The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-13 00:00:00

THE UNITED STATES•

(From a Correspondent of the Times.)
PHILADELPHIA, May 30.
On the 26th of May all the Confederate armies
west of the Mississippi were surrendered by their
commander, General E. Kirby Smith, to the
Federal General Canby at New Orleans. The terms
of surrender were similar to those given General
Lee's army in Virginia ; all the officers and men
are to give their paroles not to bear arms against
the United States, and are to go home and engage
in peaceful pursuits. The faith of the United
States is guaranteed that they will not be molested
so long as they obey their paroles. The num-
ber of men surrendered by Kirby Smith was
about 25,000. Forty general officers were sur-
rendered ; among them Lieutenants - Generals S.
B. Buckner, J. B. Hood, and Sterling Price ;
Major-Generals Clark, Hindman, and Magru-
der ; and Brigadier-Generals Bee, Pike, Slaugh-
ter, and Prince Polignac. There is now no armed
force of the Confederates east or west of the Missis-
sippi, and the war is ended. The last battle of the
war was one at El Pasco del Chico, near Brownsville,
Texas, between a Federal foraging party 300 strong
and some Texan cavalry. The foragers were driven
into Brownsville with a loss of 70, mostly prisoners.
The war being thus officially and really ended the
Federal Government is busily engaged upon the
great questions involved in the reconstruction of the
Union. The effect of Mr. Lincoln's assassination
upon the public mind is entirely spent. The desire
among the Northern people for reconciliation with
the Southisuniversal. The friendly spirit so prevalent
before Lincoln's death has returned. Orders have
been issued for the unconditional pardon and release
of all political prisoners confined in various parts of
the country upon sentences by court-martial of im-
prisonment during the war. This is to be followed
by an order for the release of all other political pri-
soners whose offences were not of a criminal nature.
It is generally believed that by the middle of June
there will be scarcely any State prisoners in confine-
ment. By various orders issued during the past
month nearly 50,000 Confederate prisoners of war,
confined in various parts of the North, have been
released. :Almost all have been sent to their homes
in the South.
Yesterday, May 29, President Johnson issued
his great amnesty proclamation. He grants to all
persons who have directly or indirectly participated
in the rebellion, excepting such as are hereafter
specified, amnesty and pardon, with the restoration
of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and
except where legal proceedings for confiscation have
begun, on condition that such persons take an oath.
The oath is that the person who takes it will sup-
port, protect, and defend the Constitution and the
Union of the States, and abide by all laws and pro-
clamations made during the war to secure emanci-
pation. The various classes of persons excepted
from the benefits of the amnesty are the following—
All civil and diplomatic officers of the Confederacy ;
all who left judicial stations under the United States
to aid the rebellion; Confederate military officers
above the rank of colonel ; naval officers of higher
grade than lieutenant ; all below those grades who
resigned commissions in the United States' army or
navy to aid the rebellion, or were educated at 'West
Point or the Naval Academy; all persons who left
seats in the Federal Congress or left their homes in
the North to aid the rebellion ; all persons who
treated Northern prisoners unlawfully, or engaged in
privateering, or made raids from Canada ; all per-
sons who have been or are absentees from the United
States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion ; all
Governors of Southern States ; all who at the time
they ask to take the amnesty oath are in custody,
and all who participated in the rebellion and have
taxable property worth more than $20,000. It is
provided, however, that any one in these excepted
classes may make special application for pardon to
the President, " and such clemency will be liberally
extended as may be consistent with the facts of the
case and the peace and dignity of the United States."
The great number of exceptions to the pardon is
considered harsh, but the proviso somewhat miti-
gates this. The proclamation itself is considered as
an evidence that Johnson wishes to restore the Union
as perfectly as it can be done excepting slavery, so
that the States may have the same rights as they
enjoyed before the war. Many of the persons ex-
cepted will no doubt apply for pardon, but as every
one, North and South, now seems anxious to restore
the Union and return to peaceful pursuits, the pro-
clamation will soon become a dead letter. The ex-
ception of all persons whose property amounts to
$20,000 savours a little of Johnson's " plebeian"
ideas. The proclamation shows the triumph of the
Conservatives, in the fact that no provision is made
for negro suffrage in the South. A division in the
Cabinet upon this point delayed its promulgation
for over a week.
The Attorney-General of the United States has
decided that although the war is over the Confisca-
tion Acts are in full force. This is modified by the
proclamation, however, and the law now seems to be
that in all cases where confiscations have been made
or legal pryceedings to that end are begun the Con-
fiscation Act is in force; but no new proceedings
under it are to be instituted, except in case of sen-
tence for treason, and where owners of property
refuse to take the amnesty oath. There are in the
South many abandoned plantations, cultivated by
emancipated negroes under the superintendence of
the Freedmen's Bureau. General Howard, the head
of this bereau, has issued an order that these plan-
tations cannot be restored to their owners unless the
negroes be given the growing crops or compensation
therefor. It looks very much as if these plantations
would ultimately be restored to their owners, many
of whom have already taken steps to reclaim them.
Their cultivation by the United States has been found
expensive and unprofitable, and in many cases has
been given up. Among those who have applied for
the restoration of their estate is Mrs. General Lee.
Arlington, opposite Wash-
She
oclna.inis her estate at
The reports that Jefferson Davis has been mana-
cled in his prison at Fortress Monroe has been con-
tradicted. Armed guards are constantly in his cell.
Clement C. Clay is confined at Fortress Monroe. The
families of these prisoners were refused permission
to stay there, so as to be near them, and have been
sent to Savannah. This rigour on the part of the
Government does not meet with popular approval.
By the request of the Government the grand jury
of Washington have found true bills of indictment
for treason against Davis and Breckenridge. The
law on this subject is that no charge of treason
shall be sustained unless supported by the testimony
of two witnesses to the same overt act. The overt
act laid in the indictment is the Confederate raid
into the district of Columbia in July, 1864, and
Francis P. Blair, sen., General Hardin, and several
other persons living in the suburbs of Washington,
whose property was destroyed by the raid, are the
witnesses. Under this indictment Davis has been
demanded for trial by the District of Columbia
Supreme Court, presided over by Judge Carter.
Arrests are made almost daily of persons distin-
guished in the South. Ex-Governor Letcher, of
Virginia, Governor Watts, of Alabama, James A.
Seddon, Secretary of War, and Judge Campbell, of
Alabama, have been taken into custody within the
past few days. There are rumours that Gen. Lee is
to be arrested, but nothing has yet been done that
indicates it. On the 17th of May a small boat, con-
taining seven white men and a negro, was picked up
off the Florida coast. They gave assumed names,
but some of them are supposed to be distinguished
Confederates. Two of them were afterwards dis-
covered to be Senator Harris, of Missouri, and Gen.
Hamilton. They were trying to escape to Havannah.
In almost every Southern State there are move-
ments looking to reconstruction. President Johnson
has begun the work by a proclamation for recon-
struction in North Carolina. He appoints W. W.
Holden Provisional Governor. Mr. holden will be
remembered as a Union man who opposed Vance
for Governor, and who is editor of a Union news-
paper at Raleigh. Mr. Holden is to prescribe rules
and regulations for calling a State Convention as
soon as may be, the Convention to have power to
do every act necessary to restore the State to the
Union. No person is to be a delegate in the Con-
vention or to be a voter at an election for delegates
until he shall have taken the amnesty oath I have
quoted above, and unless he is a voter qualified by