The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

CONSERVAT:
Ashburton ~. .1.. 1
Aylesbury ~. ~. 1
Bisrwick
Bridgnorth 1
Brighton ••• ~. 1
Carnarvon District ... 1
Chatham I" bell 1
Chester 960 ... 1
Clitheroe ~. ... 1
Colchester ..• ... 1
Exeter • 1
Frome ... ... 1
Grimsby ~. ... 1
Holston ..• ...
Horsham ... 40.6 1
Hull 1.0 .. 4100 1
Net Conservative loss in borc
Coin
Conservat

'I'VE LOSSES.

Berkshire, 2.
East Norfolk.

Knaresborough ... ~. 1
Leicester 090 400 1
Lincoln ... ... 1
Newport 000 sApe 1
Poole
000 000 1
Portsmouth ... ... 1
Tynemouth . ... 1
Taunton ... ... 2
Wakefield
000 000 1
Wallingford ... ... 1
Wareham ... ... 1
Warwick
000 000 1
Weymouth . ... 1
Windsor 004 460 2

Total ... ... 32
uglts ... ... 4
[TIM.
ive Gains.
I West Norfolk.
Total ... 4

Conservative Losses.
North Staffordshire
East Sussex
South Wilts
Yorkshire N. Riding
Total 10

Cardiganshire
S. Derbyshire
North Essex
Hertfordshiro
South Lancashire
South Shropshire
Net Conservative loss in Counties
Liberal gain in new constituency of South-west
Riding
Conservative gain at Oxford University
Not Conservative loss ... •••
SCOTLAND.
COUNTIES.

... 2

... 1

Coniervativo losses
Butoshiro, Kincardineshire, Renfr,wshire,
and Stirlincrshire.

Total...

IRELAND.
BOROUGH&
Conservative Gain.
Cashel.

Liberal Gains.

Dublin
Galway
Mallow
Net Conservative 1055...

Total .

Portarlingtou
Sligo

COUNTIES.
Conservative Gain.
King's County.

Total

S.. 1

~. 1

Conservative Losses.
1 Monaghan
Total ~. 3

Cavan
Limerick
Net Conservative Loss

Total Conservative Losses in England,- Wales,
Scotland, and Ireland ... 21
The total number of Conservative members returned is
290, against 369 Liberal; including the double return for
Dumbartonshire. It is obvious, however, that these num-
bers are not to be strictly relied upon as representing the
real strength of either the Government or the Opposition.
In the last Parliament several Irish members, professedly
Liberals, invariably voted with the Opposition, and there
is every reason to believe that a still larger number of
Irish Liberals will be found opposed to the Government in
the divisions of next session. Considerable deductions
also must be made from the ranks of the Ministerialists, on
the ground of petitions, &c. After the election of 1859 the
Conservatives gained tan seats on petition. On the present
occasion the petitions against Ministorialists will be more
numerous, and the acts of bribery and intimidation were
far more openly committed. We refrain, for obvious rea-
sons, from publishing for the present the names of the
boroughs whose votes will be subjected to parliamentary
inquiry.

On the whole, the Conservatives have no right to be
dissatisfied with the result. ' The Opposition members con-
stitute a compact body of 290. They have got rid, in the
election just terminated, of all the wavorers and pseudo-
Conservatives who, for the last six years, have sat on Mr.
Disraeli's side and voted with Lord Palmerston. They re-
present a compact strength against which the present
Government must be powerless for evil. They ensure the
country against any successful attempt against the consti-
tution in Church and State, either on the part of the
Government or of its democratic supporters.
It is worthy of notice that in 1859 Lord Derby on the
dissolution gained an accession of 23 seats, whilst the pre-
sent Government, with all its lavish outlay and long re-
tention of office, ha.s only recovered 21.

THE UNITED STATES.

(From the Times Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, JULY 12.

