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merit
VOLUME XXXVI.]
M ILLEDLE VIL LE, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, I860.
NUMBER SO.
ADDRESS
QF
HON. ALEXANDER' H. STEPHENS,'
Bcforethe General Assembly ofthe Slate of Georgia, Feb.22,1866.
Gentlemen of the Semite
and House of Representatives :
I appear before you in answer to your call. This call,
coining in the imposing form it does, and under the circum
stances it does, requires a response from me. You have
assigned to me a very high, a very honorable, and'responsi
ble position. This position you know I did not seek.
Most willingly would I have avoided it; and nothing but
an extraordinary sense of duty could have induced me to
yield my own disinclinations and aversions to your wishes
and judgment in the matter. For this unusual manifesta
tion of esteem and confidence, I retu rn you my profouudest ac
knowledgments of gratitude. Of one thing only can I
give you any assurance, and that is, if I shall be permitted
to discharge the trusts thereby imposed, they will be dis
charged with a singleness of purpose to the public good.
ness of the couBtry to be without Post Offices and mail
communications ; to say notbihg of divers other matters on
the long list of our present inconveniences and privations.
All these, however, we must patiently bear and endure for
a season. With quiet and repose we may get well—may
get once more on our feet again. One thing is certain,
that bad humor, ill temper, exhibited either in restlessness or
grumbling, will not hasten it.
Next to this, aaother great duty we owe to ourselves is
the exercise of a liberal spirit of forbearance amongst our
selves.
The first step towards local or general harmony, is the
banishment from our breasts of every feeling and sentiment
calculated to stir the discords of the past. Nothing could
be more injurious or mischievous' to the future of this
country, than the agitation at present, of questions that
divided the people anterior to, or during the existence of
the late war. On no occasion, and especially in the
bestowment of office, ought such differences of opinion in
the past, ever to be mentioned, either for or against any
one, otherwise equally entitled to confidence. These
ideas or sentiments of other times and circumstances, are
not the germs from which hopeful organization can now
arise. Let all differences of opinion, touching errors, or
supposed errors, of the head or heart, on the part of any,
in the past, growing out of these matters, be at once, in
The great object with me now, is to see a restoration, if the deep ocean of oblivion, forever buried. Let there be
possible, of peace, prosperity, and Constitutional liberty in
this once happy, but now disturbed, agitated, and distrac
ted country. To this end, all my energies and efforts to
the extent of their powers, will be devoted.
You ask my viewson the existing state of affairs; our
duties at the present; and the prospects of the future ?
This is a task from which, under other circumstances, I
might very well shrink. He who ventures to speak, and to
give counsel and advice in times of peril, or disaster, as
sumes no enviable position. Far be that rashness from me
which sometimes prompts the forward to rush in where
angels might fear to tread. In responding, therefore, briefly to
no criminations or re-criminations on account of acts of
other days. No canvassing of past conduct or motives.
Great disasters are upon us and upon the whole country,
and without enquiring how these originated, or at whose
door the fault should be laid, let us now as common
sharers of common misfortunes, on all occasions, consult
only as to the best means, under the circumstances as we
find them, to secure the best ends towards future ameliora
tion. Good Government is what we want. This should
be the leading desire and the controling object with all;
and I need not assure you, if this can be obtained, that our
desolated fields, our towns and villages, and cities now in
your enquiries, I feel, I trust, the full weight and magni-! ruins, wid soon—like the Phoenix—rise again from their
tude of the subject. It involves the welfare of million* | ashes: and all our waste places will again, at no distant
dow living, and that of many more millions who are to day, blossom as the rose.
