The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-03 00:00:00

taken in connection with the attitude assumed b:

the Southern population, may furnish us with the
means of judging of the policy which the conquered
people probably mean to pursue. Governor Perry,
as the nominee of the Government at 'Washington,
cannot, although a Southerner, be fairly pointed to
as the representative of his countrymen ; but there
is every reason to believe that in the speech to which
we refer, and which was delivered a few days pre-
vious to his appointment, he expressed the feelings
of a large portion of the Southern population.
Speaking of the war, he said no one regretted more
than himself the secession of the States in the first

instance or felt more bitterly the degradation and
humiliation of now being compelled to re-enter the
Union. It has always been, even amongst the Con-
federates, a moot point whether, notwithstanding
the known hostility of Mr. Lincoln to slavery,
secession from the Union was necessary to secure
the protection of their rights, and it is one which, in
the necessity of things, can never be solved. What
a Republican Government would have done if the
Democrats had yielded peaceful submission to its
authority no one can tell, and it is now idle to
attempt to conjecture. But there can be no doubt
that it cost the South a severe pang to separate
itself from a Republic of which it formed no incon-
siderable part, and which, with much apparent
justice, boasted itself to be the most powerful and
the most prosperous on the face of the globe. Now
there is great reason to think that, notwithstanding
the history of the past four years, the South is not
insensible of the advantages which would accrue
from accepting with resignation the lot which is
forced upon it, and, by bowing to the irresistible
logic of facts, enter with some appearance of wil-
lingness into the partnership which it is impotent to
dissolve. However humiliating and degrading it
may be to re-enter the Union, there are many in
the South who, as Governor Perry expressed it,
" feel that they will be more prosperous and happy
in the Union than out of it," and who are conse-
quently content to co-operate with the Government
at Washington. Up to the present the conquered
people havemanifested that spirit of passive acquies-
cence which might naturally have been looked for in a
nation deprived of the power of even making the
show of resistance ; but when it is 'recollected that
the majority were of opinion that even this passive
acquiescence could never be extorted from the
Southern people, the probabilities of their once
more putting their shoulders to the wheel with
their hated fellow-countrymen in the North can
scarcely be regarded as so remote as they have been
hitherto considered. Mr. Johnson, though hardly
entitled to the confidence of the Southern people,
on the grounds advanced by Governor Perry—
namely, that he was originally a Democrat and slave-
owner, and voted against Mr. Lincoln on the occa-
sion of his first election, is probably inclined to
make large concessions in order to hasten the accom-
plishment of "the work of reconstruction. The re-
establishment of the several State constitutions has
s been undertaken, and the late " rebels" are cordially
invited to assist in the restoration of the local legis-

latures. In Richmond some elections have taken
place, and the paroled soldiers of General Lee have
exercised their suffrages as citizens to some purpose
by returning representatives whose hostility to the
Government has earned for them the name of Seces-
sionists. It is of course, no longer a question of
secession ; but if constitutional usages are to be re-
stored in the United States, there is a wide field
for the evolutions of a well-organised oppOsition.
The South has been conquered, but it is still an
open question how it is henceforth to be ruled.
The combat between Federals and Confederates
and Democrats is about to be recommenced. Under
those circumstances it is impossible to avoid feeling
that the Southern people are exercising a sound
discretion in accepting the consequences of the
military success of their late opponents, and once
more undertaking the duties of loyal citizens to
the established Government. In many respects
the South is much better placed than such nations
as the Polish or•the Hungarian, which have endea-
voured in vain• to free themselves from an oppres-
sive yoke. The Government in the United States
is constantly changing, and although in the mino-
rity at present, the Democrats may once more
secure the ascendant. What may be the future of
the South it is impossible to say, but it could never
be such as to bear even the faintest resemblance to
that of Poland or Hungary: Nor is it impossible,
or even improbable, that public opinion may change
in America in respect to the expediency of retaining
the Northern and Southern -§tates in the same
Confederation ; and, although unsuccessful in its
recent attempt to establish its independence, the
South may at no distant period obtain, as the result
of an amicable arrangement, that separate political
existence to which thousands of human lives have
been sacrificed in vain., In any event, however, the
people of the Southern States do well to accept their
present lot with resignation, and are wise in endea-
vouring, by such constitutionalmeans as are afforded
to them, to secure respect and consideration at the
hands of their former foes.