Page:A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865, Volume I.djvu/355

Rh gathered together with prayers and thanksgiving, and he has been graciously pleased to hear our supplications and to grant abundant exhibitions of his favor to our armies and our people; through many conflicts we have now attained a place among the nations which commands their respect, and to the enemy who encompass us around, and seek our destruction, the Lord of hosts has again taught the lesson of his inspired word, that "the battle is not to the strong, but to whomsoever he willeth to exalt." Again our enemy, with loud boasting of the power of their armed men and mailed ships, threaten us with subjugation and with evil machinations; seek even in our own homes and at our own firesides to pervert menservants and our maidservants into accomplices in their wicked designs. Under these circumstances, it is my privilege to invite you once more to meet together and to prostrate yourselves in humble supplications to Him who has been our constant and never-failing support in the past, and to whose protection and guidance we trust for the future. To this end, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do issue this, my proclamation, setting apart Friday, the 27th day of March, as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer; and I do invite the people of the said States to repair, on that day, to their usual places of public worship, and to join in prayer to Almighty God that he will continue his merciful protection over our cause, that he will scatter our enemies, set at naught their evil designs, and that he will graciously restore to our beloved country the blessings of peace and security. In faith whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, at the city of Richmond, on the 27th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1863. By the President: Secretary of State.

  A PROCLAMATION. To All Whom It May Concern: Whereas, George Moore, Esq., Her Britannic Majesty's Consul for the port of Richmond and State of Virginia (duly recognized by the exequatur issued by a 