VOLUME 37. NEW SERIES. MESSAGE OF JL F FEIIS O \ DAV IS, PRESIDENT OF THE SO CALLED CONFEDERATED STATES. GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS : It is inv pleasing duty to announce to you that the Con stitution framed for the establishment of a per manent government- for the Confederate Stales, has been ratified by Conventions in each ol those S'ates to which it was referred. To in augurate the government in its full proportions upon its own substantial oasis of the populai will | it only remains that elections should be held tor the designation of the olficers to admin ister it. There is every reason to believe that at nr distant day other States indmtifiej in political principles and community of interests with thost which you represent will join in this Confed eracy, giving to its typical constellation increa sed splendor—to its government of free, equal and sovereign States a wider sphere of useful ness—and to the friends of constitutional liber ty a greater security for its harm >nL>us and per petual and existence. It was not, however, fur the purpose of ma king this announcement that I have deemed it inv duty to convoke you at an earlier day than that fixed by yourselves for your meeting.— The declaration of war made against this Con federacy by Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, in his proclamation issued on the fifteenth day of the present month, render ed it necessary in my judgment that you should convene a' the earliest practicable moment, to devise the measures necessary for the defence of the country. The occasion is indeed an extraordiniry one. Jt justifies me in a brief review of the relations heretofore existing between us and the States which now unite in warfare against us, and in a succinct statement of the events which have resulted in this warfare; to the end that man kind may pass intelligent and impartial judg ment on its motives and objects. During the war waged against Great Britain by her colonies on this continent, a common danger impelled them to a close alliance, and to the formation of a Confederation, by the terms of which the colonies, styling themselves States, entered '■'■ severally into a firm league of friend ship with each other for their common defence, the security of their liberties, and th,rir mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to as sist each other against all force offered to or at tacks made upon them or any of them, on ac count ol religion, soveieignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever." In order to guard agair.st any misconstruction ol their compact, me several muc n plicit declaration, in a distinct article, that "each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Con gress assembled." Under this contract of alliance, the war of the revolution was successfully waged, and re sulted in the treaty of peace with Great Britain in 1783, by the terms of which the several States were, each by name, recegruzed to be in dependent. The articles of confederation contained a clause whereby all alterations were prohibited, unless confirmed by the Legislatures of every State, after being agreed to b> the Congress ; and in obedience to this provision, under the resolution ol Congress of the 21st February, 1787, the several States appointed delegates who attended a Convention "IT the sole and express purpose ofrevising the articles of confederation, and reporting to Congress and the several Legis latures such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress, and con firmed by the States, render the Fed-ral C.in stitution adequate to the exigencies of govern ment and the preservation of the Union." It was, by the d-legates chosen, by the sev eral States, under the resolution just quoted, that the Constitution of the United Stales was framed in 1787 and submitted to the several Stales for ratification, as shown by the 7th ar ticle, which is in these words: "The ratification ol the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient t>r the establishment of this Constitution BETWEEN the States so rat ifying the said p -" I have italicisea Certain words in the quota tions just madb, for the pJ. r pose °' attracting at tention to the singular and marked caution with which the States endeavored in every' possible iorm, to exclude the idea that the separate and independent sovereignly of each State was mer ged info one common government and nation ; and the earnest desire they evinced to impress on the Constitution its'.rue chaiacler —-that of a COMPACT BETWEEN independent States. The Constitution of 1787 having however, omitted the clause already recited from the ar ticles of Confederation,which provided in expli cit teims, that each State retained its sovereign ly and independence, some alarm was felt in the States when invited to ratdy the Constitu tion, lest this omission should be construed inti an abanuonmeul of their cherished principle, -nd they refused to be satisfied until amend ments were added to the Constitution, placing beyond any pretense of doubt the reservation by the States, ol ai! their sovereign rights and powers—not expressly delegated to the United States by the Constitution. Strange indeed must it appear to the impar tial observer, but it is none the less true, that all these carefully worded clauses proved unavail ing to prevent the rise and growth in the Nlor tbern States of a political school which has per sistently claimed that thegovernment thus for med was not a compact between States, but was in effect a national government, set up above and over the States. An organization, created by the States to secure the blessings of liberty and independence against foreign aggression, has been gradually perverted into a machine for their con'rcl in their domestic affairs ; the crea- fur o has been exalted above its creators j the I [irincipals have been made subordinate to the : agent appointed by themselves. 