come after us. 1 am also fully impressed with the con- j This view should also be borne in mind, that whatever
sciousness of the inconceivably small effect of what I shall differences of opinion existed before the late fury of the
say, upon the momentous results involved in the subject war, they sprung mainly from differences as to the best
itself. | means to be used, and the best line of policy to be pursued,
It is with these feelings, I offer my mite of counsel to secure the great controlling object of all—which was
at your request. And in the outset of the undertaking, good government. Whatever may be said of the loyalty
limited as it is intended to be, to a few general ideas only,! or disloyalty of any, in the late most lamentable conflict of
well may I imitate an illustrious example in invoking aid . arms, I think I may venture safely to say, that there was,
from on High ; “that I may say nothing on this occasion • on the part of the great mass of the people of Georgia,
which may compromit the rights, the honor, the dignity,
or best interests of my country.” I mean specially the rights,
honor, dignity, and best interests of the people of Geor
gia. With their sufferings, their losses, their misfortunes,
their bereavements, and their present utter prestration, my
heart is in deepest sympathy.
We have reached that point in our affairs, at which the
great question before us is—“To be or not to be?”—and mental truth, that all political power resides in the people,
if to be: How? Hope, ever springing in the human With us it was simply a question as to where our alle-
and of the entire South, no disloyalty to the principles of
! the Constitution of the United States. To that system of
representative Government; of delegated and limited
j powers; that establishment in a new phase, on this conti
nent, of all the essentials of England’s Magna Charta, for
the protection and security of life, liberty and property;
with the additional recognition of the principle as a funda
breast, prompts, even under the greatest calamities and ad
versities, never to despair. Adversity is a severe school, a
terrible crucible ; both for individuals and communities.
glance was due in the maintenance of these principles
—which authority was paramount in the last resort—State
or Federal. As for myself, I can affirm that no sentiment of
We are now in this school, this crucible, and should bear disloyalty to these great principles of self government,
in mind that it is never negative in its action. It is always recognize! and embodied in the Constitution of the United
positive. It is ever decided in its effects one way or States, ever beat or throbbed in breast or heart of mine. To
the other. It either makes better or worse. It either : their maintenance my whole soul was ever enlisted, and to
brings out unknown vices, or arouses dormant virtues. -In this end my whole life has heretofore been devoted, and
morals, its tendency is to make saints or reprobates—in ; will continue to be the rest of my days—God willing. In
politics to make heroes or desperadoes. The first indica- devotion to these principles, I yield to no man living,
tion of its working for good, to which hope looks anxious- ; This much I can say for myself; may I not say the same
ly, is the manifestitation of a full consciousness of its r.a-! for you and for the great mass of ihe people of .Georgia,
ture and extent, and the most promising grounds of hope 1 and for the great mass of the people of the entire South?
tor possible good from our present troubles, or of things Whatever differences existed amongst us, arose from differ*
with us getting better instead of worse, is the evident gen- j ences as to the best and surest means of securing these great
eral realization, on the part of our people, of their present ends, which was the object of all. It was with this view
situation : Of the evils now upon them, and of the great- and this purpose Secession was tried. That has failed. In-
er ones still impending. These it is not my purpose to stead of bettering our condition, instead of establishing our
exaggerate if I could ; that would be useless ; nor to lessen j liberties upon a surer foundation, we have, in the war that
or extenuate ; that would be worse than useless. All fully j insued, come well nigh losing the whole of the rich inher-
understand and realise them. They feel them. It is well
they do.
Can these evils upon us—the absence of law; the want
of protection and security of person and property, without
which civilization cannot advance—be removed ? or can
those greater ones which threaten our very political exist
ence, be averted ? These are^the questions.
It is true we have not the control of all the remedies,
even if these questions could be satisfactorily answered.
Our fortunes and destiny are not entirely in our own hands.
Yet there are some things that we may, and can, and ought,
in my judgment to do ; from which no harm can come ;
and from which some good- may follow, in betteiing o-r
present condition. States and communities, as well as in
dividuals, when they have done the best they can in view
of surrounding circumstances, with all the lights they
have before them—let results be what they may—can at
least enjoy the consolation—no small recompense that—of
having performed their duty, and of having a conscience
void of offence before God and man. This, if no more
valuable result, will, I trust, attend the doing of what I
propose. . . .
