The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PM3LIO JOURNALS.

TIMES.—It cannot be expected that the great civil
war in America should be without its sequel of po-
litical strife. For some years the steps of American
statesmen will be on the still heated ashes thrown
up by that great eruption. Disputes will be as loud,
party platforms will be as uncompromising, personal
animosities will be almost as bitter, as in the days
before the war. But there will be this difference,
that real danger will have passed away. Three
generations of statesmen have always had before
them the spectre of their country's disruption. There
is hardly a leading man, from the time of Washing-
ton to the present day, who has not contemplated
a successful secession as a possible and even a pro-
bable event, and has not for the most part been of
the opinion that when the time should come no re-
sistance should be made to an inevitable calamity.
One class of politicians has spoken of the dissolution
of the Union in terms of solemn warning ; another
has used it as a threat to carry out its own purposes.
These things now belong to the past. There are
many and difficult questions to be settled by the
American people. They have a devastated country
to restore ; they are burdened with a heavy debt ;
their financial system is far from sound ; four mil-
lions of men of an inferior race are within their
borders, and the social and political relations of
these to the community must ever be a troublesome
question. But the prospect of a disruption is no
longer before them. One side can no longer threaten
it, the other no longer fears it. American parties
may retain their combative spirit ; the leading poli-
ticians may seek to excite their respective followers ;
Congress and the State Legislatures may resound,
as of yore, with the noise of intemperate disputa-
tions ; but the terrible interest of the political cam-
paigns which preceded 1860 will no longer remain.
The questions of slavery, of State independence,
and of Nortern preponderance, were questions
involving the very • existence of the Union. It
was this that roused the passions of the dispu-
tants, and kept American politics always at fever
heat. If senators and representatives quarrel now,
it will rather be from constitutional irritability or
a remembrance of the old traditions than for any
such legitimate cause. For these reasons we are
not inclined to believe that the political campaign
which is now in prospect will absorb the attention
of a people who have been so highly excited for five
years past. Our Philadelphia correspondent gives
an interesting account of the state of parties in the
Union, and speaks of the opposition which Presi-
dent Johnson will encounter in carrying out his
policy of conciliation. The President, after a
period of vacilation or of caution, has at length
fully declared his intentions. He,is a Southern
man, by birth a north Carolinian, by settlement a
Tennesseean, and he has thrown his protection
over the conquered population of the late Confede-
racy. He will preserve the States to their present
inhabitants, and forbid any plans of extirpation and
confiscation. The scheme of wholesale vengeance,
which received the sanction of Congress during the
heat of the war, is now virtually abandoned. It is
announced that no property will be taken until the
owner is duly convicted of treason, and as no pro-
secutions are instituted this amounts to a repeal
of the whole act. Pardons are granted to all who
apply for them. Civil government being gradually
restored, -the generals commanding the corps have
orders to abstain from interfering with meetings and
elections, and the corps themselves are rapidly
diminishing in numbers. The negro troops are
being withdrawn, those belonging to the Northern
States being the first to move. The President, in
answer to a deputation of Southerners, declares
against centralisation and the interference with
State rights. He will not bring the leading Seces-
sionists to trial, and is suspected of a design to
pardon even Mr. Davis himself. He has, in fact,
pardoned some of the most noted civil and mili-
tary chiefs of the Confederacy. He will not inter-
fere with the Churches, and orders that all minis-
ters and congregations shall receive back their
edifices whether or not they swear and pray in his
favour. In short, Mr. Johnson is, in the Ameri-
can political language of the day, a strong Con-
servative, in opposition to the Radical tendencies
of the Republican party. That this party, or at
least the extreme portion of it, is much incensed
against him is evident to any one who reads the
American papers. The old Abolitionists think that
nothing is done unless the negro receives equal
rights with the white man, and there are other
politicians who go even beyond these, and thirst for
vengeance on the fallen Confederates. President
Johnson's accession was hailed with joy by those
who thought that Lincoln was too mild and good-
natured for the work he had to do. To them the
President is now a backslider of the worst kind. It
is not only that he will not punish ; he actually
intrusts rebels with power, and puts into their
hands the means of repeating their rebellion. So a
great demonstration is to le made in Congress.
Both Houses are strongly Republican, by means of
the elections that took place during the war. But
still there is a Democratic party, and if he Southern
representatives are admitted the Democrats may
join them and again become powerful. Hence the
Republicans see with extreme disgust the rapid
organisation of civil government in the South, and
will be glad of any excuse for keeping out the
Southern representatives. The question is con-
nected, also, with that of negro suffrage. If the
negroes vote all through the South, they may be
expected, it is thought, to side against their late
masters, and return a large number of Republican
members. If, on the other hand, they are denied
this right, the whole strength of the South will be
given to the Democratic party, which then is not
unlikely to govern the Republic for years to come.
There is, therefore, the prospect of an active session.
But its opposition is not likely to influence the Pre-
sident. He has by his office powers equal to those
of a despotic Sovereign, and the will to use them.
As events advance at present in America the recon-
struction of the Civil Government in the South is
likely to be almost complete before the meeting of
Congress in December ' • the army will have been
too much diminished to carry out any scheme of
military occupation, and we have little doubt that
the Southerners will have shown by their conduct
that they are ready to accept in good faith the
restoration of Federal authority. It cannot be con-
cealed, also, that the President's policy is popular
with the mass of the people. There is always a
tendency to side with power, and when power
shows itself lehient and generous it is sure to carry
with it the sympathies of the multitude. The cur-
rent of popular feeling is in favour of amity with
the South, which has fought well, and now frankly
accepts defeat. We may venture to assume, there-
fore, that within the next few months the Southern
States will again send their representatives to Con-
gress, and freely form whatever party combinations
they may think proper. The question of negro
suffrage is the only one which is likely to be seriously
contested. On the one side is the dislike of the
Southern whites, and, indeed, of all Americans, to
admitting black people to equality with themselves ;
on the other, there is the obvious difficulty of re-
fusing the suffrage to men on no other ground than
the colour of their skin or their African ancestry.
We need not speculate on the solution of these
difficulties, but, whatever the decision, the people
of the United States are too well satisfied with the
result of the war and the Presidential policy to
encourage any class of men in an acrimonious party
warfare.

