
 <^>*4 . », ^.^OU^^Ua^ 
 
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 THE KTT.FORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMIT lEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS^ 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PRESIDPJNT'S MESSAGE, 
 THE CONFEDERATE AND THE UNITED STATES 
 
 I' u -- ■.- v- ,v.. :» ■ 'j ' . 
 
 The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom was referrea-so 
 much of the President's Mcssno-e as relates t.o the affairs of the 
 Confederate States with the United States, respectfully report : 
 
 That the truthful and able narration of the facts and prhici- 
 pies involved in the contest between the Confederate States 
 and the United States, Avhich the President's Message contains, 
 constitutes a vinj^ication of the course of the Confederate States, 
 Avhich ought to satisfy the world of the justice of their cause. 
 But all who propose to change the general order of thin^-s 
 amongst nations, stand at disadvantage. They are looked upon 
 as assailing the peace of the world; and hence those who break 
 up a long established government, and effect thereby the interests 
 of other nations, owe it to them, as well as themselves, to make 
 the justification of their course as complete as possible. The 
 contest between the Confederate and the United States, is" not 
 merely a contest of war. Wars too often determine nothing, but 
 which nation is the strongest or bravest. This contest is a 
 contest for constitutional government, in whicli the interests of 
 all mankind are concerned. Your conunittee therefore propose 
 on the wide subject connnitted to tlieni, briefly to present some 
 views in support of the President's positions, which may not be 
 useless in elucidating the relations between the Confederate 
 and the United States. 
 
 The real issue involved in the relations between the North 
 and thf^ S<H,)1. r.f tlie American States, is the great principle of 
 
self-p^ovcrnment. Sliall n dominant party of the North rule the 
 South, or shall the people of the South rule thcyiselves. This is 
 the great matter in controversy. After the lai)se of eightjr- 
 four years, this party of the North set uj) the same pretension 
 the British Parliament claimed Over our ancestors in 1TT6. .As 
 tlu' British crown contended, that the British Parliament ^va« 
 umnijiotent in !ts Lctrislation over the Colonies, sothe Northern 
 ]ieoi>le now couteud, that the Congress of the United States^ 
 through their majority, is omnipotent in its legislation over the 
 ])eople of the South. AVhilst the North — the stronger section 
 of the Union — ■\vrs not tmited in using its jiower in Congress, 
 the Southern i»eople tolerated the union with them. Although 
 a sectional minority, they were not necessarily ruled by the 
 majority section, liowever despotic were its principles, until 
 that section became united in the tise^of its sectional power. 
 That unio;i was efiected, in the late Presidential election. On 
 the liscal operations of the government in the laying aiid the 
 expenditure of the taxes, they were previously not suttlciently 
 miited, completely to rule the South. The party weight of the 
 Soutl), and the ability and skill of its public men, kept them at bay; 
 Avhilst the people of the North-West, being like the people of 
 the South, an agricultural people, were generally opposed to 
 the protective tariff policy — the grand sectionqjising instrumen- 
 tality of the North. They Avcre allies of the South, to defeat 
 this policy. Hence it has been only partially, and occasiojialiy 
 successful. To JTiake it complete, and to render the North 
 omnipotent to rule the South, the division in the North must 
 be healed. To accomplish this object, and to sectiunalise the 
 North, the agitation concerning African slavery iu the South 
 was commenced. This institution was purely sectional, be- 
 longing to the Sovilli. Antagonism to it in the North must 
 also be sectional. The agitation would unite the South against 
 the North, as much as it united the North against the South ; 
 but the Nortli being the stronger section, would gain jMiwer by 
 the agit.-ition. Accordingly, alter the overthrow of tiie tarilf of 
 1828, by the resistance of South Carolina in 18:^3, the agitation 
 concerning the institution of African slavery in the Soiitli was 
 immediately conunenced in the Congress of the United States. 
 It was taken u[) by the Legislatures of the Northern States ; 
 and upon one pretext or another in and out of Congress, it h.is 
 been i)Ui'sued from that day to the fall of 1860, wheu it ouded 
 