The first great duty, then, I would enjoin at this time, is
the exercise of the simple, though difficult and trying, but
nevertheless indispensable quality of patience. Patience
requires of those afflicted to bear and to suffer with forti
tude whatever ills may befall them. This is often, and es
pecially is it the case with us now, essential for their ul
timate removal by any instrumentalities whatever We
are in the condition of a man with a dislocated limb, or a
broken leg, and a very bad compound fracture at that.
How it became broken should not be with him a question
of so much importance, as how it can be restored to
health, vigor and strength. This requires of him as the
highest duty to himself, to wait quietly and patiently in
splints and bandages, until nature resumes her active pow
ers—until the vital functions perform their office. The
knitting of the bones and the granulation of the flesh require
time. Perfect quiet and repose even under the severest
pain, is necessary. It will not do to make too great haste
to get well. An attempt to walk too soon will only make
the matter worse. We must or ought now, therefore, in a
similar manner to discipline ourselves to the same or like
degree of patience. I know the anxiety and restlessness
of the popular mind to be fully on our feet again—to walk
abroad as we once did—to enjoy once more the free out
door air of Heaven, with the perfect use of all our limbs
I know how trying it is to be denied representation in Con
gress, while we are paying our proportion of the taxes
hew annoying it is to be even partially under military rule
—and how injurious it is to the general interest and busi-
itance with which we set out.
This is one of the sad realizations of the present. In this,
too, we are but illustrating the teachings of history. Wars,
and civil wars especially, always menace liberty; they sel
dom advance it; while they usually end in its entire over
throw and destruction. Ours stopped just short of such a
catastrophe. Our only alternative now is, either to give up
all hope of Constitutional liberty, or to retrace ouj steps,
and to look for its vindication and maintenance in the fo
rums of reason and justice, instead of on the arena of arms
—in the Courts and halls of Legislation, instead of on the
fields of battle.
I am frank and candid in telling you right here, that our
surest hopes, in my judgment, of these ends, are in the re
storation policy of the President of the United States. I
have little hope lor liberty—little hope for the success of
the great American experiment of self-government—but in
the success of the present efforts for the restoration of the
States to their former practical relations in a common gov
ernment, under the Constitution of the United States.
We are not without an encouraging example on this line
in the history of the mother country—in the history of our
ancestors—from whom we derived, in great measure, the
principles to which we are so much devoted. The truest
friends of liberty in England once, in 1642, abandoned the
forum of reason, and appealed, as we did, to the sword, as
the surest means, in their judgment, of advancing their
cause. Th j was after they had made great progress, under
the lead of Coke, Hampden, Falkland and others, in the
advancement of liberal principles. Many usurpations had
been checked; many of the prerogatives of the Crown had
been curtailed; the Petition of Right had been sanctioned;
Ship-money had been abandoned; Courts-Martial had been
done away with; Habeas Corpus had been re-established;
High Courts of Commission and Star-Chamber had been abol
ished ; many other great abuses of power had been correct
ed, and other reforms established. But not satisfied with
these, and not satisfied with the peaceful working of reason,
to go on in its natural sphere, the denial of the Sovereignty
of the Crown was pressed by the too ardent reformers up
on Charles the First. All else he had yielded—this he
would not. The sword was appealed to, to settle the ques
tion; a civil war was the result;, great valor and courage
were displayed on both sides; men of eminent virtue and
patriotism fell in the sanguinary and fratricidal conflict;
the King was deposed and executed; a Commonwealth
proclaimed. But the end was the reduction of the people
of England to a worse state of oppression than they had
been in for centuries. They retraced their steps. After
nearly twenty years of exhaustion add blood, and the loss
of the greater portion of the liberties enjoyed by them be-
“Let not this weak, unknowing hand,
Presume thy bolts to throw ;
And deal damnation round the land,
On him I deem tliy foe.”
