CONFEDERATE STATES. 



OONGEEGATIONALISTS. 



255 



it was an eiror to say that " Cotton is king." It is 

 not. It is a great and influential power in commerce, 

 but not its dictator. He alluded to the dependence 

 which British statesmen placed upon the probability of 

 obtaining cotton from other sources than America, and 

 showed that this, to any practical extent or purpose, 

 was impossible, and that the idea was a fallacy. He 

 thought, he said, that the blockade was a blessing to 

 the Confederate States, for it was teaching nay, com- 

 pelling us to depend upon ourselves and to do that 

 For ourselves for which we have hitherto been depend- 

 ing upon others, and they our deadliest foes. 



He then counselled a firm, united, and generous 

 support of the Government which has just been inau- 

 gurated. The chosen and the choosers were both in 

 the same boat. The storm was raging, the wind was 

 howling, and the waves were beating upon our bark. 

 We had placed them at the helm. They might com- 

 mit errors, but all history teaches that when there is 

 mutiny in the crew the bark must go down. He 

 concluded by expressing the strongest confidence in 

 the final success of the cause in which we are engaged, 

 and at the close was greeted with the most enthusiastic 

 cheers. 



At this period of the year Mr. Mason was in 

 London, Mr. Slidell in Paris, Mr. Rost in Spain, 

 and Mr. Mann in Belgium, as representatives 

 of the Confederate States. They continued to 

 occupy these positions during the year, but 

 were unsuccessful in obtaining a recognition 

 of the Confederacy, or the adoption of any act 

 which might change the existing relations. 



The position of the Confederate Government 

 at the close of the year was in some respects much 

 stronger than at its commencement. The popu- 

 lation of the States was brought to a more unit- 

 ed action to sustain the cause. The determina- 

 tion manifested by the authorities of the States 

 to sustain the Government, without agitating 

 any vexatious questions as to the constitution- 

 ality of its measures, destroyed all opportunities 

 for dissatisfied citizens to organize opposition. 

 The declaration of the Federal Government 

 that slavery was the cause of the war and that, 

 to put an end to it, the cause must be utterly 

 removed, placed the two Governments on the 

 most extreme grounds of disagreement. Pres- 

 ident Davis appealed to the people in his Mes- 

 sage to resist unitedly this attempt to destroy 

 their domestic institutions, and reminded them 

 that the declarations of the States as to the 

 cause of secession were now shown to be true 

 by the acts of their enemies. The measures of 

 the Federal Government were thus used to 

 produce union and determination of purpose in 

 the Southern mind to continue the struggle to 

 the very last extremity. The address of Vice- 

 President Stephens to the citizens of Crawfords- 

 ville, Ga., in Nov. 1862, presents an instance ot 

 the manner in which appeals were then made 

 to the people : 



If asked on our side, what is all this for? the reply 

 from every breast is, that it is for home, for firesides, 

 for our altars, for our birthrights, for property, for 

 honor, for life in a word, for everything for which 

 freemen should live, and for which all deserving to be 

 freemen should be willing, if need be, to die. In what- 

 ever trials and sacrifices this war may bring upon us, 

 when the thought of " what is all this for," comes to the 

 mind, recollect that it is, on our part, for everything 

 most dear and sacred, and whatever reverses may 



await us in a struggle for such objects, let the watch- 

 word of the last survivors be, " Never give it up." 

 Let the world know, and history record the fact if such 

 should be our unhappy fate, that though our country 

 may be invaded, our land laid waste, our cities sacked, 

 our property destroyed, the people of the South could 

 die in defence of their rights, but they could never be 

 conquered. 



Exhaustion, however, was gradually do- 

 ing its work. The territory of the Confed- 

 erate States was constantly growing smaller 

 by the occupation of their enemies, who never 

 gave up an important place, where they once 

 got a foothold. The number of able-bodied 

 men was becoming fatally reduced, and when 

 the conscription acts were exhausted, none 

 would be found for recruits but old men and 

 boys. The depreciation of the currency was 

 approaching that verge beyond which it would 

 be worthless. "Well could the Yice-President 

 exclaim, with the indomitable heroism of the 

 Red Man at the stake, "Let the watchword of 

 the last survivors be, Never give it up." 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. During the year 

 1862, the number of Congregationalists in the 

 United States has remained nearly stationary. 

 The " Congregational Quarterly," which gives 

 every year in its January number a very care- 

 ful compilation of the statistics of the denomi- 

 nation, reported for January, 1862, a member- 

 ship of 259,119, and for January, 1863, 261,474; 

 increase during the year 2,355. The number 

 of churches, in January, 1863, was 2,884 ; of 

 ministers 2,643 (of whom 904 are pastors, 861 

 stated supplies, 215 not specified, and 663 not 

 in service). Sabbath school scholars, 255,257. 



The Congregationalist denomination in the 

 United States is almost entirely confined to the 

 Free States. Not one State association has yet 

 been organized in any of the slaveholding 

 States. A few churches, however, have been 

 organized in Missouri, and a solitary church 

 existed in Charleston, South Carolina. The 

 church edifice of the Charleston congregation 

 (the Circular Church) was destroyed by fire in 

 the great conflagration at the close of 1861. 

 Its pastor, Mr. Rice, was formerly settled in 

 Connecticut, and at the tune of the secession 

 of the State was still a member of the Suffolk 

 (Mass.) South Association. The great majority 

 of the Congregational churches entertain the 

 most thorough antislavery principles, and at 

 the meetings of their State Associations strong 

 resolutions were passed in favor of the emanci- 

 pation measures of President Lincoln, declaring 

 slavery to be the chief cause of the secession, 

 and expressing the hope that the war would 

 result in its extermination. 



The Congregationalists of the United States, 

 although far from being one of the most numer- 

 ous American denominations, exceed most of 

 the other denominations in ably conducted and 

 influential theological periodicals. The "Inde- 

 pendent," of Ne\v York, has the largest cir- 

 culation of any religious newspaper of the 

 world, while among the theological reviews the 

 " Bibliotheca Sacra " and the " New Euelander " 



