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MESSAGE OF
PRESIDENT JEFFERSON DAVIS.
f t the Senate and
House of Representatives
ff the Confederate Stales:
At the date of jour last adjournment the
preparations of the enemy lor further hostili
ties had assumed so menacing an aspect as to
excite in some minds apprehensions of our
known to be at home, nor had Europe yet
learned what reliance was to be placed on the
official statements of the Cabinet at Washing
ton. The delegation of power granted by these
States, to the Federal Government to represent
them in foreign intercourse, had led Europe in
to the grave error of supposing that their se
parate sovereignty and independence had been
merged into one common sovereignty, and had
ceased to have a distinct existence. Under the
iuftuencc of this error, which all appeals to
ability to meet them with sufficient prompt- j reason and historical lact were vainly used to
ness to avoid serious reverses. These prepa*. | dispel, our Commissioners were met by the de
rations were completed shortly after your de- , deration that foreign governments could not
pirture from the seat of Government, and the
armies of the United States made simultaneous
advance on our frontiers, on the western rivers
and on the Atlantic coast in masses so great as
to evince tlu-ir hope of overbearing all resist
ance by mere weight of numbers. This hope,
however, like those previously entertained by
oar foes, has vanished. In Virginia, their
fourth attempt at invasion by armies whose as
sured success was confidently predicted, has
met with decisive repulse. Our noble defend
ers, under the consummate leadership of their
general, have again, at Fredericksburg, inflict
ed on the forces under General Burnside the
lil.c disastrous overthrow ns had been previous
ly suffered by tho successive invadin • armies
commanded by Generals McDowell, McClellan
ird l’ope.
In the West obstinate battles have been
fought with varying fortunes,marked by fright
ful carnage on both sides, but tho enemy’s
hopes of decisive results have again been baf
fled, while at Vicksburg another formidable
expedition has been repulsed with inconsidera
ble loss on our side and severe damage to the
assailing forces. On the Atlantic coast the en
tiny has been unable to gain a footing beyond
iho protecting shelter of his fleets, and the
,-ity of Galveston lias just been recovered by
our forces, which succeeded not only in the
capture ol the garrison, butofoncol the enemy’s
vessels of war, which was cavricd by boarding
parlies from merchant river steamers. Our
fortified positions have everywhere been much
^lengthened ard improved, affording assurance
ol our ability to meet, with success, the ut
most etforts of our encue.es, in spite of the
magnitude of their prepara lions for attack.
A review of our history of the two years of
our national existence affords ample cause for
eurgratulatior and demam Is the most fervent
repression of our thankfulness to the Almigh
ty Father who has blcssect our cause. Wo are
justified in asserting, with, a pride, surely not.
•jubeonming,that these Confederate State- have
vlded another to the lessons taught by^history
tor the instruction of mart; that they have af
lorded another example of the impossibility
ol subjugating a people determined to he free;
tad have demonstrated that no superiority of
l umbers or available resources can overcome
;he resistance offered by such valor in combat,
>uch constancy under suffering, and suen cheer-
fil endurance of privation, as have been con
spicuously displayed by this people in the dc-
i-nse of their rights and liberties. The antic
pations with which we entered into the con
test have now ripened into a conviction which
is not only shaied with us by the common
opinion of neautral nations, but is evidently
forcing itself upon our enemies therpselves.—
If we but mai k the history of the present year
i,\ resolute pcrseverenccin the path we hare
milierto pursued; by vigorous effort in the de-
idopment of all our resources for defence; and
tn the continued exhibition of the same unfal-
itring courage in our soldiers and able onduct
i their leaders as have distinguished the p.ast.
«re have every reason to expect that this will
be the closing year of the war. The war
which, in iss inception, was waged for forcing
us hack into the Union, having failed to ac-
-umplish that purpose, passed into » second
,iage in which it was attempted to conquer
in ! rule these States as dependent provinces,
lirfeated in this second design, our enemies
lave evidently entered upon another, which
r.-.n have no other purpose than revenge and
iv.rstfor blood and plunder of private proper
i ll (Jut however implacable they may lie,
.my can have neither tho spirit nor the rc-
- irces required for a fourth year of a struggle
a;.cheered by any hope of auccess, kept alive
H ,W for the indulgence of mercenary »-id
wi<-kcd passions, ami demanding so exhaustive
l »n expenditure of blood and money as ha s
iiherto been imposed on their people. The
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frivcnt of jH-acu will ho hailed with joy. Ou r
. -.ire lor it has never been concealed. Oaf
•if.irts to avoid the war, forced on us, as it was
, >v the lust of conquest and the insane pas-
. "«Mis of our foes, are known to mankind. But
.. rnest as has been our wish for peace and
•ut as have been our sacflriccs an 1 sufferings
:• ing the war, the. determination of this peo-
i (.has with each succeeding month become
f re unalterably fixed, to endure any suffer-
, s . vnd ccntinue any sacrifices, however pro
ng,’, 1, until their r.ght to self-government
>r.l tin i sovereignty and independence of these
Mites . lhall have been triuiuphtly vindicated
ar.J fire »ly established.
In thi * connection, the occasion seems not
unsuitab le for some relerence to the relations
between > he Confederacy and the neutral pow
-re ol Europe since ihe separation of these
Slates from the former Union.
Knur of tl te States now members of this bon
t 'lerucy were recognized by name as fndepen
dent sovereignty “sin» treaty of peace, conclud-
ei m the year IV '88, with one of the two great
-imimo powers of Western Europe and had
i, prior to that period, allies in the war ol
t other. In tbG year 1778 they formed a
i ,ii with niue oth er Stales under articles of
i federation. Dis; alisflcd with that Union,
tiree of them, Virginia, South Carolina and
i,- , r „i R together with eight of the States now
'u-uibers of the United States, seceded from it
17S9 and these eleven seceding States form
«. u second Union, although by terms of the
Articles or Confederation express provisions
was uiHiie that the first union should he per-
|*lua|, 'J'heir right toscceot-, notwithstanding
provision, was neither contested by the
th*
■
Mules lrom which they separated, nor made
l: e subject of discussion with any third power.
