ECHOES
FROM THE SOCUTH.
COMPRISING
THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECHES, PROCLAMATIONS,
AND PUBLIC ACTS EMANATING FROM THE
SOUTH DURING THE LATE WAR.
NEW YORK:
E. B. TREAT & CO.
BALTIMORE, MD., L. T. PALMER & CO. ST. LOUIS, Mo., I. S. BRAINARD.
LOUISVILLE, KY., G. B. FESSENDEN & CO.
CHARLESTON, S. C., ROBT. WILSON. MEMPHIS, TEw., J. B. SUTTON.
GEO. W. LOYD, AUGUSTA, GA., AND AUBURN, ALA.




ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
E. B. TREAT.
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York.
MACDONALD & STONIE, CRINTtR3 AND STEREOTYPERS, 4$ CtNTRI SYR[Iff, M. Y1




NOTICE.
The iPublishers present this little volume to the
public in the belief that a record of the great
speeches and public acts emanating fromn the South
during the late struggle, will prove, as a matter
of History, both valuable and interesting  to all
classes of readers.








C ONTENTS.
PAGE.
SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS, delivered in the Hall
of the House of Representatives of Georgia, Nov.
14, 1860,........    7
DECLARATION OF CAUSES WHICH INDUCED THE SECESSION OF
SOUTH CAROLINA,......    45
ORDINANCES OF SECESSION:
SOUTH CAROLINA,.......  56
LOUISIANA,.......           57
ALABAMA,........  58
ARKANSAS,.......           61
NORTH CAROLINA,......  63
VIRGINIA,........           65
TEXAS,......  67
MISSISSIPPI,.......           69
FLORIDA,........  69
GEORGIA,........            71
SPEECH OF JEFFERSON DAVIS, on leaving the United States
Senate,........  72




vi                    CONTENTS.
PAGE
AFRICAN SLAVERY, THE CORNER-STONE OF THE SOUTHERN
CONFEDERACY. A Speech by Hon. Alexander H.
Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate States of
America, delivered at the Atheneum, Savannah,
March, 22, 1861,......        77
ROBERT TOOMBs' ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA,
Telegraphed from Washington Dec. 23, 1860,. 103
THE CONSTITUTION  OF THE CONFEDERATE  STATES OF
AMERICA,........    105
THE CONFEDERATE CABINET AND CONGRESS,.. 134
INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF JEFFEESON DAVIS,..    137
SPEECH OF PRESIDENT DAVIS, at Richmond June 1, 1861,  146
SPEECH OF EX-GOVErNOR HENRY A. WISE,... 150
PROCLAMATION BY JEFFERSON  DAVIS, Granting Letters
of Marque,.......    154
SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS, at Atlanta, Ga., April
30, 1861,........ 157
SPEECH OF J. M. MAsoN, at Richmond, Va., June 8. 1861, 166
SAM HOUSTON'S SPEECH, at Independence, Texas, May 10, 174
SPEECH OF HOWELL COBB, at Atlanta, Ga., May 22, 1861, 182
GEN. R. E. LEE'S ADDRESS TO HIS TRoops,..    188
SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS, at Richmond, Va.,
April 22, 1861,....... 191
THE LAST MANIFESTO OF THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS,   196
THE LAST PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT DAVIS,.. 203
GENERALS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY,...    206




ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
SPEECH OF HON, A, H. STEPHENS,
DELIVERED IN TIIE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF GEORGIA, N'OV. 14, 1860.
FELLOW-CITIZENS: I appear before you to-night
at the request of members of the Legislature and
others to speak of matters of the deepest interest
that can possibly concern us all of an earthly character. There is nothing-no question or subject
connected with this life —that concerns a free people
so intimately as that of the Government under which
they live. We are now, indeed, surrounded by evils.
Never since I entered upon the public stage has the
country been so environed with difficulties and dangers that threatened the public peace and the very
existence of society as now. I do not now appear




8           ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
before you at my own instance. It is not to gratify
desire of my own that I am here. IIad I consulted
my own ease and pleasure I should not be before
you; but, believing that it is the duty of every good
citizen to give his counsels and views whenever the
country is in danger, as to the best policy to be
pursued, I am  here. For these reasons, and these
only, do I bespeak a calm, patient, and attentive
hearing.
My object is not to stir up strife, but to allay it;
not to appeal to your passions, but to your reason.
Good governments can never be built up or sustained by the impulse of passion. I wish to address
myself to your good sense, to your good judgment,
and if after hearing you disagree, let us agree to disagree, and part as we met, friends. We all have the
same object, the same interest. That people should
disagree in republican governments, upon questions
of public policy, is natural. That men should disagree upon all matters connected with human investigation, whether relating  to science or  luman
conduct, is natural. Hence, in free governments,
parties will arise. But a free people should express
their different opinions with liberality and charity,
with no acrimony towrads those of their fellows,
when honestly and sincerely given. These are my
feelings to-night.




SP'EECIL OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      9
Let us, therefore, reason together. It is not my
purpose to say aught to wound the feelings of any
individual who may be present; and if in the ardency
with which I shall express my opinions, I shall say
anything which may be deemed too strong, let it be
set down to the zeal with which I advocate my own
convictions. There is with me no intention to irritate or offend.
The first question that presents itself is, shall the
people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of the election of MIr. Lincoln to the presidency of the United States?  M y countrymen, Itell
you franklcy, oandidly, and earnestly, that I do not
thinkl that they ought. In my judgment, the election of no man, constitutionally chosen to that high
office, is sufficient cause for any State to separate
from the Union. It ought to stand by and aid still
in maintaining the constitution of the country. To
make a point of resistance to the Government, to
withdraw from it because a man has been constitutionally elected, puts us in the wrong. We are
pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of
us have sworn to support it. Can we, therefore, for
the mere election of a man to the Presidency, and
that, too, in accordance with the prescribed forms of
the Constitution, make a point of resistance to the
Government without becoming the breakers of that




10          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
sacred instrument ourselves, withdraw ourselves
from it? Would we not be in the wrong?  Whatever fate is to befall this country, let it never be laid
to the charge of the people of the South, and especially to the people of Georgia, that we were untrue
to our national engagements. Let the fault and the
wrongl rest upon others. If all our hopes are to be
blasted, if the Republic is to go down, let us be
found to the last moment standing on the deck, with
the Constitution of the United States waving over
our heads. (Applause.) Let the fanatics of the
North break the Constitution, if such is their fell
purpose. Let the responsibility be upon them. I
shall speak presently more of their acts; but let not
the South, let us not be the ones to commit the aggression. We went into  the election with this
people. The result was different from  what we
wished; but the election has been constitutionally
held. Were we to make a point of resistance to
the Government and go out of the Union on that
account, the record would be made up hereafte'r
against us.
are against the Constitution, and that if lie carries
them out it will be destructive of our rights. Let us
not anticipate a threatened evil. If he violates the
Constitution then will come our time to act. Do




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.       11
not let us break it because, forsooth, he may. If he
does, that is the time for us to strike. (Applause.)
I think it would be injudicious and unwise to do
this sooner. I do- not anticipate that Mr. Lincoln
will do anything to jeopardize our safety or security,
whatever may be his spirit to do it; for he is bound
by the constitutional checks which are thrown
around him, which at this time renders him powerless to do any great mischief. This shows the wisdoml of our system. The President of the United
States is no emperor, no dictator —hlie is clothed
with no absolute power. He can do nothing unless
he is backed by power in Congress. The House of
Representatives is largely in the majority against
him.
In the Senate he will also be powerless. There
will be a majority of four against him. This, after
the loss of Bigler, Fitch, and others, by the unfortunate dissensions of the National Democratic party
in their States. Mr. Lincoln cannot appoint an officer without the consent of the Senate —he cannot
form a Cabinet without the samne consent. Ile will
be in the condition of George III., (the embodiment
of Toryism,) who had to ask the Wrhigs to appoint
his ministers, and was compelled to receive a cabinet
utterly opposed to his views; and so Mr. Lincoln
will be compelled to ask of the Senate to choose for




12          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
him a cabinet, if the Democracy of that body choose
to put him on such terms. He will be compelled to
do this or let the Government stop, if the National
Dermocratic men-for that is their name at the North
-the conservative men in the Senate, should so
determine. Then, how can Mr. Lincoln obtain a
cabinet which would aid him, or allow him to violate
the Constitution?
Why then, I say, should we disrupt the ties of
this Union when his hands are tied, when he can do
nothing against us? I have heard it mooted that no
man in the State of Georgia, who is true to her
interests, could hold office under Mr. Lincoln. But,
I ask, who appoints to office? Not the President
alone; the Senate has to concur. No man can be
appointed without the consent of the Senate. Should
any man then refuse to hold office that was given to
him by a Democratic Senate?  [Mir. Toormbs interrupted and said if the Senate was Democratic it was
fobr Mr. Breckinridge.] Well, then, continued Mir.
S., I apprehend no man could be justly considered
untrue to the interests of Georgia, or incur any disgrace, if the interests of G-eorgia required it, to hold
an offlice which a Breckinridge Senate had given
him, even though Mr. Lincoln should be President.
(Prolonged applause, mingled with interruptions.)
I trust, my countrymen, you will be still and




SPEECH OF EON. A. H. STEPHENS.      13
silent. I am addressing your good sense. I am
giving you mly views in a calm and dispassionate
manner, and if any of you differ with me, you can,
on any other occasion, give your views as I amn doing
now, and let reason and true patriotism decide between us. In my judgment, I say, under such circumstances, there would be no possible disgrace for a
Southern man to hold office. No man will be suffered to be appointed, I have no doubt, who is not
true to the Constitution, if Southern Senators are
true to their trusts, as I cannot permit myself to
doubt that they will be.
My honorable friend who addressed you last
night, (IMr. Toomnbs,) and to whom I listened with
the profoundest attention, asks if we would submit
to Black Republican rule? I say to you and to him,
as a Georgian, I never would submit to any Black
Republican  aggression  upon  our constitutional
rights. I will never consent myself, as much as I
admire this Union for the glories of the past, or the
blessings of the present, as much as it has done for
the people of all these States, as much as it has done
for civilization, as much as the hopes of the world
hang upon it, I would never submit to aggression
upon my rights to maintain it longer; and if they
cannot be maintained in the Union, standing on the
Georgia platform, where I have stood from the time




14          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
of its adoption, I would be in favor of disrupting
every tie which binds the States together.
I will have equality ior Georgia and for the
citizens of Georgia in this Union, or I will look for
new safeguards elsewhere. This is my position.
The only question now is, can they be secured in the
Union? That is what I am counselling with you
to-night about. Can it be secured?  In my judgment it may be, but it may not be; but let us do all
we can, so that in the future, if the worst come, it
may never be said we were negligent in doing our
duty to the last.
My countrymen, I am not of those who believe
this Union has been a curse up to this time. True
men, men of integrity, entertain different views from
me on this subject. I do not question their right to
do so; I would not inipugn their motives in so
doing. Nor will I undertake to say that this Government of our fathers is perfect. There is nothing
perfect in this world of a human origin. Nothing
connected with humnan nature, from man himself to
any of his works. You may select the wisest and
best men for your judges, and yet how many defects
are there in the administration of justice   You
may select the wisest and best men for your legislators, and yet how many defects are apparent in
your laws a And it is so in our Government.




SPEECH OF HON. A. HI. STEPHENS.     15
But that this Government of our fathers, with all
its defects, comes nearer the objects of all good
Governments than any other on the face of the earth
is my settled conviction. Contrast it now with any
on the face of the earth.  [England, said lMr.
Toombs.]-England, my friend says. Well, that is
the next best, I grant; but I think we have improved
upon England.  Statesmen tried their apprentice
hand on the Government of England, and then ours
was made. Ours sprung from that, avoiding many
of its defects, taking most of the good and leaving
out many of its errors, and from the whole constructing and building up this model Republic-the best
which the history of the world gives an account
of.
Compare, my friends, this Government with that
of Spain, Mexico, and South American Republics,
Gertnany, Ireland-are there any sons of that downtrodden nation here to-night?-Prussia, or if you
travel further East, to Turkey or China. Whe-re
will you go, following the sun in its circuit round
our globe, to find a Government that better protects
the liberties of its people, and secures to them the
blessings we enjoy? (Applause.) I think that one
of the evils that beset us is a surfeit of liberty, an
exuberance of the priceless blessings for which we
are ungrateful. We listened to my honorable friend




16          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
who addressed you last night, (Mr. Toomnbs,) as he
recounted the evils of this Government.
The first was the fishing bounties, paid mostly to
the sailors of New England. Our friend stated that
forty-eight years of our Government was under the
administration of Southern Presidents. Well, these
fishing bounties began under the rule of a Southern
President, I believe. No one of them during the
whole forty-eight years ever set his Administration
against the principle or policy of them. It is not
for me to say whether it was a wise policy in the
beginning; it probably was not, and I have nothing
to say in its defence. But the reason given for it
was to encourage our young men to go to sea and
learn to manage ships. We had at the time but a
small navy. It was thought best to encourage a
class of our people to become acquainted with seafaring life; to become sailors; to Inan our nava]
ships. It requires practice to walk the deck of a
ship, to pull the ropes, to furl the sails, to go aloft, to
climb the mast; and it was thought, by offering this
bounty, a nursery might be formed in which young
men would become perfected in these arts, and it
applied to one section of the country as well as to
any other.
The result of this was, that in the war of 1812
our sailors, many of whom came from this nursery,




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPI-IENS.    17
were equal to any that England brought against us.
At any rate, no small part of the glories of that war
were gained by the veteran tars of America, and the
object of these bounties was to foster that branch of
the national defence. My opinion is, that whatever
may have been the reason at first, this bounty ought
to be discontinued-the reason for it at first no
longer exists. A bill for this object did pass the
Senate the last Congress I was in, to which my
honorable friend contributed greatly, but it was not
reached in the House of Representatives. I trust
that he will yet see that he may with honor continue
his connection with the Government, and that his
eloquence, unrivalled in the Senate, may hereafter,
as heretofore, be displayed in having this bounty, so
obnoxious to him, repealed and wiped off from the
statute book.
The next evil that my friend complained of was
the Tariff. Well, let us look at that for a moment.
About. the  time I commenced  noticing public
matters, this question was agitating the country
almost as fearfully as the slave question now is. In
1832, when I was in college, South Carolina was
ready to nullify or secede from the Union on this
account. And what have we seen? The Tariff no
longer distracts the public councils. Reason has
triumphed!  The present Tariff was voted for by




18          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Massachusetts and South Carolina. The lion and
the lamb lay down together-every man in the
Senate and House frol Massachusetts and South
Carolina, I think, voted for it, as did my honorable
friend himself. And if it be true, to use the figure
of speech of my honorable friend, that every man in
the North that works in iron and brass and wood has
his muscle strengthened by the protection of the
Government, that stimulant was given by his vote,
and I believe every other Southern man. So we
ought not to complain of that.
Mr. TooruBs —The tariff assessed the duties.
Mr. STEPHENs —Yes, and  Massachusetts with
unanimity voted with the South to lessen them, and
they were made just as low as Southern men asked
them to be, and that is the rates they are now at.
If reason and argument, with experience, produced
such changes in the sentiments of Massachusetts
from 1832 to 1857, on the subject of the Tariff, may
not like changes be effected there by the same
means —reason and argument, and appeals to patriotism on the present vexed question; and who can say
that by 1875 or 1890 Massachusetts may not vote
with South Carolina and Georgia upon all those
questions that now  distract the  country, and
threaten its peace and existence. I believe in the
power and efficiency of truth, in the omnipotence of




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.     19
truth, and its ultimate triumph when properly
wielded. (Applause.)
Another matter of grievance alluded to by my
honorable friend was the navigation laws. This
policy was also commenced under the Administration of one of these Southern Presidents who
ruled so well, and has been continued through all of
them since. The gentleman's views of the policy of
these laws and my own do not disagree. We
occupied the same ground in relation to them in
Congress. It is not my purpose to defend them
now. But it is proper to state some matters connected with their origin.
One of the objects was to build up a commercial
American marine by giving American bottoms the
exclusive carrying trade between our own ports.
This is a great arm of national power. This object
was accomplished. We have now an amount of
shipping, not only coastwise, but to foreign countries, which puts us in the front rank of the nations
of the world. England can no longer be styled
the Mistress of the Seas.  What American is
not proud of the result. Whether those laws
should be continued is another question.  But
one thing is certain: no President, Northern or
Southern, has ever yet recommended their repeal.  And  my friend's efforts to  get them




20          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTET.
repealed were met with but little favor, North
or South.
These, then, were the true main grievances or
grounds of complaint against the general system of
our Government and its workings-I mean the
administration of the Federal Government. As to
the acts of the Federal States, I shall speak
presently, but these three were the main ones used
against the common head. Now, suppose it be
admitted that all of these are evils in the system, do
they overbalance and outweigh the advantages and
great good which this same Government affords in a
thousand innumerable ways that cannot be estimated?  Have we not at the South, as well as at
the North, grown great, prosperous, and happy
under its operation?.Has any part of the world
ever shown such rapid progress in the development
of wealth, and all the material resources of national
power and greatness, as the Southern States have
under the General Government, notwitstanding all
its defects?
Mr. TooMBs-In spite of it.
Mr. STEPHENS-My honorable friends says we
have, in spite of the General Government; that
without it I suppose he thinks we might have done
as well, or perhaps, than we have done this in spite
of it. That may be, and it may not be; but the




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHEN8.     21
great fact that we have grown great and powerful
under the Government as it exists, there is no conjecture or speculation about that; it stands out bold,
high, and prominent like your Stone MIountain, to
which the gentleman alluded in illustrating home
facts in his record-this great fact of our unrivalled
prosperity in the Union as it is admitted; whether
all this in spite of the Government-whether we of
the South would have been better off without the
Government —is, to say the least, problematical.
On the one side we can only put the fact against
speculation and conjecture on the other. But even
as a question of speculation I differ with my distinguished friend.
What we would have lost in border wars without
the Union, or what we have gained simply by the
peace it has secured, no estimate can be made of.
Our foreign trade, which is the foundation of all
our prosperity, has the protection of the navy, which
drove the pirates from the waters near our coast,
where they had been buccaneering for centuries
before, and might have been still had it not been for
the American Navy under the command of such
spirits as Commodore Porter. Now that the coast
is clear, that our commerce flows freely outwardly,
we cannot well estimate how it would have been
under other circumstances. The influence of the




22          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Government on us is like that of the atmosphere
around us. Its benefits are so silent and unseen
that they are seldom thought of or appreciated.
We seldom think of the single element of oxygen
in the air we breathe, and yet let this simple, unseen,
and unfelt agent be withdrawn, this.life-giving element be taken away from this all-pervading fluid
around us, and what instant and appalling changes
would take place in all organic creation.
It may be that we are all that we are in " spite
of the General Government," but it mayv be that
without it we should have been far different from
what we are now. It is true there is no equal part
of the earth with natural resources superior perhaps
to ours. That portion of this country known as the
Southern States, stretching from the Chesapeake to
the Rio Grande, is fully equal to the picture drawn
by the honorable and eloquent Senator last night, in
all natural capacities.  But how many ages and
centuries passed before these capacities were developed to reach this advanced age of civilization?
There these same hills, rich in ore, same rivers, same
valleys and plains, are as they have been since they
came fromn the hand of the Creator; uneducated and
uncivilized man roamed over them for how long no
history informs us.
It was only under our institutions that they could




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      23
be developed. Their development is the result of
the enterprise of our people under operations of the
Government and institutions under which we have
lived. Even our people without these never would
have done it. The organization of society has much
to do with the development of the natural resources
of any country or any land. The institutions of a
people, political and moral, are the matrix in which
the germ of their organic structure quickens into life
takes root and develops in form, nature and character.
Our institutions constitute the basis, the matrix, from
which spring all our characteristics of development
and greatness. Look at Greece. There is the same
fertile soil, the same blue sky, the same inlets and
harbors, the same ~Egean, the same Olympus; there
is the same land where Homer suJg, where Pericles
spoke; it is in nature the same old Greece-but it is
living Greece no more. (Applause.)
Descendants of the same people inhabit the country; yet what is the reason of this mighty difference?
In the midst of present degradation we see the glorious fragments of ancient works of art-temples with
ornaments and inscriptions that excite wonder and
admiration-the remains of a once high order of
civilization which have outlived the language they
spoke-upon them all Ichabod is written-their glory
has departed. Why is this so? I answer, their in



24           ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
stitutions have been destroyed. These were but the
fruits of their forms of goverment, the matrix from
which their grand development sprung, and when
once the institutions of a people have been destroyed,
there is no earthly power that can bring back the
Promethean spark to kindle them here again, any
more than in that ancient land of eloquence, poetry,
and song. (Applause.)
The same may be said of Italy. Where is Rome,
once the mistress of the world? There are the same
seven hills now, the same soil, the same natural resources; nature is the same, but what a ruin of
human greatness meets the eye of the traveller
throughout the length and breadth of that most downtrodden land! Why have not the people of that
Heaven-favored clime the spirit that animated their
fathers? Why this sad difference?
It is the destruction of her institutions that has
caused it; and, my countrymen, if we shall in an
erT2 Ahoar rash?y pual_ down and destroy those fnstftutions which the patriotic band of our fathers labored
so long and so hard to build up, and which have done
so much for us and the world, who can venture the
prediction that similar results will not ensue? Let
us avoid it if we can. I trust the spirit is among us
that will enable us to do it. Let us not rashly tlry
the experiment, for if it fails as it did in Greece and




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      25
Italy, and in the South American Republics, and in
every other place, wherever liberty is once destroyed,
it may never be restored to us again. (Applause.)
There are defects in our Government, errors in
administration, and shortcomings of many kinds, but
in spite of these defects and errors, Georgia has grown
to be a great State. Let us pause here a moment.
In 18.50 there was a great crisis, but not so fearful as
this, for of all I ever passed through, this is the most
perilous, and requires to be met with the greatest
calmness and deliberation.
There were many amongst us in 1850 zealous to
go at once out of the Union, to disrupt every tie that
binds us together. Now do you believe, had that
policy been carried out at that time, we would have
been the same great people that we are to-day? It
may be that we would, but have you any assurance
of that fact? Would you have made the same advancement, improvement, and progress in all that
constitutes material wealth and prosperity that we
have?
I notice in the Comptroller-General's report, that
the taxable property of Georgia is $670,000,000 and
upwards, an amount not far from double that it was
in 1850. I think I may venture to say that for the
last ten years the material wealth of the people of
Georgia has been nearly if not quite doubled. The
2




26          E CHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
same may be said of our advance in education, and
every thing that marks our civilization. Have we
any assurance that had we regarded the earnest but
misguided patriotic advice, as I think, of some of
that day, and disrupted the ties which bind us to the
Union, we would have advanced as we have?  I
think not. Well, then, let us be careful now before
we attempt any rash experiment of this sort. I know
that there are friends whose patriotism I do not intend to question, who think this Union a curse, and
that we would be better off without it. I do not so
think; if we can bring about a correction of these
evils which threaten-and I am not without hope
that this may not yet be done-this appeal to go out,
with all the provisions for good that accompany it,
I look upon as a great and I fear a fatal temptation.
When I look around and see our prosperity in
every thing, agriculture, commerce, art, science, and
every department of education, physical and mental,
as well as moral advancement, and our colleges, I
think, in the face of such an exhibition, if we can
without the loss of power, or any essential right or
interest, remain in the Union, it is our duty to ourselves and to posterity to-let us not too readily
yield to this temptation-do so. Our first parents,
the great progenitors of the human race, were not
without a like temptation when in the Garden of




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      27
Eden. They were led to believe that their condition
would be bettered-that their eyes would be opened
-and that they would become as gods. They in an
evil hour yielded-instead of becoming gods they
only saw their own nakedness.
I look upon this country with our institutions as
the Eden of the world, the paradise of the universe.
It may be that out of it we may become greater and
more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in
telling you that I fear if we rashly evince passion
and without sufficient cause shall take that step, that
instead of becoming greater or more peaceful, prosperous, and happy —instead of becoming gods, we
will become demons, and at no distant day commence
cutting one another's throats. This is my apprehension. Let us, therefore, whatever we do, meet these
difficulties, great as they are, like wise and sensible
men, and consider them in the light of all the consequences which may attend our action. Let us see
first clearly where the path of duty leads, and then
we may not fear to tread therein.
I come now to the main question put to me, and
on which my counsel has been asked. That is, what
the present Legislature should do in view of the
dangers that threaten us, and the wrongs that have
been done us by several of our Confederate States in
the Union, by the acts of their legislatures nullifying




28          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
the fugitive slave law, and in direct disregard of their
constitutional obligations. What I shall say will not
be in the spirit of dictation. It will be simply my
own judgment for what it is worth. It proceeds from
a strong conviction that according to it our rights,
interests, and honor-our present safety and future
security can be maintained without yet looking to
the last resort, the "ultimna ratio regun."  That
should not be looked to until all else fails. That
may come.  On this point I amn  hopeful, but not
sanguine. But let us use every patriotic effort to
prevent it while there is ground for hope.
If any view that I may present, in your judgment,
be inconsistent with the best interests of Georgia, I
ask you, as patriots, not to regard it. After hearing
me and others whom you have advised with, act in
the premises according to your own conviction of
duty as patriots. I speak now particularly to the
members of the Legislature present. There are, as
I have said, great dangers ahead. Great dangers
llay come from  the election I have spoken of: If
tile policy of Mr. Lincoln and his Republican associates shall be carried out, or attempted to be carried
out, no n lan in Georgia will be more willing or ready
than myself to defend our rights, interest, and honor
at every hazard, and to the last extremity.  (Applause.)




