2UU 



CONFEDERATE STATES. 



Littl election in the United States. For although the 

 Chicago Platform falls below the great occasion, and 

 the nominee still lower, yet the triumph of the Dem- 

 ocratic party of the North will certainly secure a 

 temporary suspension of hostilities and an effort to 

 make peace by an appeal to reason. They confess 

 that four years of bloody war, as a means of restoring 

 the Union, has proven 'a failure. They declare that 

 the true principles of American government have 

 been disregarded and trampled under foot by the 

 present Executive of the United States. Their suc- 

 cess will bring a change of Administration, and, with 

 that, a change of policy. It will do no more, and 

 what is of infinitely greater importance, it will bring 

 the two contending parties face to face in the arena 

 of reason and consultation. Then and there can be 

 discussed the history of all our difficulties, the prin- 

 ciples involved in the bloody issue, and the respect- 

 ive interests of both Governments. Such is my con- 

 viction of the omnipotence of truth and right, that I 

 feel an abiding confidence that an honorable peace 

 would ultimately spring from such deliberations. 



In their long-cherished devotion to the Union of 

 the States a sentiment which challenges my respect 

 the people of the North, it seems to me, have fallen 

 into two grave and capital errors. On the one hand, 

 they attach an undue importance to the mere fact of 

 form pf Union, ignoring the principles and subjects 

 of the Union, and forgetting that it ceases to be 

 valuable when it fails to secure that object and main- 

 tain those principles. On the other hand, they 

 think that the States of the Confederacy have sepa- 

 rated from the United States in contempt of that 

 Union, in a want or disposition to insult its flag, and 

 to destroy the Government of which it is the emblem. 

 Both opinions are wrong. The old Union was an 

 organization of States. But it was more ; it was such 

 an organization, founded upon great principles, in 

 order to give the most efficient security for the main- 

 tenance of those very same principles. These prin- 

 ciples arc the sovereignty of the States the right of 

 the people to govern themselves ; the right of each 

 to regulate its own domestic affairs, to establish its 

 own municipal institutions, to organize its own sys- 

 tem of labor, and to pursue its own career of enter- 

 prise, subject to no restrictions except such as are 

 expressed in the Federal Constitution. On these the 

 Union was based, and constituted the solemn guar- 

 antee of all, that each State should be protected in 

 their undisturbed enjoyment. When it failed to do 

 this, or what is worse, when the Government passed 

 into the administration of those whose avowed 

 policy and measures must lead to the overthrow of 

 these principles, it was virtually at an end, and, in 

 their opinion, ceased to be valuable to the people of 

 the Confederate States. Hence, secession was not 

 resorted to merely to throw off the Union. Our 

 people loved the Union, and honored its once glori- 

 ous flag for the rich memories that clustered around 

 it. They left it with a reluctance and regret to 

 which history will scarcely do justice. They were, 

 as they are now, wedded to the principles on which 

 the Union was founded ; they separated from it but 

 to vindicate and maintain them. Whether they 

 acted wisely or unwisely must be left to the impar- 

 tial arbitrament of time and coming events. But no 

 Eeople were ever prompted to so momentous a step 

 y loftier devotion to constitutional liberty. For 

 this we are denounced as rebels against the Govern- 

 ment of the United States, and threatened with the 

 bloody doom of traitors ; our country is invaded, 

 our homes desolated, and our people slain by hostile 

 armies. We are told that we must be conquered or 

 exterminated. The North is fighting us to maintain 

 the mere fact or form of Union by force. We are 

 defending ourselves to preserve the great principles 

 which lay at the foundation of the Union. If we be 

 rebels against the one, if disposed to bandy epithets, 

 we might reply that they who advocate and wage this 

 war against us, are traitors to the other. If there is 



a wrong on either or both sides, let impartial bistort 

 decide who are the greatest sinners. This is the 

 naked truth. When thus viewed, how cruel and un- 

 natural is this war! 



Mr. Boyce, a member of Congress from South 

 Carolina, on Sept. 29, addressed a letter to Mr. 

 Davis on the subject, in which he said : 



But fortunately Mr. Lincoln and those he repre- 

 sents are not all of the North. There is a powerful 

 party there which condemns his policy. That party 

 is rational on the subject of slavery. It represents 

 whatever of amity or conservatism is left at the 

 JX orth. This party proposes that the war shall cease, 

 at least temporarily, and that all the States should 

 meet, in amicable council, to make peace, if possible. 

 Ihis is the most imposing demonstration in favor of 

 peace made at the North since the war broke out. I 

 think the only hope of a satisfactory peace, one con- 

 sistent with the preservation of free institutions, is in 

 the supremacy of this party at some time or other. 

 Our policy, therefore, is to give this party all the 

 capital we can. You should, therefore, at once in 

 my opinion, give this party all the encouragement 

 possible, by declaring your willingness to an armis- 

 tice, and a convention of all the States in their sov- 

 ereign capacity, to enter upon the subject of peace. 

 1 he theory upon which this party goes is, that we are 

 willing to cease hostilities, at least temporarily, and 

 meet in council to attain peace, if possible. The 

 theory upon which Mr. Lincoln goes is, that there is 

 no use to attempt any negotiation with us ; that the 

 sword is the only possible arbiter. Our policy is to 

 show that the theory of the Chicago platform is the 

 true one. 



It may be said, the proposed convocation of the 

 States is unconstitutional. To this I reply, we can 

 amend the Constitution. It may be further objected 

 that to meet the Northern States in convention is to 

 abandon our present form of Government. But this 

 no more follows than that their meeting us implies an 

 abandonment of their form of Government. A con- 

 gress of the States in their sovereign capacity is the 

 highest acknowledgment of the principles of State 

 Eights. This imposing assemblage is, in my opinion, 

 the best, while it is the most august tribunal to which 

 the great question of peace couldtiossibly be referred. 

 Imagine this grand council of States in the act of 

 convening after the people, everywhere in possession 

 of the right to elect their ambassadors, had done so. 

 What a sublime spectacle it would present ! There 

 would be nothing to compare with it in moral gran- 

 deur in ancient or modern times. The friends of 

 humanity and progress and civilization, and all 

 Christians in every land, would rejoice at the spec- 

 tacle, and millions in every clime, the good every 

 where, would mingle their prayers in all tongues for 

 an auspicious issue to these great deliberations. The 

 question rests with you ; the responsibility is with 

 you; the consequence will be with your country. 

 You and Mr. Lincoln can never make peace. You 

 may traverse indefinitely the same bloody circles you 

 have been moving in for the last four years, but you 

 will never approach any nearer than you are now. 

 Your only hope of peace is in the ascendancy of the 

 conservative party North. Fortify that party if you 

 can by victories, but do not neglect diplomacy. It 

 was the boast of Philip the great king, that he gained 

 more citizens by his policy than by his arms. A 

 weak power, engaged with a stronger, must make up 

 in sagacity for what it lacks in physical force, other- 

 wise the monuments of its glory will be the tomb of 

 its nationality. 



_ The first official action on this form of nego- 

 tiation took place in the Legislature of Georgia, 

 where the following resolutions were intro- 

 duced on Nov. 9th. : 

 1. The General Assembly of the State of Georgia 



