The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-05-30
Mr.. stephens Letter.

Il
cipi.ating State after State into secession
and revolution, Alex. q. Stephens, o
Georgia, stood up before the people o
the South and implored them TO stop ant
consider what they were doing. In term
that turned out to be prophetic he pic
tured to them what secession meant. H,
| told them that it meant civil war, ant
that civil war meant great, disastrous
and uncertain contest, into which th'
South was rushing without adequate
cause.
As all the world now knows, and Al
the South more than all the rest Of tht
world too we'll knows, Mr.. Stephens
solemn words Of warning were unheeded
The fre.eaters laughed him to Scorn.
They said give US war II need be, bui
there will be no war, for the North will
not 6ght. Mr.. Stephens warned them
that peaceable secession was q delusion,
Just As Webster in the great debate with
Hayne as far back as 1882, had warned
the country that there could be no such
thing as a peaceable dismsmberment oi
the Union.
Now to-day, after II years more Of ex.
perience in public life, Alex. Il. Stephens
comes to the front once again with words
Of solemn warning, in which he appeals
TO all the friends Of law and order in this
country, Republicans and Democrats, TO
come to the rescue Of the government
against the mischievous movement inau-
gurated by Potter and his associates at
Washington. He declares to-day, As he
declared in 1861, thst these men cannot
succeed in their revolutionary scheme by
peaceable means, and that the safety Of
the country lies in immediate and earn
est concert OF action among all patriotic
men. s.
Read the words Of this prophetic man
10 to.days paper. They cannot be too
often read nor too deeply pondered. Let
no man say that they are Idle words.
We had enough Of that miserable pooh.
pooling Of his warning in 1861. Must
we again wait until the scheme has
ripeued into au open, formidable and
Irresistible movement, into which, grad
ually but inevitably, men will be drawn
who are today quite ready to say, as
thy servant a dog that he should do this
thing"
Mr.. Stephens warns all such men
against the siren words Of peaceful assur.
ance that are now, like the assurances Of
the Great Tempter, whispered into their
ears. These whisperiugs, If they are re-
csived by s credulous people as they
were in 1861 will again prove, as they did
then, "the direiul spring Of woes unnum.
beredn to this vexed land. We are not to
forget that the Democratic caucus that
passed the Potter resolution refused to de.
clare that the party in Congress did not
mediate an attack on the Presidential
title. This refusal Is the claw that is
concealed beneath the velvet, and that
may be ultimately fastened upon the
country. As Mr.. Stephens says, We
should be on our guard against this
concealed danger, and not be de.
luded by smiling assurances Of peacc>
ful intentions. The party was
bound and manipulated irresistably
10 caucus. When the scheme natures
still further, and becomes defined pur.
pose 10 unseat the President, the ma.
chinery OF the caucus will again be
brought into requisition, and members Of
Congress, like the one who represents
this district, who never dared to call
their souls their own, will be whipped in
to the support Of the scheme by very
small amount Of pressure. This is the
danger that now confronts US, and that
Stephens clearly foresees.