in the election of a President and Vice President of the United 
 States, by a purely sectional support. The great end was at 
 last obtained, of a united North to rule the South. The iirst 
 fruit the sectional despotism thus elected produced, was the 
 tariff lately passed by the Congress of the United States. By 
 this tariif the protective policy is renewed in its most odious 
 and oppressive forms, and tlie agricultural States arc made 
 tributaries to the manufacturing States. It has revived the sys- 
 tem of S2)ecific duties, by which, the cheaper an article becomes, 
 from the progress of art or the superior skill of foreign manu- 
 facturers — the higher is the relative tax' it imposes. S[)t- 
 cifilc duties, is the expedient of liigh taxation, to enforce its co!- 
 lectioJi. This tarift' illustrates the oppressive policy of the North 
 towards the, feouth, and abounds in high taxation by specific du- 
 ties. It is a war on tlie foreign commerce of the country, in 
 wliich the Southern people are chiefly interested. Exclusivelv 
 an agricultural people, it is their policy, to purchase the nianti- 
 factured commodities they need, in the cheapest markets. These 
 are aniongst the nations of Europe, wlio consume five-sixths of 
 the agricultural productions of the South. The late tariff pas- 
 ed by the Congress of the United States, was designed to force 
 the Southern people, by prohibitory duties to consume the 
 dearer manufactured commodities of the North, instead of the 
 cheaper commodities of European nations. Wliat is this but 
 robbery? Does it not take from one citizen or section and irivc 
 to another ? The foreign trade of the United States, has al- 
 ways been carried on, liy our agricultural productions. Our ex- 
 ports, are the basis of the imports, of the United States. Ui)on 
 what i)rinciple of justice or of tlie Constilution, have the people 
 of the North intervened between us and our natural customers, 
 and forced us by the use of the Federal Government — layino- 
 prohibitory duties on the production of foreign nations — to con- 
 sume fheir productions ? Shall we not have the right to deal 
 directly with those who consume our agricultural productions 
 and who in return can supply us with their cheaper nianu- 
 fai'iurod commodities. If foreign nations can .sell us freelv 
 tliiir manufactured conunoditics, in consequence of flieir 
 uruatcr cheapness — can they not aftbrd to give us more for 
 o\»r cotton? And if we pay less for their manufactured 
 commodities— are Ave not so much the richer by the trade V 
 T))is iMiilf aloiio, would have been ample cause for a separation 
 
of the Southern from tlie Xortlieni States, The reign of sec- 
 tional oppression and tyranny, anticipated by the seeedins: States, 
 is fully inauijurated at Washiiiijton, by the ]»assage of this act. 
 
 It may be suj)posed, by those who liavo not attentively con- 
 sidered the history of the past, that the Constitution of the 
 United States would be a barrier to th(^ sectional oinni]>otencc 
 claimed by the North, in the administration of the Government 
 of the United States. Undoubtedly, the Constitution does not 
 authorize the assumption of the jiowers claimed by the North- 
 ern States. It was established on the ]irineij»le of non-interven- 
 tion by the General Government, as to all local or sectional inter- 
 ests whatever. Its framers were perfectly aware of the essential 
 difference between the States (•ctm))Osing the United States, in 
 climate, productions and pursuits of industry. There "was but 
 one way, that different jieople, with such various interests, co\dd 
 live free and harmoniously under one Government. All local 
 or sectional interests must be left to the exclusive governance 
 of the people to whom they belonged ; and only such general 
 interests should be committed to the control of a common Gov- 
 ernment, as would make all cipial, and equally protected in their 
 exercise. Any policy, therefore, which is local or sectional in 
 its operations, must, from the very nature of the constitution, be 
 unconstitutional. If this great jninciple of the Constitution 
 bad been observetl, there would have been no serious divisions 
 or contests amongst the peo])le of the United States. The 
 interest of one section of the Union was the interest of all, in 
 the jiowers exercised by the (Jeneral Government. Hence, a 
 sectional majority could not exist. Differences in policy in 
 carrying out the provisions of the Constitution would be com- 
 mon to all sections of the I'nion ; and a majority could not op- 
 press a minority, Avithout oj)])rcssing themselves. Party con- 
 tests for power, however njuch they may rage, could not efiect 
 the stability of the Union. Antagonisms would be vnthin tJic 
 s))here of general interests, to be protected and promoted by 
 general powi-rs, and would not aiise between oj)posing sections 
 of the Union. This was the theory, ui)on which the Constitu- 
 tion of the T'^nited States was built. 
 
