States. Outrages of the most despotic character have been perpetrated upon her people; some of her most eminent citizens have been seized and borne away to languish in foreign prisons, without knowing who were their accusers or the specific charges made against them, while others have been forced to abandon their homes, their families, and property, and seek a refuge in distant lands. Some of these difficulties can only be overcome by time, and an improved condition of the country upon the restoration of peace, but others may be remedied by legislation, and your attention is invited to the recommendations contained in the report of the head of that Department. The condition of the Treasury will, doubtless, be a subject of anxious inquiry on your part. I am happy to say that the financial system Finding that the Confederate States were already adopted has worked well so far, and about to be invaded through Kentucky, and promises good results for the future. To the that her people, after being deceived into a extent that Treasury notes may be issued, the mistaken security, were unarmed, and in dan- Government is enabled to borrow money withger of being subjected by the Federal forces, out interest, and thus facilitate the conduct of our armies were marched into that State to the war. This extent is measured by the porrepel the enemy, and prevent their occupation tion of the field of circulation which these notes of certain strategic points which would have can be made to occupy. The proportion of the given them great advantages in the contest field thus occupied depends again upon the a step which was justified, not only by the ne- amount of the debts for which they are receivcessities of self-defence on the part of the Con-able; and dues, not only to the Confederate federate States, but also by a desire to aid the people of Kentucky. It was never intended by the Confederate Government to conquer or coerce the people of that State; but, on the contrary, it was declared by our generals that they would withdraw their troops if the Federal Government would do likewise. Proclamation was also made of the desire to respect the neutrality of Kentucky, and the intention to abide by the wishes of her people as soon as they were free to express their opinions. These declarations were approved by me, and I should regard it as one of the best effects of the march of our troops into Kentucky, if it should end in giving to her people liberty of choice and a free opportunity to decide their own destiny according to their own will. The army has been chiefly instrumental in prosecuting the great contest in which we are engaged; but the navy has also been effective in full proportion to its means. The naval officers, deprived to a great extent of an opportunity to make their professional skill available at sea, have served with commendable zeal and gallantry on shore and upon inland waters, further detail of which will be found in the reports of the Navy and of War. and State Governments, but also to corporations and individuals, are payable in this medium; a large amount of it may be circulated at par. There is every reason to believe that the Confederate Treasury note is fast becoming such a medium. The provision that these notes shall be convertible into Confederate stock, bearing eight per cent. interest, at the pleasure of the holder, insures them against a depreciation below the value of that stock, and no considerable fall in that value need be feared so long as the interest shall be punctually paid. The punctual payment of this interest has been secured by the act passed by you at the last session, imposing such a rate of taxation as must provide sufficient means for that purpose. For the successful prosecution of this war, it is indispensable that the means of transporting troops and military supplies be furnished, as far as possible, in such manner as not to interrupt the commercial intercourse between our people, nor place a check on their productive energies. To this end the means of transportation from one section of the country to the other must be carefully guarded and improved. And this should be the object of anxious care on the part of State and Confederate Governments, so far as they may have power over the subject. We have already two main systems of through transportation from the North to the Southone from Richmond, along the seaboard; the other through Western Virginia to New Orleans. A third might be secured by completing a link of about forty miles between Danville, in Virginia, and Greensborough, in North Carolina. The construction of this comparatively short line would give us a through route from North to South, in the interior of the Confederate States, and give us access to a population and to military resources from which we are now, in a great measure, debarred. We should increase greatly the safety and capacity of our means for transporting men and military In the transportation of the mails many difficulties have arisen, which will be found fully developed in the report of the Postmaster-General. The absorption of the ordinary means of transportation for the movement of troops and military supplies, the insufficiency of the rolling stock of railroads for the accumulation of business, resulting both from military operations and the obstruction of water communication by the presence of the enemy's fleet; the failure and even refusal of contractors to comply with the terms of their agreements; the difficulties inherent in inaugurating so vast and complicated a system as that which requires postal facilities for every town and village in a territory so extended as ours, have all combined to impede the best-directed