The distinguished gentleman was introduced to the throng by
Mayor Mayo, and received with hearty cheers.
In response,
Mr. Stephens returned his acknowledgments for the warmth of the personal greeting, and his most profound thanks for it as the representative of the
Confederate States.
He spoke of the rejoicing the secession of
Virginia had caused among her Southern sisters.
Her people would feel justified if they could hear it as he had. He would not speak of the States that were out, but those who were in.
North Carolina was out, and did not know exactly how she got out. The fires that were blazing here he had seen all along, his track from
Montgomery to
Richmond.
At
Wilmington, N. C., he had counted on one street twenty flags of the
Confederate States.
The news from
Tennessee was equally cheering — there the mountains were on fire.
Some of the States still hesitated, but soon all would be in.
Tennessee was no longer in the late Union.
She was out by resolutions of her popular assemblies in
Memphis and other cities.
Kentucky would soon be out; her people were moving.
Missouri--who could doubt the stand she would take?--when her Governor, in reply to
Lincoln's insolent proclamation, had said:--“You shall have no troops for the furtherance of your illegal, unchristian, and diabolical schemes!”
Missouri will soon add another star to the
Southern galaxy.
Where
Maryland is you all know.
The first Southern blood has been shed on her soil, and
Virginia would never stand by and see her citizens shot down.
The cause of
Baltimore is the cause of the whole
South.
He said the cause we were engaged in was that which attached people to the
Constitution of the late
United States--it was the cause of civil, religious, and constitutional liberty.
Many of us looked at the
Constitution as the anchor of safety.
In
Georgia the people had been attached to the previous Union, but the
Constitution which governed it was framed by Southern talent and understanding.
Assaults had been made on it ever since it was established.
Lately a latitudinous construction had been made by the
North, while we of the
South sought to interpret it as it was — advocating strict construction, State rights, the right of the people to rule, &c. He spoke of all the fifteen Southern States as advocating this construction.
To violate the principles of the
Constitution was to initiate revolution; and the
Northern States had done this.
The constitution framed at
Montgomery discarded the obsolete ideas of the old Constitution,
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but had preserved its better portion, with some modifications, suggested by the experience of the past; and it had been adopted by the
Confederate States, who would stand by it. The old Constitution had been made an engine of power to crush out liberty; that of the
Confederate States to preserve it. The old Constitution was improved in our hands, and those living under it had, like the phoenix, risen from their ashes.
The revolution lately begun did not affect alone property, but liberty.
He alluded to
Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers, and said he could find no authority in the old Constitution for such a flagrant abuse of power.
His second proclamation had stigmatized as pirates all who sailed in letters of marque; this was also in violation of the
Constitution, which alone gave Congress that power.
What had the friends of liberty to hope for?
Beginning in usurpation, where would he end?
You are, however, said he, no longer under the rule of this tyrant.
With strong arms and stout hearts you have now resolved to stand in defence of liberty.
The
Confederate States have but asserted their rights.
They believed that their rulers derived their just powers from the consent of the governed.
No one had the right to deny the existence of the sovereign right of secession.
Our people did not want to meddle with the
Northern States--only wanted the latter to leave them alone.
When did
Virginia ever ask the assistance of the
General Government?
If there is sin in our institutions, we bear the blame, and will stand acquitted by natural law, and the higher law of the Creator.
We stand upon the law of God and Nature.
The Southern States did not wish a resort to arms after secession.
Mr. Stephens alluded to the negotiations between
Major Anderson and the authorities of the
Confederate States, to demonstrate the proposition.
History, he said, if rightly written, will acquit us of a desire to shed our brother's blood.
The law of necessity and of right compelled us to act as we did. He had reason to believe that the Creator smiled on it. The Federal flag was taken down without the loss of a single life.
He believed that
Providence would be with us and bless us to the end. We had appealed to the God of Battles for the justness of our cause.
Madness and folly ruled at
Washington.
Had it not have been so, several of the States would have been in the old Union for a year to come.
Maryland would join us, and may be, ere long, the principles that
Washington fought for might be again administered in the city that bore his name.
Every son of the
South, from the
Potomac to the
Rio Grande, should rally to the support of
Maryland.
If
Lincoln quits
Washington as ignominously as he entered it, God's will will have, been accomplished.
The argument was now. exhausted.
Be prepared; stand to your arms — defend your wives and firesides.
He alluded to the momentous consequences of the issue involved.
Rather than be conquered, let every second man rally to drive back the invader.
The conflict maybe terrible, but the victory will be ours.
Virginians, said he, you fight for the preservation of your sacred rights — the land of
Patrick Henry — to keep from desecration the tomb of
Washington, the graves of
Madison,
Jefferson, and all you hold most dear.--
Richmond Dispatch, April 23.