 From the commencement of the operations of the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States, the controling party of the people of 
 the North have endeavori-d to destroy its limitations. To make 
 it sectional in its operations, and subservient to their sectional 
 
interest.^, and to make the government of the United States 
 itself a consolidated government, lias been the aim of their 
 steady and nnintermitted efforts. By the necessities of iiatnre, 
 tlieir industry must he engaged in nnvigation, connnercc or 
 manufactures. Amongst the first laws they ohtained from con- 
 gress, were laws granting, them hounties in their fisheries, by 
 which an annual tribute has been obtained by thcii fishermen 
 from th^ treasury of the United States, from 1/89 to this day. 
 They obtained a monoply to their vessels of the whole coasting 
 trade of the United States, by which the Southern people have 
 been dc^barred from using the cheaper navigation of other na- 
 tions. They have ha<l discrimin.ations in the duties imposed 
 on iiiii)ortations in the vessels of foreign nations, so thn.t the 
 people of tlie South may be compelled, by tlie increased duties 
 kid on foreign commodities wlien brought in foreign bottoms, 
 to employ their vessels to import them. Ko vessel built in a 
 foreign nation, although purchased by a citizen of the United 
 States, can be protected by the flag of the United States— thus 
 forcing us to buy vessels built by them. The same selfish and 
 sectional ])olicy they endeavored to carry out with respect to 
 all branches .of their industry, through the Tariff and the ex- 
 penditures of the govern-ment. All encronchments by Congress 
 on tho Constitution of the United States, they have uniformly 
 uplield ; until at last the Constitution, by their interpretation, is 
 virtually abolished, and now consists only in three words — "the 
 general welfare," ofwhich they are the judges and dispensers. 
 T\v: la; t phasis of their usurpations, claimhig for "Congress the 
 power to exclude the Southern people from settling any por- 
 tion of the territories of the United States, was only a fur- 
 ther development of their policy of sectional rule and consol- 
 idation. 
 
 It is impossible, we suppose, for the M'it of man to conceive a 
 worse government, than that by which the absolute rule of one 
 jieople, acting under jtopular institutions, is established over 
 another people, having different jjursuits of industry, habhs, 
 and institutions. In such a government, the forms of free gov- 
 ernment, instead of afiording any mitigation, only increase the 
 tendency to excess and tyranny. Of what avail is representa- 
 tion in a legislative body, where the majority are united together 
 to aggrandize their section, at the expense of the minority sec- 
 tion ? The oppressed minoiity in the legislature, may be zeal- 
 
ously faithful to the people they represent, and yet they are 
 perfectly powerless to protect them. Do they show, to a dem- 
 onstration, that the peoi)le they represent are wronged and 
 plundered by the measures proposed bythe majority ? They 
 are offering the very best motives and arguments, why the 
 measures shonld pass. The majority, mean to plunder and 
 wrong the minority. They mean to make the weaker section 
 tln'ir tributaries. Between a representation incompetent to pro- 
 tect, and no representation, there is no difference, wh'fere there 
 are conflicting interests in a legislative body. And in the elec- 
 tion of a Chief Magistrate, of what use is the right of suffrage, 
 when, if every man in the oppressed section should vote against 
 the candi<late of the stronger section, (as the Southern States 
 ditl in the late Presidential election) they cannot prevent his 
 election. He is the exponent and instrument of the stronger 
 section; and is elected, simply because he is their exponent. 
 The only effect of the riglit of suffrage under such circumstan- 
 ces to a minority, is to elect an enemy to rule them ; and the 
 ofdy efll'Ct of representation, is to give the majority power to 
 legislate for their oppression. By the forms of a free govern- 
 ment therefore, a many-headed despotism may be established by 
 a stronger section over a weaker section,far worse than the 
 despotism of one man. One man may have a conscience ; but 
 men acting in masses, seldom exhibit conscientious scrui)les. . 
 Individuality and responsibility, are lost in numbers. That "a 
 cori)oration has no soul," is the proverbial aphorism of English 
 law, indicating the unscru|)ulousness of men acting in masses. 
 A single despot has no motive to oppress one portion of his 
 pcDple, more than another; but here, one half of a country rises 
 u]) to plun<ler and oppress another half. 
 