Any one who attached weight .to the statements
and discussions of conflicting political parties here
would be led to the conclusion that the country is
in a state of hopeless anarchy and confusion. The
great problem of the day—what shall be done with
the South now that it is conquered ? not only
baffles the " politicians," but throws them into vio-
lent collision with each other. There is nothing to
be heard among Radicals, Republicans, or Democrats,
but mutual recriminations and expressions of dis-
trust and suspicion. Nevertheless, there is one
fact which' they all are obliged to recognise in com-
mon, and which considerably detracts from the im-
portance of their deliberations, and that fact is that
the people are as firmly united as ever in the broad
purpose to support the Government in any measures
which it may deem necessary to insure the pacification
of the country. The President pursteshis policy with-
out the least reference to the opinion of any political
section. From time to time, in speeches or in letters,
he has indicated that policy so plainly that no one
can have any misapprehension concerning it. He
told the South Carolinians that his object was to
" get back the States to the point at which they
formerly moved in perfect harmony." He will not
admit that any State has ever yet been out of the
Union, and therefore it is not " reconstruction" he
has to consider, but " restoration." So, too, he said
to General Logan the other day, " I do not mean to
treat them as inchoate States, but merely as existing
under a temporary suspension of their Government,
provided always they electloyal men. The doctrine
of coercion to preserve a State in the Union has been
vindicated by the people." With regard to slavery,
he desires that each State shall call a convention and
abolish it formally. On the question of negro suf-
frage he has been less explicit, expressing merely a
wishto "approach it gradually ;" but he has spoken
plainly enough to show that he desires each State to
deal with this subject also for itself.

These points mark out the course which the Presi-
dent is resolved to pursue ; and by this time most
people have found out that Mr. Johnson is a man
not easily turned aside from his purpose, and not to
be moved by threats of opposition. His main prin-
ciple clearly is to effect the reorganisation of the
South just as its armies were conquered, " by little
and little." Some think that he is advancing too
rapidly ; others, that he is altogether too slow. The
difficulties in the way of complete restoration in the
South are obviously of thegravestkind. The Southern
leaders are apparently cheerfully submissive, andsay
that if Mr. Johnson would but retract his $20,000
exception clause, and make the amnesty general, there
would be no men in the Union more loyal than they.
Yet it may be doubted whether they really look upon
their cause as so irretrievably lost as they profess.
The probability rather is that they are preparing to
hamper legislation as much as they can, more particu-
larly with reference to such subjects as the payment
of the national debt. Beaten in the field, they hope
to renew the_fight in the Council Chamber. In order
to succeed in this, their organs in this city and else-
where advise them to concede everything—above all,
not to oppose the admittance of negroes to the suf-
frage. Numerically the Southern party would still
be the weaker of the two, as the Union party would
consist of 148 members and the Southern of 120.
Supposing, however, that the representatives of the
South were persistent in offering obstructions to the
Administration, they have power enough to do con-
siderable mischief. This is the evil which men like
Mr. Wendell Phillips fear. In a recent speech Mr.
Phillips attacked the President in no measured terms
for organising the States—that is, giving them go-
vernors and allowing them to resume their former
status—before the interests of the negro have been
sufficiently guarded. He affirms that slavery is as
much a system now as it ever was. ' Southern mas-
ters have still the power to beat their slaves if they
will not work, and to " lend" them to each other.
Mr. Phillips so exactly expresses the views of what
is called the ultra-Radical party, composed of men
like Mr. Sumner, that a short extract from his speech
will be useful :

"I don't count the President on our side. He is not to
be counted as a force on our side. At present he is a force
on the other side. He into be flanked or subdued ; to be
converted. His attitude is to bo changed ; if not, the Re-
public is gone. Mr. Johnson, you are wrong ; your plan
is wrong ; it bears within it the seeds of death to tho Re-
public ; we movo instantly upon your works. We sum-
mon the public and expose your plan, show that your
attitude is fatal, hope that you will change it, beg you
to change it, exhort you to change it, and if you won't
change it, then roll the wheels of tho Republic, and crush
it and you. Our hope is in diverting the purpose of
Andrew Johnson, to make him shut the door of the House
of Representatives upon the 4th day of December, until we
can rally the North. When Grant stood before Vicksburg

the danger was trivial compared to what it is to-day.. When
Popo was driven back to Washington the danger was
nothing to what it is to-day. We are to-day in tho mael-
strom of politics. The difficulty is in mustering up public
opinion strong enough to overawe the President."

