PROSPECTS OF THE WAR.

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

177

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 re-
cently 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 free-
men; when they see justice and law
trampled under the armed heel of mili-
tary authority, and upright men and in-
nocent women dragged to distant dun-
geons 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 Govern-
ment 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
casily 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

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS.

sioned to represent the Confederacy at
certain foreign Courts, have been recent-
ly seized by the captain of a United
States ship-of-war, on board a British
steamer, on their voyage from the neu-
tral Spanish port of Havana to England.
The United States have thus claimed a
general jurisdiction over the high seas,
and, entering a British ship, sailing
under its country's flag, violated the
rights of embassy, for the most part held
sacred even amongst barbarians, by seiz-
ing our Ministers whilst under the pro-
tection and within the dominions of a
neutral nation. These gentlemen were
as much under the jurisdiction of the
British Government upon that ship, and
beneath its flag, as if they had been
upon its soil; and a claim on the part
of the United States to seize them in the
streets of London would have been as
well founded as that to apprehend them
where they were taken. Had they been
malefactors, and citizens even of the
United States, they could not have been
arrested on a British ship or on British
soil unless under the express provisions
of a treaty, and according to the forms
therein provided for the extradition of
criminals. But rights the most sacred
seem to have lost all respect in their
eyes. When Mr. Faulkner, a former
Minister of the United States to France,
commissioned before the secession of
Virginia, his native State, returned in
good faith to Washington to settle his
accounts and fulfil all the obligations into
which he had entered, he was perfidi-
ously arrested and imprisoned in New
York, where he now is. The unsuspect-
ing confidence with which he reported
to his Government was abused, and his
desire to fulfil his trust to them was used
to his injury." To this appeal to British
pride was added a remonstrance on the
subject of the blockade, which it was a
special effort of the Confederates to ex-
hibit to the naval powers of Europe as
ineffectual, and calling for their interfer-
ence. On this subject, it was said, with

179

an artful appeal to British trading inter-
ests, with which the Message concluded:
. "In conducting this war, we have
sought no aid and proposed no alliances,
offensive and defensive abroad. We
have asked for a recognized place in the
great family of nations, but in doing so
we have demanded nothing for which we
did not offer a fair equivalent. The ad-
vantages of intercourse are mutual
amongst nations, and in seeking to estab-
lish diplomatic relations, we were only
endeavoring to place that intercourse
under the regulation of public law. Per-
haps we had the ight, if we had chosen
to exercise it, to ask to know whether
the principle that 'blockades, to be bind-
ing, must be effectual,' so solemnly an-
nounced by the great Powers of Europe
at Paris, is to be generally enforced or
applied only to particular parties. When
the Confederate States, at your last ses-
sion, became a party to the declaration
reaffirming this principle of international
law, which has been recognized so long
by publicists and Governments, we cer-
tainly supposed that it was to be univer-
sally enforced. The customary laws of
nations are made up of their practice
rather than their declarations; and if
such declarations are only to be enforced
in particular instances, at the pleasure
of those who make them, then the com-
merce of the world, so far from being
placed under the regulation of a general
law, will become subject to the caprice
of those who execute or suspend it at
will. If such is to be the course of
nations in regard to this law, it is plain
that it will thus become a rule for the
weak and not for the strong. Feeling
that such views must be taken by the
neutral nations of the earth, I have
caused the evidence to be collected which
proves completely the utter inefficiency
of the proclaimed blockade of our coast,
and shall direct it to be laid before such
Governments as shall afford us the means
of being heard.

"But, although we should be benefited

Liberty is always won where there exists. the unconquerable will to be free, and we have reason to know the strength that is given by a conscious sense not only of the magnitude but of the righteousness of our cause."

