The Portland daily press., 1867-03-19
Conditions ei Bcbcl submission.


The Charleston Is. C.) Mercury, in the fol-
lowing distinct statement, only gives form to
an expression very common in Northern as
well as Southern Democratic journals:
There is not adoubt that the Southern States,
in ending the war by their submission to the
authority of the United States, did so distinct
ly with the expectation that the Government
of the United States would carry out faithful
ly the principles which it had declared in JUS
tification of the war 5 ut
This language implies, if it means anything,
that the Southern States would not have end
ed the war at the time they did, if at all, un-
less they had entertained distinct expecta-
ton that certain conditions were to be OBJ
served by the conquering power, and that a
certain line Of policy was to be followed in
relation to the submitting States.
A sillier and falser humbug was never put
forth. The South fought to the '.last ditch"
They held out as long as they could. When
Sherman marched from Atlanta to the sea al
most without opposition, he demonstrated,
what had before simply been asserted, that
the rebellion had become a mere shell. Its
substance and resisting as well as aggressive
power was gone. 1t was played out-gone
up, to use the language Of the street. So true
is this that when Lee surrendered and turned
over an army miserably depleted in numbers,
the people of the North, with almost one
opinion, thought he had played trick upon
Grant, and while he had turned over mere
remnant of his great army of Virginia, that
he had actually sent the larger and better por-
tion out of the State to unite with Johnston,
who would make a stand and give battle In
an unexpected quarter. A few days after
wards Johnston himself surrendered to Sher-
man, but the same miserable display OF thin
ned ranks was again seen, and there were
not wanting thousands aud tens of thousands
of intelligent people in the North who verify
believed that the great bulk of the rebel ar
my had been clandestinely spirited across the
Mississippi, to make stand and defy the ad-
vancing Union forces in Texas, ready if beat
en- to go out of the back door and find a lodg-
ment on Mexican soil, leaving behind a mere
remnant to cover their stratagem.
A brief period, however, was sufficient to
disabuse the public mind, when it became ev-
ident that the whole rebel army was defunct,
and that for months they had been keeping
up big show without any corresponding
power behind it; that they had been doing
large business on very limited capital.
In relation to any distinct expectations, they
had none. They were whipped and they knew
1t; they were prepared to accept almost any
terms the victorious party might exact. They
had, through their commanders, simply stipu-
lated that, so long as they observed their pa
role, and behaved themselves, they should not
be punished by United States authority for
past military acts. This was all they distinct
ly expected or understood The leaders were
constantly inquiring what the terms were 10
be. Delegation after delegation visited the
White House TO ascertain, il possible, what
,bev sbouId do to be saved and brought back
IN the Union fold, and not till the devil of
ambition entered into Andrew johnson, and
he began to dream of new lease of official
life, or of becoming immortal by combining the
Southern people with their Northern allies, he
being the representative of the combina-
tiOn, did the southern leaders have the slight
est idea that they could gain anything by fall
ing back on their dignity, talking about State
rights, and virtually laying down the condi-
tions of their own return to the council halls
of the nation. They found in the Executive
a yielding spirit and they took advantage of
the discovery, and stiiiened up their own
backs as matter of course. But as a con-
temporary well remarks, no matter what their
expectations or whether they had any, they
would have made no difference with their
surrendering. "Tbey would have surrendered
son any terms, that promised them existence,
"as theif lives were at the mercy CT the men
"who had conquered them. This pretense that
"the Northern people have violated any agree
"ment or pledge made to the rebels is merely
designed to strengthen Southern obstinacy
and furnish some excuse for not complying
with the reconstruction plans which Congress
insists upon.n