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 Conf Pam 12mo #39 
 
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[House, No. 25.] 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.— Janaary 13, 1863. Read 
 
 first and second times and referred to Committee on Foreign iLffairs, 
 and ordered to be printed. 
 
 [By Mr. Foote, from Committee on Foreign Affairs,] 
 
 j o iisrr RESOLUTIONS 
 
 On the pending war, and matters appertaining thereto. 
 
 1 The people of the Confederate States of America having, in 
 
 2 the progress of the ponding Avar, most clearly demonstrated their 
 
 3 ability to maintain by arms the claim ate. independence 
 
 4 'which they have heretofore asserted before the world, ami being 
 
 5 inflexibly resolved never to relinquish the straggle in which they 
 t are engaged until the great object for which they have been con- 
 7 tending shall have been finally accomplished ; in view of the fact, 
 S that a great political reaction, in opposition to the bloody and 
 9 unnatural war now in course of prosecution, has displayed itself 
 
 10 in several of the most populous and influential States of what 
 
 1 1 was once honorably known as k< ' The United States of America ; ,? 
 
 12 and, in view of the additional fact that even among the avowed 
 
13 opponent* of despoiism, and the .recognised friends of pea 
 
 14 the North, a grave andMeplorable misapprehension has, of late, 
 1.5 arisen in regard to the true condition of public sentiment in the 
 16 South, touching the question of reconstructing that political 
 IT Union once existing under the protection of what is known as the 
 
 15 Federal Constitution: Now, in order that no further misunder- 
 
 19 standing of the kind referred to may hereafter prevail, and in 
 
 20 order that the unciiangeablc determination of our Government and 
 
 21 people, in reference to the terms upon which alone they would he 
 
 22 willing to bring this sanguinary struggle to a close, maybe made 
 
 23 known ; 
 
 1 The Congress of Vie Confederate States of America do resolve, 
 
 2 as follows : 
 
 1 1. There is no plan of reconstructing what was formerly known 
 
 2 as the Federal Union, to which the people of the Confederate 
 
 3 States will ever consent. YYrongs too grievous and multiplied 
 
 4 have been committed upon us and upon our most cherished rights, 
 
 5 by a united North, since this unprovoked and most wicked war 
 G commenced; a majority of the people of the Northern States 
 
 7 have too evidently shown themselves to be utterly incapable of 
 
 8 self-government and unmindful of all the fundamental principles 
 
 9 upon which alone republican institutions can be maintained; 
 
3 
 
 10 they have too long submitted patiently to the iron rule of the 
 
 1 1 basest and most degrading despotism that the world has yet 
 
 12 known; for too long & period of time have they openly and un- 
 
 13 blushingly sympathized with the lawless and ferocious miscreants . 
 
 14 who have been sent into the bosom of the unoffending South to 
 1*5 spill the precious blood of our most valued citizens, to pollute 
 1C and to desecrate all that we hold in especial respect and venera- 
 17 tioii, to rob us of our property, to expel us from our homes, and 
 
 15 wantonly to devastate our country, to allow even of the possi- 
 
 19 bility of our ever agtin consenting tb hold the least political 
 
 20 connection with those who have so cruelly outraged our sensi- 
 
 21 bilities and so profoundly dishonored themselves, and, •in asso- 
 
 22 ciation with whom, we feel that we could not exnect that freedom 
 
 23 which we love,vthat self-respect which we are determined ever to 
 
 24 cultivate, and the esteem and sympathy of civilized and Christian 
 
 25 nation-. 
 
 1 2. Whilst the Confederate States of America are not at all 
 
 2 responsible for the existing war, and have been, at all times, 
 
 t 
 
 3 ready to participate in such arrangements as would be best suited 
 
 4 to bring it to a close, in a manner consistent with their own 
 
 5 safety and honor, they could not yield their consent to an armis- 
 
fi dec of a single day or hour, so long as the incendiary proclama- 
 
 t 
 
 7 tion of the atrocious monster now bearing rule in Washington 
 
 5 city shall remain unrevoked; nor could the government of said 
 9 Confederate States agree to negotiate at all in regard to a sus- 
 
 10 pension of hostilities except upon the basis of a formal and un- 
 
 ] 1 conditional recognition of their independence. 
 
 1 S, Whenever the friends of peace in the North shall grow 
 
 2 strong enough to constrain 'Abraham Lincoln and his flagitious 
 
 3 Cabinet to withdraw said proclamation, and propose an armistice 
 
 4 upon the basis aforesaid, the Government of the Confederate 
 .5 States will be ready to accede to said proposition of armistice 
 
 6 with a view to the settlement of all existing difficulties. 
 
