The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-07 00:00:00

AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, Sept. 22.
New England, just at the present moment, is not
a very pleasant place for a Conservative American
of the Middle States to visit. I mean unpleasant
politically, for socially the people are quite as kind
and courteous as can be found in any other section
of America. But the great commercial prosperity of
the New England States, the immense wealth
acquired during the war, the successful conquest of
the South, due mainly to the pertinacity of New
England Radicals, who stuck to the contest un-
flinchingly when New York and Pennsylvania
would have given it up, and the pushing, driving
spirit of all the people, unite just now in making,
them as cross •grained and untractable a set of poli-
ticians as ever ruled or ruined a country. The
leaders of this section will have their own way, and
that you may depend is a very hard and unmerciful
way for the South. Among us Americans Boston is
known as the " hub" of the universe," and the say-
ings and doings at the " hub" are the keynotes for
every Radical meeting in the land. It would not
be telling the entire truth to say that Boston is
trying to rule the country just now merely upon
the great political questions involved in the recon-
struction of the South, for although her voice upon
those points is the exponent of New England sen-
timent, yet the more conciliatory feeling of other
parts of the country overrules it, and, in spite of
the thunder hurled at him from the East, Andrew
Johnson is firmly kept to his mild course of recon-
struction by the greater power of the Middle
States. New England's efforts to change the poli-
tical course of the country are far less successful
than her efforts to accomplish other ends. Boston
rules the trade of the country, its finances, its lite-
rature, the education of its people. I say Boston,
for no Yankee ever thinks of any other place when
perfection is mentioned, and the six small, though
powerful, States surrounding her always bow
submissive to the will of Boston. Her
manufacturers keep the high tariff because it gives
them huge profits ; they prevent Congress from
constructing a ship canal between the Mississippi
and the Lakes because grain might go to Europe in
too great quantities through the cheap channels it
would open, and alter that peculiar state of trade
which at present leaves the New England cotton and
woollen mills without competitors; they have broken
the Canadian Reciprocity Treaty because it inter-
fered with their sale of manufactured goods.
Thrqugh the Atlantic Monthly Magazine, and the
writings of the professional poets and orators and
story-tellers who congregate in Boston, and from
there send column after column of New England
ideas .taeyery popular journal in America, a Yankee
stamp is impressed upon all our literature; and you
may depend upon it the slant thus given is of that
peculiar kind which inculcates the disfranchisement
of white men in the South and the absolute equality
of the negro. Such sentiments fill our school books,
and are taught universally in the schools throughout
all parts of the United States, for nine-tenths of the
books and teachers come from New England. If in
direct political influence upon the President and his
policy the harsh and unforgiving spirit of Boston
and its neighbourhood are overborne by other sec-
tions of the country, she has her way in everything
else; and if by her skill and economy she brings the
greatest possible prosperity to all her people, she can
well afford to leave mere politics to the President.
Yet she does not leave politics to him, but tries
hard to force him to her way of thinking, and brings
such strong influences to bear that the adoption of
a Radical policy towards -she South, and more espe-
cially of the negro suffrage, is not so near an impos-
sibility as many would imagine. The fanatical
ideas of the New England Radicals are all due to a
set of sentimentalists, whose reasoning, whether it
be upon religion or politics or morals, will al-
ways go to extremes. Yet the people, without
thinking for themselves, seize these ideas and
endeavour to carry them out. The great influence of
business and other connexions gives New England
Radicalism a wide spread through the country. Her
manufacturers control every other manufacturer in
America; her newspapers and writings are spread all
