National Republican., 1883-04-19
Concerning Some Old yyb,,..

The communication of al. p. b." which
appears in another column, is evidently writ
ten by man of earnest convictions, and one
who has probably labored and suffered re-
proach in his section for devotion to the
union. Nevertheless we are obliged to take
issue with some of the writer's facts as we'll
as his conclusions He claims that the old
wings were union men, and that the mass
of tho shareholders were wings. Hence
he argues that it is not correct to
speak of "the Shareholders rebellion"
He says those of the south who believed
they had The right and sufficient cause for seces-
sion are represented by Robert Toombs"
only that he is more outspoken than tho
rest. But then Robert Toombs was whig
As such he was first elected to congress in
1874 and continued in that body until 1853
Mr.. Howell Cobb, of his own state, was
elected speaker of the house of repre-
sensatives on the twenty-second day of De-
cember, 1s49, being the democratic caucus
nominee, but the votes of those old whigs
Robert Toombs and Alexander II. Stephens,
were not given for him. They voted for Mr.
Morehead, whig. On Tic first of December,
1851, Linn Boyd, Of Kentucky, the democratic
caucus nominee for speaker, was elected, but
he did not receive the votes of these same old
wings, Toombs and Stephens. They voted
for Mr.. Hillyer, whig. That startling old
whig, Alexander II. Stephens served in con-
gress as whig from 1Si3 to 1868. He be-
lieved in tho right if not in the suficiency
of the cause for secession, and presented the
remarkable spectacle of man who
gave away what some people thought his
cause by insisting upon division of the
question. By the power Of his argument in
favor Of the right Of secession ho overcame
the scruples of those who believed it desirable
but wrong Thus ho unmoored Georgia from
the union of his love by his able demonstra-
tion that she had an undoubted right which
it would be wrong to exercise!
Other old wings there were, such as Benja-
min H. Hill, who came to congr ess in 1856
and again in 1857 as a representative Of the
American party, the successor to the then dc.
flnct whig partyS and Judah p. Benjamin, of
Louisiana, who entered the senate as "Whig
in 1858; and Zebulon Vance, who came to-
tho lower house twice as an American"
Toombs, Benjamin, Stephens, Charles J.,
Faulkner, and others were the men who, as
southern wings, issued an address against
their party nominee in ls52-Gen. Scotia
blow from which the party never rallied to
make another presidential nomination.
They were wings until their party at the
north seemed too timid on the slavery ques-
tion, and then they killed it.
We do not agree either that the southern
democracy led by Mr.. Jefferson Davis are so
very exacting. They affiliate with all who
will go their way, and the careers of Hill and
Stephens show that in Mr.. Toombss own state
original union men, or old wings, fare better
at their hands than that veteran whig Sc
cessionist himself. In deed nor height, nor
depth, nor race, nor color, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor any other creature,
can separate the southern democracy from the
men who are willing to wear their badge and
pronounce their shibboleth.
| Thstruth is thatiu 1850 the slavery question