THE WESTERN STATES.

Otago Witness, Issue 626, 28 November 1863, Page 6

THE WESTERN STATES.

(from tub special correspondent of the TIMES.)

Chicago, Illinois, 6th Sept. A great Bepubliran Convention, or monster meeting, was held on Thursday last at Springfield, the ooUtical capital of this State. Hopes were enterfained for some time that Mr Lincoln would attend the gathering, but he acquitted himself of his promise by a letter which has already been before the uublir for several days. Deprived of the prestige of the Presidential presence, the meeting iank to an nif.iir (f Rrcond-r-ite importance, and was dot even remnrkabls for a very numerous attendance. I'he power of the masses in this democratic country lies exclusively ia the ba'lot. Any meeting which is not intended as the immediate preliminary to an election is meie waste of breath. It ia idle to consider its i evolutions as the manife>t'tion of the p. pular mind. The people here do not know their own mind ; they echo the sentiments of ibose two or thiee cracked fanatics or designing oolitichns who undertake to be their mouthpiece.. There is a pio.igious amount of bawling, ranting, pushing, drinking, and rioting ; but when the crowds 50 asunder there are very few indeed who have taken i ho resolutions to heait, who care to treasure them up ia their memory, who consider themselves bound co act up to their import. I have said from the outset, in one of my very "arliest letters, that the Americana do not understand their own affairs any better than the stranger who, upon his first airiva', will be at the trouble to iake a careful and dispassionate burvey of what lies before him. The Americans never knew what they .vaut*l; their wishes have been perpetually swayed >iy the vsrious phases of the war with which they were most unwittingly drifted. There were a thousand of the most le'entkss llcjublicans at the ouiset *rlio sub-cribed to Mr Edward Everett's principle, " that if the Southern States were unwilling to abide in the Union, they should, in God's name, be alowed to go asunder." That s!nve3 and slaveowners should quietly take themselves off was the *ish particularly of those black Abolitionists to .vhoni at that time no other means of a thoroughgoing emancipation presented itself. The war that broke out did not for a long time materially affect Irs general disposition. The Southerners had in3ultc J tV flsg, they had set up the standard of rebel.iou ; they must be taken to task for it, thry •nust be soundly beaten, severely punished, but rhen, when enough was done for the honour of the Federal arms, they must be fit to " fry in their awn fdt," to wallow in their own ground with their unwholesome negro, and the great liepublic must wash its hands of that hereditary guilt, it must cease to bo a partaker of that libertieide iniquity. Hlavery, no doubt, was a very sore subject with many a noble and honourable man of the Worth. I have lived in Boston in the days of Charming - the days in which humano, moderate, and truly benevolent men were turning in their minds if there was indeed any possibility to wssh out that foul blot of negro slavery from the American escutcheon. I have known abroad, at Geneva, at Florence, at Home, distinguished citizens of the States who wasted away au existence which might have been most valuable to their country because they would not sanction with their presence the continuance of an institution which was iv their opinion at war with all the laws of God and man. But then, again, I have seen many equally virtuous and well-meaning men who weighed this matter of negro slavery with -he vital interest of the Union, who looked upon the condition of the South as a disease which admitted no cure, aad who, in tbe alternative of lopping off a member which, however corrupt, was essential to the -xistetce of the body, decided that the sore subject oi negro slavery should be hushed up, that vaunting Abolitionism should be tabooed, that a tacit compromise should be established with the South, and the interest of so many millions of whites should never be jeoparded for the sake of the rights of a few millions of blacks.

War merely for "or against negro slavery had become an impossibility in the States; but, unfortunately, ;the Southerners conceived that their peculiar institution could only exist by being expansive and aggressive. Iv order to promote its increase and spread, they took more than their allotted shave in the management of public affairs. Party spirit was mixed up with what was originally a mere social controversy ; a moral question a:sumed all the bitterness of political animosity, hence the elections of 18G0 and the hostilities of 186!.

_ The war, however, exasperated the parties, but it d-"d not change or displace them. From the beginning thtre was a large democratic party, to which a very great many ot the Republicins joined thenselves, who were anxious above all things that the war shoul J be a short one— a kind of tournament /or the honor of the stars and stripes rather than an arrangement which either should brina back the South on the old conditions, or should allow it to go its own way without further contention. Thes" two paitie*, the War Party and the Peace Party, have been leading the Northern multitude to and fro ever since. I see nothing about me but a vast passive mass, say of 99 men out of 100, who havt besn yiel-.ing to the impulse, now of one side, now of ths ether, a-s ready to shout for the Demosrats at the Sprinufi Id meeting of June last as to bawl with the Kepublicaus at the Spiii.gneld meeting of last Thursday.

