CONFEDERATE STATES. 



is our only hope for a sure and honorable peace. If 

 our enemy was to-day convinced that the feast herein 

 indicated would welcome him in every quarter of 

 this confederacy, we know his base character well 

 enough to feel assured he would never come. Let, 

 then, the smoke of your homes, fired by women's 

 hands, tell the approaching foe that over sword and 

 bavonet they will rush only to fire and ruin. 



VVe have faith in God, and faith in you. He is blind 

 to every indication of Providence who has not seen an 

 Almighty hand controlling the events of the past year. 

 The wind, the ware, the cloud, the mist, the sunshine, 

 and the storm have all ministered to our necessities, 

 and frequently succored us in our distress. We deem 

 it unnecessary to recount the numerous instances 

 which have called forth our gratitude. We would join 

 you in thanksgiving and praise. " If God be for us, 

 who can be against us ? " 



Nor would we condemn your confident look to our 

 armies, when they can meet with a foe not too greatly 

 their superior in numbers. The year past tells a story 

 of heroism and success, of which "our nation will never 

 be ashamed. These considerations, however, should 

 only stimulate us to greater deeds and nobler efforts. 

 An occasional reverse we must expect such as has 

 depressed us within the last few days. This is only 

 temporary. 



\\ e have no fears of the result the final issue. You 

 and we may have to sacrifice our lives and fortunes in 

 the holy cause; but our honor will be saved untar- 

 nished, and our children's children will rise to call us 

 " blessed." HOWELL COBB, 



R. TOOMBS, 

 M. J. CRAWFORD, 

 THOMAS R. R. COBB. 



Such was the public sentiment in the Con- 

 federate States at the beginning of 1862. In 

 a military aspect their position appeared ex- 

 tremely favorable. Their extreme line of de- 

 fence had been unassailed, and was believed to 

 be impregnable. The intrenchments at Manas- 

 sas. the fortifications on the Cumberland, and 

 at Bowling Green and Columbus were regard- 

 ed as too strong to be taken by any Federal 

 force. In the contests of the previous year, 

 the Confederate soldiers claimed that victory 

 had constantly fallen to their cause, and in 

 personal prowess they had no fears of their 

 foe. There were, however, other causes more 

 hidden that threw a cloud over these cheering 

 prospects. The United States were known to 

 be preparing to exert their utmost strength, 

 and it could be clearly seen that a fearful 

 struggle was at hand. Arms and munitions 

 of war could not be had in sufficient abun- 

 dance. The commerce of the Confederate States 

 was annihilated, and a most stringent block- 

 ade endangered every venture. The luxuries 

 of life were consumed, and even the necessary 

 articles were becoming scarce. The credit of 

 the Government was declining, and its obliga- 

 tions vastly depreciated. At such a time the 

 Federal troops began their march of invasion, 

 and the strong Confederate positions in Ken- 

 tucky were captured or evacuated. (See ARXIY 

 OPERATION'S.) 



Amid such circumstances the Pro visional Gov- 

 ernment ceased to exist, and the Permanent Gov- 

 ernment was inaugurated. This ceremony took 

 place at Richmond, the seat of Government, on 

 the 22d day of February. At half past 7 o'clock 

 on the morning of that day the two Houses of 



VOL. IL 16 



Congress assembled, having organized on the 

 18th, and appointed committees to wait upon the 

 President and Vice-President elect, by whom 

 they were escorted to the Hall of the House of 

 Delegates of Virginia. At half past twelve the 

 assemblage moved by the eastern door of the 

 capitol in grand procession, formed similar to 

 those in "Washington on such occasions, to the 

 statue of Washington on the public square. At 

 the statue of Washington the President elect, 

 the Vice-President elect, the President of the 

 Senate, the Speaker of the House of Represent- 

 atives, the officiating clergyman, Confederate 

 Judges, Governors of States, Judges of the Su- 

 preme Courts of States, the Chief Marshal and 

 his aids, and six of the Committee of Arrange- 

 ments, took positions on the platform. Prayer 

 was then offered by Bishop Johns. The de- 

 livery of the inaugural address by Jefferson 

 Davis then followed (see PUBLIC DOCUMENTS), 

 and the oath of office was administered by 

 Judge J. D. Halyburton. 



In this address President Davis asserted that 

 the Confederate Government was established 

 to maintain their "ancient institutions;'' "to 

 preserve in spirit as well as in form a system 

 of government we believed to be peculiarly 

 fitted for our condition." For proofs of the 

 sincerity of this purpose he says : " We may 

 point to the Constitution of the Confederacy and 

 the laws enacted under it, as well as to the fact 

 that through all the necessities of an unequal 

 struggle there has been no act on our part to 

 impair personal liberty, or the freedom of 

 speech, of thought, or of the press." He then 

 points to the acts taking place in the Unit- 

 ed States under the Federal Administration 

 as flagrant violations of private rights, and 

 asserts that if any Union feeling has thus far 

 existed it must now expire as hopeless. 

 ' Whatever of hope some may have entertained 

 that a returning sense of justice would remove 

 the danger with which our rights were threat- 

 ened, and render it possible to preserve the 

 Union and the Constitution, must have been 

 dispelled by the malignity and barbarity of the 

 Northern States in the prosecution of the ex- 

 isting war. The confidence of the most hope- 

 ful among us must have been destroyed by the 

 disregard they have recently exhibited for all 

 the time-honored bulwarks of civil and reli- 

 gious liberty bastiles filled with prisoners, 

 arrested without civil process or indictment 

 duly found ; the writ of habeas corpus suspend- 

 ed by executive mandate, &c." (See AXKUAL 

 CYCLOPEDIA, 1861, Habeas Corpus.) 



It was by such appeals as this that he sought to 

 convince men of Union sentiments of the futility 

 of all hopes for a restoration of the Union, unless 

 at the sacrifice of their rights, their honor, and 

 their independence. Unfortunately the facts 

 alleged by him as existing under the Federal 

 Government, were undeniable, and within the 

 limits of the Confederacy they furnished pow- 

 erful arguments with which to urge the justice 

 of its organization, and the necessity of yield- 