over the country; her capital is invested in internal
improvements, even in the remotest States ; her
people emigrate everywhere, and all these influences
acting and re-acting are enormous. They have the
greatest effect in Western States, which are so gene-
rally settled by people of New England, and in all
those States we find strong Radical parties. New
England thus controls the majority of both branches
of Congress, and were that body convened to-day
and put to the test negro suffrage would he enacted,
and the President's Southern policy changed to one
far more harsh. Wendell Phillips is, perhaps, the
most extreme man in this section, for he will not
consent to modify any of his views to secure a pre-
sent success or to elect a ticket. He even goes so far
as to advocate the repudiation of the Federal debt.
Though Phillips is, no doubt, the most able man,
Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson, tho two Massa-
chusetts senators, are the political leaders of New
England; both quick, active men, and, though
narrow-minded, extremely popular in all sections
where Radicals hold sway. Both are now demand-
ing of the President a change of his Southern
policy, and threaten him with impeachment if he
is refractory, and their threats are echoed by
all their constituents. Sumner th.reatens by
speeches made in Boston ; but Wilson goes to the
President's own audience chamber and demands
negro suffrage and the political disfranchisement of
every Southern State. Wilson is willing to have a
general amnesty issued for all the Confederates, if
by that he can purchase the privilege of voting for
negroes. He boldly tells the President that if he
does not submit, the Radical majority in Congress
will compel him, and not only exact _negro suffrage,
but prevent every member of Congress elected from
the Southern States from taking their seats. Sum-
ner wishes every Southern State remanded for 30
years into the condition of a political province with-
out the right of choosing its own civil officers, and
after that time promises the States admission to the
Union, if they are sufficiently penitent, and will
advocate New England ideas. These views are
received by the people with great applause, and
every indication that they will command a hearty
support. The persistency of the New Englanders
in worrying and teasing until they get what they
want is well known, and for months past they have
kept a constant stream of fanatical advocates con-
tinually going into the White House and buzzing
in the President's ears.
Were President Johnson alone in the Govern-
ment, and had he the supreme power, he would
very quickly order things his own way and send the
Radicals about their business, but he is afraid of
Congress. It can overrule him, and, besides this,
although a majority of the people now support him,
he has no security that the blandishments of the
Radicals will not at some time cause the Conserva-
tive Republicans who acted with them during the
war to desert him and place him in a minority. It
can plainly be seen that his hands are tied, and
though he is firm in his views on the reconstruction
question, and in everything he orders at the South
adopts the Conservative policy, he will do nothing
that may exasperate the Conservative Republicans.
He will not hastily turn out Radicals who are in his
Cabinet, for Republicans of all classes trusted them
during the war, and, perhaps, do so still, and might
avenge an injury against them. Ile will not dismiss I
Generals who are unemployed, for they
are pets in
es
some quarters, and, of course, have influence. He
carefully refrains from any public expr sion of
opinion against negro suffrage; and though he will
do nothing in furtherance of Radical views, he does
very little against them. He gradually feels his
way, and you may depend upon it will not show his
band in opposition to the Radical until the South is
strong enough to unite with the Democrats of the
North, and carry him through in spite of all oppo-
sition. In this way the New Englanders, although
they do not directly control political affairs, have
enough influence to retard the progress of recon-
struction; and though the restoration of the South
in its own way and
mately come, the by its own people
i
efforts of New England will make
far more remote than it otherwise would be.
Scarcely any new political developments have
been made during the past week, but the Democracy