efforts of the Post-supplies. master-General, whose zeal, industry, and abil- If the construction of the road should, in the ity have been taxed to the utmost extent. I judgment of Congress, as it is in mine, be in dispensable for the most successful prosecution | spirit, yet we were not prepared to see them of the war, the action of the Government will fit out a large naval expedition with the connot be restrained by the constitutional objection fessed purpose not only to pillage, but to incite which would attach to a work for commercial a servile war in our midst. purposes, and attention is invited to the practicability of securing its early completion by giv-ries and robbers, and involve us in a species of ing the needful aid to the company organized for its construction and administration. If we husband our means and make a judicious use of our resources, it would be difficult to fix a limit to the period during which we could conduct a war against the adversary whom we now encounter. The very efforts which he makes to isolate and invade us must exhaust his means, whilst they serve to complete the circle and diversify the productions of our industrial system. The reconstruction which he seeks to effect by arms becomes daily more and more palpably impossible. Not only do the causes which induced us to separate still exist in full force, but they have been strengthened, and whatever doubt may have lingered in the minds of any must have been completely dispelled by subsequent events. If, instead of being a dissolution of a league, it were indeed a rebellion in which we are engaged, we might find ample vindication for the course we have adopted in the scenes which are now being enacted in the United States. Our people now look with contemptuous astonishment on those with whom they have been so recently associated. They shrink with aversion from the bare idea of renewing such a connection. When they see a President making war without the assent of Congress; when they behold judges threatened because they maintain the writ of habeas corpus, so sacred to freemen; when they see justice and law trampled under the armed heel of military authority, and upright men and innocent women dragged to distant dungeons upon the mere edict of a despot; when they find all this tolerated and applauded by a people who had been in the full enjoyment of freedom but a few months ago, they believe that there must be some radical incompatibility between such a people and themselves. With such a people we may be content to live at peace, but the separation is final, and for the independence we have asserted we will accept no alternative. The nature of the hostilities which they have waged against us must be characterized as barbarous wherever it is understood. They have bombarded undefended villages without giving notice to women and children to enable them to escape, and in one instance selected the night as the period when they might surprise them most effectually whilst asleep and unsuspicious of danger. Arson and rapine, the destruction of private houses and property, and injuries of the most wanton character, even upon non-combatants, have marked their forays along their borders and upon our territory. Although we ought to have been admonished by these things that they were disposed to make war upon us in the most cruel and relentless If they convert their soldiers into incendia war which claims non-combatants, women, and children as its victims, they must expect to be treated as outlaws and enemies of mankind. There are certain rights of humanity which are entitled to respect even in war, and he who refuses to regard them forfeits his claims, if captured, to be considered as a prisoner of war, but must expect to be dealt with as an offender against all law, human and divine. But, not content with violating ou rrights under the law of nations at home, they have extended these injuries to us within other jurisdictions. The distinguished gentlemen whom, with your approval, at the last session, I commissioned to represent the Confederacy at certain foreign Courts, have been recently seized by the captain of a United States ship-of-war, on board a British steamer, on their voyage from the neutral Spanish port of Havana to England. The United States have thus claimed a general jurisdiction over the high seas, and, entering a British ship, sailing under its country's flag, violated the rights of embassy, for the most part held sacred even amongst barbarians, by seizing our Ministers whilst under the protection and within the dominions of a neutral nation. These gentlemen were as much under the jurisdiction of the British Government upon that ship, and beneath its flag, as if they had been upon its soil; and a claim on the part of the United States to seize them in the streets of London would have been as well founded as that to apprehend them where they were taken. Had they been malefactors, and citizens even of the United States, they could not have been arrested on a British ship or on British soil unless under the express provisions of a treaty, and according to the forms therein provided for the extradition of criminals. But rights the most sacred seem to have lost all respect in their eyes. When Mr. Faulkner, a former Minister of the United States to France, commissioned before the secession of Virginia, his native State, returned in good faith to Washington to settle his accounts and fulfil all the obligations into which he had entered, he was perfidiously arrested and imprisoned in New York, where he now is. The unsuspecting confidence with which he reported to his Government was abused, and his desire to fulfil his trust to them was used