States were in their hands; they have most of the accumulated wealth of the country and nearly all manufactures of the munitions of war, and even of the necessaries of life. Add to all these advantages the greater population of that Union, and it is easy to see that the self-supporting power of the new Confederacy has been exposed to the severest tests and rudest trials.

And yet the Confederate armies have conquered in every pitched battle, and that with great odds against them. At Bethel and Manassas, in Virginia, and at Springfield, in Missouri, the U. S. troops have been routed at great loss and without dispute. The foothold which the U. S. troops at first acquired within the Confederate States is being rapidly lost, and the United States Government has given manifest evidence of its fears that its seat of Government may be wrested from it. This exhibition of strength on the part of the Confederate States which was so unexpected by its enemies proves that its morale is greater even than its physical resources for the purposes of this struggle.

Without any army and with a new Government whose necessary establishments were all tob e formed in the midst of a civil war the Confederate States not only manifested their military superiority in the first pitched battles, but have already placed more than 200,000 men in the field who are armed, equipped and regularly supplied by the necessary establishments. These sprang into existence almost by the spontaneous efforts of the people, and came into the field faster even than the Government could prepare for them. But voluntary contributions and aid supplied all deficiencies until the necessary military establishments were formed. It would seem then that the law Confederacy has given all the evidence on proof of its power to maintain its independence which could reasonably by asked. That its organization is such as to insure its responsibility for the discharge of international duties will also appear upon an impartial examination of the question.

The action of the Confederate States in their separation of the question. Union presents within itself the evidence of their persistency of purpose, and affords a guaranty for the stability of their institutions so far as these may be dependent upon their own will. They have pe from of Government which their forefathers established, with the exception of such changes alone as would make its machinery more suitable for the ends and purposes for which it was created. It was not to change but to preserve the ends and purposes for which the original Constitution was adopted that they separated from a Union which had ceased to respect them. They have neither changed their form of government nor the objects for which it was framed; they have only changed the parties to the Confederacy to secure a faithful execution of the compact upon which alone they were willing to unite. The former Union had failed to accomplish its original ends for the want of a homogenous character in the parties to it; and having left it for that cause there can be no reason to expect its reconstruction with the same discordant elements whose jarring had destroyed it before.

The whole course then of the Confederate States argues a consistency of purpose and promises a stability for the government which they have formed which together with the resources already exhibited by them give a reasonable assurance of their entire responsibility for the discharge of all their duties and obligations, domestic and international. A people who present themselves under such circumstances for a recognized place amongst nations would seem to be entitled to the grant of such a request. They do not seek for material aid or

77 R R - SERIES II, VOL II