 1 4. Should peape be, at any time, brought about, the Confeder- 
 
 2 ate States of America would freely consent/to the formation of a 
 :> just and mutually advantageous Commercial Treaty with all the 
 
 4 States now constituting the United States, except New England ; 
 
 5 with whose people, and in whose ignoble love of gold and bru- 
 
 6 tifying fanaticism, this disgraceful war has mainly originated ; 
 
 7 hr consideration of which facts, the people of the Confederate 
 
 8 States of America are firmly and deliberately resolved to have 
 
 9 no intercourse whatever, hereafter, either direct or indirect, 
 10 political, commercial or social, under any circumstances which 
 
1 1 could be possibly imogined to exist, with said States of New 
 
 12 England or the people therein resident. 
 
 1 5. The Government of the Confederate States, in considera- 
 
 2 tion of the change in public sentiment which has occurred in 
 
 « 
 
 3 several of the Northern States, wherein political elections have 
 
 4 been recently held : sympathising most kindly with those by whose 
 
 5 manly exertions that change has .been brought about ; would be 
 G willing to conclude a just and honorable peace with anyone or 
 
 7 more of said States who, (renouncing all political connection 
 
 8 with New England.) may be found willing to stipulate for the 
 
 9 desisting at once from the further prosecution of the war against 
 1(1 the South ; and, in such case, the Government of the Confederate 
 
 1 1 States would be willing to enter into a League, offensive and de- 
 
 12 fensive, with the States thus desisting, of a permanent and 
 
 13 enduring character. 
 
 1 G. The Government of the Confederate States is now willing, 
 
 t 
 
 1 as it has heretofore repeatedly avowed itself to be, whenever the 
 
 3 States bordering upon the Mississippi river, or any of them, shall 
 
 4 have declared their inclination to withdraw from the farther pros- 
 
 5 ecution of the war upon the South (which, could it be successful, 
 G would only have the effect of destroying their own best market) 
 7 to guarantee to them, in the most effectual and satisfactory man- 
 
G 
 
 8 ner, the peaceful and uninterrupted navigation of the said Mis- 
 
 9 sissippi river and its tributaries, and to open to them at once the 
 
 10 markets of the South, greatly enhanced in value to them as they 
 
 1 1 -would be by the permanent exclusion of all articles of New Eng- 
 
 12 land growth or manufacture. 
 
 1 7. The course of practical neutrality in regard to the pending 
 
 2 war heretofore pursued by the States and Territories West of the 
 
 3 Rocky Mountains, has afforded the highest gratification to the 
 
 4 people of the Confederate States of America; and it is hoped 
 
 5 that the day is not far distant when said States and Territories, 
 G consulting their own obvious safety and future welfare, will with- 
 
 7 draw from all political connection with a Government which has, 
 
 8 heretofore, been a source of continual oppression to them ; and 
 when said States and Territories asserting their separate indepen- 
 
 10 dence, shall appropriate to themselves the manifold advantages 
 
 11 sure to result from such a movement; among which, may be 
 
 12 reckoned, 1st, Relief from grievous and exhausting tariff regu- 
 
 13 lations now being rigidly enforced; 2d. Relief from all the 
 ] 4 discredit resulting inevitably from the prosecution of the present 
 lo. unjust and unauthorized war ; 3d. Relief from the pressure of a 
 1 G despotism the most heartless and atrocious, ever yet established ; 
 17 Hh. Relief from the crushing weight of taxation unavoidably 
 
1 
 
 18 growing out of the war; 5th. The exclusive use and enjoyment 
 
 19 of &11 the rich mineral lands stretching along the slope of the 
 
 20 Pacific ; Gtli. Free trade with all the nations of the earth, and a 
 
 21 future maritime growth and power that has no parallel; and last- 
 
 22 1 J, a, monopoly of the trade of the racific ocean. 
 
 1 8. Revoked, That the President be respectfully requested, if he 
 
 2 shall approve these resolutions, to cause them to be promulged 
 o and transmitted to the States of the North by such means as he 
 
 4 shall deem most judicious; and that he accompany them, if he 
 
 5 shall think it advisable, with such an address or proclamation, 
 G expository of the matters embodied therein, as he shall judge 
 7 most suitable and proper. 
 
Hollinger Corp. 
 P H8.5