The compromise suggested by certain leaders is
thus put, " universal suffrage and universal am-
nesty ;" to admit every negro to the suffrage, and
pardon the South en masse. But would the Southern
party be weakened by negro suffrage ? It is very
questionable. In the first place, it is believed by
many that the negro would vote the way his master
wished him ; in the next, the addition of so many
thousands to the suffrage would, of course, give the
South additional members ; representation here, as
I need not remind the English reader, being based
upon population. Then, again, if the negroes are
allowed to have votes, what is to prevent them
sending a negro to Congress as their represen-
tative ? Even ardent Abolitionists are not pre-
pared to go this length in the emancipation
of the race. But, whatever may happen, say others,
" now that the black is a free man you have no
right to exclude him from the suffrage. You
might as well exclude Irish or Germans." Every
citizen has a right to vote, and the loyal black is
as good a citizen as any other. In answer to
all this the President and the Republican party
fall back upon this standpoint—let each State
do as it pleases. If the Abolitionists are so anxious
to have the negro a voter, why do not they admit
him to the suffrage in the State of New York first?
Thus Mr. Johnson refuses to see in the question of
negro suffrage any cause of embarrassment. He
declines to make it a question for the Administration
to deal with. Hence the cry against him by the
Phillips-Sumner party. With regard to the State
rights, all are granted except the principle of State
sovereignty. A State may manage its affairs as it
deems right, only it must not go out of the Union.
Whatever may be said about the Constitution, the
sword has decided this matter, and is is too late to
argue about it.

Such, then, is the position of affairs at this moment.
It is a tangle, but the clue to it is the determination
of the mass of the people, and their ability to carry
out that determination, to have every difficulty
settled peaceably and fairly. Thoughtful Americans
who stand outside the noisy arena of politics care
very little for the clamour which goes on among the
combatants. In effect they say, " the people fought
the war, not the politicians. We shall settle our
difficulties one by one. There is no hurry about it.
Water finds its level, and so will all the complica-
tions which now look so threatening." This looks a
very superficial and facile way of dealing with a
serious political crisis, but it is at least as hopeful
as some of the remedies recommended by the Demo-
crats, who boast that they will again shortly gain the
ascendancy, and by the Radicals, who would impeach
the President rather than that the negro should not
be invested with the right to vote.
Perhaps as moderate a view as could be obtained
of the attitude of different parties here, and more
especially of the opinions of the loyal classes, is to
be found in an address issued by a meeting at
Faneuil-hall, Boston. This paper has been received
with very great favour, so far as I am able to judge,
by impartial men. It charges the South with having
aspired to become the dominant class, and to have
sought to carry out their designs by "the dogma of
State supremacy." When the North refused to
accept their principles they rebelled, and now they
yield, not from motives of loyalty, but because they
are thoroughly overpowered. The Government is
justified in holding their part of the country in
military occupation, " and the nation is asserting a
right, before it yields that occupation, to see the
public safety secured and the public faith pre-
served." The only thing to be feared, continues
the address, is that the work of reconstruction will
proceed too fast, and that States will be restored
before their good faith on the question of slavery is
quite insured. When a State is once restored the
Administration can no longer order its affairs. The
following passage contains the pith of the whole
matter, and I believe that it fairly summarises the
general opinion of the Northern people :
" We declare it to be our belief that if the nation admits
a rebel State to its full functions with a Constitution which
does not secure to the frond men the right of suffrage in
such manner as to be impartial, and not based in principle
upon colour, and as to be reasonably attainable by intelli-
gence and character, and which does not place in their
hands a substantial power to defend their rights as citizens
at the ballot-box, with the right to be educated, to acquire
homesteads, and to testify in courts, the nation will be re-
creant to its duty, to itself, and to them, and will jinni*,
and deserve to incur, danger and reproach proportioned to
the magnitude of its responsibility."