to his injury. In conducting this war, we have sought no aid and proposed no alliances, offensive and defensive, abroad. We have asked for a recognized place in the great family of nations, but in doing so we have demanded nothing for which we did not offer a fair equivalent. The advantages of intercourse are mutual amongst nations, and in seeking to establish diplomatic 66 relations, we were only endeavoring to place | rious employments growing out of its use, will that intercourse under the regulation of public be forced also to change their occupation. law. Perhaps we had the right, if we had chosen to exercise it, to ask to know whether the principle that blockades, to be binding, must be effectual," so solemnly announced by the great Powers of Europe at Paris, is to be generally enforced or applied only to particular parties. When the Confederate States, at your last session, became a party to the declaration reaffirming this principle of international law, which has been recognized so long by publicists and Governments, we certainly supposed that it was to be universally enforced. The customary laws of nations are made up of their practice rather than their declarations; and if such declarations are only to be enforced in particular instances, at the pleasure of those who make them, then the commerce of the world, so far from being placed under the regulation of a general law, will become subject to the caprice of those who execute or suspend it at will. If such is to be the course of nations in regard to this law, it is plain that it will thus become a rule for the weak and not for the strong. Feeling that such views must be taken by the neutral nations of the earth, I have caused the evidence to be collected which proves completely the utter inefficiency of the proclaimed blockade of our coast, and shall direct it to be laid before such Governments as shall afford us the means of being heard. But, although we should be benefited by the enforcement of this law so solemnly declared by the great Powers of Europe, we are not dependent on that enforcement for the successful prosecution of the war. As long as hostilities continue, the Con'federate States will exhibit a steadily increasing capacity to furnish their troops with food, clothing, and arms. If they should be forced to forego many of the luxuries and some of the comforts of life, they will at least have the consolation of knowing that they are thus daily becoming more and more independent of the rest of the world. If, in this process, labor in the Confederate States should be gradually diverted from those great Southern staples which have given life to so much of the commerce of mankind, into other channels, so as to make them rival producers instead of profitable customers, they will not be the only or even chief losers by this change in the direction of their industry. Although it is true, that the cotton supply from the Southern States could only be totally cut off by the subversion of our social system, yet it is plain that a long continuance of this blockade night, by a diversion of labor and investment of capital in other employments, so diminish the supply as to bring ruin upon all those interests of foreign countries which are dependent on that staple. For every laborer who is diverted from the culture of cotton in the South, perhaps four times as many elsewhere, who have found subsistence in the va While the war which is waged to take from us the right of self-government can never attain that end, it remains to be seen how far it may work a revolution in the industrial system of the world, which may carry suffering to other lands as well as to our own. In the mean time we shall continue this struggle in humble dependence upon Providence, from whose searching scrutiny we cannot conceal the secrets of our hearts, and to whose rule we confidently submit our destinies. For the rest we shall depend upon ourselves. Liberty is always won where there exists the unconquerable will to be free, and we have reason to know the strength that is given by a conscious sense not only of the magnitude but of the righteous ness of our cause. JEFFERSON DAVIS. RICHMOND, November 18, 1861. Doc. 179. EXPEDITION TO EASTERN VIRGINIA, BY THE FORCES UNDER GENERAL DIX. THE following is an account of the expedition as given by the correspondent of New York Herald: BALTIMORE, November 21, 1861.. Geographically, the counties of Accomac and Northampton, Va., constitute a part of Maryland, from which, indeed, they are separated only by an imaginary line, beginning at the mouth of Pocomoke River, and running in a northeast direction across the thirty-eighth degree of north latitude. Accomac County, the more northern of the two, is also far the larger, containing two hundred and twenty-four thousand acres of land, of which one hundred and fifty thousand are improved and under cultivation. The population of the county is about twentyfive thousand, of whom five thousand are slaves. Many of the people are engaged in the fisheries, in attending to oyster beds, &c.; and quite a number of the young men have been for many years sailors in the United States Navy. Most of the inhabitants, however, are engaged in agricultural pursuits, the aggregate value of their farms being four millions two hundred and twenty-three thousand dollars. All the usual grains-wheat, corn, oats, rye and barley -are raised, the aggregate annual production being one million five hundred thousand bushels. The people are intelligent and industrious, and, having been left pretty much to themselves during the present political troubles, have, for the most part, observed an outward neutrality. The majority of the people