In the month of June of this year the Democrats of Illinois vwt'ly had the upp r hand. General Lee had crossed the Potoma". ; his cavaliy tbreatr-ne 1 Washington. Baltimore, Hitt^'uru, or Phila ielphia • Vieksburs; and Port Hudson held out against all onis There wan no Inpe of speedy victory; no chanca ot a happy termination of the war. Tbe peace men had )t all their own way. Enough had been done for the honor o f the Federal anus, and those who had so signally mismanaged the war ou^ht at least to be ready to accept pence on terms which the South would make by no means onerou3 or offensive. ' ' Tin's was in June ; but July followed, and wilh it an almost complete reverse of fortune. Lee drew back in confusion ; Grant broke throueh the Mississippi barriers; the South- West reconquered ; the siege of Charleston progresse 1 favorably. It was now for the Republicans to hold their convention, and the mob cheered them as loudly as it had hailed the peare men of the previous month. War is drawing to a speedy and happy conclusion, why should it break short now ? Why shoul ] it not be pushed on to tbe thorough restoration of the Union, and the complete emancipation of the slaves 1 In the abstract, no doubt, every American of the North harbors v«ry strong feelings for the union of his big country, and for those Abolition principles which aim at the removal of the darkest of stains from its fair banner. Impress them y/ith possibility of reconquering all the Southern territory aud^of enfranchising the whole ntgro race, and the mass will follow you, no doubt, unwearied in its exertions, and re/ardless of sacrifice! But can the conviction of the feasibility of that great scheme of restoration and emancipation really strike deep root? Behold ! the Government was in some measure committed to it. The President's proclamation, his decree of emancipation, confiscation. &c, have laid the view*, and plans of the Government very openly before the public. The "rebel" land was to be militanly occupied— subjected to martial rule, doing away with the rij-ht of property of the present owners, manumitting slave labour, and reorganising free Jabour under Govermeut superintendence. Spacious as the scheme seemed to many of .the sanguine Republican", it, however, strupk many' as not only monstrously inhuman and barbarous, but also most supremely chimerical and impracticable. Many people were disposed to look upon that proclamation of the President's as a mere brutum fulmen — aa empty threat, neyerto be carried into execution. Jt was understood that several members of the Cabinet at Washington, no less than most of the leaders of the Government party, were opposed to the wholesale destructive measure. remonstrances and point-blank questions were addressed to tjie President on the subject. Hence his letter dated "Executive Mansion, A ug 26" in which, although he shifts his ground and tyriggles about with a lawyer's dexterity, he gives us, nevertheless, clearly to understand that the war is to be followed up to the bitter end. Notwithstanding all the President's letters, and notwithstanding the phouts and cheers with wbiph filie wild effusions ot Republican orators wera received at Springfiejd the other day, we must not believe that the rfraj? paity jg very' strong in these Western States, or that tha' notion of "exhausting the fTorth to lay waste the South 1 ' finds many hearty supporters here. So long as sucoes3 orowu* the efforts of the Federal armies, so long as hopes can be entertained that three, or six months at the utmost, may brjng abput the termination of the strife, the people here endure and wait. But let us only hear for instance, that the sefge of Charleston has to be raiepd, or that Lee ' has been successful in a new raid across the Potomac, and you will soon hear the cry of the Springfield Democratic Convention of last June set up again. The eomraon mass follows here the impulse of every breeze, and its leaders, when they ate not ombiiious adventurers without principles, are empty-pated fanatics whose principles are as unsteady as those of the multitude they presume to control.

I hope ynu will not charge me with exceeding conceit if I declare to you my conviction that there is very little political sense among party leaders in this mighty KepuMio. The question of ne f :ro slavery in the South was a very serioys and painful one at all times ; but that any one should propose to solve it by the extermination of the whole of th? white, and tho no le3s unavoidable extinction of tl.e whole of the black race is sonuthina: that baffles all tbe comprehensive powers of an un- American mind. Yet that is what many repeat here daily with un-ab-shed asseverance, and it must be hard but some of them do really mean what they say. The work of extermination, to whatever extent it may ultimately be carried, is, while we are here dis cu-sing, being hurried on with mad fury in the South West. I gave you in my last letter an extract describing the deplorable condition to which New Orleans and Louisiana have bjen reduced since they fell into Yankee hands; I have to-day to add tlie following few lines :<*•