1 he people of the Southern States, whose al ; most exclusive occupation was agriculture, ear i ly perceived a tendency in the Northern States j to render the common government subservient j to their own purposes, by imposing burthens on I commerce as a protection to the manufacturing i and shipping interests. Lonsr and angry con troversy grew out of these attempts, often suc cessful, to benefit one section of the country at the expense of the other. And the danger of disruption arising from this cause was enhanced by the fact that the Northern population was increasing by immigration and other causes in a greater ratio than the population of the South. By degrees as the Northern States gained pre ponderance in the National Congress, self-inter est taught their people to yield ready assent to any plausible advocacy of their right as a ma jority to govern the minority without control ; they learned to listen with impatience to the suggestions of any constitutional impediment to the exercise ol their will ; and so utterly have the principles of the Constitution been corrupt ed in the Northern mind, that in the inaugural address delivered by President Lincoln in March j last, he asserts as an axiom which he plainly | deems to be undeniable, that the theory f the Constitution requires thai in all cases the aia ; jority shall govern; and in another memorable j instance the same Chief Magistrate did no' hes | itate to liken the relations between a S:ate and i the United States to those whicfi exist between i a county and the State 111 which it is situated, I and by which it was created. This is the la i rnentable and fundamental eiroron which rests j the policy that has culminat-d in his declara j tion ol war against these Confederate States. | In addition to the long continued and deep seated resentment felt by the Southern Slates at the persistent abuse of the powers they had ■ delegated to the Congress, for the purpose of en riching the manufacturing and shipping classes at the North at the expense of the South, there has existed for nearly half a century another subject of discord, involving interests of such ; transcendent magnitude as at ail times to cre , ate the apprehension in the minds of many de j voted lovers of the Union, that its permanence i was impossible. When ttie several States delegated certain powers to the United States Congress, a large; | ;>oition of the laboring population consisted of 1 j African slaves imported into the colonies by the mother country. In twelve, out of the thir ; teen States, negro slavery exited, and the right j of property in slaves was protected by law.— ; This property was recognized in the Constitu ; tion, and provision was made against its loss by i cue escape of rt)e tl : ... ; number of slaves by further importation fiom A'.rica was also secured by a clause forb-dding | Congress to prohibit the slave trade anteiior to a certain date ; and in no clause can there be found any delegation of power to the Congress' authorizing it in any manner to legislate to the prejudice, detriment or discouragement of the I o tiers of that species of property, or excluding it from the protection ot the government. The climate and soil ol the Northern States soon proved unpropitious to the continuance cf ! slave labor, whilst th u converse was the case at the South. Under the unrestricted free inter course between the two sections, the Northern ! Stales consulted their own interests by selling their slaves to the South, and prohibiting sla | very within their limits. The South were wil- I ling purchasers of a property suitable to their wants, and paid the price of the acquisition without harboring a suspicion that their quiet | possession was 10 be disturbed by those who were inhibited, not only by want of constitu tional authority, but by good faith as vendors, from disquieting a title emanating from them selves. As soon, however, as the Northern States that prohibited African Slavery within their limits had reached a number sutlicient to give *P: r representation a controlling voice in the Con gress, a persistent and organized system of hos tile measures against the rights ol the owners of slaves in the Southern States was inaugurated and giadually extended. A continuous series of measuies wascevisea and prosecuted for the purpose of rendering insecure the tenure of property in slaves; fanatical organ izat ions, sup plied with money by voluntary subscriptions, were assiduously engaged in exciting amongst the slaves a spirit of discontent and revolt, means were furnished for their escape from their owners, and agents secretly employed to entice them to abscond, the constitutional pro vision io." their rendition to their owners was first evaded, then openly denounced as a viola tion of conscientious obligation and religious duty ; men were taught t.'