Bethel, Bull Run, Manassas, Springfield, Lexington, Leesburg, and Belmont, has checked the wicked invasion which greed of gain and the unhallowed lust of power brought upon our soil, and has proved that numbers cease to avail when directed against a people fighting for the sacred right of self-government and the privileges of freemen. After seven months of war, the enemy have not only failed to extend their occupancy of our soil, but new States and Territories have been added to our Confederacy, while, instead of their threatened march of unchecked conquest, they have been driven, at more than one point, to assume the defensive; and, upon a fair comparison between the two belligerents as to men, military means, and financial condition, the Confederate States are relatively much stronger now than when the struggle commenced."

Of the relations of the Confederate government to the States of Missouri and Kentucky it was said: "Since your adjournment, the people of Missouri have conducted the war, in the face of almost unparalleled difficulties, with a spirit and success alike worthy of themselves and of the great cause in which they are struggling. Since that time Kentucky, too, has become the theatre of active hostilities. The Federal forces have not only refused to acknowledge her right to be neutral, and have insisted upon making her a party to the war, but have invaded her for the purpose of attacking the Confederate States. Outrages of the most despotic character have been perpetrated upon her people; some of her most eminent citizens have been seized and borne away to languish in foreign prisons, without knowing who were their accusers or the specific charges made against them, while others have been forced to abandon their homes, their families, and property, and seek a refuge in distant lands. Finding that the Confederate States were about to be invaded through Kentucky, and that her

people, after being deceived into a mistaken security, were unarmed, and in danger of being subjected by the Federal forces, our armies were marched into that State to repel the enemy, and prevent their occupation of certain strategic points which would have given them great advantages in the contest-a step which was justified, not only by the necessities of self-defence on the part of the Confederate States, but also by a desire to aid the people of Kentucky. It was never intended by the Confederate Government to conquer or coerce the people of that State; but, on the contrary, it was declared by our generals that they would withdraw their troops if the Federal Government would do likewise. Proclamation was also made of the desire to respect the neutrality of Kentucky, and the intention to abide by the wishes of her people as soon as they were free to express their opinions. These declarations were approved by me, and I should regard it as one of the best effects of the march of our troops into Kentucky, if it should end in giving to her people liberty of choice and a free opportunity to decide their own destiny according to their own will."

A compliment was then paid to the Navy, which had shown itself "effective in full proportion to its means." Many difficulties, it was acknowledged, had arisen in the transportation of the mails in which the breaking up of the old system, so liberally conducted by the United States, must have been deeply felt. "The absorption," it was said, "of the ordinary means of transportation for the movement of troops and military supplies, the insufficiency of the rolling stock of railroads for the accumulation of business, resulting both from military operations and the obstruction of water communication by the presence of the enemy's fleet; the failure and even refusal of contractors to comply with the terms of their agreements; the difficulties inherent in inaugurating so vast and

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complicated a system as that which requires postal facilities for every town and village in a territory so extended as ours, have all combined to impede the best-directed efforts of the PostmasterGeneral, whose zeal, industry, and ability have been taxed to the utmost extent." The financial system was reported as working well and promising good results for the future. To the extent that Treasury notes may be issued." was the explanation on this subject, "the Government is enabled to borrow money without interest, and thus facilitate the conduct of war. This extent is measured by the portion of the field of circulation which these notes can be made to occupy. The proportion of the field thus occupied depends again upon the amount of the debts for which they are receivable; and dues, not only to the Confederate and State Governments, but also to corporations and individuals, are payable in this medium; a large amount of it may be circulated at par. There is every reason to believe that the Confederate Treasury note is fast becoming such a medium. The provision that these notes shall be convertible into Confederate stock, bearing eight per cent. interest, at the pleasure of the holder, insures them against a depreciation below the value of that stock, and no considerable fall in that value need be feared so long as the interest shall be punctually paid. The punctual payment of this interest has been secured by the act passed by you at the last session, imposing such a rate of taxation as must provide sufficient means for that purpose.'

