The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1867-05-18
I'sv"lation. ! g q. nc Non. 4. n.

retired politician, Mr.. A. H. Stephens
with the ayowed purpose Of obtaining
from him for publication a recital 0
events Of the late war and particular
" ofthepart which he bore Ia Chi
civil troubles. The statements Of chi
writeror of.Mn Stevens, Through him
are republished all over the country
by leading newspapers, and are to b
accepted as the deliberate utterancei
Of the Vice President Of the late Con
federacy who has observed sort o
oracular silence since Tire downfall o
the Confederacy. ti"9
Derogating as these declarations q
Mr.. Stephens unquestionably do, from
the public character Of Mr., Davis, ant
representing in light unfavofable to
the latter matters in which they were
both concerned, when 1t is considered
that Mr.. Davis 10 not in condition to
engage in controversy, all honorable
men will pronounce them extremely
disingenious, and in the manner and
circumstance Of their publication dis
creditable in the highest degree to
their author.
Passing over for the present, the
matters specially referred to above,
we will quote an extract in which Mr..
Stephens undertakes to define his own
political status pending the war;
He was opposed to secession in the
first place !; but when he could not
resist that-+when Georgia went out,
and he, as a States rights man, felt
bound to go with Georgia, then he
wanted to fight only for terms ORE
construction, such as would cement
the country on better basis than it
ever stood JEFF. Davis and the fire.
eaters fought for Southern indepen-
dence, and ruined the country in do
ing SO. Icalled his attention to re
ports in Southern newspapers during
the war, that he Stephens, had de-
clared his oppositionto reconstruction
upon any terms. They were all false,
he said, and be was sorry to see in
Pollard's Lost Cause, which he con
sidered wretchedly bad history Of
the war, what pretended to be an ex-
tract from speech made by him at
Charlotte, North Carolina, after his
unsuccessful attempt to confer with
at Fortress Monroe (before
5he Hampton Roads confefence0 in
which he is represented as saying that
Under no circumstances would he
to reconstruction. He never
said any such thing. He was recon
'tructionist, he said, from the first day
If the war till the last. tGp Wss
These statements are not true, if
Lr. Stephens himself is to be believed,
,ut admitting them to be so, they
make up very incongruous history
or him. Following his State Rights
doctrines that his primary allegiance
vas due to Georgia, he says that he
'beyed her mandate, and went
With her out of the Union. He
vas member of the Convention
hat framed the Constitution and Gov
rnment of the Confederacy; took a
rominent part in its deliberations;
nd when the work was finished, he |
ronounced it good-declaring in his
ublic addresses that, it was a great
upon the Constitution,
fter which 1t was modelled. He per
lifted himself to be elected to the
econd office in the new Government;
nd until the issue of the war which
issued became more than doubtful
nd the scales inclined to the stronger
arty, he performed its duties. On
lie plea of i'll health he subsequently +
oandoned them until Sherman's raid
9 drove him under the wing of Gen.
ee's veterans again into his chair,
here he remained until the close of
s public career, just before the final
ash.
Now, if it be true that during all
is time when he was filling the ,
cond office in the Government, he {
Is really engaged in the business of 9
construction-or of tearing down
at very Government which he was
,cted to sustain, and which his
ate Rights professions and his t
ency in its creation, and his accept :
ce of the Office, all pledged him to q
stain and perpetuate to the extent f
his powers-what an example of C
4 faith does his record afford Il
But we have said that Mr.. Stephens h
n public declarations, emphatically c
his present statement that il
lis false that he ever opposed re-
lstruction"-and that he. "was IL
onstructionists from the first day of Al
war to the last" q
The contradiction of this statement h
furnished by letter which Mr.. c.
'phens himself addressed to the nj
n. Mr.. Semmes, of Louisiana, dated to
rawfordsville, Georgia, Nov. 9th, az
a." In that letter he wrote as tie
lows: "On the question Of recon Ell
ruction, l stand now just where di
d, in October, 1861, when / wrote f
a gentleman in answer to letter
ON him stating that was charged
th such sentiments, and desiring q
e to give public denial of it. b,
Id him in reply THAT 1 LOOKED UPON ha
CHI A CHARGE AS NO LESS THAN AN TO
PUTATIoN ON MY INTELLIGENCE THAN ~ ~
I INTEGRITY. The issue Of this iOar, an N