The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-23 00:00:00

PRESIDENT DAVIS'S MESSAGE.

This document, addressed to the Senate and House
of Representatives of the Confederate States, of

which we have already given a telegraphic sum-

mary, after mentioning the chief incidents of the

late campaign, says :
While therefore our success in driving the enemy
from our soil has not equalled the expectations con-
fidently entertained at the commencement of the
campaign, his further progress has been checked.
If we are forced to regret losses in Tennessee and
Arkansas, we are not without ground for congratu-
lation in Louisiana and Texas. On the sea coast

he is exhausted by vain efforts to capture our ports,
while on the northern frontier he has in turn felt the
pressure and dreads the renewal of invasion. The
indomitable courage and perseverance of the people
in the defence of their homes have been nobly at-

tested by the unanimity with which the Legislatures
of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia have re-
cently given expression to the popular sentiment;
and like manifestations may be anticipated from all
the States. Whatever obstinacy may be displayed
by the enemy in his desperate sacrifices of money,
life, and liberty, in the hope of enslaving us, the
experience of mankind has too conclusively shown
the superior endurance of those who fight for home,
liberty, and independence, to permit any doubt of
the result.

Oa the state of the foreign relations with the
Confederacy, the Message proceeds :
I regret to inform you that there has been no
improvement in the state of our relations with fo.
reign countries since my Message in January last.
On the contrary, there has been a great divergence
in the conduct of the European nations from that

practical impartiality which alone deserves the name
of neutrality, and their action in some cases has
assumed a character positively unfriendly.
You have heretofore been informed that, by com-
mon understanding, the initiative in all action
touching the contest on the continent had been left
by foreign Powers to the two great maritime nations
of Western Europe, and that the Governments of
these two nations had agreed to take no measures
without previous concert. The result of these ar-

ran getnents has, therefore, placed it in the power of
either France or England to obstruct at pleasure the
recognition to which the Confederacy is justly en-
titled, or even to prolong the continuance of hostili-
ties on this side of the Atlantic, if the policy of

either could be promoted by the postponement of
peace. Each, too, thus became possessed of great
influence in so shaping the general exercise of neu-
tral rights in Europe, as to render them subservient
to the purpose of aiding one of the belligerents to
the detriment of the other. I referred, at your last
session, to some of the leading points in the course
pursued by professed neutrals, which betrayed
a partisan leaning to the side of our enemies;
but events have since occurred which induce me
to renew the subject in greater detail than
was then deemed necessary. In caliing to your
attention the action of these Governments, I shall

refer to the documents appended to President Lin-
coln's Messages, aid to their own correspondence,
as disclosing the true nature of their policy, and the
motives which guided it. To this course no excep-
tion can be taken, inasmuch as our attention has
been invited to those sources of information by their
official publication.

In May, 1861, the Government of her Britannic
Majesty informed our enemies that it had not
"allowed any other than an intermediate position
on the part of the Southern States," and assured
them " that the sympathies of this country (Great
Britain) were rather with the North than with the

South."
On the Ist day of June, 1861, the British Govern-
ment interdicted the use of its ports " to armed
ships and privateers both of the United States and
the so-called Confederate States," with their
prizes. The Secretary of State of the United
States fully appreciated the character and motive of
this interdiction,:when he observed to Lord Lyons,
who communicated it," that this message, and that
of the same character which had been adopted by
France, would probably prove a deathblow to
Southern privateering."
On June 12, 1861, the United States Minister in
London informed her Majesty's Secretary for
Foreign Affairs that the fact of his having held

interviews with the Commissioners of this Govern,

merit had given " great dissatisfaction," and that a
protraction of this relation would be viewed by the
United States as " hostile in spirit, and to require
some corresponding action accordingly." In re-
sponse to this intimation, her Majesty's Secretary
assured the Minister that " he had no expectation
of seeing them any more."
By pro,3lamation, issued on the 10th and 27th
of April, 1861, President Lincoln proclaimed the
blockade of the entire coast of the Confederacy,
extending from the Potomac to the Rio Grande,
embracing, according to the returns of the United
States coast survey, a east line of three thousand
five hut.d.red and forty-nine statute miles, on which
the number of rivers, bass, harbours, inlets, sounds,
and Passes is one hundred and eighty-nine. The navy
possessed by the United States for enforcing this
blockade was stated in the reports communicated by
President Line.) In to the Congress of the United States
to consist of twe uty-four vessels of all classes in com-
mission, of which: half were in distant seas. The ab-
burdity of the pretension of such a blockade, in the
face of the authoritative declaration of the maritime
rights of neutrals made at Paris in 1856 was so glar-
ing that tb.e attempt was regarded as an experiment
on the forbea ranee of neutral Powers, which they
would promptly resist. This conclusion was justi-
fied by the fac t that the Governments of France and
Great Britain i letermined that it was necessary for
their interests to obtain from both belligerents " se-
entities concer oing the proper treatment of neu-
trals." In the i ;Rotruotionri which 4g coOded the ne-