The danger of reconstructing too rapidly is as clear
as noon-day. One of the very first subjects which
must come before Congress will be the settlement of
the national debt. Will the South be willing to
bear its share of taxes for the liquidation of the
Northern debt? Will it make ready sacrifices in order
to pay for the rod which scourged it? Its own debt,
when Lee surrendered, was over $4,000,000,000.
It must bear this loss, and pay its share of the
Northern debt besides. The inhabitants of the States
must pay in proportion to the property they have.
It is impossible that this question can be adjusted
without immense difficulty, and without the growth
of much new bitterness and ill feeling.
As to the state of public opinion in the South, it
is precisely that which might be looked for among
people so circumstanced. The first thing they have
to do is to submit ; the next to resist. The submis-
sion is suspiciously eager. Some here contend that
the South is sincere in its desire to return to the
Union, but, in the face of what has taken place
during the last four years, such a supposition must
necessarily be delusive. General Jeff Thompson, in
a farewell speech to his soldiers at Jacksonport, re-
flected Southern feeling in a rough kind of manner.
" Avoid political discussions," he told thpm. "If
any man says ' nigger' to you, swear that you never
knew nor saw ono in your life. We have talked
about the niggers for 40 years, and have been out-
talked ; we have fought four years for the niggers,
and have been d-- badly whipped, and now it is
not your put.' " He continued :
"The Yankees have won the nigger, and will do what
they please with him, and you have no say in the matter ;
if they want him they will take him, and if they say that
you must keep him you have to do it and no mistake. I tell
you that you have no say in the matter, and you oughtn't
to have any. Go home and stay there ; don't go anywhere
but to mill ; don't go to church, for the ministers will put
knots and mischief in your heads and get you into trouble.
Be good citizens, and then those of you who have been
good, honest, and brave soldiers, have nothing to fear; but
I warn those of you who have been nothing but sneaking,
cowardly jay-hawkers, cut-throats, and thieves, that a just
retribition awaits you, and I hope to God that the Federal
authorities will hang you wherever and whenever they
find you, and they will do it sure. We aro conquered, sub-
jugated ; we have no rights, but must accept such privi-
leges and favours as the Government may see proper to
bestow upon us."

Every Southern man feels that the day is lost,
but the majority still hope that in Congress they
may have another chance. Mr. Johnson knows this,
and for the present at least will not admit the largest
slaveholders to the benefit of an unconditional am-
nesty. They must ask pardon individually, and it
can either be refused or denied them at the option
of the Government. The North would not tolerate
the removal of this restriction until public affairs are
in a more settled state. In the meanwhile, Northern
capital will very shortly Row into the South.

It is now rumoured that Mr. Davis will be tried
before a military Commission. Should this prove
true, there will be great dissatisfaction caused. Even
the warmest friends of the administration feel that
the time has come when military tribunals should be
discontinued, and civil courts everywhere restored.
There are very few now who cry out for the execu-
tion of Mr. Davis, and even those few would rather
see him condemned by a civil than a military Court,
if he is to be condemned at all. The suspension by
the President of habeas corpus in the case of Mrs.
Surratt is loudly complained of by the Democratic
party, and it would be considered a still more un-
pardonable infringement of the Constitution to keep
up military Courts so long after the termination of
the war.

EX-PRESIDENT DAVIS.—A Washington despatch
of the 11 th July states that a gentleman from
Fortress Monroe reports the health of Jefferson Davis
much better than it has been at any time during his in-
carceration. His meals are sent direct from the table of
Dr. Craven, his attendant physician, by his daughter, and
by her delivered to the officer having immediate charge
over him.