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.        29
What is this policy? It is' in the first place to
exclude us by an act of Congress from the Territories
with our slave property. He is for using the power
of the General Government against the extension of
our institutions.  Our position on this point is and
ought to be, at all hazards, for perfect equality between all the States, and the citizens of all the States,
in the Territories, under the Constitution of the
United States. If Congress should exercise its power
against this, then I am for standing where Georgia
planted herself in 1850. These were plain propositions which were then laid down ill her celebrated
platform as sufficient for the disruption of the Union
if the occasion should ever come; on these Georgia
has declared that she will go out of the Union; and
for these she would be justified by the nations of the
earth in so doing.
I say the same; I said it then; I say it now, if
Mir. Lincoln's policy should be carried out. I have
told you that I do not think his bare election sufficient cause: but if his policy should be carried out
in violation of any of the principles set forth in the
Georgia Platform, that would be such an act of aggression which ought to be met as therein provided
for. If his policy shall be carried out in repealing
or modifying the Fugitive Slave law so as to weaken
its efficacy, Georgia has declared that she will in the




30          ECOHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
last resort disrupt the ties of the Union, and I say so
too. I stand upon the Georgia Platform, and upon
every plank, and say if those aggressions therein
provided for take place, I say to you and the people
of Georgia, keep your powder dry, and let your
assailants then have lead, if need be. (Applause.)
I would wait for an act of aggression. This is my
position.
Now, upon another point, and that the most difficult and deserving your most serious consideration,
I will speak. That is the course which this State
should pursue towards these Northern States, which
by their legislative acts have attempted to nullify
the Fugitive Slave law. I know that in some of
these States their acts pretend to be based upon the
principles set forth in the case of Prigg against Pennsylvania; that decision did proclaim the doctrine
that the State officers are not bound to carry out the
provisions of a law of Congress-that the Federal
Government cannot impose duties upon State officials;
that they must execute their own laws by their own
officers. And this may be true. But still it is the
duty of the States to deliver fugitive slaves, as well
as the duty of the General Government to see that
it is done.
Northern States, on entering into the Federal
compact, pledged themselves to surrender such fugi



SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      31
tives; and it is in disregard of their obligations that
they have passed laws which even tend to hinder or
obstruct the fulfilment of that obligation. They
have violated their plighted faith; what ought we
to do in view of this?  That is the question. What
is to be done? By the law of nations you would
have a right to demand the carrying out of this
article of agreement, and I do not see that it should
be otherwise with respect to the States of this
Union; and in case it be not done, we would, by
these principles, have the right to commit acts of
reprisal on these faithless Governments, and seize
upon their property, or that of their citizens, whereever found. The States of this Union stand upon
the same footing with foreign nations in this respect.
But by the law of nations we are equally bound,
before proceeding to violent measures, to set forth
our grievances before the offending Government, to
give them an opportunity to redress the wrong. Has
our State yet done this? I think not.
Suppose it were Great Britain that had violated
some compact of agreement with the General Government, what would be first done?  In that
case our Minister would be directed in the first
instance to bring the matter to the attention of that
Government, or a Commissioner be sent to that
country to open negotiations with her, ask for re



32          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
dress, and it would only be when argument and
reason had been exhausted that we should take the
last resort of nations. That would be the course
towards a foreign Government, and towards a member of this Confederacy I would recommend the
same course.
Let us, therefore, not act hastily in this matter.
Let your Committee on the State of the Republic
make out a bill of grievances; let it be sent by the
Governor to those faithless States, and if reason and
argument shall be tried in vain —all shall fail to
induce them to return to their constitutional obligations, I would be for retaliatory measures, such as
the Governor has suggested to you. This mode of
resistance to the Union is in our power. It might
be effectual, and if in the last resort, we would be
justified in the eyes of nations, not only in separating
from them, but by using force.
[Some one said the argument was already
exhausted.]
Mr. STEPHENS continued-Some friend says that
the argument is already exhausted. No, my friend,
it is not. You have never called the attention of the
Legislatures of those States to this subject, that I am
aware of. Nothing has ever been done befbre this
year. The attention of our own people has been
called to this subject lately.




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.       33
Now, then, my recommendation to you would be
this: In view of all these questions of difficulty, let
a convention of the people of Georgia be called, to
which they may be all referred. Let the sovereignty
of the people speak. Some think that the election
of Mr. Lincoln is cause sufficient to dissolve the
Union. Some think those other grievances are sufficient to dissolve the same, and that the Legislature
has the power thus to act, and ought thus to act. I
have no hesitancy in saying that the Legislature is
not the proper body to sever our Federal relations, if
that necessity should arise. An honorable and distinguished gentleman, the other night, (Mr. T. R. R.
Cobb,) advised you to take this course-not to wait
to hear from the cross-roads and groceries. I say to
you, you have no power so to act. You must refer
this question to the people and you must wait to hear
from the men at the cross-roads and even the groceries; for the people in this country, whether at
the cross-roads or the groceries, whether in cottages
or palaces. are all equal, and they are the sovereigns
in this country. Sovereignty is not in the Legislature. We, the people, are the sovereigns. I am
one of them and have a right to be heard, and so has
any other citizen of the State. You legislators, I
speak it respectfully, are but our servants. You
are the servants of the people, and not their
2*




34          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
masters. Power resides with the people in this
country.
The great difference between our country and all
others, such as France and England and Ireland, is,
that here there is popular sovereignty, while there
sovereignty is exercised by kings and favored classes.
This principle of popular sovereignty, however much
derided lately, is the foundation of our institutions.
Constitutions are but the channels through which the
popular will may be expressed. Our Constitution
came from the people. They made it, and they alone
can rightfully unmake it.
Mr. TooMBS —I am afraid of conventions.
Mr. STEPHENS-I am not afraid of any convention legally chosen by the people. I know no way
to decide great questions affecting fundamental laws
except by representatives of the people. The Constitution of the United States was made by the representatives of the people. The Constitution of the
State of Georgia was made by representatives of the
people chosen at the ballot-box. But do not let the
question which comes before the people be put to
them in the language of my honorable friend who
addressed you last night. Will you submit to abolition rule or resist?
Mr. ToO6ns —I do not wish the people to be
cheated.




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.     35
Mr. STEPHENS-NOW, my friends, how are we
going to cheat the people by calling on them to elect
delegates to a convention to decide all these questions without any dictation or direction? Who proposes to cheat the people by letting them speak their
own untrammelled views in the choice of their ablest
and best men, to determine upon all these matters,
involving their peace.
I think the proposition of my honorable friend
had a considerable smack of unfairness, not to say
cheat. He wished to have no convention, but for the
Legislature to submit their vote to the people-submission to abolition rule or resistance? Now, who
in Georgia would vote "submission to abolition
rule? " (Laughter.)
Is putting such a question to the people to vote
on, a fair way of getting an expression of the popular
will on all these questions?  I think not. Now,
who in Georgia is going to submit to abolition rule?
Mr. TooMBs-The convention will.
Mr. STEPHENS —NO, my friend, Georgia will
never do it. The convention will never secede from
the Georgia Platform. Under that there can be no
abolition rule under the General Government. I
am not afraid to trust the people in convention upon
this and all questions. Besides, the Legislature were
not elected for such a purpose. They came here to




36          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
do their duty as legislators. They have sworn to
support the Constitution of the United States. They
did not come here to disrupt this Government. I
am, therefore, for submitting all these questions t6 a
convention of the people. Submit this question to
the people, whether they would submit to abolition
rule or resist, and then let the Legislature act upon
that vote! Such a course would be an insult to the
people.  They would have to eat their platform,
ignore their past history, blot out their records, and
take steps backwards, if they should do this. I have
never eaten my record or words, and never will.
But how will it be under this arrangement if they
should vote to resist, and the Legislature should reassemble with this vote as their instruction? Can
any man tell me what sort of resistance will be
meant? One man would say secede; another pass
retaliatory measures; these are measures of resistance
against wrong-legitimate  and right-and  there
would be as many different ideas as there are members on this floor. Resistance don't mean secession
-that in no proper sense of the term is resistance.
Believing that the times require action, I am for
presenting the question fairly to the people, for calling
together an untrammelled convention, and presenting all the questions to themr whether they wili go
out of the Union, or what course of resistance in the




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.     37
Union they may think best, and then let the Legislature act, when the people in their majesty are
heard, and I tell you now, whatever that convention
does, I hope and trust our people will abide by.
I advise the calling of a convention with the earnest
desire to preserve the peace and harmony of the
State.  I should dislike above all things to see
violent measures adopted, or a disposition to take the
sword in hand, by individuals, without the authority
of law.
My honorable friend said last night, " I ask you
to give me the sword, for if you do not give it to me,
as God lives, I will take it myself."
Mr. TOoMBS —I will. (Applause on the other
side.)
Mr~. STEPHENS-I have no doubt that my honorable friend feels as he says. It is only his excessive
ardor that makes him use such an expression; but
this will pass off with the excitement of the hour.
When the people in their majesty shall speak, I
have no doubt that he will bow to their will, whatever it may be, upon the "sober second thought."
(Applause.)
Should Georgia determine to go out of the Union,
I speak for one, though my views might not agree
with them, whatever the result may be, I shall bow
to the will of her people. Their cause is my cause,




38          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
and their destiny is my destiny; and I trust this will
be the ultimate course of all. The greatest curse
that can befall a free people is civil war.
But, as I said, let us call a convention of the
people; let all these matters be submitted to it, and
when the will of the majority of the people has thus
been expressed, the whole State will present one
unanimous voice in favor of whatever may be demanded; for I believe in the power of the people to
govern themselves when wisdom prevails and passion
is silent.
Look at what has already been done by themn for
their advancement in all that ennobles man. There
is nothing like it in the history of the world. Look
abroad, from one extent of the country to the other,
contemplate our greatness. We are now among the
first nations of the earth. Shall it be said, then, that
ou-r institutions, founded upon principles of selfgovernment, are a failure?
Thus far it is a noble example, worthy of imitation. The gentleman, Mr. Cobb, the other night
said it had proven a failure. A failure in what?  In
growth? Look at our expanse in national power.
Look at our population and increase in all that
makes a people great. A failure? Why are we the
admiration of the civilized world, and present the
brightest hopes of mankind.




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      39
Some of our public men have failed in their aspirations; that is true, and from that comes a great
part of our troubles. (Prolonged applause.)
No, there is no failure of this Government yet.
We have made great advancement under the Constitution, and I cannot but hope that we shall
advance higher yet. Let us be true to our cause.
Now, when this convention assembles, if it shall
be called, as I hope it may, I would say in my judgment, without dictation, for I am conferring with
you freely and frankly, and it is thus that I give my
views, I should take into consideration all those
questions which distract the public mind; should
view all the grounds of secession so far as the election of Mr. Lincoln is concerned, and I have no
doubt they would say that the constitutional election
of no man is'a sufficient cause to break up the
Union, but that the State should wait until he at
least does some unconstitutional act.
MIr. TooMBs —Commit some overt act.
Mr. STEPHENS-NO, I did not say that. The
word overt is a sort of technical term connected with
treason, which has come to us from the mother cointry, and it means an open act of rebellion. I do not
see how Mr. Lincoln can do this unless he should
levy war upon us. I do not, therefore, use the word
overt. I do not intend to wait for that. But I use




40          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
the word unconstitutional act, which our people
understand much better, and which expresses just
what I mean. But as long as he conforms to the
Constitution he should be left to exercise the duties
of his office.
In giving this advice I am but sustaining the
Constitution of my country, and I do not thereby become a Lincoln aid man either, (applause,) but a
Constitutional aid man. But this matter the convention can determine.
As to the other matter, I think we have a right
to pass retaliatory measures, provided they be in
accordance with the Constitution of the United
States, and I think they can be made such.  But
whether it would be wise for this Legislature to do
this now is the question. To the convention, in my
judgment, this matter ought to be referred. Before
we commit reprisals on New England we should exhaust every means of bringing about a peaceful solution of the question.
Thus did Gen. Jackson in the case of the French.
Hie did not recommend reprisals until he had treated
with France, and got her to promise to make indeimnification, and it was only on her refusal to pay the
money whllich she had promised, that he recoinmended reprisals. It was after negotiation had
failed. I do think, therefore, that it would be best,




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      41
before going to extreme measures with our confederate States, to make presentation of our demands, to
appeal to their reason and judgment to give us our
rights. Then, if reason should not triumph, it will
be time enough to commnit reprisals, and we should
be justified in the eyes of a civilized world. At
least let the States know what your grievances are,
and if they refuse, as I said, to give us our rights
under the Constitution of olur country, I should be
willing, as a last resort, to sever the ties of this
Union. (Applause.)
My own opinion is, that if this course be pursued,
and they are informed of the consequences of refusal,
these States will secede; but if they should not, then
let the consequences be with them, and let the
responsibility of the consequences rest upon them.
Another thing I would have that convention to do.
Reaffirm the Georgia Platform with an additional
plank in it. Let that plank be the fulfilment of
the obligation on the part of those States to repeal
these obnoxious laws as a condition of our remailing in the Union. Give them time to consider it,
and I would ask all States south to do the same
thing.
I am for exhausting all that patriotism can demand before taking the last step. I would invite,
therefore, South Carolina to a conference. I would




42          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
ask the same of all the other Southern States,
so that if the evil has got beyond our control,
which God, in his mercy, grant may not be the case,
let us not be divided among ourselves-(cheers,)but, if possible, secure the united co6peration of all
the Southern States; and then, in the face of the
civilized world, we may justify our action; and,
with the wrong all on the other side, we can appeal
to the God of battles to aid us in our cause. (Loud
applause.) But let us not do anything in which any
portion of our people may charge us with rash or
hasty action. It is certainly a matter of great im.i
portance to tear this Government asunder. You
were not sent here for that purpose. I would wish
the whole South to be united if this is to be done;
and I believe if we pursue the policy which I have
indicated, this can be effected.
In this way our sister Southern States can be
induced to act with us, and I have but little doubt
that the States of New York and Pennsylvania and
Ohio, and the other Western States, will compel
their Legislatures to recede from their hostile
attitude if the others do not. Then with these we
would go on without New England if she chose to
stay out.
A voice in the assembly-We will kick them out.
]Mr. STEPHENS-I would not kick them out. But




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      43
if they chose to stay out they might. I think, moreover, that these Northern States being principally
engaged in manufactures, would find that they had
as much interest in the Union under the Constitution as we, and that they would return to their constitutional duty-this would be my hope. If they
should not, and if the Middle States and Western
States do not join us, we should at least have an
undivided South. I am, as you clearly perceive, for
maintaining the Union as it is, if possible. I will
exhaust every means thus to maintain it with an
equality in it. My principles are these:
First, the maintenance of the honor, the rights,
the equality, the security, and the glory of my native
State in the Union; but if these cannot be maintained in the Union, then I am for their maintenance, at all hazards, out of it. Next to the honor
and glory of Georgia, the land of my birth, I hold
the honor and glory of our common country.  In
Savannah I was made to say by the reporters, who
very often make me say things which I never did,
that I was first for the glory of the whole country,
and next for that of Georgia.
I said the exact reverse of this. I am proud of
her history, of her present standing. I am proud
even of her motto, which I would have duly respected
at the present time by all her sons-Wisdom, Jus



44          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
tice, and Moderation. I would have hler rights and
that of the Southern States maintained now upon
these principles. Her position now is just what it
was in 1850, with respect to the Southern States.
Her platform then has been adopted by most, if not
all, the other Southern States. Now I would add
but one additional plank to that platform, which I
have stated, and one which time has shown to be
necessary.
If all this fails, we shall at least have the satisfaction of knowing that we have done our duty and all
that patriotism could require.
MIr. STEPHENS continued for some time on other
matters, which are omitted, and then took his seat
amidst great applause.




DECLARATION OF CAUSES.         45
DECLARATION OF CAUSES
WHICH INDUCED THE SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
TIE people of the State of South Carolina
in Convention assembled, on the 2d day of April,
A. D. 1859, declared that the frequent violations of
the Constitution of the United States by the Federal
Government, and its encroachments upon the
reserved rights of the States, fully justified this
State in their withdrawal from the Federal Union'
but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the
other Slaveholding States, she forbore at that time
to exercise this right.  Since that time these
encroachments have  continued to increase, and
further forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
And now the State of South Carolina, having
resumed her separate and equal place among
nations, deeims it due to herself, to the remaining
United States of America, and to the nations of the
world, that she should declare the immediate causes
which have led to this act.




46          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
In the year 1765, that portion of the British
Empire embracing Great Britain undertook to make
laws for the Government of that portion composed
of the thirteen American Colonies. A struggle for
the right of self-government ensued, which resulted,
on the 4th of July, 1776, in a Declaration, by the
Colonies, " that they are, and of right ought to be,
FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; and that, as free
and independent States, they have full power to levy
war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish
commerce, and to do all other acts and things which
independent States may of right do."
They further solemnly declared that whenever
any " form of government becomes destructive of the
ends for which it was established, it is the right of
the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a
new government." Deeming the Government of
Great Britain to have become destructive of these
ends, they declared that the Colonies "are absolved
from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that
all political connection between them and the State
of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally
dissolved."
In pursuance of this Declaration of Independence, each of the thirteen States proceeded to
exercise its separate sovereignty; adopted for itself
a Constitution, and appointed officers for the




DECLARA TION OF CADlSES.      47
administration of government in all its departments
— Legislative,  Executive and Judicial.  For purposes of defence they united their arms and their
counsels; and, in 1778, they entered into a League
known as the Articles  of Confederation, whereby
they agreed to intrust the administration of their
external relations to a common agent, known as the
Congress of the United States, expressly declaring,
in the first article, " that each State retains its sovereignty, fi'eedom and independence, and every power,
iurisdiction and right which is not, by this Confederation, expressly delegated to the United States in
Congress assembled."
Under this Confederation the War of the PRevolution was carried on; and on the 3d of September,
1783, the contest ended, and a definite Treaty was
signed by Great Britain, in which she acknowledged
the Independence of the Colonies in the following
terms:
~" ARTICLE 1. His Britannic Majesty acknowledgs,es thst ssd Tfizted St~t~es, Yi7.'. Age~ KaXy-skire,
Massachuesetts   Bay, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Nortl
Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be FREE,
SOVEREIGN, AND INDEPENDENT STXTES; that he treats
with them as such; and, for himself, his heirs and




48          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
successors, relinquishes all claims to the government,
propriety, and territorial rights of the same and
every part thereof."
Thus were established the two great principles
asserted by the Colonies, namely, the right of a State
to govern itself; and the right of a people to abolish
a Government when it becomes destructive of the
ends for which it was instituted. And concurrent
with the establishment of these principles, was the
fact that each Colony became and was recognized
by the mother country as a FREE, SOVEREIGN AND
INDEPENDENT STATE.
In 1787, Deputies were appointed by the States
to revise the articles of Confederation; and on 17th
September, 1787, these Deputies recommended, for
the adoption of the States, the Articles of Union,
known as the Constitution of the United States.
The  parties to whom  this constitution was
submitted were the several sovereign States; they
were to agree or disagree, and when nine of them
agreed, the compact was to take effect among those
concurring; and the General Government, as the
common agent, was then to be invested with their
authority.
If only nine of the thirteen States had concurred,
the other four would have remained as they then
were-separate, sovereign States, independent of




DECLARATION OF CAUSES.          49
any of the provisions of the Constitution. In fact,
two of the States did not accede to the Constitution
until long after it had gone into operation among
the other eleven; and during that interval, they
each exercised the functions of an independent
nation.
By this Constitution, certain duties were imposed
upon the several States, and the exercise of certain
of their powers was restrained, which necessarily
impelled their continued existence as sovereign
states. But, to remove all doubt, an amendment was
added, which declared that the powers not delegated
to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people. On the 23d May,
1788, South Carolina, by a Convention of her
people, passed an ordinance assenting to this Constitution, and afterwards altered her own Constitution
to conform herself to the obligation she had undertaken.
Thus was established, by compact between the
States, a Government with defined objects and
powers, limited to the express words of the grant.
This limitation left the whole remaining mass of
power subject to the clause reserving it to the States
or the people, and rendered unnecessary any specification of reserved rights.  We hold that the
3




50          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Government thus established is subject to the two
great principles asserted in the Declaration of Independence; and we hold further that the mode of its
formation subjects it to a third fundamental principle, namely, the law of compact. We maintain
that in every compact between two or more parties,
the obligation is mutual; that the failure of one of
the contracting parties to perform a material part of
the agreement, entirely releases the obligation of the
other; and that where no arbiter is provided, each
party is remitted to his own judgment to determine
the fact of failure, with all its consequences.
In the present case, that fact is established with
certainty. WVe assert that fourteen of the States
have deliberately refused for years past to fufill their
constitutional obligations, and we refer to their own
statutes for the proof.
The Constitution of the United States, in its
fourth Article, provides as follows:
"No person held to service or labor in one State
under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shiall,
in consequence of any law or regulation thlerein, be
discharged firom such service or labor, but shall be
delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such
service or labor may be due."
This stipulation was so material to the compact
that without it that compact would not have been




DECLARATION OF CAUSES.          51
made.  The greater number of the contracting
parties held slaves, and they had previously evinced
their estimate of the value of such a stipulation by
making it a condition in the Ordinance for the
government of the territory ceded by Virginia,
which obligations, and the laws of the General
Government, have ceased to effect the objects of the
Constitution.  The States of Maine, 1New IIampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, have enacted laws
which either nullitfy the acts of Congress, or render
useless any attempt to execute them. In many of
these States the fugitive is discharged from  the
service of labor claimed, and in none of them has the
State Government complied with the stipulation
made in the Constitution. The State of New
Jersey, at an early day, passed a law in conformity
with her constitutional obligation; but the current
of Anti-Slavery feeling has led her mnore recently to
enact laws which render inoperative the remedies
provided by her own laws and by the laws of Congress. In the State of New York even the right of
transit for a slave has been denied by her tribunals;
and the States of Ohio and Iowa have refused to
surrender to justice fugitives charged with murder,
and with inciting servile insurrection in the State of




52          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Virginia. Thus the constitutional compact has been
deliberately broken and disregarded by the nonslaveholding States; and the consequence follows
that South Carolina is released from her obligation.
The ends for which this Constitution was framed
are declared by itself to be " to form a more perfect
union, to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity."
These ends it endeavored to accomplish by a
Federal G)vernTrjent, in which each State was recognized as an equal, and had separate control over its
own institutions. The right of property in slaves
was recognized by giving to free persons distinct
political rights; by giving them the right to represent, and  burdening, them  with  direct taxes for,
three-fifths of their slaves; by authorizing the
importation of slaves for twenty years; and by
stipulating for the rendition of fugitives from labor.
We affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the
Government itself has been destructive of them by
the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those
States have assumed the right of deciding upon the
propriety of our domestic institutions; and have
denied the rights of property established in fifteen of




DECLARATION OF CAUSES.          5`3
the States and recognized by the Constitution; they
have denounced as sinful the institution of Slavery;
they have permitted the open establishment among
them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb
the peace of and eloin the property of the citizens of
other States. They have encouraged and assisted
thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and
those who remain, have been incited by emissaries,
books, and pictures, to servile insurrection.
For twenty-five years this agitation has been
steadily increasing, until it has now secitred to its
aid the power of the common Government. Observing the forms of the Constitution, a sectional party
has found within that article establishing the Executive Department, the means of subverting  the
Constitution itself  A geographical line has been
drawn across the Union, and all the States north of
that line have united in the election of a man to the
high office of President of the United States whose
opinions and purposes are hostile to Slavery. He is
to be intrusted with the administration of the couimon Government, because he has declared that that
" Government cannot endure permanently half slave,
half free," and that the public mind must rest in
the belief that Slavery is in the course of ultimate
extinction.
This sectional combination for the subversion of




54          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
the Constitution has been aided, in some of the
States, by elevating to citizenship persons who, by
the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens; and their votes have been used to
inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and
destructive of its peace and safety.
On the 4th of March next this party will take
possession of the Government. It has announced
that the South shall be excluded from the common
territory, that the Judicial tribunal shall be made
sectional, and that a war nlust be waged against
Slavery until it shall cease throughout the UTnited
States.
The guarantees of the Constitution will then no
longer exist; the equal rights of the States will be
lost. The Slaveholding States will no longer have
the power of self-government, or self-protection,
and the Federal Government will have become their
enemy.
Sectional interest and animosity will deepen the
irritation; and all hope of remedy is rendered vain,
by the fact that the public opinion at the North has
invested a great political error with the sanctions of
a more erroneous religious belief.
We, therefore, the people of South Carolina, by
our Delegates in Convention assembled, appealing
to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude




DECLARATION OF CAUSES.          55
of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the
Union heretofore existing between this State and the
other States of North America is dissolved, and that
the State of South Carolina has resumed her position
among the nations of the world, as a separate and
independent state, with full power to levy war, conellde peace, contract alliances, establish commerce,
and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.




56          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
An Ordinance to Dissolve the Union between the.
State of South Carolina and other States united
with her tnder the compact entitled the Constitution of the United States of America:
We, the people of the State of South Carolina. in
Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it
is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance
adopted by us in Convention, on the 23d day of
AMay, in the year of our Lord 1788, whereby the
Constitution of the United States of America was
ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the
General Assembly of this State ratifying the amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed,
and that the Union now subsisting between South
Carolina and other States, under the name of the
United States of America, is hereby dissolved.
The ordinance was taken up and passed by a
unanimous vote of 169 members, at a quarter past
one o'clock, December 2, 1860.




ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.         57
LOUISIANA.
Anf Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the
State qf'louisia.na and the other States tnited with
her,,under the compact entitled the Constitutio~n
of the United States of America:
We, the people of the State of Louisiana, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is
hereby declared and ordained that the ordinance
passed by the State of 22d November, 1807, whereby
the Constitution of the United States of America
and the amendments of said Constitution were
adopted, and all the laws and ordinances by which
Louisiana became a member of the Federal Union,
be, and the same are hereby repealed and abrogated,
and the Union now subsisting between Louisiana
and the other States, under the name of the United
States of America, is hereby dissolved.
We further declare and ordain, that the State of
Louisiana hereby resumes the rights and powers
heretofore delegated to the Government of the
United  States of America, and its citizens are
absolved firom allegiance to the said Government,
and she is in full possession of all the rights and
sovereignty that appertain to a free and independent
State.
3*t




58          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
We further declare and ordain, that all rights
acquired and vested under the Constitution of the
United States, or any act of Congress, or treaty, or
under laws of this State not incompatible with this
ordinance shall remain in force, and have the same
effect as though this ordinance had not passed.
A resolution was reported to the Convention that
the following be added to the ordinance:
We, the people of Louisiana, recognize the right,
of free navigation of the Mississippi River and
tributaries by all friendly States bordering thereon,
we also recognlize the rights of the ingress and egress
of the mouths of the {Mississippi by all friendly
States and Powers, and hereby declare our willingness to enter into stipulations to guarantee the
exercise of' those rights.
ALABAMA.
An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the
State of Allabama and other States, united under
the compact and style of the United States of
America.
Whereas, The election of Abraham Lincoln and
Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of President and
Vice President of the United States of America, by
a sectional party, avowedly hostile to the domestic




ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.        59
institutions, and peace and security of the people of
the State of Alabama, following upon the heels of
many and dangerous infractions of the Constitution
of the United States, by many of the States and
people of the Northern section, is a political wrong
of so insulting and menacing a character, as to justify
the people of the State of Alabama in the adoption
of prompt and decided measures for their future
peace and prosperity.
Therefore, be it declared and ordained, by the
people of the State of Alabama, in Convention assemblled, that the State of Alabama now withdraws
from the Union, known as the United States of
America, and henceforth ceases to be one of the
said United States, and is, and of right ought to be a
sovereign independent State.
SEC. 2. And be it further declared and ordained
by the people of the State of Alabama in Convention
assembled, that all powers over the territories of
said State, and over the people thereof, heretofore
delegated to the Government of the United States
of America, be, and they are hereby, withdrawn
from the said Government, and are hereby
resumed and vested in the people of the State of
Alabama.
And as it is the desire and purpose of the people
of Alabama, to meet the slaveholding States of the




60          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
South who approve of such a purpose, in order to
frame a revisional as a permanent Government,
upon the principles of the Government of the United
States, be it also resolved by the people of Alabama,
in Convention assembled, that the people of the
States of Delware, hMaryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky
and Missouri, be and. they are hereby invited to
meet the people of the State of Alabama, by their
delegates, in convention, on the 4th day of February
next, in Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, for
the purpose of consultation with each other, as to
the most effectual mode of securing concerted,
harmonious action in whatever measures may be
deemed nmost desirable for the common peace and
security.
And be it further enacted, That the President of
this Convention be and he is hereby instructed to
transmit forthwith a copy of the foregoing preamble,
ordinance and resolutions to the Governors of the
several States named in the said resolution.
Done by the people of Alabama, in Convention
assembled, at Montgomery, this 11th day of January,
1861.
The preamble, ordinance and resolutions were
adopted bv Ayes 61, Nays 39.




ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.         61
ARKANSAS.
An Ordinance to dissolve the Union now existing
between the State of Arkansas and the other States
united with her under the compact entitled  T"he
Constitution of the United States of America."
Whereas, In addition to the well-founded cause
of complaint set forth by this Convention in resolutions adopted on the 11th MIarch, A. D. 1861,
against the sectional party now in power at Wasllington City, headed by Abraham Lincoln, he has, in
the face of the resolutions passed by this Convention,
pledging the State of Arkansas to resist to the last
extremity any attempt on the part of such power to
coerce any State that seceded from the old Union,
proclaimed to the world that war should be waged
against such States, until they should be compelled
to submit to their rule, and large forces to accomnplish this have by this same power been called out,
and are now being marshalled to carry out this
inhuman design, and longer to submit to such rule
or remain in the old Union of the United States
would be disgracefiul and ruinous to the State of
Arkansas:
Therefore, we, the people of the State of
Arkansas, in Convention  assembled, do hereby




62          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and
ordained, that the "ordinance and acceptance of
compact," passed and approved by the General
Assembly of the State of Arkansas on the 18th day
of October, A. D. 1836, whereby it was by said
General Assembly ordained that, by virtue of the
authority invested in said General Assembly, by the
provisions of the ordinance adopted by the Convention of delegates assembled at Little Rock for the
purpose of forming a Constitution and system of
Government for said State, the propositions set forth
in " an act supplementary to an act entitled an act
for the admission of the State of Arkansas into the
Union, and to provide for the due execution of the
laws of the United States within the same, and for
other purposes, were freely accepted, ratified, and
irrevocably confirmed articles of compact and union
between the State of Arkansas and the United
States," and all other laws, and every other law and
ordinance, whereby the State of Arkansas became a
member of the Federal Union, be, and the same are
hereby in all respects, and for every purpose herewith consistent, repealed, abrogated, and fully set
aside; and the union now subsisting between the
State of Arkansas and the other States under the
name of the United States of America, is hereby
forever dissolved.




ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.         63
And we do further hereby declare and ordain
that the State of Arkansas hereby resumes to herself
all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the
Government of the United States of America -that
her citizens are absolved from all allegiance to said
Government of the United States, and that ehe is
in full possession and exercise of all the rights and
sovereignty which appertain to a free and independent State.
We do further ordain and declare that all rights
acquired and vested under the Constitution of the
UTnited States of America, or of any act or acts of
Congress, or treaty, or under any law of this State,
and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall
remain in full force and effect, il no wise altered or
impaired, and have the same effect as if this ordinance had not been passed.
Adopted and passed in open Convention on the
6th day of May, Anno Domini 1861.
ELIAS C. BOUDINOT,
Secretary of the Arkansas State Convention.
NORTH CAROLINA.
WE, the people of the State of North Carolina,
in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and
it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordi



64          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
nance adopted by the State of North Carolina, in
the convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of
the United States was ratified and adopted, and also
all acts and partsof acts of the General Assembly,
ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are  hereby repealed, rescinded, and
abrogated.
We do further declare and ordain that the Union
now subsisting between the State of North Carolina
and the other States, under the title of the United
States of America, is hereby dissolved, and that the
State of North Carolina is in the full possession and
exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which
belong and appertain to a free and independent
State.
Done at Raleigh, 20th day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1861.
The following ordinance was also passed:
We, the people of North Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is
hereby declared and ordained, that the State of
North Carolina does hereby assent to and ratify the
Constitution fbr the Provisional Government of the
Confederate States of America, adopted at M[ontgomery, in the State of Alabama, on the 8th of
February, 1861, by the Convention of Delegates
from the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,




ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.       65
Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and that North
Carolina will enter into the federal association of
States upon the terms therein proposed, when
admitted by the Congress or ally competent authority
of the Confederate States.
Done at Raleigh, 20th day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1861.
VIRGINIA,
THE following is the "ordinance to repeal the
ratification of the Constitution of the United States
of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume
all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution," which passed the State Convention on
the 17th of April, 1861:
The people of Virginia, in the ratification of the
Constitution of the United States of America,
adopted by them in Convention, on the 25th day of
June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and eighty-eight, having declared that the
powers granted under the said Constitution were
derived from the people of the United States, and
might be resumed whensoever the same should be
perverted to their injury and oppression, and the
Federal Government having perverted said powers,
not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but




66          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
to the oppression of the Southern slaveholding
States;
Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do
declare and ordain, that the ordinance adopted by
the people of this State in convention on the twentyfifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one
thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby
the Constitution of the United States of America
was ratified, and all acts of the General Asselnbly
of this State ratifying or adopting amendments to
said Constitution, are hereby repealed and abrogated;
that the Union between the State of Virginia and
the other States under the Constitution aforesaid is
hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is
in the full possession and exercise of all the rights
of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free
and  independent State.  And they do further
declare that said Constitution of the United States of
America is no longer binding on any of the citizens
of this State.
This ordinance shall take effect and be an act of
this day, when ratified by a majority of the votes of
the people of this State, cast at a poll to be taken
thereon, on the fourth Thursday in May next, in
pursuance of a schedule hereafter to be enacted.
Done in convention in the city of Richmond, on
the seventeenth day of ApriI, in the year of our




ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.         67
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and
in the eighty-fifth year of the Commonwealth of
Virginia.                  JNO. L. EUBANK,
Secretary of Convention.
TEXAS.
An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the
State of Texas and the other States under the
compact styled the Constitution of the United
States of Almerica.
SEC. 1. Whereas, the Federal Government has
failed to accomplish the purposes of the compact of
Union between these' States, in giving protection
either to the persons of our people upon an exposed
frontier, or to the property of our citizens; and
whereas, the action of the Northern States is violative of the compact between the States and the
guarantees of the Constitution; and, whereas, the
recent developments in federal affairs make it
evident that the power of the Federal Government
is sought to be made a weapon with which to strike
down the interests and property of the people of
Texas and her sister slaveholding States, instead of
permitting it to be, as was intended-our shield
against outrage and aggression —therefore, " We,
the people of the State of Texas, by delegates in the




68          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Convention assembled, do declare and ordain that
the ordinance adopted by our Convention of delegates on the fourth (4th) day of July, A. D. 1845, and
afterwards ratified by us, under which the Republic
of Texas was admitted into the Union with other
States, and became a party to the compact styled'The Constitution of the United States of America,'
be and is hereby repealed and annulled."
That all the powers which, by the said compact,
were delegated by Texas to the Federal Government
are resumed. That Texas is of right absolved from
all restraints and obligations incurred by said cornpact, and is a separate sovereign State, and that her
citizens and people are absolved from all allegiance
to the United States or the Government thereof.
SEc. 2. The ordinance shall be submitted to the
people of Texas for their ratification or rejection,
by the qualified voters, on the 23d day of February,
1861; and unless rejected by a majority of the votes
cast, shall take effect and be in force on and after
the 2d day of March, A. D. 1861. Provided, that
in the representative  district of El Paso said
election may be held on the 18th day of February,
1861.
Done by the people of the State of Texas, in
convention assembled, at Austin, the 1st day of
February, A. D. 1861.




ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.         C9
MISSISSIPPI.
ADOPTED JANUARY 9TH, 1861.
THE people of Mississippi, in convention assem
bled, do ordain and declare, and it is hereby ordained
and declared as follows, to wit.:
That all the laws and ordinances by which the
said State of Mississippi became a member of the
federal of the United States of America, be, and the
same are hereby repealed; and that all obligations
on the part of said State, or the people thereof, to
observe the same be withdrawn; and that the said
State shall hereby resume the rights, functions, and
powers, which, by any of said laws and ordinances,
where conveyed to the Government of the said
United States, and is dissolved from all the obligations, restraints, and duties incurred to the said
Federal Union, and shall henceforth be a free,
sovereign and independent State.
FLORIDA.
ADOPTED JANUARY 11TH, 1861.
Whereas, All hope of preserving the Union upon
terms consistent with the safety and honor of the
slaveholding States, has been finally dissipated by




70          ECHOES FROM TITE SOUTH.
the recent indications of the strength of the anti,
slavery sentiment of the free States; therefore,
Be it resolved by the people of Florida, in Convention assemzbled, That it is undoubtedly the right
of the several States of the Union, at such times, and
for such cause as in the opinion of the people of such
State, acting in their sovereign capacity, may be just
and proper; and, in the opinion of this Convention,
the existing causes are such as to compel Florida to
proceed to exercise that right.
We, the people of the State of Florida, in Convention assembled, do solemnly ordain, publish and
declare that the State of Florida hereby withdraws
herself from the Confederacy of States existing under
the name of the United States of America, and from
the existing Governnlent of the said States; and
that all political connection between her and the
Government of the said States ought to be, and the
same is hereby totally annulled, and said Union of
States dissolved; and the State of Florida is hereby
declared a sovereign and independent nation; and
that all ordinances heretofore adopted, in so far as
they create or recognize said Union, are rescinded;
and all laws, or parts of laws, in force in this State,
in so far as they recognize or assent to said Union,
be and they are hereby repealed.




ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.         71
GEORGIA.
An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the
State of Georyia and other States vnited with
her sunder the compact of Governnment entitled the
constitution of the United States.
We, the people of the State of Georgia, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is
hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinances
adopted by the people of the State of Georgia in
convention in 1788, whereby the Constitution of
the United States was assented to, ratified and
adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the
General Assembly ratitying and adopting amnendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed,
rescinded and abrogated.
And we do fturtller declare and ordain that the
Union now subsisting between the State of Georgia
and other States, under the name of the United
States is hereby dissolved, and that the State of
Georgia is in full possession and exercise of all
those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State.
Adopted by a vote of 208 against 89, Jan. 19th,
1861.




'72         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
SPEECH OF JEFFERSON DAVIS
ON LEAVING THE UNITED STATES SENATE.
I rise f'or the purpose of announcing to the Senate
that I have satisfactory evidence that the State of
Mississippi, by solemn  ordinance in  convention
assembled, has declared her separation from the
United  States.'Under these  circumstances, of
course, my functions terminate here. It has seemed
to be proper that I should appear in the Senate and
announce that act, and to say something, though
very little, upon it. The occasion does not invite
me to go into the argument, and my physical condition will not permit it, yet something would seem to
be necessary on the part of the State I here represent, on an occasion like this. It is known to
Senators who have served here, that I have for many
years advocated, as an essential attribute of State
sovereignty, the right of a State to secede from the
Union. If, therefore, I had not believed there was
justifiable cause-if I had thought the State was




SPEECH OF JEFFERSON DAVIS.         73
acting without sufficient provocation-still, under
my theory of government, I should have felt bound
by her action. I, however, may say I think she had
justifiable cause, and I approve of her acts. I
conferred with the people before that act was taken,
and counselled them that if they could not remain,
that they should take the act. I hope none will
confound this expression of opinion with the advocacy of the right of a State to remain in the Union,
and disregard its constitutional obligations by nullification. Nullification and secession are indeed
antagonistic principles. Nullification is the remedy
which is to be sought and applied, within the Union,
against an agent of the United States, when the
agent has violated constitutional obligations, and the
State assumes for itself, and appeals to other States
to support it. But when the States themselves, and
the people of the States, have so acted as to convince
us that they will not regard our constitutional rights,
then, and then for the first time, arises the question
of secession in its practical application. That great
man who now reposes with his fathers, who has been
so often arraigned for want of fealty to the Union,
advocated the doctrine of nullification, because it
preserved the Union. It was because of his deepseated attachment to the Union that Mr. Calhoun
advocated the doctrine of nullification, which he




74          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
claimed would give peace within the lilnits of the
Union, and not disturb it, and only be the means of
bringing the agent before the proper tribunal of the
States. for judgment. Secession belongs to a different class of rights, and is to be justified upon the
basis that the States are sovereign. The time has
been, and I hope the time will come again, when a
better appreciation of our Union will prevent any
one denying that each State is a sovereign in its own
right. Therefore, I say I concur in the act of my
State, and feel bound by it. It is by this confounding of nullification and secession that the name of
another great man has been invoked to justify the
coercion of a seceding State.  The phrase' to
execute the law," as used by General Jackson, was
applied to a State refusilg to obey the laws and still
remaining in the Union. I remember well when
MIassachusetts was arraigned before the Senate.
The record of that occasion will show that I said, if
Massachusetts, in pursuing the line of steps, takes
the last step which separates her from the Union,
the right is hers, and I will neither vote one dollar
nor one man to coerce her, but I will say to her,
" God speed! "  Mr. Davis then proceeded to argue
that the equality spoken of in the Declaration of
Independence was the equality of a class in political
rights, referring to the charge against George III.




SPEECH OF JEFFERSON DAVIS.       7~
for inciting insurrection, as proof that it had no
reference to the slaves. But we have proclaimed
our independence. This is done with no hostility or
any desire to injure any section of the country, nor
even for our pecuniary benefit, but from the high
and solid foundation of defending and protecting the
rights we inherited, and transmitting them unshorn
to our posterity.  I know  no hostility to you
Senators here, and am  sure  there  is not one
of you, whatever may have been the sharp discussion
between us, to whom I cannot now say, in the
presence of my God, I wish you well. And such is
the feeling, I am sure, the people I represent feel
towards those whom you represent. I, therefore,
feel I but express their desire, when I say I hope
and they hope for those peaceful relations with you,
though we must part, that may be mutually beneficial to us in the future. There will be peace if you
so will it, and you may bring disaster on every part
of the country, if you thus will have it. And if you
will have it thus, we will invoke the God of our
fathers, who delivered them from the paw of the lion,
to protect us from the ravages of the bear; and thus
putting our trust in God, and our own firm hearts
and strong arms, we will vindicate and defend the
rights we claim. In the course of my long. career, I
have met with a great variety of men here, and




76          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
there have been points of collision between us.
Whatever of offence there has been to me, I leave
here. I carry no hostile feelings away. Whatever
of offence I have given, which has not been
redressed, I am willing to say to Senators in this
hour of parting, I offer you my apology for
any thing I may have done in the Senate; and I go
thus released firom obligation, remembering no
injury I have received, and having discharged what
I deem the duty of man, to offer the only reparation
at this hour for every injury I have ever inflicted.
[As the Senators from  Florida, Alabama and
Mississippi were about to retire from the Senate, all
the Democratic Senators crowded around them and
shook hands with them. M3essrs. Hale and Cameron
were the only Republican Senators that did so.]




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.         77
AFRICAN SLAVERY,
THE CORNER-STONE OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
A SPEECH BY HON. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, VICE-PRESIDENT
OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, DELIVERED AT
THE ATHENEUM, SAVANNAH, MARCH 22, 1861.
MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE,
AND FELLOW-CITIZENS-For this reception you will
please accept my most profound and sincere thanks.
The compliment is doubtless intended as much, or
more perhaps, in honor of the occasion, and my public position in connection with the great events now
crowding upon us, than to me personally and individually. It is, however, none the less appreciated
on that account. We are in the midst of one of the
greatest epochs in our history.  The last ninety days
will mark one of the most memorable eras in the
history of modern civilization.
[There was a general call from the outside of the building
for the speaker to go out; that there were more outside than
in. The Mayor rose and requested silence at the doors; said




78            ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Mr. Stephens's health would not permit him to speak in the
open air. MIr. Stephens said he would leave it to the audience
whether he should proceed indoors or out. There was a
general cry indoors, as the ladies-a large number of whom
were present-could not hear outside. MIr. Stephens said that
the accommodation of the ladies would determine the question,
and he would proceed where he was. At this point the uproar
and clamor outside were greater still for the speaker to go out
on the steps. This was quieted by Col Lawton, Col. Foreman,
Judge Jackson, and IMr. J. W. Owens, going out and stating
the facts of the case to the dense mass of men, women, and
children who were outside, and entertaining them in short,
brief speeches, Mr. Stephens all this time quietly sitting down
until the furor subsided.]
MiVr. STEPHENS rose and said-When perfect quiet
is restored I shall proceed.  I cannot speak as long
as there is any noise or confusion.  I shall take my
time.  I feel as though I could spend the night with
you, if necessary. (Loud applause.)'I very much
regret that every one who desires cannot hear what
I have to say, not that I have any display to make,
or anything   very entertaining to present; but such
views as I have to give I wish all, not only in this
city, but in this State, and throughout our Confederated republic, could hear, who have a desire to
hear them.
I was remarking that we were passing through
one of the greatest revolutions in the annals of the
world.  Seven States have, within  the last three
[monthls, thrown off an old government, and formed
a new.  This revolution has been signally marked,
up to this time, by the fact of its having been accoin



SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.       79
plished without the loss of a single drop of blood.
(Applause.) This new constitution, or form of government, constitutes the subject to which your
attention will be partly invited.
In reference to it, I make this first general
remark: It amply secures all our ancient rights,
fianchises, and privileges. All the great principles
of Magna Charta are retained in it. No citizen is
deprived of life, liberty, or property but by the judgment of his peers, under the laws of the land. The
great principle of religious liberty, which was the
honor and pride of the old Constitution, is still maintained and secured. All the essentials of the old
Constitution, which have endeared it to the hearts
of the American people, have been preserved and
perpetuated. (Applause.)  Some changes have been
mnade; of these I shall speak presently. Some of
these I should have preferred not to have been made,
but these perhaps meet the cordial approbation of a
majority of this audience, if not an overwhelming
majority of the people of the Confederacy. Of
them, therefore, I will not speak. But other important changes do meet my cordial approbation.
They form great improvements on the old Constitution.  So, taking  the whole new  Constitution, I
have no hesitancy in giving it as my judgment, that
it is decidedly better than the old.  (Applause.)




80          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Allow me briefly to allude to some of these improvenients. The question of building up class interests,
or fostering one branch of industry to the prejudice
of another, under the exercise of the revenue power,
which gave us so much trouble under the old Constitution, is put at rest forever under the new. We
allow the imposition ot no duty with a view of giving
advantages to one class of persons, in any trade or
business, over those of another.  All, under our
system, stand upon the same broad principles of
perfect equality. Honest labor and enterprise are
left free and unrestricted in whatever pursuit they
may be engaged. This subject came well nigh
causing a rupture of the old Union, under the lead
of the gallant Palmetto State, which lies on our
border, in 1833.
This old thorn of the tariff, which occasioned the
cause of so much irritation in the old body politic, is
removed  forever  from  the  new.  (Applause.)
Again, the subject of internal improvements, under
the power of Congress to regulate commerce, is put
at rest under our system. The power claimed by
construction under the old Constitution was, at least,
a doubtful one-it rested solely upon construction.
We, of the South, generally apart from considerations of constitutional principles, opposed its exercise
upon grounds of expediency and justice. Notwith



SPEECHI OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.     81
standing this opposition, millions of money in the
common treasury had been drawn for such purposes.
Our opposition sprung from no hostily to comnnleree,
or all necessary aids for facilitating it. WTith us it
was simply a question upon whom the burden should
fall. In Georgia, for instance, we had done as much
for the cause of internal improvements as any other
portion of' the country, according to population and
means. We have stretched out lines of railroads
froin the seaboard to the mountains; dug down the
hills and filled up the valleys at a cost of not less
than $25,000,000. All this was done to open up an
outlet for our products of the interior, and those to
the west of us, to reach the marts of the world.
No State was in greater need of such facilities than
Georgia, but we had not asked that these works
should be made by appropriations out of the common
Treasury. The cost of the grading, the superstructure and equipments of our roads was borne by those
who entered upon the enterprise. Nay, more, not
only the cost of the iron, no small item in the aggregate cost, was borne in the same way, but we were
compelled to pay into the common Treasury several
imillions of dollars for the privilege of importing the
iron, after the price was paid for it abroad. What
justice was there in taking this money, which our
people paid into the common Treasury on the
4*




82           ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
importation of our iron, and applying it to the improvement of rivers and harbors elsewhere? 
The true principle is, to subject commerce of
every locality to whatever burdens may be necessary
to facilitate it. If Charleston harbor needs improvement, let the commerce of Charleston bear the
burden. If the mouth of the Savannah River has to
be cleared out, let the sea-going navigation which is
benefitted by it bear the burden.  So with the
mouths of the Alabama and Mississippi rivers. Just
as the products of the interior, our cotton, wheat,
corn, and other articles have to bear the necessary
rates of frieght over our railroads to reach the seas.
This is again the broad. principle of perfect equality
and justice. (Applause.) And it is specially held
forth and established in our new Constitution.
Another feature to which I will allude is, that
the new Constitution provides that cabinet ministers
and heads of departments shall have the privilege of
seats upon the foor of the Senate and Hfouse of Representatives-shall have the right to participate in
the debates and discussions upon the various subjects
of administration. I should have preferred that this
provision should have gone further, and allowed the
President to select his constitutional advisers from
the Senate and House of Representatives.  That
would have conformed entirely to the practice in the




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.       83
British Parliament, which, in my judgment, is one
of the wisest provisions in the British Parliament.
It is the only feature that saves that government.
It is that which gives it stability in its facility to
change its administration.  Ours, as it is, is a great
approximation to the right principle.
Under the old Constitution a Secretary of the
Treasury, for instance, had no opportunity, save by
his annual reports, of presenting any scheme or plan
of finance or other matter. Ile had no opportunity
of explaining, expounding, enforcing, or defending
his views of policy; his only resort was through the
medium of an organ. In the British Parliament the
premier brings in his budget, and stands before the
nation responsible for its every item. If it is indefensible, he falis before the attacks upon it, as he
ought to. This will now be the case, to a limited
extent, under our system. Our heads of departments
can speak for themselves and the administration, in
behalf of its entire policy, without resorting to the
indirect and highly objectionable medium of a newspaper. It is to be greatly hoped that under our
system we shall never have what is known as a go:ernment organ. (Rapturous applause.)
[A noise again arose from the clamor of the
crowd outside, who wished to hear Mir. Stephens,
and for some moments interrupted him. The Mayor




84          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
rose and called on the police to preserve order.
Quiet being restored, Mr. S. proceeded.]
Another change in the Constitution relates to the
length of the tenure of the Presidential office.  In
the new Constitution it is six years instead of four,
and the President rendered inelligible for re-election.
This is certainly a decidedly conservative change.
It will remove from the incumbent all temptation to
use his office or exert the powers confided to him for
any objects  of personal ambition.  The  only
incentive to that higher ambition which should move
and actuate one holding such high trusts in his hands
will be the good of the people, the advancement,
prosperity, happiness, safety, honor, and true glory
of the Confederacy. (Applause.)
But not to be  tedious in  enumerating the
numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude
to one other-though last, not least: The new
Constitution has put at rest, forever, all agitating
questions relating to  our peculiar institutionAfrican slavery as it exists among us —the proper
status of the negro in our form of civilization. This
was the immediate cause of the late rupture and
present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had
anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old
Union would split."  He was right.  What was
conjecture with him is now a realized fact. But




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.     85
whether he comprehended the great truth upon
which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted.
The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of
the leading statesmen at the time of the formation
of the old Constitution were, that the enslavement
of the African was in violation of the laws of
nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially,
morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew
not well how to deal with, but the general opinion
of the men of that day was that, somehow or other,
in the order of Providence, the institution would be
evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not
incorporated in the Constitution, was the prevailing
idea at the time.  The Constitution, it is true,
secured every essential guaranty to the institution
while it should last, and hence no argument call be
justly used against the ccnstitutional guarantees thus
secured, because of the common sentiment of the day.
Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong.
They rested upon the assumption of the equality of
races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a government built upon it;
when the " storm came and the wind blew, itfell."
Our new government is founded upon exactly the
opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the negro is not
equal to the white man. That slavery-subordina



86           ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
tion to the superior race-is his natural and moral
condition. (Applause.)
This, our new government, is the first in the
history of the world based upon this great physical,
philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been
slow in the process of its development, like all other
truths in the various departments of science. It has
been so even among us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well that this truth was not
generally admitted even within  their day.  The
errors of the past generation still clung to many as
late as twenty years ago. Those at the North who
still cling to these errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denominate fanatics. All fanaticism
springs fromn an aberration of the mind-from a
defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity.
One of the most striking characteristics of insanity,
in many instances, is forming correct conclusions
fromn fancied or erroneous premises; so with the
anti-slavery fanatics; their conclusions are right, if
their premises are. They assume that the negro is
equal, and hence conclude that he is entitled to
equal privileges and rights with the white man. If
their premises were correct, their conclusion would
be logical and just; but their premise being wrong,
their whole argument fails. I recollect once of
having heard a gentleman from one of the Northern




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.       87
States, of great power and ability, announce in the
House of Representatives, with imposing effect, that
we of the South would be compelled, ultimately, to
yield upon this subject of slavery; that it was as
impossible to war successfully against a principle ill
politics, as it was in physics or mechanics. That the
principle would ultimately prevail. That we, in
maintaining slavery as it exists with us, were warring
against a principle, a principle founded in nature,
the principle of the equality of man. The reply I
made to him was, that upon his own grounds we
should succeed, and that he and his associates in
their crusades against our institutions, would ultimately fail. The truth announced that it was as
impossible to war successfully against a principle in
politics as in physics and mechanics, I admitted, but
told him that it was he and those acting with him
who were warring against a principle. They were
attempting to make things equal which the Creator
had made unequal.
In the conflict thus far, success has been on our
side, complete throughout the length and breadth of
the Confederate States. It is upon this, as I have
stated, our social fabric is firmly planted, and I call
not permit myself to doubt the ultimate success of a
full recognition of this principle throughout the
civilized and enlightened world.




