The daily union., 1854-02-18
speech Of tho Hon. A. II. stephens, or Georgia


Although the distinguished representative from Geor.
kia, Mr. Stephens not quite as frank in the course
Of his bold and forcible speech yesterday in defence
lhe great principle of popular sovereignty. as he should
have been we cannot refrain paying bis Argument the
compliment que TO It's pertinent facts aud irresistible pow
eh lie should have explicitly stated that il was tbs demo.
cratic party OF the North which had borne the brunt Of
me oa'e Ia favor OF The compromise measures and had
gone the uhes, in yndealon OF the principle OF popu-
Lar soVeeigny and that that which was The rule in this
respect In The democratic ranks IN the free States was
The exception among the wings OF the free States Mr.
Stephens is, however. patty man, and we ought
to be thankful rather for what he did say Than capous
over what he Jailed to say One fact however he must
feel, even il be will not manfuly confront and candidv
admit !; n; and that is, il the whg party ruled the North,
the abolltoniss would make swift and bloody work nj
the South lie knows this we'll II is volume full of
thought or such man be is But we are free to say
mat his argument favor Of the principle OF popular soy
eeignty was conclusive. He said andisaid il well and
truly that the men who cling to the Missouri Com
pomiseaftcr more than thirty years of bitter proes,
against that measure--had formally and distinctly ar.
rayed themselves in favor OF the same principle insisted
upon BY the British ministry in their msrciless course
against the American colonies before the revolutionary
war Strange TO say the aboionsts who profess to base
their whole party upon the idea Of the popular will, are
now rallied in favor Of congressional Interference and
control in the Territories Of the United Sa,es and
against allowing the people OF those Territories to man
age Their own affairs IN their way, according TO the
constitution and laws of the United States "Such men
said Mr. Stephens, with great and striking force, "beons
to the party OF Lord North, and would have been in
favor OF taxing the colonies without letting the coonie,
have voice in the taxation OF themselves He asked
the House if the who down the forest and res
eued the soil from waste, and peopled the public domain
and prepared il for the arts OF peace and the blessings
cvilization fit TO take either on ,cears And
be might have rumphanty demanded whether they were
to be refused such tribunal and in ts stead have one
adopted that made such men Messrs. Seward, Chase
Wade, Glddings, and Gerit Smith, the congressional
rulers and despos over new, progressive country and
patriotic people!
This Speech moreover, upon other points sing uar
ly complete and powerful. He showed that from the
moment that the Missouri Compromise was accepted in
1870 down TO the present hour, the majority Of the rep
resenta,ives in Congress from the North, among them
some who were most anxious retain it, had always
been prompt 10 sanction every effort to violate and
this end he quoted largely from the congressional rec
ords, proving his position with startling correctness i
was only when the South saw that the line Of 80 30 wa,
almost extinct and discarded that they agreed TO the pn
cple of popular sovereignty as substitute; and now the
North after refusing 10 the South the operation of the Mis-
souri, Compromise in recent acquisitions comes for
ward TO deny the very principle which the South ac.
cepted in place OF it This point was mes. forcibly
made. We have space 10 give 10 this effective
and truly opportune speech but had done less than
refer to one or two of its many searching points, we
should have felt tha, had done injustice 10 the feel
nzs OF the attentive audience which heard it with sa,s
lactios from lis commencement, 10 it's close