The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-25 00:00:00

(Prom the Times Correspondent)

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 11.
Notwithstanding the warm weather and the con-
sequent dulness of all pursuits the political cauldron
throughout the United States has begun bubbling.
In Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana elections take
place about October 15. In all these States the
Republicans have declared their policy, and before
three weeks have elapsed the Democrats will have
met and laid down their creed. In all these States
the Republicans have adopted a
.platform which
avoids the only vital question of the day—negro
suffrage—and expresses a decided opinion only upon
points that were decided by the successful ending of
the war. There is not any doubt that in the middle
tier of States the majority of the Republicans are
opposed to negro suffrage, and so firm are they in
that belief that the Radicals have to a certain extent
modified their platform, and now advocate a limited
suffrage, depending upon the intelligence and pro-
perty qualifications of the negro. This, however,
has had no effect upon New England. Her orators
and press still advocate the extremest liberty of the
ballot, and will be content with nothing less. The
Democrats, while they have no trouble in express-
ing the most marked opinions against negro suffrage,
anticipate serious difficulty in deciding other im-
portant principles. They do not know whether to
endorse President Johnson or not, for Democrats
differ greatly in their opinion of his reconstruction
policy. Many are willing to support Johnson ;
others refuse to do so until he dismisses Seward and
Stanton ; others refuse until he liberates Mr. Davis
and pardons General Lee, withdraws the military
garrison from the South, and stops all proceedings
in confiscation. It is most probable that the ques-
tion of endorsing President Johnson will be avoided
in the Democratic Conventions, just as the suffrage
question was in the Republican ones. There still
runs through the Democratic party a vein of the
bitterest hostility to the Government, a relic of the
war that time alone can eradicate. This shows it-
self on all occasions.
The Democrats, however, will have very easy
times compared with the Republicans. So bitter is
the hostility between the factions of that party that
many anticipate it will not hold together after the
meeting of Congress. The radicals are industriously
preparing for a grand onslaught upon the President
and his reconstruction policy. They declare war
with no wish for compromise. It is probable that
Johnson will meet the attack firmly, and prove his
appreciation of his power by turning out all the
Radicals who join in this attack and enjoy com-
fortable Government offices. If he only has nerve
enough and fights hard enough, the entire Demo-
cratic party will support him in the contest. They
dislike the Administration, but hate the Radicals
still more bitterly. Besides there is a general idea
abroad that Johnson means well, and wishes to
treat the South moderately and return speedily to
civil rule, and that all the harsh measures of the
Administration have been instigated by subordi-
nates, who take advantage of the President's well-
known weakness to accomplish their wishes.
Schuyler Colfax, who was the Speaker of the last
House of Representatives, may be regarded as a
representative Republican. Ile recently made a
tour through the Western territories, and on July
26 delivered an important speech at Virginia city,
Nevada. But he said not a.word on the subject of
negro suffrage. He wished Jefferson Davis hanged,
and nominated General Grant as the people's
candidate for the next Presidency, but was too
far sighted to commit himself just yet to either
Republican faction on the negro question. Mr.
Colfax is ready for a decision either way, and Re-
publican journals in all quarters that have already
expressed their opinions on the subject consider it
very strange that Mr. Colfax, a recognised Repub-
lican leader, should follow the masses instead of
directing them.

The negro is thus the burden of all the American
news and the theme of all American politics. The
race of course think themselves of great importance,
and put on airs accordingly. In the South there
are great fears of a servileinsurrection, and, although
to public document or report hints such a thing,
every private letter from that section is filled with
the most dismal forebodings. The Freedmen's
Bureau would have us believe that if there is any
trouble brewing in the South it is caused by the

oppression of the whites. The whites fear an in-
currection, and blame it on the evil th;mghts in-
stilled into the negroes by the soldiers and
Northern emissaries. It is scarcely possible, how-
ever, for a conflict to occur until the military are
withdrawn, and the policy of the Government
has been settled to maintain garrisons throughout
the South for some time to come. In Mississippi
General Thomas has placed garrisons in every
county of the State, and the same course is being
pursued in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.
It cannot be denied that the Freedmen's Bureau has
done much good for the blacks. Along the Missis-
sippi their agents have alleviated much of the misery
among the vast columns of helpless and destitute
negroes who have assembled along the river banks,
and it is conceded that they are succeeding admira-
bly in persuading them to labour for their old mas-

tors for wages, and in procuring them good pay. In
Nev Orleans an extensive system of negro schools
is in operation. There are 230 teachers, and 15,000
children are taught in the daytime, and 5,000 adults
at night. A military tax of one cent in $lO is levied
on all real estate to defray the expenses of these
schools.

Negro troubles still continue, but happily the
budget for this week is not near so bloody as it has
been for a long time past. The exodus of negroes
from Kentucky continues, and it is greatly stimu-
lated by the result of the election, the majority of
Congressmen elected, and votes polled, being, in
spite of the military, against the Government and
opposed to the abolition of slavery. The blacks still
cross the Ohio River by thousands, little knowing
whether they can live or starve on the northern
bank. They flee from an unknown evil and see
nothing before them. An official report that has just
been made states that 28,818 Kentucky negroes
entered the army, and by the provisions of the law
that liberated their families from slavery 100,854
blacks were freed from servitude. As many more
have run away ; and by the time the votes of the
electors are counted and the majority by which Ken-
tucky has decreed perpetual slavery is determined
there will not be a score of negroes in any county
to make slaves of. The hegira from Kentucky has
prompted a similar one from the lower counties of
Maryland and Virginia. Every negro goes .to
Washington, and all the vessels that sail up the Po-
tomac are loaded with them. The mania for run-
ning away from homes and masters is spreading
fast, and is one of the strange characteristics of this
remarkable people. A cause for it may be found in
the fact that in those parts of the South where the
military is not stationed slavery is maintained in its
escape ,
w form, and the slaves run aay to
cruel

The constant intermeddling of the milita
rities sometimes takes strange phases. In autho-
one
or Southern States special orders have been give:
to all clergymen directing them to affix the follow_
ing declaration to the marriage rites of negroes :-._

" in accordance with the ordinance of God, and by
authority of the United States, ! pronounce you to
be husband and wife."

If the" authority of the United States" will tie
the knot More firmly, this, of course, is very salu-
tary ; but I doubt it very much. A few days since
ih people of NeWbern were terribly alarmed by
nuge posters placed in conspicuous places all over
the city with these mysterious characters " R. C. B."
Here was a plot, and after many councils among
military officers, and the issue of innumerable
orders, it was decided that they could mean nothing
less than " Rise, coloured brethren," and guards
were sent round the city to tear them down.
When nearly all, Were destroyed, a quack medicine
vendor, of whose name the posters.bore the initials,
ppeared and protested against the outrage. The
..ilitary were\destroying his advertisements.
General Sigel, whose rather tame career in the
Federal army is well known, has become the edito-
rial manager of the Weckenstbe prindipal German
newspaper of Baltimore. It is Radical in the most
intense degree, and in a late impression states that