The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-04 00:00:00

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY.

The Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Com-
Panra screw steamer City of Baltimore, Captain
Kennedy, which left New York on the 23d and
Cape Race on the 26th ult., arrived at the bar of
the river this morning.

By this arrival we receive New York journals of
the 23d ult., two days later than those by the Jura.
Among the details of interest is the following
speech of President Davis to the Confederate Con-
gress on their re-assembling on the 18th ultimo at
Richmond :-
46 TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF

THE CONFEDERATE STATES.

" It is again our fortune to meet for devising mea-
sures necessary to the public welfare, whilst our
country is involved in a desolating war. The suf-
ferings endured by some portions of the people ex •
cite the deepest solicitude of the Government, and
the sympathy thus evoked has been heightened by
the patriotic devotion with which these sufferings
have been borne. The gallantry and good conduct
of our troops, always claiming the gratitude of the
country, have been further illustrated on hard
fought fields, marked by exhibitions of individual
prowess which can find but few parallels in ancient
or modern history. Our army has not faltered in any
of the various trials to which it has been subjected,
and the great body of the people have continued to
manifest a zeal and unanimity which not only cheer
the battle-stained soldier, but gives assurance to the
friends of constitutional liberty of our final triumph
in the pending struggle against despotic usurpation.
" The vast army which threatened the capital of
the Confederacy has been defeated and driven from
the lines of investment, and the enemy, repeatedly
foiled in his efforts for its capture, is now seeking to
raise new armies on a scale such as modern history
does not record to effect that subjugation of the
South so often proclaimed as on the eve of accom-
plishment.
The perfidy which disregarded rights secured
by compact, the madness which trampled on obli-
gations made sacred by every consideration of
honour, have been intensified by the malignity en-
gendered by defeat. These passions have changed
the character of the hostilities waged by our ene-
mies, who are becoming daily less regardful of the
usages of civilised war and the dictates of humanity.
Rapine and wanton destruction of private property,
war upon non-combatants, murder of captives,
bloody threats to avenge the death of an invading
soldiery by the slaughter of unarmed citizens, orders
of banishment against peaceful farmers engaged in
the cultivation of the soil, are some of the means
used by our ruthless invaders to enforce the sub-
mission of a free people to foreign sway. Confisca-
tion bills of a character so atrocious as to ensure, if
executed, the utter ruin of the entire population of
these States, are passed by their Congress and ap-
proved by their Executive. The monied obliga-
tions of the Confederate Government are forged
by citizens of the United States, and publicly
advertised for sale in their cities with a noto-
riety that sufficiently attests the knowledge
of their Government, and its complicity in
the crime is further evinced by the fact that the
soldiers of the invading armies are found supplied
with large quantities of these forged notes as a
means of despoiling the country people, by fraud,
out of such portions of their property as armed vio-
lence may fail to reach. Two, at least, of the gene-
rals of the United States are engaged, unchecked
by their Government, in exciting servile insurrec-
tion, and in arming and training slaves for warfare

against their masters, citizens of the Confederacy.
Another has been found of instincts so brutal as to
invite the violence of his soldiery against the
women of a captured city.
" Yet the rebuke of civilised man has failed to
evoke from the authorities of the United States one
mark of disapprobation of his acts, nor is there any
reason to suppose that the conduct of Benjamin F.
Butler has failed to secure from his Government the
sanction and applause with which it is known to
have been greeted by public meetings and portions
of the press of the United States. To inquiries
made of the commander-in-chief of the United

States, whether the atrocious conduct of some of

these military commandants met the sanction of
that Government, answer has been evaded on the

pretext that the inquiry was insulting, and no
method remains for the suppression of these enor-
mities bat such retributive justice as it may be
found possible to execute.
" Retaliation in kind for many of them is im-
practicable, for I have had occasion to remark in a
former message that under no excess of provocation
could our noble-hearted defenders be driven to
wreak vengeance on unarmed men, on women, or
on children. But stern and exemplary punishment
can and must be meted out to the murderers and
felons, who, disgracing the profession of arms,
seek to make of public war the ()Mad= for the
commission of the most monstrous crimes.

" Deeply as we regret the character of the con-
test into which we are about to be forced, we must
accept it as an alternative which recent manifesta-
tions give us little hope can be avoided.
" The exasperation of failure has aroused the
worst passions of our enemies, a large portion of
their people, even of their clergymen, now engage
in urging an excited populace to the extreme of fe-
rocity, and nothing remains but to vindicate our
rights, and to maintain our existence by employing
against our foe every energy and every resource at
our disposal.
"I append for your information a copy of the
papers exhibiting the action of the Government up
to the present time for the repression of the out-
rages committed on our people. Other measures
now in progress will be submitted hereafter.
"In inviting your attention to the legislation

which the necessities of our condition
require,
those connected with the prosecution of the war
command almost undivided attention.
tr. The acts passed at your last session intended to
secure the public defence by general enrolment, and
to render uniform the rules governing troops in the
service, have led to some unexpected criticism that
is much to be regretted.

" The efficiency of the law has been thus some-
what impaired, though it is not believed that in
any of the States the popular mind has withheld
its sanction from either the necessity or propriety
of your legislation. It is only by harmonious as
well as zealous action that a Government as new as
ours, ushered into existence on the very eve of a
great war, and unprovided with the material neces-
sary for conducting hostilities on so vast a scale,
can fulfil its duties. Upon
in-
formed of the acts and plarr,l7,
oiwthhoe
Government,are fully
and thoroughly imbued with the feelings
sen-
timents of the people, must reliance be and
apolaced to
secure this great object. You can beat
the
means for establishing that entire co-operation
the State and Confederate Governments which of
is
essential to the well-being of both at all times, but
which is now indispensable to their very existence.
" And if any legislation should seem to you ap-
propriate for adjusting differences of opinion, it will
he my pleasure as well as duty to co-operate in any
measure that may be devised for reconciling a just
care for the public defence with a proper deference
for the most scrupulous susceptibilities of the state
authorities.

" The report of the Secretary of the Treasury
will-exhibit in detail the operations of that depart-
ment. It will be seen with satisfaction that the
credit of the government securities remains unim-
paired, and that this credit is fully justified by the
comparatively small amount of accumulating debt,
notwithstanding the magnitude of cur military
operations. The legislation of the last session pro-
vided for the purchase of supplies with the bonds of
the government, but the preference of the people for
Treasury- notes has been so marked that the legis-
lature is recommended to authorise an increase in
the issue of Treasury notes which the public service
seetns to require. No grave inconvenience need be
apprehended from this increased issue, as the pro-
visions of the law by which these notes are conver-
tible into 8 per cent. bonds, forms an efficient and
permanent safeguard
against any serious deprecia-
tion of the currency. Your attention is also in-
vited to the
means proposed by the Secretary for
facilitating the
guarding theta preparation of these notes and for
against forgery. It is due to our