692 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



without limit of time, a service of priceless value to 

 us, one which posterity will hold in grateful remem- 

 brance. 



In considering the. state of the country, the reflec- 

 tion is naturally suggested that this is the third Con- 

 gress of the Confederate States of America. The 

 provisional government was formed, its Congress 

 held four sessions, lived its appointed term, and 

 passed away. The permanent government was then 

 organized, "its different departments established, a 

 Congress elected, which also held four sessions, 

 served its full constitutional term, and expired. 

 You, the second Congress under the permanent gov- 

 ernment, are now assembled fit the time and place 

 appointed by law for commencing your session. All 

 these events have passed into history, notwithstand- 

 ing the threat of our prompt subjugation, made three 

 years ago, by a people that presume to assert a title 

 to govern btates whose separate and independent 

 sovereignty was recognized by treaty with France 

 and Great Britain in the last century, and remained 

 unquestioned for nearly three generations. Yet these 

 very governments, in disregard of duty and treaty 

 obligations, which bind them to recognize as inde- 

 pendent Virginia p.nd other Confederate States, per- 

 sist in countenancing, by moral influence, if not in 

 aiding by unfair and partial action, the claim set up 

 by the Executive of a foreign government to exercise 

 despotic sway over the States thus recognized, and 

 treat the invasion of them by their former limited 

 and special agent as though it were the attempt of a 

 sovereign to suppress a rebellion against lawful au- 

 thority. Ungenerous advantage has been taken of 

 our present condition, and our rights have been vio- 

 lated, our vessels-of-war detained in ports to which 

 they had been invited by proclamations of neutrality, 

 and in one instance our flag also insulted where the 

 sacred right of asylum was supposed to be secure ; 

 while one of these governments has contented isself 

 with simply deprecating by deferential representations 

 the conduct of our enemy in the constantly-recurring 

 instances of his contemptuous disregard of neutral 

 rights and flagrant violations of public law. It may 

 be that foreign governments, like our enemies, have 

 mistaken our desire for peace, unreservedly ex- 

 pressed, for evidence of exhaustion, and have thence 

 inferred the probability of success in the efforts to 

 subjugate or exterminate the millions of human be- 

 ings who, in these States, prefer any fate to submis- 

 sion to their savage assailants. 



I see no prospect of an early change in the course 

 heretofore pursued by these governments ; but when 

 this delusion shall have been dispelled, and when 

 our independence, by the valor and fortitude of our 

 people, shall have been won against all the hostile 

 influences combined against us, and can no longer be 

 ignored by open foes or professed neutrals, this war 

 will have left, with its proud memories, a record of 

 many wrongs, which it may not misbecome us to 

 forgive some for which we may not properly for- 

 bear from demanding redress. In the mean time, it 

 is enough for us to know that every avenue of nego- 

 tiation is closed against us ; that our enemy is mak- 

 ing renewed and strenuous efforts for our destruction, 

 and that the sole resource for us, as a people secure 

 in the justice of our cause and holding our liberties 

 to be more precious than all other earthly possess- 

 ions, is to combine and apply every available element 

 of power for their defence and preservation. 



On the subject of the exchange of prisoners I 

 greatly regret to be unable to give you satisfactory 

 information. The Government of the United States, 

 while persisting in failure to execute the terms of 

 the cartel, make occasional deliveries of prisoners, 

 and then suspend action without apparent cause. I 

 confess my inability to comprehend their policy or 

 purpose. The prisoners held by us, in spite of hu- 

 mane care, are perishing from the inevitable effects 

 of imprisonment and the home sickness produced by 

 the hopelessness of release from confinement. The 



spectacle of their suffering augments our longing 

 desire to relieve from similar trials our own brave 

 men, who have spent so many weary montbs in a 

 cruel and useless imprisonment, endured with heroic 

 constancy. The delivery, after a suspension of some 

 weeks, has just been resumed by the enemy ; but ai 

 they give no assurance of intent to carry out the car 

 tel, an interruption of the exchange may recur at aiv 

 moment. 



The reports of the departments, herewith submit 

 ted, are referred to for full information ia relation to 

 the matters appertaining to each. There are two of 

 them on which I deem it necessary to make special 

 remark. 



The report of the Secretary of the Treasury states 

 facts justifying the conclusion that the law passed at 

 the last session for the purpose of withdrawing from 

 circulation the large excess of Treasury notes here- 

 tofore issued, hasliad the desired effect, and that by 

 the 1st July the amount in circulation will have been 

 reduced to a sum not exceeding 230,000,000. It is 

 believed to be of primary importance that no further 

 issue of notes should take place, and that the_ use of 

 the credit of the Government should be restricted to 

 the two other modes provided by Congress, viz. : the 

 sale of bonds and the issue of certificates bearing in- 

 terest, for the price of supplies purchased within our 

 limits. The law, as it now stands, authorizes the 

 issue by the Treasury of new notes to the extent of 

 two-thirds of the amount received under its provis- 

 ions. The estimate of the amount funded under this 

 law is shown to bp 300,000,000, and if two-thirds of 

 this sum be reissued, we shall have an addition of 

 200,000,000 to our circulation, believed to be already 

 ample for the business of the country. The addition 

 of this large sum to the volume of the currency 

 would be attended by disastrous effects, and would 

 produce the speedy recurrence of the evils from 

 which the funding law has rescued the country. If 

 our arms are crowned with the success which we 

 have so much reason to hope, we may well expecl 

 that this war cannot be prolonged beyond the cur 

 rent year, and nothing would so much retard tht 

 beneficent influence of peace on all the interests os 

 our country, as the existence of a great mass of cur 

 rency not redeemable in coin. With cur vast re- 

 sources, the circulation, if restricted to its present 

 volume, would be easily manageable, and by gradual 

 absorption in payment of public dues, would give 

 place to the precious metals, the only basis of a cur- 

 rency adapted to commerce with foreign countries. 

 In our present circumstances I know of no mode of 

 providing for the public wants which would entail 

 sacrifices so great as a fresh issue of Treasury notes, 

 and I trust that you will concur in the propriety of 

 absolutely forbidding any increase of those now in 

 circulation. 



Officers have been appointed and despatched to the 

 trans-Mississippi States, and the necessary measures 

 taken for the execution of the laws, enacted to ob- 

 viate delays in administering the Treasury and other 

 Executive Departments in those States ; but suffi- 

 cient time has not elapsed to ascertain the results. 



In relation to the most important of all subjects at 

 the present time the efficiency of our armies in the 

 field it is gratifying to assure you that the discipline 

 and instruction of the troops have kept pace with the 

 improvement in material and equipment. We have 

 reason to congratulate ourselves on the results of the 

 legislation on this subject and on the increased ad- 

 ministrative energy in the different bureaux of tha 

 War Department, and may not unreasonably indulge 

 anticipations of commensurate success in the ensu- 

 ing campaign. 



The organization of reserves is in progress, and it 

 is hoped they will be valuable in affording local pro- 

 tection without requiring details and detachments 

 from active force. 



Among the recommendations contained in the re- 

 port of the Secretary of War, your attention is spe- 



