The Black Republican., 1865-05-20
REpB0F1IEH THR SOUTH.

Gen. Lee is reported 70 nave 6sLio Fetenk
| in conversation with certain gentleI1
who called upon him, that unless the
| ernment treated the rebel leaders =
erality many of them would leave .
try, and that in any event, Il sosi
would probably be pursued by thf'.snd9
young and active men. who, the rebels
having failed, have no longer any tleW
bind them here. Accounts from varW
points in the South tend to confirm
yiew, the exodus from the principle ciW
being already very large, while some 30
cultural sections are stripped asmos
tirely bare, owing to the enorI1eusara
men into the army and the indsspn
of those who have escaped the o2
ties of the service to return to the " Z
and desolated communities where only
and suffering await them. In1hiscond
ofndairs, o new population mustbe supp
and it is understood that the EpTernI
viii at once take measures to send intt
depopulated regions colonies Of andr
GUS, frugal enterprising men, wl1ate
black. Congress, at its last sesslonan
explicit provision for thus repopulaTle
the rebellious States. First, it is prov
that the Secretary of War "may dlreo.s
issues OF provisions, clothing and fuel
he may deem needful for the Immediate
temporary shelter and supply OF destit
and suffering refugees and freedmen, h
their wives and children, under such I'd
and regulations as he may direct" d
people having TINS been temporarily n
yided for are next to be located, and il
provided that homesteads may be rented
them by commissioners in each rebelhot
State, and that they shall have PRIV
lege of subsequently purchasin:. theA
if they so desire, at the end Of II
term OF three years, during Whlt
period tbgy shall have the use and. q
joyment of the land for six per cent. OF u
value under the last Federal appraisal I
1860. The amount of land authorized to
thus rented is forty acres to each persot
As many Of the larger planters will abandd
their estates, and others will be contiscate
there will be no lack Of land tc be til
peopied, and it is obvious that WhateY
temporary arrangement there may be in q
industry of the South, the whole region Nd
desolate must in very few years be occk
pied by a population infinitely superior 4
thrift, enterprise and loyalty to that whi<
formerly exercised lordship over that vas
and fertile area.
Nor will the advantages which mustres1
l. I,a .D1a
tricts of the South be merely material 1
their character. The difficulties of politiGI
reconstruction will be diminished by tA
same process, and safeguards establisha
against future attempts to impair the i
tegrity Of the Union. Even abroad, tH
fact is well understood by intelligent ok
servers. The Northern (Belfast) Whig, ine
recent article designed to meet the argt
ments Of those journals in Great Britas
which insist that the Federal Governmea
can never hold in peace the recovered South
ern States, shows conelusively that the veri
opposite must be the fact, from the oppoi
tunity which the war has afforded for re
peopling those States with a l0Ja'popult
ton. We quote:
Even if the entire population of the Soutt
were animated by the bitterest hostility a
their Northern fcllow-citizens and to tdf
Federal Government, and transmitted thi
feeling to the next generation, the ditficu
ties conIured up IN the way of peaceful
union, on the basis of equal rights and r.
institutions, would be by no means liz
able. 1t has often been shown that ii!
direct descendants of the Americans OF til,
revolutionary period form an exceedingly
small element IN the present population q
the United States. That consists chiefly Al
emlgrants and the descendants of emieranti
from Europe, whose course has been al
rected exclusively to the States of the Nort1
ana Northwest. The moral plague of slayert
which are cursed by human ..ond
age: The South is still largely an unoccul
pied territory. Land once cultivated 81
now waste and deserted. Land which else.
where would have been reclaimed generp,
t1ons ago is still virgin forest. In Virgins.
the free population numbers only fifteen per.
sons to the square mile. In the adjoining
free states OF the Atlantic coasts, III Shen--
selves Tar less inviting to settlers, the pODu-
latlon, over an equal area is eighty-tWo
persons to the square mile. Slavery and
slavery alone has made this Cliffererc ca II
has defrauded not merely the negro of his,
plTthnght, bat the saperabundant popllla-
tlons OF europe of land of unedualles1
promise. The wrong done by it to milliohs
Of the Old World is only less than that i'll
1lcted on the bondsnen Of the New. Who
once u Is removed, and peace is restored
,I16re VIII De rush of emigrants froM
Europe and the Northern States to tn,
south. A new population viii arise, whick
not only will have no Quarrel with TN
North and Union, but will owe everything
10 them; and which, together with It's az
scendents, viii in the course of q aenelI-
~on form the great bulk of the poph-
Iatlon OF the South. In this human dcluge.
the relies OF the older society will he
submerged and lost. A Homestead act for
the South would bring to Virginia the pros
perlty OF New York, and enable Florida and
Alaoama TO count wealth and men> with
Ohlo and Illinois. To effect this END kA
VIII pc no need of confscation. in ts
Tecialmed or abandoned soil of the siaveN
states there arc farms tor millions of free
Aaen. By small grants of land to the land
lesS Wn1tes, VINO are or were the strength sof
Ine reDellon and the hope of those who
count ON future disafection and troubles. /
shey may probably be converted into peaceI
LuI and Industrious citizens, thus helping IN
10hnrn the new order or the basis OF fs
Old one, in the overthrow Of which the
nave been blind instruments.
There IS great force in these suggest,ons..
and the result, we do not doubt. win con.
1rm the wisdom Of the policy which contenI
piates the immediate introduction, under
government patronage, of a free population
INTO the vast empire from which slavery il
noW forever excluded. Such policy in4
'olves, is is true, considerable temporan1
9Npenaiture, but in the end the political and.
material advantages will far outweigh sny
present consideration of pecuniary weight