New-York tribune., 1905-02-04

convinced that any trade whatever with the
Confederates strengthened them, and sherman
agreed with him. Secretary Chase ana Halleck.
however, differed with them. and the policy Of
the government at Washington seemed TO De 10
get cotton for tents and clothing 1t was I'M
possible to regulate this trade once allowed. and
the army was full of officers who profited by 1t
and-a.ere not overscrupulous as to the charac-
te- of the goods which they let go across the
line in return
We are unable to follow DR.. Rhodes at length
IN the discussion of conditions North ana SOUTH
His chapters on this phase of the war. however
contributions of great value to our unoer-
standing of the life which went on behind the
firing lines. The state of agriculture and trade
in the South, the civil administration Oh the
Confederate government and the domestic con-
dition of the people are often forgotten amid the
clash of arms But here they receive their due
attention This comparison of the actual opera
tion OF the Federal and Confederate governments
upon their people is too Illuminating to escape
quotation:
had degenerated into military despotism. In
private letter from Richmond. September J. lS62:
Alexander H. Stephens wrote: THE North to-day
presents spectacle Of free people having gone
TO war to make treemen OF slaves, while all they
have Yet attained is to make slaves of thenselves
Here" he declared in a public speech at Mil
gers and peris. the military has always been kept
subordinate to the civil authorities Here al the
landmarks OF English liberty have been preserved
and maintained while at the North scarcely
esge Of them is left There her % of S}qed s Tf
oyer with prisons and bastIles; AT the same time time
federate government was a tyranny which crushed
The bases of both these beliefs are apparent.
theoretically, liberty seemed at the South
than at the'North. but practically the reverse was
actual need of the privilege of the writ of habeas
touched
exaction Of military service. and all who had prop
arbitrary price fixed by tho government. The fed
eral government may be called dictatorship:
Congress and the people surrendered certain of
9e gh ns spS TO trusted an e
the did e1erytRng It levied N drectiY
the producer OF the land. and fixed prices; It
lishments. owned merchant vessels and carried on
foreign commerce. It did all this by common
sent. and the public desired Ii to absorb more
activities Frequent requests to extend the prov
Of the be- read ed the n Se seW ad
papers. in the public and private letters OF the
viduaI initiative and the sovereign power of the
state came to be invoked.
The sufferings OF the prisoners in Libby and
Andersonville are even a bitterer memory to the
North than the devastation between Atlanta
and Charleston is to the South Dr. Rhodes
with conspicuous fairness considers the whole
subject Of the treatment of prisoners on both
sides. There can be question about the
horrors OF Andersonvile. and on the other hand
the Northern climate bore hardly the Con-
federates at Camp Douglass. Camp Morton and
Johnson's Island. Had the war ended in 1868
there might have been little complaint by either
party. stanton's refusal of exchange threw
upon the South embarrassing problem at
time when it found difficulty in feeding and
clothing it's own soldiers. Undoubtedly there
were some inhuman jailers like Wirz, and much
stupidity in the equipment of camps, but the
chief trouble came not from Intentional cruelty.
but from inability to cope with the problem
Intelligent oversight might undoubtedly have
secured for the prisoners at Andersonvtle, by
their own labor and without expense to the gov
ernment comfortable quarters. but suitable ra-
tions and. medicines were often unattaina Bile.
with the best intentions. Voices were not
lacking among Confederate officers calling at
tention to the needs of the prisoners. "All
things considered" says DR.. Rhodes. ''the sta
tistics show no reason why the North should
reproach the South. If we add to side of
the account the refusal to exchange the pris-
oners and the greater resources, and TO the
other the distress of the Confederacy, the bal
ance struck will not be far from even Certain
it is that no deliberate intention existed either
in Richmond or Washington to inhict suffering
on captives more than inevitably accompanied
their confinement.
The student of the early years OF recoIlSlTu uC-
tion must be convinced that Johnson's narrow
and unconciliatory spirit a great national
misfortune He adopted Lincoln's policy in the
main, and was more nearly right than the rad
icals whom. by his tactlessness, he drove 70
more extreme radicalism. Even after his first
summers wrangle in December, 1860, the ma
iority in Congress was ready to cooperate with
him and he could have secured the readmission
of the Southern States by showing more regard
for Congressional prerogative and making con-
cessions for the protection Of the freedmen
which did not interfere with the essentials OF
his scheme Unfortunately, the South itself
did not help him. The first feeling of submis-
sion was soon succeeded by demands and by ef-
forts unreasonably to restrict the civil rights
of negroes The great body of Northern peo-
pie were unprepared to give the blacks the pal
lot except with careful restrictions, but South
ern turbulence and Johnson's obstinacy swelled
the ranks of the radicals and prompted them
to more extreme measures than they had con-
templated Johnson the worst enemy or
his own policy DR.. Rhodes declares that OF
all men in public life it is difficult to conceive
of another so Ill fitted for the delicate work of
reconstruction as Johnson, while he believes
that the same essential policy might have been
carried to success by Lincoln, and that under
him reconstruction would have been q model Of
statecraft which would have added to his great
fame"
rnTTN AND ANGELINA