88          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
As I have stated, the truth of this principle may
be slow in development, as all truths are, and ever
have been, in the various branches of science.  It
was so with the principles announced by Galileo; it
was so with Adam  Smith and his principles of
political economy. It was so with Harvey and his
theory of the circulation of the blood. It is stated
that not a single one of the medical profession, living
at the time of the announcement of the truths made
by him, admitted them. Now, they are universally
acknowledged. May we not, therefore, look with
confidence to the ultimate universal acknowledgment
of the truths upon which our system rests? It is the
first government ever instituted upon principles in
strict conformity to nature, and the ordination of
Providence, in furnishing the materials of human
society.  Many governments have been founded
upon the principle of the enslavement of certain
classes; but the classes thus enslaved were of the
same race and in violation of the laws of nature.
Our system commits no such violation of nature's
laws. The negro by nature, or by the curse against
Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies
in our system. The architect, in the construction
of buildings, lays the foundation with proper mate,
rials-the granite-then comes the brick or the
marble. The substratum  of our society is made of




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      89
the material fitted by nature for it, and by experience we know that it is best not only for the
superior, but for the inferior race that it should be
so. It is, indeed, in conformity with the ordinance
of the Creator. It is not for us to inquire into the
wisdom of His ordinances or to question them. For
His own purposes He has made one race to differ
from another, as He has made "one star to differ
from another in glory."
The great objects of humanity are best attained,
when conformed to HTis laws and decrees, in the
formation of governments as well as in all things
else. Our Confederacy is founded upon principles
in strict conformity with these laws. This stone
which was rejected by the first builders, "is become
the chief stone of the corner" in our new edifice.
(Applause.)
I have been asked, what of the future? It has
been apprehended by some that we would have
arrayed against us the civilized world. I care not
who or how many they may be, when we stand upon
the eternal principles of truth we are obliged and
must triumph. (Immense applause.)
Thousands of people who begin to understand
these truths are not yet completely out of the shell.
They do not see them in their length and breadth.
We hear much of the civilization and Christianiza



90          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
tion of the barbarous tribes of Africa.  In my
judgment, those ends will never be attained, but by
first teaching them the lesson taught to Adam, that
"in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread"
(applause), and teaching them  to work, and feed,
and clothe themselves. But to pass on: some have
propounded the inquiry, whether it is practicable for
us to go on with the Confederacy without further
accessions? Have we the means and ability to
maintain nationality among the powers of the earth?
On this point I would barely say, that as anxiously
as we all have been and are for the Border States,
with institutions similar with ours, to join us, still
we are abundantly able to maintain our position,
even if they should ultimately make up their minds
not to cast their destiny with ours. That they
ultimately will join us-be compelled to do it -is
my confident belief; but we can get on very well
without them, even if they should not.
We have all the essential elements of a high
national career. The idea has been given out at the
North, and even in the Border States, that we are
too small and too weak to maintain a separate
nationality. This is a great mistake. In extent of
territory we embrace 564,000 square miles and
upwards. This is upward of 200,000 square miles
more than was included within the limits of the




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      91
original thirteen States. It is an area of country
more than double the territory of France or the
Austrian Empire. France, in round numbers, has
but 212,000 square miles. Austria, in round numbers,
has 248,000 square miles. Ours is greater than both
combined. It is greater than all France, Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain, including England, Ireland, and Scotland together. In population we have
upward of eight millions, according to the census of
1860; this includes white and black. The entire
population, including white and black, of the original
thirteen States, was less than 4,000,000 in 1790, and
still less in'76, when the independence of our fathers
was achieved. If they, with a less population, dared
to maintain their independence against the greatest
power on earth, shall we have any apprehension of
maintaining ours now?
IIn point of material wealth and resources we are
greatly in advance of them. The taxable property
of the Confederate States can not be less than
$22,000,000,000. This, I think, I venture but little
in saying, may be considered as five times more than
the colonies possessed at the time they achieved their
independence. Georgia alone possessed last year,
according to the report of our Comptroller-General,
$672,000,000 of taxable property. The debts of the
seven Confederate States sum up, in the aggregate,




92          ECHOES RROM THE SOUTH.
less than $18,000,000; while the existing debts of
the other of the late United States sum up, in the
aggregate, the enormous amount of $174,000,000.
This is without taking into the account the heavy
city debts, corporation debts, and railroad debts,
which press, and will continue to press, a heavy,
incubus upon the resources of those States. These
debts, added to others, make a sum total not Inuch
under $500,000,000. With such an area of territory
-with such an amount of population-with  a
climate and soil unsurpassed by ally on the face of
the earth-with such resources already at our command-with   productions  which   control  the
commerce of the world, who can entertain any
apprehensions as to our success? whether others join
us or not?
It is true, I believe, I state but the common
sentiment, when I declare my earnest desire that the
Border States should join us. The differences of
opinion that existed among us anterior to secession
related more to the policy in securing that result by
cooperation than from any difference upon the
ultimate security we all looked to in common.
These differences of opinion were more in reference to policy than principle, and as Mr. Jefferson
said in his inaugural, in 1801, after the heated
contest preceding his election, there might be differ



SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      93
ences in opinion without differences in principle, and
that all, to some extent, had been Federalists and all
Republicans; so it may now be said of us, that
whatever differences of opinion as to the best policy
in having a cooperation with our border sister Slave
States, if the worst comes to the worst, that as we
were all codperationists, we are all now for independence, whether they come or not.  (Continued
applause.)
In this connection I take this occasion to state
that I was not without grave and serious apprehension, that if the worst came to the worst, and cutting
loose from the old government would be the only
remedy for our safety and security, it would be
attended with much more serious ills than it has
been as yet. Thus far we have seen none of those
incidents which usually attend revolutions. No
such material as such convulsions usually throw up
has been seen. Wisdom, prudence, and patriotism
have marked every step of our progress thus far.
This auaurs well for the future, and it is a matter of
sincere gratification to me, that I am enabled to
make the declaration of the men I met in the
Congress at Montgomery (I may be pardoned. for
saying this), an abler, wiser —a more conservative,
deliberate, determined, resolute, and patriotic body
of men I never met in my life. (Great applause.)




94          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Their works  speak  for them; the  Provisional
Government speaks for them; the Constitution of
the permanent Government will be a lasting monument of their worth, merit, and statesmanship.
(Applause.)
But to return to the question of the future.
What is to be the result of this revolution?
Will everything, commenced so well, continue as
it has begun 2 In reply to this anxious inquiry, I
can only say it all depends upon ourselves. A
young man starting out in life on his majority, with
health, talent, and ability, under a favoring Providence, may be said to be the architect of his own
fortunes. His destinies are in his own hands. HIe
may make for himself a name of honor or dishonor,
according to his own acts. If he plants himself upon
truth, integrity, honor, and  uprightness, with
industry, patience, and energy, he cannot fail of
success. So it is with us; we are a young Republic,
just entering upon the arena of nations; we will be
the architect of our own fortunes. Our destiny,
under Providence, is in our own hands. With' wisdom, prudence, and statesmanship on the part of our
public men, and intelligence, virtue, and patriotism
on the part of the people, success, to the full
measures of our most sanguine hopes, may be
looked for. But if we become divided-if schisms




SPrEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.     95
arise-if dissensions spring  up-if factions are
engendered —if party spirit, nourished by unholy
personal ambition, shall rear its hydra head, I have
no good to prophesy for you. Without intelligence,
virtue, inteoritv, and patriotism on the part of the
people, no republic or representative government
can be durable or stable.
We have intelligence, and virtue, and patriotism.
All that is required is to cultivate and perpetuate
these.  Intelligence  will not do without virtue.
France was a nation of philosophers. These philosophers became Jacobins. They lacked that virtue,
that devotion to moral principle, and that patriotism
which is essential to good government. Organized
upon principles of perfect justice and right-seeking
amity and friendship with all other powers-I see
no obstacle in the way of our upward and onward
progress.  Our growth, by accessions from  other
States, will depend greatly upon whether we present
to the world, as I trust we shall, a better government
than that to which they belong. If we do this,
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas can not
hesitate long; neither can Virginia, Kentucky, and
MIissouri.  They will necessarily gravitate to us by
an imperious law. We made ample provision in our
Constitution for the admission of other States; it is
more guarded, and wisely so, I think, than the old




96          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Constitution  on the same subject, but not too
guarded to receive them as fast as it may be proper.
Looking to the distant future, and, perhaps, not very
distant either, it is not beyond the range of possibility, and even probability, that all the great States
of the Northwest shall gravitate this way as well as
Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas,  etc.
Should they do so, our doors are wide enough to
receive them, but not until they are ready to
assimilate with us in principle.
The process of disintegration in the old Union
may be expected to go on with almost absolute certainty. We are now the nucleus of a growing
power, which, if we are true to ourselves, our destiny, and high mission, will become the controlling
power on this continent. To what extent accession
will go on in the process of time, or where it will
end, the future will determine. So far as it concerns
States of the old Union, they will be upon no such
principle of reconstruction as now spoken of, but
uponI reorganization and new assimilation. (Loud
applause.) Such are some of the glimpses of the
future as I catch them.
But at first we must necessarily meet with the
inconveniences, and difficulties, and embarrassments
incident to all changes of government. These will
be felt in our postal affairs and changes in the chan



SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.       97
nel of trade. These inconveniences, it is to be hoped,
will be but temporary, and must be borne with
patience and forbearance.
As to whether we shall have war with our late
confederates, or whether all matters of differences
between us shall be amicably settled, I can only say
that the prospect for a peaceful adjustment is better,
so far as I am informed, than it has been.
The prospect of war is at least not so threatening
as it has been. The idea of coercion shadowed forth
in President Lincoln's Inaugural seems not to be
followed up thus far so vigorously as was expected.
Fort Sumter, it is believed, will soon be evacuated.
What course will be pursued toward Fort Pickens
and the other forts on the Gulf, is not well understood. It is to be greatly desired that all of them
should be surrendered. Our object is Peace, not
only with the North, but with the world. All matters relating to the public property, public liabilities
of the Union when we were members of it, we are
ready and willing to adjust and settle, upon the
principles of right, equality and good faith. War
can be of no more benefit to the North than to us.
The idea of coercing us, or subjugating us, is utterly
preposterous. Whether the intention of evacuating
Fort Sumter is to be received as an evidence of a
desire for a peaceful solution of our difficulties with
5




98           ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
the United States, or the result of necessity, I will
not undertake to say. I would fain hope the former.
Rumors are afloat, however, that it is the result of
necessity. All I can say to you, therefore, on that
point is, keep your armor bright and your powder
dry. (Enthusiastic applause.)
The surest way to secure peace is to show your
ability to maintain your rights.  The principles and
position of the present Administration of the United
States-the Republican party-present some puzzling questions.  While it is a fixed principle with
them never to allow the increase of a foot of slave
territory, they seem to be equally determined not to
part with an inch "of the accursed soil."  N.otwithstanding their clamor against the institution, they
seem to be equally opposed to getting more, or letting
go what they have got. They were ready to fight
on the accession of Texas, and are equally ready to
fight now on her secession. Why is this? I-Iow can
this strange paradox be accounted for? There seems
to be but one rational solution, and that is, notw!ithstanding  their professions of humanity, they are
disinclined to give up the benefits they derive from
slave labor.  Their philanthropy yields to their
interest.  The idea of enforcing the laws has but one
object, and that is the collection of the taxes raised
by slave labor to swell the fund necessary to meet




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      99
their heavy appropriations.  The spoils is what they
are after, though they come from the labor of the
slave. (Continued applause.)
Mr. STEPHENS reviewed at some length the
extravagance and profligacy of appropriations by the
Congress of the United States for several years past,
and in this connection took occasion to allude to
another one of the great improvements in our new
Constitution, which is a clause prohibiting Congress
from  appropriating any money from the Treasury
except by a two-thirds vote, unless it be for some
object which the Executive may say is necessary to
carry on the Government.
When it is thus asked for and estimated, he continued, the majority may appropriate. This was a
new feature.
Our fathers had guarded the assessment of taxes
by insisting that representation and taxation should.should go together. This was inherited from the
mother country-England. It was one of the prinprinciples upon which the Revolution had been
fought. Our fathers also provided in the old Constition that all appropriation bills should originate in
the Representative branch of Congress; but our new
Constitution went a step further, and guarded not
only the pockets of the people, but also the public
money, after it was taken from their pockets.




100         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Ile alluded to the difficulties and embarrassments
which seemed to surround the question of a peaceful
solution of the controversy with the old Government.
How can it be done? is perplexing many minds.
The President seems to think that he cannot recognize our independence, nor can he, with and by the
advice of the Senate, do so. The Constitution makes
no such provision. A general convention of all the
States has been suggested by some.  Without
proposing to solve the difficulty, he barely made the
following suggestions:
That as the admission of States by Congress
under the Constitution was an act of legislation, and
in the nature of a contract or compact between the
States admitted and the others admitting, why should
not this contract or compact be regarded as of like
character with all other civil contracts-liable to be
rescinded by mutual agreement of both parties?
The seceding States have rescinded it on their part.
Why can not the whole question be settled, if the
North desire peace, simply by the Congress, in both
branches, with the concurrence of the President,
giving their consent to the separation, and a recognition of our independence? This he merely offered
as a suggestion, as one of the ways in which it might
ble done with much less violence to constructions of
the Constitution than many other acts of that Gov



SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.    101
ernment. (Applause.) The difficulty has to be
solved in some way or other —this may be regarded
as a fixed fact.
Several other points were alluded to by Mr. S.,
particularly as to the policy of the new Government
toward foreign nations and our commercial relations
with them. Free trade, as far as practicable, would
be the policy of this Government.  No higher
duties would be imposed on foreign importation than
would be necessary to support the Government upon
the strictest economy.
In olden times the olive branch was considered
the emblem of peace. We will send to the nations
of the earth another and far more potential emblem
of the same-the COTTON PLANT. The present duties
were levied with a view of meeting the present
necessities and exigencies, in preparation for war, if
need be; but if we had peace —and he hoped we
might-and trade should resume its proper course, a
duty of ten per cent. upon foreign importations, it
was thought, might be sufficient to meet the expenditures of the Government. If some articles should
be left on the free list, as they now are, such as
breadstuffs, etc., then, of course, duties upon others
would have to be higher-but in no event, to an
extent to embarrass trade and commerce. He concluded in an earnest appeal for union and harmony,




102         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
on the part of all the people, in support of the
common cause, in which we are all enlisted, and
upon the issues of which such great consequences
depend.
If, said he, we are true to ourselves, true to our
cause, true to our destiny, true to our high mission,
in presenting to the world the highest type of civilization ever exhibited by man, there will be found in
our lexicon no such word as Fail.
Mr. STEPHENS took his seat amid a burst of
enthusiasm and applause such as the Atheneumn has
never displayed within its walls within "the recollection of the oldest inhabitant."




ROBERT TOOBS 13 ADDRESS.       103
ROBERT TOOMBS' ADDRESS,
TO THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA,
TELEGRAPHED FROM WASHINGTON, DEC. 23, 1860.
I CAME here to secure your constitutional rights,
and to demonstrate to you that you can get no guarantee for those rights from your Northern confederates.  *The whole  subject was referred  to  a
Committee of Thirteen in the Senate. I was
appointed on the Committee, and accepted the trust.
I submitted propositions, which, so far from receiving
decided support from a single member of the Republican party of the Committee, were all treated with
derision or contempt. A vote was then taken in the
Committee on amendments to the Constitution
proposed by Hon. J. J. Crittenden, and each and all
of them were voted against unanimously by the
Black Republican members of the Committee. In
addition to these facts, a majority of the Black
Republican members of the Committee declared
distinctly that they had no guarantees to offer, which




104         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
was silently acquiesced in by the other members.
The Black Republican members of this Committee
of Thirteen are representative men of the party and
section, and, to the extent of my information, truly
represent them.
The  Committee of Thirty-three  on  Friday
adjourned for a week, without coming to any vote,
after solemnly pledging themselves to vote on all the
propositions then before them on that day. It is
controlled by the Black Republicans, your enemies,
who only seek to amuse you with delusive hope until
your election, that you may defeat the friends of
secession. If you are deceived by them, it shall not
be my fault. I have put the test fairly and frankly.
It is decisive against you now. I tell you, upon the
faith of a true man, that all further looking to the
North for security for your constitutional rights in
the Union ought to be instantly abandoned. It is
fraught with nothing but ruin to yourselves and your
posterity. Secession by the 4th day of March next
should be thundered from  the ballot box by the
unanimous vote of Georgia on the 2d day of January
next. Such a voice will be your best guarantee for
liberty, security, tranquillity, and glory.
R. TooMBs.




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 105
THE  CONSTITUTION
OF THE
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.
WE, the people of the Confederate States, each
State acting in  its sovereign  and independent
character, ill order to form a permanent Federal
Government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, invoking the favor and guidance of Anlmightv God, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the Confederate States of America.
ARTICLE I.
~1. All Legislative  powers herein  delegated
shall be vested in a Congress of the Confederate
States, which shall consist of a Senate and Honse of
Representatives.
~ 2. The House of Representatives shall be
chosen every second year by the people of the several
States, and the electors in each State shall be citi5*




106         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
zens of the Confederate States, and have the qualifications requisite for electors of the mnost numerous
branch of the State Legislature; but no person
of foreign birth, not a citizen of the Confederate
States, shall be allowed to vote for any officer; civil
or political, State or Federal.
2d. No person shall be a representative who shall
not have attained the age of twenty-five years, and
be a Citizen of the Confederate States, and who shall
not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in
which he shall be chosen.
3d. Representatives and direct taxes shall be
apportioned among the several States which may be
included within this Confederacy, according to their
respective numbers, which shall be determined by
adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and
excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all slaves.
The actual enumeration shall be made within three
years after the first meeting of Congress of the
Confederate States, and within every subsequent
term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by
law direct. The number of representatives shall not
exceed one for every fifty thousand, but each State
shall have at least one representative, and until such
enumeration shall be made, the State of South Carolina shall be entitled to choose six, the State of




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 107
Georgia ten, the State of Alabama nine, the State of
Florida two, the State of Mississippi seven, the
State of Louisiana six, and the State of Texas six.
4th. When vacancies happen in the representation
of any State, the executive authority thereof shall
issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
5th. The House of Representatives shall choose
their speaker and other officers, and shall have the
sole power of impeachlnent, except that any judicial
or other federal officer, resident and acting solely
within the liinits of any State, may be impeached by
a vote of two-thirds of both branches of the legislature thereof.
~ 3. The Senate of the Confederate States shall
be composed of two senators from each State, chosen
for six years by the legislature thereof at the regular
session next immediately preceding the commencement of the term of service, and each senator shall
have one vote.
2d. Immediately after they shall be assembled in
consequence of the first election, they shall be
divided as equally as may be into three classes.
The seats of the senators of the first class shall be
vacated at the expiration of the second year; of the
second class, at the expiration of the fourth year;
and of the third class, at the expiration of the sixth
year —so that one third may be chosen every second




108         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
year —and if vacancies happen by resignation or
otherwise during the recess of the legislature of any
State, the executive may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature,
which shall then fill such vacancies.
3d. No person shall be a senator who shall not
have attained the age of thirty years and be a
citizen of the Confederate States, and who shall not
when elected be an inhabitant of the State for which
he shall be chosen.
4th. The Vice-President of the Confederate States
shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no
vote, unless they be equally divided.
5th. The Senate shall choose their other officers,
and also a president (pro tempore) in the absence of
the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the
office of President of the Confederate States.
6th. The Senate shall have sole power to try all
impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they
shall be on oath or affilrmation. When the President of the Confederate States is tried, the chief
justice shall preside, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the
members present.
7th. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not
extend further than removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust,




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 109
or profit under the Confederate States; but the
party convicted shall nevertheless be liable to, and
subject to, indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.
~ 4. The times, places, and manner of holding
elections for senators and representatives shall be
prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof,
subject to the provisions of this constitution; but the
Congress may at any time, by law, make or alter
such regulations, except as to the times and places of
choosing senators.
2d. The Congress shall assemble at least once in
every year, and such meetings shall be on the first
Monday in December, unless they shall by law
appoint a different day.
~ 5. Each house shall be judge of the elections,
returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a
majority of each shall constitute a quorum  to do
business; but a smaller number may adjourn from
day to day, and may be authorized to compel the
attendance of absent members in such manner and
under such penalties as each house may provide.
2d. Each house may determine the rules of its
proceedings, punish  its members for disorderly
behaviour, and with the concurrence of two-thirds of
the whole number expel a member.
3d. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceed.




