Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-10-19

The following letter purporting to be
from the rebel Vice-President, Hon. A. q.
Stephens, appears in the Philadelphia
Inquirer as a special dispatch from Wash
ington. The source whence it is derived
is not stated: soH s-7oH
CRAwFoRDsvILLE, Ga. Sept. %.
GEETLEMEN: You will please excuse
me for not answering your letter Of the
14th inst, sooner. / have been absent
nearly week on q visit to my brother IN
Sparta, who has been quite out Of health
for some time. Your letter l found here
on my return home yesterday. The delay
Of my reply thus Occasioned regret g.
Without further explanation or apology
allow me now to say to you that no person
living can possibly feel q more ardent de
sire for an end to be put to this unnatural
and merciless warsupon honorable and just
terms than do. But 1 really do not see
that it is in my power or yours, or that Of
any number of persons IN our position, to
inaugurate any movement that will even
tend to aid in bringing about result that
we and so many more desire
The movement by our Legislature At Its
last session, at the suggestion OF the Exec
utive, on this subject, was by authority
properly constituted for such a purpose.
The movement, in my Judgment, was
timely, iudicious, and in the right dlrecs
tiar. Nor has it been without results.
The organization Of that party at the
North to which you refer may justly be
claimed as a part of the fruits of it. These,
tits 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 that movements
thus insugurated, all the aid in their pow
et.y -. --.-. .- ...-.ssT F...5-e......... d.
The resolutions of the Georgia Legis)a-
ture at the last session upon the subject OF
peace, in my judgment, embodied and set
forth very clearly those principles upon
which alono there can be permanent peace
between the different sections Of this ex-
tensive, once happy and prosperous, but
now distracted country. i9s 8 ---=H-
Easy and perfect solution 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 fun
damental principle and truth upon which
all American constitutional liberty lstound-
ed, and upon the maintenance Of which
alone it can be preserved-that is, the SOW
ereignty, the ultimate absolute sovereignty
of the States. This doctrine Jour iLeglsla-
ture announced TO the people at the North,
and 10 the world 1t IS the only keynote
TO peace-permanent, lasting peace-con-
sistant with the security of the public llb-
erty. -'t
The old Confederation Was formed upon
this principle. The old Union was alter
wards formed upon this principle. No
league can ever be formed or maintained
between any State, North or South, secur-
ing public liberty, under any other Prln-
ciple. aE ar-5 .-.
The whole framework of American IN
stitutions, which in SO short a time has
won the admiration of the world, and to
which we were indebted for such an un-
paraIleled career of prosperity and haPpl--
ness, was formed upon this principle All
our present trouble sprung from depar-
ture from this principle, from violation
of this essential law Of our political organ
izations- @
In : II7{a z our epcsstoEs, and the ances-
tors of those who are WsgIIIg 49, --,tcl1y
crusade against us, together proclaimed
the great and eternal truth for the main
tenance of which they jointly pledged
their lives, their fortunes and their sacred
honor, that governments are Instituted
amongst men deriving their just power
from the consent of the governed, and that
whenever any form Of government becomes
destructive of those ends for which it was
formed, it is the right Of the people to al
ter or abolish it, and institute new go
vernment, lay ing its foundations on such
principles, and organizing Its powers
in such form as to them may seem most
likely to effect their safety and happiness.
1t is needless here to state that by ''peo-
pie" and governed" in this annunciation,
is meant communities and bodies Of men
capable of organizing and forming gov
ernment, not individual members Of sOcie-
ty. The consent of the governed refers to
the will of the mass Of the community or
State in its organized form, and expressed
through its legitimate and properly consti-
| tuted organs. It was upon this principle
that the colonists stood justified before tho
world in efFecting their separation from
their mother country. 1t was upon this
principle that the original thirteen coequal
and sovereign States formed the Fedora
compact of the Union in 1867. 1t is upon
the same principle that the present coe.
/ qual and co sovereign States Of our Cenfed
eracy formed their new compact OF union
The idea that the old Union OF any I'm
ion between sovereign States, consistently
with this fundamental truth, can be main
tanned by force is preposterous. This wal
springs from an attempt to do this prepos
ferrous thing. Superior force may com
pel Union of some sort, but it would no
| be the Union of the old Constitution or o
our new. 1t would be that sort of UnioI
that results from despotism.
The subjugation of the South by tn
/ people of the North would necessarily
involve the destruction of the Constitution
and the overthrow of their liberties as vel
as ours. The men or party at the North
to whom you refer, who favor peace, mus
be brought TO q fnll realisation of this trutl
in all its bearings, before their efforts vii
result in much practical good. any peac
| growing out of q union of States establish
ed by force, will be as ruinOus to them a
to us. -#
The action of the Chicago Convention
so faT IS rs Platform or principles goes
I presents as have said on another occasion
a ray of light which under Providenc
may prove the dawn Of the day TO this Ion,
and cherries night, the first ray of ligh
have seen from the North since the wa
began. This cheers the heart, and TO
wards it 1 could almost exclailn. "Hail
holy light, offspring of Hesven, first borl
Of the eternal eo-eternal beam. May ez
press thee unbalanced since God is light"
Indeed, 1 could have quite SO exclaimed
but for the sad reflection that whether j
shall bring healing inits beams or be los
in dark and omnibus cell pse, ere the goot
work be done, depends so much upon tn
actions of others who may not regard it ant
view it as do. So at best it is but a ray
a small and trenulous ray, enough only, t
| l. n Al. Il