 The States composing the Confederate States, needed no de- 
 velopment of the nature of the consolidated government estab- 
 lished at Washington, by the late Presidential election, to satisfy 
 them, of its desi)Otic tendencies. With the Constitution over- 
 thrown, and the government of the United States in the hands 
 of a hostile section, not only liberty, but self-preservation, de- 
 manded their separation from it. To accomplish this separa- 
 ti(m, uo usurpation of power Avas required. They had the ready 
 instrumentality, in the sovereignty of the States. There is not 
 a fict in all history more indisputable, than that the several 
 States which adopted the Constitution of the United States, for 
 
 .-% 
 
the establishment of a government over them, at the tune of 
 its adoption, Avere free, sovereign, and independent States. 
 Robed with all the attributes of sovereignty, did they, by the 
 adoption of the Constitution of the United States, surrender 
 their sovereignty ? If they did, the fact should be clearly shown. 
 Not . one of the powers granted, was surrendered by the 
 States to each other, much less to their mere agent — the gov- 
 ernment of the United States. Every act of their agent, in 
 conformit?5- to the powers conferred, was their act. Its powers, 
 were their powers. They called themselves under this consti- 
 tution, " United States." As states acting with equal power, 
 they made the Constitution : as States acting severally, tl,iey 
 adopted it; and by the States only, it can be amended. It 
 is an antunaly imheard of in the political jurisprudence of na- 
 tions — that the sovereignty of a nation is destroyed, because it 
 ex<lrcises any of its powers by exi)ress compact, in common 
 with another sovereignty. They have establiislied a govern- 
 mental agency, in the government of the United States, for 
 their common benefit. They are the sovereign parties to the 
 constitutional compact, establishing this agency ; and when the 
 com|>act is violated by their eo-sovereigns, they have the right 
 to reject it, and tC establish for themselves another agency in 
 its stead. There is not one w'ord in the bonstitutioii of the 
 United Stated which denies thiis right, and nothing but a plain 
 specific alienation of it can wrest it from the States. 
 
 In seceding therefore, frouT the United States, the Con- 
 federate States have only exercised a right inherent in all 
 Sovereignties. In their judgment, the agreement they had made 
 with the Northern States had been grossly violated. Its whole 
 purpose was overthrown. Instead of an agency of very limited 
 power, having for its object the defence of the States against 
 ilie aggressions of foreign nations, it has been converted into a 
 government of milimited internal powers. Unless the peoi)le of 
 the Confederate States were prepared to surrender forever their 
 liberties, there was but one course left for them to pursue — tliey 
 innitt. escape from the domination of such a government. 
 
 But they have a right to withdraw from the Union by 
 virtue of another and broader princij)lc. 
 
 In 1776, the Southern and Northern States were colonies of 
 Great Britain. The British Government set up the pretension to 
 lax them unjustly ; and as they thought, witliout authority. 
 
8 
 
 The)' refused obedience to tlie taxes, threw off the British Gor- 
 ernment, and set up a Government for themselves. In their 
 Deflarntion of Independence, they jn>5tif!ed their course upon 
 the broad ground, that ''tlie people liave a right to alter or abol- 
 ish their Government, laying its foundation upon such princi- 
 ples, and organizing its jKiwers in such form as to them may 
 seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." A right 
 to be a right, is entitled to the respect of all men and nations. 
 One people cannot have a right, and another people be justified 
 in taking it from them. Any attempt to take it fro(n them, 
 mtist be a wrong. Hence our ancestors denounced the course 
 of Great Britain in attempting to subdue them to her authority, 
 in contravention of this right. "Whether this right exists or 
 not, it is imdeniable that our ancestors affirmed that it exist- 
 ed; and it constituted not only the basis on which they changed 
 their Government, but the basis on which the colonies united 
 their destinies together. It was a clearly understood ))rinciple 
 of Government between them ; and is just as obligatory upon all 
 who take the benefit of their compact of union, as if inserted in 
 the Constitution itself The j^eojile of the North and the peo- 
 ple of the South, having solennily before the world asserted the 
 right of every people to change their form of Government, 
 come together and make a union and Constitution. Can either 
 of them deny this right to the other, consistent Avith :my princi- 
 ple of good faith or honor ? Is it not a moral, as well as a po- 
 litical law, clearly obligatory npon them? 
 
