Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1864-09-01
THE REBELLION.
The South Responsible for it.

Read the following extract from {
speech oy Alexander FL. Stephens, Vice
President of the Southern Confederacy
in the Georgia Secession Convention
January, 1861. Mr.. Stephens was op
posed to Secession, but unable to stem
the tide, he soon after became rebel
The Vice e-Presidency Of the Confeder
acy being his price. We recommend
it TO the careful perusal and considera
, ton of all those of our readers and
others who consider that the North is
to blame for the secession of the South
How prophetic the language-how his
torically true the admissions here made
This step (the secession of Georgia.
once taken, can never be recalled, and
all the baletul and withering conse-
quences that must follow Gas you will
see, will rest on the convention for all
coming time When we and our pos
terity shall see our lovely South desc
lated by the demon of war which this
act of yours will inevitably call forth ;
when our green fields Of waving har-
vest shall be trodden down by the muir
derous soldierly 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 convention will be held respon-
sible for it and who but him who shall
have given his vote for this unwise and
ill-timed measure as | honestly think
and believe) shall be held to strict ac-
count for this suicidal act by the pres
ent generation, and probably cursed and
execrated by posterity for all coming
time for the wide and desolating ruin
that will inevitably follow this act you
now propose to perpetrate? +?
Pause, entreat you, and consider
for moment what reasons you can give
that will even satisfy yourselves in
calmer moments-what reasons you can
give to your fellow sufferers in the ca
lamity that it will bring upon us p
What reasons can you give to the ma
tions of the earth to justify it? They
will be the calm and deliberate judges
in the case; and to what cause or one
overt act can you name or point, on
which to rest the plea Of justification I?
What right has the North assailed P
What interest of the South has been
invaded? What justice has been de-
MED ? and what claim founded in jus
tice and right has been withheld? Can
either of you name one governmental
act of wrong, deliberately and pur-
posely done by the government of which
the South has a right to complain? L
challenge the answer! While, on the
other hand, let me show the facts (and
believe me, gentlemen, [ am not here
the advocate of the North, but [ am
here the friend, the firm, friend and
lover of the South and her institutions,
and for this reason I speak thus plainly
and faithfully, for yours, mine, and
every other man s interest, the words of
truth and soberness,) Of which I wish
you to Judge, and | will only state
facts which are clear and undeniable,
and which now stands as records au-
thentic in the history of our country.
When we Of the South demanded the
slave trade, or the importation of Afri-
cans for the cultivation Of our lands,
did they not yield the right for twenty
years ? When we asked three -fifths
representation in Congress was it not
granted ? When we asked and de-
manded the return of any fugitive from
justice, or the recovery Of those per-
sons owing labor or allegiance, was it
not incorporated in the Constitution :?
and again ratified and strengthened in
the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850?
But do you reply that, in many in
stances, they have violated this com
pact, 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. alway been true to South
ern interests. Aga n, gentlemen, look
at another fact. When we have as ked
that more territory should be added.
that We might spread the institution OF
slavery, have they not yielded to our
demands, in giving us Louisiana, Flo
rida 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 and impolitic
act, do not destroy this hope, and per-
haps, by it lose all, and have your last
slave wrenehed from you, by stern mill
tary rule, as South America and Mex
leo were or by the vindictive decree
of universal emancipation, which may
reasonably be expected to follow?
But again, gentlemen, what have we
to gain by this proposed change of our
L. ~