Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1864-07-08
A. Il. STEPHENS
SPEECH AGAINST SECESSION
THE REBEL vIcE-PREsnENrs REASONS.

The following remarks were made BY Alexander
IT, Stevens, now Vice President of the Southern
Confederacy atthe Georgia Convention which met
at Milledgeville in November 1860, to consider the
question ef seeding from the Union His argu-
ments against secession are valuable as matter of
history
When we and our posterity shall see our love-
" South desolated by all the demons of war which
this act of yours viii inevitably invite and call
forth: when our green fields Of wavering haryests
shall be trodden down by the murderous soldiery
and fiery car of war sweeping over our land our
temples OF justice laid IN ashes all the horrors and
desolations Of war upon us who but this conYen-
ton will be held responsible for it and who but
him who shall have given his vote for this unwise
and illtimed measure shall be held to strict ac-
count for this suicidal act by the present generation
and probably cursed and execrated by posterity for
all coming time, for the wide and desolating ruin
that viii inevitably follow this act you now pro-
pose to perpetuate?
Pause, / entreat you, and consider for mo-
ment what reasons you can give that will even sat
Isfy yourselves in calmer nloments--what reasons
can you give to your fellow sufferers in the calam
lty that it will bring upon US? What reason can
You give to the nations of the earth to Justify it?
They viii be the calm and deliberate judges in this
case and to what cause or one overt act can we
point, on which to rest the plea Of justification?
What right has the, North assailed? What interest
of the South has been invaded? What justice. has
been denied? and what claim founded in Justice
and right has been withheld? Can either of you
to-day name one governmental act Of wrong delib-
erately and purposely done by the government at
Washington, Of which the South has right to
complain? | challenge the answer! While on
the other hand, let me show the fact land believe
me, gentlemen, | am not here the advocate of the
L 7 IL. Il
and lover of the South and her institutions, and
for this reason speak thus plainly and faithful to
yours, mine, and every other man S interest, the
words Of truth and soberness1, of which | wish
you to Judge, and | will only state facts which are
clear and undeniabe, and which now stand as rec
ords Authentic in the history of our country.
When we Of the South demanded the slave
trade orthe importation of Africans for the euiya-
ton Of our lands, did they not yield the right for
twenty years? When we asked three-hfth rep
resentaton in Congress for our slaves, was it not
granted? When we asked and demanded the re-
turn of any fugitive from justice, or the recovery
of those persons owing labor or allegiance was it
not incorporated in the constitution And again
ratified and strengthened in the Fugitive Slave
law of 1850?
Do you reply that In many instance they have
violated this compact and have not been faithful
to their engagements? As individuals and local
communities they may have done so but not by
the sanction OF government, for that has always
been true to Southern interests. Again gentle
men, look at another fact: when We have asked
that more territory should be added, that We might
spread the institution of slavery, have they not
yielded to our demands and given us Louisiana
florida and Texas, out of which four states have
been carved, and ample territory for four more to
be added in due time if you by this unWise aud
impolitc act do notdestroy this hope, and perhaps
by by it lose all and have your last slave renched
from you by stern military rule, as South Ameri-
ca and Mexico were or by the yindictiye decree
of a universal emancipation which may reasonably
be expected to follow?
But, again, gentlemen, what have we to gain
by this proposed change of our relation to the gem
eral government We have always had the CON
troll and can yet, five remain in it, and are as
nited as we have been We have had majority
of the Presidents chosen from the South, as well as
the control and management 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 we have had eighteen from
the South and but eleven from the North although
nearly four-th of the judicial business has arisen
in the free states yet majority Of the court has
always been from the South. This we have requir-
ed so as to guard against any Interpretation Of the
constitution unfavorable to us. In like mannerwe
have been equally watchful to guard our interests
in the legislative branch government. In chooS-
ing the presiding officer pro tenn. of the Senate,
we have had twenty four and they eleven While
the majority Of the representatives, from their
greater population, has always been from the
North, yet we have generally secured the Speaker,
because he to great extent, shapes and controls
the legislation of the country. Nor had we less
control in every department otthe general govern
ment Attorney Generals wehad fourteen, while
the North had but FIVE Foreign ministers we had
eighty-six, and they butforty-four. While three
fourths of the business which demands diplomatic
agents from abroad is clearly from the North from
their greater commercial interests yet we have had
the prineipa, embassies SO as to secure the worlds
markets for our cotton, tobacco and sugar, on the
best possible terms. We have had vast majority
of the higher Offices of both army and navy, while
a larger portion of the soldiers and sailors were
drawn from the North Equally so of clerks, au-
ditors and comptrollers filling the Executive de-
partment the records show that, for the last fifty
years, of the three thousand thus employed We
have had more than tWo-thirds, while we have had
but one-third Of the white population of the re-
public
Again, look at another item and one, be assur-
ed in which we have great and vital interest: it
is that of revenue or means OF supporting govern
ment From official documents we learn that
fraction over three-fourths of the collected
for the support OF the government has uniformly
been raised from the North.
contemplate carefully and candidly these impor-
tant items. Look at another necessary branch of
government, and learn from stern statistical facts
how matters stand in that department / mean
the mail and postofice privileges that we now en-
Joy under the general government as it has been
for years past The expense for the transportation
of the mail in the free states was by the report OF
the Postmaster Generation 1860 little over $l3,
O00, 600, while the Income was $l9,000000. But
in slave states the transportation Of the mail was
$l4,7l6,000 while the revenue from the mail was
S.. 600, 265 leaving deficit of So, Us, 1856, to be
supplied by the North for our accommodation,
and without which we must have been entirely cut
off from this most essential branch of the govern
ment.
Leaving out ofview, for the present, the count
less millions of dollars you must expend in war
with the north there win be thousands and tens
of thousands of your sons and brothers slain in
battle, and offered up as sacrifices upon the altar
of ambition,--a for what, we ask again. 1t is
for the overthrow of the American government,
established by our, common ancestry, cemented