.'at it was a m.-rit to elude, disobey, and violently oppose the exe cution of the laws enacted to secure i.'?e perfor mance of the promise con'ained in the constitu tional compact : owners of slaves were mobbed and even murdered in open day, solely for ap plying a magistrate for the arre-t of a fugi tive siave ; the dogmas of these voluntary or ganizations soon obtained control of the legisla tures of many of the Northern States, and laws were passed providing for the punishment by ruinous fines and long continued impiisonment in jails and penitentiaries, of citizens of the Southern States who should dare to ask aid of the officers of the law for the recovery of their property. Emboldened by success, the theatre ot agitation and aggression against the clearly expressed constitutional rights ol the Southern States was transferred to the Congress ; Sena tors and representatives were seat to the com mon councils of the nation, whose chiel title to this distinction consisted in the display of a spir it of ulira fanaticism, and whose business was, not "to promote the general welfare or ensure domestic tranquilly," but to awaken the bit terest hatred against the ci'izens of sister States by violent denunciation ot their institutions ; the transaction of public affairs was impeded by repeated efforts to usurp powers not delega- ted by the Constitution, tor the purpose of im pairing the security of property in slaves, and reducing those States which held slaves to a condition of inferioiity. Finally, a great pat ty was organized for 'he purpose of obtaining iht* administration of the government, witn the avowed object of using its power for the total exclusion of the slave Stales from all participa tion in the benefits of the public domain, acqui red by all the States in common, whether by con juest or purchase ; of surrounding them en tnely by States in which slavery should be prohibited ; of thus rendering the properly in slaves so insecure as to be comparatively worth less, and thereby annihilating in effect proper ty worth thousands of millions of dollars. This par'.y, thus organized, succeeded in the month of November last, in the election of its can ii date for the Presidency of the United States. In the meantime, under the mild and genial climate of the Southern States and Ihe increa sing care and attention for the well being and comfort of the laboring clas, dictated alike by interest and humanity, the African slaves had augmented in number from about 600,000 at the date of the adoption of the constitutional compact, to upwards of 4-,000,000. In moral and social condition they had been elevated from brutal savages into docile, intelligent and civilized agricultural laborer.. and supplied not only wiili oodiiy comfoiU, but with careful re ligious instruction. Under the supervision of as .perior race, their labor had been so direc ted as not only to allow a giadual and marked amelioration of their own condition, but to con veit hundreds of thousands of square miles of the wilderness into cultivated lands, covered with a prosperous people ; towns and cities had sprung into existence, and had rapidly in creased in wealth and population under the s.<• Cial system of the South ; the white population of the Southern slavehokling States had aug mented from about 1,250,000 at the date of the adoption of the Constitution, to more thau 8,500,000 in 1860 ; and the productions of the South in cotton, rice, sugai, and tobacco, for the lull development and continuance of which the labor of African slaves was, and is indispensa ble, had swollen to an amount which formed nearly three-fourths of the expoits ot the whole United States, and had become absolutely ne cessary to the wants of civilized man. With interests of such overwhelming magni iude imperiled, the people of the Southern S.ates were driven by the conduct of the North o the adoption of some course of action to a vert the dangei with which they were openly menaced. With this view, the Legislatures of !ht several States invited the people to select delegates to Conventions to be held for Ihe pur- 1 pose of determining for themselves what rneas-v • • ,-■- crisis in their history. Here it may be proper to observe that from a period as early as 1798 lliete had existed iti all the States of '.he Union a party, almost uti- . interruptedly in the majority, based upon the creed that each State was, in the last resort, the sole judge as well ol its wrongs, as of the mode and measure of redress. Indeed, it is ob vious, that under the law of nations, this prin ciple is an axiom as applied to the relations ol independent sovereign Slates, such as those which had united themselves under the consti tutional compact. The Democratic parly of the United States repeated in its successful can vass in 1856, the declaration made in