A Southern man's experience in the West.
A gentleman who was in the
Northwest recently, and was captured, but afterwards released, writes to the Lynchburg
Virginian some of his experience there.
He says that
John Wm. Dudley, formerly of
Lynchburg, is
Provost Marshal at
Cincinnati.
Of his conversations, he says:
‘
I conversed freely with a number of professed friends of the
South, besides Abolitionists from different parts of the north and northwest, but from none could I gather any tangible gleam of hope for peace upon terms which would be satisfactory to the
South.
The Democratic members elected to the next Congress are as much committed to the prosecution of the war as the abolitionists but they declare that it shall be conducted constitutionally which may have more meaning than I can comprehended.
The predominant idea among the Conservatives is reconstruction and, at a gentleman remarked to me. "the
Union must be reconstructed if we have to adopt the
Constitution of the
Confederate States and if the
South is not then satisfied, we'll make her,
nolene voiens" "Our commerce is crippled forever without the
South; the navigation of the
Mississippi must be free; and, if the Abolitionists of the
Few England States persist in this unholy war and refuse to give the
South her rights, then we in the
Northwest will join you and make them our common enemy" I replied that I feared we could never again entertain a just sympathy toward each other in consequence of the
Northwest having waged such a bitter and relentless war against us; behinds the character of your population is such as to debar the possibility of an amicable adjustment — His reply was, "that he feared this might prove a barrier, but in any event an attempt was to be made."
I left them, fully convinced that their sympathy for us was owing only to the successful resistance of our army in the field and but little could be hoped for through the medium of diplomatists.
’
