JEFFERSON DAVIS' INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 257 which our rights were threatened, and crimination, submission to which would render it possible to preserve the Union be inconsistent with their welfare, and inof the constitution, must have been dis- tolerable to a proud people. They therepelled by the malignity and barbarity of fore determined to sever its bonds and esthe Northern States, in the prosecution tablish a new confederacy for themselves. of the existing war. The confidence of The experiment instituted by our Revothe most hopeful among us, must have lutionary fathers, of a voluntary union been destroyed by the disregard they of sovereign States for purposes specified have recently exhibited for all the time- in a solemn compact, had been perverted honored bulwarks of civil and religious by those who, feeling power and forgetliberty. Bastiles filled with prisoners, ting right, were determined to respect no arrested without civil process or indict-law but their own will. The government ment duly found; the writ of habeas had ceased to answer the ends for which corpus suspended by Executive man- it was ordained and established. To save date; a State Legislature controlled by the imprisonment of members whose avowed principles suggested to the federal Executive, that there might be another added to the list of the seceded States; elections held under threats of a military power; civil officers, peaceful citizens, and gentle women incarcerated for opinion's sake, proclaimed the incapacity of our late associates to administer a government as free, liberal, and humane, as that established for our common use. For proof of the sincerity of our purpose, to maintain our ancient institutions, we may point to the constitution of the confederacy, and the laws enacted under it, as well as to the fact, that, through all the necessities of an unequal struggle, there has been no act on our part to impair personal liberty or the freedom of speech, of thought, or of the press. The courts have been open, the judicial functions fully executed, and every right of the peaceful citizen maintained, as securely as if a war of invasion had not disturbed the land. ourselves from a revolution, which, in its silent but rapid progress, was about to place us under the despotism of numbers, and to preserve in spirit, as well as in form, a system of government we believed to be peculiarly fitted to our condition, and full of promise for mankind, we determined to make a new association, composed of States homogeneous in interest, in policy, and in feeling. True to our traditions of peace and our love of justice, we sent commissioners to the United States to propose a fair and amicable settlement of all questions of public debt or property, which might be in dispute. But the government at Washington, denying our right to self-government, refused even to listen to any proposals for a peaceful separation. Nothing was then left to us but to prepare for war." From this defence or apology of the course of the Confederates, the President passed to a brief review of the events of the year; in which, impressed with the recent surrender of Fort Henry, Donel"The people of the States now con- son, and Roanoke, he did not disguise the federated, became convinced that the difficulties and perils which had been engovernment of the United States had countered and which yet were in prosfallen into the hands of a sectional ma-pect, adroitly mingling with these admisjority, who would pervert that most sions the hope to be derived from the sacred of all trusts, to the destruction of financial embarrassments of the North, the rights which it was pledged to pro- the growth of industry, and encouragetect. They believed, that to remain ment from heroism at home, and suggestlonger in the Union, would subject them ing to foreign nations the value of Southto a continuance of a disparaging dis-ern commercial products, with other ap peals to transatlantic sympathy, the address thus proceeded :- "The first year in our history has been the most eventful in the annals of the continent. A new government has been established, and its machinery put in operation over an area exceeding seven hundred thousand square miles. The great principles upon which we have been willing to hazard everything that is dear to man have made conquests for us which could never have been achieved by the sword. Our confederacy has grown from six to thirteen states; and Maryland, already united to us by hallowed memories and material interests, will, I believe, when able to speak with unstifled voice, connect her destiny with the South. Our people have rallied with unexampled unanimity to the support of the great principles of constitutional government, with firm resolve to perpetuate by arms the rights which they could not peacefully secure. A million of men, it is estimated, are now standing in hostile array, and waging war along a frontier of thousands of miles. Battles have been fought, sieges have been conducted, and, although the contest is not ended, and the tide for the moment is against us, the final result in our favor is not doubtful. The period is near at hand when our foes must sink under the immense load of debt which they have incurred; a debt which, in their effort to subjugate us, has already attained such fearful dimensions as will subject them to burthens which must continue to oppress them for generations to come. "We, too, have had our trials and difficulties. That we are to escape them in future is not to be hoped. It was to be expected when we entered upon this war that it would expose our people to sacrifices and cost them much, both of money and blood. But we knew the value of the object for which we struggled, and understood the nature of the war in which we were engaged. Nothing could be so bad as failure, and any sacrifice would be cheap as the price of success in such a contest. But the picture has its lights as well as its shadows. This great strife has awakened in the people the highest emotions and qualities of the human soul. It is cultivating feelings of patriotism, virtue, and courage. Instances of self-sacrifice and of generous devotion to the noble cause for which we are contending are rife throughout the land. Never has a people evinced a more determined spirit than that now animating men, women, and children in every part of our country. Upon the first call the men fly to arms, and wives and mothers send their husbands and sons to battle without a murmur of regret. It