LOYAL PUBLICATION SOCIETY. THE ASSERTIONS OF A SECESSIONIST. From the Speech of A. H. STEPHENS, of Georgia. Delivered November, 1860. (The Speech is published entire, and forms No. 36 ot the series of the Society’s publications.) By .force of sheer reiteration, thousands of ignorant and thoughtless people at the North, as well as in Europe, have been persuaded into the belief that the Government of the United States, and the loyal people who sustain it, were in some way responsible for the war which now, for nearly four years, has devastated the country; or, at least, that they might at any time honorably end it, and restore peace and tranquillity if they chose. Fellow-Citizens :—My object is not to stir up strife, but to allay it; not to appeal to your passions, but to your reason. Good governments can never be built up or sustained by the impulse of passion. I wish to address myself to your good sense, to your good judgment. The first question that presents itself is, shall the people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States ? My countrymen, I tell you frankly, candidly, and earnestly, that 1 do not think that they ought. In my judgment, the election of no man, constitutionally chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause for any State to separate from the Union. It ought to stand by still and aid in maintaining the Constitution of the country. To make a point of resistance to the Government, to withdraw from it because a man has been constitutionally elected, puts us in the wrong. We are pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of us have sworn to support it. Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a man to the Presidency, and that, too, in accordance with the prescribed forms of the Constitution, make a point of resistance to the Government without becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves—withdraw ourselves from it ? Would we not be in the wrong ? We went into the election with this people. The result was different from what we wished; but the election has been constitutionally held. Were we to make a point of resistance to the Government and go out of the Union on that account, the record would be made up hereafter against us. The President of the United States is no emperor, no dictator—• he is clothed with no absolute power. He can do nothing unless he is backed by power in Congress. The House of Representatives is largely in the majority against him.
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