CONCILIATION MEASURES-CONDUCT OF THE WAR colonial assemblies. port of the committee, which concluded with a resolution, unanimously adopted, denouncing as open and avowed enemies all who should attempt a separate treaty, It also contained a the people, they were ordered to be printed provision for a congress of the colonies in the newspapers, together with the reto vote, at the time of making this acknowledgment, a free grant to the King of a certain perpetual revenue, to be placed at the disposal of Parliament. All the assemblies rejected the proposition. and declaring that no conference should A committee of the Continental Congress, to which the proposition had been referred, made a report (July 31, 1775), in which the generally unsatisfactory character and the unsafe vagueness of the ministerial offer were fully exposed. The Congress accepted the report and published it to the world. be held by any commissioners until the British armies should be first withdrawn, or the independence of the United States acknowledged. The commissioners appointed under the act, after fair and unfair efforts to accomplish their ends, were completely discomfited, and before leaving for England issued an angry and threatening manifesto (Oct. 3), addressed not to Congress only, but to the State legislatures and the people, charging upon Congress the responsibility of continuing the war; offering to the assemblies separately the terms already proposed to Congress; reminding the soldiers that Great Britain had already conceded all points originally in dispute; suggesting to the clergy that the French were papists; appealing to all lovers of peace not to suffer a few ambitious men to subject the country to the miseries of unneces sary warfare; allowing forty days for submission, and threatening, if this offer should be rejected, the desolation of the country as a future leading object of the war. This manifesto Congress had printed, with a counter-manifesto by that body, and other comments calculated to neutralize the proclamation of the commissioners. Conciliation with the Colonies. See BURKE, EDMUND. When Parliament reassembled after the Christmas holidays (January, 1778), the opposition exposed the losses, expenses, and hopelessness of the war with the colonists; and, to the surprise and disgust of some of his most ardent supporters, Lord North presented a second plan for reconciliation (Feb. 17), and declared he had always been in favor of peace, and opposed to taxing the Americans. He introduced two bills: one renouncing, on the part of the British Parliament, any intention to levy taxes in America-conceding, in substance, the whole original ground of dispute; the other authorizing the appointment of five commissioners, the commanders of the naval and military forces to be two, with ample powers to treat for the re-establishment of royal authority. Meanwhile David Hartley, an opponent of the war, was sent to Paris to open negotiations with the American commissioners there. The war had already (1775-78) cost Great Britain more than Concord. See LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 20,000 men, $100,000,000 of public ex- Conduct of the War, COMMITTEE ON penditure, and 550 British vessels, chiefly THE. On Dec. 9, 1861, the Senate, by a in the merchant service, captured by vote of 33 yeas to 3 nays, adopted a resoAmerican cruisers, worth about $12,000,- lution providing for the appointing of a 000, besides a loss of trade with America, joint committee of three from the Senate suspension of American debts, and the con- and four from the House to inquire into fiscation of the property of American the conduct of the war, the committee to loyalists. Added to all was the danger have power to send for persons and papers, of a war with France. Copies of these con- and to sit through that session of Conciliatory bills arrived in America in the gress. The House concurred in the resomiddle of April (1778), and the Congress lution on the following day, and on the took immediate action upon them, for the 17th and 19th the committee was appointpartisans of the crown were very active in ed, consisting of Senators Benjamin F. circulating them among the people. A Wade, of Ohio; Zachariah Chandler, of committee of that body criticised these Michigan, and Andrew Johnson, of Tenbills very keenly, showing their deceptive- nessee; and Representatives Daniel W ness. Fearing the effect of the bills upon Gooch, of Massachusetts; John Covode r Pennsylvania; George W. Julian, of In- from officers in the field that their free dom of action was seriously interfered with by this committee; and in other quarters it was asserted that many of the early campaigns of the war were planned by "civilians in Washington" without the advice of experienced military diana, and Moses F. Odell, of New York. CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA Confederate States of America. An organization of Southern States in an attempt to secede from the Union and establish an independent government. The following table gives the dates of legislative action for secession in the several States: Legislatures of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware refused to pass an ordinance of secession, and declared