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MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives 
 
 of t/ie Confederate States of America : 
 
 It is with satisfaction that I welcome your presence at an earlier 
 day than that usual for your session, and with confidence that I 
 invoke the aid of your counsels at a time of such public exigency. 
 The campaign which was commenced almost. simultaneously with your 
 session early in May last, and which was still in progress at your 
 adjournment in the middleof June, has not yet reached its close. It 
 has been prosecuted on a scale and with an energy heretofore une- 
 qualled. When we revert to the condition of our country at the 
 inception of the operations of the present year, to the magnitude 
 of the preparations made by the enemy, the number of his forces, the 
 accumulation of his warlike supplies, and the prodigality with which 
 his vast resources have been lavished in the attempt to render success 
 assured ; when we contrast the numbers and means at our disposal for 
 resistance, and when we contemplate the results of a struggle appa- 
 rently so unequal, we cannot fail, while rendering the full meed of 
 deserved praise to our. generals and soldiers, to perceive that a Power 
 higher than man has willed our deliverance, and gratefully to recog- 
 nise the protection of a kind Providence in enabling us successfully 
 to withstand the utmost efforts of the enemy for <?ur subjugation. 
 
 At the beginning of the year the State of Texas was partially in 
 possession of the enemy, and large portions of Louisiana and Arkansas 
 lay apparently defenceless. Of the Federal soldiers who invaded 
 Texas, none are known to remain except as prisoners of war. In 
 northwestern -Louisiana, a large anl well appointed army, aided by a 
 powerful fleet, was repeatedly defeated and deemed itself fortunate in 
 finally escaping with a loss of one-third of its numbers, a large part 
 of its military trains and many transports and gunboats. The ene- 
 my's occupation of that State is reduced to the narrow district com- 
 manded by the guns of his fleet. Arkansas has been recovered with 
 tfoe exception of a few fortified posts, while our forces have penetrated 
 into central Missouri, affording to our oppressed brethren in that State 
 an opportunity, of which many have availed themselves, of striking 
 for liberation from the tyranny to which they have been subjected. 
 
On the east of the Mississippi, in spite of some reverses, 
 we have much cause for gratulation. The enemy hoped to effect 
 during the present year, by concentration of forces, the conquest 
 which he had previously failed to accomplish by more extended ope- 
 rations. Compelled, therefore, to withdraw or seriously to weaken 
 the strength of the armies of occupation at different points, he has 
 afforded us the opportunity of recovering possession of extensive dis- 
 tricts of our territory. Nearly the whole of northern and western 
 Mississippi, of northern Alabama, and of western Tennessee are again 
 in our possession ; and all attempts to penetrate from the coast line 
 into the interior of the Atlantic and Gulf States bave been baffled. 
 On the entire ocean and gulf coast of the Confederacy, the whole 
 success of the enemy, with the enormous naval resources at his com- 
 mand, has been limited to the capture of the onter defences of MobHe 
 Bay. 
 
 If we now turn to the results accomplished by the two great armies, 
 so confidently relied on by the invaders as sufficient to secure the sub- 
 version of our Government and the subjection of our people to foreign 
 domination, we have still greater cause for devout gratitude to Divine 
 Power. la southwestern Virginia, successive armies which threat- 
 ened the capture of Lynchburg and Saltville have been routed and 
 driven out of the country, and a portion of eastern Tennessee recon- 
 quered by our troops. In northern Virginia extensive districts for- 
 merly occupied by the enemy are now free from their presence. In 
 the lower Valley, their general, rendered desperate by his inability 
 to maintain a hostile occupation, has resorted to the infamous expe- 
 dient of converting a fruitful land into a desert by burning its mills, 
 granaries, and homesteads, and destroying the food, standing crops, 
 live stock and agricultural implements of peaceful non-combatants. 
 The main army, after a series of defeats in which its losses have been 
 enormous ; after attempts by raiding parties to break up our railroad 
 communications, which have resulted in the destruction of a large 
 part of the cavalry engaged in the work ; after constant repulse of 
 of repeated assaults on our defensive lines, is, with the aid of heavy 
 reinforcements, but with, it is hoped, waning prospect of further pro- 
 gress in the design, still engaged in an effort, commenced more than 
 four months ago, to capture the town of Petersburg. 
 
