have all under their yoke; they saw with pain that within as well as without the province, there remained some individuals devoted to the party of Congress. Their resentment dictated the most extraordinary measures against the property and families of those who had emigrated, and of those who had remained prisoners of war. The possessions of the first were sequestrated and ravaged; their families were jealously watched, and subjected, as rebels, to a thousand vexations. The second were often separated from their hearths, and confined in remote and unhealthy places. These rigors constrained some to retract, and bend the neck under the new slavery; others to offer themselves as good and loyal subjects of the king. Among them were found individuals who had manifested the most ardor for the cause of liberty, and who had even filled the first offices under the popular government. They generally colored their conversion with saying that they abhorred the alliance of France. Thus men will rather stain themselves with falsehood and perjury, than live in misfortune and poverty! . . . . Hence arose a distinction between subjects and prisoners. The first were protected, honored and encouraged; the second were regarded with contempt, persecuted and ha rassed in their persons and property. Their estates in the country were loaded with taxes, and even ravaged. Within the city they were refused access

out

to the tribunals, if they had occasion to bring suit against their debtors; while, on the other hand they were abandoned to all the prosecutions of thei. creditors. Thus forced to pay, they were not permitted to receive. They were not suffered to go of the city without a pass, which was often refused them without motive, and they were even threatened with imprisonment unless they took the oath of allegiance. Their effects were given up to the pillage of the soldiery; their negroes were taken from them; they had no means of redress, but in yielding to what was exacted of them; while the claims of subjects were admitted without question. In brief, threats, fraud and force were industriously exercised to urge the inhabitants to violate their plighted faith, and resume their ancient chains. The greater part had recourse to dissimulation, and, by becoming subjects, were made partakers of British protection; others, more firm, or more virtuous, refused to bend. But they soon saw an unbridled soldiery sharing out their spoils; some were thrown into pestilential dungeons; others, less unfortunate or more prudent, condemned themselves to a voluntary exile."—Id., pp. 259, 260.

CHAPTER X.

The Facility of putting the President's Plan into Execution in the early Stages of the Experiment-The Difficulties will thicken as the Problem approaches Solution-Feelings with which the uncorrupted Part of the Southern People will regard the Tender of the Oath-Nature of the Undertaking which it requires from the Pardoned Rebel-Character of the first Officials under the new State Governments-Feelings of Animosity which will exist between them and a large Portion of the Conquered PeopleThe Necessities of the National Government will require that such Men shall be kept in Power-The Aid of the Military will be invoked for that Purpose-Impossibility of effecting the Pacification of the Country under such Circumstances-Worthlessness of Forced Oaths of Allegiance-The inevitable Tendency of Military Rule over a Conquered People is to Severity-The Evil is thus increased by the Means employed to remove it-These Propositions illustrated-Results of the British Efforts to reestablish the King's Authority in South Carolina in 1780-1781-How Military Force agrees with a Popular Form of Government in Maryland and Delaware-The Military Establishment which the Policy of Subjugation will require us to maintain-Expense of such an Army-Questions as to our Ability to defray the Expense or to keep the Ranks filled-Other Questions relating to the Subject.

HUMAN nature being the same now as at the time of the Revolution, we may reasonably conclude, not only from our experience of its operations, but from the practical illustrations that have been fur

nished, that the President's plan is capable of being put into execution with a degree of success in its earliest stages, which will encourage its adherents to expect its ultimate acceptance as a permanent system of government by the bulk of the southern people. The same result would however attend an attempt to carry out any similar scheme, which might meet with the approbation of the commander-in-chief of the army. For as long as war is actually raging, and the civil Government, whatever may be its form, must be upheld by the sword, it matters little what conditions of its exercise may be prescribed by him in whose hands the sword is placed. He is to all practical intents a despot; and the civil as well as the military rulers, whom he may set up over the country which his armies occupy, however distasteful they may be to the people, will receive prompt and implicit obedience. If it suits his fancy that a portion of the people should manifest their adherence to his government by some outward act of submission, he possesses the ability to gratify his wish, provided he shall take care so to limit the requisite number, that it will not exceed that proportion of the population who are accessible to the influences of fear or corruption. And if he shall also hold or assume the power to manufacture new citizens out of an immense horde of his own fellow-countrymen, who have been attracted to the conquered country

by the almost illimitable opportunities of gain which t offers to them, it is easy to see that he may readily establish a system which will present the outward appearance of commanding a considerable degree of popular support.

But although it is highly probable that the President's plan may be inaugurated in a few of the conquered States, under apparently flattering auspices, it is evident that the difficulties of establishing it as a general system throughout the South, and of maintaining it in the regions where it shall be established, will increase as the problem approaches its final solution. For if the present rate of progress of our arms should be maintained, the time must ultimately come when it will no longer be possible for us, as we are now doing, to drive the physical and intellectual flower of the people before us. When the cause of the Confederacy shall be completely overthrown, those who have now fled from the approach of our armies, must return to their homes and mingle again with the rest of the population. This must take place in all the Statesthe semi-loyal as well as the ultra-secessionist-in Tennessee as well as in South Carolina. Let us therefore inquire in what manner the tender of the oath and submission to the new constitution, will be really regarded by that part of the southern people, from whom alone we can construct a stable popular Government. I mean the men who pos