have been devotedly attached to the Union, but, from motives of prudence, have acquiesced with the action of the State in going out of the Union. Many of the young men, however, in the early part of the struggle, went over to the mainland, in Middlesex and Gloucester counties, and to Yorktown, and joined the rebel forces there.. Others of them remained at home, but formed organizations, obtained arms, and practised military evolutions, with the avowed purpose of aiding the rebel cause. These organizations embraced fully three thousand men. There are thirty-two churches in the county, of which four are Episcopal, one Catholic, two Presbyterian, six Baptist, one Universalist, and seventeen Methodist. Northampton County, the more southern of the two, is a narrow peninsula, containing only ninety-four thousand acres of land, of which seventy-five thousand acres are improved and under cultivation. The population of the county is ten thousand, of whom four thousand are slaves. The occupations of the people are similar to those of Accomac, but the inhabitants are more Southern in their feelings, and a majority of them have been in league with the enemy during the whole time from the commencement of the troubles. It is well known that before General Dix took command of this department a system of regular and daily communication took place between the rebel sympathizers in Baltimore and the rebels in Yorktown, by means of the people of Northampton County. Letters and newspapers were regularly sent and received every day, and thus the rebel leaders were kept fully posted about our movements. Since that time this communication has been attended with more difficulty, but it has by no means been broken up. Some idea of the adroitness of the rebel sympathizers in Northampton may be formed from the fact that the New York Herald has often been received at Norfolk, by this route, on the second day after its publication, and the Baltimore papers on the day after their publication. The agricultural productions of Northampton are similar to those of Accomac County, the aggregate annual production of wheat, corn, oats and rye being proportioned to the latter. There are thirteen churches in Northampton County, of which three are Episcopal, two Presbyterian, one Catholic, two Baptist, and five Methodist. The county seat is Eastville, and the other villages are Hadlock and Franktown in the north, Bridgetown at the head of navigation at Hunger Creek on the west, and Capeville, near Cape Charles, on the south. The county seat of Accomac is Drumnmondtown, and the other villages are Horntown, near the mouth of Pocomoke River, on the north; Assawoman and Modesttown, near Assawoman Inlet, on the east; Onancock and Pungoteague on the west, and Turkey's Pen at the south. Before the war broke out the following lighthouses existed on the coast of these two counties, all of which have been dismantled by the rebels:-One at Watts' Island, Chesapeake Bay, at the entrance of Pocomoke Sound; one at the entrance of Pungoteague Creek; one at the entrance of Occohannack Creek; one at Cape Charles; one on Smith's Island, east of Cape Charles; one on Hog Island, east of Eastville, and one on Piney Island, southeast of Horntown. The objects of the expedition have been clearly set forth in the proclamation of General Dix.* The troops composing the expedition were transported from Baltimore, Md., to the scene of action in steamers. They landed at Newtown, in Somerset County, Md., and marched through to Horntown. Here great numbers of the proclamation of General Dix were scattered among the people, and were taken by them into the interior. Wherever the proclamation was read to the people, they expressed the greatest gratification and pleasure. Whatever supplies the troops needed, were freely brought in by the people, and were bought and paid for by the soldiers. What few rebels there were among the people, immediately departed for a more congenial clime. Before he advanced further southward, General Lockwood sent out a strong detachment to reconnoitre as far as Drummondtown. The commander of this expedition ascertained that there were no rebels in Accomac County in arms; that those who had arms had laid them down, and were ready to give them up if required; that the citizens of Drummondtown had voluntarily raised the Stars and Stripes over the Court House, and were eager to welcome the advance of the troops, but that the indications were that there might be some trouble in Northampton, as all the rebels had congregated there, apparently to resist the approach of the troops. The whole column, therefore, proceeded to Drummondtown, where they were at last accounts. FURTHER ACCOUNTS. BALTIMORE, November 21, 1861. Information was received last night at headquarters from Accomac County of the most gratifying character, giving assurance that the expedition despatched by General Dix to the two eastern shore counties of Virginia, will meet with little or no opposition. On Sunday the flag of the Union was hoisted at Drummondtown, the county seat of Accomac, on a pole which bore the rebel flag the day before. The people of the county had submitted to the authority of the United States, and declared their intention to do so in advance of the arrival of the troops. A flag of truce was sent by General Lockwood to Drummondtown on Saturday. On Friday night three thousand rebel troops disbanded, most of them drafted militia. Wherever the officer who bore the flag of truce went, he was importuned for General Dix's proclamation, which had been sent among them the day before. We annex some extracts from his statement. Meeting some of the disbanded men, he asked them why they had broken up