 It is true, that every peo])le are not capable of self-govern- 
 ment. The self-restraint and obedience to law, which are abso- 
 lutely necessary to maintain free governments, are not common 
 to all the people of the world. Instead of ruling themselves, 
 they may attempt to rule others ; and the right to selfgoveru- 
 nient may be so abused, as to justify the use of defensive force 
 from wiiliin to enforce justice, or from without by other nations, 
 tojirotect themselves. The people of the North cannot say, 
 that tile people of the South are incapable of ruling them- 
 selves. They caimot say, tiiat by assuming a separation froni 
 them, Ave take from them any guarantee they possess for their 
 liberties We leave them in no coiuUlion of weakness amongst 
 the nations of the world. We set up no monarchy or despotism 
 on their borders, dangerous to their forms of free Government. 
 We take tlie Constitution under Avhich they live, and purging 
 
it of llie faithless and vicious interpretations they have put 
 upon it, adopt it as our own. Such reasons as these do not, 
 therefore, govern their hostihty. They endeavor to coerce us 
 into a union with thorn, by mihtary force, with a \iew of ulti- 
 mately overthrowing our domestic institutions, over which they 
 have constitutionally no control, or simply because we are use- 
 ful to them, as convenient subjects and most excellent tributa- 
 ries. 
 
 It is true the President of the United States and the great 
 leaders of his party declare, that they have had no design 
 whatever to assail or interfere with the institution of African 
 slavery in the States. But the laws of party progre>JS, are 
 sometimes as inexorable as the laws of nature. That they have 
 had no design, at present, of interfering with slavery in the 
 States, nmy be shnply because they supposed that it would 
 di<solvc tlie Fnion. Nor have they agitated the subject of 
 slavery from any regard to the negro. It is not humanity 
 which has dictated this agitation. It has been policy. In 
 the sectional dominion they propose to establish in the Union, 
 every free State is an ally — every slaveholding State an enemy. 
 Hence the struggle in our territories between the free and 
 slaveholding States, has not been a struggle for the emanci- 
 pation of slaves, ^t has been a contest for power, between 
 the two great sections of the Union. The South, needing the 
 aid of slaveholding States arising in our territories, to pro- 
 tect herself in the Union ; and the North requiring them, to 
 assist her in the great enterjirise of ruling tlic South. But 
 there is a marked ditference in this contest, between the two 
 sections of the Union, in the matter of principle. The South- 
 ern i)eople, in claiming a right to settle in territories with" 
 their slaves, assert a right sanctioned by the Constitution. The 
 Northern people, in attempting to preclude the Southern peo- 
 ple, by the legislation of Congress from our territories, war 
 against the Constitution. This is the declaration of the Supreme t 
 Court of the United States. If the Northern position Has 
 prevailed by the late Presidential election, as the Northern 
 people maintain, it has overthrown the Constitution. P'or by 
 this result, a party hostile both to the Constitution and the 
 decisions of the Supreme Court, have been placed in control 
 of the Government. This alone would justify a disi^olution 
 of the Union. Abolish the Constitution, and the Union is 
 
10 
 
 destroyed. But tlio purport of the late Presidenti.il election, 
 goes further tlian this. It places a sectional party over the 
 Government, whicli claims despotic sway over the South. This 
 party not only proposes to substitute their arbitrary will for 
 the Constitution, but by the denial of the right of secession, to 
 close up the South forever, to their sectional domination. 
 
