The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1905-09-08

Lincoln first met. They became
fast friends, and Lincoln declared
Stephens speech against the 'S3,
100000 bill" as it was called, was
the greatest effort he ever heard
That bill was to enable the Polk
administration to negotiate a treaty
with Mexico ceding vast areas Of
territory. Stephens opposed it or
the ground that it would make the
slavery question paramount and
lead to disunion. And if you will
read it to- day you will not be Sc
much impressed with the argument
of it as you will with the prophecy
of it.
In 1859 Stephens retired from
Congress and hoped to spend the
remainder of his life in repose.
He was AZ years of age, and a
sage. His farm at Crawfordville,
Liberty Hail." was Mecca,
where public men were welcomed
from all parts of the country. He
kept open house for Georgians and
the rest of mankind, and thousands
visited him, consulted him, and
partook of his hospitality. But
the storm conjured by twenty
years of sectional reproach was
about to burst upon the country.
The Methodist Church was divided
when Texas was annexed, and now
the Democratic party was to di-
vide because the North and the
South were engaged in mutual
murder in Kansas. John Browns
raid was the answer the North
made to Preston Brooks assault.
Secession was the answer the
South made to the election of Lin
coin, and coercion was the answer
the North made to the lombard
ment of Sumter. That lombard
ment saved Maryland, West Vir-
ginia, Kentucky, East Tennessee
and Missouri to the Union. Had
Mr.. Davis accepted the advice of
the South would have
succeeded in the war, in all proba,
bility. Stephens proposed to buy
800, 100000 worth of cotton, the
winter of 1S60-61, sell it in En-
rope, and invest the proceeds in
navy strong enough to keep the
ports open. England
and France had the ships that
might have been had for the cot
ton. With her ports open, the
South could have maintained the
war till the crack of doom.
Davis rejected the counsel. He
did not believe there was any con.
stitutional authority to buy cotton,
in the first place, and he did not
think such navy was needed, in
The second place. His farewell
address in the United States Senate
shows that he hoped to avoid war.
When the end came and the
South was overthrown and pros
rate, Stephens was sent to prison
for some six months. When ha-
red and passion were q little
sbated, he was set at liberty. In
'tinctively the South looked to
Tim and such as he for counsel.
t was the gravest error in the
world to expect the Southern peo-
,le to turn from the leaders in the
.reat struggle. 1t was an impos-
ibility, and the South turned to
hem in her distress, as she had in
er grandeur. Had she done 9TH
rwise she would have been fit for
hains and forever infamous.
Stephens again entered public
fc. He was four terms in Con-
ress and once Governor of Geor-
ia. His book on the sectional
ar is an invaluable contribution
) American history-a labor of
I'VE and discharge of q duty he
wed the South. 4
He was a wise, a great, and a
ure man, and the more this gem |
ration knows of him, the more |
le men and women of our day I
lad his preachments and ponder
lem, the better for our country :
i'd the happierfor our citizenship. t
be pendulum has long been at
70 other extreme; it will return, !
Id the times are ripening for it. }
Savoyard in Nashville Banner. p