The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-28 00:00:00

THE UNITED STATES.

(From the Times. Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, JULY 15.
There is no section or party in America which is
entirely satisfied with the present condition of the
negro, or " freedman," to call him by his new name.
He is free, but unless all the news we receive from
the South is utterly fictitious, his freedom is only
only another name for starvation. Thereason of this
is plain. The first impulse of the freedman istoleave
his master, and, in cases where he desires to stay,
the master can no longer afford to keep him. Now
that slaves are no longer property to be bought and
sold in the market, the planters regard them as so
much lumber. They have not the capital to set them
to work, and consequently they are sent adrift to
find food and shelter -where they can. These facts
are not contradicted by any one, for it is known that
the negroes are dying by hundreds in the woods of
the South, and in the cities, where registries are kept,
it is ascertained that the mortality among the negroes
is terrible. In New Orleans, for instance, they are
perishing so rapidly that several papers are seriously
discussing the likelihood of the questions as to the
future of the negro being settled by the extermina-
tion of the race. Beyond all doubt the present gene-
ration will suffer great hardships by their sudden
liberation, and it will take some years to bring the
new system of free labour into such working order as
that the black shall realise every advantage by his
freedom. Planters who were considerate and fair in
their treatment of their slaves—and it is not denied
that there were many such—have been exhorted by
their negroes not to turn them away, but they have
not the means to keep them. This is one of the argu-
ments used to induce Mr. Johnson to annul the
$20,000 exception clause. Mr. Johnson's answer, as
you will have seen, is " Distribute your property
among the poor until you have reduced it within the
prescribed limit, and then you will come under the
amnesty." This is one way of overcoming the diffi-
culty, but it is not a popular Way, for the owners
of property are of opinion that they have suffered
enough already by the war.
It is clear, therefore, that during this period of
change the Government will have to adopt some
measures for the protection of the negro. While
giving him liberty, it has also released his master
from the necessity of providing for his wants ; and
it is quite impossible that a system of free labour
can be organised immediately. Meanwhile, the
negro is perishing in want and misery. However
well disposed he may be to work, he cannot find
work to do. That the unhappiness of his position
is felt by the Government is proved by the issue of
a series of regulations, dated the 12th inst., by the
Commissioner of " the Bureau of Refugees, Freed-
men, and Abandoned Lands." These instructions
are addressed to the assistant - commissioners
throughout the South, and they require employers
to enter into proper contracts with their servants,
before an agent, and they peremptorily forbid the
use of compulsory unpaid labour. The order says
" Suffering may result to some extent, but suffering
is:preferred to slavery, and is to some extent the
necessary consequence of events." Schools are to
be established, and as many negroes as the Govern-
ment farms will support will find relief there. How
these Government farms are working is not known,
but as the department will for the future issue
monthly reports there will shortly be trustworthy
information on the subject. At present there is
too much probability that the prediction of De
Tocqueville will prove true—the negro " will sink
to such a depth of wretchedness that, while servi-
tude brutalises, liberty destroys him." A Govern-
ment may decree freedom for the negro, but it can-
not abolish the instinctive antipathies of race. It
will not save him to give him the power to vote, and
this question Mr. Johnson seems still disposed to
leave entirely to the States to settle for themselves.
No step can well be taken upon it until the meeting
of Congress, which promises to be one of the most
important sessions which have been help during the
whole history of the United States.
It is now certain that the President intends to
make his amnesty proclamation a policy of confisca-
tion, as applied to some of the principal leaders in
the South. A Confiscation Department has been
established in Richmond, under Judge Underwood,
and on the 10th inst. it began its duties by seizing
the Tredegar Works, which belonged to General J.
R. Anderson. Notices have been servrd upon the
tenants of various other properties to cease paying
rent to their landlords, and it is stated that many of
the wealthy citizens of Richmond thus find all their
means suddenly taken from them. This measure is
so unexpected that it has startled even the Radicals,
who have been crying out for vengeance against the
Southern landowners, and at present it is uncertain
to what length Mr. Johnson intends to carry it out.
It has caused a panic at Richmond, for it is thought
that the persons who have been pardoned will not
save their property, the pardon only securing them
from personal pains and penalties. I am assured
that it is not intended to deal harshly with any ex-
cept those who made themselves very prominent in
the rebellion, but the signs are dark and ominous.
It would seem that the few who escaped ruin during
the war will find it fall upon them now, and conse-
quently the condition of the South threatens to be-
come more deplorable than ever. Already the
justices of the peace for the county of Spottsyl-
vania, Virginia, have appealed to the public for aid
to save the inhabitants of that district from starva-
tion. They state that the " population has been
obliged to seek forbread for more than a year past at
points outside of and far distant from the county.
If speedy help does not come from some quarter
actual starvation must fall upon many families."
At such a time a sweeping measure of confiscation
would be disastrous in its consequences, but I am
assured that no such design is in contemplation by
the Cabinet. It merely desires to make example of
a few men.
What plan will eventually be pursued for the dis-
posal of the national debt is probably as little fore-
seen by the Government as by the people. Mr.
Johnson is evidently of opinion that the first and
most important object he has to accomplish is the
organisation of the South. In the meanwhile, as a
man of great experience in public affairs remarked
the other day, "the finances can take care of them-
selves." Nevertheless, there are few reflective men
here who do not feel some disquietude concerning
them. The danger of bonds which are at present
held abroad being returned to this country is fully
realised ; but, on the other hand, it is an encou-
raging circumstance that a large proportion of the
debt is in the hands of small capitalists in the
United States. What is feared is that gradually
the bonds will be accumulated by a small class, and
that, in the words of a journal not disposed to take
a desponding view of affairs, " in ten years from
now the voters not holding any direct or controlling
interest in the national debt will outnumber those
who do more than ten to One." It will then be-
come necessary, continues this writer, to consider
whether a larger share of representation should
not be given to capitalists—in point of fact, that
the representation shall no longer be based upon
population only, but upon property. That such a
proposition should be seriously discussed de-
notes one of the most curious changes in public
opinion to which the war has given rise. Mr.
Johnson owned recently that the " tendency seemed
to be to restrict rather than to extend the suffrage."
He was alluding to the proposal for enfranchising
the negroes. The upholders of universal' suffrage
begin to be afraid that the system may break down,
or prove fatally mischievous, under the pressure of
heavily financial difficulties. Every man, they say,
should still have one vote, but the large taxpayers
should be entitled tomore than one. "Repudiation"
is not a pleasant word to any American who has a
sincere regard for the credit of his country. But as
time goes on the word is becoming more and more
common in the mouths of a certain section. Mr
Johnson has expressly said that " the debt must be
Paid to the last farthing," and that he will have
nothing to do with those " who even squint at repu-
diation." Yet it is felt that when the representatives
of Southern States are once more in Congress there
will be a large party ready to adopt the wholesale
method of sweeping away the public debt by repu-
diating it. The strongest efforts of more enlightened
politicians will be requisite to stem this particular
current of opinion. It need scarcely be said that the
mercantile classes are entirely with the President in