How equally proper is it now, when the spirit of peace
seems to be hovering over our war-stricken land, that in
canvassing the conduct or motives of others during the late
conflict, this great truth should be impressed upon the
minds of all,
“Who made the heart ? Tie lie alone
Decidedly, can try ub ; '
He knows each chord, its various tone,
Each spring-, its various bias;
Then at the balance, let’s he mute,
We never can adjust it;
What’s done, we partly may compute,
But know not what’s resisted.”
Of all the heaven descended virtues, that elevate and en
noble human nature, the highest, the sublimest, and the
divinest is charity. By all means, then, fail not to exercise
and cultivate this soul-regenerating element of fallen na
ture. Let it be cultivated and exercised not only amongst
ourselves and towards ourselves, on all questions of motive
or conduct touching the late war, but towards all mankind.
Even towards our enemies, if we have any, let the aspira
tions of our hearts be, “Father, forgive them ; they know
not what they do.” The exercise of patience, forbearance
and charity, therefore, are the three first duties I would at
this time enjoin—and of these three, “the greatest is
charity.” .
But to proceed. Another one of our present du
ties, is this: we should accept the issues of the war,
and abide by them in good faith. This, I feel fully
persuaded, it is your purpose to do, as well as that of
your constituents. The people of Georgia have in Conven
tion revoked and annulled her Ordinance of 1861, which
was intended to sever her from the compact of Union -of
1787, The Constitution of the United States has been re
fore, they, by almost unanimous consent; called for restora
tion. The restoration came. Charles the Second ascended
the throne, as unlimited a monarch as ever ruled the em
pire. Not a pledge was asked or a guarantee given, touch
ing the concessions of the Royal prerogative, that had been
exacted and obtained from his father.
The true friends of liberty, of reform and of progress in
government, had become convinced that these were the off
spring of peace and of enlightened reason, and not of passion
nor of arms. The House of Commons and the House of
Lords were henceforth the theatres of their ope’raiions, and
not the fields of Newberry or Marston-Moor. The result
was, that in less than thirty years, all their ancient rights
and privileges, which had been lost iu the civil war, with
new securities, were re-established in the ever-memorable
settlement of 1688; which, for all practical purposes, may
be looked upon as a bloodless revolution. Since that time,
England has made still further and more signal strides in
reform and progress. But not one of these has been effect
ed by resort to arms. Catholic Emancipation was carried
in Parliament, after years of argument, against the most
persistent opposition. Reason and justice ultimately pre
vailed. So with the removal of the disability of the Jews
—so with the overthrow of the Rotten-Borough system—
so with the extension of franchise—so with the modification
of the Corn-Laws, and restrictions on Commerce, opening
the way to the establishment of the principles of Free-
Trade—and so with all the other great reforms by Parlia
ment, which have so distinguished English history for the
last half century.
May we not indulge hope, even in the alternative before
us now, from this great example of restoration, if we but
do as the friends of liberty there did ? This is my hope,
my only hope. It is founded on the virtue, intelligence
and patriotism of the American people. I have not lost
my faith in the people, or in their capacity for self-govern
ment. But for these great essential qualities of human na
ture, to be brought into active and efficient exercise, for the
fulfillment of patriotic hopes, it is essential that the pas
sions of the day should subside; that the causes of these
passions should not now be discussed; that the embers of
the late strife shall not be stirred.
