The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-02-09
The oond,tion ofrb,ne, at the South

There was a time unquestionably, when the
people of the South were prepared to accept al
most any conditions the General Govern
ment might have imposed upon them. They
went into the rebellion determined to win, and
to sustain this determination they staked all
they had to stake, knowing that failurei would
subject them to the most unconditional DOW
er of the Government against which they had
lifted their hand.
They did fail, and in that failure they were
for the moment humble, and prepared to ac-
cept any terms of submission which might be
imposed upon them. Had Mr.. Lincoln lived
ana proposed, as he mtimated he might, uni
versal amnesty coupled with universal suf-
frage, there is no doubt the people Of the
South, with few exceptions, would gladly have
seized upon such terms as the means of self
preservation, and those aristocratic, imperious
individuals who were unwilling to accept par
don on such democratic conditions, would have
left the country for their countrys good. ID
But, unfortunately we think, an impression
soon gained currency in the South that the
President would stand between the conquered
and the conquerors, to shield the former
against all humiIiating demands, and to pro-
tect them on the ground of state rights against
exactions not in accordance with their notions
ofself-respect; and from the moment this mis-
chievous notion took possession of their
minds-a notion industriously encouraged by
their friends at the North-they became inn
perious, domineering and exacting, setting up
claims instead Of accepting conditions, and ex-
hibiting the most overbearing and insulting
spirit not only towards the freedmen but to-
wards those who had remained loyal during
the bloody regime of treason. sF 'tA
They now defiantly announce their own
terms, putting on the air of conquerors rather
than the conquered, and impress the truly I'M
ion men with the fact that their submission is
all the result of coercion, that it is perfectly
heartless, and that only the military power Of
the Government can render it safe in many
parts of the South for loya. men-men loyal at
heart and hating treason-to reside and trans
act business. s44 La- i5a.ll4- b. sd Sac lslud "a
In this connection, and to show some
4 thing Of the feeling at the South, we copy the
| following from an exchange as we have not
seen the report of Gen. CAN'T, to which it re
! fers:o sa-ilh zas d9"-,--H3 7 ~ r,.
"Hon. Z. w. CAN'T, once an uncompromis-
| ing rebel, but now acting as an officer of the
Freedmens Bureau, without salary, has made
| report in which he expresses the conviction
that, unless the Bureau is continued, there is
| no hope for the freedmen of Arkansas and
! Texas, and that portion of the South remote
from railroads and telegraph lines. He says
they will be starved, murdered or forced into
condition more horrible than the worst
forms of slavery, and that the wrath of the
| people of the South, exasperated by defeat,
| will be poured out upon the heads of those
who were once their slaves. In conclusion
Mr. G. says: 81 mention these convictions
sorro wfully, yet ! know they are well founded;
| the prejudices of our people give way but
| slowly, but by continuing the Bureau, what
education and thought fail to do, might be sup
piled by 'liberal-lninded people, s1eje aai1a IN
T. ''Some Of the Southern loyalists now in
Washington are calling upon Congress for the
establishment of provisional governments in
the rebel States, setting forth that they cannot
endure the present treatment which they re-
lceive, and furthermore that every loyal man
in the South win be forced to so North except
this protection be given to them. i ID sa9al