Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-03-27
Correspondence Cincinnati Commercially j
A Southern Journey Summed Up.


CINCINNATI, March l6, 1868.
For two months I have been journey
ing in the unrecOnstrucbed States. /
have SWING around the circle through
louisville, Mem phis, Jackson (AIississ-
ippi), New Orleans, Mobile, MOntgom-
cry, Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah,
Charleston, RALEIGH and Richmond,
and have written my impressions from
day to day, nothing eXtenuating or set
ting aught down in malice. 1 think I
have gathered my facts with a cautious
pen. In previous letters I described
many scene and events that carried
their own lessons. sketched six of
the Southern constitutional cOnVen-
tiOns5 and in reading over those sketch
es in print. with matured experience,
/ find no word to blot. In this letter
which shall have the double merit of
being the last and the su0rtest9, L sim
ply desire to express in as few words as
posi- bic the convictions that have re-
suited from a varied contact with
Southern sentiment, as it exists to-day.
OF the industrial condition of the
Southern States I have said every thing
there is to say. That section win do
all that can be hoped for if it raises
enough this year to feed itself. The
new system Of labor is seeking its lev
els. Agriculture there is in a transition
state. The plantation is going out, and
the farm must come in. Ten years
a hundred acres instead Of scratching
over a thousand on borrowed money
and unpaid-fOr provisions.
II any Republican discovers his sill
verplating getting thin, let him take a
two months Southern journey. A
thoughtful and Observant man viii ind
himself newly eleCtrOtyped in the par
ty faith that swept away secession and
slavery, and which, if true to itself, viii
expand and ennOble by statemanshiD 4
what it SO steadfastly helped to save by
the sword. .
at the indiscretions of Congress, but, all
the while, the Southern people and
We're treating my moderate
Repu blicanism with tOBics. Six /
months down there, 7 fear, would have /
made me a Radical.
The Southerners canceive that they did /
nothing particularly wrong in the part /
they took in The drama of the rebellion. /
They feel no repentance, and no regret, |
unless it be for failure. This may be /
human nature well, il is human ma
ture not to let them govern the country
again. They have a fond hope that, /
through Andrew johnson and the DEM I
Ocratic party (bOth of whom they secret
ly despise), They VIII be hOated into SUI
preme power, as of old. 1t is strange
that they can 50 delude themselves, but I
such is The fact. 'fThe North comes, "
The n Orth has come with q vengeance.
1t grows by emigration 1000 a day
How much does the South grow? In
what manner are the new c0lOred cili-
zens to be disfranchised and degraded
when Davis, Lee, TOOmbs, Breckenridge
and the rest resume control OF the Gov
eminent? The Southern whip used to
have secession for a snapper. What
viii the new thong be ? Is was former
" the fashion to let rebels build hos
lile earthWOrls right under the inoffen-
5ive noses Of national forts. Is the
same considerate policy assured for the
future?
These queries may seem childish. But
[ am speaking Of the childish Southern
weakness to comprehend that their
may not again wave the old
IMPERIAL wand over the toiling and pa
lent masses. They think their star is
'nly in eclipse. We must be resolute
md teach them that it has set forever.
That lesson well learned, they Will be-
rim TO be desirable citizens.
Ehe freedmen have surprised me by
heir native shrewdness, and good !
ense, their cautious, and submissive / ,
and the keen, intelligent in
crest they take in their new political
lriveleges, If they were one-tenth as
'indictive ana cOntemptOus in their /
manner toward the whites as the whites
re toward them war of races would
ave eISuPQ long ago. from close OBJ x
ervation / believe them to be humber
D department than before emancipa-
ion. AS a class they are anxious to
7ork and get on in the world They
re more industrious than their late c
lasters. And though the word has S
cen abused, they are as loyal to the {
oyernment as it is possible for men of !.
leir capacities to be. They would re-
oond to a national summons to arms "
ith alacrity and ethusasm. BY their S
otes in the various conventions they r
ave shown Lhat theE feel no haLraa