 The army of General Sherman, although succeeding at the end of 
 the summer in obtaining possession of Atlanta, has been unable to 
 secure any ultimate advantage from this success. The same general 
 who, in February last, marched a large army from Vicksburg to 
 Meridian with no other ; result than being forced to march back again, 
 was able, by the aid of greatly increased numbers, and after much 
 delay, to force a passage from Chattanooga to Atlanta, only to be for 
 the second time compelled to withdraw on the line of his advance, 
 without obtaining control of a single mile of territory beyond the 
 narrow track of his march, and without gaining aught beyond the 
 precarious possession of a few fortified points in which he is compelled 
 to maintain heavy garrisons, and which are menaced with recapture. 
 
The lessons afforded by the history of this war are fraught with 
 instruction and encouragement. Repeatedly during the war have 
 formidable expeditions been directed by the enemy against points 
 ignorantly supposed to be of vital importance to the Confederacy. 
 Some of these expeditions have, at immense cost, been successful; but 
 in no instance have the promised fruits been reaped. Again, in the 
 present campaign, was the delusion fondly cherished that the capture 
 of Atlanta and Richmond would, if effected, end the war by the over- 
 throw of our Government and the submission of our people. We can 
 now judge by experience how unimportant is the influence of the 
 former event upon our capacity for defence, upon the courage and. 
 spirit of the people, and the stability of the Government. We may„ 
 in like manner, judge that if the campaign against Richmond had re- 
 sulted in success instead of failure ; if the valor of the army under 
 the leadership of its accomplished commander had resisted in vain the 
 overwhelming masses which were, on the contrary, decisively repulsed; 
 if we had been compelled to evacuate Richmond as well as Atlanta,, 
 the Confederacy would have remained as erect and defiant as ever. 
 Nothing could have been changed in the purpose of its Government,, 
 in the indomitable valor of its troops, or in the unquenchable spirit 
 of its people. The baffied and disappointed foe would in vain have 
 scanned the reports of your proceedings, at some new legislative seat, 
 for any indication that progress had been made in his gigantic task of' 
 conquering a free people. The truth so patent to us must ere long; 
 be forced upon the reluctant Northern mind. There are no vital points . 
 on the preservation of which the continued existence of the Confed* 
 eracy depends. There is no military success of the enemy which can 
 accomplish its destruction. Not the fall of Richmond, nor Wilming- 
 ton, nor Charleston, nor Savannah, nor Mobile, nor of all combined, 
 can save the enemy from the constant and exhaustive drain of blood 
 and treasure which must continue until he shall discover, that no 
 peace is attainable unless based on the recognition of our indefeasible 
 rights. 
 
 Before leaving this subject it is gratifying to assure you that the • 
 military supplies essentially requisite for public defence will be found/, 
 as heretofore, adequate to our needs ; and that abundant crops have- 
 rewarded the labor of the farmer, and rendered abortive the inhuman^ 
 attempt of the enemy to produce, by devastation, famine among the • 
 people. 
 
 Foreign Relations. 
 
 It is not in my power to announce any change in the conduct of 
 foreign powers. No such action has been taken by the Christian, 
 nations of Europe as might justly have been expected from their his- 
 tory, from the duties imposed by international law, and from the claims i 
 of humanity. It is charitable to attribute their conduct to no worse 
 motive than indifference to the consequences of a struggle which shakes - 
 only the Republican portion of the American continent; and not to 
 
ascribe to design a course calculated to ensure the prolongation of 
 hostilities. 
 