When, at a later period, North Carolina acced
'd i<> that second union, and when, still htcr,
kite cither *evcn States, now Members of the
.lederacy, became also members of the same
ii»n, it was upon the rcoognigod footing of
r«l and independent sovereignties, nor had
n entered into the minds of men that sov-
ii Suites could lie compelled, by force, to
members of a confederation into which
they Nj entered of their own Iree will, if at a
'uli.se,,fent period, Ihe defense of their safety
Mid hiii.'w should, in their judgment, justify
vithilrawM. The experience of. the pint hay
enticed the futility of any renunciation o-
such inherent righta,and accordingly the provis
ion for perpetuity contained in the Articles of
Con:,deration ol 1778 was omitted in the Con
stitution of 1780. When, therefore, in 18(11
•■lev, n of the States again thonghl proper, for
•ea-ons satisfactory to themselves, to secede
from the second Union, and to form a third
one under an amended Constitution, they ex-
treised a right which, being inherent, required
no justification to foreign nations, and which
iternalional law did not permit them to ques
i.ijn. The usages of intercourse between ra
tions do, however, require that officialcommun-
'i»tipn he made to friendly powers of all organ
it changes in tlio constitution of States, and
•Acre was obvious propriety in’giving prompt
insurance of our desire to continue amicable
thatio- s with all mankind. It was under the
influence of these considerations that your pre-
lessors, the provisional Government, too*
Urly measures for sending to Europe.Odin mir-
' oners charged with the duty of visiting Uw
, Ctyita’.s of the different powers, and making
»>ngeinents for the ojicning of more formal
fylomatic intercourse. ! j
Prior, however, to the arrival abroad «
^osc Conuoidinners, tbc^ United States PW
*ommenced hostilities against the Confenctncy,
despatching a secret expedition for thtre-*
. oforccment of Fort Sumter, afus- •**
ftotnise to the contrary, and with a duptymty
*hich has lieen fully unveiled in a former toe*-
*‘16. They had also addressed communications
Jjdie different Cabinets of Europe, in v uch
assumed the attitude of being soveeign
V* this Confederacy, alleging that theh in -,
” f Pndtnt States were in rebellion again|t the
' 'lining States of the Union, and threatening
with manifestations of their diplea-
"6 if it should treat the Confederate States
wring an independent existence. II soon
known that these pretensions wire not
%Mi4 «red abroad to be as absurd aa tiny were
assume to judge between the conflicting repre
sedations of the two parties as to the true
nature of their previous mutual relations.—
The governments of Great Britain and France
accordingly signified their determination to
confine themselves to recognizing the self-evi
dent fact of the existence of a war, and to main
taining a strict neutrality during its progress.
Some of the other powers of Europe pursued
the same course of policy, and it bpcame ap
parent that by some undersanding express or
tacit, Europe had decided to leave the initia
tive in all action touching the contest on this
continent to the two powers just named, who
wore recognized to have the largest interests
involved, both by reason of proximity and of
the extent and intimacy of their commercial
relations with the States engaged in war.
It is manifest that the course of action
adopted by Europe, while based on an appa-
re.v. refusal to determine the question, or to
sick with either party, was in point of fact an
actual decision against our rights and in favor
of the groundless pretensions of the United
States. It was a rclusal to treat us as an in
dependent government. If we were indepen-,
dent States, the refusal to entertain with us the
same international intercourse as was main
tained with our enemy was unjust, and was in
jurious in its effects, whatever may have been
the motive which prompted it Neither was it
in accordance with the high moral obligations
of that international code whose chief sanetion
is the conscience of sovereigns and the public
opinion of mankind, that those eminent pow
ers should decline the performance of a duty
peculiarly incumbent on them, from any ap
prehension of the consequences to themselves.
One immediate and necessary result of their
def ining the responsibility of a decision which
must have been adverse to the extravagant pro
tensions of the United States, was the prolon
gation of hostilities' to which our enemies were
thereby encouraged, and which have resulted
in nothing but scenes of carnage and devasta
tion on this continent, and of misery and suf
fering on the other, such as have scarcely a
parallel in history. Had those powers prompt
ly admitted our right to be treated as other in
dependent nations, none can doubt that the
moral effect of such action would have been to
dispel the delusion under which the United
Slates have persisted in their efforts to accom
plish our subjugation. To the continued hesi
tation of the same powers in rendering this
act of simple justice towards this Confederacy,
is still due the continuance ol the calamities
which mankind suffers from the interruption
of its peaceful pursuits, in ’the old and the new
worlds.
There are other matters in which less than
justice has been rendered to this people by
neutral Europe, and undue advantage confer
red on the aggressors in a wicked war. At
the inception of hostilities the inhabitants of
tho Confederacy were almost exclusively ag-
riculuiralists; those of the United States to a
great extent, mechanics and merchants. We
had no commercial marine, while their mer
chant vessels covered the ocean. We were
without a -Vary, while they had powerful fleets.
The advantage which they possessed for inflic
ting injury <>n our coasts and harbors was
thus counterbalanced in some measure by the
exposure of their commerce to attack ;by pri
vate armed vessels. It was known to Europe
that within a very few years past the United
States hart peremptorily refused to accede to
proposals for abolishing privateering, on the
ground, as alledged by them, that nations
owning powerful fleets would thereby. olu***
undiiQ luiv^DULg^ovct thowj possessing inferior
naval forces. Vet no sooner was war flagrant
between the Confederacy and the United States
than the maritime powers of Europe issued or
ders prohibiting eitner party from bringing
prizes into their ports. This prohibition, di
rected with apparent impartiality against both
belligerents, was in reality effective against the
Confederate States alone, for they alone could
find a hostile commerce on the ocean. Merely
nominal against the United States, the prohi
biten operated with intense severity on the
Confederacy, by depriving it of the only means
<d maintaining witu some approach to equali
ty, its struggle on tire ocean against the crush
ing superiority o( naval force possessed by its
enemies. The value and efficiency of the wea
pon which was thus wrested from our grasp
by the combined action of neutral European
powers in favor of a nation which professes
openly is intention of ravaging their com
merce by privateers in any future war, is stri
kingly illustrated by the terror inspired among
the commercial classes of the United States by
a single cruiser of tho Confederacy. One na
tional stc uncr, commanded by officers aud
manned >y a crow who arc debarred, by the
closure of neutral ports, from the opportunity
of causing captured vessels to he condemned
in their favor as prizes, has sufficed to double
the rates of marine insurance in Northern
ports and consign to forced inaction numbers
of Northern vessels, in addition to the direct
damage inflicted by captures at sea. How dif
ficult, then, to overestimate the effects that
must have been produced by the hundreds of
private armed vcsscls’that would have swept
the seas in pursuit ol the commerce of our en
emy, if the means of disposing of their prizes
bad not been wiuiheld by th- acii-iii m-u
tral Europe!
But it is especially in relation to tho so-call
ed blockade of our coast that the policy of
European powers has been so shaped as to
cause the greatest injury to the Confederacy,
and to confer signal advantages oil the United
States. The importance of this subject requires
some development.
