The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-01-20
THE LoUD-MoUTHED AND NOISY
VS.. THE THOUGHTFUL AND
CONSERVATIVE

been fully eradicated.
AS is generally the case, the
thoughtless, the loud-mouthed, the
rampant, had the floor, and ran rough
shod over the wiser and more modest
thinking people Indeed, the voice of
the thoughtful and conservative was
over-awed and drowned out by the
lcurb-stone gentry who had nothing to
lose and perhaps something to gain
and succeeded in plunging the coun-
try headlong into the seething abyss
of war
! The conservative thoughtful, patri
otto citizens, north and south, used
their best efforts to prevent the i'm
pending struggle, but the curb-stone
agitators were too many for them,
and their prophesies and warnings
were alike disregarded.
For instance on our side the late
Alexander H. Stephens used the fol-
lowing profound and prophetic warn
ings:
1--WE have always had control of the
general government, and can have it
yet if We remain in it, and united as
we have been. We have a majority
of the presidents chosen from the
south, as we'll as the control and
management of most of those chosen
from the north. We have had so years
of southern presidents to the nOrth's
"a, thus controlling the executive de-
partment. So, of the judges of the
supreme court, we have had Is from
| the south and but II from the north.
| Although nearly four-ffths of the jul
dicial business has arisen in the free
states, yet a majority of the court
has always been from the south. This
we have required, so as to guard
| against any Interpretation of the con-
stitution unfavorable to us. In like
manner we have been equally watch
full over our interests in the legisla-
tive branch of the government. In
choosing the presiding officer of the
senate (pro tenn we have had "a and
the north IL; speakers of the house,
we have had % and they II. While
the majority of the representatives,
from their greater population, have
always been from the north, yet we
have generally secured the speaker,
because he, to a great extent, shapes
and controls the legislation of the
country. Nor have we had less con-
troll in every other department of the
general government Attorney gener
ais we have had IA, while the north
but 5. Foreign ministers we had had
Sc, and they but "a. While three
fourths of the business which de-
mands diplomatic agents abroad is
clearly from the free states, because
of their greater commercial interests,
we have, nevertheless, had the prin-
/ cipal embassies, so as to secure the
worlds markets for our cotton, tObac-
co, sugar. on the best possible terms.
We have had a vast majority of the
/ higher officers of both army and navy,
while the larger proportion of sol
diers and sailors were drawn fOm the
north Equally so of clerks, auditors,
and comptrollers filling executive de-
partments. The records show that
| for the last so years of the 5000 thus
employed, we have had more than
two-thirds, while we have only one
third of the white population of the
/ republic"
The speaker showed that the rev.
enue and postal departments showed
relatively the same proportion.
Continuing, Mr.. Stephens said:
Secession once taken can never be
recalled, and all the baleful and with
ering consequences that must follow
WIN rest on this convention for all
coming time. When we and our pos
terity shall see our lovely south des-
olated by the demon of war, which.
this act of yours will inevitably pro-
woke, when our green fields and wav-
ing harvests shall be trodden down
by a murderous soldiery, and the fiery
car of war sweeps over our land, our
temples of justice laid in ashes, and
every horror and desolation upon us,
who but this convention will be held
responsible for it, and who but him
who shall have given his vote for this
unwise and ilI-timed measure.
Pause, | entreat you, and consider
for a moment what reasons you can
give that will satisfy yourselves in
calmer moments-what reasons can
you give to your fellow sufferers in
the calamity that it will bring upon
us? Leaving out of view
for the present the countless millions
of dollars you must expend in a war
with the north. with tens of thousands
of your sons and brothers slain in bat
tie and offered up as sacrifice on
the altar of your ambition-fOr what?
Is it for the overthrow of the Amer
lean 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? | must
declare to you here. as I have often
done before. and it has been declared
by the greatest and wisest statesmen
and patriots of this and other lands,
that the American government is the
best and freest of all governments
the most equal in it's rights. the most
just in its decisions, the most lenient
in its measures, and the most inspir-
ing in its principles, to elevate the
race of men, that the sun of heaven
ever shone upon. Now for you to at
: tempt to overthrow such a govern
ment as this, under which we have
lived for more than three-quarters of