An improvement of the means of transportation from one portion of the country to the other, was recommended as indispensable for the successful prosecution of the war, and for this purpose a long contemplated railroad connection was earnestly proposed. "We have already" it was stated, "two main systems of through transportation from the North to the South-one from Richmond, along

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the seaboard; the other through Western Virginia to New Orleans. A third might be secured by completing a link of about forty miles between Danville, in Virginia, and Greensborough, in North Carolina. The construction of this comparatively short line would give us a through route from North to South, in the interior of the Confederate States, and give us access to a population and to military resources from which we are now, in a great measure, debarred. We should increase greatly the safety and capacity of our means for transporting men and military supplies.

"If the construction of the road should, in the judgment of Congress, as it is in mine, be indispensable for the most successful prosecution of the war, the action of the Government will not be restrained by the constitutional objection which would attach to a work for commercial purposes, and attention is invited to the practicability of securing its early completion by giving the needful aid to the company organized for its construction and administration."

From these special topics, the Message passed to a declaration of the intention of the Government to prolong the war at all hazards, and accept nothing but the independence for which they had taken up arms. If we husband our means and make a judicious use of our resources, it would be difficult to fix a limit to the period during which we could conduct a war against the adversary whom we now encounter. The very efforts which he makes to isolate and invade us must exhaust his means, whilst they serve to complete the circle and diversify the productions of our industrial system. The reconstruction which he seeks to effect by arms becomes daily more and more palpably impossible. Not only do the causes which induced us to separate still exist in full force, but they have been strengthened, and whatever doubt may have lingered in the minds of any must have been completely dis

pelled by subsequent events. If, instead of being a dissolution of a league, it were indeed a rebellion in which we are engaged, we might find ample vindication for the course we have adopted in the scenes which are now being enacted in the United States. Our people now look with contemptuous astonishment on those with whom they have been so recently associated. They shrink with aversion from the bare idea of renewing such a connection. When they see a President making war without the assent of Congress; when they behold judges threatened because they maintain the writ of habeas corpus so sacred to freemen; when they see justice and law trampled under the armed heel of military authority, and upright men and innocent women dragged to distant dungeons upon the mere edict of a despot; when they find all this tolerated and applauded by a people who had been in the full enjoyment of freedom but a few months ago, they believe that there must be some radical incompatibility between such a people and themselves. With such a people we may be content to live at peace, but the separation is final, and for the independence we have asserted we will accept no alternative." To this succeeded a passage stimulated by the recent occupation of Port Royal and the adjacent islands, which, regardless of the quieting proclamations of Union officers, and the avowed policy of the Government on this subject, still appeared fraught with danger to the Slave interest of the South. The misrepresentation of the spirit in which the war had been conducted by the United States needs no refutation to any one familiar with its history. Instances of needless violence are common to all wars, and are not easily to be avoided, but certainly the Government could not be charged with unnecessary cruelty in the prosecution of the repressive measures absolutely forced upon it. This, however, was the charge of President Davis :-" The na

ture of the hostilities which they have waged against us must be characterized as barbarous wherever it is understood They have bombarded undefended villages without giving notice to women and children to enable them to escape, and in one instance selected the night as the period when they might surprise them most effectually whilst asleep and unsuspicious of danger. Arson and rapine, the destruction of private houses and property, and injuries of the most wanton character, even upon non-combatants, have marked their forays, along their borders and upon our territory. Although we ought to have been admonished by these things that they were disposed to make war upon us in the most cruel and relentless spirit, yet we were not prepared to see them fit out a large naval expedition with the confessed purpose not only to pillage, but to incite a servile war in our midst. If they convert their soldiers into incendiaries and robbers, and involve us in a species of war which claims non-combatants, women and children as its victims, they must expect to be treated as outlaws and enemies of mankind. There are certain rights of humanity which are entitled to respect even in war, and he who refuses to regard them forfeits his claims, if captured, to be considered as a prisoner of war, but must expect to be dealt with as an offender against all law, human and divine."

The seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, on the deck of a British steamer, was of course, a point too obvious not to be turned to good account, in a document intended quite as much for transatlantic as for American readers. It was adroitly connected with the alleged "home" injuries. "But not content,' the Message proceeded, "with violating our rights under the law of nations at home, they have extended these injuries to us within other jurisdictions. The distinguished gentlemen whom, with your approval, at the last session, I commis