CONGRESS, CONFEDERATE. 



211 



interfere with the internal peace and prosperity of 

 the States arrayed in hostility against them, or with 

 the freeest development of their destinies in any 

 form of action, or line of policy, they may think 

 proper to adopt for themselves. All we ask is a like 

 immunity for ourselves, and to be left to ourselves 

 in the undisturbed enjoyment of those inalienable 

 rights of " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 

 ness," which pur common ancestors declared to be 

 the equal heritage of all the parties to the social 

 compact. 



Let them forbear aggressions upon us and the war 

 is at an end. If there be questions which require 

 adjustment by negotiations, we have ever been will- 

 ing, and are still willing to enter into communication 

 with our adversaries in a spirit of peace, of equity, 

 and of manly frankness. Strong in the persuasion 

 of the justice of our cause, in the manly devotion of 

 our citizen soldiers, and of the whole" body of our 

 people, and above all in the gracious protection of 

 heaven, we are not afraid to avow a sincere desire 

 for peace on terms consistent with our honor, and 

 the permanent security of our rights ; and an earnest 

 aspiration to see the world once more restored to 

 the beneficent pursuits of industry and of mutual 

 intercourse and exchanges, so essential to its well- 

 being, and which have been so gravely interrupted 

 by the existence of this unnatural war in America. 



But, if our adversaries, or those whom they have 

 placed in power, deaf to the voice of reason and 

 justice, steeled to the dictates of prudence and hu- 

 manitv, by a presumptuous and delusive confidence 

 in their own numbers, or those of their black and 

 foreign mercenaries, shall determine upon an indefi- 

 nite prolongation of the contest, upon them be the 

 responsibility of a decision so ruinous to themselves, 

 and so injurious to the interest and repose of man- 

 kind. 



For ourselves, we have no fear of the result. The 

 wildest picture ever drawn by a disordered imagina- 

 tion comes short of the extravagance which would 

 dream of the conquest of eight millions of people, 

 resolved with one mind "to die freemen rather than 

 live slaves," and forewarned by the savage and ex- 

 terminating spirit in which this war has been waged 

 upon them, and by the mad avowals of the support- 

 ers of the worse than Egyptian bondage that awaits 

 them in the event of their subjugation. With these 

 declarations of our dispositions, our principles, and 

 our purposes, we commit our cause to the enlight- 

 ened judgment of the world, to the sober reflections 

 of our adversaries themselves, and to the solemn and 

 righteous arbitrament of heaven. 



The first session of the Second Congress* 

 under the permanent Constitution convened 

 at Richmond on May 2d. Forty new mem- 

 bers had been elected, and fifty-seven old 

 members. 



* S E K A T E . 



Alabama B. W. "Walker, Eobert Jemison. 

 Arkansas B. W. Johnson, Aug. H. Garland. 

 Florida James M. Baker, A. E. Maxwell. 

 Georgia S.. V. Johnson. Benjamin H. Hill. 

 Kentucky William E. Simms, H. C. Burnett. 

 Louisiana Edward Sparrow, Thomas J. Semmes. 

 Mississippi J. W. C. Watson, A. G. Brown. 

 Missouri L. M. Louis, W. P. Johnson. 

 Xorth Carolina William A. Graham, William T. Dortch. 

 South Carolina James L. Orr. E. W. Barnwell. 

 Tinnewee G. A Henry, L. C. Havnes. 

 Texas W. 8. Oldham, L. T. WigfalL 

 Virginia E. M. T. Hunter, A. T. Caperton. 



HOUSE. 



Alabama Thomas J. Foster. William E. Smith, W. E. 

 W. Cobb,* M. H. Cruikshank, Francis S. Lyon, W. P, Chil- 

 W>n, David Clopton, James L. Pugh, J. S. Dickinson. 



Mr. Cobb did not take his seat, but withdrew to Kana. 