 No instance in history is remembered by me in which a nation pre- 
 tending to exercise dominion over another, asserting its independence* 
 has been the first to concede the existence of such independence. No 
 case can be recalled to my mind in which neutral powers have failed 
 to*&et the example of recognizing the independence of a nation, when 
 satisfied of the inability of its enemy to subvert its Government; and 
 this too, in cases where the previous relation between the contending 
 parties had been confessedly that of mother-country ami dependent 
 colony ; not, as in our case, that of co-equal States united by Fede- 
 ral compact. It has ever been considered the proper function an<t 
 duty of neutral powers to perform the office of judging whether id 
 point of fact the nation asserting dominion is able to make good its' 
 pretensions by force of arms, and if not, by recognition of th<s resist- 
 ing party, to discountenance the further continuance of the contest'. 
 And the reason why this duty is incumbent on neutral powers is 
 plainly apparent, when we reflect that the pride and passion whicB 
 blind the judgment of the parties to the conflict cause the continuance 
 of active warfare, and consequent useless slaughter, long after the 
 inevitable result has become apparent to all not engaged in the strug- 
 gle. So long, therefore, as neutral nations fail by recognition of our 
 independence to announce that, in their judgment, the United States 
 are unable to reduce the Confederacy to submission, their conduct 
 will be accepted by our enemies as a tacit encouragement to continue 
 their eiforts, and as an implied assurance that belief is entertained by 
 neutral nations in the success of their designs. A direct stimulus, 
 whether intentional or not, is thus applied to securing a continuance 
 of the carnage and devastation which desolate this continent, and 
 which they profess deeply to deplore. 
 
 The disregard of this just, humane, and Christian public duty by 
 t!he nations of Europe is the more remarkable from the fact that 
 authentic expression has long since been given by the Governments 
 of both Prance and England to the conviction that the United States 
 are unable to conquer the Confederacy. It is now more than two 
 years since the Government of France announced officially to the 
 Cabinets of London and St. Petersburg its own conclusion that the 
 United States were unable to achieve any decisive military success. 
 In the answers sent by those powers no intimation of a contrary 
 opinion was conveyed ; and it is notorious that in speeches, both in 
 and out of Parliament, the members of Her Britannic Majesty's Gov- 
 ernment have not hesitated to express this conviction in unqualified 
 terras. The denial of our right under these circumstances is so 
 obviously unjust, and discriminates so unfairly in favor of the United 
 States, that neutrals have sought to palliate the wrong of which they 
 are conscious, by professing to consider, in opposition to notorious 
 truth and to the known belief of both belligerents, that the recogni- 
 tion of our independence would be valueless without their further 
 intervention in the struggle ; an intervention of which we disclaim 
 
the desire and mistrust the" advantage. We seek no favor, we wish no 
 intervention, we know ourselves fully competent to maintain our own 
 rights and independence against the invaders of our country, and we 
 feel justified in asserting, that without the aid derived from recruiting 
 their armies from foreign countries, the invaders would, ere this, have 
 been driven from our soil. When the recognition of the Confederacy 
 was refused by Great Britain, in the fall of 1882, the refusal was^ 
 excused on the ground that any action by Her Majesty's Government 4 
 would have the effect of inflaming the passions of the belligerents 
 and of preventing the return of peace. It is assumed that this opin- 
 ion was sincerely entertained ; but the experience of two years of 
 unequalled carnage, shows that it was erroneous, and that the result 
 was the reverse of what the British ministry humanely desired. A 
 contrary policy, a policy just to us, a policy diverging from an unva- 
 rying course of concession to all the demands of our enemies, is still 
 within the power of Her Majesty's Government, and would, it is fair 
 to presume, be productive of consequences the opposite of those which 
 have unfortunately followed its whole course of conduct from the com- 
 mencement of the War to the present time. In a word, peace is im- 
 possible without independence, and it is not to be expected that the 
 enemy will anticipate neutrals in the recognition of that independence. 
 When the history of this war shall be fully disclose 1, the calm judg- 
 ment of the impartial publicist will, for these reasons, be unable to 
 absolve the neutial nations of Europe from a share in the moral 
 responsibility for the myriads of human live3 that have been unneces- 
 sarily sacrificed during its progress. 
 
 The renewed instances in which foreign powers have given us ju*t 
 cause of complaint need not here be detailed. The extracts from tho 
 correspondence of the State Department, which accompany this mes- 
 sage, will afford such further information as can be given without 
 detriment to the public interest, and we must reserve for the future 
 such action as may then be deemed advisable to secure redress. 
 
 Finances. 
 
