The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-02 00:00:00

The following address has been issued by Presi.
dent Jefferson Davis to the people of the Confede-
rate States:---
" In compliance with the request of Congress, contained in
the resolutions (requesting the President to issue an address)
passed on the fourth day of the present month, I invoke
your attention to the present condition and future prospects
of our country, and to the duties which patriotism imposes
on us all during this great struggle for our homes and our
liberties.
"Fully concurring in the views thus expressed by Con-
gress, I confidently appeal to your love of country for aid in
carrying into effect the recommendations of your senators and
representatives. We have reached the close of the second
year of the war, and may point with just pride to the history
of our young Confederacy. Alone, unaided, we have met
and overthrown the most formidable combinations of naval
and military arrangements that the lust of conquest ever
gathered together for the conquest of a free people. We be-
gan this struggle without a single gun afloat, while the re-
sources of our enemy enabled them to gather fleets which,
according to their official list, published in August last,
consisted of 437 vessels, measuring 840,086 tons, and carry-
ing 3,026 guns, yet we have captured, sunk, or destroyed a
number of these vessels, including two large frigates and
one steam sloop••of-war, while four of her captured steam
gunboats are now in our possession, adding to the strength
of our little navy, which is rapidly gaining
in numbers and
efficiency.
"To oppose invading forces composed of levies which
have already exceeded 1,300,000 men we have had no re-
sources but the unconquerable valour of a 'people deter-
mined to be free, and we were so destitute of military sup-
plies that tens of thousands of our citizens were reluctantly
refused admission into the service from our inability to fur-
nish
some
themarms,strwohniglhe strongholds man y months the continuation
of owed their safety chiefly to a
careful of our
concealment of the fact that we were without a sup-
ply of powder for our cannon
" Your devotion and patriotism have triumphed over all
these obstacles, and called into existence the munitions of
war, the clothing and the subsistence which have enabled
our soldiers to illustrate their valour on numerous battle-
fields, and to inflict crushing defeats on successive armies,
each of which our arrogant foe fondly imagined to be invin-
cible. The contrast between our past and present condition
is well calculated to inspire full confidence in the triumph
of our arms. At no previous period of the war have our
forces been so numerous, so we:l organised, and so tho-
roughly disciplined, armed, and equipped as at present. The
season of high water, on which our enemies relied to enable
their fleets of gunboats to penetrate into our country and de-
vastate our homes, is fast passing away ; yet our strongholds
on the Mississippi still bid defiance to the foe, and months of
costly preparations for their reduction have been spent in
vain. Disaster has been the result of their every effort to
turn or storm Vicksburg and Fort Hudson, as well as every
attack on our batteries on the Red River, the Tallahatchie,
and other navigable streams. Within a few weeks the fall-
ing waters and the increasing heats of summer will com-
plete their discomfiture, and compel their baffled and de-
feated forces to the abandonment of expeditions on which
was based their chief hope of success in effecting our sub
jugation.

