St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-03-16
Alexander III. stephens.

The death of Mr.. Stephens will re-
call not merely the more recent event,
of the rebellion and that shOrt-liveC
"COnfederacy" of which he was the
second executive officer. Long before
those dark days he had as public man
acquired a national reputation, and
had been recognized as leading spirit
of the great Wing party. In his sup
port of Mr.. Clay there was something
chivalrOus, which had endeared Mr.
Stephens to the many friends, both al
the south and the north, of that great
man. In the national house of repre-
sentatives Mr.. Stephens was the bril-
liant and effective champion of the OPP
position to the administration of Mr.
Polk and to the Mexican measures OF
| that president. He came at last to be
regarded as one of the most moderate
of the members from the slave states
| Up to certain point he had been an
unswerving friend of the Union. As
the hour of ACKNOWLEDGMENT APP
preached, he seems honestly to have
used all his power, authority, elO-
quence, against the increasing mad
ness; but when the time came fol
standing almost alone or for yielding
to the current of southern opinion, he
made the great mistake of his life, and
surrendered to the turbulent influences
by which he was surrounded. He was
not man to do things by halves, and
accepting Office under the Confederate
government, he did it's best to main
tain its desperate fortunes. Unques-
tiOnably he accomplished a great deal
of mischief by misleading those who
were still wavering; and he has the
credit, whether it belongs to him or
not, of turning the scale against loyal
ty by a speech which he made before
the Virginia legislature. Yet even
then he was longing for a return to the
| Union. Whenever negotiations were
set afOOt for Cancellation, or at least for
peace, Mr.. Stephens was full of activi-
ty, however small his influence.
After all was over and the cause of
secession hOpelessly lost, Mr.. Stephens
accepted the result gracefully and with
good sense. He came back to the
house of representatives, after a long
| absence, n feeble, wOrn-Out and prema-
turely old man. Always an invalid, he
was now filter for the sick chamber
than for the house but he exerted
himself with indomitable resolution,
and participated in many of the de
bates of interesting questions. The
country liked to hear from him and
was interested in his personal welfare.
OF all the leading men of the rebellion,
he seems to have been regarded by the
loyal with the greatest leniency, and to
have been the most readily forgiven.
There was an impression that with the
political crimes now indelibly asso-
ciated with his name his sympathy had
never been great or cordial and that
he had yielded to the influences which
the most pertinaciOus Union man, un-
der the same circumstances, would
have found it hard to resist. Possibly
pOsterity may judge him with less con-
sideratiOn but we think the presump-
ton is that he will appear in history as
he appears to us, as a man of excellent
public intentions, though found unfor-
tunately deficient in strength of char
acter at a critical moment. At the
same time let it in his favor be remem-
bered that the strength demanded was
of specially elevated kind, and one OF
which universal history furnishes few
instances New York Tribune.