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

It has, therefore, become evident that the Govern-
, ment must do something. They have incurred the
responsibility by the abrupt and enforced liberation
of the slaves, and by the wilful destruction of
Southern produce, and the severity of their confisca-
tion clauses. The $20,000 exception clause has
completely arrested enterprise in the South, and the
establishment of the Confiscation Department at
Richmond has given a form to men's fears which no
assurance of official justice and moderation can alter.
No one attempts to deny the melancholy condition
of the negro at present, and indeed the accounts are
so unanimous that it would be impossible to do so.
It is little more than a mockery of sympathy and
humanity to talk about giving the franchise to the
negro while he is perishing of want and sickness. A
series of regulations has just been issued on the
subject, in which it is ordained that regular con-
tracts shall be necessary between master and ser-
‘
vant, employer and employed, and the Government
farms will give employment to as many negroes as
possible. A monthly report is to be henceforth
published on these Government farms ; but however
successful they may prove they can only support a
very small portion of the whole body of the negroea,
and what is to become of the remainder is now
a question more pressing than the restoration of the
Union, or any other political problem.

The Washington Government has work enough
before it ; while the condition of the finances is
sufficient to puzzle the most indefatigable anti inge-
nious of financiers. The high price of the common
commodities of life is a natural consequence of
waging a gigantic war ; but the most alarming part
of the history is, that while in the North large sums
have to be paid for simple necessaries, in some parts
of the South the necessaries are not to be had.
Famine and pestilence threaten the afflicted dis-
tricts, and, without doubt, it is the duty of the
Administration to take immediate steps to provide
against them. Unhappily, the policy to be pur-
sued, and disputes of rival factions, occupy much
more of the attention of the PRESIDENT and his
Cabinet than the pressing questions of life and death
in the Southern States. So far from endeavouring
to restore tranquillity, to reassure the minds of the
people, and to encourage the revival of trade
and the import of food, the Federal Government
has done all in its power to keep up the uncer-
tainty and anxiety which is doing so much mis-
chief. While no one knows whose property is
secure, or how much he may really call his own,
he is not likely to expend his capital or to under-
take new and costly works. Every great question
remains unsettled until the meeting of Congress,
which is expected very shortly to take place ; but
how far wise and moderate men will approve this

extreme measure remains to be seen. Anything like
a wholesale measure of confiscation would bring
ruin upon so many families in the already impo-
verished Southern States that the consequences
would be such as no one could contemplate un-
moved. We must hope that President JOHNSON

will judge more mercifully and more wisely than to

persist in a course which will produce such alarming
results.

It is very much to be doubted whether great occa-
sions of public festivity do not give as much pain as
pleasure to the sensitive feelings of the Corporation
of London. Whatever be the object in question,
or the event which it is intended to celebrate, there
is always some drawback to the rejoicing or the
satisfaction of the good citizens of London. " B
//'y a pas de rose sans epines," says the Frenchman,
and the English version of the proverb must cer-
tainly have been studied on the eastern side of
Temple-bar ; for the first business of the Cor-
poration after any ceremonial or celebration
is to find out the blunders and proclaim
them to the world at large. The mem-
bers do not belong to the band of nameless
martyrs who suffer in silence ; they like the world
at large to know the wrongs of the Common
Council of London. The information is sometimes
very necessary, for the innocent public often be-
lieves everything to have gone off well and all parties
to be satisfied when the collective wisdom of the
corporation sees graye cause for displeasure and

of a hope that the best results may ensue by the
" common treatment of the rights, duties, and in-
terests which are the same in all the provinces."
There is reason to believe that the adoption of such
a course will form a " firm tie of union between all
the peoples of the Empire." If the statesmen of
Austria follow the wise course that is here indicated,
the result will no doubt be most satisfactory.
It may certainly be affirmed that in many respects
this speech at the close of the session of the Reichs-
rath has been a very successful one, and has adverted
to labours that have been carried on with assiduity
conducive to the general interests of the country,
and important as testifying to the progress of the
community in commercial enterprise and extended
trade. The only plan in the affair, if there be one,
is the allusion to the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein,
but as that knotty point is not likely to be speedily
or satisfactorily settled, it was impossible to make
mention of it in the list of successes at home or
abroad. The motion, of which notice was
given, was yesterday brought forward in
the Federal Diet and referred to the Com-
mittee on Holstein affairs without discussion.
The introduction of this new proposal into
the matter will, no doubt, tend greatly to complicate
the affair. The demands here made are reasonable
enough, although it is not likely that Herr VON
BISMARCK will accede to them in any respect, or
with any modifications. The incorporation of
Schleswig with the German Confederation is about
the last thing to suit the purposes of Prussian policy,
and, in fact, will be so inimical to them that its
mention alone will occasion the refusal of the whole
of the requests made. It was not to be expected
that under the circumstances the Federal Diet
would much longer remain quiescent after the many
affronts it had received.

The aspect which the negro question has assumed
in America is becoming more and more unsatisfac-
tory. The rapid diminution of the number of

blacks has become so remarkable that men are
seriously speculating whether the great social and
political problem is not in a fair way to settle itself
by the extinction of the ill-used and ill-fated race.
In New Orleans, and its vicinity, the negroes are
dying off so fast that the local journals have been
discussing the chances of extinction. In the
Southern cities the registries show the extent of the
terrible mortality among them, but in the woods
and wilds they perish unknown and unnumbered.
The sudden removal of the protection, as well as
the restraints of slavery in a time of dearth and
scarcity, has produced most disastrous results. The
negro has always been stigmatised for his laziness,
but now, if he is willing to work, he has not the
opportunity. All outlay is stopped by the severity
of the official restrictions, and the seizure of property
which has already begun further paralyses the
energies of the Southern States. If the freedman
is inclined to stay and work for his former master,
who can scarcely find food for himself and his
household, he is glad enough to be relieved from the
charge of keeping him. He wanders about in search
of food and work until he ends his miserable life in
the woods of Carolina, or in some of the Southern
cities.