The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-02 00:00:00

The Southern Confederacy,

The following is an extract from a private letter:
—" In such a war as this there would necesnrily.
be a time of greatest 'weakness for us and a time ot
greatest strength and resources on the part of the
enemy. I think this period in the march of events
is past with both. They never can raise such an
army again in numbers. Ours, I think, can always
be kept up to its present standard. We are, there-
fore, more easily matched in that respect. Then the
experiment of conquest, occupation of the country,
and subjugation of the people had to be tried. They
believe in their ability to accomplish this absurdly
impossible thing, and there can be no peace until
they have fairly tested its practicability. It was
a very dangerous experiment for us. Human
nature is not very strong ; with us there was little
else than suffering ; privation, wounds, and death
—little else in the eyes of some—for we had
besides, only liberty, ,a hich it would be unreason-
able to expect that all should realise the value of.
If, when the enemy came, they had brought with
them security of life and property, and plenty, the
consequences might have been bGd for us. But
God in his infinite wisdom has permitted them to
indulge the full bent of their naturally cruel and
rapacious character. Their officers, for the most
part, have acted the part of tyrants, and the soldiery
that of robbers and thieves wherever they have
penetrated. By this happy course of treatment
they have thoroughly confirmed the sentiments of
our loyal and patriotic people, and purchased the
undying hatred of many who were willing to serve
any master by whom they were not oppressed and
robbed. Fancy a man, whose country was circum-
scribed by the walls of his house, and his patriotism
locked up in his barn, seeing his fine furniture and
works of art shipped off to Boston or New York,
his wheat and corn sent off to the commissariat, and
paid for in the counterfeit Confederate States Trea-
sury notes you see advertised for sale at 10 dole. to

1,000 dols. in the Northern papers ! The conse-
quence of all this is that we are welded together
like iron from a red-hot furnace. The meanest
man opens his heart when the ship is in danger of
perishing; his selfishness expires with his individ-
uality, for the lives of all hang by the same thread.
You must not suppose from these remarks that there
ever was much holding back on the part of our
people ; a few were doubtful, of course, but I be-
lieve no people were ever so united. What I chiefly
refer to is the possible consequences that might
have resulted from the conquest of such cities as
Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans. I felt
apprehension on this point before those cities fell.
I now think (believing their reconquest certain)
that all these seeming misfortunes were for our good.
Bat what is the use of reasoning about such things P
We are engaged in a controversy of which the
arguments arc battles, and the only convincing
logic is victory. I know well that we must fight
it out. I have realised this all along. Occasionally
advice comes from Europe that makes us, as it were,
look round over the shoulder ; bat our faces are
steadily set towards the enemy, believing that the
pathway to peace, liberty, and security can be in
no other direction than over the dead bodies of
these enemies of the human race and haters of
Aanighty God. Is not Europe surprised that, in
the midst of all this confusion and upheaving of
political and social systems, not a single instance of
servile insurrection has occurred in the South P This
seems extraordinary, but it is only what we generally
expected. Many have forsaken their masters and fled
to the enemy; most of us expected this. How many
homes in England have been rendered desolate b
the flight of sons—yes, and daughters, too—lured
away ?
ay from -the arms of the fondest and ter derest
parents by the false promises of pretended
friends
The poor
. negroes have forsaken their
homes under similar
circumstances, and from like
impulses. The
resultl in both cases is the same—
; neglect, oppression,
sickness, and death injustice, Many ustice, destitution, suffering,
have had the wisdom
P and firmness to return.
General
Hampton recently
had 200 or 30u return in a body to his plantation in
the west. None of us have ohauged our habits or
mode of life. I have been keeping house more
than 30 years and have never, in a single instance,