 Your special attention is earnestly invited to the report of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, submitted in conformity with law. The 
 facts therein disclosed are far from discouraging, and demonstrate 
 that, with judicious legislation, we shall be enabled to meet all the 
 exigencies of the war from our abundant resources, and aVoid, at the 
 same time, such an accumulation of debt a3 would render at all doubt- 
 ful our capacity to redeem it. 
 
 The total receipts into the treasury for the two quarters ending on 
 the 3Uh September, 1864, were $41 5, 1 9 1 ,550, which sum, added to 
 the balance of $308,2S2,722, that remained in tho treasury on tho 
 1st April last, forms a total of $723,474,272. Of this total, not far 
 from half, that is to say, $342,550,327, have been applied to the ex,- 
 ti notion of the public debt, while the total expenditures have been 
 $ 272,378,505, leaving a balance in tho treasury on the 1st October, 
 1864, of $108,435,440. 
 
6 
 
 The total amount of the public debt, as exhibited oa the books 
 of the Register of the Treasury, on the 1st October, 1864, was 
 $1,147,970,208, of which $530,340,090 were funded debt, bearing 
 interest, $283,880,150 were treasury notes of the new issue, and the 
 remainder consisted of the former issue of treasury notes which will 
 be converted into other forms of debt and will cease to exist as cur- 
 rency on the 31st of next month. 
 
 The report, however, explains that, in consequence of the absence 
 of certain returns from distant officers, the true amount of the debt 
 is less, by about twenty-one and a half millions of dollars, than ap- 
 pears on the books of the Register, and that the total public debt 
 on the first of last month, may be fairly considered to have been 
 $1,126,381,095. 
 
 The increase of the public debt during the six months from the 1st 
 April to the 1st October, was $97,650,780, being rather more than 
 $16,000,000 per month, and it will be apparent, en a perusal of the 
 report, that this augmentation would have been avoided, and a posi- 
 tive reduction of the amount would have been effected, but for cer- 
 tain defects in the legislation on the subject of the 'finances, which 
 are pointed out in the report, and which seem to admit of easy 
 remedy. 
 
 In the statements just made the foreign debt is omitted. It consists 
 only of the unpaid balance of the loan knfcwn as the cotton loan. 
 This balance is but £2,200,000, aad is adequately provided for by 
 about 250,000 bales of cotton owned by the Government, even if the 
 cotton be rated as worth but six pence per pound. 
 
 There is one item of the public debt not included in the tables pre- 
 sented, to which your attention is required. The bounty bonds 
 promised to our soldiers by the third section of the act of 17th Feb- 
 ruary, 1864, were deliverable on the 1st October. The Secretary has 
 been unable to issue them by reason of an omission in the law, no 
 time being therein fixed for the payment of the bonds. 
 
 The aggregate appropriations called for by the different depart- 
 ments of the Government, according to the estimates submitted with 
 the report, for the six months ending on the 30th June, 1865, amount 
 to $438,102,679, while the Secretary estimates that there will remain 
 unexpended, out of former appropriations, on the 1st January, 1865, 
 a balance of $467,416,504. It would, therefore, seem that former 
 estimates have been largely in excess of actual expenditures, and that 
 no additional appropriations are required for meeting the needs of the 
 public service up to the 1st July of next year. Indeed, if tho esti- 
 mates now presented should prove to be as much in excess of actual 
 -expenditures as has heretofore been the case, a considerable balance 
 vill still remain unexpended at the close of the first half of the 
 •ensuing year. 
 
 The chief difficulty to be apprehended in connection with our 
 finances, results from the depreciation of the treasury notes which 
 seems justly to be attributed by the Secretary to two causes, redun- 
 dancy in amount and want of confidence in ultimate redemption ; for 
 
both of which, remedies are suggested that will commend themselves 
 to your consideration as being practicable as well as efficient. 
 
