Page:A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865, Volume I.djvu/258

228  us to submission. We struggle to preserve our birthright of constitutional freedom. Our trust is in the justice of our cause and the protection of our God.

Recent disaster has spread gloom over the land, and sorrow sits at the hearthstones of our countrymen; but a people conscious of rectitude and faithfully relying on their Father in Heaven may be cast down, but cannot be dismayed. They may mourn the loss of the martyrs whose lives have been sacrificed in their defense, but they receive this dispensation of Divine Providence with humble submission and reverend faith. And now that our hosts are again going forth to battle, and loving hearts at home are filled with anxious solicitude for their safety, it is meet that the whole people should turn imploringly to their Almighty Father and beseech his all-powerful protection.

To this end, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do issue my proclamation, inviting all the people to unite at their several places of worship, on Friday, the sixteenth day of the present month of May, in humble supplication to Almighty God that he will vouchsafe his blessings on our beloved country; that he will strengthen and protect our armies; that he will watch over and protect our people from the machinations of their enemies; and that he will, in his own good time, restore to us the blessing of peace and security under his sheltering care.

Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States, at Richmond, on the third day of May, A.D. 1862.

 ADDRESSES. ADDRESS. June 2, 1862. To the Army of Richmond.

I render to you my grateful acknowledgments for the gallantry and good conduct you displayed in the battles of the 31st of May and 1st instant, and with pride and pleasure recognize the steadiness and intrepidity with which you attacked the enemy in 