Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-02-06
The Material and Political Status Of the
South.
New ORLEANS, Jan. 10, 1866.

stt&S 4@3AG0to SHtOte OHtb american,
Naslt9Ale- You,requested line from me
on my return to the Southwest upon the
general condition of affairs, and upon the
prospects which the future seemed to open.
l shall endeayor briefly 10 Comply.
Everywhere in the interior of the country,
as well as in the towns, there are evidences
of activity, and people, who were reduced to
the greatest extremity, show a spirit and de-
termination in graphing with the situation
which is truly astonishing, and every branch
OF business or emploTmentis already crowded.
The planters, however, struggle against
thousand difficulties. The ruin of estates is
but small part. They are Perplexed and
worried by the labor question, aud until
few days it seemed as If the freedmen had
abandoned all thought of further occupation.
More recently it is said that they are con-
tractors, and on favorable terms, lit must
| be admitted that the greatest distrust pre-
| walls OF their future. The planters find it
| impossible to procure advances to work the
estates. Capital is too cautious to seek such
| adventures. Thousands of estates are in the
market for sale at half or quarter their for
mer values, or for rent, but there are few
transactions. Agents offer the most inviting
lists, but offer in vain. The capital and la
Dor which were to have come from the North
or Europe have not yet appeared, and the
O'-NGNSS ~ 4A 40 WIN l'AStS tAdC SOutuSAA
crops for another year will be very short,
and that MILL N bales of cotton will be a
very liberal estimate.
| The great activity which prevails and
which is so imposing to the eye ought not,
| however, to deceive. 1t is no augury for the
future. The wretched condition of affairs at
the end of the war occasioued almost a strug>
| gle for life among our people, and all the lit
tie savings that had been boarded up or hid
den away were brought forth to replenish
supplies. In the utter exhaustion there was
demand for everything-thus the large
trade which Immediately sprung up. The
cotton which survived the war, and which
was generally diffused over the country,
furnishes the means of keeping up this COM
merce. 1t was an act of Providence that so
much was saved in the general wreck, but
when that is gone, u collapse may reasonably
be expected, unless some great and unexpect-
! ed relief presents itself The idea generally
prevails aud men speak goOmily of the fu-
ture. Certainly there never was such a field
for enterprise as that which the South fur
nishes, but the capital is wanting. So far
for the material question.
Now as to the political. There is an intense
feeling Of disappointment and chargrin pre-
vailing, and people who few mouths ago ac-
cepted the situation and were in good faith
ShNChNOIlbS5 " pCIlUTH lIS uuJISS, express
themselves with bitterness. They perceive a
disposition in the national councils to humil-
late and degrade them. They are required
to make sacrifices from which their manhood
shrnks. Their honest professions are mis-
trusted and the magnanimity which might have
been expected from generous foe has not
been shown. This remark does not apply to
tn, President, whose noble course is univer-
sally lauded. Even those who were called
Union men in the past, and those who were
re>constructionists during the war speak with
indignation. 1t was not for this they bar
gained. They predicted generous policy
on the part of the North and are twittcd by
their associates with their over Confidence
Certainly great change has taken place in
public sentiment, and the radical party may
take credit to themselves for engendering
feelings of alienation and hostility, greater
than would have resulted from another year
of war.
Ninety-nine in the hundred of the Southern
| people were devoted to the Confederacy, glo-
rled in its achievements, doubted not an in
slant of its just cause and its eventual triumph
and sacrificed or were willing to sacrifice for
1t all they possessed or expected to possess Of
life or property. When the crash came they
were overwhelmed. The path of duty, how
ever, soon opened to them. The conqueror
was entitled to their allegiance. They would
! give it freely, openly, unreservedly, and the
fidelity which they had shown to the extinct
| government proved them to be a faithful and
true and loyalpeoplc wherever their allegiance
was given. Never in history was there a
more generous effort on the part of the con-
quered to submit themselves with propriety
and decorum. No repining, no sullenness,
no covert hostility. Their work was done
their cause had failed-hopelessly and they
acquiesced 1t was practicable to have work
ed with the existing elements, and produced
an early restoration Of good feelings and re-
turn to the better days of the republic. 1t
was the alternative left, and the best men of
the South hoped for such event. The major
ity of the North had it in their power to heal
up all the old wounds, and so to reconstruct
society as to make one homoe mass ont
OF our people. Have they acted with wisdom
and prudence, moderation and justice, or
from prejudice and passion? Let them an
swer.
For one had confidence that there was a
sentiment in the North which would become
the dominant one, and which would sustain
the generous efforts of the President in the
direction of reconciliation and reconstruction
and SO declared myself openly and publicly.
argue 1t from history and from knowledge
OF human nature, and alienated some old as.
soeiates in doing SO. 1t was the clear dictate
of interest as well as of reason 1 thought
No one desired more than did to perpetuate
the old Union upon the basis of equal rights
to all sections and the inviolabiiity of the
Constitution: felt with Mr. Calhoun, that
under the Constitution it was Government
to love, honor and serve I deplored, though
l admitted the necessity under which the
South felt herself Constrained to move. Her
fortunes were mine, and I was the last to
abandon them. gloried in them. But il
is all in the past. am again citizen of the U.