TlMM—After a twelvemonth's unsuccessful de-
fence of a University seat—not to speak of other
trifles—and a two days' successful assault on a
great county constituency, even Mr. Gladstone
might confess to a touch of fatigue. It showed itself
at Newton in a very usual form. Every orator
and logician knows that at the last gasp of his intel-
lectual energies he can mount a hobby in the form
of some very rampant metaphor, and so ride, if not
to victory, at least out of the lists. When a pedes-
trian is dead beat he is glad of any lift—an omnibus
full of old women, or the poacher's cart, taking, as
he shrewdly suspects, his own pheasants to the sta-
tion. Thus it was that Mr. Gladstone got helped on,
first by the policeman, then by the builder's fore-
man. As the mere movement of street passengers is
backwards as well as forwards, indeed in all direc-
tions, that simile could not help Mr. Gladstone
under the imputation of erratic habits. The proces-
sion of the thoroughfare is worse than a rope of
sand, for it is quicksand continually shifting. The
next metaphor that he seems to have selected for its
fitness to sluggish and material apprehensions was
architectural. if a man understands nothing else,
he knows at least what a house is, and how it can
be pulled down, or rebuilt, or enlarged, whether
vertically or laterally. You can take your time over
an architectural simile. It does not even pretend to
run on all fours, for it does not run at all. It stands
still till you have pulled it to pieces, and laid it by
for future use. We submit, however, that the Bri-
tish Constitution, which is the matter in hand, and
the study of this Constitution, are matters for the
naturalist rather than the mechanic. The British
Constitution is a living thing ; it has grown and de-
veloped itself in a very easy and often imperceptible
way for many ages. It has undergone many changes,
and a4ained to an immense enlargement, but there
can be no doubt of its identity with the original
sappling. if, then, it must be treated figuratively,
this is the nearest emblem. We may borrow some-
thing from all the trees and all the plants we ever
heard of, but we must still make it a tree. Let us
fertilise, water, dig about, prune, give air and earth-
room, even graft, but we must still deal with our
subject as a living thing, and according to
the order of nature. This is a matter of more im-
portance than might at first seem. We cannot cut
our tree down one day and put a better tree in its
place to-morrow. We cannot at once alter its whole
nature. As a feeling or fancy grows in the heart,
so does a tree in the earth. We cannot thrust upon
it anything that any inventive genius may deem to
be an improvement. We cannot make it grow much
faster or much slower. It will take its own time.
We cannot send it back 500 years or push it on that
much. We cannot adjust its vital circulation quite
so easily as we could the irrigation of a water mea-
dow or the supply of gas in a town. We are bound
by certain laws of nature—chains of iron if we fret
against them, silken strings if we take them kindly.
The principle of a natural growth in the British
Constitution, as contrasted with mere motion, or
mere construction, is fatal to suggestions from all
sides. It is fatal to the idea that anything what-
ever can be incorported into this monarch of the
woods unless it can be chemically proved to be in-
compatible. It is fatal to novelties, as such, for the
newer a thing is the less likely is it to assimilate
with the old. It is fatal to what are called fancy
franchises. We have just witnessed the result of a
fancy franchise far better than any lately proposed.
James 1., among other most plausible pedantries,
gave two (seats to each University. His alleged
reasons were the representation of learning and the
assistance of education, but he was suspected of
carinc, more for strengtheningthe connexion between
the Court and the Universities. Those bodies did
not much value the privilege, and appreciated much
more the nomination to benefices belonging to
Roman Catholic patrons, then first given to them.
We now witness a development never contemplated
by the royal pedagogue, for the seats given to the
Universities as places of education have fallen into
the hands of the country clergy and squires. Such a
perversion, of course, cannot signify much, and no
one would venture to say that the seats are thrown
away. But Mr. Gladstone may take warning from
his own fate against innovation not quite in theline
of natural development. The University representa-
tion is not a branch of the political tree, but a mag-
nificent fungus, more defensible on its own merits
than as a part of the whole system. If changes are
to be made, the first thing thing to be done is to
discover the principle of growth—in a word, the true
nature of our representation, and beware of any
change that will involve a new principle. Large
changes are possible within this restriction. An
occupation franchise of £2O a year is not different
in principle from one of £5O. A county constitu-
ency with 5,000 electors is not different in principle
from one of twice that number. The representa-
tion of half a county or a riding is not different in
principle from the representation of a whole county.
The restriction of seats to boroughs with not less
than 5,000 inhabitants is not different in principle
from the limit of 2,000. The grouping of small
towns is a principle found to work well in Scotland.
South of the Tweed, composite rural boroughs, com-
prising many villages, have worked without com-
plaint. The old Aystem contained many varieties
of qualification, of numbers, and of district, and
varieties found to succeed might be tried on a larger
scale. All this is to enable the tree to grow accord-
ing to its own nature and laws, not to invent a new
tree altogether, and put it in the place of the old.
The greatest innovation of the Reform Act was the
introduction of three representatives in certain cases
for counties. This has often led, it must be con-
fessed, to a satisfactory result in the representation
of the minority, though it may be doubted whether
that is a very English principle ; but it certainly has
not tended to the peace of the counties victimised
by the experiment, and the battle for the third seat
has often proved fiercer than that for two. Mr.
Gladstone, at the moment when he can wear at
once the palm of the martyr and the laurel of the
victor, has this additional fortune, that he need not
pledge himself taanything or anybody. Other men
have had to be carried over the country weeks and
even months, ready to answer questions which they
were often ashamed to listen to, though sometimes
unable to answer. But with constitutional im-
petuosity he has been rushing into explanations
for which no other reason can be given than
that he found them on the tip of his tongue
when he had nothing else to say. At a roadside inn
abroad, if they have nothing else to offer, they will
at least have sausage and ham, and Mr. Gladstone
has a large store of such articles on his shelves. No
one who has been dragged out of pleasant company
to make a speech to absolute strangers upon no
a propos whatever would wish Mr. Gladstone less
supplied with commonplaces. But there is no neces-
sity to surrender the British Constitution, bodily
and for ever, to the first dozen honest and well edu-
cated working men who think themselves competent
to demand that concession. There is such a thing
as a dangerous glibness of speech, which leads a
man to say what he will often wish unsaid five
minutes after. Upon the most important question
of the day, that of Parliamentary Reform, we are
either likely to open ground very shortly, or to re-
peat the memorable "As you were" movement of
five years ago. We shall either be plunged into a
serious and perilous struggle, or the two great parties
will agree to resist the common foe. With a view
to either event and either course, it is very unwise
to propound broad principles which in the one case
will be liable to abuse, and in the other will be con-
signed to the limbo of unmeaning, and therefore
dishonest, platitudes. Now that the elections are
over, and there is no earthly reason why speeches
should be made, except as birds sing, to satisfy the
irritability of their vocal organs, Mr. Gladstone may
as well hold his hand—that is, his tongue. He has
said quite enough for all practical purposes.
Happily six long months will probably intervene
between this and the meeting of Parliament, and
that long period will be much better employed in
considering what to do than in raising popular ex-
pectations, and so creating obstacles in the way of
what could otherwise be done.

