The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-03-09
ALRxANDER II. STEPHENS.

man Of the Confederacy, and q Statesman Of
the Nation, Is dead. He passes from the
stage of life where for forty years he has
been one Of the most picturesque and es-
teemed Of public men - esteemed and
respected for his virtues, even in the North,
while he was chief in the hostile South.
He was an able, honest, conscientious man.
He believed in the Union aud was patriot.
But, he believed In negro slavery and that it |
was an essential to the welfare of what he
loved better, the South. He opposed seces-
sion and division hereically, one as against
the many Of the South, beseeching all sacii-
fees Of sectional feeling to preserve the
integrity OF the Union; but when the issue
came home as a last choice between the
Union and the South, he went with his peo-
pie and their cause. This seems to have been
predetermination with him, for in his ad-
dress TO the Georgia Legislature, in 1860,
Notwithstanding 1t was resistless argument,
overhrowing as by 'whrlwind the alleged
causes for secession, which Howell Cobb and
Robert Toombs had urged upon its atten-
ton, he said
"Sheuld Georgia determine to 60 out of
the Union-I speak for one, though my
views might not agree with them-whatsver
the result may be, shall bow to the will of
her people. Their cause is my cause, and
their destiny is my destiny; and trust this
will be the ultimate course of ALL"
The advice of Mr.. Stephens to call State
convention TO consider the issue prevailed
ever the hot-headed goadings Of Tocmbs and
his confrsres, aud Stephens was one Of the
delegates to the convention. His speech on
the question of secession before that body
was masterpiece of Alexandrian argument
and Time has demonstrated his portrayal of
the results was prophetic. To read 1t now
one can but think with reverent admiration
Of the physical spectre Of a man who in front
science that seemingly surpassed mortal ken,
read to them from the book Of fate the in
evitable results that would follow secession
The closing paragraph we quote.
"Leaving out of view, for the present, the
countless millions Of dollars you must ex-
pend in war with the North with tens of
thousands of your sons and brothers slain in
battle, and offered up as a sacrifice on the
altar of your ambition-and for what? We
ask again. Is it for the overthrow Of the
American Government, established by our
common ancestry; cemented and built up by
their sweat and blood, and founded on the
broad principles of Right, Justice and
Humanity? And, as such, l must declare
here, As have often done before, and which
has been repeated by the greatest and wissst
Of statesmen and patriots in this and other
lands, that 1t is the best, the freest govern
ment, the most equal in its rights, the most
measures, and the most aspiring in Its prin-
ciples to elevate the race Of men that the
sun Of heaven ever shone upon. Now for
to attempt 70 overthrow such Government
as this, under which we have lived for more
than three-quarters of century-in which
we have gained our wealth, our standing as
a nation, our domestic safety while the ele-
ments of peril are around us, with peace and
tranquility accompanied with unbounded
prosperity and rights unassailed, is the height
Of madness, folly and toickedness to which l
can neither lend my sanction nor my vote"
And yet when the convention passed the
ordnance of secession by vote of 20S to 50,
Stephens "went with his State" was elected
to and accepted the Vice-Presidency Of the
Confederacy, February IL, 1861, and coD-
tinued to be its foremost statesman while 1t
lasted. He had predicted the result of the
contest, but once in he fought TO the last,
| and when the issue was decided he accepted
the result. He was reelected to Congress
before his political disabilities were removed,
| and was subsequently reelected until he
was elected Governor of Georgia, last year,
TO succeed Colquit. He was born in Georgia
in 1912, and despite the frailest Of bodies
possessed of torturing physical infrmities,
working arduously and necessarily in public
| life since 1852. He lived out the allotted
space, and died at last of physical ex-
haustion. History will rank him we'll up
with the foremost men of America, not SO
great In intellect as the greatest, but great
man withal, sinsularly pure, clean and sim
cere. Georgia may well shroud itself and
mourn. Her greatest man is dead.