Prior to the year 1856, the principles regu
lating this subject were to he gathered from
tho writings ol eminent publicists, the decisions
of admiralty courts, international treaties, and
the usages of nations. The uncertainty and
doubt which prevailed in reference to the true
rules of maritime law, in time of war, resulting
from the discordant and often conflicting prin
ciples announced from such varied and inde
pendent sotifccs, had become a greviousevtl to
mankind. Whether a blockade was allowable
against a port not invested by land as well
as by sea; whether a blockade was valid
by sea if the investing fleet was merely suffi
cient to render ingress to the blockaded port
“evidently dangerous,” or whether it was far
ther required for its legality that it should be
sufficient “really to prevent access, anil nu-
nierous other similar questions, had rendered
doubtful and undecided.
Animated by the highly honorable desiro to
put an end “ to difference of opinion between
neutrals ‘•ml belligerents, wife" may occasion
serious difficulties and cvcd conflicts,” (I quote
the official language,) the five great Powered
Europe, together with Sardinia and Turkey,
adopted, in 1856, the following “solemn declar
ation” of principles: '
1. Privateering is, and remains abolished.
2. The neutral flag covers enemy’s goods,
with the exceDtion of contraband of war.
3. Neutral goods, with tho exception of con
traband of war, are not liable to capture under
enemy’s Hag. .....
4. Blockades, in order to be binding, must
bo die-dive; that is to say, maintained by a
force sufficient really to prevent access to the
coast ol the enemy.
Not only did this solemn declaration an
nounce to the world tho principle to which the
signing powers agreed to conform in future
wars, hut it contained a clause to which
those powers gave immediate effect, and which
provided that the States, not parties to the
(Jougrepfl of Paris, should bo invited to accede
to the declaration. Under this invitation ev
ery independent State in Europe yielded its
assent; at least, no instance is knowntome
of a refusal; and the United States, while de
clining to assent to the propost'ion which pro
hibited privateering, declared that the three
remaining principles were in entire accordance
with their own views of international law.
No instance is known in history of the
adoption of roles of public law under circum
stances of like solemnity, with like unanimity,
and pledging the faith of nations wit b a sanc
tity so peculiar.
When, therefore, this Confederacy w as form
ed, and when neutral powers, while d tferring
action on its demand for admission i nto the
family of nations, recognized it as a be Uiger-
ent power, Great Britain and France ma de ins
formal proposals about the same time that their
own rights as neutrals should be guars tmied
by our acceding, as belligerents, to the d ecla -
ration of principles made by the Congrt tss of
Paris The request was addressed to oar
sense of jastice, and therefore met immediate
favorable response in the resolutions of the
Provisional Congress of the 13i.h August,
1861,by which all the principles announced by
the Congress of Paris were adopted as the
guide of our conduct during the war, with the
sole.exception of that relative to privateering.
As the right to make use of privateers was one
in which neutral nations bad, as to the present
war, no interest; as it was a right which’
the United States had refused to abandon and
which they remained tt liberty to employ
against us; as it was a right of which we were
already in actual enjoyment, and which we
could not be expected to renounce flagrante
belto against an adversary possessing an over
whelming superiority of naval forces, it was
reserved with entire confidence Jtbat neutral
nations could not fail to perceive that just rea
son existed for the reservation. Nor was this
confidence misplaced, for the official documents
published by the British Government, usually
called “Blue Books,” contain the expression
of the satisfaction of that government with the
conduct of the officials who conducted suc
cessfully the delicate business confided to
their charge.
These solemn declarations of principle, this
implied agreement between the Confederacy
and the two powers just named, have been
suffered to remain inoperative against the me
naces and outrages on neutral rights commit
ted by the United States with increasing and
progressing arrogance during the whole peri
od of the war. Neutral Europe remained pas-
sivo.when the United States with a naval
force insufficient to blockade effectively' the
coaift of a single State, proclaimed a .paper
blockade on thousands of miles of coast, ex
tending from the capes of the Chesapeake to
thpse of Florida, and encircling, the Gulf of
Mexico from Key West to the mouth of the
Rid Grande. Compared with this monstrous
pretension of the United States the blockades
known in history, under the names of the Ber
lin anil Milan decrees anil the British orders
in Council in tho years 1806 and 1807, sink
into insignificance! Yet those blockades were
justified by the powers that declared them, on
the sole ground that they were retaliatory;—
yet those blockades have since been condemn
ed by the publicists of those vety powers as
violations of international law; yet those
blockades evoked angry remonstrances from
nehlral powers amongst which the United
States were the most conspicuous; yet those
blockades became the chief cause of the war
lietween Great Britain and the United States
in 1812; yet those blockades were one ol the
principal motives that led to the declaration of
the Congress of Paris in 1856, in the fond hope
ol imposing an enduring check on the very
abuse of maritime power which is now renew
ed by the United States in 1861 and 1802, un
der circumstances and with features of aggra
vated wrong without precedent in history.
The records of our State Department contain the
evidence of the repeated and formal remonstran
ces made by the Government to neutral pow
ers against the recognition of this blockade. It
has been shown by evidence not capable of contra
diction, and which has been furnished in part by
the officials of neutral nations, that the few ports
of this Confederacy, before whicli any naval forces
at all have been stationed, have been invested so
inefficiently that hundreds of entries have been ef
fected into them since the declaration of the block
ade ; that enemies have themselves admitted the
efficiency of their blockade in the most forcible
manner, by repeated offioial complaints of the
sale, to ns, of goods contraband of war,a sale which
coold not po-sibly affect their jn#u»*p J f* , — i ~*’*'7
tsaioua -.undent ^rcaily to prevent
access to onr coast;” that they have gone farther
and have alleged their inability to render their pa
per blockade effective as the excuse for the odious
barbarity ot destroying the entrance to one of our
barbors by sinking vessels loaded with stone in
the channel; that our commerce with foreign na
tions has been intercepted, not by the effective in
vestment of our ports, nor Dy the seizure of ships
in the attempt to enter them, but by the capture
on the high seas of'noutral vessels by the cruisers
of pur enemies whenever supposed to be bound to
any point on our extensive coast, without enquiry
whether a sincle blockading vessel was.to be found
at speh point; that blockading vessels have left
the ports at which they were stationed lor distant
expeditions, have been absent for many days and
have returned, without notice cither of the cessa
tion or renewal of the blockade; in a word, that
every prescription of maritime law, and every right
of neutral nations to trade with a belligerent under
the sanction of principles heretofore universally
respected, have been systematically and persist
ently violated by the United States. Neutral Eu
rope has received our remonstrances and has sub
mitted in almost unbroken silence to all wrongs
that the United States have chosen to inflict on
its commerce. The Cabinet of Great Britain, how
ever, has not confined itself to such implied ac
quiescence in the breaches of international law as
results from simple inaction, bat has, in a publish
ed despatch of the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, assumed to make a change in the princi
ple enunciated by the Congress of Paris, to which
the faith of the British Government was consider
ed to be pledged; a change too important and too
prejudical.to the intereAs of the Confederacy to
be overlooked, and against which I have directed
solemn protest to be made, after a vain attempt to
obtain satisfactory explanations from the British
Government. In a published despatch from her
Majesty’s Foreign Office, to her Minister at Wash
ington, under date of the 11th February, 1802, oc
cflrs the following passage:
.‘•Her Majesty’s Government, howpvcr, are of
opinion that assuming that the blockade was duly
notified and also that a number of ships is station
ed and remains at the entrance of a port sufficient
really to prevent access to it: or to treat* an evi
dent danger of entering it or leaving ■ it, and that
these ships do not voluntarily permit ingress or
egress, the fact that varions ships may have suc
cessfully escaped through it (as particular instance
here referred to) will not ot itsuli prevent the
blockade from being an effectual one by interna
tional law.