themselves neutral. The convention of South Carolina, after passing the ordinance of secession (for text, see SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY), issued a call, Dec. 27, 1860, for a convention at Montgomery, Ala., of such slave-holding States as should secede, Feb. 4, 1861. At that date the following delegates met: South Carolina: R. B. Rhett, Jas. Chestnut, Jr., W. P. Miles, T. J. Withers, R. W. Barnwell, C. G. Memminger, L. M. Keitt, W. W. Boyce. Georgia: Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, Benj. H. Hill, Alex. H. Stephens, Frank S. Bartow, Martin J. Crawford, E. A. Nisbet, Augustus R. Wright, Thos. R. R. Cobb, Augustus Kenan. Alabama: Richard W. Walker, Robert H. Smith, Colin J. McRae, John Gill Shorter, S. L. Hale, David P. Lewis, Thomas M. Fearn, J. L. M. Curry, W. P. Chilton, J. J. Hooper (secretary to convention). Mississippi: Wiley P. Harris, Walker Brooke, A. M. Clayton, W. S. Barry, J. T. Harrison, J. A. P. Campbell, W. S. Wilson. Louisiana: John Perkins, Jr., Duncan F. Ken ner, C. M. Conrad, E. Sparrow, Henry Marshall, A. de Cluet. Florida: Jackson Morton, J. Patton Anderson, Jas. B. Owens. This convention, with Howell Cobb as permanent president, adopted, on Feb. 9, 1861, a provisional constitution for the Confederate States of America. On the same day, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected President, Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia VicePresident, by a unanimous vote of the delegates, 42 in number. Davis was inaugurated Feb. 18, 1861, oath of office being administered by Howell Cobb. The delegates from the other States of the Confederacy took seats in the provisional Congress as follows: Texas, 1st session, March 2, 1861: Louis T. Wigfall, John H. Reagan, John Hemphill, T. H. Waul, William B. Ochiltree, W. S. Oldham, John Gregg. CONFEDERATE ROSETTE AND BADGE. Arkansas, 2d session, May,. 1861: Robert W. Johnson, Albert Rust, Augustus H. Garland, Wm. W. Watkins, Hugh F. Thomas son. Virginia, 2d session, May, 1861: Jas. A. Seddon, Wm. Ballard Preston, Robt. M. T. Hunter, John Tyler, Sr., Wm. H. McFarland, Roger A. Pryor, Thos. S. Bocock, Wm. C. Rives, J. W. Brockenborough, Robert Johnson, James Mason, Walter Preston, Charles W. Russell, Robert E. Scott, Walter R. Staples. Tennessee, 2d session, May, 1861: John F. son. Kentucky, 4th session, December, 1861: Henry C. Burnett, England at a cost of $600, and was completed July, 1864, but did not reach Richmond until April, 1865, when the city was being evacuated. It is now in the office of the secretary of state of South Carolina. PERMANENT GOVERNMENT. Was organized at Richmond, Va., Feb. 22, 1862. Jefferson Davis, President; Thomas, Willis B. Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President. (For cabinet, see below.) Machen, Thomas B. Munroe. Missouri, 4th session, December, 1861: Wm. H. Cook, Thos. A. Harris, Casper W. Bell, A. H. Conrow, Geo. C. Vest, Thos. W. Freeman, Samuel Hyer. The permanent constitution of the Confederate States (for text, see SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY) was submitted to the provisional Congress March 11, and unanimously adopted, and was ratified by the following States: Alabama, March 13, 1861; Georgia, March 16; Louisiana, March 21; Texas, March 23; South Carolina, April 3; Virginia, April 25; North Carolina, May 21. The Confederate (provisional) Congress held four sessions: (1) Feb. 4, 1861, to March 16, 1861; (2) April 29, 1861, to May 22, 1861; (3) July 20, 1861, to Aug. 22, 1861; (4) Nov. 18, 1861, to Feb. 17, 1862. The government was removed from Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond, Va., May 24, 1861, where the 3d session of its Congress opened, July 20, 1861, and remained until February, 1862. The Great Seal of the Confederacy was provided for by the joint resolution approved April 30, 1863. It was made in CONFEDERATE ST CONFEDERATE STATES SEAL. FIRST CONGRESS. Session (1) Feb. 18, 1862, to April 22, 1862; (2) Aug. 12, 1862, to Oct. 13, 1862; (3) Jan. 12, 1863, to May 8, 1863; (4) Dec. 7, 1863, to Feb. 18, 1864. SENATE. Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President. R. M. T. Hunter, President pro tem. Alabama Clement C. Clay, William L. Yancey. Arkansas: Robt. W. Johnson, Chas. B. Mitchell. Florida Jas. M. Baker, Augustus E. Maxwell. Georgia Benj. H. Hill, John W. Lewis. Kentucky: Henry C. Burnett, Wm. E. Simms. Louisiana: Thos. J. Semmes, Edward Spar row. Mississippi: Albert G. Brown, Jas. Phelan, Missouri: John B. Clark, R. L. Y. Peyton. North Carolina: Wm. T. Dortch, Geo. Davis. South Carolina: Robt. W. Barnwell, Jas. L. Orr. Tennessee: Gustavus A. Henry, Landon C Haynes. Virginia Robt. M. T. Hunter, Wm. Ballard Preston. Texas: Louis T. Wigfall, Williamson S. Oldham. HOUSE. Thos. S. Bocock, Speaker. Members: Alabama 9, Arkansas 4, Florida 2, Georgia 10, Kentucky 12, Louisiana 6, Mississippi 7, Missouri 6, North Carolina 10, South Carolina 6, Tennessee 11, Texas 7, Virginia 16-total, 106. SECOND CONGRESS. Session (1) May 2, 1864, to June 15, 1864; (2) Nov. 7, 1864, to March 18, 1865. SENATE. Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President. R. M. T. Hunter, President pro tem. Alabama: Robt. Jennson, Jr., Richard W. Walker. |