New-York daily tribune., 1865-12-23
ton. and for his own information, they possess
more than usual Importance.

Gen, SchuTZ went SOutn tnree montns atci
the surrender of Lee. He found the people in
the temper of defeat and humiliation. They
were submissive, repentant, anxious to accept
any terms. Their loyalty was more demonstrate
i've than now, for they were on good behavior.
They had not begun to count the chances OF
managing Northern COngressmen. They were
more anxious about bread than power. His
experiences will be peculiarly forcible some six
months later, when the bread is certain, power
probable, and the then experiment Of recon-
structon has become policy. He found that
no sense of the meaning Of the war had entered
into the minds of the Southern people. They
had taken the oath as a mere necessity. They
regarded the army of occupation as Invaders
enemies in peace as they had been in war;
"Loyalty in South Carolina" says Gen. Gill
more, sis not the golden fruit of conviction,
but the stern and unpromising result Of neceS-
sity." As an evidence of how the Carolinians
construe law, he says that "the ordinary
vagrancy and apprenticeship laws now In force
in some of the New-England States could be so
administered and enforced upon the blacks
in South Carolina as to keep them
in practical Slavery" Gen. Steedman,
Commander in Georgia, says the people 'are
submissive, not loyal" The only people in
Alabama who celebrated the Fourth Of July
were the freedmen. If the troops leave Mlssis-
sppi. according to Gen. Osterhaus, "the state OF
affairs would bo intolerable for all Union men"
Gen. Candy says that in Louisiana "the politi-
cal and commercial combinations against the
North arc gaining in strength every day" ;"
Nothing certainly has occurred on our part,
since July, to lead TO a regeneration OF the
Southern heart. They have found senctlica-
ton without works, and We cannot expect a
lively exercise of unnecessary faith. We do
not attach so much importance to the stories OF
personal insecurity on the part OF Northern
men, as wo have 10 evidences that the fears ol
Gen. Schurl have been justified The South
crncrs are not anxious TO invite return oi
Sherman and his Huns by any system OF
Yankee parricdes. That Is the poorest
way Of winning. They have shown no national
feeling. The utter absence Of any American
sentiment horrifes Gen. Schun. The Negro
has been reduced to condition OF practical
Slavery. In no Southern State has he been
permitted to rise to bis feet. Laying aside the
question of suffrage, we see no indication ont
part of the whites of any sympathy. Not even
the Presidential liberty Of scll-labor is left tc
the freedmen. That is to say. they can only
labor in such q way that The former master
! may have bone and sinew, flesh and blood ant
build mp their broken fortunes ont of the lives ant
comfort of a race which made them and thcii
ancestors rich, and proud, and powerful.
! We come back 10 ole fact, that grows upoT
us every day, and receives new strength IRON
every indication Of Southern action and seni
ment The mistake has been our failure e
impose suffrage on the South in the hour Of on
triumph. Then was the time TO have sc,ileG
the Slavery question forever. Is Is absurd 4
say that such action would have been Southorr
humiliation. The defeat Of Lee meant every
thing to the Southern people. II was defeat il
word. II meant the utter ruin Of their politica
hopes, the destruction ol their labor system
the confiscaiion Of their personal fortunes, th
peril of their lives. They had drunk the onl
to the dregs. This was their understanding o
our victory. Slavery was dead, with ever.
element Of slayeholding and slaYe-labor
Nothing remained but to bury it, W
took it up. We breathed into its col
body We chafed it, limbs aud poure
stimulants into its mouth, and nurture
into life its bad, bloody spirit. 1t stand
before US now, not with the strength c
1850, but filed with an angry spirit--bravc
rcsolu;c yndictiye. The Constitutions
Amendment is paper The State ordinance
are highwaymens receipts bonds given to tn
: Alabama, payable six months after eternity
The purpose of Slavery is not dead. Ger
Schurz assures us that many wealthy citizen
were of the opinion that Northern men migl
90 South and live safely. Marx! 1t is only a
G opinion. There is doubt about it. Perhap
yea, probably nay. This was the doubt {
July, when the whole South was under arme
men. l. it a doubt nowl
Far be it from us to say one word that nigh
postpone the happy hour Of national reunion
No one longs more earnestly for the time whe
the Senators from thirIy-six States may answe
TO their names. Those who accuse us Of an
attempt to needlessy postpone this time do Il
a cruel injustice. We see no such indication il
tho report of Gen. Schurz The lesson of hi
instructive and eycntlul mission is thus trul
al