258 



CONGKESS, CONFEDERATE. 



came forward and demanded to be received as a parti- 

 cipant of power with them, and it claimed not in vain. 

 Beneath the sway of this unholy triumvirate justice was 

 forgotten, intolerance was established, private morals 

 were ruined, and public virtue perished. All feeling 

 of constitutional restraint passed away, and all sense 

 of the obligation of an oath was forever lost. The 

 whole machinery of government degenerated into the 

 absolute rule of a corrupt numerical majority. Already 

 the weaker section was marked out for destruction by 

 the stronger, and then came disruption and overthrow. 

 Since then tyranny the most absolute, and perjury the 

 most vile, have destroyed the last vestige of soundness 

 in the whole system. Our new system is designed to 

 avoid the errors of the old. Certainly it is founded in 

 a different system of political philosophy, and is sus- 

 tained by a peculiar and more conservative state of 

 society. It has elements of strength and long life. But 

 at the threshhold lies the question I have already 

 stated. Can it legitimately afford the means to carry 

 the war to a successful conclusion? If not, it must 

 perish ; but a successful result must be achieved. But 

 it must be destroyed, not by the hand of violence, or 

 by the taint of perjury. It must go out peacefully and 

 in pursuance of its own provisions. Better submit to 

 momentary inconvenience than to injure representa- 

 tive honor or violate public faith. In the whole book 

 of expedients there is no place for falsehood and per- 

 jury. Let us, on the contrary, assiduously cultivate 

 the feeling of respect for constitutional limitation, and 

 a secret reverence for the sanction of an oath. Seeing, 

 therefore, gentlemen of the House of Representatives, 

 that we are custodians of the nation's life and the 

 guardians of the Constitution's integrity, what man- 

 ner of men should we be ? How cool, how considerate, 

 how earnest, how inflexible, how true. Having no 

 prospect in the future, save through the success of our 

 cause, how regardless should we be of all selfish views 

 and plans of personal advancement. Selected by the 

 people to take care of the State in this time of difficulty 

 and of trial, how we ought to dedicate ourselves in 

 heart, mind, soul, and energy to the public service. 

 Neither history has recorded, nor song depicted, nor 

 fable shadowed forth higher instances of self-devotion 

 than ought to be shown in the conduct of this Con- 

 gress. It is not allowed us to pursue a course of ob- 

 scure mediocrity. We inaugurate a Government, we 

 conduct a revolution. We must live, live forever in 

 the memory of man, either for praise or for blame. If 

 we prove equal to the crisis in which we are placed, 

 we shall win imperishable honor. But if, on the con- 

 trary, we show ourselves incompetent to the discharge 

 of our duty, we shall sink beneath the contempt of 

 mankind. Truly our position is one of great import. 

 Our gallant army now holds, as it deserves, the first 

 place in the thoughts and affections of our people. But 

 of scarcely less importance, in the estimation of all, is 

 the legislative authority, which initiates the civil policy 

 of the Confederacy, and which sustains and upholds 

 that army itself. And when the latter shall have ac- 

 complished its holy mission by driving the invader 

 from the soil which he desecrates and pollutes ; and 

 when the hearts_pf a grateful and free people, more 

 generous than a Roman Senate, shall, for this service 

 decree to it one lifelong ovation ; if true to ourselves, 

 and competent to our duty, this Congress will be 

 united in the triumphal honors. And if this Constitu- 

 tion be destined to go forward, as we hope and believe 

 it will, to a distant future, gaining new strength from 

 trial, and winning new triumphs from time, giving 

 protection and peace to successive generations of hap- 

 py and enlightened people ; as the gray haired sires 

 and venerated patriarchs of ages now remote shall 

 seek to inspire the courage and fire the hearts of the in- 



tenuous youth of their day by recounting the heroic 

 eeds of the army which achieved our indeptndence; 

 let the lesson be extended and enlarged by our en- 

 abling them to tell also of the self-sacrificing patriotism 

 and enlarged statesmanship of the Congress which in- 

 augurated the Permanent Constitution of the Southern 

 Confederacy. Again I thank you. 



Although all important measures introduced 

 at this and the subsequent sessions of Congress 

 were discussed with closed doors, and no reports 

 have ever been made public of the speeches or 

 votes, yet some measures were incidentally dis- 

 cussed in open session, which furnish a view 

 of the opinions of members. On the next day 

 the Senate came to the House, and the votes for 

 President were counted. The form of proceed- 

 ing was that adopted under the Federal Con- 

 stitution. The votes were as follows : 



Total number of States voting 11 



Number of electoral votes cast 109 



For Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, for President. 109 



For Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, for) 1ftQ 



Vice-President j 1 



The number of votes cast by the States was 

 as follows : 



Alabama 11 



Arkansas 6 



Florida 4 



Georgia 12 



Louisiana 8 



Mississippi 9 



Total... . 109 



North Carolina 12 



South Carolina 8 



Tennessee 13 



Texas 8 



Virginia 18 



On the 22d of February the Inaugural Ad- 

 dress was delivered, and on the 25th a Message 

 was sent to Congress by the President. (See 

 PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.) 



The following resolution was offered by Mr. 

 Foote, of Tennessee, in the House on the 20th : 



Resolved, That whatever propriety there may have 

 been in the original adoption of what is known as the 

 defensive policy in connection with the prosecution of 

 the pending war for Southern independence, recent 

 events have already demonstrated the expediency of 

 abandoning that policy henceforth and forever, and 

 that it will be the duty of the Government of the Con- 

 federate States to impart all possible activity to our 

 military forces everywhere, ana to assail the forces of 

 the enemy wherever they are to be found, whether 

 upon the land or water, with a view to obtain the most 

 ample indemnity for the past, and the most complete 

 security for the future. 



Mr. Jenkins, of Virginia, hoped that the 

 House would not concur in the resolution with- 

 out discussion, impeaching as it did the Ad- 

 ministration. Gentlemen may argue as if the 

 policy of the Government could be changed by 

 the mere substitution of one word for another, 

 but the change of policy proposed would ne- 

 cessitate the increase of our army to double its 

 present size." 



Mr. Foote earnestly advocated the resolution, 

 which expressed, he was sure, the universal 

 conviction of the country, and which he hoped 

 would meet a favorable response from this 

 House. He denounced the defensive policy, 

 which all history would show was not the 

 policy which a people in revolution should 

 adopt. President Davis did not need the vin- 

 dication of the gentleman from Virginia, for he 

 had high authority for saying here that the 

 President was opposed to the defensive policy 

 which " somebody" he could not say who 

 had imposed upon the country. Judge Harris, 

 of Mississippi, an intimate friend of the Presi- 

 dent, had authorized him (the speaker) to de- 

 clare that the latter had no hand and no parti- 



