PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 





right, were determined to respect no law but theJr own 

 will. The Government had ceased to answer the ends 

 for which it was ordained and established. To save 

 ourselves from a revolution which, in its silent and 

 rapid progress, was about to place us under the des- 

 potism of numbers, and to preserve in spirit, as well 

 as in form, a system of government we believed to be 

 peculiarly fitte'd to our condition, and full of promise 

 to mankind, we determined to make a new association, 

 composed of States homogeneous in interest, in policy, 

 and in feeling. 



True to our traditions of peace and our love of jus- 

 tice, we sent Commissioners to the United States to 

 propose a fair and amicable settlement of all questions 

 of public debt or property which might be in dispute. 

 But the Government at Washington, denying our 

 rights to self-government, refused even to listen to any 

 proposals for a peaceful separation. Nothing was then 

 left to us but to prepare for war. 



The first year in our history has been the most 

 eventful in the annals of this continent. A new Govern- 

 ment has been established, and its machinery put in op- 

 eration over an area exceeding seven hundred thousand 

 square miles. The great principles upon which we have 

 been willing to hazard everything that is dear to man, 

 have made conquests for us which could never have been 

 achieved by the sword. Our confederacy has grown 

 from six to thirteen States, and Maryland, already 

 united to us by hallowed memories and material in- 

 terests, will, I believe, when able to speak with un- 

 Btifled voice, connect her destiny with the South. Our 

 people have rallied with unexampled unanimity to the 

 support of the great principles of constitutional 

 government, with farm resolve to perpetuate by arms 

 the rights which they could not peacefully secure. 

 A million of men, it is" estimated, are now standing in 

 hostile array and waging war along a frontier of 

 thousands of miles. Battles have been fought, sieges 

 have been conducted, and although the contest is not 

 ended, and the tide for the moment is against us, the 

 final result in our favor is not doubtful. 



The period is near at hand when our foes must sink 

 under the immense load of debt which they have in- 

 curreda debt which in their effort to subjugate us 

 has already attained such fearful dimensions as will 

 subject them to burdens which must continue to op- 

 press them for generations to come. 



We, too, have had our trials and difficulties. That 

 we are to escape them in the future is not be hoped. 

 It was to be expected when we entered upon this war 

 that it would expose our people to sacrifices and cost 

 them much, both of money and blood. But we knew 

 the value of the object for which we struggled, and 

 understood the nature of the war in which we were 



Nothing could be so bad a failure, and any 

 . < 



sacrifice would be cheap as the price of success in such 

 a contest. 



But the picture has its lights as well as its shadows. 

 This great strife has awakened in the people the high- 

 est emotions and qualities of the human soul. It is 

 cultivating feelings of patriotism, virtue, and courage. 

 Instances of self-sacrifice and of generous devotion to 

 the noble cause for which we are contending are rife 

 throughout the land. Never has a people evinced a 

 more determined spirit than that now animating men, 

 women, and children in every part of our country. 

 Upon the first call the men fly to arms ; and wives and 

 mothers send their husbands and sons to battle with- 

 out a murmur of regret. 



It was perhaps in the ordination of Providence that 

 we were to be taught the value of our liberties by the 

 price which we pay for them. 



The recollections" of this great contest, with all its com- 

 mon traditions of glory, of sacrifice, and of blood, will 

 be the bond of harmony and enduring affection among 

 the people, producing unity in policy, fraternity in 

 sentiment, and joint effort in war. 



Nor have the material sacrifices of the past been made 

 without some corresponding benefits. If the acqui- 

 escence of foreign nations in a pretended blockade has 



deprived us of our commerce with them, it is fast mak- 

 ing us a self-supporting and an indepci. . 

 The blockade, it effectual and permanent, could only 

 serve to divert our industry from the production of 

 articles for export, and employ it in supplying commo- 

 dities for domestic use. 



It is a satisfaction that we have maintained the war 

 by our unaided exertions. We have neither asked nor 

 received assistance from any quarter. Yet the interest 

 involved is not wholly our own. The world at large is 

 concerned in opening our markets to its commerce. 

 When the independence of the Confederate States u 

 recognized by the nations of the earth, and we are free 

 to follow our interests and inclinations bv cultivating 

 foreign trade, the Southern States will ofler to manu- 

 facturing nations the most favorable markets which 

 ever invited their commerce. Cotton, sugar, rice, to- 

 bacco, provisions, timber, and naval stores will furnish 

 attractive exchanges. Nor would the constancy of 

 those supplies be likely to be disturbed by war. Our 

 confederate strength will be too great to tempt aggres- 

 sion ; and never was there a people whose interest* 

 and principles committed them so fully to a peaceful 

 policy as those of the Confederate States. By the 

 character of their productions they are too deeply in- 

 terested in foreign commerce wantonly to disturb it. 

 War of conquest they cannot wage, because the con- 

 stitution of their Confederacy admits of no coerced as- 

 sociation. Civil war there cannot be between States 

 held together by their volition only. This rule of vol- 

 untary association, which cannot fail to be conser- 

 vative, by securing just and impartial government at 

 home, does not diminish the security of the obligation 

 by which the Confederate States may be bound to for- 

 eign nations. In proof of this it is to be remembered 

 that, at the first moment of asserting their right of se- 

 cession, these States proposed a settlement on the basis 

 of a common liability for the obligations of the General 

 Government. 



Fellow citizens, after the struggles of ages had con- 

 secrated the right of the Englishman to constitutional 

 representative Government, our Colonial ancestors 

 were forced to vindicate that birthright by an appeal 

 to arms. Success crowned their efforts, and they pro- 

 vided for their posterity a peaceful remedy against fu- 

 ture aggression. The tyranny of an unbridled ma- 

 jority, the most odious and least responsible form of 

 despotism, has denied us both the right and the reme- 

 dy. Therefore we are in arms to renew such sacri- 

 fices as our fathers made to the holy cause of constitu- 

 tional liberty. At the darkest hour" of our struggle the 

 provisional gives place to the permanent Government. 

 After a series of successes and victories, which covered 

 our arms with glory, we have recently met with 

 serious disaster. T3ut in the heart of a people resolved 

 to be free, these disasters tend but to stimulate to in- 

 creased resistance. To show ourselves worthy of the 

 inheritance bequeathed to us by the patriots of the 

 Revolution, we must emulate that heroic devotion 

 which made reverse to them but the crucible in which 

 their patriotism was refined. 



With confidence in the wisdom and virtue of those 

 who will share with me the responsibility and aid me 

 in the conduct of public affairs ; securely reiving on 

 the patriotism and courage of the people, of which the 

 present war has furnished so many examples, I deeply 

 feel the weight of the responsibilities I now, with unaf- 

 fected diffidence, am about to assume ; and, fully real- 

 izing the inadequacy of human power to guide and 

 sustain, my hope is reverently fixed on Him whose fa- 

 vor is ever vouchsafed to the cause which is just 

 With humble gratitude and adoration, acknowledging 

 the Providence which has so visibly protected the 

 Confederacy during its brief but eventful career, to 

 Thee, Go'd, I trastioglj commit myself, and prayer- 

 fully invoke Thy blessin 



