The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-08 00:00:00

OP THE WAR.

In the development of the popular spirit in the South
since the close of the war two well-marked periods can
be distinguished. The first commences with the sudden
collapse of the Confederacy and the dispersion of its
armies, and the second with the first proclamation in-
dicating the " reconstruction policy" of the Govern-
ment. Of the first period, I can state the characteristic
features only from the accounts I received partly from
Unionists who were then living in the South, and partly
from persons that had participated in the rebellion.
When the news of Lee's and Johnston's surrender burst
upon the Southern country the general consternation
was extreme. People held their breath, indulging in
the wildest apprehensions as to what now was to come.
Men who had occupied positions under the Confederate
Government, or were otherwise compromised in the
rebellion, run before the Federal columns as they ad-
vanced and spread out to occupy the country, from vil-
lage to village, from plantation to plantation, hardly
knowing whether they wanted to escape or not. Others
remained at their homes, yielding themselves up to their
fate. Prominent Unionists told me that persons who
for four years had scorned to recognise them on the
street, approached them with smiling faces and both hands
extended. Men of standing in the political world ex-
pressed serious doubts as to whether the rebel States
would ever again occupy their position as States in the
Union or be governed as conquered provinces. The
public mind was so despondent that if re-admission at
some future time, under whatever condition, had been
promised, it would then have been looked upon as a favor.
The most uncompromising rebels prepared for leaving
the country. The masses remained in a state of fearful
expectancy.

"RETURNING LOYALTY."

It is a well-known fact that in the States South of
Tennessee and North Carolina the number of white
Unionists who during the war actively aided the Govern-
ment, or at least openly professed their attachment to the
cause of the Union, was very small. In none of those
States were they strong enough to exercise any decisive in-
fluence upon the action of the people, not even in Louisi-
ana, unless vigorously supported by the power of the
general Government. But the whitepeople at large being,
under certain conditions, charged with taking the preli-
minaries of "reconstruction" into their hands, the succe as
of the experiment depends upon the spirit and attitude
of those who either attached themselves to the Secession
cause from the beginning, or entertaining originally op-
posite views, at least followed its fortunes from the time
that their States had declared their separation from the
Union.

The first Southern men of this class with whom I came
into contact immediately after my arrival in South Caro-
lina expressed their sentiments almost literally in the
following language:—" We acknowledge ourselves beaten,
and we are ready to submit to the results of the war. Tho
war has practically decided that no State shall secede and
that the slaves are emancipated. We cannot be expected
at once to give up our principles and convictions of right,
but we accept facts as they are, and desire to be reinstated
as soon as possible in the enjoy ment and exercise of our
political rights." This declaration was repeated to me
hundreds of times in every State I visited, with some
variations of language, according to the different ways of
thinking, or the frankness or reserve of the different
speakers..