The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1864-10-26
GHAs. MASON.
PEACE MOVEMENTS XN TksE
S0UTEg.-AER'EER GF AEEN-
AYDER ID. STEPHENS, OK
ENEHREEA

I
PEACE MOVEMENTS KN TEE
SOUTEE.-AEE'TER GF AEEN-
AMBER 81. STEPHENS, OK
GEORGIA.
The following letter from the Confederate
Vice President, the Hon. Alexander Ii.
! Stephens, giving his views upon the pros
! poets Of peace, was written in answer to a
! letter addressed TO him by several Of his fei7
low-ctizens of Georgia:
| CRAwEoRDSvGLLE, Ga, Sept. 80, 1864
GENTLEMEN: You will please excuse me
for not answering your letter of the l4th
! instant sooner / have been absents for
nearly week on visit to my brother in
! Sparta, who has been quite out of health for
some time. Your letter | found here on my
return home yesterday. The delay Of my
replp thus occasloned l regret.
Without further explanation or apology,
allow Ire now TO say to you that 10 person
living can feel more ardent desire tor an
! end to be put to this unnatural and merci
less war upon honorable and just terms than
| do. But ! really do not see that it is in
my power or yours, or that of any number
! Of persons in our position, to inaueurate any
movement that will even tend to aid in
bringing about result that we and so ma
|
The movement of our Legislature at its
last session, at the suggestion OF the Exec
lltiye on this subject was by authority
properly constituted for such a purpose
That movement, in my Judgment, was
timely, iudicious aud in the right direction.
| Nor has it been without results. The or
ganization Of that party at the North to
which you refer may justly be claimed as a
| ma ni' l,n of tS lao
hoped, will be followed by others of more
marked character, if all in both sections who
sincerely desire peace upon correct terms
will give that movement thus inaugurated all
the aid in their power.
The resolutions of the Georgia Legisla-
ture. at its last session, upon the subject OF
peace, i'll my judgment, embodied and set
forth very clearly those principles upon
which alone there can bea permanent peace
between the different sections OF this extcn-
siye, once happy and prosperous but now
distracted country.
Easy and perfect solutions to all present
troubles, and those far more grieyous ones
which loom in prospect, and portentinusy
threaten in the coming future, is nothing
| more than the simple recognition of the fun
damental truth upon which all American
constitutional liberty is founded, and upon
the maintenance of which alone it can be
proServed--that is, the sovereignty, the nj
innate, absolute sovereignty OF the States
This doctrine our legislature announced to
the people at the North and to the world.
! 1t is the only key noteto peace-permancnt
lasting pCaCe--consistent with the security
Of the public liberty.
The old Confederation was formed upon
this principle. The old Union was after
ward formed upon this principle. No league
can ever be formed or maintained between
Gny State, North or South, securing public
liberty, upon any other principle.
The whole framework of American instl-
tutionS, which in so short time had won
the admiration of the world, and to which
we were indebted for such an unparalleled ca
reer Of prosperity and happiness, was form
upon this principle. All our present trou-
bles sprang from departure from this prn
ciple, from violation Of this essential law
of Ourpoltical organization.
In l776 our ancestors and the ancestors
Of those who are waging this unholy cru
SADIE against us together proclaimed the
great and eternal truth for the maintenance
Of which they jointly pledged their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honor; that
governments are instituted amongst men,
deriving their just powers from the consent
Of the governed, and that whenever any
toiln Of government becomes destructive Of
those ends for which it is formed it is the
right OF the people to alter or abolish it and
institute a new government, layingth toun-
datlons on such principles, and organizing
It's powers In such fOrm rs to them may
seem most likely to effect their safety and
happiness.
1t is needless here to state that by 'pco-
pie, . and governed in this annunciation
is meant communities and bodies Of men
capable of organizing and maintaining a
government, not Individual members OF So
ciety The consent of the governed refers
to the will of the mass of community or.
State in its organized form, and expressed
through its legitimate and properly consti-
tuted organs. 1t was upon this principle
the Colonists stood justified before the mo-
ther country. 1t was upon this principal
that the original thirteen co-equal and CO.
sovereign States formed the Federal COM
pact Of the old Union i'll 1887 1t is upon
the same principle that the present co-eQual
and co-sovereign States Of our Contederacy
formed new compact of Onion.
The idea that the old Union,Eor any Union
between sovereign States, consistently with
this fundamental truth, can be sustained 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 the new. It would
be that sort Of Union that results from des-
potism. th
The subjugation ofths people of the South
by the people of the North would necessari-
ly involve the destruction Of the Constitu-
tion and the overthrow of their Liberties as
well as ours The men or party at the
North to whom you refer, who favor peace.
must be brought to full realization of this
truth in all its bearings before their efforts
will result in much practical good. Any
peace growing out Of Union of States es-
tablished by force will be as ruinous to them
as to us. I.}% aitR oa
The action Of the Chicago Convention, so
far as its platform of principles goes, presents
as have said on another occasion, a ray of
light, which, under Providence, may prove
the dawn of the day to this long and cheer
less night; the first ray Of light have seen
from the North since the war began. This
cheers the heart, and toward it | could al
most exclaim: Hail, holy Light, offspring
Of Heaven, first born Of the eternal CO. /
eternal beam. May ! express thee unbla-
med, since God is light" oa
Indeed, | could have quite 80 exclaimed, 4
but for the sad reflection that whether il
shall bring healing in its beams, or be lost
in 9 dark and oniinous eclipse ere its good
work be done, depends so much upon the /
action OF others who may not regard it and
and view II as | do so at best it is but
ray, small and tremulous ray, enough only
to gladden. the heart and quicken the hopa.'
The prominent and leading idea Of tnat
Convention seems 70 have been ssdeeire tn
reach . peaceful sdjustnent Of our pre,ent
difficulties and strife, through thc medium