 It is absurd to suppose, that any people having any sense of 
 indepondcnco or liluTty, will allow another people, bccanso they 
 have dilferent institutions, to overtlirow their institutions. Any 
 people may assimilate their institutions amongst themselves; but 
 no people have a riglit to dictate the institutions of another peo- 
 ple. AVhether all the States composing the United States, should 
 be slaveholding or non-slaveholding States, neither the Northern 
 nor Southern States ought to have })ermitted to be a question 
 in the politics of the United States. Such a question was de- 
 rogatory to both sections of the Union, and the States compos- 
 ing them. But when it originates with the North — the stronger 
 section, whose institutions could not be aftected by the Soutli, 
 the weaker section — tlie intention could not be misunderstood. 
 It Avas designed, despite the Constitution, to unite the North 
 against the South. That there is a great difference between 
 the institutions of the North and the South, none will deny ; 
 but whether the institutions of the North ha.ve the elements of 
 greater stability for maintaining free popular govei-nment, may 
 well be questioned. The South has the institution of African 
 slavery, with four millions of slaves. Their slaves have no po- 
 litical power. The wliite man is a ])rivilegefl man. He alone 
 rules the country ; whilst the offices of servitude are performed 
 by the slaves. With the North it is ditterent. They have a 
 laboring and dependent class, who perform the services 
 of the slaves in the Soutii, but they are voters. With 
 universal suffrage they uiHuence and may control the elec- 
 tions, and through the elections, the government. The evil day, 
 wlien those who own no property will be the majority at the 
 ]>olls, may be put off for a time. It has been put off in the 
 North, by our vast vacant territory, and the Union with the 
 Sovitb, showering ujion them an artilicial prosperity. But the 
 evil day must come at last, and may not be fiir distant. Nearly 
 every corner of Eui-ope, acknowledges its existence. And when 
 that day comes, will their free institutions stand the conflict 
 which must arise? Will property be protected from conlisca- 
 
11 
 
 tion and appropriation? Will non-property holders live iu Avant 
 and starvation, with the government in their hands, by which 
 they can, by all the forms of law, take the property of the 
 country for their sul)sistence and relief? Xo statesmanship can 
 prevent want. Wiien the day arrives at the North, of a super- 
 abounding poj)ulation and want, what will become of their free 
 institutions? They will, indeed, have " an irrepressible con- 
 flict"^-but it Avill be between capital and labor. The despotism 
 they are so ready to extend over tlie South, may be extended 
 over themselves. 
 
 Nearly all the political contests in the United States, have orig- 
 inated from violations of the Constitution. Anticipating that they 
 would be the majority pow«r in the Union, tlie people of the 
 North have steadily upheld the policy of setting aside the Con- 
 stitution, and of thus rendering the government of the United 
 States omnipotent in its legislation. They have endeavored to 
 drain the treasurj-, to carry on internal improvements, and at 
 the same time by its exhaustion, to aiford a pretext for higher 
 tariff duties to replenish it! They pushed their oppressions, 
 by the tariff, to such an extent in 1828, that the whole 
 South protested against it; and when one of the Southern 
 States resisted it, and a compromise was effected by which the 
 taxes were to be reduced and limited, they overthrew the com- 
 promise, and renewed the oppressions. They have disregarded 
 the plain obligations of the Constitution of the United States, 
 to deliver up lugitives bound to service, Avithout which guaran- 
 tee on their part, they know, tliat the Constitution would never 
 have been formed ; and by acts passed in their State Legisla- 
 tures, they have practically nullilied it. With these various 
 means of sectional aggrandizement — protective tariffs — appro- 
 priations from the treasury — tlie exclusive settlement of our 
 territories — and anti-slavery agitations — they have at last suc- 
 ceeded in uniting the North against the South. To escape 
 their ruthless mastery, the Southern States were compelled to 
 secede from the Union with them. 
 
