154 



CONGRESS, CONFEDERATE. 



break up the blockade and open their trade. 

 Messrs Mason and Slidell were sent out as 

 Commissioners, the former to England and the 

 latter to France, to negotiate treaties with those 

 Governments. They were captured when on 

 board an English steamer, (see TRENT,) on their 

 way to England, and taken to Boston, and in- 

 carcerated in Fort Warren. It was believed in 

 the Confederate States that the crisis had now 

 come England would demand the surrender of 

 these Commissioners, which the United States 

 would refuse, and war would immediately ensue 

 between the latter power and Great Britain. 

 All eyes were now turned with intense interest 

 to view the conduct of England. The stormy 

 weather delayed the arrival of the news. The 

 first report brought, stated the immense mili- 

 tary preparations she was making. The next 

 brought a demand for the immediate surrender 

 of the Commissioners, or the alternative of the 

 retirement of the British Minister. Three days 

 of great public anxiety ensued. On the fourth 

 day the Commissioners were surrendered, (see 

 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE,) and the hopes 

 of the Confederate States for foreign interven- 

 tion were dashed to the ground, never to rise 

 again. The Government of the Confederate 

 States at the close of the year was as follows : 



JEFFERSON DAVIS, of Mississippi, President. 



ALEX. II. STEPHENS, of Georgia, Vice-President. 



Col. JOSEPH DAVIS, of Mississippi, Aid to the President. 



Capt. R. JOSSELYN, of Mississippi, Private Secretary of 

 the President 



K. M. T. HUNTER, Va., Secretary of State. WILLIAM 

 M. BROWNE, Assistant Secretary of State. P. P. DAN- 

 DRIGE, Chief Clerk. 



C. G. MKMM1NGER, 8. C., Secretary of the Treasury. 

 P. CLAYTON, Ga., Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. 

 H. D. CAPERS, Chief Clerk of the Department. LEWIS 

 CRUGEE, S. C., Comptroller and Solictor. BOLLING 

 BAKER, Ga., 1st Auditor. W. H. S. TAYLOR, La., 2d 

 Auditor. ROBERT TYLER, Va., Register. E. C. EL- 

 MORE, Ala., Treasurer. 



J. P. BENJAMIN, La., Secretary of War. A. T. BLED- 

 BOE, Va., Chief Clerk of the Department. S. COOPER, 

 Va., Adjutant and Inspector-General of the C. S. Army. 

 Lieut. -Col. B. CHILTON and Capt. J. WITHERS, S. C., 

 Assistants Adjutant and Inspector-General. Col. R. TAY- 

 LOI1, Ky., Quartermaster-General. Col. A. C. MYERS, 

 8. C., Assistant Quartermaster-General. Lieut-Col. NOR- 

 THROP, S. C., Commissary-General. Col. J. GORGAS., 

 Va., Chief of Ordnance. Col. 8. P. MOORE, (M. D.,) 8. C., 

 Surgeon-General. Capt. C. II. SMITH, (M. D.,) Va., As- 

 sistant Surgeon-General. Capt. LEG. G. CAPERS, (M. D.,) 

 8. C., Chief Clerk of the Medical Department. Major D. 

 1IUBBARD, Ala., Commissioner of Indian Aft'airs. 



S. R. MALLORY, Fla., Secretary of the Navy. Com. E. 

 M. TIDBALL, Va., Chief Clerk of the Department. Com. 

 D. N. INGRAHAM, S. C., Chief of Ordnance, Construction, 

 and Repair. Capt. GEORGE MINOR, Va., Inspector of 

 Ordnance. Com. L. ROSSEAU, La.. Chief of Equipment, 

 Recruit! n s Orders, and Detail. Capt. W. A. SPOTTSWOOD, 

 CM. D.,) Va., Chief of Medicine and Surgery. Capt JOHN 

 DEBREE, Chief of Clothing and Provisions. 



Ex-Gov. BRAGG, N. C., Attorney-General. WADE 

 KEYS, Ala., Assistant Attorney-General. R. R. RHODES, 

 Miss., Commissioner of Patents. G. E. W. NELSON, Ga., 

 Superintendent of Public Printing. E. M. SMITH, Va., 

 Public Printer. 