was, perhaps, in the ordination of Providence that we were to be taught the value of our liberties by the price which we pay for them. The recollections of this great contest, with all its common traditions of glory, of sacrifice, and of blood, will be the bond of harmony and enduring affection amongst the people, producing unity in policy, fraternity in sentiment, and joint effort in war. Nor have the material sacrifices of the past year been made without some corresponding benefits. If the acquiescence of foreign nations in a pretended blockade has deprived us of our commerce with them, it is fast making us a self-supporting and an independent people. The blockade, if effectual and permanent, could only serve to divert our industry from the production of articles for export, and employ it in supplying commodities for domestic use. It is a satisfaction that we have maintained the war by our unaided exertions. We have neither asked nor received assistance from any quarter. Yet the interest involved is not wholly our own. The world at large is concerned in opening our markets to its commerce. When the independence of the Confederate States is recognized by the nations of the earth, and we are free to follow our interests and inclinations by cultivating foreign trade, the Southern 1 Therefore we are in arms to renew such sacrifices as our fathers made to the holy cause of constitutional liberty. At the darkest hour of our struggle the provisional gives place to the permanent government. After a series of successes and victories, which covered our arms with glory, we have recently met with serious disasters. But, in the heart of a people resolved to be free, these disasters tend but to stimulate to increased resistance. To show ourselves worthy of the inheritance bequeathed to us by the patriots of the Revolution, we must emulate that heroic devotion which made reverse to them but the crucible in which their patriotism was refined. With confidence in the wisdom and virtue of those who will share with me the responsibility and aid me in the conduct of public affairs; securely relying on the patriotism and States will offer to manufacturing nations the most favorable markets which ever invited their commerce. Cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, provisions, timber, and naval stores will furnish attractive exchanges. Nor would the constancy of these supplies be likely to be disturbed by war. Our confederate strength will be too great to tempt aggression, and never was there a people whose interests and principles committed them so fully to a peaceful policy as those of the Confederate States. By the character of their productions, they are too deeply interested in foreign commerce wantonly to disturb it. War of conquest they can not wage, because the constitution of their confederacy admits of no coerced association. Civil war there can not be between states held together by their volition only. This rule of voluntary association, which can not fail to be conserv-courage of the people, of which the presative, by securing just and impartial government at home, does not diminish the security of the obligations by which the Confederate States may be bound to foreign nations. In proof of this, it is to be remembered, that, at the first moment of asserting their right of secession, these states proposed a settlement on the basis of a common liability for the obligations of the general government." Returning to the recent disasters, the President appealed to the people to exhibit renewed energy in support of the cause which they had undertaken, and closed his address with an earnest religious invocation. "Fellow-citizens, after the struggles of ages had consecrated the right of the Englishman to constitutional representative government, our colonial ancestors were forced to vindicate that birth-right by an appeal to arms. Success crowned their efforts, and they provided for their posterity a peaceful remedy against future aggression. The tyranny of an unbridled majority, the most odious and least responsible form of despotism, has denied us both the right and the remedy. ent war has furnished so many examples, I deeply feel the weight of the responsibilities I now, with unaffected diffidence, am about to assume; and, fully realizing the inadequacy of human power to guide and to sustain, my hope is reverently fixed on Him whose favor is ever vouchsafed to the cause which is just. With humble gratitude and adoration, acknowledging the Providence which has so visibly protected the confederacy during its brief but eventful career, to Thee, O God, I trustingly commit myself, and prayerfully invoke Thy blessing on my country and its cause." A further appeal to the religious emotions of the people, seeking to identify the cause with the most sacred feelings, was made by the President in his proclamation setting apart the 28th of February as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer throughout the Confederate States. "The termination of the Provisional Government," was the language of this document, "offers a fitting occasion again to present ourselves in humiliation, prayer, and thanksgiving, before that God who has safely conducted us through our first year of national existence. We have been enabled to lay anew the foundations of free government and to repel the efforts of our enemies to destroy us. Law has everywhere reigned supreme, and throughout our wide-spread limits personal liberty and private right have been duly honored. A tone of earnest piety has pervaded our people, and the victories which we have obtained over our enemies have been justly ascribed to Him who ruleth the universe. We had hoped that the year would have closed upon a scene of continued prosperity; but it has pleased the Supreme Disposer of events to order it otherwise. We are not permitted to furnish an exception to the rule of divine government, which has prescribed affliction as the discipline of nations as well as of individuals. Our faith and perseverance must be tested, and the chastening which seemeth grievous will, if rightly received, bring forth its appropriate fruits. It is meet and right, therefore, that we should repair to the only Giver of all victory, and, humbling ourselves before Him, should pray that He may strengthen our confidence in His mighty power and righteous judgment. Then we may surely trust in Him that He will perform His promise and encompass us as with a shield." In a message to the Confederate Congress, a few days after the inaugural address, President