 Such has been the conduct of tlie people of the North towards 
 the people of the South. What has l)ecn the condiict of the 
 people of the South towards them? Whilst at every step, the 
 reconls of the country show, thai the ])eople of the South were 
 fully aware of the injustice and oppression practised towards 
 them, they did not resist them. They submitted to them, un- 
 
12 
 
 dcr tlio vain liojx' and expectation tliat a spirit of forbearance — 
 a spirit of fraternity and a returning sense of justice in the 
 North, would i)reveat future aggressions. They had been 
 most faitliful confederates. When the rights of any of the 
 citizens 6f any of the United States were assaik^d, tliey were 
 foremost to redress thcMU. Tiiey nude the war of 1812, to re- 
 dress the wrongs done l)y Great Rrilain to Northern ^eamen 
 and Xortliern connnerce ; and wlien this was endwl, they con- 
 sented that the war-taxes slionUl hekept up, tliat Northern inter, 
 esta vested in manufactures shoukl not suddenly Le overthrown. 
 No narrow sectionalism — no ignoble jealousies limited the 
 broad views of their great statenianship. To make the United 
 States as illustrious by its free institntiojis, as for its unparalleled 
 progress and prosperity, was the high aim of their wise policy. 
 And whilst doing their duty to their confederates, as a constitu- 
 ent portion of the Union, they have never sought to use the 
 Government of the United States to benefit themselves at the 
 expense of other portions of the Union. No eager })ur>uit of 
 gain has blinded tlieir sense of justice. Tlieir cities, which be- 
 fore the llevolution of 177G were advancing ra])idly in ]»rosperi- 
 ty, have 1)cen paralysed in tlieir growth, and have swelkd by 
 their tributary commerce, the great eonnnercial emporiums of the 
 Norlk They have not assailed tlie institutions of t lie Xortli, al- 
 though agrarianism, Fourierism, free-loveism, mormonjsm, have 
 lound there, their congenial soil. For the eightyrfour yeais that 
 we have been associated with them mider one Government, 
 we liave acted on the principle, that the Northern Stati's as 
 the Southern States, were sovereigns, mIiosc internal economy 
 was sacred to themselves. And now when we leave them, we 
 take nothing from them. We leave them all the ends of free 
 Government, unimpaired by us, as laid down in the Declaration 
 of Independence, ''life, liberty, an<l tlie pursuit of happiness." 
 We simi)ly take tmrselves from their jiolitical association and 
 control. AVhat is their course? They otter us violence and 
 Avar. 
 
 The power to coerce a State into obedience to the federal an. 
 thority, was distinctly proposed in the convention which fram- 
 ed the Constitution of the United States, to be a part of the 
 Constitution, and it was as distincly rejected. Such a powder 
 was totally inconsistent with the whole theory of the Constitu- 
 tion, which was — that the Constitution was a compact between 
 
13 
 
 the Statfis. Ghe Ic tlic r.g«.oit — the General Government — tlin 
 power of construing the Constitution, and of enforcing its con- 
 structions upon the parties to the Constitutional compact, and 
 the parties to tlie compact would be superceded. The framers 
 of the Constitution when they rejected it, could not have 
 misunderstood the purport of the proposition to confer on the 
 General Government the power to coerce a State. Yet in the 
 clear light of the princii)les involved, and the distinct refusal to 
 grant this power, the Government of the United States claims 
 tliat it exists, and calls out troops to enforce it. If their blinded 
 avarice and Inst for power, had left them their usual discretion, 
 they would have seen the absurdity of attempting, to subdue the 
 seceding States to their authority. They would liave hastened to 
 propose terms of friendly accommodation; and if they had fail- 
 ed to save a union with us, they would have obtained such ar- 
 rangements, as might have made the South as valuable to them, 
 as tlie United States proved to be to Great Britain after their 
 separation. But they are as reckless of their own liberties as 
 they are of ours ; and support their Executive in an usurpation 
 of powers, for which in the purer days of their political exis- 
 tence, they would have executed him. For Avhat crime can be 
 greater, than that of unconstitionally i)roducing war ? Instead 
 of rebuking the usurper, however, the people of the Xorth, 
 seem to recognize in the President a correct exponent of them- 
 selves. If the Confederate States, ever had auy doubt as to 
 the necessity of a separation from the people of the North, that 
 doubt would be removed by the recklessness with which they 
 allow their own liberties to be trampled on. They appear 
 to have no idea of free Govei'ument. Those necessary re- 
 straints on power — those nicely adjusted balances, by which 
 justice and liberty are secured in a free government, are not 
 understood. 
 