JOHN H. REAGAN, Texas, Postmaster-General. IT. 8. 

 OFFUT, Va., Chief Contract Bureau. B. N. CLEMENTS, 

 Tenn., Chief Appointment Bureau. J. L. HARRELL, Ala., 

 Chief Finance Bureau. W. D. MILLER, Texas, Chief Clerk 

 of Department. 



CONGRESS, CONFEDERATE. No sooner 

 was secession an organized fact in South Caro- 

 lina with a certainty that other States would 

 soon arrive at the same result, than suggestions 



were made for a Southern Confederacy. A 

 committee in the Legislature of Mississippi, on 

 Jan. 19, reported resolutions to provide for 

 a Southern Confederacy and establish a Pro- 

 visional Government. Florida, Alabama, and 

 Georgia at once approved of this general de- 

 sign, and delegates were appointed to a Con- 

 gress to be held at Montgomery. The design 

 of this Congress, as then understood, was to 

 organize a new Confederacy of the seceding 

 slaveholding States, and such other slavehold- 

 ing States as should secede and join them ; 

 and to establish first, a Provisional Govern- 

 ment, intended to prepare for the general de- 

 fence of those States which were linked to- 

 gether by a common interest in the peculiar 

 institution, and which were opposed to the 

 Federal Union ; second, make treaties with the 

 United States and " other foreign" countries ; 

 third, obtain decisive legislation in regard to the 

 negro ; and, fourthly, determine what States 

 should constitute the Confederacy. 



On the 4th of February this Congress met at 

 Montgomery, in a Ball, on the walls of which, 

 portraits of Marion, Clay, Andrew Jackson, 

 and several of Washington were hanging. It 

 was composed of the following members, ex- 

 cept those from Texas who were not appointed 

 until Feb. 14 : 



South Carolina. 'R. B. Rhett, James Chesnut, jr., W. P. 

 Miles, T. J. Withers, R. W. Barnwell, C. G. Memminger, L. 

 M. Keitt, and W. W. Boyce. 



Georgia. Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, Benjamin H. 

 Hill, Alexander H. Stephens, Francis Bartow, Martin J. 

 Crawford, E. A. Nisbett, Augustus B. Wright, Thomas E. 

 R. Cobb, and Augustus Keenan. 



Alabama. Richard W. Walker. Robert H. Smith, Colin 

 J. McRae, John Gill Shorter, S. F. Hale, David P. Lewis, , 

 Thomas Fearn, J. L. M. Curry, and W. P. Chilton. 



Mississippi. Willie P. Harris, Walker Brooke, A. M. 

 Clayton, W. S. Barry, J. T. Harrison, J. A. P. Campbell, and 

 W. S. Wilson. 



Louisiana. John Perkins, jr., Duncan F. Kenner, C. M. 

 Conrad, E. Spencer, and Henry Marshall. 



Florida. Jackson Morton, James Powers, and J. P. 

 Anderson. 



Texas. L. T. Wigfall, J. H. Reagan, J. Hemphill, T. N. 

 "Waul, Judge Gregg, Judge Oldharn, and Judge W. B. 

 Ochiltree. 



All the members were present except Mr. 

 Morton, of Florida, and the members from 

 Texas. A permanent organization was made 

 by the election of Howell Cobb, of Georgia, as 

 Chairman, and J. J. Hooper, of Montgomery, 

 Alabama, Secretary. 



Mr. Cobb, on taking the chair, made an ad- 

 dress. He said : 



" Accept, gentlemen of the Convention, my 

 sincere thanks for the honor you have conferred 

 upon me. I shall endeavor, by a faithful and 

 impartial discharge of the duties of the Chair, 

 to merit, in some degree, at least, the confi- 

 dence you have reposed in me. 



" The occasion which assembles us together, 

 is one of no ordinary character. We meet as 

 representatives of soveregin and independent 

 States, who, by their solemn judgment, have 

 dissolved the political association which con- 

 nected them with the Government of the 

 United States. Of the causes which have led 