" We must not forget, however, that the war is not yet
ended, and that we are still confronted by powerful armies
and threatened by numerous fleets, and that the Govern-
ment that controls those fleets and armies is driven to the
most desperate effort to effect the unholy purpose in which
it has thus far been defeated. It will use its utmost energy
to avert this impending doom, so fully merited by the atro-
oiti.a It h... bat bariiieb VeLiat it has
encourage;), and the crowning attempt to excite a servile
population to the massacre of our wives, our daughters, and
our helpless children. 'With such a contest before us there
is but one danger which the Government of your choice re-
gards with apprehension; and to avert this danger it appeals
to the never-failing patriotism and spirit which you have
exhibited since the beginning of the wet.
The very unfavourable season, the protracted droughts
of last year, reduce the harvests on which we depend far be-
low an average yield, and the deficiency was, unfortunately,
still more marked in the northern part of our Confederacy,
where supplies were specially needed for the army, It,
through a confidence in an early peace, which may prove
delusive, our fields should now be devoted to the production
of cotton and tobacco, instead of grain and live stock, and
other articles necessary for the subsistence of the people and
army, the consequences may prove serious, if not disastrous,
especially should this present season prove as unfavourable
as the last. Your country, therefore, appeals to you to lay
aside all thought of gain, and to devote yourselves to secur-
ing your liberties, without which these gains would be
valueless. It is true that the wheat harvest in the more
Southern States, which will be gathered next month, pro-
mises an abundant yield; but even if this promise be ful-
filled, the Difficulty of transportion, enhanced as it has been
by an unusually rainy winter, will cause embarrassments
in military operations and sufferings among the people,
should the crops in the middle and northern portions of the
Confederacy prove deficient. But no uneasiness may be
felt in regard to a mere supply of bread for m!n. It is for
the large amount of corn and forage required in the raising
of live stock, and the supplies of the animals used in mili-
tary operations, too bulky for distant transportation ; and in
them the deficiency of the last harvest was mostly felt.
cLeornt yoouarisfiebledans bse,
peas,devoted exclusivelypotatoes,and other food for man and to the production of
beast; let corn be sown broadcast for fodder in immediate
proximity to railroads, rivers, and canals, and let all your
efforts be directed to the prompt supply of these articles in
the districts where our armies are operating. You will thus
add greatly to their efficiency, and furnish the means with-
out which it is impracticable to make those prompt and
active movements which have hitherto stricken terror into
our enemies and secured our most brilliant triumphs.
`Having thus placed before you, my countrymen, the
reasons for the call made on you for aid in supplying the wants
of the coming year, I add a few words of appeal in behalf of
the brave soldiers now confronting your enemies, and to
whom your Government is unable to furnish all the comforts
they so richly merit. The supply of meat for the army is
deficient. This deficiency is only temporary, for measures
have been adopted which will, it is believed, soon enable
us to restore the full rations; but that ration is now re-
duced at times to one-half the usual quantity in some of
our armies. It is known that the supply of meat throughout
the country is sufficient for the support of all ; but the dis-
tances are so great, the condition of the roads has been so
bad during the five months of winter weather through which
we have just passed, and the attempts of grovelling specula-
tors to forestall the market and make money out of the life
blood of our defenders have so much influenced the with-
drawal from sale of the surplus in the hands of the producers,
that Government has been unable to gather full supplies.
The Secretary of War has prepared a plan, which is ap-
pended to this address, by.the aid of which, or some similar
means to be adopted by you,selves, you can assist the
officers of the Government in the purchase of the oorn, the
bacon, the pork, and the beef known to exist in large quan-
tities in different parts of the country. Even if the surplus
be less than believed, is it not a bitter and humiliating re-
flection that those who remain at home, secure from hard-
ship and protected from danger, should be in the enjoyment
of abundance, and that their slaves also should have a full
supply of food, while their sons, brothers, husbands, and
fathers are stinted in the rations on which their health and
efficiency depend P
placed the facts fully and frankly before
" Entertaining no fear that you will either misconstrue
the motives of this address, or fail to respond to the call of
3,p,oautr.iotLisemt,uBl
I have
uniteve in
the performance of our duty, each
in his sphere, and with concerted, persistent, and well-di-
rected effort there seems little reason to doubt that, under
the blessings of Him to whom we look for guidance, and
who has been to us our shield and strength, we shall main-
tain the sovereignty and independence of the Confederate
States and transmit to our posterity the heritage bequeathed
to us by our fathers. " JEFFERSON DAVIS.
" Executive-office, Richmond, April 10, 1863."

Liverpool Cotton Market—This Day.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)

Sales, about 10,000 bales. May 2.
I advance: Imports
,328.

It is reported, and we trust there is truth in the
report, that Mr. Sothern has made Mr. Buckstone's fortune,
and that he will soon retire and let the theatre to Mr. and
Mrs. Wigan,