Stephens, while he was still loyal, was almost strong enough to hold the State in the Union; and but for the phantasm of securing better terms outside, the Empire State of the South would have checked and destroyed the Secession movement at the very outset.
Blaine reflects on Stephens' loyalty and his potential to keep Georgia in the Union, highlighting the pivotal moment in the secession movement.
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I believe that if it should pass it will receive the sanction of nineteen-twentieths of the loyal people of the country.
The haste with which the question was brought to a decision can hardly be justified, and is a striking illustration of the intense party-feeling which had been engendered by the war.
The need of action and of energy so pressed upon him that he found no time to utter lamentation, none to indulge even in the most sacred personal grief.
Their success as civil magistrates, as legislators, as executives was not less marked and meritorious than their illustrious service in war.
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