seem to be gradually losing heart except in the State
of New York. There they anticipate success in the
November election, for the Republican State Con-

vention, although it has met and nominated soldiers
for the principal offices, cannot overcome the great
popularity of General Slocum, who leads the Demo-
cratic ticket. The platform adopted by the New
York Republicans is the stereotyped one—opposing
slavery, giving President Johnson a cold endorse-
ment of part of his policy, and passing by the rest
in silence ; advocating a slow reconstruction, to find
out whether the Southern people are sincere in their
love for the Union ; and saying nothing upon negro
suffrage. The Democracy ought to be successful in
New York, for they have stolen a march upon their

enemies, and nominated the very candidate the Re-
publicans would have taken ; but in other States
there is such great apathy in the contest that the
party leaders fear renewed Democratic defeats. But
very little interest is taken in the Pennsylvania and
other elections. The interest becomes less every day,
and as both parties in the middle States support John -
son there is really nothing for them to fight about. In
Wisconsin the Radicals, who were converted in their
recent State Convention, have called a Convention
on their own account to endorse the Radical policy
and fight the President at all points. It meets at
Jamesville on Sept. 27, and three parties may after-
wards be expected to contest the field in Wisconsin.
The campaign will not be very lively, however, for
politica are not brisk in any quarter.
During the autumn the Fenian question, in Ame-
rica as well as in England, will attract great atten-
tion. It has already been made a subject of diplo-
matic communication between Sir Frederic Bruce
and Secretary Seward, and the latter has been asked
for an explanation of the various Fenian movements
in all parts of the country. This has led to an in-
vestigation of the subject, and the leading Fenians
' say their organisation in America numbers 221,000
men, who are pledged to move whenever required to
assist in the liberation of Ireland. It is also said
that about 50 Irish officers from the Army of the
Potomac have gone to Ireland, and are drilling the
people, and others intend to follow. A tax of $2O
per man has been levied in the United States, and
is nearly paid up, and will produce $4,500,000. It
is also said that 8 per cent. bonds of the " Irish
Republic" are in course of manufacture, and will
soon be put upon the market to raise funds for the
cause, but who is to pay the interest or what security
there is for the principal, is not stated. Yet, not-
withstanding the excitement these people raise—
for by taking advantage of the great love
America has for abusing England, the Fenians
have enlisted many newspapers in their cause—
Americans generally do not regard the move-
ment in this country as of any account. The
Fenians are principally of the lower orders, illite-
rate, and quite poor. The tax of $2O must have
imposed a difficult task upon the great majority of
them, for their purses are never heavy. They are
all Irishmen (no Americans being in the order), and
having all immigrated from Ireland, although they
love the old country well enough to make a great
lament about her real or fancied wrongs, they do not
love her so well as to return on any crusade, the suc-
cess of which in the best case will be very question-
able. They are too poor to fit out any expedition
to aid Ireland, or to buy any great quantity of mili-
tary stores to send there. Unless clandestinely,
they cannot go themselves or send aid, for the Ame-
rican Government would not permit it. To send any
large force of men or large quantity of stores clan-
destinely to Ireland will be out of the question, for
if they escape the vigilance of American officers they
will not escape English cruisers. The Fenians in
America are too great blusterers to mean anything
very serious. They are a standing joke among our
people ; and being permitted to rant as they please
they do nothing that is more serious. I think I
can safely say that although there are over 200,000
Fenians in America, and they make a great show of
raising money, and are loud in their expressions of
sympathy with their Irish brethren, they would give
very little material aid either of men or means to
any revolutionary movement in Ireland. The diffi-
culties in the way are too great, and, were there no
difficulties, the character of the movement in Ame-
rica is too fickle, and the men engaged in it too
weak, to accomplish anything.

The indications thicken that the President con-
templates a general amnesty, for of late he has par-
doned many Confederates, who, though not of very
high rank, were quite obnoxious to the North. He
has positively refused to prevent Wade Hampton's
holding a seat in the South Carolina Reconstruction
Convention, although many demands have been
made that he should make an example in Hamp-
ton's case, and thus disfranchise all delegates to
Southern Conventions who have not yet been par-
doned. It is said that he will release Alexander H.
Stephens at an early day, and allow him to return
to his home in Georgia, on parole. John Mitchell,
C. C. Clay, and Stephen R. Mallory, and Judge
Campbell, the former at Fortress Monroe, and the
latter at Fort Pulaski on the Savannah river, will
soon be paroled. The President now has 15,000
applications before him, and says he will act upon
them at once, giving to their consideration all his
time not occupied with the affairs of the Govern-
ment.

General Lee will be formally inaugurated Presi-
dent of Washington College, Virginia, in October
next, and the ceremonies will be attended by many
distinguished men from all parts of the country.
General Joseph E. Johnston, having failed to get
the presidency of the Richmond and Danville rail-
road in Virginia, is now seeking a place on one of
the Alabama roads.

It is presumed that the evidence for the Govern-
ment against Captain Wirtz, of the Andersonville
prison, will close to-morrow (September 23), and
that on September 25 the testimony for the defence
will begin. There is no doubt that Wirtz will be
found guilty and sentenced to be shot or hanged.
The feeling of the country is very strong against
him. He may not live, however, until the execu-
tion of the sentence, for he is now very low, and
when in court has to lie on a sofa and receive medi-
cal attendance.

The work of reconstruction is satisfactorily pro-
gressing, and although the Radicals are quite restive
at the gradual marches the South is making towards
its own government, there has been no interference
with the matter in any State. The contrary is evi-
dent in many cases, for several orders have been
issued by military officers, at the President's request,
forbidding military interference with civil affairs.
The Generals in the South now have a tight rein
kept upon them, and are not allowed to do as they
please. In North Carolina delegates to the State
Convention were chosen on Sept. 21, and before the
election an order was issued from the military head-
quarters forbidding soldiers from visiting the polls
or interfering in any way. The delegates chosen,
as far as known, are all Southern Rights men, but
no doubt will reconstruct the State without any
conflict with the Government. They meet in con-
vention at Raleigh on Oct. 2. In Alabama and
South Carolina the conventions are following the
path marked out in Mississippi. In both States
slavery is abolished, and the ordinance.of secession
repealed ; and in South Carolina a law has been
passed providing that Presidential electors and State
officers shall be chosen directly by the people.
Heretofore they were elected by the State Legisla-
ture. In the Alabama convention a petition has
been signed requesting the President to proclaim a
general amnesty, and to pardon Jefferson Davis.
The South Carolina convention has also petitioned
for Mr. Davis's pardon, and similar memorials will
be forwarded from every Southern convention, as
an indication of the unanimous wish of the Southern

