The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-05-30
THE SOUTHERN STATES.


Reported Conversation with Lieut.. &c y.
Grant-His OpAnion Of The FeaPer and
Needs OF the Southern People.
NEw York, May Is.
The Lewiston, Maine, Journal, gives re-
port of an hours conversation between its
editor and General Grant, in which, if the
report is correctly given, the Lieutenant Gen
eral appears to have spoken out more freely
than he commonly does. He is reported to
have said there were some parts Of the coun-
try where our armies had never trod, particu-
larly Texas, which needed to feel the blight
ing effects Of war to bring their people to .
realizing sense Of the enormity of their crime
and the necessity Of thorough repentance
g fnd," said he, that those parts of the
South which have not felt the war, and par
ticularly those which have been within our
lines and have therefore escaped the rebel
CONSUMPTION and taxes, are much less dispo-
sed to accept the situation in good faith than
those portions which have been literally
overrun with with ere and sword.' Refer
ring to the temper Of the Southern people,
he remarked: ssThey are much less disposed
now to bring themselves to the proper frame
of mind, than they were ons year SINCE
A year ago." said be, they we're willing
to do anything. Now they regard them.
selves as masters of the situation "Some
of the Rebel Generals he added, "are be-
having nobly, and doing all they can to in
duce the people to throw aside their old
prejudices, and to conform their course TO
the changed condition Of things. johnson
and Dick Taylor, particularly, are exercising
good influence, but, he added, Lee is
behaving badly. He is conducting himself
very differently from what had reason, from
what he said It the time of the surrender to
capable of exercising tenth part Of the IN
using it, he is setting an example Of forced
acquiesence, SO grudging and pernicious in its
effects as to be hardly realized :. The men
who were in the rebel armies,' said Grant.
"acquiesce in the result much better than
those who staid at home. The women are
particularly bitter against the Union and
Union men. "Of course he added,
q there is some bitterness of feeling among
all classes, but am satisfied it would soon
die out if their leading men had not somehow
got the idea that treason after all Was not
very bad, and that the Southern cause as
they phrase it. will yet triumph, not In war.
but in politics. In my Judgment said
Grant, the tone of certain men and certain
papers in the North, is such as to do incalcu-
| liable mischief in making the late rebels be.
rule as ever. and that if they will only stand
| by what they are pleased 20 call their rights.
they will have help from the North This,
| SCIENTIFICALLY added Grant, is only piayinR
over again the inclpient stages OF the rebel
lion." He was confident that the large ma
| jority of the Southern people would smother
their rcseniments and become good citizens,
| if those mischief makers at the North, the
Copperheads, would only let them alone.
For himself, if he had the power, the first
thing he would do, would be to seize the New
York Meas, and kindred sheets, which are
giving the South SO dangerous an idea Of their
| position and rights.
. Troops,' said Gen. Grant. must be
kept in all the principal points in the South,
| for some time to come. This will be neces-
sary to repress the turbulence of class of
the South very dangerous TO all well disposed
| persons, and also to protect the rights of the
freedmen. who are looked upon with deep
| hatred by a very large proportion of the peo-
pie"