numer ous previous political contests, that it would "■faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia reso lution of 1795, and in the report of Mr. Madi son to the Virginia Legislature in 1799; and that it adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its pulttical creed. The principles thus emphatically announced embrace that to winch I have already adverted, the right ,ut each State to judge ol and redress the wrongs of which it complains. These prin ciples were maintained by overwhelming ma jorities of the people of all the States ot the U nion at different elections, especially in the e lectiona of Mr. Jefferson in 1805, Mr. Madison in 1809, and Mr. Fierce in 1852. In tlif exercise ul a rigiit so ancient, so well established, and so necessary for sell-preserva tion, ijie people of the Confederate States in their Conventions, determined tnat the wrongs which they had suffered, and the evils with which they were menaced, rexuired that they j should revoke the delegation of powers to the Fedeial Government which they had ratified j in their several Conventions. They conse quently passed ordinances resuming all their rights as sovereign and independent States, and dissolved their connection with the other States of Ihe Union. % Hiving done this, they proceeded to form a new compact amongst themselves, by new ar- . tides of Confederation, which have been also ratified by the Conventions of the several States with an approach to unanimity far exceeding ' that of the Conventions which adopted the Con- j slitutiofl of 1787. They have organized their new government in all Us departments ; the Executive, Legislative and Judicial duties are performed in accordance with the will ol Ihe people as displayed, not merely in a cheer ful acquiescence, but in the enthusiastic sup poit ol the government thus established by j themselves • and but fir the interference of the j government of the United States in this legiti mate exercise of the right of a people to sell government, peace, happiness and prosperity would now smile on our land. That peace is ardently desired by this gov ernment and people, has been manifested in ev ery possible form. Scarce had you assembled in February last, when, prior even to the inau guration of the Chief Magistrate you had elec ted, you passed a resolution exptessive of your desire for the appointment of commissioners to be sent to the- government of the United States "for the purpose ot negotiating friendly rela tions between that government and the Confed erate States of America, and for the settlement Freedom of Thought and Opiaiou. BEDFORD, PA., FRIDAY MORNINd, MAY 17,1861. ■! of all questions of disagreement between the d two governments upon principles of right, jus a tice, equity and good faith." It was my pleasure as well as my duty, to I co-operate with you in this work of peace, ln e deed, in my address to you on taking the oath I of office, and before receiving from you the - communication of this resolution, I had said, - "as a necessity, not a choice, we have resorted I to the remedy of separation, and henceforth our energies must be directed to the conduct of our - own affairs and the perpetuity of the Confeder i acy which we have formed. If a just peicep tion of mutual interest shall permit us peacea bly to pursue our separate political career, my * most earnest desire will have been fulfilled." > It was in furtherance of these accordant - views of the Congress and the Executive, that I made choice of three discreet, able and distir*- I guished citizens, who repaired to Washington. Aided by their cordial coopeiation, and that of I the Secretary of State, every effort compatible with self-respect and the dignity of theConfed- I eracv was exhausted before I allowed myself to yield to the conviction that the Government of the United States was determined to attempt the conquest of this people, and that our cherished hopes of peace were unattainable. On the of our Commissioners in •V on the sth .March, they postponed, at tile suggestion of a friendly intermediary, do ing more than giving informal notice of their arrival. I his was done with a view to afford time to the President who had just been inau gural, d, for the discharge of other pressing official duties in the organization of his admim istration, before engaging his attention in the object of their mission. It was not until the 12th of the month that they officially addressed the Secretary of State, informing him of the purpose of their arrival, and slating in the lan guage of their instructions their wish "to make to the government 0/ the United States over tures for the opening of negotiations, assuring the government of the United Sta'es, that the President, Congres and people of the Confeder ate States earmstly desire a peaceful solution of these great questions; that it is neither their interest nor their wish to make any demand which is not founded on strictest justice, nor jio any act, to injure their late confederates." To this communication no formal replv was received untl the Bth of April. During the interval the Commissioners had consented to waive all questions of form. With the firm re solve to avoid war if