The woras which I have italicised arc an add!
turn made by the British Government of its own
authority to a principle the exact terms of which
were settled with deliberation by the common
consent of civilized nations, aud by implied Con
vention with this Government, as already explain
ed, and their effect is clearly to re-open to the
prejudice of the Confederacy one of the very dis
puted questions on the law of blockade which the
Congress of Paris professed to settle. The impor
tance of this change is readily illustrated by taking
one of our ports as an example. There is “evident
danger” in entering the port at Wilmington from
the presence of a blockading force, and by this
test the blockade is effective. “Access is not real
ly prevented” by the blockading fleet to the same
port, for steamers are continually arriving and de
parting, so that tried by this test the blockade is
ineffective and invalid. The justice of our com-
ptynt ou this point is so manifest as to leave little
room for doubt that further reflection will induce
the British Government to give us such assurances
as will efface the painful impression that would re-
snldfirom its langusge, if left unexplained. *
•From die foregoing remarks you will perceive
that during nearly two years of struggle in which
every energy of our country has been evoked. for
maintaining its very existence, the neutral nations
of Europe nave penned • policy which nominally
impartial has been practically most favorable to
our enemies and most destrimcntal to ns.
The exercise of the neutral right of refusing en
try into their ports to prizes taken by both bellig-
erants, was eminently hurtful to the Confederacy.
It was sternly asserted and maintained.
The exercise of the neutral right of commerce
with a belligerent whose ports are not blockaded
by fleets sufficient really to prevent aocessto them,
would hare been eminently hurtful to the United
States. It was complaisantly abandoned.
The duty of neutral States to receive with cor
diality and recognize with respect any new confed
eration that independent States may think proper
to form was too clear to admit of denial, but its
postponement was eminently beneficial to the Uni
ted States and detrimental to the Confederacy. It
was postponed.
In this view of our relations with the central na
tions of Europe, it has been my purpose to point
out distinctly that this Government has no com
plaint to make that those nations declared their
neutrality. It could neither expect ner desire
more. The complaint is, that the neutrality has
been rather nominal than real, and that neutral
rights have been alternately asserted and waived
in such manner as to bear with great severity on
U3. and to confer -signal ad\
I have hith erto re fra?
your attention, this con
with foreign powers l'o(
chief of these was the feyr that a statement
our just groi inds of complaint arainst a course
of policy so injurious to wr interests mighube
rnisconstru ed into an appeal for aid. Uncqhal
as we were, in mere number- anil available re
sources to our.epemic we were consdousof
powers of resistance, inyrztion to which Eu
rope was incredulous, and our remonstran -
were therefore peculiarly liable to be misunder
stood. Proudly self-reliant, tho Confederacy
knowing full well the ^raractljr of the contest
into which it was forced, with full trust in the
superior qualities of population, the super
ior valor Of it8 soldiers, the snncrinr skill ill
ior valor of its soldier's, the superior skill of its
Generals, and abo»e all in the justice i)f its
cause, felt no need to appeal for the mainte
nance of its rights fo other earthly aids, and it
began, and has continued this struggle with tae
calm confidence ^ver inspired in those wto
with consciousness of rignt can invoke the D>
vine blessing on-Xheir cause. This confidence
has been so assured that we have never yicldel
to despondency under defeat, nor do we fed
undue elation at the present bright prospect of
successful issue to our contest It is therefore,
because our just grounds of complaint can no
longer bo misinterpreted that I lay them clear
ly before you. It seems to me now proper to
give you the information, and although no im
mediate results may be attained, it is well that
truth should be preserved and recorded. It is
well that those who aro to follow us should
understand the full nature and character of the
tremendous conflict in which the bl>
people has been poured out like wr
which they have resisted unaided l
hosts wh.ch would have sufficed t<
many of the powers which by their .ion
in according our rights as an independent na
tion in.ply doubt ot our ability to maintain our
national existence. It may be, too, that if in
future times, unfriendly discussions not now
anticipated shall unfortunately arise between
this Confederacy and some European power,
the recollection of our forbearance under the
grievances which I have enumerated, may be
ovoked with happy influence in preventing any
serums disturbance of peaceful relations.
It would not be propei to close my remarks
on the subject of our foreign relations without
adverting to the lact that the correspondence ^
between the Cabinets of France, Great Britain
and Russia, recently published, indicates a
gratifying advance in the appreoiatiqpr by
those governments of the true interests of
mankind as involved in the war ot/this conti
nent. It is to the enlighied ruler of the French
nation that the public feeling of Europe is in
debted ior the first official exhibition of its
sympathy (or the sufferings endiwed 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 ofTU desire for
a speedy peace. The clear and direct intima
tion contained in the language of Use French
note, that our ability to maintain pur inde'
pendeuce has been fully established was not
controverted by the answer of either the Cab
inets to which it was addressed. It is, indeed^
difficult to conceive a just ground fo? a longer
delay on this subject after reading th* follow
ing statement of facts contained in tho letter
emanating from the Minister of his Imperial
Majesty:
“There has been established, from the very
beginning of this war, an equilibrium offerees
between the belligerents, which has since been
almost constantly maintained, and after the
spilling of so much blood, they are to day in
this respect, in a situation which has not s u
stbly changed. Nothing authorizes the
vision that more decisive military opera
will shortly occur. According to tho Iasi
vices received in Europe, tho two armies i
on the contrary, in a condition which pcf
ted neither to hope within a short delay
vantages sufficiently marked to turn the
the Con
instruments in 6ho commission of these
shall direct their discharge and
to their homes on the proper aud usual
ance definitely, and to accelerate
piLwn’; inrerfnor^ ! ?f*OTnqSring
United States, but has simply asserted its
ity to defend irseir against being conquers
that power, we may safely conclude that
claims of this Confederacy to its just plac- A
the family of nations cannot long bfe toithhdh 1 ,
after so frank and formal admission of its ta.