by the enforcement of this law so solemn- of our hearts, and to whose rule we conly declared by the great powers of Eu-fidently submit our destinies. For the rope, we are not dependent on that rest we shall depend upon ourselves. enforcement for the successful prosecution of the war. As long as hostilities continue, the Confederate States will exhibit a steadily increasing capacity to furnish their troops with food, clothing, and arms. If they should be forced to forego many of the luxuries and some Various complaints having been made of the comforts of life, they will at least of the successful efforts of rebels in the have the consolation of knowing that recovery of their fugitives slaves at they are thus daily becoming more and Washington, by the aid or connivance more independent of the rest of the of the officers of the army, the following world. If. in this process, labor in the order, addressed to General McClellan Confederate States should be gradually was on the 4th of December issued by diverted from those great Southern sta- Mr. Seward from the Department of ples which have given life to so much of State: "General,-I am directed by the commerce of mankind, into other the President to call your attention to channels, so as to make them rival pro- the following subject: persons claimed ducers instead of profitable customers, to be held to service or labor under the they will not be the only or even chief laws of the State of Virginia, and aclosers by this change in the direction of tually employed in hostile service against their industry. Although it is true, that the Government of the United States, the cotton supply from the Southern frequently escape from the lines of the States could only be totally cut off by enemy's forces, and are received within the subversion of our social system, yet the lines of the army of the Potomac. it is plain that a long continuance of this This Department understands that such blockade might, by a diversion of labor persons, afterward coming into the city and investment of capital in other em- of Washington, are liable to be arrested ployments, so diminish the supply as to by the city police, upon the presumption bring ruin upon all those interests of arising from color, that they are fugiforeign countries which are dependent on tives from service or labor, by the fourth that staple. For every laborer who is section of the act of Congress, approved diverted from the culture of cotton in August 6, 1861, entitled an act to conthe South, perhaps four times as many fiscate property used for insurrectionary elsewhere, who have found subsistence purposes, such hostile employment is in the various employments growing out made a full and sufficient answer to any of its use, will be forced also to change further claim to service or labor. Pertheir occupation. While the war which sons thus employed and escaping are reis waged to take from us the right of ceived into the military protection of the self-government can never attain that United States, and their arrest as fugiend, it remains to be seen how far it may tives from labor or service, should be imwork a revolution in the industrial sys-mediately followed by the military arrest tem of the world, which may carry suf- of the parties making the seizure. Copies fering to other lands as well as to our of this communication will be sent to the own. In the mean time we shall con- Mayor of the city of Washington, and to tinue this struggle in humble dependence the Marshal of the District of Columbia, upon Providence, from whose searching that any collision between the military scrutiny we cannot conceal the secrets and civil authorities may be avoided."

THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING.

181

is now manifested, and it will crush out that treason, that it shall be known henceforth only in ignoble history. The enemies of a true liberty will not be suffered to prevail." A similar fervor was manifested in the other western proclamations, among which no word carried a deeper sense of gratitude than that spoken by Governor Charles Robinson, of Kansas. Recognizing the dangers to which that frontier State was exposed from an invasion of the enemy or incursion of the savages, he expressed his thankfulness that the latter much-dreaded evil had as yet "taken no more substantial form than their fears." While mindful of the famine of the previous season, he desired

The usual national Thanksgiving held in November was this year generally celebrated on the 28th of the month, by the loyal States. The proclamations of the governors appointing the day, tempered with a feeling sense of the calamities of the war, breathed the most earnest patriotism. Among these public papers was one from Governor Pierpont, of Virginia, from Wheeling, joining heartily with the rest in commending the day to the people as one "Of humble and fervent prayer, that He will, in more abundant mercy, bring to a speedy end the heart-burnings and civil strife which are now desolating our country, and restore to our Union its ancient foundations of brotherly love and a just appreciation."" to acknowledge to the bounteous Giver Governor Hicks, of Maryland, reminded the people that "while they were learning the art of war, they should not forget the arts of peace; but devoutly pray that this great nation may again become a united, loyal, constitution-loving and law-abiding people." Kentucky joined in the observance of the day, and Governor Magoffin, confining the language of his proclamation to the religious motives of the occasion, invoked the prayer of the people, "that ascending to Heaven as the dews of earth, will return in showers of mercy, and span our beloved land with the rainbow of God-given peace."

The West everywhere echoed this language of religion and loyalty. Said Governor Austin Blair, of Michigan: "Our liberties, civil and religious, still remain to us. The rude shock of war has not so much as touched our borders. The free republic, founded by our fathers, after heroic sacrifices and struggles, still bears aloft the national flag, and grows daily stronger in the hearts of the great body of the people." Governor Alexander W. Randall, of Wisconsin, with emphasis, declared that "with a firm reliance upon God's long-suffering and forbearance, and upon his just judgments, the majestic power of the nation

of the sunlight and the rain, that abundant increase which had followed the labor of the husbandman; the last year's drought and the winter's snows having prepared the earth for a bounteous harvest, verifying the proverb, that' much bread is grown in the winter's night.'" Governor Morgan, of New York, in a few significant sentences briefly reviewed the prominent circumstances of the oppressive conflict, and found abundant matter for thankfulness in the spirit and unanimity with which the national cause had been sustained. "Though a suicidal war, stimulated by leaders of faction, and waged with all the power of a great and misguided people, weighs like the hand of death upon the National energies, and throws its dark shadow over the land; though this nation, so recently prospering under Heaven's brightest smile, and advancing with gigantic steps toward greatness and power, has been arrested in its progress, and is suffering the deep humiliation and blighting influence of a murderous civil war, yet we have infinite cause for thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God. Disease has been stayed from the fireside and from the camp; internal order has prevailed; plenty has abounded; liberty of conscience remains unabridged; ordinary pur