Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1864-07-06
Manifesto Of the Confederate
COngrpSS.

We are indebted to friend for a copy
of the Richmond Wing of the 18th in
slant from which we copy the following
manifesto which has been adopted by
joint resolution of the rebel Congress, de-
claring the dispositions, principles and
purposes of the seceeding States in rela-
ton to the existing war 1t reads as
follows:
Whereas, 1t is due to the great cause of
humanity and civilization, and especially to
the heroic sacrifices Of their gallant army
in the field, that no means, consistent with
proper elf-respect and the approved
usuages of nations, should be omitted by
the Confederate States to enlighten the
public opinion of the world with regard to
the true character Of the struggle in which
they are engaged, and the dispositions. prin-
ciples and purposes by which they are actu~
ated therefore
ResoJred by The Congress Of tie CoRfede-
rate States Of America, That the following
manifesto be issued in their name and by
their authority. and that the President be
requested to cause copies thereof to be
transmitted to to our commissioners abroad
to tie end that the same may be laid before
foreign Governments.
MANIFESTO OF TIE CONGRESS OF CONFED-
ERATE STATES OF AMERICA RELATIVE TO
THE THE EXISTING WAR WITH THE UNI
TED STATES.
The Congress of the Confederate States
Of America, acknowledging their respon-
! sibility to the opinion Of the civilized
world, to the great law of Christian phi
lanthropy, and to the Supreme Ruler Of
the Universe, for the part they have been
| compelled to bear in the sad spectacle Of
war and~carnage which this continent has,
for the last three years, exhibited TO the
| eyes Of afflicted humanity, deems the
| present a fitting occasion to declare the
principles, the sentiments and the purposes
by which they have been and are still
| actuated.
They have ever deeply deplorcd the ne
cessity which constrained them to take up
arms in defense of their riGhts and the
free institutions derived from their anCes-
| tors: and there is nothing they more ar
| IDENTIFY desire than peace. whensoever
their enemy, by ceasing from their
| unhallowed war waged upon them, shall
permit them TO enjoy in peace the shelter
| ing protection of those hereditary rights
and of those cherished institutions. Tie
series Of successes with which it has
pleased Almighty God, in SO signal a man
ner, to bless our arms on almost every
point of our invaded borders since the
| opening of the present campaign, enables
us TO profess this desire of peace in the
interests of civilization and humanity
without danger of having our motives
misinterprcted. or of the declaration being
ascribed to any unmanly sentiment or
any dlstrust of our ability to maintain
our cause. The repeated and disastrous
checks, foreshadowing ultimate diScom
future, which their gigantic army, directed
against the capital Of the Confederacy,
| has already met with, are but Il conlinua-
ton of the same providential successes
for US We do not refer to these successes
in any spirit of vain boasting, but in
! humble acknowledgment Of that Almighty
protection which has yOuchsaftd and
granted them.
The world must now see that eight
millions of people, inhabiting so extensive
a territory, with such varied resources and
such numerous facilities for defense as the
benignant bounty Of nature has bestowed
upon us, and, animated with one spirit tc
encounter every privation and sacrifice OF
ease, health, of property, of life itself
rather than be degraded from the condi-
ton of free and independent States into
which they were born, can never be CON
quered. Will not our adversarlcs them
selves begin to feel that humanity has bleC
long enough that tears and blood anC
treasure enough have been expended in 4;
bootless undertaking, covering their OWL
land no less than ours, with a pail o
mourning, and exposing them, far moro
than ourselves, to the catastrophe Of fl
nancial exhaustion and bankruptcy, no
to speak of the loss of their liberties by
the despotism engendered in an aggressive
warfare upon the liberties of another ant
kindred people ? VIII they be willing, b,
longer perseverance in a wanton and hope
less contest, to make this continent, whicl
they so long boasted to be the choscl
abode of liberty and self-government, O
peace and higher civilization, the theatr
of the most causeless and prodie;d eff!
? sion of blood which the world has eve
+ seen, of a virtual relapse into The barbar
1 ism of the ruder ages, and Of the destruc
e ton of constitutional freedom by the law
e lessness of usurped power?
] These are questions which oar adver