The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-19 00:00:00

THE UNITED STATES.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
PHILADELPHIA, June 5.

The condition of the South is just now the sub-
ject engrossing all the public attention of the United
States. It has been but a short time open to free
travel, and the report of tourists coincides with that
of the very few Southern journals still in existence
in representing the condition of the country as de-
plorable in the extreme. The means of communi-
cation between different portions of the South are
almost destroyed. The people are sent back to the
old-fashioned roads of a day gone by, for where the
railroads and canals have not been destroyed by
raids they have been almost completely worn out
by the constant wear and tear of the last four years,
during nearly all the time being deprived of repairs
on account of the impossibility of procuring mate-
rials to make them. The canal running between
Richmond and the western part of Virginia was
completely broken up for a good part of the
distance by Sheria An's raiders, and but feeble
efforts are made to restore it. The Southern rail-
roads are deplorable, only the Great Trunk lines
were maintained in anything like order ; but so
great was the exhaustion of the country that had
the war continued six months longer they would
have broken down and no trains could have passed
over them. When the blockade became stringent
all the branch railroads and side roads were aban-
doned, and their rails and ties taken to repair the
msin lines. Even this resource ultimately ,failed,
and the main lines were gradually worn out, until
now it is only at the risk of destruction that a train
goes at a higher speed than five miles an hour. The
rolling stock is as bad as the roads. They have
worn out together. The worst feature is that none
of the Southern railroad companies have any money.
The control of most of the roads has been given by
the Government to their owners, but they are per-
fectly helpless. They have plenty of Confederate
money, but this has now only the value of waste
paper. The consequence will be that many of them
will be in the New York, or perhaps English,
market at an early day, for loans to place the roads
in order.

The condition of the railroads represents to a great
extent the condition of the entire Southern country.
Scarcely any grain crops were planted this season
and the harvest will be small. In Southern Vir-
ginia, Eastern North Carolina, South Carolina,
Northern Georgia, and Mississippi, and along the
banks of the Mississippi river, the ravages of war
have made the country a desert. Even the richest
inhabitants of those regions have scarcely enough to
eat. In many sections the entire population sub-
sists on food furnished daily from the Government
depots of supply. Many parts of the country, espe-
cially the interior of Georgia, Alabama, and Missis-
sippi, have not been touched by the war, and suffer
„little else than from a great scarcity of labourers.
The suffering from a want of food will last in many
places until next year, for no crops were planted
this season. Added to the want of food is a want
of money and clothing. The people have scarcely
anything but Confederate notes, for the reported
hoards of gold have in many cases proved a myth.
Their clothing is only the coarse brown homespun
that once was worn only by their slaves. In Southern
Virginia and Eastern North Carolina the relief from
the scarcity of food will come earlier than elsewhere.
The people have sown large crops of wheat, which
are now ripening. The great staple of the South,
however—lndian corn—is scarce everywhere.
In many places the negroes have refused to la-
bour, and military compulsion has been foundneces-
sary to force them back to the fields. Their idea of
liberty is basking in the sun and having all their
wants provided. Had the military officers now
stationed in all the cities of the South chosen to en-
courage this, famine would have stared every one
in the face. Happily a different spirit animated
them, and the negroes were returned to labour.
Every negro is full of the idea that he has been
emancipated ; and this has suddenly made them
irksome under restraint. The white people are uni-
versal in their expressions of satisfaction at the end
of the war, and are anxious for the return of civil
government, even at the cost of parting with their
slaves. These sentiments have been expressed in
public meetings at many places. There is very
great insecurity of person and property at pre-
sent. Many parts of the South are in a lawless con-
dition. Thousands of paroled soldiers and deserters
roam through the country, plundering without stint.
They carefully avoid the garisoned towns, but rob
houses and steal horses in the open country. It is
impossible to control these marauders. The poor
farmers are helpless. Patrols of cavalry sent every-
where are the only means of ridding the land of
such pests.

It will thus be seen that the condition of the
South is deplorable indeed. Its restoration to pros-
perity and peace is the problem to be solved. In
Virginia Governor Pierpont has lately made a very
sensible speech, and it has disarmed a great deal of
the :opposition which was growing against him.
Without advancing a single Radical notion, Pier-
pont says he will only labour to restore the State to
order, and as soon as the machinery of Government
is in operation, will resign and allow the people a
free expression of their choice for governor. There
is some hope that Pierpont will do what he pro-
mises, and will forget the impracticable notions of
his party. Pierpont says all the State banks of Vir-
ginia will have to be closed. They cannot redeem
their notes, and the heavy United States' tax on
their circulation will gradually drive the banks out
of existence. All the public schools in Virginia have
been broken up ; the system has gone to pieces be-
cause no money could be given to support it.
There are but few gleams of brightness in the
channels of Southern trade. It is said the people
of Northern Alabama have been able to purchase
the cargoes of two steamers sent from Cairo, Illinois,
and have shown money in unexpected abundance.
From all other parts, however, the reports are of an
opposite character. Telegraphic communication is
now opened with all the large Southern cities, and
mail facilities will soon be offered to the people.
Until the railroads are repaired, however, the latter
must necessarily be limited. Northern merchants
are anticipating a brisk trade in the fall, but the
more cautious say they can see very little to
warrant it. The Government is labouring as
earnestly as possible to open the South, and as the
people universally desire a return to the old system
of peace and industry it will not take much time to
discover what sources of trade there are in the South.

The promised official statement of the public debt
has at length been published. It gives the amounts
as they were on May 31, and is as follows :

Amount bearing interest in coin... ... $1,108,113,842 0
Amount bearing interest in paper ... 1,053,476,371 0
Amount on which interest has ceased ... 786,270 0
Amount without interest... 472,829,270 50

Total debt

... $2,635,205,753 50

Cr.
Coin interest
raper interest

... $64,480,489 50
... 60,158,380 52

Total interest
Amount of le l ... ... ... ... $124,638,870 02
Amount o
Money
in oga thn der notes in circulate... 659,160,569
requisitionf not yet called for ... 40,150,000
31n
Treasury excluding these requisi-
tions ...
As the Government 25,000,000
payilienta is aboutour m
in its months behind-
hand,for f
that is, as the bills against it
for furnishing stores, t
four months
and other expenses
of the war, for abou. back, have not
there been presented, because no money in the
Treasury to pay them, and these
$300,000,000, the real debt of ethamount to about
the United States
on June 1, 1865, may be placed at three
millions of dollars. Subscriptions are
thousandtll
re-
ceived for the 7.30 loan, and money is" taken
on deposit by the Government at all the assistant-
treasurers' offices throughout the country. Six
per
cent. interest is paid for those deposits. The debt
has not yet reached its maximum, for the ablest
financiers express the opinion that the receipts
from customs and internal revenue will be by no
means adequate to pay the interest on the debt and
the current expenses of the Government. It is esti-
mated that between the legal tender notes, the notes
of national banks, and the issue of State banks,
about $1,000,000,000 of paper money are floating
about the country. For about $880,000,000 of this
the
Government credit is pledged. The English