pacity to cope, on equal terms, with its aggfcs
sivc fees, and to maintain itself against thei
attempts to obtain decisive refults by artriL
It is my painful duty again to inform yoa of j
the renewed examples of every concer&ble
atrocity committed by the armed forces ol the
United States, at different points within 'the
Confederacy, and which must stamp indi ible
infamy not only on the perpetrators, buton
their superiors, who, having the power to elfcek
these outrages on humanity, numerous *nd
well authenticated as they have been, havo not
yet, in a single instance of which I am aware,
inflicted punishment on the wrong-doerlf—*
Sinccriny last communication to you, one Gen.
McNeil murdered seven prisoners of war in
cold blood, and the demand for his punishiAmt
has remainod unsatisfied. The GovernnUBt of
the United States, alter promising examination
and explanation in relation to the clnrges
made against General 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 sahctiotji
cd it by acquiescence, anil I have accordingly
branded this criminal as an outlaw and direct
ed his execution in expiation of his crimos if
he should fall- into the hands of any of our
forces. Recently I hare received apparently
authentic intelligence of another General by
the name of Milroy, 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 fail to betray their country by giving
him prompt notice of the approach of any of
our forces, and this subject has also been sub
mitted to the superior military authorities of
the United States, with but faint hope that
they wifi evince any disapprobation of the act
Humanity shudders at tho appalling atrocities
which are being daily multiplied under the
sanction of those who have obtained temporary
poasession of power in the United States, and
who are fast making its once fair name a by
word 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 con
duct of the war. There must necessarily exist
among our enemies, very many, perhaps a ma
jority, whose humanity recoils from all parti*
cipation in such atrocities, but who cannot bo
wholly guiltless while permitting their contin
uance without an effort at repression.
The public journals of the North have been
received, containing a proclamation dated on
the first day of the present month, signed by
the President of tho United States, in which
ho orders and declares all slaves within ten of
of i he States of the Confederacy to be free,
except such as are found within certain dis
tricts, now occupied in. part by the ariaed
forces of the enemy.
We may well leave it to the instincts of
that commou humanity which a beneficent
Creator has implanted in the breasts of our
fellow-men of all countries, to pass judgmen
on a measure by which several millions of hu
man beings of an inferior race, peaceful and
contented laborers in their sphere, are doomed
to extermination, while at the same time they
arc encouraged to a general assassination ol
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 mea
sure recorded in the history of guilty man, is
tempered by profound contempt for the impo
tent rage which it discloses. So far as regards
tho action of this goverainent on such crimi.
nals 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 author!
ties 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 tba laws of those States pro
viding for the punishment of criminals en
gaged in exciting servile insurrection. The
enlisted soldiers I shall continue to treat as un
its political aspect, this measures possesses
significance, and to it, in this light, I
r nvite your attention. It affords to our whole
(people the complete and crowning proof of the
true nature of the designs of tho party which
elevated to power the present occupant of tho
Presidential chair at Washington, and which
sought to conceal its purposes by every variety
of artful device, and by the perfidious use of
the most solemn and repeated pledges on eve
ry possible occasion. I extract in this con
nection, as a single example, the following de-.
clarationimade by Presi lent Lincoln, under tho
solemnity of bis' oath as Chief Magistrate of
the United States, on the 4th March, 1861:
“Apprehension seems to exist among the
people of the Southern States, that by the ac
cession of a Republican Administration, their
property and their peace and personal securi
ty are to be endangered. There has never been
any reasonable cause for such apprehensions.
Indeed, the most ample evidence to the con
trary has all the while existed, and been open
to their inspection. It is found in nearly all
the public speeches of him who now address
es you. I do but quote from one of those
speeches when I declare that I have no pur
pose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with
the institution of slavery in the States where
it exists. I believe I have no lawful light to
do so; and (bat I have no inclination to do so.
Those who nominated and elected me, did so
with lull knowledge that 1 had made this and
many similar declarations, and had never re
canted them. And, more [than this, they placed
in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law
to themselves and to -ane, the clear and em
phatic resolution which I now read:
• “Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate
of the rights of the States, and especially the
right of each State to order and control its own
domestic institutions according to its own
judgement exclusively, is essential to that ba
lance of powers on which the perfection and
endurance of our political fabric depend; and
we denounce the lawless invasion by armed
force of” the soil bf any State or Territory, no
matter under wnat pretext as among the grav
est crimes.”’
Nor was’this declaration of tho want of pow
er or disposition to interfere with our social
system confined to a state of peace. Both
before and after the actual commencement of
{hostilities, the President of the United States
[repeated in formal official communication to
the Cabinets of Great Britain and Franco, that
he was utterly without constitutional power
to do the act which he has just committed; and
in no possible event, whether the secession of
these States resulted in the establishment of a
sept ate Confederacy or in tho restoration of
the Union, was there any authority by virtue
of %hich he could either restore a disaffected
State to the Uniou by force of arms or make
any change in any of its institutions. I refer
espCtflkHy, for verification of this assertion, to
the despatches addressed by the Secretary of
State of the United States, under direction of
the President, to the Ministers of the United
States at London and Paris, under date of 22d
April, 18G1. ■-
The people of 1% Confederacy, then, cannot
fail to receive thisfiproclaination as tho fullest
vindication of their own sagacity in foreseeing
the uses to which the-vdominant party in the
United States intehdecP/rom the beginning to
apply their power, nort can they cease to re
member, with devout thankfulness, that it is to
their own vigilance in naisting tho first steal
thy progress of approach ig despotism that
♦hey owe their escape from consequences now
narent to the most skeptical. This procla-
"-»n will have another salutary effect in
- the fears of those wfi.? have constant-
•1 the apprehension ttuti , this war
"leold
rota-
have
. been shared by mo, nor hafe*{JEver been
4 to perceive on what basis they could rest
>ut the proclamation affords timeliest guar
antee of tho impossibility of snffla result. It
has established a state of thin rs which can lead
to but one of three possible consequences; the
extermination of tho slayj^ tho exile of the
whole white population froA the Confederacy,
or absolute and total separitfi i of these States
from the United States.
