d and America, discussed
the question. Seldom have such great speeches been heard on any
occasion, and the impression was most profound.

What is it England is asked to recognize? It is a confederacy, claiming
to be a _league of sovereign and independent States_, like the old
American Confederacy of 1778, abandoned when we formed a nation in 1787.
When England, in 1783, recognized the old Confederacy, the recognition
was of _each of the several States by name_, as sovereign and
independent. Now, applying those principles on the present occasion, to
the several seceded States by name, Is Virginia independent? Why, all
her coasts and seaports are held by us, so is Norfolk, her commercial
capital, more than half her area and white population, and nearly half
her territory has been organized as a new State of the Union, and, by
the almost unanimous vote of her people, has abolished slavery. Are
North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Texas
independent? Why, their whole coast and large portions of the interior
are held by our army and navy. Is Tennessee independent? Two thirds of
her territory, as well as her political and commercial capitals,
Nashville and Memphis, are held by us. The same thing is true, to a
great extent, as to Arkansas. As to Mississippi--her whole sea coast,
and her whole river coast, for 500 miles, with the exception of a single
point, are held by us, and more than half her territory. As to
Louisiana, we hold three fourths of her territory, all her sea coast,
all her river front on both banks of the Mississippi, except one point,
and her great city, New Orleans, the commercial capital of the State and
of the South, with four times the population of any other Southern city,
and with nearly half the free population of the State. More than three
fourths of the population as well as area of Louisiana is held by us,
with her political and commercial capital, and yet it is proposed to
acknowledge Louisiana as one of these _sovereign and independent
States_. How can the so-called Confederacy, claiming to be a league of
sovereign and independent States, be recognized as independent, when the
States composing that league are not independent? How is Richmond to be
reached by an English envoy, or is the blockade to be broken, which is
war? How as to slavery! The 331,000 slaves of Louisiana, the three
millions of slaves of the seceded States, are emancipated by the
proclamation of the President, un