SPEECHI OF ALEXANDER II. STEPHENS AT RICHMOND IN 1861.

The following is from the Richmoud Dispatch of April 23, 1861:

Serenade to Vice-president Stephens.- Last night, at the hour of 9 o'clock, a large number of citizens congregated in front of the Exchange Hotel, with the First Regiment band, and serenaded the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-president of the Confederate States of America. 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 who 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, North Carolina, 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 She was out by resolutions of her popMemphis and other cities. Kentucky Her people were moving. Missouriwho 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 ille

in the late Union. ular assemblies in would soon be out.

gal, unchristian, and diabolical schemes ?" Missouri will soon add another star to the Southern galaxy. Where Maryland is you all know. The first Southern blood had been shed on her soil, and Virginia would never stand idly by and see her citizens shot down. The cause of Baltimore was the cause of the whole South. He said the cause we were engaged in was that which attached people to the old Constitution of the late United States-it was the cause of civil, religious, and constitutional liberty. Many of us looked at that 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, etc. 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, 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 to 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 the ashes. The revolution lately begun did not affect alone property, but liberty. He alluded to Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand 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 were, however, said he, no longer under the rule of this tyrant. With strong arms and stout hearts, you have now resolved to stand in defense of liberty. The Confederate States had but asserted their rights. They believed that their rulers derived their just. powers from the consent of the governed. No one had a 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 let 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, would acquit us of a desire to shed our brothers' 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. The gods first made mad those they would destroy. Maryland would join us, and maybe, 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 ignominiously 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 may be terrible, but the victory will be ours. Virginians, said he, you fight for the preservation of your sacred rights -the land of Patrick IIenry-to keep from desecration the tomb of Washington, the graves of Madison, Jefferson, and all you hold most dear.

Why did not Virginia fly to arms and seize on all the United States property within her reach on the proclamation of Jackson? Lincoln had more cause than Jackson to issue a proclamation, for no one threatened to march on Washington in Jackson's day. No one had fired into a vessel sailing under the flag of the United States, as was the Star of the West; no one had seized upon all the arsenals, arms, ammunition, mints, custom-houses, post-offices, and revenue cutters within their reach; no one had forced one of the forts of the United States to lower and dishonor its flag; and yet the calling of seventy-five thousand men for the immediate protection of the puplic property and public men in Washington furnished a ready excuse for all those to jump into rebellion who had not the courage or manliness to stay out of it, when they were threatened to be

turned out of doors by a lawless mob if they did not go in for it. As the President of the Convention, John Janney, Esq., said to a friend of mine, as he left the Convention on the day the ordinance was passed, "The proclamation was not the cause of secession, it only served as a bridge for the Convention to pass over on."*

*For the following important statistics I am indebted to M'Pherson's History of the Rebellion, first edition.

In the year 1860, Mr. Floyd, then Secretary of War, sold and transferred from Northern to Southern arsenals the following arms:

Sold, 31,610 muskets, at $2 50 cach; 25,000 do., do., to Belknap, of Toxas; and 250,000, at $2 15 cach, which Secretary IIolt refused to confirm. Of arms transferred from Northern to Southern arsenals and states, there were, of percussion muskets, 105,000; rifles, 10,000; columbiads ordered, 110; and of thirty-two pounders, 11.

Of property seized by Southern States prior to March 4, 1861, there was in South Carolina, Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney, the United States Arsenal, with 70,000 stand of arms, with other stores; post-offices and custom-houses, with their contents; light-houso tender, schooner William Aiken, steamer Marion, etc. The United States steamer was fired into, and Fort Sumter taken, before Mr. Lincoln issued his proclamation for 75,000 mcn.

Georgia had seized Forts Pulaski and Jackson, arsenal at Augusta, containing two twelve-pound howitzers, two cannon, and 22,000 muskets and rifles, large stores of powder, balls, grape, etc. They also seized the United States steamer Ida, brig N. R. Kilby, and seven other New York vessels, together with the Custom-house, with all the money therein.

Florida scized the navy yard, Forts Barrancas and M'Rac, Fort Mason, and arsenal at St. Augustine; the Chattahoochee Arsenal, containing 500,000 musket-cartridges and 300,000 rifle do.; 50,000 pounds of powder, besides coast survey-steamer, etc.

Alabama had taken Fort Morgan, with 5000 shot and shell; Mount Vernon Arsenal, with 120,000 stand of arms, 150,000 pounds of powder, and a large amount of other munitions of war, and revenue cutter Lewis Cass.

Mississippi had taken the fort on Ship Island and United States hospital on the Mississippi River.

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