The most important subject discussed at 

 this session arose on resolutions relative to 

 peace. The brief debates which are published 

 serve to explain the views of members : 



In the House of Representatives, on the 4tb 

 of May, Mr. James M. Leach, of North Caro- 

 lina, asked leave to make a personal explana- 

 tion. He noticed in the Examiner an article 

 making an attack upon the people of North 

 Carolina in general, and those of his district 

 and himself in particular. After reading the 

 article, he entered into a lengthy criticism upon 

 it. He said the rumors and charges against 

 his people originated in the State ; that they 

 came from a clamor gotten up by certain dis- 

 appointed parties who had vented their spleen 

 by grossly misrepresenting those who had re- 

 ceived the support and countenance of the 

 people. It originated with men who once de- 

 nounced the present Governor as a peace man 



and a traitor. Mr. said he was a peace 



man a peace man upon the principle of recog- 

 nizing the independence of the Southern Con- 

 federacy. Said he was in favor of the appoint- 

 ment of Commissioners to be ready to treat 



Arkansas Felix I. Batson, Eufus K. Garland, Yacancv. 

 Thomas B. Hanly. 



Florida St. George Bogers, E. B. Hilton. 



Georgia Julien Hartridge, AVilliani E. Smith. Mark H. 

 Blanford. Clifford Anderson, J. T. Shewmake, J. H. Echols, 

 James M. Smith, H. P. Bell, George N. Lester, Warren 

 Aiken. 



Kentucky William B. Machen. George W. Triplett, Hen 

 ry E. Bead, George W. Evving, James S. ChrismaD. Theo. L 

 Burnett, H. W. Bruce, Humphrey Marshall, Ely M. Bruce 

 James W. Moore, Benjamin F. Bradley, John M! Elliott 



Louisiana Charles J. Villere, Charles M. Conrad, Dim 

 can F. Kenner, Lucius J. Dnpre. Vacancy. John Perkins, Jt 



Mississippi John A Orr, W. D. Holder. Israel Welsh, 

 Henry C. Chambers, Otho B. Singleton, Ethel Barksdale, J. 

 T. Lampkin. 



Missouri Thomas L. Snead. N. L. Norton, John B. 

 Clark, A H. Conrow, George G. Vest, Peter S. Wilkes, B, A. 

 Hatcher. 



North Carolina VT. H. K Smith, Eobert B. Bridgers, 

 J. T. Leach, Thomas C. Fuller, Josiah Turner, Jr., John A 

 Gilmer, James M. Leach, James G. Eamsay, B. Gaither, 

 George W. Logan. 



South Carolina -J. M. Witherspoon, W. Porcher Miles. 

 Lewis M. Ayer, W. D. Simpson, James Farrow, W. Wl 

 Boyce. 



Tennessee Joseph B. Heiskell, William G. Swan. A. S 

 Colyar, John P. Murray, Henry S. Foote, F. A. Keeble 

 James McCallmn, Thomas Menees, J. D. C. Adkins, John V. 

 Wright, M. W. Cluskey. 



Texas Stephen H. Darden, Claiborne C. Herbert, A M. 

 Branch, Frank B. Sexton, J. E. Baylor, S. H. Morcan. 



Virginia Eobert L. Montague, Eobert H. Whitfield, 

 William C. Wickham, Thomas S. Gholson, Thomas S. Bo- 

 cock, John Goode, Jr., William C. Eivts. D. C. De Jarnette, 

 David Funsten, F. W. M. Holliday, John B. Baldwin, Wal- 

 ler E. Staples, Fayette McMullen, Samuel Miller, Eobert 

 Johnston, Charles W. EusselL 



TERRITORIAL DELEGATES. 



Arizona M. H. Macwillie. 



Cherokee Nation E. C. Boudmot 



Choctaw flation E. M. Jones. 



Creek and Seminole Nations S. B. Callahan. 



OFFTCEES OP THE SENATE. E. M. T. Hunter, President 

 pro tern. ; J. H. Nash, of South Carolina, Secretary ; E. Ste- 

 vens, of South Carolina, Assistant Secretary ; C. T. Bruen, 

 of Virginia, Journal Clerk; J. W. Anderson, Eecording 

 Clerk ; Xafayette H. Fitzhugh, of Kentucky, Sergeant-at- 

 Arms ; James Page, of South Carolina, Doorkeeper. 



OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE. Thomas S. Bocock, of Vir- 

 ginia, Speaker ; Albert E. Lamar, of Georgia, Clerk : James 

 McDonald, De Louis Dalton, Henrv G. Lowring, Assistant 

 Clerks ; E. H, Wayne, of Alabama, Doorkeeper. 