At this season ut liic yenr the population of New Oileaus is ordinarily 150,000 souls, It is now but little over 60,000, if the soldiers are left out of the count. Within the past few days there has been an apparent revival of biuine^s, owing to the arrival of the bulk of General Ord's command, the 13th army corps. But, making due allowance for the season, and other present circumstances, there are evidences on every hand that the %Teat commercial importancs of the city is a thing of the past. Her trade in the great staples, cotton and sugar, is pone. It is true that some apparently successful experiments in sugar-culture have been made, and at the proper time some sugar may be looked for ; but the area devoted to those experiments is comparatively very small. Both sugaand cotton will for a year or two come to New Orleans in dribblets, where tlify formerly came in floods, Then, again, the trade with the West Indieis gone, and cannot be recovered for a long time. Ihisis one of the calamities wliLh was inflicted en the West and South- West by the closing of the Mississippi river navigation. Now that the river is again open, a lesumption of the o!d trade may be expected ; but it must be a work of time. The shipping neces <ary is otherwise employed. The attention of buyers has been turned e's&wliere, and will not imniediattly levert to former channels. Trade restrictions, moreover, must be removed before receiving and forwarding can be conducted in a legitimate and prosperous way." Wo may see by this that the evil wind of the war, which has blown so much goo'l to New York, has done no such pood turn for New Orleans ; and the calamity wai inflicted on the West l o leys than on the South- West. Push on the war lo the bitter end; eru*h the v»hite race in the slave-holding States, and set the negro free. We shall see how long a time it will take before the recDlonisation of those desolate territories, and the reorganisation of the labour cf " freed men working on compulsion," mike up for the losses and calamities inflicted not less upon these North- Westerners who fought bo stoutly forths Union as upon the South-Westerners who were bent upon its dissolution. There are not a few persons about me who t&ke this view of public affairs. The so' id well-being of the country is to be sacrificed in pursuit of an abstra't notion of philanthropy. The happiness of the whites must succumb not only with no hope of Improving, but with the certainty of impairing the condition of the blacks. The slaveowners, whatever may be sail, were not the bitterest enemies of the negro. The prejudices of the Northerners against the African race were far more fatal to the few free blacks that lived among them than even the overseer's whip which kept them to their task in the South. This Western State of Illinois is in such matters no better than it should be. It is perfectly amazing to read among its statutes, statutes which cannot be older than 40 or 50 years, such barbarous enactments as the following :—" No person of color, negro or mulatto, of either sex, shall be joined in raarringe with any white person male or female, in this State ; and all marriage or marrisge contracts entered into between such colored person and white person, shall he null and void in law ; and any person marrying or contracting to marry shall be liable to pay a line, be whipped in not exceeJing thirty-nine lashc, and be imprisoned no less than one year." This perfect gem of melieeval jurisprudence, especially if we take into consideration the corporal punishment, bears no earlier date than that of the constitution of Illinois, in 18.0. It was brought forward for discussion before both houses of the State Legislature as late as 1847 by men who wished to wash th? statute book of such, illiberal provisions, but the wise majority of Illinois free citizens ruled that the law was very well as it was, and should suffer no change. Surely a man need not be as anxious for the ama'gamation of races as Mr Greeley protesses himself to feel that the union of the ses-.s should be left to the natural tendencies of mankind, and that the law should put upon no race such social disabilities as amount to the most hideous kind of slavery. The disorders on the borders of Kansis and Missouri, consequent on the massacres perpetrated at Lawrence by the chief of bushwackers, Quantrell, are assuming gigantic dimensions. Jim Lane, who is styled a General, and is a senator in Congress, will place himself at the head of a band of "jayhunters," and lay waste tha four border counties of Missouri, where Quantrell is supposed to have sought his refage. The deeds of murder and lawless brutality of which Jim Line boastea himself the author at a public meeting the other day qualify him as a ruffian of no better stamp than the verj Quantrell against whom he is about to m ireh. Between Mis- ! souri bushwackers and Kansas jayhawkers, or Red Legs, there is not much to choose. The mere report of Lane's intended onset has been sufficient to spread dismay and consternation into those unfortunate Missouii counties, and the whole population is fast migrating eastward, exposed to the direst sufferings, but only anxious to escape impending detraction. General Scholefield, who is ia com mand in these quarters, has issued stiict orders, both to the Missouri and the Kansas Militia, on no account to overstep the borders. His or-.'ers, however, are lnr<!ly likely to be respected by Lane, who accused him of imbecility, and moved resolutions for his removal. It seems, imbed, that there are plans at Washington for sending G neml Hunter into Scholefield's place. The day appointed for Jim Lanes murderous expedition is the 9th inst. There seems to be no little animosity among political parties in Kentucky. "Taking the whole St .te tog< ther " -we are told, "they may be classed as follows:— Of those who support the Administration and its policy, say one-fifth ; of those who are loyal to the Union, as it was formerly, with slavery say three-tenths; of those who were io favor of secession, and are at heart with the South, threetenths. There are all shades of political intensity, ranging from the compensatory emancipationist to the uncompromising slave-advocating fire eater. Aoout equal numhers have gone to beir arms North and South, perhaps 40,000 to each side. Entire unanimity does not exist among the less passionate and prejudiced who remain. Many private feuds, brawls, and even open violence, are of continued occurrence. The wealth, the breeding, and the regtrd Cor reputation, keep many from open strife, but there are mauy muttered threats 'of- vengeance dire. The presence of the national troops has the effect of suppressing at least one portion of the malcontents. When the war is over, and the army is withdrawn, it will be imoos-sible for the former inhabitants to live peaceably together again. The. Unionists, with the bayonets at their back, have tyrannised over their rebel neighbors, all of which they nssert is to be repiidwith interest. The fortune of arras, however, will doubtless decide the fate of Kentucky, as of the rf st of the South. The disloyal will have to leave the State, or bp contented to remain quiet. Very many of them have left; placing their land and property in the hands of women and assignees. Some of them are at the North, in Canada, or Europe. Others at the South. Homefarms are going to decay. Stock has been driven off across the Ohio. Agriculture is suffering a blight. There is a very general desire for peace." ' Such are some of the results of this great civil war, as they begin to deyejope themselves. No wonder i many secretly long for peace, even among those who are most loudly clamoring foj- f ' continuation of thy war to the bitter end,' 1