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 Tsrn, 
 
 President's mes 
 Conf Pam 12mo #85 
 
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. 
 
 To the Congress of tJie Confederate States : 
 
 The few weeks which have elapsed since your adjournmeni: 
 have brought us so near the elose of the year, that we are- 
 now able to sum up its general results. The retrospect is 
 such as should fill the hearts of our people with gratitude 
 to Providence for His kind interposition in their behalf. 
 Abundant yields have rewarded the labor of the agricultu- 
 rist, whilst the manufiicturing industry of the Confederate 
 States was never so prosperous as now. The necessities of 
 the times have called into existence new branches of manu- 
 factures, and given a fresh impulse to the activity of those 
 heretofore in operation. The means of the Confederate- 
 States for manufacturing the necessaries and comforts of life 
 within themselves increase as the conflict continues, and we 
 are gradually becoming independent of the rest of the 
 world for the supply of such military stores amd munitions 
 as are indispensable for war. 
 
 The operations of the army, soon to be partially interrup- 
 ted by the approaching wintCT. have afforded a protection 
 to the country, and shed a lustrs- upon its arms through the 
 trying vicissitudes of more than one arduous campaign, 
 which entitle our brave volunteers to our praise and our 
 gratitude. 
 
 From^ its commencement up to the present period, the war 
 has been) enlarging its proportions and expanding its bounda- 
 ries, so as; to include new fields. The conflict now extends 
 from the shores of the Chesapeake to the confines of Mis- 
 souri and Arizona; yet, sudden calls from the remotest 
 points for military aid have been met with promptness 
 enough not only to avert disaster in the face of superior 
 numbers, but, also, to roll back the tide of invasion from 
 the border. 
 
 When the war commenced, the enemy were possessed 
 of certain strategic points and strong places within the Con- 
 federate States. They greatly exceeded us in numbers, in 
 available resources, and in the supplies necessary for war. 
 Military establishments had been long organized, and were 
 complete ; the navy, and for the most part, the army, once 
 
common to both, -^'ere in their possession. To meet all this^ 
 we had to create not only an army in the face of Avar itself, 
 but also the military establisliments necessary to equip and 
 place it in the field. It ought indeed to be a subject of 
 gratulation that the spirit of the volunteers and the patriot- 
 ism of the people ha^e enabled us, under Providence, 
 to grapple successfully with these difficulties. A succession 
 of glorious victories at Bethel, Bull lUm, Manassas, 
 Springfield, Lexington, Lecsburg 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 direct- 
 ed against a people fighting for the sacred right of self- 
 government and the privileges of freemen. After more tlian 
 seven months of war, the enemy have ruot only failed to ex- 
 tend their occupancy of our soil, but new States and Terri- 
 tories have been added to our Confederacy, v>'hile, 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 Confede- 
 rate States are relatively much stronger nov>^ than when the 
 struggle commenced. 
 
 Since your adjournment the people of Missouri have con- 
 ducted 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 pur- 
 pose of attacking the Confederate States. Outrages of the 
 most despotic character have been perpetrated upon her peo- 
 ple ; 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, 
 families, and property, and seek a refuge in distant lands. 
 
 Finding that the Confederate States wei^e about to be invaded 
 through Kentucky, and that her people, after being deceived 
 into a mistaken security, were unarmed, and in danger of be- 
 ing subjugated by the Federal forces, our armies were marched 
 into that State to repel the enemy and prevent their occu- 
 pation of certain strategic points which would have given 
 them great advantages in the contest — a step which was jus- 
 
tified, not only by tlie necessities of self-defence on the part 
 of tli'e Confederate States, but, also, by a desire to aid tlie 
 people of Kentucky. It was never intended by the Confed- 
 erate Government to conquer or coerce the people of that 
 State ; but, on the contrary, it was declared J3y our Generals 
 that they would withdraw their troops if the Federal Govern- 
 ment 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 mo, and I should 
 regard it as one of the best effects of the march of our troops 
 in?o Kentucky if it should end in giving to her people lib- 
 erty of choice and a free opportunity to decide their ovrn 
 destiny according to their own will. 
 