possible, they went so far even, as to hold, during that long period, un official intercourse, through an intermediary whose high position and character inspired the hope of success, and through whom constant of the United States of peaceful intentions ;ol the determination to evacuate Fort Sumter ; and further, that no measure, changing the ex isting status prejudicially to the Confederate Stat.?, especially at Fort Pickens, was in con templation, but that in the event ot any change of intention on the subject, notice would be given to the commissioners. The crooked paths of diplomacy can scarcely furnish an example so wanting in courtesy, in candor, and direct ness, as was the course of the United States Government towards our Commissioners in Washington. For proof of this I refer to the annexed documents, taken is connection with further facts which I now proceed to relate:— Early in April the attention of the whole country, as well as that of our Commissioners, was attracted to extraordinary preparations for an extensive military and naval expedition in New York and other Northern ports. These preparations, commenced 111 secrecy, for an ex pedition whose destination was concealed, only became known when nearly completed, and on the sth, (ith and 7fti April, tiansporis .and vessels-of-war, with troops, munitions and mil itary supplies, sailed from Northern ports bound southwards. Alarmed by so extraordinary a demonstration the Commissioners requested the delivery ot an'answer to thee official commu nication of the 12th March, and thereupon re ceived, on the Bth April, a reply dated pn the 15th oi the previous month, from which it ap pears that, during the whole interval, while the Commissioners were receiving assurances, calculated to inspire hope of the success of their mission, the Secretary of State and the Presi. dent of he United States had already determined 'o hold no intercourse with them whatever ;to lefuse even to listen to any proposals they had to make, and tiad profited by the delay created by their own assurances in order to prepare se cretly the means for effective hostile operations. " That these assurances wpre given, has been virtually confessed by the Government of the United States by its sending a messenger to ' Charleston, to give notice of its purpose to use force if opposed in its intention of supplying , Port Sumter. No more striking proof of the absense ot good faith in the conduct of the Gov ernment of the United Stales towards this Con tedaercy can be required than is contained in \ the circumstances which accompanied this no tice. According to the usnal course of naviga tion the vessels composing fhe expedition de signed for the relief of Fort Sumter might be expected to reach Charleston harbor on the 9th .April; yet with our Commisioners actually in Washington, detained under assurances that notice should be given of any military move ment, the notice was not addressed to them , but a messenger was sent to Charleston to give the notice to the Governor of South Carolina, and the notice was so given at a late hout on the . Bth April, the eve of the very day which the fleet might be expected to arrive. That this manceuver failed in its purpose was not the lault of those who contrived it. A heavy tem pest delayed the arrival of the expedition, and gave time to the commander of our forces at Charleston to ask and receive the instructions of tfiis government. Even then, undei all the provocation incident to the contemptuous re fusal to listen to our Commissioners, and the tortuous course of the Government of the Uni -1 ted States, 1 was sincerely anxious to avoid the etfu sion of blood, and directed a proposal to be made to the comfnander of Fort Sumter, who had a vowed himself to be nrarlj' out of provisions, that we would abstain from directing our fire on Fort Sumter'if he would promise not to open fire on our forces unless first attacked. This proposal was refused, and the conclusion was reached, that the design of the United States was to place the besieging force at Charleston between the simultaneous fire of (he fleet and the fort. There remained, theiefore, no alter native but to direct that the fort should at once be reduced. This order was executed by Gen eral Beauregard, with the skill and success which were naturally to be expected from the well known character of that gallant of ficer ; and although the bombardment lasted but thirty-three houts, our flag did not wave over its battered walls until after the appear ance of the hostile fleet off Charleston. Fort unately not a life was lost on our side, and we were gratified in being spared the necessity of a useless effusion of blood by the piudenl cau tion ot the officers who commanded the fleet in abstaining from the evidently futile effort to enter the harbor for the relief of Major An derson. ****** Scarcely had the President of the United States received intelligence of the failure of the scheme which he had devised for the reinforce of Fort Sumter, when tie issued the declara tirnof war against this Confederacy, which which has prompted me to convoke you. In this extraordinary 'production,that high lunction ary affects total ignorance