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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.)