110         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
ings, and from  time to time publish  the same,
excepting such parts as may in its judgment require
secresy, and the ayes and nays of the members of
either house on any question shall, at the desire of
one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
4th. Neither house, during the session of Congress,
shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for
more than three days, nor to any other place than
that in which the two houses shall be sitting.
~6. The senators and representatives shall
receive a compensation for their services to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the
Confederate States. They shall in all cases, except
treason and breach of the peace, be privileged from
arrest during their attendance at the session of their
respective houses, and in going to and from the
same, and for any speech or debate in either house
they shall not be questioned in any other place.
2d. No senator or representative shall, during the
time for which he was elected, be appointed to any
civil office under the authority of the Confederate
States which  shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such
time, and no person holding office under the Confederate States shall be a member of either house
during his continuance in oftice. But Congress may
by law grant to the principal officer in each of the




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 111
executive departments a seat upon the floor of either
house with the privilege of discussing any measure
appertaining to his department.
~ 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate
in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may
propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.
2d. Every bill which shall have passed both houses
shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the
President of the Confederate States; if he approve,
he shall sign it; but if not, he will return it with his
objections to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on
their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If; after
such reconsiderations, two-thirds of that house shall
agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with
the objections to the other house, by which  it
shall be likewise reconsidered, and if approved by
two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law; but
in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be
determined by ayes and nays, and the names of the
persons voting for and against the bill shall be
entered on the journal of each house respectively.
If any bill shall not be returned by the President
within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall
have been presented to him, the same shall be a law
in like manner as if lie had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in




112         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
which case it shall not be a law. The President
may approve any appropriation and disapprove any
other appropriation in the same bill; in such case he
shall, in signing the bill, designate the appropriations disapproved, and shall return a copy of such
appropriations, with his objections, to the house in
which the bill shall have originated, and the same
proceedings shall then be had as in case of other
bills disapproved by the President.
3d. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the
concurrence of both houses may be necessary (except
on questions of adjournment) shall be presented to
the Presidenlt of the Confederate States, and before
the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him,
or, being disapproved by him, may be repassed by
two-thirds of both houses, according to the rules and
limitations prescribed in case of a bill.
~ 8. The Congress shall have power:
1st. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and
excises for revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide for common defence, and carry oni the Government of the Confederate States; but no bounties
slall be grainted fiom the treasury, nor shall any
duties or taxes on importations friom foreign nations
be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry,
and all duties, imports, and excises shall be uniform
throughout the Confederate States.




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 113
2d. To borrow money on the credit of the Confederate States.
3d. To regulate commerce with foreign nations
and among the several States, and with the Indian
tribes; but neither this nor any other clause
contained in the constitution shall be construed to
delegate the power to Congress to appropriate
money for any internal improvement intended to
facilitate commerce, except for the purpose of
furnishing lights, beacons, and buoys, and other aids
to navigation upon the coasts, and the improvement
of harbors, and the moveinlg of obstructions in
river navigation, in all which cases such duties shall
be laid on the navigation facilitated thereby as may
be necessary to pay the costs and expenses thereof..
4th. To establish uniform laws of naturalization,
and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies
throughout the Confederate States; but no law of
Congress shall discharge any debt contracted before
the passage of the same.
5th. To coin money, regulate the value thereof,
and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights
and measures.
6th. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the Confederate States.
7th. To establish post offices and post routes; but




114         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
the expenses of the post office department after the
first day of March, in the year of our Lord eighteen
hundred and sixty-three, shall be paid out of its own
revenues.
8th. To promote the progress of science and useful
arts, by securing, for limited times, to authors and
inventors the exclusive right to their respective
writings and discoveries.
9th. To constitute tribunals inferior to the
Supreme Court.
10th. To define and punish piracies and felonies
committed on the high seas, and offences against the
law of nations.
l1th. To declare war, grant letters of marque and
reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land
and water.
1lth. To raise and support armies; but no appropriations of money for that use shall be for a longer
term than two y)ears.
13th. To provide and maintain a navy.
14th. To make rules for government and regulation of the land and naval forces.
15th. To provide for calling forth the militia to
execute the laws of the Confederate States, suppress
insurrections, and repel invasions.
16th. To provicle for organizinga, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such parts




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 115
of them  as may be employed in the service of the
Confederate States, reserving to the States respectively the appointment of the officers and the
authority of training the militia according to the
discipline prescribed by Congress.
17th. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases
whatsoever over such district (not exceeding tenll
miles square) as may be by cession of one or more
States and the acceptance of Congress become the
seat of the Government of the Confederate States,
and to exercise alike authority over all places
purchased by the consent of the legislature of the
State in which the same shall be for the erection of
forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and  other
needful buildings, and
18th. To make all laws which shall be necessary
and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing
powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the Government of the Confederate States, or
in any department of office thereof.
~ 9. The importation of negroes of the African
race from  any foreign country, other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United States of
America, is hereby forbidden, and  Congress is
required  to pass such laws as shall effectually
prevent the same.
2d. Congress shall also have the power to pro.




11 "3       ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
hibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a
member of; or territory not belonging to, this Confederacy.
3d. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpust
shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of
rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
4th. No bill of attainder, or ex postfacto law, or
law denying or imparting the right of property in
negro slaves, shall be passed.
5th. No capitation or other direct tax shall be
laid unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
6th. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles
exported from any State except by a vote of twothirds of both Houses.'7th. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State
over those of another.
8th. No money shall be drawn from the treasury
but in consequence of appropriations made by law,
and a regular statement and account of the receipts
and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.
9th. Congress shall appropriate no money from
the treasury except by a vote of two-thirds of both
Houses-taken by yeas and nays, unless it be asked
and estimated for by some one of the heads of depart



CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 117
ments and submitted to Congress by the President,
or for the purpose of paying its own expenses and
contingencies or for the payment of claims against
the Confederate States, the justice of which shall
have been judicially declared by a tribunal for the
investigation of claims against the Government,
which is hereby made the duty of Congress to
establish.
10th. All bills appropriating money shall specify
in federal currency the exact amount of each appropriation and the purpose for which it is made, and
Congress shall grant no extra compensation to any
public contractor, officer, agent, or servant, after
such contract shall have been made or such service
rendered.
lthl. No title of nobility shall be granted by the
Confederate States, and no person holding any office
of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emoluments, office, or title of any kind whatever, from any
king, prince, or foreign State.
12th. Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble and petition the Government for redress
of grievances.




118         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
13th. A well regulated militia being necessary to
the security of a free State, the right of the people
to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
14th. No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner,
nor in time of war but in a manner prescribed by
law.
15th. The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched and the person or
things to be seized.
16th. No person shall be held to answer for a
capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in
cases arising in the land or naval forces or in the
militia, when in actual service in time of war or
public danger, ncr shall any person be subject for the
same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or
limb, nor be compelled in any criminal case to be a
witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor
shall any private property be taken for public use
without just compensation.
17th. In all criminal prosecutions the accused




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 119
shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by
an impartial jlry of the State and district wherein
the crime shall have been committed, which district
shall lhave been previously ascertained by law, and
to be infbrmed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him,
to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses
in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for
his detfence.
18th. In suits of common law where the value in
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of
trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact so tried
by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any
court of the Confederacy than according to the rules
of the common law.
19th. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishment inflicted.
20th. Every law or resolution having the force of
law shall relate to but one subject, and that shall, be
expressed in the title.
~ 10. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation, grant letters of marque an.d
reprisals, coin money, make any thing but gold and
silver coill a tender in payment of debts, pass any bill
of attainder or ex postjfitcto law, or law imparting the
obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.




120         ECHOES FROM THIE SOUTH.
2d. INo State shall without the consent of Congress lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports
except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection law, and the net produce of all
duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or
exports shall be for the use of the Treasury of the
Confederate States, and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of Congress.
3d. No State shall, without the consent of Congress lay any duty of tonnage except on sea-going
vessels, for the improvement of its rivers and harbors
navigated by the said vessels, but such duties shall
not conflict with any treaties of the Confederate
States with foreign nations, and any surplus of
revenue thus derived shall after making such
improvements be paid into the common Treasury,
nor shall any State keep troops or ships of war in
time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact
with another State or with a foreign power to engage
in war, unless actually invaded, or in such eminent
danger as not to admit of delay. But when any
river divides or flows through two or more States
they may enter into compacts with each other to
improve the navigation thereof.
ARTICLE II.
~ 1. The executive power shall be vested in a




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 121
President of the Confederate States of America. He
and the Vice-President shall hold their offices for a
term of six years, but the President shall not be reeligible. The President and Vice-President shall be
elected as follows:
2d. Each State shall appoint in such manner as
the Legislature thereof mnay direct, a number of
electors equal to the whole number of Senators and'Representatives to which the State may be entitled
in Congress, but no Senator or Representative, or
person holding any office of trust or profit under the
Ccnfederate States shall be appointed an elector.
3d. The electors shall meet in their respective
States and vote by ballot for President and VicePresident, one of whom at least, shall not be an
inhabitant of the same State with themselves, they
shall name in their ballots the person voted for as
President, and in distinct ballots the person voted
for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct
lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all
persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and
certify and transmit sealed to the Government of the
Confederate States, directed to the President of the
Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in
presence of the Senate and House of Representatives,
open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be
6




122         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
counted, the person having the greatest number of
votes for President shall be the President, if such
number be a majority of the whole number of
electors appointed, and if no person shall have such
a majority, then from the persons having the highest
numbers, not exceeding three on the list of those
voted for as President, the House of Representatives
shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President.
But, in choosing the President, the votes shall be
taken by States, the Representative from each State
having one vote, a quorum for this purpose shall
consist of a member or members from two-thirds of
the States, and a majority of all the States shall be
necessary to a choice. And if the IIouse of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the
right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the
fourth day of March next following, then the VicePresident shall act as President, as in case of the
death  or other constitutional disability  of the
President.
4th. The person having the greatest number of
votes as Vice-President shall be the Vice-President,
if such number be a majority of the whole number
of electors appointed, and if no person have a
majority, then from the two highest numbers on the
list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President, a
quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 123
the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the
whole number shall be necessary for a choice.
5th. But no person constitutionally ineligible to
the office of President, shall be eligible to that of
Vice-President of the Confederate States.
6th. The Congress may determine the time of
choosing the electors, and the day on which they
shall give their votes, which day shall be the same
throughout the Confederate States.
7th. No person except a natural born citizen of
the Confederate States, or a citizen thereof at the
time of the adoption of this Constitution, or a citizen
thereof born in the United States, prior to the 20th
December, 1860, shall be eligible to the office of
President, neither shall any person be eligible to that
office who shall not have attained the age of thirtyfive years, and been fourteen years a resident within
limits of the Confederate States, as they may exist at
the time of his election.
8th. In case of the removal of the President from
office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to
discharge the powers and duties of the said office,
the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and
the Congress may by law provide for the case of the
removal, death, resignation or inability both of the
President and the Vice-President, declaring what
officer shall then act as President, and such officer




124         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
shall then act accordingly until the disability be
removed or a President shall be elected.
9th. The President shall, at stated times, receive
for his services a compensation which shall neither
be increased nor diminished during the period for
which he shall have been elected, and he shall not
receive within that period any other emolument
from the Confederate States, or any of them.
10th. Befbre he enters on the execution of the
duties of his office, he shall take the following oath
or affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will
faithfiully execute the office of President of the Confederate States and will, to the best of my ability
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution
thereof.
~ 2. The President shall be commander-in-chief
of the army and navy of the Confederate States, and
of the militia of the several States when called into
the actual service of the Confederate States. He
may require the opinion in writing of the principal
officer in each of the executive departments upon
any subject relating to the duties of their respective
offices, and he shall have the power to grant
reprieves and pardons for offences against the Confederate States, except in cases of impeachment.
2d. He shall have power by and with the advice




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 123
and consent of the Senate to make treaties, provided
two-thirds of the Senators present concur, and he
shall nominate and, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors,
other public ministers and consuls, judges of the
supreme court, and all other officers of the Confederate States whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for and which shall be established by
law; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in
the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the
heads of departments.
3d. The principal officer in each of the executive
departments, and all persons connected with the
diplomatic service, may be removed at the pleasure
of the President. All other civil officers of the
executive department may be removed at any time
by the President or other appointing power, when
their services are unnecessary, or for dishonesty,
incapacity, inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of
duty, and when so removed shall be reported to the
Senate together with the reasons therefor.
4th. The President shall have power to fill all
vacancies that may happen during the recess of
the Senate by granting commissions, which shall
expire at the end of the next session; but no
person rejected by the Senate shall be reap



126          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
pointed to the same office during their ensuing
recess.
~ 3. The President shall from time to time give
to the Congress information of the state of the Confederacy, and recommend to their consideration such
measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;
lie may on extraordinary occasions convene both
houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement
between them with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall
think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and
other public ministers; he shall take care that the
laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all
the officers of the Confederate States.
~ 4. The President and Vice-President, and all
civil officers of the Confederate States, shall be
removed  on impeachment for, or conviction of,
treason, bribery, or other high  crimes and misARTICLE III.
~ 1. The judicial power of the Confederate States
shall be vested in one superior court and in such
inferior courts as the Congress may from time to
time ordain and establish.  The judges, both of the
superior and inferior courts, shall hold their offices
during good behavior, and shall at stated times




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFED)ERATE STATES. 127
receive for their services a compensation which shall
not be diminished during continuance in office.
~ 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases
arising under the Constitution, the laws of the Confederate States, or treaties made or which shall be
made under their authority, to all cases affecting
ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, to
all cases of admiralty, maritime jurisdiction, to controversies which the Confederate States shall be a
party, to controversies between two or more States,
between a State and citizens of another State where
the State is plaintiff, between citizens claiming lands
under grants of different States, and between a State
or the citizens thereof and foreign States, citizens, or
subjects; but no State shall be sued by a citizen or
subject of any foreign State.
2d. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other
public ministers and consuls, and those in which the
State shall be a party, the supreme court shall have
original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before
mentioned the supreme court shall have appellate
jurisdiction both as to law and fact, with such
exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
3d. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of
impeachment, shall be by jury, and such trials shall
be held in the State where the said crimes shall have




128         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
been committed; but when not committed within
any State, the trial shall be at such place or places
as the Congress may by law have directed.
~ 3. Treason against the Confederate States shall
consist only in levying a war against them, in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.
No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the
testimony of two witnesses to the same, overt act, or
on confession in open court.
2d. The Congress shall have power to declare the
punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason
shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except
during the life of the person attained.
ARTICLE IV.
~ 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each
State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State, and the Congress may
by general laws prescribe the manner in which such
acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved and
the effect thereof.
~ 2. The citizens of each State shall be entitled
to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the
several States, and shall have the right of transit and
sojourn in any State of this Confederacy, with their
slaves and other property; and the right of property
in said slaves shall not be thereby impaired.




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 129
2d. A person charged in ally State with treason,
felony, or other crime against the laws of such State,
who shall flee from justice and be found in another
State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of
the State from which he fled, be delivered up to be
removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.
3d. No slave or other person held to service or
labor in any State or Territory of the Confederate
States under the laws thereof, escaping or unlawfully
carried into another, shall, in consequence of any law
or regulation therein, be discharged from  such
service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim
to the party to whom such slave belongs or to whom
such service or labor may be due.
~ 3. Other States may be admitted into this
Confederacy by a vote of two-thirds of the whole
House of Representatives and two-thirds of the
Senate-the Senate voting by States; but no new
State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by
the junction of two or more States or parts of States
without the consent of the legislators of the States
concerned as well as of the Congress.
2d. The Cbngress shall have power to dispose of
and make all needful rules and regulations concerning the property of the Confederate States, including
the lands thereof.
6*




130         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
3d. The Confederate States may acquire new
territory; and Congress shall have power to legislate and provide governments for the inhabitants of
all territory belonging to the Confederate States,
lying without the limits of the several States, and
may permit them, at such times and in such manner
as it may by law provide, to form States to be
admitted into the Confederacy, in all such territory
the institution of negro slavery as it now exists in
the Confederate States shall be recognized and protected by Congress and the territorial government,
and the inhabitants of the several Confederate States
and territories shall have the right to take to such
territory any slaves lawfully held by them in any of
the States or territories of the Confederate States.
4th. The Confederate States shall guarantee to
every State that now is or hereafter may become a
member of this Confederacy a republican form of
government, and shall protect each of them against
invasion, and on application of the legislature (or of
the executive when the legislature is not in session)
against domestic violence.
ARTICLE V.
~ 1. Upon the demand of any three States, legally
assembled in their several conventions, the Congress
shall summon a convention of all the States to take




CONSTITUTION OF TIIE CONFEDERATE S`IATES. 131
into consideration such amendments to the constitution as the said States shall concur in suggesting
at the time when the said demand is made, and
should any of the proposed amendments to the
constitution be agreed on by the said convention,
voting by the States, and the same be ratified by the
legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, or by
conventions of two-thirds thereof-as the one or the
other mode of ratification may be proposed by the
general convention-they shall thenceforward form
a part of this constitution; but no State shall without its consent be deprived of its equal representation
in the Senate.
ARTICLE VI.
~ 1. The government established by this constitution is the successor of the provisional government
of the Confederate States of America, all the laws
passed by the latter shall continue in force until the
same shall be repealed or modified, and all the
officers appointed by the same shall remain in office
until their successors are appointed and qualified, or
the offices abolished.
2d. All debts contracted and engagements
entered into before the adoption of this constitution
shall be as valid against the Confederate States
under this constitution as under the provisonal
government.




132         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
3d. This constitution and the laws of the Confederate States may, in persuance thereof, and all
treaties made or which shall be made under the
authority of the Confederate States, shall be the
supreme law of the land, and the judges in every
State shall be bound therein, by any thing in the
constitution or laws of any State to the contrary
notwithstanding.
4th. The senators and representatives before
mentioned, and the members of the several State
legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers,
both of the Confederate States and of the several
States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this constitution; but no religious test shall
ever be required as qualification to any office of
public trust under the Confederate States.
5th. The enumeration in the constitution of
certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people of the
several States.
6th. The powers not delegated to the Confederate States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it
to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people thereof.
ARTICLE VII.
~ 1..The ratification of the convention of five




CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 133
States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this
constitution between the States so ratifying the
same.
When five States shall have ratified this constitution in a manner before specified, the Congress
under the provisional constitution shall prescribe the
time for holding the election for President and VicePresident, and for the meeting of the electoral
college, and for counting the votes; and for inaugurating the President. They shall also prescribe the
time for holding the first election of members of
Congress under this constitution, and the time for
assembling the same.
Until the assembling of such Congress, the Congress under the provisional constitution shall
continue to exercise the legislative powers granted
them, not extending beyond the time limited by the
Constitution of the provisional government.
Adopted unanimously, March 11, 1861.
5*




134           ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
THE CONFEDERATE CABINET AND
CONGRESS.
President-JEFFERSON DAVIS, of Mississippi.
Vice-President-ALEX. H. STEPHENS, of Georgia.
Secretary of State-JUDAH P. BENJAMIN, of La.
Secretary of War-JAMES A. SEDDON, of Va.
Sec. of Treasury-CHAS. G. MEMIMINGER, of S. C.
Sec. of Yavy-STEPHEN R. MALLORY, of Florida.
Attorney-General-THOMAS H. WATTS, of Ala.
Postmaster-General-JAMES H. REAGAN, of Texas.
FIRST REGULAR  CONGRESS-SENATE.
Congress met at Richmond, on the 2d Monday in Jan., 1863.
A. H. STEPHENS, of Georgia, President.
R. M. T. HUNTER, of Virginia, President pro tem.
ALABAMA.                    KENTUCKY.
Clement C. Clay              Henry C. Burnett
W illiam L. Yancey.          William E. Simms.
ARKANSAS.                    LOUISIANA.
Robert W. Johnson            Thos. J. Semmes
Charles B. Mitchell.         Edward Sparrow.
FLORIDA.                    MIISSIPPI.
James M. Baker               Albert G. Brown
Augustus E. Maxwell.         James Phelan.
GEORGIA.                    MISSOURI.
Benjamin H. Hill             John B. Clark
Herschel V. Johnson.         Robert S. T. Peyton.




CONFEDERATE CONGRESS.               135
NORTH CAROLINA.                TENNESSEE.
George Davis                Landon C. Haynes
William T. Diortch.         Gustavus A. Henry.
SOUTH CAROLINA.                  TEXAS.
Robert W. Barnwell          Wm. S. Oldham
James L. Orr.               Lewis T. Wigfall.
VIRGINIA.
Robert M. T. Hunter
Allen T. Caperton.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
ThoMAs S. BococK, of Virginia, Speaker.
ALABAMA.                    KENTUCKY.
1 Thomas J. Foster,         1 Alfred Boyd,
2 William R. Smith,         2 John XV. Crockett,
3 John P. Ralls,            3 H. E. Reid,
4 Jabez L. McCurry,         4 George W. Ewing,
5 Francis S. Lyon,          5 James S. Christman,
6 William P. Chilton,       6 T. L. Burnett,
7 David Clopton,            7 H. W. Bruce
8 James L. Pugh,            8 S. S. Scott,
9 Edward L. Dargan,         9 E. M. Bruce,
ARKANSAS.          10 J. W. Moore,
1 Felly I. Batson,         11 R. J. Breckinridge,
2 Grand D. Royston,        12 John M. Elliott.
3 A. H. Garland,
4 Thomas B. Henley.                 LOeISIANA.
FLORIDA.            1 Charles J. Viders,
1 James B. Da.kins,  2 Charles M. Conrad,
1 JaRobes B. Dawkilton.     3 Duncan F. Kenner,
2 Robert B. Hilton.           Lucien J. DuPre,
4 Lucien J. DuPre,
GEORGIA.           5 John F. Lewis,
21 Cu.Jn Mnertridgln,       6 John Perkins, jr.
2 C. J. Munnerlyn,
3 Hines Holt,                      MISSISSIPPI.
4 Augustus H. Kenan,        1 J. W. Clapp,
5 David W. Lewis,           2 Reuben Davis,
6 William W. Clark,         3 Israel Welsh,
7 Robert P. Trippe,         4 H. C. Chambers,
8 Lucius J. Gartrell,       5 0. R. Singleton,
9 Hardy Strickland,         6 E. Barksdale,
O Augustus R. Wright.       7 John J. McRae.




136            ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
MISSOURI.           4 E. L. Gardenshire,
1 Wm. M. Cooke,              5 Henry S. Foote,
2 Thomas A. Harris,          6 Meredith P. Gentry,
3 A. H. Conrow,              7 George W. Jones,
4 Casper W. Bell,            8 Thomas Meneese,
5 George G. Vest,            9 J. DI. C. Atkins,
6 A.  G.     sremtan,
6 T. W. FreemGaine,        210 John V. Wright,
7 John Hyer.
7 John Hyer.              11 David M. Currin.
TEXAS.
NORTH CAROLINA.         1 John A. Wilox,
1 Win. H. N. Smith,          2 C. C. Herbert,
2 Robert R. Bridgers,        3 Peter W. Gray,
3 Owen Ra.Keenan,            4 1. F. Sexton,
4 T. ID. M. Dowell, n           M. D. Graham,
5 Thomas S. Ashe,            6 W. B. Vaughn.
6 A. H. Arlington,
7 Robert Lander,                     VIRGINIA.
8 William Lander,            1 M. R. H. Garnett,
9 Burgess S. Gaither,        2 John R. Chabliss,
10 A. T. Davidson.            3 James Lyons,
4 Roger A. Pryor,
SOUT  CAROINA     5 Thomas S. Bocock,
1 John McQueen,              6 John Goode, jr,
2 W. Porcher Miles,          7 J. P. Hencombe,
3 L. M. Ayer,                8 ID. C. De Jarnette,
4 Milledge L. Bonham,        9 William Smith,
5 James Farrow,             10 A. R. Boteler,
6 W. W. Boyce.              11 John R. Baldwin,
12 Waller R. Staples,
TNNE6S! E.     13 Walter Preston,
1 Joseph T. Heiskell,       14 Samuel A. Miller,
2 William G. Swan,          15 Robert Johnston,
3 W. B. Tobbs,              16 Charles W. Russell.




INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 137
INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate States
of America, Friends and Fellow-Citizens 
Called to the difficult and responsible station of
Chief Executive of the Provisional Government
which you have instituted, I approach the discharge
of the duties assigned me with an humble distrust
of my abilities, but with a sustaining confidence in
the wisdom of those who are to guide and aid me in
the administration of public affairs, and an abiding
faith in the virtue and patriotism of the people.
Looking forward to the speedy establishment of a
permanent government to take the place of this, and
which by its greater moral and physical power will
be better able to combat with the many difficulties
which arise from the conflicting interests of separate
nations, I enter upon the duties of the office to which
I have been chosen, with the hope that the beginning of our career as a confederacy may not be




138         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
obstructed by hostile opposition to our enjoyment of
the separate existence and independence which we
have asserted, and which, with the blessing of
Providence, we intend to maintain.
Our present condition, achieved in a manner
unprecedented in the history of nations, illustrates
the American idea that governments rest upon the
consent of the governed, and that it is the right of
the people to alter and abolish governments whenever they become destructive to the ends for which
they were established. The declared compact of the
Union from which we have withdrawn was to establish justice, ensu're domestic tranquillity, provide for
the common defence, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity; and when in the judgment of
the sovereign States now  composing this Confederacy, it has been perverted from the purposes for
which it was ordained, and ceased to answer the
ends for which it was established, a peaceful appeal
to the ballot-box declared that, so far as they were
concerned, the government created by that compact
should cease to exist. In this they merely asserted
the right which the Declaration of Independence
of 17' 6 defined to be inalienable.  Of the time and
occasion of its exercise they as sovereigns were the
final judges, each for itself. The impartial, enlight



INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 139
ened verdict of mankind will vindicate the rectitude
of our conduct; and He who knows the hearts of
men will judge of the sincerity with which we
labored to preserve the government of our fathers in
in its spirit.
The right solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the
States, and which has been affirmed and reaffirmed
in the bills of rights of the States subsequently
admitted into the Union of 1789, undeniably recognizes in the people the power to resume the authority
delegated for the purposes of government. Thus
the sovereign States here represented, proceeded to
form this Confederacy; and it is by the abuse of
language that their act has been denominated
revolution. They formed a new alliance, but within
each State its government has remained. The rights
of person and property have not been disturbed.
The agent through whom they communicated with
foreign nations is changed, but this does not necessarily interrupt their international relations. Sustainted by the consciousness that the transition from
the former Union to the present Confederacy has not
proceeded from a disregard on our part of our just
obligations or any failure to perform every constitutional duty, moved by no interest or passion to
invade the rights of others, anxious to cultivate
peace and commerce with all nations, if we may not




140         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
hope to avoid war, we may at least expect that
posterity will acquit us of having  needlessly
engaged in it.  Doubly justified by the absence
of wrong on our part, and by wanton aggression on
the part of others, there can be no cause to doubt
the courage and patriotism of the people of the
Confederate States will be found equal to any
measures of defence which soon their security may
require.
An agricultural people, whose chief interest is
the export of a commodity required in every manufacturing country, our true policy is peace, and the
freest trade which our necessities will permit.  It
is alike our interest and that of all those to whom
we would sell and from whom we would buy, that
there should be the fewest practicable restrictions
upon the interchange of commodities. There can be
but little rivalry between ours and any manufacturing or navigating community, such as the northeastern States of the American Union. It must
follow, therefore, that mutual interest would invite
good will and kind offices. If, however, passion or
lust of dominion should cloud the judgment or
inflame the ambition of those States, we must
prepare to meet the emergency and maintain by the
final arbitrament of the sword the position which we'have assumed among the nations of the earth.




INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 141
We have entered upon a career of independence,
and it must be inflexibly pursued through many
years of controversy with our late associates of the
Northern States. We have vainly endeavored to
secure tranquillity and obtain respect for the rights
to which we were entitled. As a necessity, not a
choice, we have resorted to the remedy of separation,
and henceforth our energies must be directed to the
conduct of our own affairs, and the perpetuity of the
confederacy which we have formed. If a just perception of mutual interest shall permit us peaceably
to pursue our separate political career, my most
earnest desire will have been fulfilled. But if this
be denied us, and the integrity of our territory and
jurisdiction be assailed, it will but remain for us
with firm resolve to appeal to arms and invoke the
blessing of Providence on a just cause.
As a consequence of our new condition, and with
a view to meet anticipated wants, it will be necessary
to provide a speedy and efficient organization of the
branches of the Executive department having special
charge of foreign intercourse, finance, military
affairs, and postal service. For purposes of defence
the Confederate States may, under ordinary circumstances, rely mainly upon their militia; but it is
deemed advisable in the present condition of affairs,
that there should be a well instructed, disciplined




142         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
army, more numerous than would usually be required
on a peace establishment. I.also suggest that, for
the protection of our harbors and commerce on the
high seas, a navy adapted to those objects will be
required. These necessities have, doubtless, engaged
the attention of Congress.
With a Constitution differing only from that
of our fathers in so far as it is explanatory of their
well known intent, freed from sectional conflicts,
which have interfered with the pursuit of the general
welfare, it is not unreasonable to expect that the
States from which we have recently parted may
seek to unite their fortunes to ours, under the govenment which we have instituted. For this your
Constitution makes adequate provision, but beyond
this, if I mistake not, the judgment and will of the
people are, that union with the States from which
they have separated is neither practicable nor
desirable.  To increase the power, develop the
resources, and promote the happiness of the Confederacy, it is requisite there should be so much
homogeneity that the welfare of every portion would
be the aim of the whole. Where this does not exist
antagonisms are engendered which must and should
result'in separation.
Actuated solely by a desire to preserve our own
rights, and to promote our own welfare, the separa



INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 143
tion of the Confederate States has been marked by
no aggression upon others, and followed by no
domestic convulsion. Our industrial pursuits have
received no check, the cultivation of our fields progresses as heretofore, and even should we be involved
in war there would be no considerable diminution in
the production of the staples which have constituted
our exports, in which the commercial world has an
interest scarcely less than our own. This common
interest of producer and consumer can only be intercepted by an exterior force which should obstruct
its transmission to foreign markets, a course of conduct which would be detrimental to manufacturing
and commercial interests abroad.
Should reason guide the action of the government from which we have separated, a policy so
detrimental to the civilized world, the Northern
States included, could not be dictated by even a
stronger desire to inflict injury upon us; but if it be
otherwise, a terrible responsibility will rest upon it,
and the suffering of millions will bear testimony
to the folly and wickedness of our aggressors. In
the meantime there will remain to us, besides the
ordinary remedies before suggested, the well known
resources for retaliation upon the conmmerce of an
enemy.
Experience in public stations of a subordinate




144         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
grade to this which your kindness has conferred, has
taught me that care and toil and disappointments
are the price of official elevation. You will see
many errors to forgive, many deficiencies to tolerate;
but you shall not find in me either want of zeal
or fidelity to the cause that is to me the highest in
hope aid of most enduring affection. Your generosity has bestowed upon mne an undeserved
distinction, one which I neither sought nor desired.
Upon the continuance of that sentiment, and upon
your wisdom  and patriotism, I rely to direct and
support me in the performance of the duties required
at my hands.
We have changed the constituent parts but not
the system of our government. The Constitution
formed by our fathers is that of these Confederate
States. In their exposition of it, and in the judicial
construction it has received, we have a light which
roveae its true mean~ig.  Thius irseructed as to lhe
just interpretation of that instrument, and ever
remembering that all offices are but trusts held for
the people, and that delegated powers are to be
strictly construed, I will hope by due diligence in the
performance of my duties, though I may disappoint
your expectation, yet to retain, when retiring, some.
thing of the good will and confidence which will
welcome my entrance into office.




INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 145
It is joyous in the midst of perilous times to look
around upon a people united in heart, when one
purpose of hicgh resolve animates and actuates the
whole, where the sacrifices to be made are not
weighed in the balance, against honor, right, liberty,
and equality. Obstacles may retard, but they cannot
long prevent the progress of a movement sanctioned
by its justice and sustained by a virtuous people.
Reverently let us invoke the God of our fathers to
guide and protect us in our efforts to perpetuate the
principles which by his blessing they were able to
vindicate, establish, and transmit to their posterity;
and with a continuance of His favor ever gratefully
acknowledged, we may hopefully look forward to
success, to peace, to prosperity.
7




146         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
SPEECH OF PRESIDENT DAVIS,
AT RuICHMOND, JUNE iST, 1861.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CIT1ZENS: I thank you
for the compliment your presence conveys. It is an
indication of regard, not for the person, but for the
position which he holds. The cause in which we
are engaged is the cause of the advocacy of rights to
which we were born, those for which our fathers of
the Revolution bled-the richest inheritance that
ever fell to man, and which it is our sacred duty to
transmit to our children.
Upon us is devolved the high and holy responsibility of preserving the constitutional liberty of a
free gorvernment.  Those with whomi we have lately
associated have shown themselves so incapable of
appreciating the blessings of the glorious institutions
they inherited, that they are to-day stripped of the
liberty to which they were born.  They have
allowed an ignorant usurper to trample upon all the




SPEECH OF PRESIDENT DAVIS.       147
prerogatives of citizenship, and to exercise powers
never delegated to him; and it has been reserved to
your own State, so lately one of the original thirteen,
but, now, thank God, fully separated from them, to
become the theatre of a great central camp, from
which will pour forth thousands of brave hearts to
roll back the tide of this despotism.
Apart from that gratification we may well feel at
being separated from such a connection, is the pride
that upon you devolves the task of maintaining and
defending our new Governmlent. I believe that we
shall be able to achieve this noble work, and that the
institutions of our fathers will go to our children as
safely as they have descended to us.
In these Confederate States we observe those
relations which have been poetically ascribed to the
United States, but which never there had the same
reality-States so distinct that each existed as a
Sovereign, yet so united that each was wournd with
the other to constitute a whole; or, as more beautifully expressed, "Distinct as the billows, yet one as
the sea."
Upon every hill which now overlooks Iichmnond
you have had, and will continue to have, camlps
containing soldiers from  every State in the Confederacy; and to its remotest limits every proud
heart beats high with indignation at the thought




148         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
that the foot of the invader has been set upon
the soil of old Virginia. There is not one true
son of the South who is not ready to shoulder
his musket, to bleed, to die, or to conquer in the
cause of liberty here.
Beginning  under many embarrassments, the
result of seventy years taxation being in the hands
of our enemies, we must at first move cautiously.
It mlay be that we shall have to encounter sacrifices;
but, my friends, under the smiles of the God of the
Just, and filled with the same spirit that animated
our fathers, success shall perch on our banners. I
am sure you do not expect ime to go into any argument upon those questions which, for twenty-five
years, have agitated the country.  We have now
reached  the  points  where,  arguments  being
exhausted, it only remains for us to stand by our
weapons.
When the time and occasion serve, we shall
smite the smiter with manly arms, as did our fathers
before us, and as becomes their sons. To the enemy
we leave the base acts of the assassin and incendiary,
to themn we leave it to insult helpless women; to us
belongs vengeance upon man.
Now, my friends, I thank you again for this
gratifying manifestation. (A voice. "Tell us some
thing of Buena Vikta.")




SPEECH OF PRESIDENT DAVIS.       149
Well, my friends, I can only say we will make
the battle fields in Virginia another Buena Vista,
and drench with blood more precious than that
which flowed there. We will make a history for
ourselves. We do not ask that the past shall shed
our lustre upon us, bright as our past has been, for
we can achieve our own destiny.
We may point to many a field, over which has
floated the flag of our country when we were of the
United States —upon which Southern soldiers and
Southern officers reflected their brave spirits in their
deeds of daring; and without intending to cast a
shadow upon the courage of any portion of the
United States, let me call it to your remembrance,
that no man who went from these Confederate
States has ever yet, as a general officer, surrendered
to an enemy.
Pardon me if I do not go into matters of history,
and permit me, again, to thank you for this kind
manifestation of your regard, to express to you my
hearty wishes for the individual prosperity of you
ali, wfith the hope tXhat you wM  a'  -pest tb  oA t>
crown our cause and our country with success.
He then retired from the windows amid prolonged cheers.
Calls were then made for ex-Governor Wise, to
which, after a short delay, he responded as follows:




150         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
SPEECH OF EX-GOVERNOR HENRY A. WISE.
Ml  FRIENDS: You all know that I am a civil
soldier only, and that in that capacity I was nearly
worn down in the siege of the Virginia Convention.
Thank God, however, that with a little rest, some
help, and some damage, from the doctors, I have
been enabled to recruit my exhausted energies.
The time of deliberation has given place to the
time of action, and I have taken up my bed as an
individual, in common with others, to march to
Richmond to meet the President of our now separate
and independent republic. I am ready to obey his
orders, not only with pride, pleasure, and devotion
to the cause, and respect to the office he fills, but
with respect to the man himself as one who has our
fullest confidence.
You have to meet a foe with whom you could
not live in peace. Your political powers and rights.
which were enthroned in that Capitol when you




SPEECH OF EX-GOVERNOR HENRY A. WISE. 151
were united with them under the old constitutional
bond of the Confederacy, have been annihilated.
They have undertaken to annul laws within your
own limits that would render your property unsafe
within those limits. They have abolitionized your
border, as the disgraced iNorth-west will show.
They have invaded your moral strongholds and the
rights of your religion, and have undertaken to
teach you what should be the moral duties of men.
They have invaded the sanctity of your homes
and firesides, and endeavored to play master, father,
and husband for you in your households; in a word,
they would set themselves up as a petty Providencee
by which you are in all things to be guided and controlled. But you have always declared that you
would not be subject to this invasion of your rights.
Though war was demanded, it was not for you to
declare war. But now that the armies of the
invader are hovering around the tomb of Washington, where is the Virginian heart that does not beat
with a quicker pulsation at this last and boldest
desecration of his beloved State? Their hordes are
already approaching our metropolis, and extending
their folds around our State as does the anaconda
around his victim., The call is for action.
I rejoice in this war. Who is there that now
dares to put on sanctity to depreciate war, or the




152         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
"horrid glories of war." None. Why?  Because
it is a- war of purification.  You want war, fire,
blood, to purify you; and the Lord of Hosts has
demanded that you should walk through fire and
blood. You are called to the fiery baptism, and I
call upon you to come up to the altar. Thlouglh your
pathway be through fire, or through a river of blood,
turn not aside. Be in no hurry-no hurry and flurry.
Collect yourselves, summon yourselves, elevate
yourselves to the high and sacred duty of patriotism.
The man who dares to pray, the man who dares to
wait until some magic arm is put into his hand; the
man who will not go unless he have a Mini6, or
percussion musket, who will not be content with
flint and steel, or even a gun without a lock, is
worse than a coward-he is a renegade. If he can
do no better, go to a blacksmith, take a gun along
as a sample, and get him to make you one like it.
Get a spear-a lance. Take a lesson from John
Brown. Manufacture your blades from old iron,
even though it be the tires of your cart-wheels. Get
a bit of carriage spring, and grind and burnish it in
the shape of a bowie knife, and put it to any sort of
a handle, so that it be strong-ash, hickory, oak.
But, if possible, get a double-barrelled gun and a
dozen rounds of buckshot, and go upon the battlefield with these.




SPEECH OF EX-GOVERNOR HENRY A. WISE. 153
If their guns reach further than yours, reduce the
distance; meet them foot to foot, eye to eye, body to
body, and when you strike a blow, strike home.
Your trule-blooded Yankee will never stand still in
the face of cold steel. Let your aim, therefore, be to
get into close quarters, and with a few decided, vigorous movements, always pushing forward, never
back, my word for it, the soil of Virginia will be
swept of the Vandals who are now polluting its
atmosphere.
The band then struck up " Dixie," which was
followed by " We may be Happy yet."
7*




154         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
PROCLAMATION BY JEFFERSON DAVIS,
GRANTING LETTERS OF MARQUE.
Wh/ereas, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the President of
the United States, has, by proclamation, announced
the intention of invading this Confederacy with an
armed force, for the purpose of capturing its fortresses, and thereby subverting its independence, and
subjecting the fiee people thereof to the dominion
of a foreign power; and whereas it has thus become
the duty of this Government to repel the threatened
invasion, and to defend the rights and liberties of
the people by all the means which the laws of
nations and the usages of civilized warfare place at
its disposal;
Now, therefore, I, JEFFERSON DAVIs, President
of thie Confederate States of America, do issue this
my Proclamation, inviting all those who may desire,
by service in private armed vessels on the high seas,
to aid this Government in resisting so wanton and




PROCLAMATION BY JEFFERSON DAVIS.   155
wicked an aggression, to make application for commissions or Letters of -Marque and Reprisal, to be
issued under the seal of these Confederate States.
And I do further notify all persons applying for
Letters of Marque, to make a statement in writing,
giving the name and a suitable description of the
character, tonnage, and force of the vessel, and the
name and place of residence of each owner concerned
therein, and the intended number of the crew, and
to sign said statement and deliver the same to the
Secretary of State, or to the Collector of any port of
entry of these Confederate States, to be by him transmitted to the Secretary of State.
And I do further notify all applicants aforesaid
that before any commission or Letter of Marque is
issued to any vessel, the owner or owners thereof,
and the commander for the time being, will be required to give bonds to the Confederate States, with
at least two responsible sureties, not interested in
such vessel, in the penal sum of five thousand dollars;
or if such vessel be provided with more than one
hundred and fifty men, then in the penal sum of ten
thousand dollars, with condition that the owners,
officers and crew who shall be employed on board
such commissioned vessels shall observe the laws of
these Confederate States and the instructions given
to them for the regulation of their conduct. That




156         ECHOES FROM TUIE SOUTH.
they shall satisfy all damages done contrary to the
tenor thereof by such vessel during her commission,
and deliver up the same when revoked by the President of the Confederate States.
And I do further specially enijoin on all persons
holding offices, civil and military, under the authority
of the Confederate States, that they be vigilant and
zealous in discharging the duties incident thereto;
and I do, moreover, solemnIly exhort the good people
of these Confederate States, as they love their country,
as they prize the blessings of free gcvernment, as
they feel the wrongs of the past and these now
threatened in aggravated form by those whose
enmity is more implacable because unprovoked, that
they exert themselves in preserving order, in promoting concord, in  maintaining  the authority  and
efficacy of the laws, and in supporting and invigorating all the measures which may be adopted for the
common defence, and by which, under the blessings
of Divine Providence, we may hope for a speedy,
just, and honorable peace.
In testimony whereof; I have hereunto set my hand,
and caused the seal of the Confederate States to
be affixed, this sevenrteenth day of April, 1861.
By the President,
(Signed)       JEFFERSON DAvIS.
R. Tooems, Secretary of State.




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      157
SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS,
AT ATLANTA, GA., APRIL 80, 1861.
MY FELLOW-CITIZENS: —I think the country may
be considered safe, since your interest in its welfare
has brought you out at this hour of the night. I
have just returned from a mission to old Virginia.
It will be gratifying to you, I know, to state that she
is not only out of the Union, but she is a member of
the Southern Confederacy, and has sent delegates to
our Congress, now assembled. North Carolina will
have her delegates with us, also, in a few days. Her
Legislature meets to-morrow, and I doubt not she
will be out of the Union before Scaturday night.
The fires which first kindled the old Mecklenburgh
Declaration of Independence are again burning
throughout all her domains. From all that we have
learned in the last few days, Tennessee will soon put
herself on the side of the South, and be a new star
in our shining galaxy. The news is also good from




158         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Kentucky, though I have nothing official from there.
A few of her public men are trying to put the brakes
down on her people; but they seem unwilling to
submit any longer. From Missouri the news is most
cheering, and Arkansas will soon be with us.
But the best of all is, that Maryland-gallant
little Maryland-right under the guns of Lincoln
and the threats of Blair, to make it a Free State, if
the blood of the last white man has to be shed in
accomplishing it-has r2esolved, to a man, to stand by
the South! She will be arrayed against Abolitiondom, and cling to the South; and if she has not
delegates with us now, she is in open defiance of
Lincoln and his Government, and will soon be with
us, even by revolution. The cause of Baltimore is
the cause of us all, from the Atlantic to the Rio
Grande. Her hands must be held up, and triumph
must be assured to her.
You have probably seen it stated that overtures
of peace had been made by Lord Lyons, and, perhaps, by other parties. I tell you it is not true, and
is only intended to deceive you. It is also said that
the Lincoln Government has done so. This may be
true; but if it is, it is all for treachery, as they gave
traitorous assurances to our Commissioners at Washington. For weeks they were kept there under the
most positive assurances of a pacific policy and




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STErHENS.    159
intentions towards us-all with the basest motives
that can actuate a treacherous heart. If peace
propositions are made by them now, I conjure you
not to trust them for a single moinent-they only
intend to deceive and betray-to lull your energies
and suspicions, till they secure some cowardly
advantage.
Our enemies say that they only want to protect
the public property; and yet I have it from unquestioned authority that they have mined all the public
buildings in Washington-the Capitol and all the
other Departments-for the purpose of destroying
them. They have called out 75,000 men, they say
to protect the public property now in their possession, and to retake and protect that which they have
been forced to give up; yet, wherever they are now,
they have prepared to destroy the property, and
have destroyed, or attempted to destroy, aill that we
have compelled them to relinquish, because of their
intentions to use it for the purpose of subjugating us.
Sumter was mined to be blown up on leaving it.
Much of the property was burned up at Iarper's
Ferry, in hastily vacating that place; and an attempt
was made to burn up not only all the public property on leaving Gosport Navy Yard, but the whole
city of Norfolk. This is one of the most remarkable
instances on record where Providence was on our




160         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
side. Plans were laid to burn up the Navy Yard
and the whole city.  The incendiary fires were
lighted; and, if their intentions had succeeded, such
a conflagration had never been witnessed on this
continent, and would have been second only to the
burning of Moscow; but, just at the critical moment,
before the ravages had extended, the wind turned!
The winds of Heaven turned, and stayed the spread
of the devouring element. The same wind that kind
Heaven sent to keep off the fleet at Charleston till
Sumter was reduced, came to the relief of Norfolk at
the critical moment. Providence was signally on
our side. They attempted to blow up the Dock, the
most expensive one on the continent-but there was
a break in the train they had laid, and it failed.
They attempted to burn down the old Plennsylvania,
Germantown, and the iterrimac.  They set the
match, while they endeavored to get out of the way
of their intended destruction; but the vessels sunk
before the fire caught —another remarkable instance
of the interposition of Providence on our behalf, and
the strongest evidence of our rectitude. We were
right at first, are right now, and shall keep ourselves
right to the end.
What is to take place before the end I know not.
A threatening war is upon us, made by those who
have no regard for right I We fight for our homes,




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.     161
our fathers and mothers, our wives, brothers, sisters,
sons, and daughters, and neighbors! They for
AMONEY! The hirelings and mercenaries of the North
are all hand to hand against you.
As I told you when I addressed you a few days
ago, Lincoln may bring his seventy-five thousand
soldiers against us; but seven times seventy-five
thousand men can never conquer us. We have now
Maryland and Virgiinia., and all the Border States
with us. We have ten millions of people with us,
heart and hand, to defend us to the death.  TWe can
call out a mnillion of people, Oif need be; and when
they are cut down, we can call out another, and still
another, until the last man of the South finds a
bloody grave, rather than submit to their foul dictation. But a triumphant victory and independence,
with an unparalled career of glory, prosperity and
progress awaits us in the future.  God is on our side,
and who shall be against?us   None but His omnipotent hand can defeat us in this struggle.
A general opinion prevails that Washington city
is soon to be attacked. On this subtject I can only
say, our ol-ject is peace. We wish no aggressions on
any one's rights, and will make none.  But'if
Jfaryland secedes, the District of Columbia will fall
to her by reversionary right-the same as Sumter to
South Carolina, Pulaski to Georgia, and Pickens to




162         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
Alabama. When we have the right we will demand
the surrender of Washington, just as we did in the
other cases, and will enforce our demands at every
hazard and at whatever cost. Arnd here let me say
that our policy and conduct from the first have been
right, and shall be to the last. I glory in this consciousness of our rectitude.
It may be that " wholn the gods would destroy,
they first make mad."  But for Lincoln's wicked
and foolish war proclamation, the border Statessome of them at least, would still have lingered in
the hope that the Administration and its designs
were not so basely treacherous as that document has
shown them  to be. Tennessee and other States
would have lingered for some time. Now, all the
slave States are casting in their lot with us, and
linking their destinies with ours. We might afford
to thank Lincoln a little for showing his hand. It
may be that soon the Confederate flag with fifteen
stars will be hoisted upon the dome of the ancient
Capitol. If so, God's will be done, is my prayer.
Let us do nothing that is wrong. Let us commit our
cause into His hand-perform our whole duty, and
trust in IHim for the crowning results.
I have many things I would like to say to you,
but my strength will not admit, even if it were
necessary for your encouragement-but it is not. I




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.    163
find that you are fully up to the music, that you
thoroughly comprehend our condition, and are
resolved to do your whole duty. I find our people
everywhere are alive to their interests and their duty
in this crisis. Such a degree of popular enthusiasm
was never before seen in this country. 1 find my
fellow-citizens all along the railroad line eager to
hear the news, and to speed our glorious cause with
their services. This is the fifth speech which I have
made since I left home this evening at 5 o'clock.
In my town, yesterday? a meeting was held, a company was organized, and their services tendered to
our government. A flag was made in two hours by
our patriotic ladies and presented to the company,
and $2,200 was raised to equip the company and
take care of the needy families of soldiers who may
go off to fight for their country.
My friends, forget not t/he soldier / Send him
contributions to make him comfortable while he is in
the service. Take care of his family while he is
absent. Employ your hands and your substance in
doing works of charity in this day of your country's
trial. If any should fall in the battle, remember the
orphan and the widow, and take care of them. God
will bless you in the noble performances of a patriotic duty.
My fellow-citizens, I must close these remarks.




164         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
I am gratified to meet you to-night. I am gratified
that Georgia and all the South is a unit. I rejoice
to be able to tell you the welcome news that
Virginia is a unit. Nearly every single member
of her Convention will sign the Ordinance of Secession. And now, with my best wishes, I bid you
good-night.
His speech was rapturously applauded throughout; and, as he retired, three cheers for Stephens
were given with a will.
In a few moments, in response to earnest solicitations, he again came on the platform, and said:
The news from Washington is very interesting.
It has been stated in the newspapers-first, that the
Virginia troops had occupied Arlington Heights,
just across the Potomac from the President's house;
and again, that Lincoln's troops had occupied that
point. My information is that both these statements
are  incorrect.  Lincoln, however, has occupied
Georgetown He.ghts. HIe has from fifteen to twenty
thousand soldiers stationed in and about Washington.
Troops are quartered in the Capitol, who are detfacing its walls and ornaments with grease and filth,
lilke a set of vandal hordes. The new Senate chaniber has been converted into a kitchen and quarters
— cooking  and sleeping apparatus have actually
been erected and placed in that elegant apartment.




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.      165
The Patent Office is converted into soldiers' barracks,
and is ruined with  their filth. The Post-Office
Department is made a storehouse for barrels of flour
and bacon. All the departments are appropriated
to base uses, and despoiled of their beauty by those
treacherous, destructive enemies of our country.
Their filthy spoliations of the public buildings, and
works of art at the Capital, and their preparations
to destroy them, are strong evidence to nmy mind
that they do not intend to hold or defend the place;
but to abandon it, after having despoiled and laid it
in ruins. Let them destroy it-savage-like-if they
will. We will rebuild it. Phoenix-like, new and
more substantial structures will rise from its ashes.
Planted anew, under the auspices of our superior
institutions, it will live and flourish throughout
all ages.