of the existence oi an indpendent Government, which, possessing the entire and enthusiastic devotion to its func ions without question over seven sovereign States—over more than five millions of people —and over a territory whose area exceeds halt a million of square miles. He terms sovereign States "combinations, too powerful to be sup pressed by the ordinary course of judicial pro ceedings,or by the powers vested in the marshals by law." He calls for an army ot seventy-five thousand men to act as a jtosse comitatus in aid of the process of the courts of justice in States where no courts exist whose mandates and de crees are not cheerfully obeyed and respected by a willing people. He avows that "the first ser vice to be assigned to the forces called out" will be, not to execulethe process of cours,but to cap ture torts and strongholds situated within the admitted limitsof this Confederacy,and garrison ed by its troops; and declares that "this effoit is 'intended "to maintain the perpetuity of popular government." He concludes by commanding "thepersons composing the combinations afore said," to wit, the five millions of inhabitants of these States, -to retire peacably to their res- Apparently contradictory as are the terms of this singular document, one point wasunmis takeably evident. The President otthe United States called for an army of seventy-five thous and men, whose firsts? rvice was to be to cap ture our forts. It was a plain declaration of war which I was not at liberty to disregard, be cause of my knowledge that under the Constitu tion of the United Stales rhe President was u surping a power granted exclusively to the Con gress. He is the sole organ ot communication between that country and foreign powers. The laws of nations did not permit me to question the authority of the Executive of a foreign nation to declare war against this Confederacy. Al though I might have refrained from taking ac tive measures for our defence, if the States of the Union had all imitated the action ot Virgin ia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky,jTen russee and Missouri, by denouncing the call for troops as an unconstitutional usurpation of pow er to which they relused to respond, I was not at liberty to disregard the fact that many of the States seemed quite content to submit to the exercise of the power assumed by the President of the United Stales, and were actively engaged in levying troops to be used for the purposepn dicated in the proclamation. Deprived of the aid of Congress at the mo ment I was under the necessily of confining my action to a call on the States tor volun teers for the common defence, in accordance with the authority you had confided to me be fore your adjournment. 1 deemed il pioper further to issue proclamation inviting applica tion from persons disposed to aid our defense in private armed vessels on the high seas, to the end that preparation might be made lor the im mediate issue of letters of marque and reprisal, which you alone, under the Constitution, have power to grant. I entertain no doubt you will concur with me in the opinion that 111 the ab sence of a fleet of public vessels, il will be em inently expedient to supply their place by pri vate armed vessels, so happily styled by the publicists of the United States "the militia of the sea,"and sooften and justly relied on by them as an efficient and admitable instrument of de fensive warefare. I earnestly recommend the passage of authorizing me to accept the numerous proposals already recieved. ] canftot close this review of the acts of the government of the United States without refer ing to a proclamation issued by their President under the date of the 19th inst., in which, af ter declaring that an insurrection has broken out in this Confederacy against the government of the United States, lie announces a blockade of all the ports of these States, and threatens to punish as pirates all persons who shall molest any vessel ot the United States under letters of marque issued by this government. Notwith standing the authenticity ol this proclamation, you wiii concur with me that it is hard to be lieve it could have emanated from a President ol the United States. Its announcement of a mere paper blockade is so manifestly a violation of the law of nations that it would seem incred ible that it could Jhave been issued by author ity —but conceding this to be the case so far as the Executive is concerned, it wdl be ditfi cul to satisfy the people ot these States'.hat their late confederates will sanction its decla lions, will determine to ignore the usages WHOM NUMBER, 2i*. VOL 4. NO. 40. of civilized nations, and will inaugurate a war of extermination on both sides, by treal ing as pirates, open enemies acting under the authority of commissions issued by an organized government. Ii such proclamation was issued, it could only have been published under the sudden influence of passionj and we may rest assured mankind will be spared the horrors of the couflict it seems to invite. for the details of the admin islrat ion of the diflVrentJdepartments, I refer to the reports of the Secretaries which accmpany this message. The Slate dpartment has furnished the nec essary instructions for three commissioners who have been .sent to England, France, Kussia,and Belgium, since your adjournment, to ask our recognition as a member of the larnily of na tions, and to make with each of those powers treaties ofamity and commerce. Further steps will be taken to riiter into negotiations with the other European powers in pursuance of your resolutions passed at the last sessioa. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed since the departure of these Commissioners for the receipt of any intelligence from them. As I deem it desirable that Commissioners or other diplo matic agents should atso be sent at an early period to the independent American powers South of our confederacy, with all of whom it is our interest and earnest wish to maintain the most cordial and friendly relations, I sug gest the expediency of making the necessary appropriation for that purpose. Ender your act authorizing a loan, proposals were issued inviting subscriptions for five mil lions of dollars, and the call was answered by the prompt subscription of more than eight mil tions by our own citizens, aud not a single bid was made under par. The rapid development of the purpose of the President of the United Stales to invade our soil, capture our forts, block ade our ports, and wage war against us, induce me to direct that the entire subscription be ac cepted. it will now become necessary to raise means to a much larger amount to defray the expenses ol maintaining our independence and repelling invasion. I invite your special at tention to this subject, and the financial condi tion of the government, wih the suggestion of ways and means for the supply of the Treasury, will be presented to you in a "separate commu nication. [Mr. Davis next refers to the oiganization of the Department ot Justice j military and naval officers, the postal service, &c.] in conclusion, I congratulate you oc the fact that in every portion of our country there bas been exhibited the most patriotic devotion to K ur ccmu|on cause. Transportation nwr— ■— troops and supplies. The presidents of the rail roads ol the Confederacy, in company with oth ers who control lines ot communication with States that we hope soon to greet as sisters, as sembled in convention in this city, and not on ly reduced largely the rates heretofore demand ed for mail service and conveyance of troops and munitions, but voluntarily proffered ro re ceive their compensation at these reduced rates in the bonds of the Confederacy, for the pur pose of leaving all the resources ot the govern ment at its disposal for the comnen defense.— Requisitions for troops have been met with such alacrity that the numbers tendering their ser vices have, in every lustante, greatly exceeded thr'demaod. Men of the highest official and social position are serving as volunteers in the ranks. The gravity ofage and the zeal of youth rival each other in the desire to be foremost for the public defense ; and though at no other point than the otie heretofore noticed, have they been stimulated by the excitement incident to actual engagement, and the hope of di.-tinction from individual achievement, they have borne what for new troops is the most severe ordeal, patient toil and constant vigil, and all the exposure and discomfort of active service, with a resolution and fortitude such as to command approbation and justify '.lie highest expectation ot their con duct when active valor shall be required in place of steady endurance. A people thus united and resolved cannot shrink from any sacrifice they may be called on to make, nor can 'here be a reasonable doubt ol their final success, however long and severe may be the teatoftheir dt termination to maintain their birthright of freedom and equality, as a trust which it is their first duty to transmit, un diminished to their posterity. A bounteous Providence cheers us with the promise of abundant crops. The fields of grain which will, within a few weeks, be ready for the sickle, give assurance of the amplest supply of food for tnan ; whilst the corn, cotton, and other staple productions ot our soil, afford abun dant proof that up to this period the season has been propitious. We feel that our cause is just and holy ; we protest solemnly in the face of mankind that we desire peace at any sacrifice, save that of hon or and independence ; we seek no conquest, no aggrandisement, no concession of any kind from the States with which we were lately confed erated ; all we ask is to be let alone ; that those who never hel! power over us, shall not now attempt our subjugation by arms. This we will, this we must resist to the dmest extremi ty. The moment that this pretension is aban doned, the sword will drop from our grasp, and we shall be ready to enter into treaties ol ami ty and commerce that cannot but be mutually beneficial. So long as this pretension is main tained, with a firm reliance on that Divine Power which covers with its protection the just cause, we will continue to struggle for our inherent right to freedom, independence, and self-government. JEFFERSON DAVIS, MONTGOMERY, April 29th, 1861.
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