 The future historian of the times iu which we live, may be 
 astonished at the long forbearance and patience of the people of 
 the South, under the continual aggressions of the people of the 
 North. Looking merely to the interest of the people of the 
 South, their submission cannot be accounted for on any principle 
 creditable to their intelligence or patriotism. But a people are 
 not alwavs governed by motives of interest. There are tra- 
 ditionary oi>inions .and attachments, which are often stronger 
 m their intluence, than mere interest. An attachment to the 
 
14 
 
 Union of tlie United States, was a sentiment — a passion witli 
 tlie pcoiile of the South, transmitted to them by tlieir ancestors. 
 The great liero and Patriot of the Rcvohition of '7G'w:i8 a 
 Southerner. The Constitution of the United States was mainly 
 tlie work of Southern statesmen. All the Presidents of the 
 United StJates, cxoe])ting five, were Southerners. In the cab- 
 inet and in the field, the Union was the great theatre on 
 which the genius of the South for command, was displayed. — 
 It is not surprising, therefore, that the people of the South 
 should he slow to surrender a Union and government, ren- 
 dered illustrious by their public men, and reflecting its glories 
 ou themselves. They loved the Union, and could with difti- 
 culty realize tliat it bound them to their bitterest enemies. — 
 Aggressing on the Xorth in no Avay — asking only the observ- 
 ance of the Constitution their Fathers made with ours — con- 
 scious that the operation of the government of the United 
 States was to the advantage of the North, all the motives which 
 usually actuate men would seem to render it most reason- 
 able, that the North would cease its senseless aggressions. 
 Such was the reasonable hope and expectation of the people 
 of the. South, after each successive contest; Avhilst their 
 love for the Union, dictated the sacrifices they made to preserve 
 it. But delusions cannot prevail forever against facts. Slowly 
 but surely the great fiict was developed, that the North 
 designed to use the Union to overthrow their liberties, and to 
 make them tributaries. Their generous patience — their heroic 
 love for the Union, was construed hito fear ; and presuming on 
 their supposed imbecility, it is attempted to subject them by 
 the sword. This attempt at subjection cannot succeed, and 
 the Union between the North and the South is forever dis- 
 solved. Conscious of the justice of their cause, the Confeder- 
 ate States, can fearlessly lace the arbitrament of the world. 
 They accept the stern trial imposed upon them, for the preserva- 
 tion of their liberties and institutions; and relying on him avIio 
 alone governs the destinies of nations, enter u})on the high duties 
 their condition involves. 
 
 The issuing of letters of marcpic and re[)risal to privateers, has 
 been the usual practice of all nations at war with each other. An 
 effort was made a few years since, by the chief European nations 
 to abolish this practice, by the consent of the civilized nations of 
 the Avorld. It was defeated by the government of the United 
 
15 
 
 States, They refused to surrender the right to cniploy the 
 " militia of the seas" iu any future conflict Avith other nations. — 
 They preserved it for themselves, and we presume for the rest 
 of the -world. They at least, cannot object to privateers being 
 employed against them, in any war in Avhich they may be en- 
 gaged. Our late associates in the government of the United 
 States, have seized the -whole of the United States navy, 
 one-half of which belongs to us, and design using it against 
 us. "We have Ijut one resource, to meet the advantage they 
 possess, by this unjust seizure. Wc must meet them on the 
 high seas by our privateers. This is our right, and it will be 
 our duty to exercise it, so long as they wage war against us. If 
 they observe the usages of civilized warfare, the Confederate 
 States will not disregard them. It is the interests of all nations, 
 under the humane principles of Christianity, to ameliorate as 
 far as possible the inevitable cruelties of vrar. But the govern- 
 ment of the United States, in equal disregard of our rights, and 
 those of all neutral nations, denounce our resort to this legiti- 
 mate means of defence, and threatens to treat it as piracy. Re- 
 taliation, wiil follow the execution of any such threats. It is for 
 the people of the United State to determine -VN'hether they wiil 
 place themselves out of the pale of civilized nations, by disre- 
 garding their usages. 
 
 Your committee beg leave to report a BiU, recognizing the 
 existence of war between the United States and the Confederate 
 States, and concerning letters of marque, prizes, and prize 
 goods. 
 
Ti'\