people.
In Alabama, a militia system similar to that in
Mississippi has been organised, and the military
officers have been instructed to keep their hands of.
The Alabama election for Governor and other State
officers will be held on Nov. 6. There is but one
restriction upon voting—that the voter shall have
taken the President's amnesty oath, and in all the
States thus far the refusal to permit negro suffrage
has been unanimous. If President Johnson clings
to his original intention to allow the Southern States
to decide the question of black voting for them-
selves, the Radicals will be completely thwarted,
for nowhere in the South has it a ghost of a
chance. In Louisiana Governor 'Wells announced
that he has received his commission as provisional

Governor, and will soon call a Reconstruction Con-

vention. He hopes to have the State thoroughly
reorganised before the meeting of Congress in De-

cember.

There are still some few difficulties in the re-orga-
nisation of the South, but judicious management

will no doubt prevent any bad consequences arising
from them. A few days ago a party of soldiers
were sent out from a camp near Gaylesville,
Alabama, to capture some cattle that had strayed.
For some reason as yet unknown the detachment
got into conflict with a sheriff, who summoned his
posse. In the melee a soldier was killed, when all
the citizens but the sheriff were captured and taken
prisoners to Gaylesville. The sheriff ran away and
has not since been found. the affair has led to a
consultation between the Governor and military
Commander of the State, and efforts will be made

to prevent such troubles in future. There have
been some conflicts between the military and
civil authorities near Mobile, and a force of cavalry
has been sent to strengthen the soldiers. Delicate
management throughout the South will be neces-
sary to prevent continual bickerings. In Missis-
sippi Governor Sharkey's militia refuse to be mus-
tered into service under any other than the State
flag, and if the United States flag be placed in the
ranks they will refuse to serve under it. No at-
tempt has yet been made, however, to thrust the
Federal flag upon them, but it will ultimately be
done, for the Government will certainly not per-
mit so gross an insult to itself as having its own
militia refuse to follow its standard. In Arkansas
the people are very loth to give up their slaves, and
the authorities have great trouble in establishing
emancipation and enforcing the rule of the Freed-
men's Bureau requiring the planters to make con-
tracts with their former slaves. In one case a
planter at Camden, Arkansas, was sent a circular de-
fining his duties towards his negroes, and he at
once sent it back to the agent of the Freedmen's
Bureau by one of his slaves with the following re-
ply

The bearer of this circular I consider my property, hay-
ing seen no enactment of the Federal Congress or of our
State Government authorising any one to demand him of
me. When lam perfectly satisfied that the slaves are eman-
cipated by such authority as is regarded as Constitutional
by our higher court of law and equity, then, and not until
then, will I make any contract with slaves, or regard them
in any other light than the property of those who purchased
or raised them ; and I am therefore the owner of the boy
who bears this note.

The consequence of this free expression of opinion
was that the planter was seized, taken before the
Freedmen's Bureau, and fined po.
The confiscation question being very important
any expression of opinion upon it by those in autho-
rity or any new fact developed is of interest. A letter
has recently been addressed to Governor Sharkey, in
Mississippi, about the confiscation of lands there for
State taxes, to which he replied as follows :
I do not think any lands have been confiscated during
the rebellion, or, if they have, I should not regard any such
act as changing title. It may be that some lands have been
sold for State taxes, but in such cases ample opportunity, I
think, will be given for redemption.