This proclamation is alae an authentic state
ment by the government d the United States
of its inability to subjugate the South by force
of arms, and as such injftt be accepted by neu
tral nations, which caw no longor find any jus
tification in withholding our just claims to
formal recognition. 11 is also in effect an inti
mation to the pew’*'of the North that they
must prepare toi submit to a separation now
become inevitable, for that people are so acute
not to under-to; ! that a restoration has been
rendered forever impossible by the adoption of
a measure whlc’ i, from its very nature, neither
admits'of retraction nor can co-exist with
union. ,.||F
Among the subjects to which your attention
will be specially directed during the present
session, you will no doubt deem the adoption
of some comprehensive system of finance as
being of .paramount importance. The increa
sing public debt, the great augmentation in
the volume of the currency, with its necessary
concomitant of extravagant prices for all arti
cles of consumption, the want of revenue from
a taxation adequate to support tho public
credit, all unite in admonishing us that ener
getic and wise legislation alone can prevent’
serious embarrassments in our monetary al-
fairs. It is roy conviction that tho people of
the Confederacy will freely meet taxation on a
scale adequate to the niaintmtance of the pub
lic credit and the support of their government.
When each family is sending forth its most
precious ones to meet exposure in camp and
death in battle, what ground can there bo to
doubt the disposition to' fie voto a titho of its
income and more, if more be necessary, to
provide the government with means for ensu
ring the comfort oft its defenders t our en
emies submit to an excise on every coaftpodity
they Produce, and to the daily presence^ the
tax g* . or, with no higher motivo than the
hope ^ti'dricess in tlmir wicked designs against
us, the Suggestion of an unwillingness on the
part of this people to submit-to the taxation
necessary for the Success of their defense is an
imputation on thtjr patriotism that few will be
disposed to maka and that none can justify.
The legislation jof your last session intended
to hasten the fuu
ry notes has pro
sufficiently prom
the fall extent oi
some enactment,
policy of that law
later than the 1st
lowed for fundin
1st Decembers li
Secretary, hari
eulation near!
to the last na
revenue from
ing of outstanding Treasu
:d beneficial as shown by
the returns annej id to the report of the Sec
retary of the Tr usury. But it was neither
t nor far reaching to meet
the evil. The passage of
carrying still further the
by fixing a limitation uot
July next to the delay al-
the notes issued prior to the
ill, in the opinion of the
e effect to withdraw from cir-
e entire sum issued previous
date. If to ‘Lis be added a
juate taxation, and
tiation of bonds guaranteed proportionately
by the sevoral Si itcs has already been gener
ously proposed bj some of them in enact
ments spontaneously adopted, there is little
doubt that wo shall see our finances restored
a sound and satisfiictory condition; our cir-
tilatiou relieved of'ljbc redundancy now pro
ductive of so many mMchicfs ; and our credit
placed on such a baps as to ( rcliove ,us from
sy;further anxiety rnlfere to our resources
for the prosecution 'of tj
It ia true that at its clom^A- debt will be large;
but It will be due to our ovraAfconle, aud neither
the interest nor the capital wflmL exported to dis
tant opuntrits, impoverl-hing the benefit.
On return of peace the untolaTwgaUh which
will s; ring from our soil will reader tlw|>urilirn of
taxation far less onerous than is noft^upieved,
especially if we take into consideration,j*i it we
shall than he free from tho large and steaded rain
of onr substance to which we were subjectei“
late Union through the instrumentality of
al legislation and protective tarifis.
I recommend to your earnest attention thewSt
report ol the Secretary of the Treasury on this im
portant fibject and trust that your legislation on it
will be delayed no longer than may be required to
enable yoir wisdom to devise the proper measures
for ensurirgthe accomplishment of the objects pro
posed. » -
Tho ope* of the 'WarB'Cpartmcnt have been
in the it tory. In the Report of the Sec
retary, nutted, will bq found a summa
ry of many memorable successes. They are with
justice ascribed, in large measure, to the reorgani
zation and reinforcement of our armies under the
operation of the enactments for conscription. The
wisdom and efficacy of these acts have been ap
proved by results, and the like spirit of unity, eu
durance and self-devotion of the people, which has
hitherto sustained their action,, must be relied on
to assure their enforcement under the continuing
necessities of our situation. The recommendations
of the Secretary to this effect are tempered by sug
gestions for their amelioration, and the subject de.
serves the consideration of Congress. For the per
fection of our military organization no appropriate
means shonld be rejected, and on this subject the
opinions of the Secretary merit early attention. It
is gratifying .to perceive that, under all the efforts
and sacrifices of war, the power, means and resour
ces of the Confederacy for its successful prosecu
tion aro increasing. Dependence on foreign sup
plies is to be deplored, and should as far as practi
cable be obviated by the development and employ
ment of internal resources. The peculiar circum
stances of the country, however, render this
difficult, and require extraordinary encouragements
and facilitates to be granted by the Government.
The embarrassments resulting from the limited ca
pacity of the railroads to afford transportation, and
the impossibility of otherwise commanding and dis
tributing the necessary supplies for the armies ren
der the control of the roads under some general
supervision,and resort to the power of impressment,
military exigencies. While such powers have to
be exercised, they should be guardad by judicious
provisions against perversion or abuse, aud be, as
recommended by the Secretary, under due regula
tion of law.
I specially recommend in this connection some
revision of the exemption law of last session. ' Se
rious complaints have reached me of the inequali
ty of its operation from eminent and patriotic citi
zens, whose opinions merit great consideration, and
I trust that some means will be devised for leaving
at home a sufficient local police without making dis
criminations, always to b* deprecated, between
different classes of our citizens.
Oar relations with the Iudians generally contin
ue to be friendly. A portion of the Cherokee peo
ple have assumed an attitude hostile to the Con
federate Government; but it is gratifying to be able
to state that the mass of intelligence and worth in
that nation have remained true and loyal to their
treaty engagements. With this exception, there
have been no important instances of disaffection
among any of the friendly nations and tribes. Dis
satisfaction recently manifested itself among cer
tain portions of them; bat this resulted from a mis
apprehension of the intentions of the Government
in their behalf. This has been removed and no
lurther difficulty is anticipated.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy here
with transmitted exhibits the progress made in
this branch of the public service since your adjourn
ment, as well as its present condition. The details
embraced in it are of such a nature as to reader
it, in my opinion, incompatible with the public in
terests that they should be published with this mes
sage. I therefore confine myself to inviting your
attention to the information therein contained.