POST.—Prince Couza, the Hospodar of the Danu-
bian Principalities, left Bucharest this summer to
recruit his health at German watering-places, and
indulge in the repose required after working hard
at a new organisation of a country to which had
been for years past applied a strange mixture of
Oriental, Christian, despotic, and, latterly, consti-
tutional laws and customs. The reigning Prince
had settled all differences with the Ottoman Go-
vernment, his coup d'etat was approved of at Con-
stantinople ; his liberal, and even demccratic, re-
forms appeared to be working well, and the rest of
Europe had almost forgotten all about the rich corn
lands on the banks of the Danube. About the

middle of last August, to the surprise of most peo-
ple, the telegraph informed us of a disturbance at
Bucharest to the cry of " Down with the Prince and
Government !" and an attack on the Hotel de Ville.
But the movement was put down by the militarywithout much difficulty, and tranquillity was re-
stored after some 300 persons had been arrested.
Prince Alexander John proceeded home, neverthe-
less, without delay, and, on arriving at Bucharest,
his first acts were to grant a general and full am-
nesty to all offenders, and to compliment the army
on their fidelity. The cause of this movement has
been accounted for in a variety of ways. The new
organisation of the country had offended many per-
sonal interests, amongst which were the new Rural
Laws, which have taken much power out of the
hands of the Boyards. Then there was the Greek
Church question ; and, above all, the agitation of a
number of dreamy, disappointed, ambitious, politi-
cians, who had formerly made government impos-
sible. This discontented material got together and
made a foolish attempt to seize on,
iauthority in the
Th
absence of the reigning Prince. e Government
of Prince Alexander John has now addressed a
circular despatch to its diplomatic agents abroad, in
which the Danubian Minister of Foreign Affairs
accounts for the late attack on the sovereign autho-
rity, and takes occasion to record the efforts nlade
by the ruling Prince for improving the condition of
the Roumain people. Foreign Cabinets are reminded
of the change which has taken place in the character
of the Moldo-Wallachian Chambers, now composed
of popular representatives of the people, rather than
of the once self-holding Boyards. It has resulted
that the more aristocratic landholders have become
ellellaiegt a the eli6thag Government, and have

used their influence, it is asserted, at home and
abroad to thwart the reforms of Prince Couza, and
render their application as difficult as possible.
Here, then, is one cause of discontent in a class of
much influence. The Rural Laws are intended to
elevate the cultivators of the soil, and break up that
forced labour system which the landholders formerly
practised as in Russia. These laws naturally make
many enemies ; and the circular referred to says the
Boyards have not failed to treat discontent amongst
the humbler Moldo-Wallachians, in order even to
throw land out of cultivation, and thus make the
Government unpopular. The Government, however,
has in some measure met these intrigues ; and the
success of free cultivation of the soil, accom-
panied by new roads, is looked forward to with.
confidence. The protecting Powers are reminded
of the general policy of the reiging Prince. He has
promulgated a very liberal constitution, which is
essentially democratic in its general character. It
is desired to elevate the masses out of their half-
Oriental barbarity ; to give them education and in-
struction in manufactures; in fact, as the circular
says, bestows on the Roumains the advantages of
modern civilisation. We are reminded that new
rural and commercial laws are already in practice ;
that there are new civil and penal codes, whilst
financial institutions are successfully at work. With
such statements the Prince and his Government ap-
peal for support to the protecting Powers who at
the Paris Congress agreed to give the Roumains a
fair trial at constitutional rule, under the sanction of
the Ottoman Government. It is from Francs rather
than from England, Russia, or Austria, that Prince
Couza has received encouragement in his difficult
task. From England, nevertheless, the Principali-
ties have received, if not official, at least material
support. Much capital and considerable British in-
terests are engaged in the Danish Principalities.
English money is now employed in making roads
and constructing bridges and organising a cheap
navigation. Those engaged in trade and commerce
are prophetic of a great increase of exports from
Galatz and Ibraila. The left bank of the Danube is
to be made richer with stores of wheat, tallow, wool,
timber, and other products of these rich lands when
roads are completed, and the Roumain people are
elevated to a higher social scale ; when, in fact, the
five millions of Wallachia and Moldavia appreciate
the civilisation and progress which Prince Couza's
Government institutes, points out, and encourages.
Whatever may be the defects of the existing rule, it
is quite evident that the Roumains are on the high
road to nationality, independence, and progress.
Bucharest is no longer the centre of Russian, Aus-
trian, and Turkish intrigue ; no invading army is
robbing the peasantry under the polite term of " oc-
cupation." Liberal Europe can only applaud what
has been done, and wish the Roumains success for
the future.