Staaten, 1861. nization and State sovereignty, that I did not think the employment of force No. 50. would be tolerated for a moment, and I thought the only solution of our Vereinigte difficulties would be found in such modifications of our constitutional com- 15. April pact as would invite the seceding States back into the Union, or a peaceable acquiescence in the assertion of their claims to a separate sovereignty. M. Thouvenel expressed the opinion that the employment of force would be unwise, and would tend to a further rupture of the Confederacy, by causing the remaining Southern States to make common cause with the States which had already taken action on the subject. I am etc. To William H. Seward, Esq. etc. Charles J. Faulkner. Staaten, Sir, The despatches of your predecessor, Nos. 117, 119, and 120, Nr. 51. have been received. The latter, acknowledging the receipt of his letter Vereinigte of recall and announcing his intended return, requires no special notice. 4. Mai 1861. No. 117 bears the date of the 5th of April last. It contains only an exposition of Mr. Faulkner's views of the policy which this Government ought to pursue in regard to the disturbed conditions of affairs at home, but at the same time gives us no information concerning the state of affairs in France. The instructions heretofore transmitted to you will show you the President's views on the subject Mr. Faulkner has discussed, and these will be your guide, notwithstanding any different opinions your predecessor may have expressed or left on record at Paris. ¶ No. 119*) bears date the 15th of April last, and contains a report of an official conversation, and also of an unofficial one, hold between Mr. Faulkner and M. Thouvenel. In the former conversation M. Thouvenel asked Mr. Faulkner whether there is not some diversity of opinion in the Cabinet of the President as to the proper mode of meeting the difficulties which now disturb the relations of the States and the General Government. Mr. Faulkner, in reply, said that he had no information on the subject. The matter is of no great moment, yet it is desirable that there be no misapprehension of the true state of the Government in the present emergency. You may therefore recall that conversation to M. Thouvenel's memory, and then assure him explicitly that there is no difference of opinion whatever between the President and his constitutional advisers, or among those advisers themselves, concerning the policy that has been pursued, and which is now prosecuted by the Administration, in regard to the unhappy disturbances existing in the country. The path of executive duty has thus far been too plainly marked out by stern necessity to be mistaken, while the solemnity of the great emergency and the responsibility it involves have extinguished in the *) Staatsarchiv No. 50. No. 51. public councils every emotion but those of loyalty and patriotism. It is Vereinigte not in the hands of this Administration that this Government is to come Staaten, 4. Mai 1861. to an end at all, much less for want of harmony in devotion to the country. M. Thouvenel's declaration, that the United States may rest well assured that no hasty or precipitate action will be taken on the subject of the apprehended application by the insurrectionists for a recognition of the independence of the so-called Confederate States is entirely satisfactory, altough it was attended by a reservation of views concerning general principles applicable to cases that need not now be discussed. In the unofficial conversation Mr. Faulkner says that he himself expressed the opinion that force would not be resorted to to coerce the so-called seceding States into submission to the Federal authority, and that the only solution of the difficulty would be found in such modifications of the constitutional compact as would invite the seceding States back into the Union, or a peaceable acquiescence in the assertion of their claim to a separate sovereignty. ¶ The time when these questions had any pertinency or plausibility has passed away. The United States waited patiently while their authority was defied in turbulent assemblies and insidious preparations, willing to hope that mediation offered on all sides would conciliate and induce the disaffected parties to return to a better mind. But the case is now altogether changed. The insurgents have instituted revolution with open, flagrant, deadly war, to compel the United States to acquiesce in the dismemberment of the Union. The United States have accepted this civil war as an inevitable necessity. The constitutional remedies of all the complaints of the insurgents are still open to them, and will remain so. But, on the other hand, the land and naval forces of the Union have been put into activity to restore the federal authority and to save the Union from danger. You cannot be too decided or too explicit in making known to the French Government that there is not now, nor has there been, nor will there be any--the least-idea existing in this Government of suffering a dissolution of this Union to take place in any way whatever. There will be here only one nation and one gov ernment, and there will be the same Republic and the same constitutional Union that have already survived a dozen national changes and changes of government in almost every other country. There will stand hereafter, as they are now, objects of human wonder and human affection. You have seen, on the eve of your departure, the elasticity of the national spirit, the vigour of the national Government, and the lavish devotion of the national treasures of this great cause. Tell M. Thouvenel, then, with the highest consideration and good feeling, that the thought of a dissolution of this Union, peaceably or by force, has never entered into the mind of any candid statesman here, and it is high time that it be dismissed by statesmen in Europe. I am etc,. To William L. Dayton, Esq. etc. William H. Seward. No. 52. NORD-AMERIKA. Inaugurations-Rede von Jefferson Davis, Präsidenten der s. g. Conföderirten Staaten, vom 18. Febr. 1861. Conföd. 1861. Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, No. 52. friends, and fellow-citizens: Called to the difficult and responsible station Staaten, of Chief Executive of the Provisional Government which you have instituted, 18. Febr. I approach the discharge of the duties assigned me with 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 will arise from conflicting interests as separate nations, I enter upon the duties of the office with the hope that the beginning of our career as a Confederacy may not be obstructed by any hostile opposition to our enjoyment of the separate existence and independence which we have asserted, and, with the blessing of Divine Providence, we intend to maintain. Our present condition, achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations, illustrates the American. idea that Governments can 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 of the ends for which they were established. ¶ The declared purpose of the compact of the Union from which we have withdrawn was 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; and when, in the judgment of the sovereign States now composing this Confederacy, it had 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 1776 defined to be inalienable. Of the time and occasion for its exercise they, as the sovereigns, were the final judges, each for itself. The impartial and enlightened 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 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 recognise 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 an abuse of language that this 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 Confod. Staaten, 1861. No. 52. whom they communicated with foreign nations is changed, but this does not necessarily interrupt their international relations. Sustained by the 18. Febr. 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 from 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 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 a wanton aggression on the part of others, there can be no cause to doubt that the courage and patriotism of the people of the Confederate States will be found equal to any measures of defence that our security may require. ¶ An agricultural people, whose chief interest is in 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 a 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. We have entered upon a career of independence, and it must be inflexibly pursued through many years of controversy with our late associates, the Northern States. We have vainly endeavored to secure tranquillity and obtain a respect for the rights to which we were entitled. As a necessity, and not as a choice, we have resorted to the remedy of a 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 a firm resolve, to appeal to arms, and invoke the blessing of Providence on our just cause. ¶ As a consequence of our new condition, and with a view to meet our anticipated wants, it will be necessary to provide a speedy and efficient organization of branches of the executive department, having special charge of our foreign intercourse, finances, military affairs, and the postal service. For the 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 and well-disciplined army, more numerous than would usually be required as a peace establishment. I also suggest that, for the protection of our harbors and commerce on the high Staaten, 1861. seas, a navy adapted to these objects will be required. These neccessities No. 52. have doubtless engaged the attention of Congress. ¶ With a Constitution Conföd. differing only from that of our fathers in so far as its explanatory of their 18. Febr. well-known intent, freed from the sectional conflicts which have interfered with the pursuit of a general welfare, it is not unreasonable to expect that the (Slave) States from which we have recently parted may seek to unite their fortunes with ours, under the Government 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 a union with the States from which we have separated is neither practicable nor desirable. To increase our power, develop our resources, and promote the happiness of a Confederacy, it is requisite that there should be so much of homogeneity that the welfare of every portion should be the aim of the whole. Where this does not exist, antagonisms are engendered, which must and should result in a separation. Actuated solely by a desire to preserve our rights and promote our own welfare, the separation of the Confederate States has been marked by no aggression upon others, and followed by no domestic convulsions. Our industrial pursuits have received no check. The cultivation of our fields progresses as heretofore, and, even should we be involved in a war, there would be no considerable diminution in the production of the staples which have constituted our exports, and in which the commercial world has an interest scarcely less than our own. This common interest in our produce can only be interrupted by an exterior force which should obstruct its transmission to foreign markets-a course of conduct which would be as unjust towards us as it would be detrimental to the 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 an injury upon us. But, if otherwise, a terrible responsibility will rest upon it, and the sufferings of millions will bear testimony to the folly and wickedness of our aggressors. In the mean time there will remain for us, besides the ordinary remedies before suggested, the well-known resources of retaliation upon the commerce of our enemy. Experience in public stations of a subordinate grade, compared with this which your favor has conferred, has taught me that care, and toil, and disappointment 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 and of the most enduring affection. Your generosity has bestowed upon me an underserved distinction--one which I neither sought nor desired. Upon a continuance of that sentiment, and upon your wisdom and patriotism, I rely to direct and support me in the performance of the duty 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 which these Confederate States, in their exposition of it, and in their judicial construction of it, have revived. We have a light which reveals its true |