Davis frankly admitted the difficulties of the war. "I have to communicate," he said, "that since the message at the last session of the Provisional Congress events have demonstrated that the Government had attempted more than it had power successfully to achieve. Hence, in the effort to protect, by our arms, the whole territory of the Confederate States, seaboard and inland, we have been so exposed as recently to encounter serious disasters." In reference to the short enlistments-for twelve months of the volunteers, he said: "When the war first broke out, many of our people could with difficulty be persuaded that it could be long or serious. It was not deemed possible that anything so insane as a persistent attempt to subjugate these states could be made, still less that the delusion could so far prevail as to give to the war the vast proportions which it has assumed." He added, "It has now become probable that the war will be continued through a series of years." In general terms he stated the number of the Confederate forces in the field at four hundred regiments of infantry, with proportionate forces of cavalry and artillery. The financial system which had been adopted. he said, had proved adequate to supplying all the wants of the Government. "The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will exhibit the gratifying fact that we have no floating debt, that the credit of the Government is unimpaired, and that the total expenditure of the Government for the year has been, in round numbers, $170,000,000-less than one-third of the sum wasted by the enemy in his vain effort to conquer us-less than the value of a single article of export, the cotton crop of the year." In the loyal States, there was a general desire for the celebration, in some appropriate manner, of the birthday of Washington. Of late years there had been a growing disposition to make it a national holiday, and it was now felt that its observance might, in a particular manner, cheer and encourage the patriotic devotion of the people. To give additional importance to the sentiment, the subject of a proper commemoration of the day, was brought before Congress, where it promptly received the sanction of that body. Early in February, a petition of the citizens of Philadelphia, was presented to the Senate by Mr. Crittenden, suggesting as an appropriate observance, that the Farewell Address of Washington be read aloud on that day, before both Houses of Congress, that the President and Cabinet, and other high officers of the government be invited to OBSERVANCE OF THE DAY IN NEW YORK. 261 In no part of the country was more importance given to the occasion, in the number and variety of the ceremonies, than in the city of New York. The civic oration, delivered by the Hon. George Bancroft, was especially significant of the time. Profoundly acquainted with the principles of the government as upheld by its founders, he traced with unfaltering hand, the departure from the spirit attend, and that "the proceedings of the observances. The day, indeed, was hapday, including the Farewell Address, be pily observed, while the popular enthupublished in a pamphlet form, in a man-siasm was, doubtless, stimulated by the ner suited to the dignity of the occasion, recent brilliant success of the Union and widely circulated among the Ameri- arms; the calm image of Washington, can people ;" and further, "that the Fare- everywhere unveiled, and the prudent well Address, or suitable parts of it, be and firm counsels of his parting Address, read aloud on that day, wherever practi-infused moderation and imparted a simcable; at the head of the armies, and on ple dignity to the proceedings of the board of the ships-of-war of the United | day. States, in the field and in camp, at sea and in port, by the officers of each, as the highest incentive with our brave defenders to continued devotion to our glorious Constitution and Union." The petition was well received, and its suggestions were incorporated in a joint resolution which was unanimously passed. At noon, accordingly, on the 22d, both Houses of Congress assembled in the chamber of the House of Representatives, of justice and humanity, which had in company with the officers of the government and invited guests, when, after an appropriate prayer by the Chaplain of the House, the Rev. Thomas H. Stockton, the Farewell Address was read by Mr. John W. Forney, the Secretary of the Senate. President Lincoln, in consequence of the recent death of a son, was not present. After these simple proceedings, both Houses resumed their usual business. In addition to the action of Congress, a proclamation was issued by President Lincoln, on the 19th, "recommending to the people of the United States, that they assemble in their customary places, for public solemnities, on the 22d day of February, instant, and celebrate the anniversary of the birthday of the Father of his Country, by causing to be read to them his Immortal Farewell Address.'" The recommendation to which such emphasis was thus given, was generally followed throughout the loyal States. Beside the reading of the address, public orations were delivered in many of the large cities, and civic banquets were held with military displays, ringings of bells, illuminations, and other festival 66 brought about the rebellion. "If," said he, the opinions of Washington on Slavery, and on the slave trade, had been steadily respected, the country would have escaped all the calamity of the present civil war. The famous Fairfax meeting at which Washington presided, on the 18th of July, 1774, led public opinion in declaring, that it was the most earnest wish of America to see an entire stop forever put to the wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade in slaves.' The traffic was then condemned as an immorality and a crime. The sentiment was thoroughly American, and became the tradition-the living faith of the people. The centuries clasp hands and repeat it one to another! Yesterday the sentiment of Jefferson, that the slavetrade is a piratical warfare upon mankind, was reaffirmed by carrying into effect the sentence of a high tribunal of justice; and to save the lives and protect the happiness of thousands, a slave trader* was executed as a pirate and an *Nathaniel Gordon, the Captain of the slave ship Erie, captured by the United States steamer Mohican, on the coast of Africa, in August, 1860. The case was a most revolting one. It was the first execution under a law which had been in existence for forty years. |