Alexander H. Stephens to J. Henly Smith.
Crawfordville, Ga., Nov. 23, 1860.
Dear Smith, I have just received your letter of the 16th Inst. By some strange mishap it has been delayed. I wrote to you day before yesterday stating I had received nothing from you lately. Last night I got the Tribune and N. Y. Herald of the 16th Inst. When I see the Elberton Star I will write to you what I think of your article on retaliatory legislation. You will see from my last speech that I am inclined to favour that policy. I think a course perfectly constitutional might be pursued on that line that would effect the desired result. What our State convention will do is very uncertain. I should not be at all surprised to [see] secession adopted by them as the proper remedy. The country is in a panic and there is no telling where it will end. I do not know whether I shall be in the convention or not.
I have not made up my mind to go yet. I am inclined to let those who sowed the wind reap the whirlwind, or control it if they can. It does seem to me that we are going to destruction as fast as we can.
From Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1911.
Alexander Hamilton Stephens was an American politician who served as the vice president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. After serving in both houses of the Georgia General Assembly, he won election to Congress, taking his seat in 1843. After the Civil War, he returned to Congress in 1873, serving to 1882 when he was elected as the 50th Governor of Georgia, serving there from late 1882 until his death in 1883.
J. Henley Smith was a Georgia journalist.