so suddenly. "The reply was, they had got General Dix's proclamation, and believing they could not stand out against the force we were about to send against them they thought it better to disband. But others came up in the mean time who were part of the militia, and they boldly * See page 367, Docs., ante. answered that they never did want to go into the business, and had all the time disapproved of it, but were compelled to it by hot-headed secessionists. "The greater part of the persons I met were of the disbanded militia. Three cheers for the Union were given with such zeal and zest as to make me conclude that there was something more in them than expressions arising from fear. I met many in squads of five, ten, twenty, etc., and they would sometimes run across the fields to meet us, expressing the deepest gratitude for the deliverance from oppression and want, for they are in want of many of the necessaries of life. "I will here state that along the road I was besieged for General Dix's proclamation, a few copies of which had been scattered about the country through which I passed. It had even reached this place yesterday. When it had got among the militia organizations, it was made the pretext for giving open expression to their latent feelings of opposition to the Confederate rulers. "The great majority of the people, I believe, look upon the troops about to be sent among them as their deliverers from cruelty and oppression. Hurrahs for the Union were quite frequent. At one place the American flag was hung out. It was a curiosity to the people, and they looked in astonishment when they saw that one owned in their very midst." We may conclude that the people of Northampton will follow the example of Accomac. The secret of the success of the expedition is to be ascribed to the large and well-disciplined force sent into those counties. It is always a measure of humanity, as well as a right military rule, to employ a force so overwhelming as to prevent bloodshed. If half the number of troops had been sent, there would no doubt have been resistance, and very likely a sanguinary and protracted guerilla warfare, for which the country is well adapted. We believe that the same exhibitions of returning loyalty will be made in other districts of country when we go into them with a like preponderance of force, and that the deep-seated feeling of attachment and devotion to the Union which lives in the hearts of a majority of the Southern people, will break out into open expressions when they feel that they are to be protected and sustained. Another letter, dated on Sunday, says: "This morning a forward movement into Virginia took place-first an advance of cavalry, next the Fifth New York, (Zouaves from Federal Hill,) followed by the Wisconsin Fourth, five companies of the Twenty-first Indiana, five or six companies of the Sixth Michigan, Nimms' Boston artillery, and an independent cavalry company of Pennsylvania. It was a glorious and most imposing sight to see, as they wound around our camp and entered a wood about a quarter of a mile distant. We have here, beside the Purnel Legion, a portion of the Sixth Michigan, the Seventeenth Massachusetts, and some companies of the Second Delaware regiment." Rufus Coffin, Lieutenant commanding, arrived The United States revenue gunboat Hercules, in port about ten o'clock yesterday, from a cruise in Pocomoke Bay and Tangier's Sound, and brings information from the eastern shore of Virginia up to Monday night. BrigadierGeneral Lockwood was still at Newtown, with five thousand men, and also had one thousand men at Snowhill. He designed marching to Drummondtown and establishing there his head-quarters. and the national flag was waving over it. The The place was held by a squadron of cavalry, greater proportion of the inhabitants are Union in feeling, and received the proclamation of Maj.-Gen.'Dix with delight. into Northampton County, with a force suffiIn a few days General Lockwood would move cient to overcome any opposition from the secessionists, who would be obliged to succumb. Lieutenant Coffin left General Lockwood on Sunday, and on his way to his vessel found that the Pocomoke River had been burned, and trees a number of bridges over the streams south of felled and placed over the roads, compelling him to take a circuitous route. were despatched from the gunboats Hercules On Saturday four boats, with armed seamen, and Reliance, lying in Pocomoke Bay, under the charge of Lieutenants Tompkins and Gambrill, of the Reliance, and Lieutenant Hall and Quartermsater Berry, of the Hercules, to Syke's Island, in that bay, near the mainland of Accomac County, and of which possession was taken. Formerly there were about one hundred and forty inhabitants on the island, but on account of the apprehension entertained that they would be impressed into the rebel service, all but thirty had left. These gladly received the proclamation of General Dix, and were promised the protection of the United States. The Hercules and Tiger will return to those waters as soon as they can recoal, and with the Reliance, Captain McGowan, will cruise along the Virginia shore in connection with the military forces. Doc. 180. RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, CONVENTION. THE Richmond Enquirer of November 20th contains the report of the committee appointed by the Virginia State Convention to report on amendments to the Constitution. The committee set out with an assertion of the old abstractions of the Virginia school, and then proceed to discuss the amendments which they deem essential to erect the State into an oligarchy. The people, they say, must be disfranchized, labor must be depressed, and free |