786 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



have resisted, unaided, the shocks of hosts which 

 would have sufficed to overthrow many of the Powers 

 which, by their hesitation in according our rights as 

 an independent nation, imply doubt of our ability to 

 maintain our national existence. It may be, too, that 

 if in future times unfriendly discussions not now an- 

 ticipated shall unfortunately arise between this con- 

 federacy and some European Power, the recollection 

 of our forbearance under the grievances which I have 

 enumerated, may be evoked with happy influence in 

 preventing any serious disturbance of peaceful rela- 

 tions. 



It would not be proper to close my remarks on the 

 subject of our foreign relations, without adverting to 

 the fact that the correspondence between the cabinets 

 of France, Great Britain, and Russia, recently pub- 

 lished, indicates a gratifying advance in the apprecia- 

 tion by those Governments of the true interests of 

 mankind, as involved in the war on this continent. It 

 is to the enlightened ruler of the French nation that 

 the public feeling of Europe is indebted for the first 

 official exhibition of its sympathy for the sufferings 

 endured by this people with so much heroism, of its 

 horror at the awful carnage with which the progress 

 of the war has been marked, and of its desire for a 

 speedy peace. The clear and direct intimation con- 

 tained in the language of the French note, that our 

 ability to maintain our independence has been fully 

 established, was not controverted by the answer of 

 either of the cabinets to which it was addressed. It 

 is, indeed, difficult to conceive a just ground for a 

 longer delay on this subject, after reading the follow- 

 ing statement of facts contained in the letter emana- 

 ting from the Minister of his Imperial Majesty : 



There has been established, from the very beginning of 

 this war, an equilibrium of forces between the belligerents, 

 which has since been almost constantly maintained, and af- 

 ter the spilling of so much blood, they are to-day, in this re- 

 spect, in :\ situation which has not sensibly changed. Noth- 

 ing authorizes the anticipation that more decisive military 

 operations will shortly occur. According to the last advices 

 received in Europe, the two armies were, on the contrary, 

 in a condition which permitted neither to hope, within a 

 short de lay, advantages sufficiently marked to turn the bal- 

 ance definitely, and to accelerate the conclusion of peace. 



As this Government has never professed the inten- 

 tion of conquering the United States, but has simply 

 asserted its ability to defend itself against being con- 

 quered by that Power, we may safely conclude that 

 the claims of this confederacy to its just place in the 

 family of nations cannot long be withheld, after so 

 frank and formal a_n admission of its capacity to cope, 

 on equal terms, with its aggressive foes, and to main- 

 tain itself against their attempts to obtain decisive re- 

 sults by arms. 



It is my painful duty again to inform you of the re- 

 newed examples of every conceivable atrocity commit- 

 ted by the armed forces of the United States at different 

 points within the confederacy, and which must stamp 

 indelible infamy, not only on the perpetrators, but on 

 their superiors, who, having the power to check these 

 outrages on humanity, numerous and well authentica- 

 ted as they have been, have not yet, in a single instance 

 of which I am aware, inflicted punishment on the 

 wrong doers. Since my last communication to you, 

 one General McNeil murdered seven prisoners of'war 

 in cold blood, and the demand for his punishment has 

 remained unsatisfied. The Government of the United 

 States, after promising examination and explanation 

 in relation to the charges made against Gen. Benjamin 

 F. Butler, has, by its subsequent silence after repeated 

 efforts on my part to obtain some answer on the sub- 

 ject, not only admitted his guilt, but sanctioned it by 

 acquiescence ; and I have accordingly branded this 

 criminal as an outlaw, and directed his execution in 

 expiation of his crimes, if he should fall into the hands 

 of any of our forces. 



Recently I have received apparently authentic intel- 

 ligence of another general, by the name of Milrov, who 

 has issued orders in Western Virginia for the payment 

 of money to him by the inhabitants, accompanied by 



the most savage threats of shooting every recusant, 

 besides burning his house, and threatening similar 

 atrocities against any of our citizens who shall tail to 

 betray their country by giving him prompt notice of 

 the approach of any of our forces. And this subject 

 has also been submitted to the superior military au- 

 thorities of the United States, with but faint hope" that 

 they will evince any disapprobation of the act. Hu- 

 manity shudders at the appalling atrocities which are 

 being daily multiplied under the sanction of those who 

 have obtained temporary possession of power in the 

 United States, and who are fast making its once fair 

 name a byword of reproach among civilized men. Not 

 even the natural indignation inspired by this conduct 

 should make us, however, so unjust as "to attribute to 

 the whole mass of the people who are subjected to the 

 despotism that now reigns with unbridled license in 

 the city of Washington a willing acquiescence in its 

 conduct of the w_ar. There must necessarily exist 

 among our enemies very many, perhaps a majority, 

 whose humanity recoils from all participation in such 

 atrocities, but who cannot be held wholly guiltless 

 while permitting their continuance without au effort 

 at repression. 



The public journals of the North have been received, 

 containing a proclamation dated on the first day of the 



E resent month, signed by the President of the United 

 tates, in which he orders and declares all slaves 

 within ten of the States of the confederacy to be free, 

 except such as are found within certain districts now 

 occupied in part by the armed forces of the enemy. 

 We may well leave it to the instincts of that common 

 humanity which a beneficent Creator has implanted in 

 the breasts of our fellow men of all countries to pass 

 judgment on a measure by which several millions of 

 human beings of an inferior race peaceful and con- 

 tented laborers in their sphere are doomed to exter- 

 mination, while at the same time they are encouraged 

 to a general assassination of their masters by the 

 insidious recommendation " to abstain from violence 

 unless in necessary self-defence." Our own detestation 

 of those who have attempted the most execrable meas- 

 ure recorded in the history of guilty man is tempered 

 by profound contempt for the impotent rage which it 

 discloses. So far as regards the action of this Govern- 

 ment on such criminals as may attempt its execution, 

 I confine myself to informing you that I shall unless 

 in your wisdom you deem some other course more 

 expedient deliver to the several State authorities all 

 commissioned officers of the United States that may 

 hereafter be captured by our forces in any of the States 

 embraced in the proclamation, that they may be dealt 

 with in accordance with the laws of those States pro- 

 viding for the punishment of criminals engaged in 

 exciting servile insurrection. The enlisted soldiers I 

 shall continue to treat as unwilling instruments in the 

 commission of these crimes, and shall direct their dis- 

 charge and return to their homes on the proper and 

 usual parole. 



In its political aspect this measure possesses great 

 significance, and to it in this light I invite your atten- 

 tion. It affords to our whole people the complete and 

 crowning proof of the true nature of the designs of the 

 party which elevated to ppwerthe present occupant of 

 the Presidential chair at Washington, and which sought 

 to conceal its purposes by every variety of artful de- 

 vice, and by the perfidious use of the most solemn and 

 repeated pledges on every possible occasion. I extract, 

 in this connection, as a single example, the following 

 declaration, made by President Lincoln under the 

 solemnity of his oath as Chief Magistrate of the United 

 States, on the 4th of March, 1861 : 



Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the 

 Southern States that by the accession of a Republican A dnii n - 

 istration their property and their peace and personal security 

 are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable 

 cause for such apprehensions. Indeed, the mo^t ample evi- 

 dence to the contrary has nil the while existed nnd been 

 open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the public 

 speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote 

 from one of those speech. -s when I de'clare that I have nt> 

 purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institu- 