It is demanded in some quarters that the Secre-
tary of the Treasury should at once contract the
circulating medium, and so reduce the premium on
gold. But against this it is rightly urged that while
the Secretary is compelled to borrow at the rate of
$20,000,000 per week as he is now doing, at inte-
rest as high as 7.30 per cent., it is idle to talk to
him of contracting the currency. The present enor-
mous expenditure is caused by the work of paying
off the army and the cost of transporting the men
from place to place. With every effort that can be
made, money enough is not forthcoming, and " cer-
tificates of indebtedness " are consequently issued--
promises to pay in from 6to 12 months. Although,
therefore it is the opinion of some excellently informed
men that the return to specie payments will be
easier and quicker than the public suppose, no one
pretends to point out how it is to be done. Where
is the money to come from ? The Secretary of the
Treasury would probably be thankful for some
specific information on that important point. It is
remarked with some expressions of dissatisfaction
that the usual monthly returns of the debt have not
yet been published for July. They should have
made their appearance on the Ist inst. _ _

Among the other mysteries of finance which per-
plex the simple citizen is the circumstance that he
is still obliged to pay war prices for everything he
consumes. The expense of living in New York is in
truth enough to ruin any man of moderate means.
The hotels, where, as is well knnwn, many families
permanently reside, charge $6 a day (say £1 55.) for
two poor rooms up three or four pairs of stairs, and
it would require a prince's ransom to enable a man
to take wine with his dinner. I have a market list
of provisions and their prices before me, and from
this it appears that for a loaf of bread of no parti-
cular weight, the bakers varying this as they think
proper, 10c. (5d.) is charged. Butter is sold at the
rate of Is. Bd. a pound (to quote the price •in Eng-
lish money) ; coffee, from 2s. Id. to 2s. 2d. ; sugar,
about Bd. ; fair drinkable tea, ss. Bd. per lb. ; beef
cannot be got fit to eat under ls. 3d. a pound;
mutton, from is. to Is. 3d. ; spring chickens, from
4s. 2d. to 6s. 4d. a pair ; fowls are sold at ls. per
lb. ; champagne fit to drink is 11 a bottle. These
rates will serve to give seme idea of the cost of living
here, even if provisions are bought direct at the
markets. When it is considered that a heavy per-
centage of profit is put on the foregoing prices by
the hotel or boarding-house keeper, it will be seen
that no one has any business to come to New York
with ideas of economy about him. All old-fashioned
notions concerning prudence and thrift had better
be left behind, " Foreigners" stare at being asked
£5 or £6 for a coat made of " shoddy," and of a cut
calculated to distract any one of proper sense or
feeling. They do not like to pay 75c. (3s. lid.) for
having their hair ruthlessly hacked and mangled in
the style which seems to prevail among barbers here,
and they object to pay $4 an hour (16s. Bd.) for the
use of a vehicle which is not half so convenient as
the London " Hansom." Grumblers at the extor-
tion of London cabmen should liNe here a few
weeks, and try a little dealing with the independent
and superior gentleman who condescends to drive
one about these streets. He enters freely into con-
versation with his fare, drives at what rate he likes,
and charges at the end just what seems to him to
be good. The most ricketty cab and the most ex-
tortionate of cabmen would be hailed with real joy
by the stray' Englishman in Broadway, who is now
' compelled to spring into a dirty omnibus while it is
going at full speed, with no conductor at the door,
and with a hole through the roof to enable him to
pay the driver and tell him when to stop. Any
traveller who is coming here, and has ideas of per-
sonal comfort had better arrange his letters of credit
on the largest scale. The -income-tax list, which
the papers publish here regularly, shows that there
are numbers of merchants and others in New York
who return their incomes at over £20,000 a year.
One gentleman is down for $1,300,000 (i 260,000).
No doubt life could be made very tolerable in New
York upon these conditions.

A Provisional Governor for the State of Florida
has been appointed by the President—Judge Mar-
vin. The whole of the seceded States have now
properly appointed Governors, and it only remains
to render the civil power complete by abolishing
military courts. This, however, will probably not
be attempted at present.