PosT.--The American news which has just reached
us contains an ominous announcement. It appears
that the " Confiscation Department" which has been
established at Richmond has seized a large amount
of property for confiscation. Considering that the
proclamation issued some short time since by the
new President includes within its penal ordinances
almost everybody but the very poorest class of per-
sons throughout the entire South, it seems probable
that the "Confiscation Department" will find plenty
of raw material upon which to exercise its ingenuity
and its unprecedented powers. The final cause of the
institution of this court seems to be the con version
of the private property of the Southerner into the
public property of the Federal Government. We
prefer to specify the nature of this department by a
simple statement of facts (though that may assume
the shape of a somewhat prolix periphrasis)
involve
the de-
scribing it by a single epithet, as this would
the necessity of employing a phrase of greater harsh-
ness and severity than might be considered courteous.
The Americans themselves, however, appear to b©
less scrupulous. Of course people have a right to be
more plain spoken in speaking of themselves than
others—having due regard to the amenities of civi-
lisation—have in speaking of them. The Americans
plainly tell us they have established a Confiscation
Department. There are those who, viewing the case
impartially from a distance,. may feel surprise that
they did not can't a "spoliation" department at once.
But, after all, there is not much in a name, and for
that reason w e prefer to describe this singular insti-
tution by a simple statement of the fact. A rose, we
know, would emit the same odour whatever name
might be given to it, and this office which has been
instituted for converting the private property of the

