The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-11-10
Trustv shy Statements fro

nv to argue thab 1A0 why WY W. ASS'oAo SA-S
Union is through the humiliation of the reb-
eli armies. they will be found of great value.
IT is very well known, that for the past two I
or three years, it has been very difficult to OBJ
tain any reliable information about the actual
views, wishes, and feelings of the great mass
of the people in the Southern Atlantic and
Gulf States. OfLouisiana and, perhaps, Tex
as we know something; Of the Others almost z
nothing. The Copperheads, it is true, have
long pretended to be in possession of all that
we want; but the greater part Of what they
have told us is, of course, to be set down as
humbug, while for the rest, 1t has come either
from the chiefs of the rebellion or their ad-
herents. What we have obtained through
other channels has seldom come through the
most reliable sources. The information, there
fore, which now give you will no doubt be
of value, because, If anything Of the sort from
Southern authority can be, it Is thoroughly
reliable.
The gentleman from whom have derived
it is distinguished lawyer Of high social
standings who has recently escaped from an,
extreme southern State and who, during an
extensive practice of twenty-five years, has
gained both thorough knowledge of all
classes of the people there, and large ac-
quaintance in States bordering upon it. At
the outbreak Of the rebellion, this gentleman
and others resisted it with vigor. After it
had fairly got underweigh he refused to coun-
tenance it in any manner whatever. BE had
several times been arrested for refusing to
bear arms against the flag, and finding at
last, that although he had long passed the
fighting age, there was no alternative but
shouldering musket or long, solitary con-
finement in which he would be permitted to
see neither his family nor his friends, he re-
solved to fly, and after many difficulties made
his escape. This is enough, think, to con-
vince you that his statements are not to be
taken lightly, and will now give you, as
briefly as possible, some of his more impor-
tant opinions bearing upon the future duties
of the Republic. e9H sfs .E,9a sss.ssf
LIST. There is in the cotton States consid-
cradle number Of resolute, intelligent men,
who have been earnest Unionists from the
start, and who have never given the slightest
sanction to the rebellion on any of its grounds.
But they are under pressure which, without
aid from their old government, they cannot
throw off, In fact, the whole land is under
complete centralized military despotism. And
in this matter of control, he does but confirm
what Boyce, of South Carolina, has lately so
plainly told Of JEFF. Davis. .ogsA
I'd. The only way in which the south can ev-
er be brought back, is through the utter annihi-
lation of the main rebel armies. At the break
ing out of the rebellion, there were three par
ties at the south; first the secessionists who
with invincible determination were bent on f.
nal separation at all hazards, and who although
in minority, by their greater preparedness,
boldness, and vigor, early succeeded in beat
ing down the others; second the Union men
who in some localities had anominal majority !;
and third, large part, perhaps finally ma
jority OF the whole, who simply drifted with
the current. In his own state when the conven-
ton was called to determine the question OF
secession, the issue was SC doubtful that 1t was
determined at last by only four or i've votes,
and had the Union party not been divided on
ameasure Of policy, that state, in all probable
ity would not have repudiated the flag. But
unfortunately it was, portion of the Union
lists thought it better to cooperate with the
movement for the nonce that they might con-
troll it, and finally restore the state. In vain
were they shown that such policy was sui
cidal, that they would inevitably be swamped,
and that their only safety was in out and out
resistance. They persisted. The consequence
was what had been predicted they were out
generated and overwhelmed. After that large
numbers of them, and among others some who
at the outset had most ably denounced the
movement, went with the tide on the plea
that it was useless to struggle any longer. .
Since then the State has been in the hands
of the central despotism, and so long as that
despotism holds its military power, its restora-
ton to the Union seems impossible. But let
that military power be once thoroughly, hope
lessly destroyed and the reconstruction OF the
Union is as certain as that the sun will rise
tomorrow. And this is not an inference
from any narrow views. + The unflnching
Union men from the start, were not all i'm
migrants from the free states, but some
of them, amongst the best, were Southern
born and bred; even Shareholders. With
thousands of others not nominaily Union
men, the hope of the final triumph of the Con-
federacy hangs by slender thread. Every
decided Union success alarms them. Repeat
cdiy has he heard such men say, whenever
the old flag has gained decided advantage,
"We have gone up; am afraid we shall have
to give in" There are others who do little else
than mourn over their losses, and do not love
the terrible conscriptions and the despotism
ofDavis. There are others still, and their num-
Der is and always has been large, who are gov
erned solely by their own immediate interests
-secessionists to-day, and Unionists to-mor-
row, according as "the battle goes" Finally,
there are those, and among them shareholders
who say the issue has been tried long enough,
there have been loss aid suffering enough, we
are willingto re-enter the Union even with the
loss of our slaves. Thus if the main armies OF
Davis should be destroyed and bis despotism
so removed, the great mass Of those who, at
the outset went with the tide will almost as
readliy now Dack again, leaving the slave
faction proper in a hopeless minority, and al
though it might attempt for time to carry
on guerrilla contest, it would not be long be-
fore the people would take the matter into
their own hands and crush the guerrilla out.
8. 1t should be mentioned in conclusion that
eof the great obstacles to the restoration
of the Union has been the profound ignorance
in which the great mass of the people of the
South have been kept respecting the doings
and designs of the administration and the
legislation of Congress. Every avenue to
anything like the true position of the govern
meut has been effectually closed, while the
newspapers have been filed with lies. As
for himself he was almost as ignorant OF what
he ought to have known as if he had lived at