The rule adopted of showing more favour to the
negroes in the Southern States than to the whites
does not appear to hold good in Texas, for The mili-
tary authorities require all negroes to obtain cer-
tificates from their employers showing that they
earn an honest living. If they cannot do this, they
are captured and forced to work for the different
city corporations in order to pay for what they eat.
The prejudice against the negro is gradually telling
in the army, for the Government has found that the
troubles between the white and black soldiers can
only be prevented by dismissing the negroes. Not
only organisations enlisted in the North, but those
enlisted in the South are being broken up, and the
men dismissed, and already over 30,000 negro sol-
diers have been quietly mustered out of service.
The negro statistics of the army are interesting.
Since the beginning of the war 180,000 have been
enlisted, of whom over 50,000 died during the war
of sickness or wounds. Fully 60,000 of those re-
maining have been and are being mustered out, and
barely 70,000 will remain in service on Nov. 1.
The Missouri Test Oath still causes greattrouble,
and the first legal blow has been struck at it by
Judge King, of one of the circuit courts of the State,
who, in an able opinion just delivered, declares it
unconstitutional. But two efforts have been made
to enforce the oath-taking, and they were at places
where the military authority was strong, and in
both cases were against Roman Catholic priests.
Father Cronin, at Hannibal, and Father Millen, at
Jefferson City, the State capital, were arrested for
preaching without having taken the oath, brought
before justices of the peace in the respective coun-
ties, and held to bail to appear in court. Their con-
gregations followed them en masse to the justices'
offices, each man anxious to sign the bail bonds, and
since their release on bail both priests have held re-
ligious services. The best counsel in the State have
been procured to defend them, and money flowslike
water to pay for everything necessary to strike down
the oath. Excepting in these two cases, nothing
has been done to enforce the hated test, and the
Governor still says he will be powerless toresist the
clergy until the Legislature meets and grants him
additional authority.
The Government is gradually concluding treaties
of peace with all the Indian tribes in the south-west,
and there will be no further disturbance in that
quarter. On the western and the north-western
borders, however, the troops have their hands full,
and fight bloody battles with the savages almost
every day, though they are gradually pushing the
Indians to the wall. This was their last and greatest
effort against the whites, and as the wheel of for-
tune slowly turns against them they fight the more
desperately. They are doomed, however, and
though the conflict will be a long one, and the ap-
proaching winter will help them by paralysing mili-
tary operations, they must ultimately be defeated.
On Sept. 20 the monument to Thomas Wildey,
the founder of Odd Fellowship in the United States,
was dedicated in Baltimore. The Grand Lodge of
the United States in session there lontained dele-
gates from the Southern States, and everything was
done that could through the medium of Odd Fellow-
ship harmonise the two sections of the Union. The
Freemasons contemplate a general convention for
similar purposes, and one no doubt will he held at
an early day. Charity should always aid in restor-
ing the blessings of peace.
The delegation of English capitalists arrived at
Niagara Falls to-day, and to-night will have a ban-
quet given them at the International hotel. The
Falls will be illuminated. by calcium lights, and, no
doubt, will present a magnificent appearance. To-
morrow (Sept. 23) the delegation will go to Buffalo,
I
New York, the western terminus of the Erie Canal,
and the New York Central Railroad.

Jeremiah Townsend, who was arrested in Liver-
pool for absconding with $lOO,OOO of the money of
the Townsend Savings-bank at New Haven, Con-
necticut, was placed on trial at New Haven on the
19th of September. The proceedings were brief,
for he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to seven
years' solitary confinement with hard labour in the
State prison.
The trial of Captain Anderson, of the emigrant
shipVillafranca, at New York, for the bad treatment
of his passengers, developes some horrid brutalities.
The testimony shows Anderson to have been an
unfeeling and heartless man, to whom distress and
starvation were excellent sport. The provisions
given to the passengers were scanty and intolerably
bad, and they had not enough water given them to
quench their thirst, while 11 cattle on board had as
much as they could drink. The details of the testi-
mony are shocking. The women and children im-
plored him for food and drink, but he cursed them,
and said he cared nothing for their sufferings, and
threatened to throw them overboard if they con-
tinued their complaints. It is altogether a terrible
story of brutality, and Anderson certainly deserves
punishment.
President Juarez, of the Mexican Liberals, in
order to strengthen his sinking cause, has written a
letter to a friend from El Paso, on the Rio Grande,
in which he says :
" Our enemies will probably announce the dissolution of
the Mexican Government, but you and our friends should
not credit such an imposition. I shall not leave the Mexi-
can territory. I shall fulfil the duty of preserving the exist-
ence of the only popular Power established by the will of
my fellow citizens, and I do not despair of the success of our
cause when I see the Mexicans everywhere resisting the