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

, THE UNITED STATES.

(Fro2n 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, andinthe 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 suchworking 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 ; rend
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
smith. A Confiscation Department has been
established in Richmond, under .Judge Underwood,
and on the 10th inst. it began its duties by seizing
the Trol,2gar to C;enerni .T
R. Anderson. Notices have been servrd upon the
itsnants of various other properties to cease paying
runt to their landlords, and it is stated that many of
the wealthy citizens of Richmond thus find all their
means c3uddenly taken from them. This measure is
so unexretod that it has sartled 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 uo 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-
e:elves." 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 to more than one. "Repudiation"
is not a pleasant word to any American who has a
sincere regard for the credit of his country. But as

1 is b2c,lming more and more

r

of a certain section. Mr
John::;on has ex.pr.-n..-31y said that " the debt must be
p:-tid 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 Statas 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
mereantile classes are entirely with the President in