Man by nature is ever prone to scan closely the errors
and defects of his fellow man—ever ready to rail at the
mote in his brother’s eye, without considering the beam that
Is in his own. This should not be. We all have our motes
or beams. We are all frail; perfection is the attribute of
none. Prejudice or -pre-judgment should be indulged to
wards none. Prejudice! What wrongs, what injuries
what mischiefs, what lamentable consequences, have re
sulted at all times from nothing but this perversity of the
intellect! Of all the obstacles to the advancement of truth
and human progress, in every department—in science, in
art, in government, and in religion, in all ages and climes,
not one on the list is more formidable, more difficult to over
come and subdue, than this horrible distortion of the mor
al as well as intellecual faculties. It is a host of evil with
in itself. I could enjoin no greater duty upon my coun
trymen now, North and South, than the exercise of that
degree of forbearance which would enable them to conquer
their prejudices. One of the highest exhibitions of the
moral sublime the world ever witnessed, was that of Daniel
Webster, when in an open barouche in the streets of Boston,
he proclaimed in substance, to a vast assembly of his con
stituents—unwilling hearers—that “they had conquered an
uncongenial clime; they had conquered a sterile soil; they
had conquered the winds and elements of the Ocean; they
had conquered most of the elements of nature; but they
must yet learn to conquer their prejudices”! I know of
no more fitting incident or scene in the life of that wonder
ful man, l Clarus et vir Farlissimusj'ior perpetuating the memory
of the true greatness of his character, on canvass or in mar
ble, than a representation of him as he then and there stood
and spoke! It was an exhibition of moral grandeur sur
passing that of Aristides when he said, ‘KJh Athenians, what
Themistocles recommends would be greatly to your inter
est, but it would be unjust” !
I say to you, and if my vqice could extend throughout
this vast country, over hill and dale, over mountain and
valley, to hovel, hamlet and mansion, village, town and city,
I would say, among the first, looking to restoration of peace,
prosperity and harmony in this land, is the great duty of
exercising that degree of forbearance which will enable
them to conquer their prejudices. Prejudices against com
munities as well as individuals.
And next to that,.the indulgence of a Christian spirit of
charity. “Judge not that ye be not judged,” especially in
matters growing out of the late war. Most of the wars that
have scourged the world, even in the Christian era, have
arisen on points of conscience, or differences as to the
surest way of salvation. A strange way that to Heaven, is
it not? How much disgrace to the Church, and shame to
mankind, would have been avoided, if the ejaculation of
each breast had been, at all times, as it should have been,
ordained as the organic law of our land. Whatever differ
ences of opinion heretofore existed as to where our allegi
ance was due, during the late state of things, none for any
practical purpose can exist now. Whether Georgia, by
the aetion of her Convention of 1861, was ever rightfully
out of the Union or not, there can be no question that she
is now in, so far as depends upon her will and deed. The
whole Uuited States, therefore, is now without question
our country, to be cherished and defended as such, by all
our hearts and by all our arms.
The Constitution of the United States, and the treaties
and laws made in pursuance thereof, are now acknowledged
to be the paramount law in this whole country. Whoever
therefore is true to these principles as now recognized, is
loyal as far as that term has any legitimate use or force un
der our institutions. This is the only kind of loyalty and
and the only test of loyalty the Constitution itself requires.
In any other view, everything pertaining to restoration, so
far as regards the great body of the people in at least eleven
States of the Union, is but making a promise to the ear to
be broken to the hope. All, therefore, who accept the is
sue of war in good faith, and come up to the test required
by the Constitution, are now loyal, however they may have
heretofore been.
But with this change comes a new order of things. One
of the results of the w r ar is a total change in our whole in
ternal polity. Our former social fabric has been entirely
subverted. Like those convulsions in nature which break
up old incrustations, the war has wrought a new epoch in
our political existence. Old things have passed away, and
all things among us in this respect f new. The-relation
heretofore, under our old system, exis.mg between the Alri-
can and European races, no longer exists. Slavery, as it
was called, or the status of the black race, their subordina
tion to the white, upon which all our institutions rested, is
abolished forever, not only in Georgia, but throughout the
limits of the United States. This change should be received
and accepted as an irrevocable fact. It is a bootless ques
tion now to discuss, whether the new system is better for
both races than the old one was or not. That may be pro
per matter for the philosophic and philanthropic historian,
at some future time to inquire into, after the new system
shall have been fully and. fairly tried.