Southerner into the public property of the Federal
Government—in other words, for transferring the
property of the South to the North, without any
consideration having been paid for it, would remain
just what it is, neither better nor worse,
whatever designation it may receive from
friends or enemies. Where the action of this
court, or whatever it may be, will end, it is im-
possible to say. There is no more reason why one
Southerner's property should be confiscated more
than another's. All the Southerners were heart
and soul in the war. Some Southerners, however,
are innocent of the possession of property, and these
must necessarily escape the action of the Confisca-
tion Department. Those, however, who are guilty
of being property-holders, especially holders of
landed property, stand convicted at once, and are
ipso facto fit subjects to be dealt with by this extra-
ordinary tribunal. It is true that the owners of
property have been so reduced through the universal
ruin which the war has brought upon their unhappy
country that they are in a state of pitiable destitu-
tion. Persons of wealth and affluence have found
themselves in a position in which they have been
compelled to barter away articles of furniture for
food. But what difference does this make to the
Confiscation Department ? There are the estates
and plantations of these unfortunate Southerners
occupying precisely the same geographical spot that
they have ever occupied. Indeed, the Confiscation
Department might urge, with specious plausibility,
that large tracts of valuable land could be of no
possible use to men who were reduced to utter in-
solvency. It might be further urged that, as the
negroes are now free, and as those estates could only
be profitably cultivated by means of the system of
industry which has been broken up, their owners
would not be able to cultivate them even if they
possessed capital, instead of having been ruined and
reduced to insolvency. To expect them, therefore,
to make use of their desolated plantations would
involve the same cruel irony as to require men to
make bricks without the necessary straw. For these
considerations, the court in its mercy will pursue
the even tenor of its way, and proceed to transfer to
the North the private property of such Southerners
as may be convicted of possessing property. When
we look back to the origin and history of the
war we must confess that this is not, after all,
calculated to surprise the reflecting mind. For
what object, with what purpose, to what end, could
we suppose that war was being waged ? Nobody
capable of reflection ever imagined, we should con-
ceive, that the old Union could really be restored to
what it was before the war. There is no power in the
universe that can force amity and friendship upon
six millions of men by murdering them and desola-
ting their country. To have supposed that the South
would ever again take the North to its bosom, and
that the two estranged halves of the Union would
get on together as they had once done, would have
been the extreme of absurdity. No man in the
North capable of reasoning and reflection could have
, imagined this possible. What, then, was it that the
North was fighting for ? It is quite evident that
the North had determined that, rather than suffer
the South to become free, it would conquer the
country and treat it as a conquered country. But
there is this difference between a conquered country
like Poland and a conquered country like the South.
When a country is conquered by the foreigner it is
the practice merely to hold it in subjugation without
altering the ownership of the soil. A few of the
chiefs may be put to death or exiled and their estates
transferred to somebody else, but the great mass of
the people are left in possession of their property.
There is no pretence upon which to dispossess them
of their property. They committed no crime,
they have merely defended their country, and to re-
duce them to subjection is all that the conqueror
requires. This will satisfy him, if his new subjects
will only keep quiet and not revolt against his rule.
But in a case like that of the South the conqueror
takes a very different tone. The Federal Govern-
ment affects, however inconsistently and preposter-
ously, to treat the Confederates as rebels and traitors.
The North pretends to consider the Southerners
as guilty of high treason, and to have forfeited life
and property together. Hence we find that the
onus of making out a case of exemption is cast
upon the Southerner. The North disclaims being
bound to prove its case against the Southerner who
stands convicted of the possession of property ;
it is for him to make out a case to exempt himself
from punishment and his property from confisca-
tion. As to those unhappy, or rather happy?
Southerners who have no property at all, the North
does not seem to think it worth while to give itself
any trouble about them. They have got nothing
which the North happens to desire. The North is
humane enough, it seems, not to require their lives.
Besides, a man without property is harmless
enough ; but property is a dangerous weapon in the
hands of an enemy, and a very useful weapon if
you can only divest him of it and transfer it to your-
self. The North would not let the South go be-
cause it was unwilling to part with the profit which'
it had always made out of the South. The resto-
ration of the Union as it was was quite out of the
question. But though the Union could not be
brought back, and though the profit which had been
derived from the South could not be got back, the
soil of the South might be seized and held as the
property of the North. The Confiscation Depart-
ment seems to have been instituted for the purpose
of carrying this object into effect. It has, we are
told, already seized a large amount of property for
confiscation. We have been told throughout by
the Federals,and their partisans that the war was
a war initiated and carried on by the large land-
holders of the South, or, to use their favourite
phrase, by the slaveholding aristocracy. Was this
charge against the planters intended to form a basis
for depriving them of their estates ? Be that as it
may, there is reason to suppose that the Confiscation
Department, which has begun its labours by seizing
a large amount of property for confiscation, will not
cease from them till it has given entire satisfaction
to those who instituted the system.