 The army has been chiefly instrumental in prosecuting 
 the great contest in which we are engaged ; but the Navy 
 has also been effective in full proportion to its means. _ The 
 naval officers deprived to a great extent of an opportunity to 
 make their professional skill available at sea have served with 
 commendable zeal and gallantry on shore and upon inland 
 waters, further detail of which will be found in the reports 
 of the Secretaries of the Navy and War. 
 
 In the transportation of the mails many difficulties have 
 arisen which will be found fully developed in the report of 
 the Postmaster-General. The absorption of the ordinary 
 means of transportation for the movement of troops and milita- 
 ry supplies, the insufficiency of the rolling stock of rail roads 
 for the accumulation of business resulting both from mili- 
 tary operations, and the obstruction of water communica- 
 tion 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 complicated a system as that which requires postal 
 facilities for every town and village in a territory so ex- 
 tended as ours, have all combined to impede the best directed 
 efforts of the Postmaster-General, Avhose zeal, industry and 
 ability have been taxed to the utmost extent. Some_ of 
 these difficulties can only be overcome by timeand an im- 
 proved condition of the country upon the restoration of peace, 
 but others may be remedied by legislation, and your atten- 
 tion is invited to the recommendations contained in the re- 
 port of the Head of that Department. 
 
 The condition of the Treasury will, doubtless, be a sub- 
 ject of anxious enquiry on your part. I am happy to say 
 
that tlie financial system already adopted has worked well 
 so far, and promises good results for the future. To the 
 extent that Treasury notes may be issued, the Government 
 is enabled to borrow money without interest, and thus facili- 
 tate the conduct of the 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 occu- 
 pied depends again upon the amount of the debts for which 
 they are receivable ; and when dues, not only to the Con- 
 federate 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 be- 
 lieve 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, ensures them against 
 a depreciation below the value of that stock, and no consi- 
 derable fall in that value need be feared so long as the in- 
 terest 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. 
 
 For the successful prosecution of this war, it is indispen- 
 sable that the means of transporting troops and military 
 supplies be furnished, as far as possible, in such manner as 
 not to interrupt the commercial intercourse between our 
 people, nor place a check on their productive energies. To 
 this end the means of transportation from one section of our 
 country to the other must be carefully guarded and improv- 
 ed. And this should be the object of anxious care on the 
 part of State and Confederate Governments, so far as they 
 may have power over the subject. 
 
 We have already two main systems of through transpor- 
 tation from the North to the South — one from Richmond, 
 along 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 great measure, debarred. We should 
 increase greatly the safety and capacity of our means for 
 transporting men and military supplies. If the construc- 
 tion of this road should, in the judgment of Congress, as 
 
it is in mine, be indispensable for tlie most successful pro- 
 secution 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 comple- 
 tion by giving the needful aid to the company organized for 
 its construction and administration. 
 
 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 eifect by arms becomes daily more and more palpably im- 
 possible. Not only do the causes which induced us to sep- 
 arate still exist in full force, but they have been strengthen- 
 ed, and whatever doubt may have lingered in the minds of 
 any must have been completely dispelled by subsequent 
 events. If instead of being a dissolution of a league, it 
 were indeed a rebellion in which we are ensaired, 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 contempt- 
 uous astonishment on those with whom they had 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 mili- 
 tary 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 incom- 
 patibility between such a people and themselves. With such 
 a people we may be content to live at peace, but the separa- 
 tion is final and for the independence we have asserted we 
 will accept no alternative. 
 
 The nature of the hostilities which they have waged 
 against us, must be characterized as barbarous wherever it 
 is understood. They have bombarded undefended A'illages 
 without giving notice to women and children to enable them 
 to escape, and in one instance, selected the night as the 
 
'period Avhon they mi<xht surprise them most effcctualh^ -whilst 
 asleep and unsuspicious of danger. Arson and rapine, the 
 destruction of private houses and property, and injuries of 
 the mostwanton character, even upon non-combatants, have 
 marked their forays along our borders and upon our terri- 
 tory. 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, vrith 
 the confessed purpose not only to pillage, but to incite a 
 servile insurrection in our midst. 
 
 If they convert their soldiers into incendiaries and robbers, 
 and involve us in a species of war which claims non-com- 
 batants, women and children as its victims, they must ex- 
 pect 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. 
 