AH changes of systems or proposed reforms, are but exper
iments and problems to be solved. Our system of self-gov
ernment was an experiment at first. Perhaps as a problem
it i& not yet solved. Our present duty on this subject is not
with the past or the future. It is with the present. The
wisest and the best often err, in their judgments as to the
probable workings of any new system. Let us therefore
give this one, a fair and just trial, without prejudice, and
with that earnestness of purpose, which always looks hope
fully to success. It is an ethnological problem, on the so
lution of which depends, aot only the best interests of both
races, but it may be, the existence of one or the other, if
not both.
This duty of giving this new system a fair and just trial,
will require of you, as Legislators of the land, great chan
ges in our former laws in regard to this large class of popu
lation. Wise and humane provisions should be made for
them. It is not tor me to go into detail. Suffice it to say
on this occasion, that ample and full protection should be
secured to them, so that they may stand equal before the
law, in the possession and enjoyment of all rights of person,
liberty and property. Many considerations claim this at
your hands. Among these may be stated their fidelity in
times past* They cultivated your fields; ministered to your
personal wants and comforts ; nursed and reared your chil
dren ; and even in the hour of danger and pGril, they were
in the main, true to you and yours. To them we owe a
debt of gratitude, as well as acts of kindness. This should
alao be done because they are poor, untutored, uninformed ;
many of them helpless, liable to be imposed upon, and need
it. Legislation should ever look to the protection of the
weak against the strong. Whatever may be said of the
equality of races, or their natural capacity to become equal,
no one can doubt that at this time, this race among us, is
not equal to the Caucasian. This inequality does not lessen
the moral obligations on the part of the superior to the inferior,
it rather increases them. From him who has much,more is re
quired than from him who has little. The present genera
tion of them, it is true, is far above their savage progeni
tors, who were at first introduced into this country, in gen
eral intelligence, virtue, and moral culture. This shows ca
pacity for improvement. But in all the higher characteris
tics of mental development, they are still very far below the
European type. What further advancement they may
make, or to what standard they may attain, under a different
system of laws every way suitable and wisely applicable to
their changed condition, time alone can disclose. I speak
of them as we now know them to be, having no longer the
protection of a master, or legal guardian ; they now need
all the protection which the shield of the law can give.
But above all, this protection should be secured be
cause it is right and just that it should be, upon general
principles. All governments in their organic structure, as
as well as in their administration, should have this leading
object in view ; the good of the governed. Protection and
security to all under its jurisdiction, should be the chief end
of every government. It is a melancholy truth that while
this should be the chief end of all governments, most of
them are used only as instruments of power, for the aggran
dizement of the few, at the expense of, and by the oppres
sion of, the many. Such are not our ideas of government,
never have been and never should be. Governments, accor
ding to our ideas, should look to the good of the whole, and
not a part only. “ The greatest good to the greatest num
ber”, is a favorite dogma with some. Some so defended our
old system. But you know this was never my doctrine.
The greatest good to all, without c’ riment or injury to
any, is the true rule. Those governments only are founded
upon correct principles, of reason and justice, which look to
the greatest attainable advancement, improvement and
progress, physically, intellectually and morally, of all classes
and conditions within their righffbl jurisdiction. If our old
system was not the best, or could not have been made the
best, for both races, in this respect and upon this basis, it
ought to have been abolished. This was my view of that
system while it lasted, and I repeat it now that it is no
more. In legislation therefore under the new system, yon
should look to the best interest of all classes; tbeir protec
tion, security, advancement and improvement, physically,
intellectually and morally. All obstacles, if there be any,
should be removed, which can possibly hinder or retard, the
improvement of the blacks to the extent of their capacity.
All proper aid should be given to their own effSrta. Chan
nels of education should be opened up to them. iSchools
and the usual means of moral and intellectual training,
should be encouraged amongst them. This is the dictate,
not only of what is right and proper, and just iu itself, but
(Concluded on 4fA page.)