 The main features of the plan presented are substantially these : 
 1st. That the faith of the Government be pledged that the notes shall 
 ever remain exempt from taxation. 2d. That no issue shall be made 
 beyond that which is already authorized by law. 3d. That a certain 
 fixed portion of the annual receipts from taxation during the war 
 shall be set apart specially for the gradual extinction of the out- 
 standing amount until it shall have been reduced to $150,000,000 ; 
 and 4th. The pledge and appropriation of such proportion of the 
 tax in kind, and for such number of years after the return of peace, 
 as shall be sufficient for the final redemption of the entire circulation. 
 The details of the plan, the calculations on which it is based, the 
 efficiency of its operation, and the vast advantages which would re- 
 sult from its success are fully detailed in the report, and cannot be 
 fairly presented in a form sufficiently condensed for this message. I 
 doubt not it will receive from you that earnest and candid considera- 
 tion which is merited by the importance of the subject. 
 
 The recommendations of the report for the repeal of certain pro- 
 visions of the tax laws which produce inequality in the burthen of 
 taxation ; for exempting all Government loans from taxation on capi- 
 tal, and from any adverse discrimination in taxation on income 
 derived from them ; for placing the taxation on banks on the same 
 footing as the taxation of other corporate bodies; for securing the 
 payment into the treasury of that portion of the bank circulation 
 which is liable to confiscation because held by alien enemies; for the 
 conversion of the interest-bearing treasury notes now outstanding 
 into coupon bonds, and for the quarterly collection of taxation ; all 
 present practical questions for legislation, which, if wisely devised, 
 will greatly improve the public credit, and alleviate the burthens now 
 imposed by the extreme and unnecessary depreciation in the value 
 of the currency. 
 
 The returns of the Produce Loan Bureau are submitted with the 
 report, and the information is conveyed, that the Treasury Agency 
 in the trans-Mississippi Department has been fully organized, and is 
 now in operation with promise of efficiency and success. 
 
 The provisions heretofore made to some extent for increasing the 
 compensation of public officers, civil and military, is found to be in 
 some places inadequate to their support ; perhaps not more so any- 
 where than in Richmond, and enquiry, with a view to appropriate 
 remedy, is suggested to your consideration. Your notice is also 
 called to the condition of certain officers of the Treasury, who were 
 omitted in the laws heretofore passed for the relief of other public 
 officers, as mentioned in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Department of War. 
 
 The condition of the various branches of the military service is 
 stated in the accompanying report of the Secretary of War. Anion" 
 
8 
 
 the suggestions made for legislative action" with a view to add to the 
 numbers and efficiency of the army, all of which will receive your 
 consideration, there are some prominent topics which merit special 
 notice. 
 
 The exemption from military duty now accorded by law to all per- 
 sons engaged in certain specified pursuits or professions is shown by 
 experience to be unwise, nor is it believed to be defensible in theory. 
 Ihe defence of home, family and country is universally recognized as 
 the paramount political duty of every member of society ; and in a 
 form of government like ours, where, each citizen enjoys an equality 
 of rights and privileges, nothing can be more invidious than an un- 
 equal distribution of duties and obligations. No pursuit nor position 
 should relieve any one who is able to do active duty, from enrolment* 
 in the army, unless his functions or services are more useful to the 
 defence of his country in another sphere. But it is manifest that 
 this cannot be the case with entire classes. All telegraph operators,, 
 workmen in mines, professors, teachers, engineers, editors and em- 
 ployees of newspapers, journeymen printers, shoemakers, tanners, 
 blacksmiths, millers, physicians, and the numerous other classes men- 
 tioned in the laws, cannot in the nature of things be either equally 
 necessary in their several professions, nor distributed throughout the 
 country in such proportions that only the exact numbers required are 
 found in each locality ; nor can it be everywhere impossible to re- 
 place those within the conscript age, by men older and less capable of 
 active field services. A discretion should be vested in the military 
 authorities, so that a sufficient number of those essential to the public 
 service might be detailed to continue the exercise of their pursuits or 
 professions, but the exemption from service of the entire classes should 
 be wholly abandoned. It affords great facility for abuses, offers the 
 temptation, as well as the ready moans, of escaping service by fraud- 
 ulent devices, and is one of the principal obstructions to the efficient 
 operation of the conscript laws.' 
 
