The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-08-12
European News.

| ~.scs.re--o,,-~~--
The Cunard steamship, Cuba, arrived
In New York on the 9Th, with advices
from Europe to the 3Oth ult., two days
later than those previously received.
The steamship Lafayette, from Havre
on the 9th ult., arrived at this port ear
~ this morning.
A decision Of the most remarkable
character has been given in the London
Vice Chaneellor's Court. The United
States sued for the possession OF guam
tity of cotton which Prloleau, notori-
GUS rebel agent, and blockade runner,
claimed to have prior lien upon, mas
much as he had lost twenty thousand
pounds by the rebel government. Vice
Chancellor Wood ruled that the United
States must take the cotton, but in do
ing so, were bound to respect the agree
ment entered into with regard to the
aforesaid cotton by the rebel govern
ment, to whom it originally belonged.
Prioleau was appointed receiver of the
property on his going security to the
extent of twenty thousand pounds, and
subsequently the cotton was handed
over to him by the Liverpool Dock
Board.
The Paris correspondent of the Lon
don Meas, usually very well informed,
throws out hint that Napoleon is pre-
pairing to take up the Mexican question
on his own account as soon as Maxi
milan returns to Miramar.
No advance has yet taken place in
| United States five-twenties, which were
quoted at 699 in London, on the 29th
ult.
The Times eulogising Presid't J0hnson's Policy
| from the London Times, July pol
1t must be said to the credit of Presi-
dent Johnson that, in spite of the tu-
mutt of excitable counsellors, he has
hitherto maintained his own way with
prudence and a0isdonl, and we, who
have experienced similar difficulties,
ought not to withhold our sympathy
from him in his trials, nor our approba-
ton of his success. Imagine vast ter
ritory which possessed at the same time
the worst characteristics of ireland and
the West Indies, and we may have some
, faint idea of President Johnson's task OF
government. The Southerners are like
Irishmen were, if not like what they
are, in their disatfectiOn TO the estab-
lished government and in their obsti-
nate attachment to false ideas. For
many generations to come it will be the
creed of planters and of planters chill
dren that it is their duty to live and that
of the negroes to work. To struggle
with the discomfort and opposition of
such men would of itself be hard
enough, and yet it would be light COM
pared with the troubles of the negro
question. Planters could be left to
themselves till they had found by
experience that their notions Were
mistaken. They have sense enough
to give them up when driven to it by ne
cessity, but the negroe must be tenderly
treated OF he will die. The crime Of the
unhappy black man in the Southern
States is the same as that of his brother
negro in the West Indies-that he has
no wants. He is content as long as he
has enough to eat, and as he can get
that with little effort he sees no reason
to toll. Where thecountry, like Barba-
does, is so thickly populated that he
must work to live he is industrious, but
If there is room to squat" he Is idle
The Southern States are not little
island like Barbados, and the negroe
may be as idle az he pleases. He need
not work, and he won't work because
he need not work. But the black man
is not only idle, he is also improvident;
he has been accustomed to receive his
meat in due season, and he has no more
|
a horse has Of saving hay in summer for
use in winter. AT the same time he has
no notion of starving if he can help it,
and if in the winter season he finds him.
self foodless he can scarcely be expected
to abstain from taking it where it can
be got. It is very wrong to rob those
who have been more prudent than
yourself, but people who will look truth
in the face can have little doubt about
the dangers Of society in the South in
| future,
| The difficulties of the negro question
are easily stated. The freedman lives in
the neighborhood Of men who have been
accustomed to authority over him almost
without control. He is idle and careless
living easily in the good season, and in
the bad u loafing" about, begging If he
can, robbing If he must. How should
such class be dealt with? It Is, per-
haps, too much to say that the plan
adopted by the American government is
the best possible, but 1T is a Heast worthv
| Of recommendation, and aUe uaav an.
prove it the more readily because its
principles are 6o7rooUed from, orr ann
legislation. What we did when monas-
teries were broken up and sturdy beg
gars roamed about the land, the Ameri-
can government has begun to do. The
principle of action is the same, though
there is, of course, difference in its
machinery. The Freedmen's Bureau
has been established at Washington as
sort of poor-law board. 1t has Its local
offices throughout the South, at one of
which each freed negromust beenrolled.
The freedman may be masterless, but he
is not to be homeless, and his place of
enrolment is his place of settlement,
the union from which he passes to
work, and to which he returns If unem-
ployed. The local commissioner of the |
bureau sanctions the contract between |
freedman and his employer, and it is his |
duty to see that the contract isexpressed
in writing, and that it secures definite
and fair wages to the laborer. Appren.
ticeships, in the sense of contracts In
dissoluble for definite term, are not to
be permitted, but contracts terminable
at the option of either party are encour-
aged. If the contract is faithfully OBJ
served on both sides, there is, of course,
nothing more to be done; the freedman
has obtained the position of an agricul-
tural laborer, and further interference is
unnecessary.
The future condition of the negro at |
the South depends, however, much more |
on the planters than on the government. |
III they will acquiesce In the new order
winch has come upon them, the mate