Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/468



LL these historical transactions of the Federal Government in 1861, the relations of foreign nations, the military movements, the actions of Con federate and Federal citizens, have been marshaled in order, so as to furnish a medium through which a clear and just view may be had of the civil action of the Confederate authorities amidst the great difficulties which beset the cause they were chosen to manage.

We now enter into a further special investigation of the executive and legislative departments of the Confederate government in 1862, under the permanent Constitution, which had been ratified by the States, the Congress in session, the President inaugurated, and all the orderly machinery of a well-established government in full operation, obstructed only by the coercive measures of the United States. We have under consideration a republican government, based on the confederated principle, exactly like the United States a government formed by the agreement unanimously of several great States in a time of profound peace, which perfected a national union without insurrection or rebellion and without the arming of a regiment with intent of making war a great government in extent of territory, in the