 A general militia law is needful in the interest of the public defence. 
 The Constitution, by vesting the power in Congress, imposes on it the 
 duty of providing " for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, 
 and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the ser- 
 vice of the Confederate States." The great diversity in the legisla- 
 tion of the several States on this subject, and the absence of any 
 provision establishing an exact method for calling the militia into 
 Confederate service, are sources of embarrassment which ought no 
 longer to be suffered to impede defensive measures. 
 
 The legislation in relation to the cavalry demands change. The 
 policy of requiring the men to furnish their own horses has proven 
 pernicious in many respects. It interferes with discipline, impairs 
 efficiency, and is tiie cauae of frequent and prolonged absence from 
 appropriate duty. The subject is fully treated in the Secretary's re- 
 port with suggestions as to the proper measures for reforming that 
 branch of the service. 
 
 The recommendation hitherto often made is again renewed, that 
 
some measure be adopted for the reorganization and consolidation of 
 companies and regiments when so far reduced in numbers as seriously 
 to impair their efficiency. It is the more necessary that this should 
 be done, as the absence of legi-slation on the subject has forced Gen- 
 erals in the field to resort to various expedients for approximating the 
 desired end. It is surely an evil that a commanding officer should bo 
 placed in a position which forces upon him the choice of allowing the 
 efficiency of his command to be seriously impaired, or of attempting 
 to supply by the exercise of doubtful authority the want of proper 
 legal provision. The regard for the sensibility of officers who have 
 heretofore served with credit, and which is believed to be the control- 
 ing motive that has hitherto obstructed legislation on this subject, 
 however honorable and proper, may be carried to a point which seri- 
 ously injures the public good ; and if this be the case it can scarcely 
 be questioned which of the two considerations should be deemed par- 
 amount. 
 
 The Secretary's recommendations on the subject of facilitating the 
 acquisition of the iron required for maintaining the efficiency of rail- 
 road communication on the important military lines are commended 
 to your favor. The necessity for the operation in full vigor of such 
 lines is too apparent to need comment. 
 
 The question in dispute between the two Governments relative to 
 the exchange of prisoners of war has been frequently presented in 
 former messages and reports, and is fully treated by the Secretary. 
 The solicitude of the Government for the relief of our captive fellow- 
 citizens, has known no abatement ; but has, on the contrary, been still 
 moro deeply evoked by the additional sufferings to which they have 
 been wantonly subjected, by deprivation of adequate food, clothing 
 and fuel, which they were not even permitted to purchase from the 
 prison sutlers. Finding that the enemy attempted to excuse their 
 barbarous treatment by the unfounded allegation that it was retaliatory 
 for like conduct on our part, an offer was made by us with a view of 
 ending all pretext for such recriminations, or pretended retaliation. 
 
 The offer has been accepted, and each Government is, hereafter, to 
 be allowed to provide necessary comforts to its own citizens held cap- 
 tive by the other. Active efforts are in progress for the immediate 
 execution of this agreement, and it is hoped that but few days will 
 elapse before we shall bo relieved from the distressing thought that 
 painful physical suffering is endured by so many of our fellow citizens 
 whose fortitude in captivity illustrates the national character as fully 
 as did their Yalor in actual conflict. 
 
 Employment of Slaves. 
 
 The employment of slaves for service with the army as teamsters, 
 or cooks, or in the way of work upon fortifications, or in the Govern- 
 ment workshops, or in hospitals, and other similar duties, was author- 
 ized by the act of 1 7th February last, and provision was made for 
 their impressment-to a number not exceeding twenty thousand, if it 
 
IU 
 
 should be found impracticable to obtain them by contract with the 
 owners. The law contemplated the hiring only of the labor of these 
 slaves and imposed on the Government the liability to pay for the 
 value of such as might be lost to the owners from casualties resulting 
 from their employment in the service. 
 
 This act has produced less result than was anticipated, and further 
 provision is required to render it efficacious. But my present purpose 
 is to invite your consideration to the propriety of a radical modifica- 
 tion in the theory of the law. 
 
