good Democrats, and equally
entitled to mem bership and fellowship in the
great party of which it Processes to be the sole
organs
| Ii so, have only to say, that these and
other indications which might mention have
quite contrary effect on rue. That conven-
| ton, therefore, so called and so constituted, as
well as all other national conventions, whether
Democratic or Wing, must be put right on the
record as condition precedent before looking
to me for any support or countenance. Ispeak
only for myself The Constitutional Union
| party can speak for itself when it's convention
assemblies. But can any ono doub; that the
moral power and influence of our position upon
| the action of the Baltimore convention would
be much greater outside than inside of its de
alterations! Would they BIO less likely to com.
ply with our demands from fear of our defiance
in case of REFUSAL than to be controlled by our
wishes after voluntary surrender? If we go
into their organization without the condition
precedent of recognition and endorsement of
our principles, shall we not be in the condition
Of veteran troops beguiled and betrayed I'm.
armed into the camp Of the enemy? The idea
of men thus situated insisting on terms is sim
ply ridiculous; captires may be allowed to beg
for quarters, but who ever heard of them de-.
handing concessions? A1d is this the time for
our party to put itself in such humatng po-
siton. The extraordinary effort that is now
being made to inculcate the opinion that no.
thing can be done by separate organization upon