The Report of the Postmaster General shows that
daring the first postal year under our Government,
terminating on the 80th of June last, our revenues
were in excess qf those received by the former
Government in the last postal year, while the ex
penses were greatly decreased. There is still, how
ever, a considerable deficit in the revenues of the
Department as compared with its expenses, and al
though the grants already made from the general
Treasury will suffice to (over all liabilities to the
close of the fiscal year, ending on the 30th June
next, I recommend some legislation, if any can be
constitutionally devised, for aiding the revenues
of the Department daring the ensuing fiscal year,
in order to avoid too great a reduction ofpostal fa
cilities. Your attention is also invited to numer
ous other improvements in the service recommend
ed in the report, and for which legislation is re
quired.
I recommend to the Congress to devise a proper
mode of relief to those of our citizens whose prop
erty has been destroyed by order of the Govern
ment in pursuance of a policy adopted as a means
of national defence. It is true that full indemnity
cannot now be made, but some measure of relief is
due to those patriotic citizens who have borne pri
vate loss for the public good, whose property in
effect has been taken for public use. fiengt m»c
directly,«w«i-- T >■*
Our Government, bom of the spirit of freedom
and of the equality and independence of the States
could not have survived selfish or jealous disposition
making each only careful of its own interest or safe
ty. The fate of the Confederacy under the blessing
of Divine Providence depends upon the harmony,
energy and unity ofthe States. It especially devolves
on you, their representatives, as far as practicable,
to reform abuses, to correct errors, to cultivate
fraternity and to sustain in the people a just confi
dence in the Government of their choice. To that
confidence and to the unity and self-sacrificing pa
triotism hitherto displayed is due the success which
has marked the unequal contest, and has brought
our country into a condition at the present time
such as the most sanguine would not have ventur
ed to predict at the commencement of our strug
gle. Our armies are larger, better disciplined and
thorougly armed and equipped than at any pre
vious period of the war. The energies ofa whole
nation, devoted to the single object of success in
this war, have accomplished marvels, and many of
our trials have, by a beneficent Providence, been
converted into blessings. The magnitude of the per
ils which we encountered have developed the true
qualities and illustrated the heroic character of our
people, thus gaining for the Confsderacy from its
birth a just appreciation from the other nations of
the earth. The injuries resulting from the inter
ruption of foreign commerce have received com
pensation by the development of our internal re
sources. Cannon crown our fortresses that were
cast from the products of mines opened aud furna
ces built, dating tho war. Our mountains caves
yield much of the nitre for the manufacture of pow
der and promise increase of product. From our
own foundries and laboratories, lrom our own ar
mories and workshops we derive, in a great measure,
the warlike material, the ordnance and ordnance
stores which are expended so profusely in the sum-
or--119 ind desperate engagements that rapidly suc-
<• -c-i »ach other. Cotton and woolen fabrics, shoes
and harness, wagons and gun carriages are produ
ced in daily increasing quantities by tho factories
springing into existence.
Our fields, no longer whitened by cotton
that cannot be exported, are devoted to the
production of cereals and growth of stock former
ly purchased with the proceeds of cotton. In the
home sof our noble and devoted women, without
whose sublime s .orifices our suooess would have
been impossible, the noise of the loom and of thd
spinning wheel may be heard throughout the land.
With hearts sweeling with gratitude, let us, then,
join in returning thunks to God and in beseeching
the continuance of his protecting car* over our
cause and the restoration of peace with its manifold
blessings to our beloved country.
JirrsasoN Davis.
Richuokd, January 12, 1863.
WALL STREET GONE UP IN A BALLOON.
Under the above singular caption the Herald
thus comments upon the great excitement in
Wall street on the 12th instant:
The excitement in Wall street yesterday was
tremendcous. Tho whole market was inflated,
and some stocks advanced, at a single leap, 20
per cent Gold went up to 142. Speculators
seem to have gone .wild with the frenzy of
sudden wealth. Law’s Mississippi scheme and
the great South Sea bubble are about to be
surpassed. If you stop a broker to speak to
him he looks at hia watch, w :vcs you off and
rushes away as if be had lost a fortune in a
moment
We remember a period of insanity nearly
similar just before the crisis of 1887. Every
one then had an attack cf tho morus multi-
caulis, and expected to become rich by breed
ing silkworms. Spare rooms were set aside
for the cocoons, and mulberry leaves were at &
premium. During this insanity a couple of la
dies entered the greei.room of a florist to pur
chase a bouquet Tho ladioa wished to ex
amine, compare and select their nosegay; but
tho florist had his silkworms to look after—
“There is the boquet,” said he; “take it or not,
as you please; bat don’t delay me, for my
time is worth fifty dollars a minute.”
Brokers in Wall street now talk in the same
style; but greenbacks, not silkworms, are
tljeir monomania. All the excitement; they
have raised is in anticipation of the passage
of Chase’s bill, authorizing the issue of three
hundred millions more of paper money. Sup
pose the bill should not pass, where would the
brokers be tifoa 1 Suppose the bill does pass,
where will the country be then ? Speculation
goeth before destruction, and a rise in the mar
ket before a fall. Brethren, let us watch and
pray and keep out of Waft street and temp-
.tion.
From the Coast.—For some days past the
feather has been very inclement on the coast,
lie wind blowing a gale most of the time. The
[Kpkces outside have had the full benefit of it,
SuuL'carn they have been compelled to seek
harWAO-’here are now three or four blocka-
dersWTJikkspur, eight at Ossabaw, and four
at tho Ogeechee.—Sav. Hetos.
FROM THE NORTH.
Celebration of the battle of Neu Orleans by
The Democracy of Now Jersey—*
The Occasion—The Northern Denli>c : (ty
and the War—The Desire for Peace- !•
Administration Severely Deaovr^d—
The Democracy of Bergen county, New Jer
sey, celebrated the anniversary of the • le
of New Orleans by a festival Thr nas Dunn
English, Esq., Senator elect to the New Jersey
Legislature, presided. Among the speakers
were Hon. H. F. Price, ex-governor ; Hon. A.
.J. Rogers, M. 0. elect; Hon. J. II Wovten-
dyke, ex-M. 0., and Hon. Daniel Holsmaa, and
Others. We make some cxuucts fp" -.h -
speeches bearing on the war and the a:.- minis
tration. They aro very interesting, and will
strike the reader as very bold talk for the
North.
Ex-Governor Price proceeded to show that
the government should uot touch or interfere
with the rights held by the States at the adop
tion of the Constitution. The Union under
the Constitution would not have occurred, ex
cept that the institution of slavery wa* guar
anteed, and we nev^r could be one people
again unless that same guarantee was given.
