CONFEDERATE STATES. 



195 



subjects of taxation mentioned in the act, and 

 in the act approved on the 17th of February, 

 1864, there should be levied for the year 1865 

 an additional tax, equal to one-eighth the 

 amount of tax on the same subjects imposed for 

 the year 1865, which tax should be payable in 

 Treasury notes of the new issue, and the money 

 arising therefrom should be first appropriated 

 to the payment of the increased compensation 

 of soldiers, provided that this additional tax 

 should not be construed to apply to or increase 

 the tax in kind. A bill was also passed to raise 

 coin for the purpose of furnishing the neces- 

 sary supplies for the army, which authorized 

 the Secretary to borrow the sum of three mill- 

 ions of dollars in coin ; or, in case of failure, 

 to levy a tax of twenty-five per cent, payable 

 in kind on all the gold and silver coin, gold 

 dust, bullion, and foreign exchange in the Con- 

 federate States. A division of public opinion 

 was still apparent upon the measures by which 

 the war could be brought to a close. It re- 

 duced the strength of the army, diminished the 

 efficiency of the measures of the Government, 

 and delayed the action of Congress on impor- 

 tant measures. Among the methods proposed 

 to arrive at the desired result was the following 

 by Vice-President Stephens : 



1. Let President Lincoln issue an address to the 

 army and people of the South, embodying in that 

 address what he has before said as to peace, and also 

 what passed at his interview with the Commissioners. 



2. Agree to appoint Commissioners on the part of 

 the United States to meet State Commissoners on 

 the part of such States as desire to meet at Nash- 

 ville, Louisville, or Cincinnati, in April or May, to 

 consult as to a peace, on the basis of 'such States re- 

 turning to the Union upon the sole condition of 

 obedience to the Constitution and laws of the re- 

 public. 



3. An election by such States as shall send Commis- 

 sioners to that convention, of Senators and Repre- 

 sentatives to the Congress of the United States, to 

 enter such Congress upon equal terms with other 

 members of it, and such States to have equality on 

 the floor of Congress with other States. 



Whatever measures might have been proposed, 

 they would have been of no avail without the 

 concurrence of those in whose hands was held 

 the public authority. These, whose official ex- 

 istence depended on final success, with all the 

 ardor and earnestness that could arise only 

 from the most sincere convictions of duty ad- 

 mitted no alternative to success through war. 

 The Congress itself, near the close of its ses- 

 sion, united in an appeal to the people to con- 

 tribute every effort for the cause. This appeal 

 not only presents many truths of the existing 

 state of affairs, but is the last joint declaration 

 ever made of the views and feelings of those 

 who had been foremost in commencing and 

 conducting this terrible strife. It was made, 

 too, within about one month of the time when 

 the organization of the Confederate States was 

 destined to disappear forever from the midst 

 of human affairs. It was as follows : 



FELLOW-CITIZENS : The result of the Peace Com- 

 mission is known to the country. The hopes of 



those who have hitherto believed that an honorable 

 termination might be put to the war, by negotiation, 

 have been rudely disappointed. The enemy, after 

 drawing us into a conference, abruptly terminated it 

 by insisting upon terms which they well knew we 

 could never accept. Our absolute surrender and 

 submission to the will of the conqueror are the only 

 conditions vouchsafed by our arrogant foe. We are 

 told that if we will lay down our arms and place our 

 lives, liberty, property, and domestic institutions at 

 the feet of President Lincoln, that he will be merciful 

 to us. Upon his clemency we must rely to save us 

 from universal confiscation and extermination. 



Yes ; these are the conditions upon which the peo- 

 ple of the sovereign States composing this Confed- 

 eracy may be allowed to do what ? To return into the 

 " Union '' from which they solemnly and deliberately 

 withdrew themselves, because their interests and 

 their honor required it, and their repugnance to which 

 four years of remorseless and cruel war have served 

 to intensify. Thanks be to God, who controls and 

 overrules the counsels of men, the haughty insolence 

 of our enemies, which they hoped would intimidate 

 and break the spirit of our people, is producing the 

 very contrary effect. From every part of the coun- 

 try there comes up in response a shout of mingled 

 indignation and defiance. 



A noble enthusiasm reanimates our gallant army 

 who have been battling so long for freedom and in- 

 dependence ! Let us all be united now. Let there 

 be no parties or factions among us. Let us rise to 

 the might of the great occasion. Let us all be will- 

 ing to spend and be spent in the cause of our coun- 

 try. Let us contribute freely, all that we have if 

 need be, to carry on the war until our final triumph 

 is secured. Let us take fraternal counsel together, 

 and calmly consider our condition and prospects. 

 Such a survey, we believe, must tend to reassure and 

 encourage even the least sanguine. 



We have, it is true, recently met with serious dis- 

 asters. Our fortitude is being severely tried. We 

 have suffered much, and must be prepared to suffer 

 more, in the cause in which we are struggling. Is 

 the cause worth the sacrifice ? To answer correctly, 

 we must constantly keep in mind the end for which 

 we are contending. What is our object in this war ? 

 The establishment of our independence, through 

 which alone are to be secured the sovereignty of the 

 States and the right of self-government. What is 

 the alternative? Can the imagination over-color the 



Eicture which would be presented in the event of our 

 lilure? If we -fail, not only political degradation, 

 but social humiliation, must be our wretched lot. 

 We would not only be political vassals, but social 

 serfs. An enemy that has shown himself destitute 

 of the ordinary sensibilities of human nature, and 

 whose worst passions are embittered and inflamed 

 against us, would assume the absolute control of our 

 political and social destinies. In vain would a proud 

 though vanquished people look even for that mercy 

 which the conquered receive from a generous foe. 

 Those " State rights " which we have been taught to 

 prize so dearly as the greatest bulwark of constitu- 

 tional liberty, and which from the earliest period of 

 our history we have so jealously guarded, would be 

 annihilated. The Confederate States would be held 

 as conquered provinces by the despotic Government 

 at Washington. They would be kept in subjugation 

 by the stern hand of military power, as Venetia and 

 Lombardy have been held by Austria as Poland is 

 held by the Russian Czar. Not only would we be 

 deprived of every political franchise dear to freedom : 

 but socially we would be degraded to the level of 

 slaves, if, indeed, the refinement or malice in our 

 enemies did not induce them to elevate the negro 

 slave abffre his master. Not only would the propertv 

 and estates of vanquished "rebels" be confiscated, 

 but they would be divided and distributed among our 

 African bondsmen. 



But why pursue the hideous picture further? 