166         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
SPEECH OF J. M. MASON,
AT RICHMOND, VA., JUNE 8, 1861.
SOLDIERS  OF THE  MARYLAND  LINE: I am
deputed to do a most grateful duty; first, in the
name of Virginia, to give you an earnest and cordial
welcome to the "Old Dominion;" and next, to
present to you, in behalf of the ladies of Mlaryland,
this flag. I see, soldiers of Maryland, that you are
"' rough and ready "-the highest honor of a soldier
in revolutionary times. We all know who you are.
We all know what brought you here, and we are
all ready, as I trust you have experienced, to
extend to you a soldier's welcome-the only welcome, indeed, that can be extended in times like
these. Your own honored State is with us heart
and soul in this great controversy. By your enterprise, your bravery, and your determined will, you
have escaped from the thraldom of tyranny which
envelopes that State; and you know, I know-for I




SPEECH OF J. M. MASON.        167
have been among its people —we all know, that the
same spirit which brought you here, actuates thousands who remain at home. (Applause.). I welcome you, soldiers of Maryland, upon the threshold
of the second great war of independence-a war
that will be transmitted by history to the future as
the greatest of two wars of independence; a war
that is waged against the South with less provocation, less reason, less regard to humanity and honor,
than was that waged by the mother country in 1776.
Your presence here is proof that you participate
in this sentiment. And I tell you further, my countrymen, in view of these circumstances, there is not
a man among you who will dare to return to Maryland with that flag dishonored. Not one. I tell
you further, there is not a man among you who will
dare to return to Maryland except as a soldier in
victory. Do you ask me why?  Because we are
engaged in a great and holy war of self-defence. In
after ages, when history records the transactions of
this epoch-when the passions of men shall have
subsided, and the historian can take a calm and
philosophical view of the events which have led to
the present collision between the two sections, he
will write that the people of the Southern States
understood and protected civil liberty, and that the
misguided North either did not comprehend, or




168         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
abandoned it? For what have we witnessed? The
spectacle of the Chief Justice of the United States,
the man who stands at the head of the principal
department of the Federal Government-the mlan
who has illustrated in his life, for more than four
generations, all that adorns honor, virtue, and
patriotism —a native-born citizen of your own State
of Maryland-Roger B. Taney-that man has pIut
the judicial fiat of condemnation upon the Government of the United States for its shameless abandonment of the very corner stone of our liberties. A
native Marylander, he remains at home to defend
the last refuge of civil liberty against the atrocious
aggressions of a remorseless tyranny. I honor him
for it; the world will honor him, posterity will
honor him; and there will be inscribed upon his
monument the highest tribute ever paid to a man.
Hie has stood bravely in the breach, and interposed
the unspotted arm of justice between the rights of
the South and the malignant usurpation of power by
the North. There he still remains, "a cloud by day
and a pillar of fire by night," to direct the welfare
of our nation in this atrocious aggression upon our
liberty.
Now, my countrymen," why are you here?
What has brought you across the border? What is
your mission to Virginia? You tell your own tale.




SPEECI OF J. M. MASON.        169
You have arms in your hands; you are under a gallant leader, and you are to march under a flag
honored by the ladies of your own State, worked by
their own fair hands. You are here not merely to
fight our battles. No, I am not so selfish as to
presume that; but to fight the battles of civil liberty
in behalf of the entire South. You are on a high
mission.
You are not the first Marylanders who have
crossed the border. We had, in the days of the first
Revolution, a Maryland line, whose name has passed
into history without one blot upon its fair escutcheon
- a Maryland line who iilrstrated upon every field
in the South their devotion to the civil liberty of
that day —a Maryland line, who, in the remote
savannahs of the Carolinas, spilled their blood like
water at Camden, at Guilford Court House, at the
Cowpens, and at Eutaw, where the last battle was
fought, and the enemy finally surrendered.  They
were your ancestry.  They travelled barefooted,
unclothed, without blankets or tents, and but few
muskets, and you came after them. But you have
this peculiar distinction: You are volunteers in a
double sense-you are volunteers for the war. and
you are volunteers for the great cause of the South
against the aggressions of the North. You are no
strangers; you are our neighbors. My own homn
Q




170         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
is upon the confines of your State.  I went there,
four weeks ago, immediately after Virginia had
denounced the unholy movements in the North, to
learn the spirit of your people. I went to Frederickstown, where the Legislature were assembled,
anxious to ascertain whether Virginia could rely
upon you in the hour of trial. I knew the political
incubus by which your people were crushed to the
earth; but such were the indications I perceived on
every side, that when I returned to Virginia I
unhesitatingly reported that Maryland is with the
BSouth. I staked my word upon it as a man of principle and a man of truth. The giant arm of the
oppressor has been too strong for the time being, but
the spirit is still alive, unsubdued and unrepressed.
You are here to confirm this fact by your presence.
You are in Richmond. What is Richmond? It
is a large city-a city of gallant men and refined
women; a city whose inhabitants are engaged in all
the useful and honorable pursuits of life tending to
the advance of civilization and prosperity. At the
present moment, however, Richmond is a huge
camp, where but one mind, one heart, and one determination animates every occupant, man, woman,
and child. (Applause.) Our wives, mothers-and
I appeal to the ladies, if I may not also say our
sweethearts-have entered into it with a zest, which




SPEECH OF J. M. MASON.        171
shows that their hearts and affections are fully in
the work. You will have no child's play. There is
no time now for vain boasting. I confide as much
as I can in the prowess of the men of this section,
and you will be false to the fame of your fathers if
you are not victors; but your enemies relies upon
mere brute force.  There  are doubtless brave
soldiers among them whom it will be hard to conquer, but you will remember that you are fighting
for your fathers, mothers, and firesides. They are
mercenaries fighting for pay, you are men fighting
for your homes and rights.  All you require is
subsistence.  "Give us,"' you say, "the means of
living, the arms to fight with, and show us the
enemy." (Applause.) It may be, that in the providences of war, not one among all those who are
before me will return. You may come here, if
necessary, to lay your lives upon the altar of your
country, and I feel assured that every man will do
his duty.
I will tell you an incident connected with the
Alabama troops. They were attended by a minister
of the Gospel, who was a guest at my house. He
told me that he had with him a purse of gold, which
had been given to him by the parents of two young
men in the ranks, with injunction that it should be
sacredly preserved during the war, unless his sons




172         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
should fall upon the field of battle. Then, said the
father, " Give them a Christian burial."  There was
a patriot father, who had devoted his sons to the
service of his country, and that man does not stand
alone.
Such is the object with which you have engaged
in this war. The true duty of the soldier is not
merely to fight a battle or kill an enemy. He has
also to endure the trials of the camp; the weariness
of the forced march; the vigilance of day and night;
the restraints of discipline, and the patience to bear
with discomforts and disappointments. This is the
real test of courage, and he who comes out of the
war with the reputation of having thus done his
duty through the sunshine and through storm, is the
true man, and the thorough soldier.
But I will not detain you longer, except to dis
charge the grateful duty which remains, of presenting to you, in behalf of the ladies of Baltimore, this
beautiful banner. There it is unfurled before you
for the first time. There are emblazoned the fifteen
stars of the Southern States, looking prospectively to
the day when they will all be with us! The star of
Maryland is among them, and the women of your
State have put it there, confiding it to your safe
keeping. Look upon it as a sacred trust. In passing through the storm of battle, it may be tattered




SPEECH OF J. M. MASON.         173
and soiled, but I believe I can say that you will
bring it back without a spot of dishonor upon it.
B3ut you are not only to return that flag here-you
are to take it back to Baltimore. (Cheers, and cries
of "We will.") It came here in the hands of the
fair lady who stands by my side, who brought it
through the camp of the enemy, with a woman's
fortitude, courage, and devotion to our cause; and
you are to take it back to Baltimore, unfurl it in
your streets, and challenge the applause of your
citizens. (Applause.)




174         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
SAM HOUSTON'S SPEECH,
AT INDEPENDENCE) TEXAS, MAY 10.
THE troubles which have come upon the community are neither unexpected to me, nor do I fail to
realize all the terrible consequences yet to ensue.
Since the passage of the Nebraska and Kansas bill,
I have had but little hope of the stability of our
institutions. The advantages gained to the North
by that measure, through the incentive to AntiSlavery agitation and the opening of a vast territory
to Free-Soil settlement, were such that I saw that
the South would soon be overslaughed, and deprived
of equality in the Government-a state of things
which a chivalrous people like ours would not submit to. Yet I fbstered the longing hope that wllen
the North saw the dangers of disunion, and beheld
the resolute spirit with which our people met the
issue, they would abandon their aggressive policy,
and allow the Government to be preserved and




SAM HOUSTON'S SPEECH.         175
administered in the same spirit with which our forefathers created it. For this reason I was conservative. So long as there was a hope of obtaining our
rights, and maintaining our institutions, through an
appeal to the sense and justice and the brotherhood
of the Northern people, I was for preserving the
Union. The voice of hope was weeks since drowned
by the guns of Fort Sumter. It is not now heard
above the tramp of invading armies. The mission
of the Union has ceased to be one of peace and
equality, and now the dire alternative of yielding
tamely before hostile armies, or meeting the shock
like freemen, is presented to the South. Sectional
prejudices, sectional hate, sectional aggrandizement,
and sectional pride, cloaked in the name of the Government and Union, stimulate the North in prosecuting this war. Thousands are duped into its
support by zeal for the Union, and reverence for its
past associations; but the motives of the Administration are too plain to be misunderstood.
The time has come when a man's section is his
country. I stand by mine. All my hopes, my
fortunes, are centred in the South, When I see the
land for whose defence my blood has been spilt, and
the people whose fortunes have been mine through a
quarter of a century of toil, threatened with invasion,
I can but cast my lot with theirs and await the issue.




176        aECHOEs FROM THE SOUTH.
For years I have been denounced on account of
my efforts to save the South from the consequences
of the unhappy measures which have brought
destruction upon the whole country. When, in the
face of almost my entire section, and a powerful
Northern strength, I opposed the Kansas and Nebraska bill, the bitterness of language was exhausted
to decry and villify me. When I pictured the consequences of that measure, and foretold its effects, I
was unheeded. Now, when every Northern man
who supported that measure is demanding the subjugation of the South, our people can see the real
feelings which  actuate  them  in supporting it.
Devoted as I was to peace and to the Union, I have
struggled against the realization even of my own
prophecies. Every result I foresaw has already
occurred. It was to bring peace and strength to the
South. It has brought war, and spread free soil
almost to the northern border of Texas. All we can
now do is to stand firm by what we have, and be
more wise in the future.
The trouble is upon us; and no matter how it
came, or who brought it on, we have to meet it.
Whether awe have opposed this secession movement
or favored it, we must alike meet the consequences.
I sought calm  and prudent action. I desired a
united and prepared South, if we must leave the




SAM HOUSTON'S SPEECH.         177
Union. Entire cooperation may not now be possible,
but we have ample strength for the struggle if we
husband it aright. We must fight now whether we
are prepared or not.
My position was taken months since. Though I
opposed secession for the reasons mentioned, I saw
that the policy of coercion could not be permitted.
The attempt to stigmatize and crush out this revolution, comprehending States and millions of people,
as a rebellion, would show that the Administration
at Washington did not comprehend the vast issues
involved, or refused to listen to the dictates of reason,
justice, and humanity. A stubborn resort to force
when moderation was necessary, would destroy every
hope of peace and the reconstruction of the Union.
That my views on this point might not be misunderstood, I sent to the Legislature, prior to the passage
of the Secession Ordinance by the Convention, a
message, in which I said:
"Having called you together to provide for an
expression of the sovereign will of the people at the
ballot box, I also deem it my duty to declare that,
while the people of the State of Texas are deliberating upon this question, no impending threats of
coercion from the people of another State should be
permitted to hang over them, without at least the
condemnation of their representatives. Whatever
8*




178         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
that sovereign will may be when fairly expressed, it
must be maintained. Texas, as a man, will defend
it. While the executive would not counsel foolish
bravado, he deems it a duty we owe to the people,
to declare that, even though their action shall bring
upon us the consequences which now seem impending, we shall all (be our views in the past and
present what they may) be united."
Now that not only coercion, but a vindictive war
is about to be inaugurated, I stand ready to redeem
my pledge to the people. Whether the Convention
acted right or wrong is not now the question.
Whether I was treated justly or unjustly is not now
to be considered. I put all that under my feet, and
there it shall stay. Let those who have stood by me
do the same, and let us show that at a time when
peril environs our beloved land, we know how to be
patriots and Texans.
Let us have no past, except the glorious past,
whose heroic deeds shall stimulate us to resistance
to oppression and wrong, and burying in the grave
of oblivion all our past difficulties, let us go forward,
determined not to yield from the position which the
people have assumed until our independence is
acknowledged, or if not acknowledged, wrung from
our enemies by the force of our valor. It is no time
to turn back now —the people have put their hands




SAM JHOUSTON'S SPEECH.       179
to the plow; they must go forward. To recede
would be worse than ignominy. Better meet war in
its deadliest shape than cringe before anl enemy
whose wrath we have invoked. I make no pretensions as to myself. I have yielded up office and
sought retirement to preserve peace among our
people. My services, perhaps, are not important
enough to be desired. Others are perhaps more competent to lead the people through this revolution.
I have been with them through the fiery ordeal once,
and I know that with prudence and discipline their
courage will surmount all obstacles.  Should the
tocsin of war, calling forth the people to resist the
invader, reach the retirement to which I shall go, I
will heed neither the denunciations of my enemies,
nor the charms of my own fireside, but will join the
ranks of my countrymen to defend Texas once again.
Then I will ask those who have pursued me with
malignity, and who have denounced me as a traitor
to Texas and the SQuth, to prove themselves more
true, when the battle shock shall come. Old and
worn as I am, I shall not be laggard. Though
others may lead, I shall not scorn to follow; and
though I may end life in the ranks, where I commenced it, I shall feel that the post of duty is the
post of honor.
We have entered upon a conflict which will




180         ECHOES FRO:M THE SOUTH.
demand all the energies of the people. Not only
must they be united, but all the heroic virtues which
characterize a free people must be brought into
requisition. There must be that sacrificing spirit of
patriotism which will yield the private desires for
the public good.  There must be that fortitude
which will anticipate occasional reverses as the
natural consequences of war, and meet them with
becoming pride and resignation; but, above all,
there must be discipline and subordination to law
and order. Without this, armies will be raised in
vain, and carnage will be wasted in hopeless enterprises. The South, chivalric, brave, and impetuous
as it is, must add to these attributes of success
thorough discipline, or disaster will come upon the
country. The Northern people by their nature and
occupation are subordinate to orders.  They are
capable of great endurance and a high state of discipline. A good motto for a soldier is, Never underrate the strength of your enemy. The South claims
superiority over them in point of fearless courage.
Equal them in point of discipline, and there will be
no danger. Organize your forces; yield obedience
to orders from headquarters. Do not waste your
energies in unauthorized expeditions; but in all
things conform to law and order, and it will be ten
tilnes better then running hither and thither, spend



SAM HOUSTON'S SPEECH.         181
ing money and time, without accomplishing any of
the plans of a campaign which your leaders have
marked out. Once organized, stay organized.
Do not be making companies to-day and unmaking them to-morrow. If you are dissatisfied with
your captain, wait until the battle day comes, and
he gets killed off, then you can get another. It is
better to fight up to him and get rid of him in that
way than to split off, and make a new company to
be split up in the same way. I give this advice as
an old soldier. I know the value of subordination
and discipline.  A  good citizen, who has been
obedient to law and civil authority, always makes a
good soldier. I have ever been conservative, was
conservative as long as the Union lasted -am a conservative citizen of the Southern Confederacy, and
giving to the constituted authorities of the country,
civil and military, and the Government which a
majority of the people have approved and acquiesced
in, an honest obedience, I feel that I should do less
than my duty did I not press upon others the
importance of regarding this the first duty of a good
citizen.




182         ECHOES FROM THE SOUT1H.
SPEECH OF HOWELL COBB,
AT ATLANTA, GEORGIA, MAY 22.
FELLOW-CITIZENS: I feel that I cannot compensate you for the trouble you have taken to call
nie out. You, as citizens of Atlanta, know that
there has been no instance of my being called upon
by you, in which I failed to respond, unless for the
very good reason that I had qot/hing to say; and
this evening I must offer this excuse for failing to
address you at length. I presume that a curiosity to
know what we have been doing in the Congress
recently assembled at Montgomery, has induced you
to make this call upon me.
We have made all the necessary arrangements to
meet the present crisis. Last night we adjourned to
meet in Richmond on the 20th of July. I will tell
you why we did this. The " Old Dominion," as
you know, has at last shaken off the bonds of
Lincoln, and joined her noble Southern sisters. Her




SPEECH OF HOWELL COBB.         183
soil is to be the battle ground, and her streams are
to be dyed with Southern blood. We felt that her
cause was our cause, and that if she fell we wanted
to die with her. (Cheers.) We have sent our
soldiers on to the posts of danger, and we wanted to
be there to aid and counsel our brave " boys."  In
the progress of the war, further legislation may be
necessary, and we will be there, that when the hour
of danger comes, we may lay aside the robes of legislation, buckle on the armor of the soldier, and do
battle beside the brave ones who have volunteered
for the defence of our beloved South.  (Loud
cheers.)
The people are coming up gallantly to the work.
When the call was made for twelve months' volunteers, thousands were offered; but when it was
changed to the full term of the war, the numbers
increased!  The anxiety among our citizens is not
as to who shall go to the wars, but who shall stay at
home?  No man in the whole Confederate Statesthe gray haired sire down to the beardless youth-in
whose veins was one drop of Southern blood, feared
to plant his foot upon Virginia's soil, and die fighting for our rights.
In Congress, the other day, I told them that if no
other arm was raised to defend Virginia, noble old
Georgia-proud in her love of independence-would




184         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
rise up to a man, and crossing to the southernmost
bound of Abolitionism, would say to Lincoln and his
myrmidons, " Thus far, traitor! shalt thou come;
but no farther!"  (Tremendous applause.)  This
good old commonwealth-solitary and alone, if need
be-will fight until she sees the last foul invader in
his grave! And I know, fellow-citizens, that there
is no loyal son of Georgia before me, whose heart
does not beat a warm response to this pledge.
(Cries of, " We will! we will! ")
But we not only need soldiers, we must have
treasure to carry on this war. Private contributions
have been offered to a vast amount. I will mention
an instance which occurred on the Mississippi a few
days ago. An aged man-whose gray hairs and
tottering limbs forbade his entering the ranks, and
whose children of the first and second generations
were in the ranks of his country's defenders-was
asked how much he would give to carry on the war.
The spirit of the old man rose up in him —" Tell
them," he said, " that my yearly crop of 1,000 bales
of cotton they may have. Only give me enough to
sustain me, and let the balance go to my country!"
Offers of this sort come pouring in upon the Government from all parts of the country.
But the Government does not require contributions from individuals; she has the means within




SPEECH OF HOWELL COBB.         185
herself of sustaining this war.  No donations are
necessary, except for the equipment of your own
volunteers and those you can and will provide for.
But I tell you what you may do. Those of you
who raise large crops of cotton, when your cotton
is ready for market, give it to your Government at
its market value, receive in return its bonds, and
let it sell your produce to Europe for the specie to
sustain our brave "boys" in Virginia. This was
agreed on at Montgomery, and we promised to
throw  out the suggestion, that the people might
think about it.
I raise some cotton, and every thing above my
necessary expenses my Government shall have.
When this was proposed in Congress, a gentleman
from Mississippi rose up and said that he did not
raise cotton; it was his misfortune not to be able to
help his country in that manner. " But," said he,
"l I will go home and canvass my section, and every
mlan that I meet, who raises cotton, sugar, and rice,
I will persuade him to sell it to his Government."
But this patriotism is not confined to the men;
the women, with warmn hearts and busy fingers, are
helping the soldiers. I will give you an instance
that happened at Montgomery.  A message was
received on Friday evening that a thousand sand
bags were wanted, with which to build batteries to




186         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
protect our men at Pensacola.  What could be
done? Some one suggested that the ladies be made
acquainted with our wants. It was Saturday morning. Monday evening I received a notice to attend
a meeting to be held at 5 o'clock in the Methodist
church. Between the reception of the message and
5 o'clock that evening, the money had been raised,
the cloth purchased, and the lovely women of that
city, with their own delicate hands, at their homes
and in the sanctuary of the living God, were making
bags; and on Tuesday I saw the sand bags start for
Pensacola, to protect our brave soldiers! (Cheers.)
Talk about subjugating us!  Why, we might lay
aside the rren, and all Abolitiondom  couldn't run
down tihe women even! (Prolonged applause.)
They say at the North that we are alarmed.
What cause have we to be so? When the Congress
assembled at Montgomery there were only six States
represented. Now there are nine, and every breeze
that comes from Tennessee bears us news that her
people are rising up unanimously against the usurpations of Lincoln. North Carolina-the State cf my
parentage, and I love her with a love next to my
native State-she, too, is aroused, and her Convention has unanimously adopted the ordinance of
secession; and these States will soon shine as bright
stars in our galaxy. With such aids as these, and




SPEECH OF HOWELL COBB.         187
with so many brave hearts in our land, we can never
be conquered!
I have spoken enthusiastically, but pardon me.
I can say nothing more. (Cries of, " Go on! ")
You will excuse me, as I have been speaking at
every town on the road, and am quite hoarse.




188         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
GEN. 1R E. LEE'S ADDRESS TO HIS TROOPS,
HEADQUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGIMA, 
October 2d, 1862.
IN reviewing the achievements of the army during the present campaign, the commanding general
cannot withhold the expression of his admiration of
the indomitable courage it has displayed in battle,
and its cheerful endurance of privation and hardship
on the march.
Since your great victories around Richmond yon
have defeated the enemy at Cedar Mountainl,
expelled him from the Rappahannock, and, after a
conflict of three days, utterly repulsed him on the
plains of Manassas, and forced him to take shelter
within the fortifications around his capital.
Without halting for repose, you crossed the
Potomac, stormed the heights of Harper's Ferry
made prisoners of more that 11,000 men, and cap



GEN. R. E. LEE'S ADDRESS TO HIS TROOPS. 189
tured upwards of seventy pieces of artillery, all their
small arms, and other munitions of war.
While one corps of the army was thus engaged,
the other ensured its success by arresting at Boonsboro' the combined armies of the enemy, advancing
under their favorite general to the relief of their
beleaguered comrades.
On the field of Sharpsburg, with less than onethird his numbers, you resisted, from daylight until
dark, the whole army of the enemy, and repulsed
every attack along his entire front of more than four
miles in extent.
The whole of the following day you stood prepared to resume the conflict on the same ground,
and retired next - morning, without molestation,
across the Potomac. Two attempts, subsequently
made by the enemy, to follow you across the river,
have resulted in his complete discomfiture and being
driven back with loss.
Achievements such as these demand much valor
and patriotism. History records few examples of
greater fortitude and endurance than this army has
exhibited; and I am commissioned by the President
to thank you in the name of the Confederate States
for the undying fame you have won for their arms.
Much as you have done, much more remains to
be accomplished. The enemy again threaten us




190         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
with invasion, and to your tried valor and patriotism
the country looks with confidence for deliverance
and safety. Your past exploits give assurance that
this confidence is not misplaced.
R. E. LEE,
Commanding General.




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.     191
SPEECH  OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.
AT RICHMOND, VA., APRIL 22, 1861.
THE distinguished gentleman was introduced to
the throng by Mayor Mayo, and received with hearty
cheers. In response, Mr. Stephens returned his
acknowledgments for the warmth of the personal
greeting, and his most profound thanks for it as the
representative of the Confederate States. He spoke
of the rejoicing the secession of Virginia had caused
among her Southern sisters. Her people would feel
justified if they could hear it as he had. North
Carolina was out, and did not know exactly how
she got out. The fires that were blazing here he
had seen all along his track from Montgomery to
Richmond. At Wilmington he had counted on the
street twenty flags of the Confederate States.
The news from Tennessee was equally cheering —
there the mountains were on fire. Some of the
States still hesitated, but soon all would be in.




