The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-05-11

THURSDAY, NAY IL.
A. IRISH view Of ReeenssSucslen.
The Northern (Belfast) Wing Of April
18th says:
The public writer's and speakers Who
during the last three years and half
hsys occupied themselves In demonstra-
ting that the North could never conquer
the South ara now busied with different
and not altogether consistent problem
They establish. 70 their own momentary
satisfaction, that the Soath, Of whose III
innate 'ssubjugation" they scarcely ven
ture to hint doubt, can never be held
and administered n part Of . free re-
public. It will be, thsy urge, the Po-
land. or Hungary-on the continent they
are SO unkind - to say the Ireland of
America. If the authors of these dole
full presagss had ever been right 10 any
single point arising out Of the rebellion
il they had not blundcred from FIRST to
last upon the military problem-we should
entertain greater confidence than it is
possible for us now to feel in their politi-
cal Vaccinations. On every element Of
the great theme they have gone wildly
astray. They understood neither the ma
terial strength nor the moral character Of
the Northern and Southern populations.
nor the social organizations which are di-
vided from each other by Mason d Dix
on's line. This Misunderstanding
total indifference to the facts of American
history and biognphy-vitiates their po-
litical representations rs completely rs it
has reversed their military prophecies.
Their fundamental error lies in suppo.
sing that the Federal Government will
have to deal in peace, mainly, if not ex-
clusively, with the people whom they have
been combating in war. This is not the
case. Even il We look solely to the pres
emit population Of the South, we must dis.
tiDguish between the armies of the Con-
federacy and the bulk Of its inhabitants
The great slaveowners of the South-the
ten or twelve thousand men for whose in.
terests and at whose instigstion the wal
began-will beimpoverished and discred.
tied Their ascendancy will be forever
overthrown. The class Of ''poor Whites
BY whose docile saffrages, aided by TIE
three-ffths vote, they maintained tbeiI
political influence, has been thinned BY
the war; and those of them whom disease
and the sword have spared have beer
taught something as to the guidance which
they SO blindly followed. The elements
of dissatisfaction have been, to . very
great degree, burned out by the war
The class which enthusiastically stron
ger than it ever was before, and proper
tionally far more numerous-never haC
any quarrel with the free States, and il
not now, SO far as can be judged, ll-affec
ted to the Union.
But even if the entire population of th.
South were animated by the bitterest hos
tility to their Northern fellow citizens and
to the Federal Government, and trans.
mitted this feeling to the next generation
the difficulties conjured up in the way o.
peaceful reunion, on the basis of equa
rights and free institutions, would be BY
no means iusuperable. 1t has often beer
shown that the direct descendants OF the
Americans of the revolutionary period
form an exceedingly small element 10 the
present population of the United States
That consists chiefly of emigrants and the
descendants of emigrants, from Europe
whose course has been directed exclusive
ly to the States of the North aud North
west. The moral plague of slavery has
kept free industry outside the regionl
which are cursed by human bondage.
The South is still largely an unoccupied
territory. Land once cultivated is nov
waste and deserted Land which else
where would have been reclaimed genera
tons ago is still virgin forest. In Vir-
ginis, the free population numbers only
fifteen persons to the square mile. La
the adjoining free States of the Atlantic
coasts, in themselves, far less inviting to
settlers, the population, over an equal
area, Is eighty two persons to the square
mile. Slavery, and slavery alone, has
made this difference. It has defrauded
not merely the negro Of his birthright,
but the superabundant populations of Eu-
rope Of land OF unequalled promise.
The wrong done by it to millions of the
Old World lie only less than that inflicted
on the bondmen Of the New. When once
it is removed, and peace is restored,
there will be a rush of emigrants from
Europe and the Northern States to the
South. A new population will arise,
which not only will have no quarrel with
the North and Union, but will owe every.
thing to them, and which, together with
its descendants, will in the course Of /,
generation form the great bulk of the pop-
ulation of the South. In this human
deluge the relics of the older society will
be submerged and lost. A Homestesd
act for the South would bring to Virginia
the prosperity of New York. and enable
Florida and Alabama to count wealth and
men with Ohio and Illinois. To effect
this end there will be no need Of con6sca-
ton. In the unreclaimed or abandoned
soil of the slave States, there are farms
for millions of freemen. BY small grants
of land TO the landless whites. Who are
or were, the strength Of the rebellion and
the hope Of those who count on future
dlsaiiection and troubles, they may prob
ably be converted tn nae cafrl 81 :l