[Applause.] We as a people are now at war
as States, for he held that the Union was brok
en—that the central Government had no pow
er to control the rebellion—and this being so,
he contended that the States fell back into the
original elements, the same as before 'he Con
stitution was adopted.
We were undergoing the severest ordeal, and
it was now for us to show that we had the in-<
tegrity and honesty to carry us safely through.
It has been the want of these qualities which
had brought these troubles upon us. The
President had plunged us in a war against a
people whom he cither did not understand or
did not mean to understand. Ex-Governor
Price catne, he said, to talk conciliation and
peace, and in doing so he would show that the
only treason in this country belonged to the
Republican party. They are the traitors. He
reviewed the acts of the President, showing
how he bad abused his power. The result of
the late elections were the only evidence that
the country could again be reconstructed.—
This could only be obtained through the as
cendency of the Democratic party, which had
always been so true to the principles upon
which the country had been erected.
The ex-Governor denounced the emancipa-*
tion proclamation, as only calculated to divide
the North and protract the war. Subgugaticn,
coercion, was repugnant to the feelings of
American citizens, and it cannot be effected.
He believed it was the sentiment of the ma
jority of the people of the North that the
Southern States should have clear and dis
tinct guarantees of all their rights. We are a
people of compromise. The United States
Constitution and the constitutions of most of
the States have undergone numerous modifica
tions. Tho people had taken one ste; towards
showing an appreciation of their responsibility
They had spoken through tho ballot box.—
The people of New Jersey were willing to say
to the Southern States, to whom they were
bound in heart and feeling—they were willing
to say to them—“Come back; you shall have
all the guarantees you had before, and if you
want more for the institutions in your respec
tive States you c, iall have them.” (Applause.)
This can be din • only through the Democrat
ic party, and th tate of New Jersey would
be ioremost in c- illation.
Hon. Daniel li man, of the New Jersey
Legislutu. -, said -as told at Washington
by a prominent ni it of tne Committee of
Ways and Mecnv requisitions amounting
to $89,000,000 ■ -w lying unanswered,
while the vulti. c. \e Republican party
were fattening up» . treasury. The time
had now arrived w we should count the
cost, and he buiio . it to be the duty of the
Legislature of N>. / Jersey to take initiatory
measures, and lead off in tho grand work of
restoring liberty to those who have lost it
George P. Atlrous, Esq., held it to bo true
patriotism, to declare what ideas wo have on
tho issues of the hour, ne contended that we
were wrong from the beginning, and were
now, and there can be no settlement, ice,
restoration or union until we are set rigL : . —
The States had now taken back their original
sovereignty, and New Jersey could take her
stand in any Union that may be form el Now
that emancipation was proclaimed, h-: contend
ed that our army should be called back at
once, for they have no business there except
for the purpose which brought them there.. —
This war, he said, must cense, and the rights
of the South must be respected; or in the last
resort we must per force turn our artillery up
on those Africanized guerrillas who have gar-
roted the Constitution and every popular
right. (Applause.)
C. C. Burr, Esq., said he was reminded of a re
mark, of which Luther Martin made iu the
convention which formed the Constitution. It w ,
that the States may surrender their rights, but if
they do their liberties are gone. Wo have had for
the last eighteen months a proof of the wisdom of
this remarx. The people did surrender their rights;
the people of the Northern States lay cowed ano
they were dragged to the dnngeons and their busi
ness and their property were destroyed. All the
guarantees of the rights of the States by the Con
stitution were trampled yet nntil the late Toice
from tho governor of New York, not one execu
tive of a northern State hasfepoke in the denunci
ation of the violation of ourrights. The only thing
to be done was to go back to the original rights
of the States, and not speak of the United States
as superior and above them.
If we yield a right and consent to be tyranni
zed over, then we are subjected men, and our
States are conquered States. Abraham Lincoln is
now subjecting not only Southern but Northern
men. We should do all in our power to drive these
men out, and should see what we could do, by ray
ing to the South: “The doctrines of our fathers,
the rights of the States we will obey; come back and
help us uphold them (applause;) for our sake, and
for the sake of the Constitution of the nation, come
back and help us conquer this abolition fanaticism
and treason which has undermined the whole coun
try and set the temple of liberty reeling and stag
gering to & fall. (Applause.)
Hon. Thomas Dunn spoke briefly, and happily
strongly condcmiog the arbitrary action of the pre
sent administration. In the present contest, the
AbolilMfists, he said, had last all veneration for
the past and all respect for the future. The war
begun for the preservation of the Union now
threatened to degenerate unto an Abolition crusade;
into a war of ferocity and barbarism. The people
of the North, who were not in rebellion, had been
deprived by the Lincoln Administration of their
just rights and treated as a conquered people, and
yet they tamely submitted to be outraged, and not
only placed the tyrants in power—but even ap
plauded the tyrants that would crush them. From
the egg of usurpation sprang the eaglet of tyranny;
the egg must be crushed.—the eaglet must be
strangled. If this war on the South continued
much longer, he did not hesitate to say we would
have war at the North at our own hearthstone. If
the Administration would not heed the lessons of
the late clections->-if they would persist in the vio
lation of the States and popular rights—the people
would seek a remedy in the Constitution; but if
that should fail, they would turn upon them the
mouths of their cannon and the points of their
sabres. (Loud and prolonged applause.) This
war had been turned from a war against the rebels
in arms to a war against freemen, out it should
never prosper.
Hon. A. J. Rogers said that the nations coold
never prosper or the Union be restored unless oth
er men were elected to conduct the affairs of Gov
ernment. The emancipation proclamation he char
acterized os subversive of the best interests of hu
manity. The Democrats of New Jersey would
never find.him wanting in resistance to the damn
able doctrines upheld by the party now in power.
ST* Gottschalk, according to an on dit in
Richard Storrs Willis’ Once-a-Mouth, is engag
ed to bo married to a Miss K ■, an heiress,
of New York, who passed last summer at Sara
toga. The ceremony will take place soon.
Yankee Like.—The New York Tribune says,
it is currently reported that large bundles and
bales oi new bandages and lint, contributed by
the people for poor wounded soldiers, have
been sold to paper makers at Dalton, Mass.
py Colonol Ludlow, the United Stat-is
agent for the exchange of prisoners, telegraphs
that it is “highly probable that tho relel Gov
ernment will rescind the order retaining United
States officers.”
Tie Gold Osor.—The New York Times
says:
The amount of gold which we received from
California during last year was nearly ten mil
lions less than in ISCi, and, if wo do not cap
ture or sink the Alabama, it will probably be
very far short this year.