192         ECHOES F:ROMI THE SOUTH.
Tennessee was no longer in the late Union. She
was out by the resolutions of her popular assemblies
in Memphis and other cities. Kentucky would soon
be out; her people were moving. Missouri-who
could doubt the stand she would take?-when her
Governor, in reply to Lincoln's insolent proclamation, had said: " You shall have no troops for the
furtherance of your illegal, unchristian, and diabolical schemes!"  Missouri will soon add another
star to the Southern galaxy. Where Maryland is
you all know. The first Southern blood has been
shed on her soil, and Virginia would never stand by
and see her citizens shot down. The cause of Baltimore is the cause of the whole South.
He said the cause we were engaged in was that
which attached people to the Constitution of the late
United States-it was the cause of civil, religious,
and constitutional liberty.  Many of us looked at
the Constitution as the anchor of safety.  In
Georgia the people had been attached to the previous Union, but the Constitution which governed it
was framed bv the Southern talent and understanding. Assaults had been made on it ever since it was
established.
Lately a latitudinous construction had been made
by the North, while we of the South sought to interpret it as it was-advocating strict construction,




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STEPHENS.    193
State rights, the right of the people to rule, &c. He
spoke of all the fifteen Southern States as advocating this construction. To violate the principles of
the Constitution was to initiate revolution; and the
Northern States had done this.
The Constitution framed at Montgomery discarded the obsolete ideas of the old Constitution, but
had preserved its better portion, with some modifications, suggested by the experience of the past; and
it had been adopted by the Confederate States, who
would stand by it. The old Constitution had been
made an engine of power to crush out liberty; that
of the Confederate States to preserve it. The old
Constitution was improved in our hands, and those
living under it had, like the phenix, risen from their
ashes.
The revolution lately begun did not effect alone
property, but liberty. He alluded to Lincoln's call
for 75,000 volunteers, and said he could find no
authority in the old Constitution for such a flagrant
abuse of power. His second proclamation had stigmatized as pirates all who sailed in letters of
marque; this was also in violation of the Constitution, which alone gave Congress that power.
What had the friends of liberty to hope for?
Beginning in usurpation, where would it end?
You are, however, said he, no longer under the rule
9




194         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
of this tyrant. With strong arms and stout hearts
you have now resolved to stand in the defence  of
liberty. The Confederate States have but asserted
their rights. They believed that their rulers derived
their just powers from the consent of the governed.
No one had the right to deny the existence of the
sovereign right of secession. Our people did not
want to meddle with the Northern States-only
wanted the latter to leave them alone. When did
Virginia ever ask the assistance of the General Government?
If there is sin in our institutions, we bear the
blame, and will stand acquitted by natural law, and
the higher law of the Creator.  We stand upon the
law of God and Nature. The Southern States did
not wish to resort to arms after secession. Mlr.
Stephens alluded to the negotiations between Major
Anderson and the authorities of the Confederate
States, to demonstrate the proposition. Iistory, lihe
said, if rightly written, will acquit us of a desire to
shed our brother's blood.
The law of necessity and of right compelled us
to act as we did. He had reason to believe that the
Creator smiled on it. The Federal flag was taken
down without the loss of a single life. I-e believed
that Providence would be with us and bless us to
the end. We had appealed to the God of Battles




SPEECH OF HON. A. H. STErPHENS.    195
for the justness of our cause. Madness and folly
ruled at Washington. Had it not have been so,
several of the States would have been in the Union
for a year to come. Maryland would join us, and
may be, ere long, the principles that Washington
fought for might be again administered in the city
that bore his name.
Every son of the South, from the Potomac to the
Rio Grande, should rally to the support of Maryland. If Lincoln quits Washington as ignominiously
as he entered it, God's will will have been accomplished.  The argument was now exhausted. Be
prepared; stand to your arms-defend your wives
and firesides. He alluded to the momentous consequences of the issue involved. ilather than be
conquered, let every second man rally to drive back
the invader. The conflict may be terrible, but tile
victory will be ours. Virginians, said hle, you fight
for the preservation of your sacred rights-the land
of Patrick Henry —to keep from  desecration the
tomb of Washington, the graves of Madison,
Jefferson, and all you hold most dear.




196         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
THE  LAST  MANIFESTO  OF THE  CONFEDERATE CONGRESS,
JUNE 15, 1864.
Joint resolution declaring the dispositions, principles and purposes of the Conjfderate States in
relation to the existing war with the United States.
Whereas, It is due to the great cause of humanity
and civilization, and especially to the heroic sacrifices
of their gallant army in the field, that no means,
consistent with a proper self-respect, and the
approved usages of nations, should be omitted by the
Confederate States to enlighten the public opinion
of the world with regard to the true character of the
strruggle in which they are engaged, and the disposisitions, principles and purposes by which they are
actuated; therefore,
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate
States of America, That the following manifesto be
issued in their name and by their authority, and that




THE LAST MANIFESTO.           197
the President be requested to cause copies thereof to
bs transmitted to our commissioners abroad, to the
end that the same may be laid before foreign Governments.
MANIFESTO OF THE.CONGRESS OF CONFEDERATE STATES
OF AMERICA, RELATIVE TO THE EXISTING WAR WITH
THE UNITED STATES.
The Congress of the Confederate States of
America, acknowledging their responsibility to the
opinion of the civilized world, to the great law of
Christian philanthropy, and to the Supreme Ruler of
the universe, for the p'art they have been compelled
to bear in this sad spectacle of war and carnage
which this continent has, for the last three years,
exhibited to the eyes of afflicted humanity, deems the
present a fitting occasion to declare the principles,
the sentiments and the purposes by which they have
been and are still actuated.
They have ever deeply deplored the necessity
which constrained them to take up arms in defence
of their rights and of the free institutions derived
from their ancestors; and there is nothing they more
ardently desire than peace, whensoever their enemy,
by ceasing from the unhallowed war waged upon
them, shall permit them to enjoy in peace the sheltering proection of those hereditary rights and of




198          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
those cherished institutions. The series of successes
with which it has pleased Almighty God, in so
signal a manner, to bless our arms on almost every
point of our invaded border since the opening of the
present campaign, enables us to profess this desire of
Ieace, in the interests of civilization and humanity,
without danger of having our motives misinterpreted,
or of the declaration being ascribed to any unmanly
sentiment, or any distrust of our ability fully to
maintain our cause.  The repeated and disastrous
checks, foreshadowing ultimate discomfiture, which
their gigantic army, directed against the capital
of the Confederacy, hfas already met with, are but
a continuation of the same providential successes
for us. We do not refer to these successes in any
spirit of vain boasting, but in humble acknowledgment of that Almighty protection which has vouchsafed and granted them.
The world must now see that eight millions of
people, inhabiting so extensive a territory, with such
varied resources and such numerous facilities for
defence as the benignant bounty of nature has
bestowed upon us, and animated with one spirit to
encounter every privation and sacrifice of ease, of
health, of property, of life itself, rather than be
degraded from the condition of free and independent
States into which they were born, can never be con



THE LAST MANIFESTO.           199
quered. Will not our adversaries themselves begin
to feel that humanity has bled long enough; that
tears and blood and treasure enough have been
expended in a bootless undertaliing, covering their
own land, no less than ours, with a pall of mourning,
and exposing them, far more than ourselves, to the
catastrophe of financial exhaustion and bankruptcy,
not to speak of the loss of their liberties by the
despotism engendered in an aggressive warfare upon
the liberties of another and kindred people?  Will
they be willing, by a longer perseverance in a wanton and hopeless contest, to make this continent,
which they so long boasted to be the chosen abode
of liberty and self-governlnent, of peace and a higher
civilization, the tlheatre of the most causeless and
prodigal effusion of blood which the world has ever
seen, of a virtual relapse into the barbarism of the
ruder ages, and of the destruction of constitutional
freedom by the lawlessness of usurped power?
These are questions which our adversaries will
decide for themselves. We desire to stand acquitted
before the tribunal of the world, as well as in the
eyes of omniscient justice, of any responsibility for
the origin or prolongation of a war as contrary to the
spirit of the age as to the traditions and acknowledged maxims of the political system of America.
On this continent, whatever opinions may have




200          ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
prevailed elsewhere, it has ever been held and
acknowledged by all parties that government, to be
lawful, must be founded on the consent of the governed.  We were forced to dissolve our federal
connection with our former associates by their aggressions on the fundamental principles of our
compact of union with them; and in doing so, we
exercised a right consecrated in the great charter of
American liberty-the right of a free people, when a
government proves destructive of the ends for which
it was established, to recur to original principles and
to institute new guards for their security. The separate independence of the States, as sovereign and
co-equal members of the Federal Union, had never
been surrendered; and the pretension of applying to
independent communities, so constituted and organized, the ordinary rules for coercing and reducing
rebellious subjects to obedience, was a solecism in
terms, as well as an outrage on the principles of
public law.
The war made upon the Confederate States was,
therefore, wholly one of aggression. On our side, it
has been strictly defensive. Born freemen, and the
descendants of a gallant ancestry, we had no option
but to stand up in defence of our invaded firesides,
of our desecrated altars, of our violated liberties and
birthright, and of the prescriptive institutions which




THE LAST MANIFESTO.           201
guard and protect them. We have not interfered,
nor do we wish, in any manner whatever, to interfere with the internal peace and prosperity of the
States arrayed in hostility against us, or with the
freest development of their destinies in any form of
action or line of policy they may think proper to
adopt for themselves. All we ask, is a like immunity for ourselves, and to be left in the undisturbed
enjoyment of those inalienable rights of " life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness," which our common
ancestors declared to be the equal heritage of all the
parties to the social compact.
Let them forbear aggressions upon us, and the
war is at an end. If there be questions which
require adjustment by negotiation, we have ever
been willing and are still willing to enter into communication with our adversaries in a spirit of peace,
of equity, and manly frankness.  Strong in the
persuasion of the justice of our cause, in the gallant
devotion of our citizen-soldiers, and of the whole
body of our people, and above all in the gracious
protection of Heaven, we are not afraid to avow a
sincere desire for peace, on terms consistent with our
honor and the permanent security of our rights, and
an earnest aspiration to see the world once more
restored to the benificent pursuits of industry and of
mutual intercourse and exchanges, so essential to its




202         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
well-being, and which have been so gravely interrupted
by the existence of this unnatural war in America.
But if our adversaries, or those whom they have
placed in authority, deaf to the voice of reason and
justice, settled against the dictates of both prudence
and humanity by a presumptuous and delusive confidence in their own numbers, or those of their black
and foreign mercenaries, shall determine upon an indefinite prolongation of the contest, upon them be the
responsibility of a decision so ruinous to themselves
and so injurious to the interests and repose of mankind.
For ourselves, we have no fear of the result.
The wildest picture ever drawn of a disordered imacgination comes short of the extravagance which could
dream of the conquest of eight millions of people,
resolved with one mind "to die freemen rather than
live slaves," and forewarned by the' savage and exterminating spirit in which this war has been waged
upon them, and by the mad avowals of its patrons
and supporters, of the worse than Egyptian bondage
that awaits them in the event of their subjugation.
With these declarations of our dispositions, our
principles, and our purposes, we commit our cause
to the enlightened judgment of the world, to the
sober reflections of our adversaries themselves, and to
the solemn and righteous arbitrament of Heaven.




LAST PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT DAVIS. 263
THE LAST PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT
DAVIS.,
DANVILLE, VA., April 5, 1865.
THE General-in-Chief found it necessary to make
such movements of his troops as to uncover the
capital. It would be unwise to conceal the moral
and material injury to our cause resulting from the
occupation of our capital by the enemy.  It is
equally unwise and unwoi thy of us to allow our own
energies to falter, and our efforts to become relaxed
under reverses, however calamitous they may be.
For many months the largest and finest army of the
Confederacy, under a leader whose presence inspires
equal confidence in the troops and the people, has
been greatly trammelled by the necessity of keeping
constant watch over the approaches to the capital,
and has thus been forced to forego more than one
opportunity for promising enterprise. It is for us,




204         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
my countrymen, to show by our bearing under
reverses how wretched has been the self-deception of
those who have believed us less able to endure misfortun.e with fortitude than to encounter dancers
with courage.
We have now entered upon a new phase of the
struggle. Relieved from the necessity of guarding
particular points, our army will be free to move from
point to point, to strike the enemy in detail far friom
his base. Let us but will it, and we are free.
Animated by that confidence in your spirit and
fortitude which never yet failed me, I announce to
you, fellow-countrymen, that it is my purpose to
maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul;
that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy
one foot of the soil of any of the States of the Confederacy.  That  Virginia-noble  State-whose
ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still more
glorious recent history; whose bosom has been bared
to receive the main shock of this war; whose sons
and daughters have exhibited heroism so sublime as
to render her illustrious in all time to come-that
Virginia, with the help of the people, and by the
blessing of Providence, shall be held and defended,
and no peace ever be made with the infamous invaders of her territory.
If by the stress of numbers we should ever be




LAST PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT DAVIS. 205
compelled to a temporary withdrawal from her limits, or those of any other Border State, we will
return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall
abandon in despair his endless and impossible task
of making slaves of a people resolved to be free.
Let us, then, not despond, my countrymen, but,
relying on God, meet the foe with fresh defiance, and
with unconquered and unconquerable hearts.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.




206            ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
GENERALS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.*
GENERALS.
1. Samuel Cooper, Virginia, adjutant general.
2. Albert S. Johnston, Texas, commanding in
Kentucky.
3. Joseph E. Johnston, Virginia, commanding
lNrorthern Virginia.
4. Robert E. Lee, Virginia, commanding South
Atlantic coast.
5. P. G. T. Beauregard, Louisiana, commanding
Army of Potomac.
6. Braxton  Bragg, Louisiana, commanding  at
Pensacola.
* This list refers generally to the first period of the war. There
were, of course, many shiltings of commandl, promotions, changes
in the names of military departments, &c., that it is impossible to
include. The early Confederate armies in Virginia were known as
" the Army of the Potomac " and " the Army of the S':enandoalh."
Atberwarads there were only known two great army organizatiolns
iu (tit GuCielertv, east o' the Mississuppi  RWier —"the Amy of
Northern Virginia" and " the Army of Tennessee."




GENERALS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.  207
LIEUTENANT-GENERALS.
1. Leonidas Polk, Louisiana, commanding at
Memphis.
2. Earl Van Dorn, Mississippi, Army of Potomac.
3. Theophilus II. Holmes, North Carolina, Army
of Potomac.
4. J~ames Longstreet, Alabama, Army of Potomac.
5. Thomas J. Jackson, Virginia, commanding
Northwestern Virginia.
6. Edmund Kirby Smith, Florida, Army of Potomac.
7. Richard S. Ewell, Virginia, Army of Potomac.
MAJOR-GENERALS.
1. David E. Twiggs, Georgia, resigned.
2. Gustavus W. Smith, Kentucky, Army of Potomac.
3. William J. Hardee, Georgia, Missouri.
4. Benjrmin Huger, South Carolina, commanding at Norfolk.
5. John B. Magruder, Virginia, commanding at
Yorktown.
6. Mansfield Lovell, Virginia, commanding coast
of Louisiana.
7. George. B. Crittenden, Kentucky, commanding East Tennessee.




208         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
8. Milledge L. Bonham, South Carolina, Army
of Potonlac.
9. John B. Floyd, Virginia, commanding Army
of Kanawha.
10. Henry A. Wise, Virginia, waiting orders.
11. Ben McCulloch, Texas, Missouri.
12. Henry R. Jackson, Georgia, resigned.
13. Robert S. Garnett, Virginia, killed in action.
14. William H. T. Hill, Georgia, resigned.
15. Bernard E. Bee, South Carolina, killed in
action.
16. Alexander R. Lawton, Georgia, commanding
coast of Georgia.
17. Gideon J. Pillow, Tennessee, Kentucky.
18. Samuel R. Anderson, Tennessee, Kentucky.
19. Daniel S. Donelson, Tennessee, coast of South
Carolina.
20. David R. Jones, South Carolina, Army of
Potomac.
21. Jones, M. Withers, Alabama, commanding
coast of Alabama.
22. John C. Pemberton, Virginia, coast of South
Carolina.
23. John H. Winder, Maryland, Richmond.
24. Jubal A. Early, Virginia, Army of Potomac.
25. Thomas B. Flournoy, Arkansas, died in Arkansas.




GENERALS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.  209
26. Samuel Jones, Virginia, Army of Potomac.
27. Arnold Elzey, Maryland, Army of Potomac.
28. Daniel H. Hill, North Carolina, Army of
Potomac.
29. Henry H. Sigley, Louisiana, Texas frontier.
30. William  II. C. Whiting, Georgia, Arimy of
Potomac.
31. William H. Loring, North Carolina, Western
Virginia.
32. Riehard H. Anderson, South Carolina, Pensacola.
33. Albert Pike, Arkansas, Indian Commissioner.
34. Thomas T. Fauntleroy, Virginia, resigned.
35. Robert Toornbs, Georgia, Arumy of Potomac.
36. Daniel Ruggles, Virginia, Louisiana.
37. Charles Clark, Mississippi, Army of Potomac.
38. Roswell S. Ripley, South Carolina, coast of
South Carolina.
39. Isaac R. Trimble, Maryland, Army of Potomac.
40. John B. Grayson, Kentucky, died in Florida.
41. Paul 0. Hebert, Louisiana, coast of Texas.
42. Richard C. Catlin, North Carolina, commanding coast of North Carolina.
43. Felix K. Zollicoffer, Tennessee, Eastern Kentucky.
44. Benj. F. Cheatham, Tennessee, Kentucky.




210         ECHOES FROM THE SOUTH.
45. Joseph R. Anderson, Virginia, coast of North
Carolina.
46. Sinmon 13. 3uckner, Kentucky, Kentucky.
47. Leroy Pope Walker. Alabama, Alabama.
48. Albert G. Blanchard, Louisiana, Norfolk.
49. Gabriel S. Rains, North Carolina, Yorktown.
50. J. E. B. Stuart, Virginia, Army of Potomac.
51. Lafayette iMeLaws, Georgia, Yorktown.
52. Thomas F. Drayton, South Carolina, coast of
South Carolina.
53. Thomas C. IIindman, Arkansas, Kentucky.
54. Adley H. Gladden, Louisiana, Pensacola.
55. John Porter MieCown, Tennessee, Kentucky.
56. Llyod Tighllnan, Kentucky, Kentucky.
57. Nathan G. Evans, South Carolina, coast of
South Carolina.
58. Cadmus M. Wilcox, Tennessee, Army of Potornac.
59. Philip St. George Cocke, Virginia, died in
Virginia.
60. R. F. Rhodes, Alabama, Army of Potomac.
61. Richard Taylor, Louisiana, Army of Potomac.
62. Louis T. Wigfall, Texas, Army of Potomac.
63. James H. Trapier, South Carolina, coast of
Florida.
64. Samuel G. French, MIississippi, Army of Potomac.




GENERALS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.  211
65. William II. Carroll, Tennessee, East Teniessee.
66. Hugh W. M/ercer, Georgia,
67. Humphrey Marshall, Kentucky, Kentucky.
68. John C. Breckinridge, Kentucky, Kentucky.
69. Richard Griffin, Mississippi, Army of Potomrac.
70. Alexander P. Stewart, Kentucky, Kentucky.
71. William Montgomery Gardner, Georgia, on
fullough.
72. Richard B. Garnett, Virginia, Army of Potomac.
73. William Mahone, Virginia, Norfolk.
74. L. O'Brien Branch, North Carolina, coast of
North Carolina.
75. IMaxey Gregg, South Carolina, coast of South
Carolina.








The only Official and Authorized Southern History of the War.
By E. A. POLLARD.
TIILE LOST CAUSE.
By EDWARD A. POLLARD, of Virginia,
Editor of the Richmond "Examiner" during the War.
COMPRISING A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF
THE LATE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY-THE CAMPAIGNS, BATTLES,
INCIDENTS AND ADVENTURES OF THE MOST GIGANTIC
STRUGGLE OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY.
Complete in one large ioyal Octavo Volume of over 700 pages.
With Twenty-Four Splendid Steel Portraits
OF DISTINGUISHED CONFEDERATE LEADERS.
The Publishers take pleasure in announcing that they have secured the
talents of this distinguished Author and Historian, in preparing a work
worthy of the theme and the occasion.
The history of the vanquished has too often fallen to the pen of the
victor, and to insure justice to the Southern cause, the pen must be taken by
a Southern man, who is willing to devote his time and talents to the vindication of his countrymen, in a history which shall challenge the criticism of the
intelligent, and invite the attention of all honest inquirers.
Mr. POLLARD, of all writers in the South, is doubtless the best qualified to
prepare a complete and Standard History of the War, and to commit to the
present and future generations a faithful and worthy record of their great
struggle, and of a cause lost save in honor.
He comes to the work by the encouragement and authority of Generals
R. E. Lee, J. E. Johnston, Beauregard, "Dick " Tayior, Fitzhugh Lee, Ex-Gov.
Wise, and other distinguished Confederate leaders.
In Substantial Cloth Binding, (Imitation Morocco,)...$5,00
In Plain Leather, Library Style, (Sheep,)...... 6.00
In Extra Half Calf Binding,...........    8.00
SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION.
AGC-EINTS wWTN iEJrD,' To energetic Men and Women, a rare chance is offered to make money.
Address,
E. B. TREAT &  CO., Publishers,
654 Broadway, N. Y.
For Branch Offices, see Title-page.




WASHINGTON & IlS GENERALS:
COMPRI 4ING
POPULAR B[OGRAPIIIES
OF
Ie l 6,atlat tgelxdatr   of Olur Aatioat    *ibrrtj.
BY Hox. J. T. HEADLEY,
Author of "NAPOLEON AND HIS MARSHALS," "SACRED MOUNTAINS," &o.
Embellished  with  numerous Steel Plate  Engravings.
COMPLETE IN ONE LARGE OCTAVO VOLUME.
This is truly a great national work, giving an authentic account of the early
life, military career, public services, and character of
Major-General George Washington,   Major-General Nathaniel Greene,
It     Israel Putnam,             "       William Moultrie,
of     Richard Montgomery,        "       Henry Knox,
"      Benedict Arnold,           "       Benjamin Lincoln,
I"     John Stark,                 If     Charles Lee,
r"      Philip Schuyler,          "       James Clinton,
r"     Horatio Il ates,           "       John Sullivan,
"      Frelk, Wm, Steuben,        "       Lafayette,
"      William Sterling,       Commodore Paul Jones.
Including Brigadier-1fenerals Marion, Pickens, Mercer, Wooster, and others.
FROM PREFACE.- -The object in the following work is three-fold.  First, to
group around the "Father of his Country " the generals who stood shoulder
to shoulder with liim through the stormly period of the Revolution. Second,
to -ive in successive pictures rather than in military detail, the great battles
ot the Revo.ution. Third, to present the early history of each general, showin7r how they were trained by Providence for the very work to which their
lives were given. There could be no better time than now to contemplate
those pure patriots, who knelw no sectional interests, but were bound together
an 1 borne aloft by a common love for the whole country-when Massachusetts
called aloud from Bunker Hill, and Marion, from the swamps of South
Carolina, answered her-when New York and Virginia moved side by side,
bound by a common interest, and resolv d to share a common destiny. May
that common inheritance never be divided!
Cloth, Gilt Side and Back,......  $3.50
Leather, Library Style,.......   4.00
E. B. TREAT & CO., Publishers,
654 BROADWAY, N. Y.
Agents Wanted.




NAPOLEON AND JIIS MARSItALS:
COMPRISING A
FULL AND AUTHIENTIC ACCOUNT
OF THE
~ifk,  ~ililtar~  (;amrr, r,lt aradt, 4     ilt anb.tatlj
OF
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE,
"THE HERO OF A HUNDRED BATTLES."
BY HoN. J. T. HEADLEY,
Author of "NAPOLEON AND HIS MARSHALS,  "SACRED MOUNTAINS,'  &C.
Including Biographies of the most prominent Marshals that clustered around Napoleon in his victorious Campaigns.
Mfarshal Berthbier,  Marshal St. Cyr,  lMarshal Victor,
"    Auiereau,        "    Soult,          "    Bessieres,
"    Davoust,         "    3Mortier,      B" iernadotte,
If Iannes,'o"   Murat,         "    Suchet,
"    Mlaccdonald,    {a   Miassenac,             rruin e,
"    Moncey~,         "    Marmont,        "    Ney, an(d others.
Embellished with numerous Steel Plate Engravings.: R O  NC P R E F —. C E_
It has been my design, in the following work, not only to give the true
character of Napoleon, and the wars he waged, but to illustrate the men who
led his armies to victory; forming as they do, a group the like of which the
world has never seen. Their battles revolutionized the whole art of war, and
form a gallery of pictures that has no equal in the history of any nation. Many
of these renowned battle-fields I have gone over in person, and hence been
able to give more accurate descriptions than I otherwise could.  These never
will lose their interest while great deeds are admired and true heroes honored.
Napoleon's marshals can appropriately be placed side by side with our own
great generals of the present war.
The portraits are copies of those in the National Gallery of France, and
hence must be considered accurate likenesses.
Cloth, Gilt Side and Back,,.....  $3.50
Leather, Library Style,......          4.00
Sent post-paid, upon receipt of price.
E. B. TREAT & CO., Publishers,
654 BROADWAY, N. r.
Agents Wanted




THE
SACRED AMOUNTAINS,
AND
SCENES IN THE HOLY LAND.
BY HON. J. T. HEADLEY,
Author of
e"WASHINGTON AND HIS GENERALS," "NAPOLEON AND HIS MARSHALS," $&.
Illustrated with beautiful Steel Plate Engravings.
Comprising sketches and descriptions of Mount Ararat, Sinai, Moriah,
Pisgah, Zion, Tabor, Calvary, and many others mentioned in the Sacred Writings; which have been the theatre of the most wonderful exhibitions of
Divine power, wisdom and goodness.  Including glowing de-r ltions of
Events, Incidents and Scenes in the Holy Land, illustrating the great and
glorious manifestations of God to man; making more familiar and life-like
the Great Truths of the Bible.
The author having actually Inade the Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and
visited the places made sacred by scenes described in the work, renders the
book deeply interesting and more attractive.
The Steel Plates are from accurate drawings of the mountains described, as
they now appear. The other plates are from designs by DARLEY, the most
distinguished artist in America, not only well known in the world of art, but
in the religious world, for many of the similar beautiful designs he has made
for the Tract Society.
The work is printed on superior paper, and comprises over four hundred
pages, with twenty Steel Plate and other engravings, from designs by DARLEY,
and substantially bound.
Full Gilt Side and Back, Sprinkled Edge,..  $3.00
Full Gilt Side, Back and Gilt Edges,.....    3.50
Sent post-paid upon receipt of price.
E. B. TREAT & CO., Publishers,
654 BROADWAY, N. Y.
Agents Wanted.