 Viewed merely as property, and therefore as the subject of impress- 
 ment the service or labor of the slave has been frequently claimed for 
 short periods, in the construction of defensive works. The slave, 
 however, bears another relation to the State, that of a person. The 
 law of last February contemplates only the relation of the slave to 
 the master, and limits the impressment to a certain term of service. 
 But for the purposes enumerated in the act, instruction in the manner 
 of encamping, marching and parking trains is needful, so that even 
 in this limited employment, length of service adds greatly to the value 
 of the negro's labor. Hazard is also encountered in all the positions 
 to which negroes can be assigned for service with the army, and the 
 duties required of them demand loyalty and zeal. In this aspect the 
 relation of person predominates so far as to render it doubtful whether 
 the private right of property can consistently and beneficially be con- 
 tinued, and it would seem proper to acquire for the public service the 
 entire property in the labor of the slave, and to pay therefor due 
 compensation, rather than to impress his labor for short terms ; and 
 this the more especially as the effect of the present law would vest 
 this entire property in all cases where the slave might be recaptured 
 after compensation for his loss had been paid to the private owner. 
 Whenever the entire property in the service of a slave is thug acquired 
 by the Government, the question is presented, by what tenure he 
 should be held. Should he be retained in servitude or should his 
 emancipation be held out to him as a reward for faithful service, or 
 should it be granted at once on the promise of such service ; and if 
 emancipated, what action should be taken to secure for the freed-man 
 the permission of the State from which he was drawn to reside within 
 its limits after the close of his public service. The permission would 
 doubtless be more readily accorded as a reward for past faithful ser- 
 vice ; and a double motive for zealous discharge of duty would thus 
 be offered to those employed by the Government, their freedom, and 
 the gratification of the local attachment which is so marked a charac- 
 teristic of the negro, and forms so powerful an incentive to his action. 
 The policy of engaging to liberate the negro on his discharge after 
 service faithfully rendered, seems to me preferable to that of granting 
 immediate manumission, or that of retaining him in servitude. If 
 this policy should recommend itself to the judgment of Congress, it 
 is suggested that, in addition to the duties heretofore performed by the 
 slave, he might be advantageously employed as pioneer and engineer 
 laborer ; and in that event, that the number should be augmented to 
 forty thousand. 
 
11 
 
 Beyond this limit and these employments it does not seem to me de- 
 sirable, under existing circumstances, to go. A broad moral distinc- 
 tion exists between the use of slaves as soldiers in the defence of their 
 homes, and the incitement of the same persons to insurrection against 
 their masters. The one is justifiable if necessary, the other is 
 iniquitous and unworthy of a civilized people ; and such is the judg- 
 ment of all writers on public law, as well as that expressed and in- 
 sisted on by our enemies in all Wars prior to that now waged against 
 us. By none have the practices, of which they are now guilty, been 
 denounced with greater severity than by themselves in the two wars 
 with Great Britain in the last and in the present century ; and in the 
 Declaration of Independence of 1776, when enumeration was made 
 of the wrongs which justified the revolt from Great Britain, the climax 
 of atrocity was deemed to be reached only when the English monarch 
 was denounced as having " excited domestic insurrections amongst 
 us." 
 
 The subject is to be viewed by us, therefore, solely in the light of 
 policy and our social economy. When so regarded, I must dissent from 
 those who advise a general levy and arming of the slaves for the duty 
 of soldiers. Until our white population shall prove insufficient for the 
 armies we require and can afford to keep in the field, to employ as a 
 ioldier the negro who has merely been trained to labor, and as a laborer 
 the white man accustomed from his youth to the use of fire arms, 
 would scarcely be deemed wise or advantageous by any : and this is 
 the question now before us. But should the alternative ever be pre- 
 sented of subjugation or of the employment of the slave as a soldier, 
 there seems no reason to doubt what should then be our decision. 
 Whether our view embraces what would, in so extreme a case, be the 
 sum of misery entailed by the dominion of the enemy, or be restricted 
 solely to the effect upon the welfare and happiness of the negro popu- 
 lation themselves, the result would be the same. The appalling de- 
 moralization, suffering, disease and death which have been caused by 
 partially substituting the invaders' system of police, for the kind re- 
 lation previously subsisting between the master and slave, have been 
 a sufficient demonstration that external interference with our institu- 
 tion of domestic slavery is productive of evil only. If the subject 
 involved no other consideration than the mere right of property, the 
 sacrifices heretofore made by our people have been such as to permit 
 no doubt of their readiness to surrender every possession in order to 
 secure their independence. But the social and political question 
 whi WMb exclusively under the control of the several States, has a far 
 wider and more enduring importance than that of pecuniary interest. 
 In its manifold phases it embraces the stability of our republican in- 
 stitutions, resting on the actual political equality of all its citizens, 
 and includes the fulfillment of the task which has been so happily be- 
 gun — that of christianizing, and improving the condition of the Africans 
 who have, by the will of Providence, been placed in our charge. 
 Comparing the results of our own experience with those of the experi- 
 ments of others who have borne similar relation to the African race, 
 
