Report on the Condition of the South | Page 4

South Carolina expressed their
sentiments almost literally in the following language: "We
acknowledge ourselves beaten, and we are ready to submit to the
results of the war. The war has practically decided that no State shall
secede and that the slaves are emancipated. We cannot be expected at
once to give up our principles and convictions of right, but we accept
facts as they are, and desire to be reinstated as soon as possible in the
enjoyment and exercise of our political rights." This declaration was
repeated to me hundreds of times in every State I visited, with some
variations of language, according to the different ways of thinking or
the frankness or reserve of the different speakers. Some said nothing of
adhering to their old principles and convictions of right; others still

argued against the constitutionality of coercion and of the emancipation
proclamation; others expressed their determination to become good
citizens, in strong language, and urged with equal emphasis the
necessity of their home institutions being at once left to their own
control; others would go so far as to say they were glad that the war
was ended, and they had never had any confidence in the confederacy;
others protested that they had been opposed to secession until their
States went out, and then yielded to the current of events; some would
give me to understand that they had always been good Union men at
heart, and rejoiced that the war had terminated in favor of the national
cause, but in most cases such a sentiment was expressed only in a
whisper; others again would grumblingly insist upon the restoration of
their "rights," as if they had done no wrong, and indicated plainly that
they would submit only to what they could not resist and as long as
they could not resist it. Such were the definitions of "returning loyalty"
I received from the mouths of a large number of individuals intelligent
enough to appreciate the meaning of the expressions they used. I found
a great many whose manner of speaking showed that they did not
understand the circumstances under which they lived, and had no
settled opinions at all except on matters immediately touching their
nearest interests.
Upon the ground of these declarations, and other evidence gathered in
the course of my observations, I may group the southern people into
four classes, each of which exercises an influence upon the
development of things in that section:
1. Those who, although having yielded submission to the national
government only when obliged to do so, have a clear perception of the
irreversible changes produced by the war, and honestly endeavor to
accommodate themselves to the new order of things. Many of them are
not free from traditional prejudice but open to conviction, and may be
expected to act in good faith whatever they do. This class is composed,
in its majority, of persons of mature age--planters, merchants, and
professional men; some of them are active in the reconstruction
movement, but boldness and energy are, with a few individual
exceptions, not among their distinguishing qualities.

2. Those whose principal object is to have the States without delay
restored to their position and influence in the Union and the people of
the States to the absolute control of their home concerns. They are
ready, in order to attain that object, to make any ostensible concession
that will not prevent them from arranging things to suit their taste as
soon as that object is attained. This class comprises a considerable
number, probably a large majority, of the professional politicians who
are extremely active in the reconstruction movement. They are loud in
their praise of the President's reconstruction policy, and clamorous for
the withdrawal of the federal troops and the abolition of the Freedmen's
Bureau.
3. The incorrigibles, who still indulge in the swagger which was so
customary before and during the war, and still hope for a time when the
southern confederacy will achieve its independence. This class consists
mostly of young men, and comprises the loiterers of the towns and the
idlers of the country. They persecute Union men and negroes whenever
they can do so with impunity, insist clamorously upon their "rights,"
and are extremely impatient of the presence of the federal soldiers. A
good many of them have taken the oaths of allegiance and amnesty, and
associated themselves with the second class in their political operations.
This element is by no means unimportant; it is strong in numbers, deals
in brave talk, addresses itself directly and incessantly to the passions
and prejudices of the masses, and commands the admiration of the
women.
4. The multitude of people who have no definite ideas about the
circumstances under which they live and about the course they have to
follow; whose intellects are weak,