 But not content vrith violating our rights, under the -law 
 of nations, at home, they have extended these injuries to 
 us v/ithin other jurisdictions. The distinguished gentle- 
 men whom, with ^^our approval, a.t the last session, I com- 
 missioned to represent the Confederacy at .certain foreign 
 courts, have been recently seized by the captain of a United 
 States &h-ip-of-v»'ar, on board a British steamer, on their voy- 
 age from the neutral 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 seizing 
 our ministers whilst under the protection 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 on^its soil, 
 :riid 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 extra- 
 dition of criminals. 
 
 But rights the most sacred seem to have lost all respect 
 
in their eyes. AVlien Mr. Faulkner, a former minister ®f 
 the United States to France, commissioned before the seces- 
 sion of Virginia, his native State, returned in good fiith to 
 Washington to settle his accounts and fulfil all the obliga- 
 tions into which he had entered, he was perfidiousl}^ arrested 
 and imprisoned in Nov/ York, whore he now is. The unsus- 
 pecting confidence with which he reported to his Govern- 
 ment was abused, and his desire to fulfil his trust to them 
 vras used to his injury. 
 
 In conducting this war, vv'e have sought no aid and pro- 
 posed 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 ofter a fair equivalent. The advantages of intercourse 
 are mutual amongst nations, and in seeking to establish 
 diplomatic relations, we were only endeavoring to place that 
 intercourse under the regulation of public lavv-. Perhaps 
 we had the right if we had chosen to exercise it, to ask to 
 know whether the principle that ''blockades to be binding, 
 must be effectual," so solemnly announced by the great 
 Powers of Europe at Paris, is to be generally enforced or 
 a<pplicd only to particular parties. 
 
 When the Confederate States at your last session became 
 a party to the declaration reafiirming this principle of inter- 
 national law, which has been recognized so long by publi- 
 cists and Governments, we certainly supposed that it vras to 
 be universally enforced. The customary law of nations is 
 made up of their practice rather than their declarations; 
 and if such declarations are only to be enforced in particu- 
 lar instances at the pleasure of those who make them, then 
 the commerce of the world so far from being placed under 
 the regulation of a general lavv% will become subject to the 
 caprice of those who execute or suspend it at will. If such 
 is to be the course of na.tions in rei^ard 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 na- 
 tions of the earth, I have caused the evidence to be collected 
 which proves completely the utter inefficiency of the pro- 
 claimed blockade of our coast, and shall direct it to be laid 
 before such Governments as shall afford us the means of be- 
 ing heard. But although we should be benefited by the 
 enforcement of this law so solemnly declared by the great 
 powers of Europe, we are not dependent on that enforce- 
 ment for the successful prosecution of the war. As long 
 
8 
 
 as hostilities continue- the Confederate States will exhibit aj 
 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 of the comforts of life, they 
 will, at least, have the consolation of knowing that they are 
 thus daily becoming more and more independent of the rest 
 of the world. If, in this process, labor in the Confederate 
 States should be gradually diverted from those great South- 
 ern staples which have given life to so much of the com- 
 merce of mankind into other channels so as to make them 
 rival producers instead of profitable customers, they will 
 not be the only or even the chief losers by this change in 
 the direction of their industry. xVlthough it is true that the 
 cotton supply from the Southern States could only be totally 
 cut off by the subversion of our social system ; yet it is plain^ 
 that a long continuance of this blockade might, by a diver- 
 sion of labor and an investment of capital in other employ- 
 ments, so diminish the supply as to bring ruin upon all those 
 interests of foreign countries which are dependent on that 
 staple. For every laborer who is diverted from the culture 
 of cotton in the South, perhaps, four times as many else- 
 where, who have found subsistence in the various employ- 
 ments growing out of its use, will be forced, also, to change 
 their occupation. 
 
 While the war which is w^aged to take from us the right 
 of self-government can never attain that end, it remains to 
 be seen how far it may work a revolution in the industrial 
 system of the world, which may carry suifering to other 
 lands as well as to our own. In the meantime, we shall 
 continue this struggle in humble dependence upon Providence 
 from whose searching scrutiny Ave cannot conceal the secrets 
 of our hearts, and to whose rule we confidently submit our 
 destinies. For the rest, we shall depend upon ourselves — 
 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. 
 
 JEFFERSON DAVIS. 
 Richmond, November 18, 1861, 
 
J 
 
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