n 
 
 the people of the several. States of the Confederacy have abundant 
 reason to be satisfied with the past, and to use the greatest circum- 
 spection in determining their course. These considerations, how- 
 ever, are rather applicable to the improbable contingency of our need 
 of resorting to this element of resistance than to our present condi- 
 tion. If the recommendation above made, for the training of forty 
 thousand negroes for the service indicated, shall meet your approval, 
 it is certain that even this limited number, by their preparatory training 
 in intermediate duties, would form a more valuable reserve force, in 
 case of urgency, than three-fold their number suddenly called from 
 field labor ; while a fresh levy could, to a certain extent, supply their 
 places in the special service for which they are now employed. 
 
 Other Departments. 
 
 The regular annual reports of the Attorney General, the Secretary 
 of the Navy and the Postmaster General are appended, and give 
 any)le information relative to the condition of the respective depart- 
 ments. They contain suggestions for legislative provisions required 
 to remedy such defects in the existing laws as have, been disclosed by 
 experience, but none of so general or important a character as to re- 
 quire that I should do more than recommend them to your favorable 
 consideration. 
 
 Negotiations for Peace. 
 
 The disposition of this Government for a peaceful solution of the 
 issues which the enemy has referred to the arbitrament of arms, has 
 been too often manifested, and is too well known to need new assur- 
 ances. But while it is true that individuals and parties in the United 
 States have indicated a desire to substitute reason for force, and by 
 negotiation to stop the further sacrifice of human life, and to arrest 
 the calamities which now afflict both countries, the authorities who 
 control the government of our enemies have too often and too clearly 
 expressed their resolution to make no peace except on terms of our 
 unconditional submission and degradation, to leave us any hope of 
 the cessation of hostilities until the delusion of their ability to con- 
 quer us is dispelled. Among those who are already disposed for 
 peace, many are actuated by principle and by disapproval and abhor- 
 rence of the iniquitous warfare that their government is waging, 
 while others are moved by the conviction that it is no longer^ the 
 interest of the United States to continue a struggle in which success 
 is unattainable. Whenever this fast-growing conviction shall have 
 taken firm root in the minds of a majority of the Northern people, 
 there will be produced that willingness to negotiate for peace which 
 is noW confined to our side. Peace i3 manifestly impossible unless 
 desired by both parties to this war, and the disposition for it among 
 our enemies will be best and most certainly evoked by the demonstra- 
 tion on our part of ability and unshaken determination to defend ou? 
 
13 
 
 rights, and to hold no earthly price too dear for their purchase. 
 Whenever there shall be on the part of our enemies a desire for peace, 
 there will be no difficulty in finding means by which negotiation can 
 bo opened ; but it is obvious that no agency can be called into action 
 until this desire shall be mutual. When that contingency shall hap- 
 pen, the Government, to which is confided the treaty-making power, 
 can be at no loss for means adapted to accomplish bo desirable an end. 
 In the hope that the day will soon be reached, when, under Divine 
 favor, these States may be allowed to enter on their former peaceful 
 pursuits, and to develope the abundant natural resources with which 
 they are blessed, let us then resolutely continue to devote our united 
 and unimpaired energies to the defence of our homes, our lives and 
 our liberties. This is the true path to peace. Let us tread it with 
 confidence in the assured result. 
 
 JEFFEESON DAVIS. 
 ^Richmond, November 7ih f 1864. 
 

 
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