being effected in its midst, which will bear fruit, provided it is not rendered abortive. It has reflected on the follies into which it has been drawn by its late counsellors ; it has been struck, perhaps touched, by the conciliatory conduct employed toward it by Mr. Lincoln and yourself; it has not forgotten its abandonment by Europe, in spite of the scarcity of cotton ; it is now aspiring to repair its losses, and to revive its planting ; by degrees, doubt not, the need of peace will make itself felt, and the South will no longer be what it was. Without dreaming of an absolute change of heart, and without lapsing into chimeras, we are justified in taking these things into account. To change situations is not to change hearts ; nevertheless, it is to pave the way for this great change. In the face of new questions, new parties, and new interests, it is difficult not to become new one’s self. The social revolution which has just been accomplished through the abolition of slavery, is of such gravity and such profundity, that, provided it is definitive and real, it cannot but be immutable. Other habits and other currents of ideas have just been produced; without taking into consideration that there will be other men in the South, and that, by the side of the planters 'and the small whites, a host of colonists will carry with them the free customs of another region. The South will change, but will you wait for it to change, to readmit it and to re-establish the regular state of the confederation ? Will you wait for it to detest slavery and adore the Yankees? In this case, put on mourning for your liberties and prepare yourselves for a military regime. You will hold garrison for a long time, not only in the fortresses, which is a matter of course, but in all the Southern cities. Your army, which you were in the process of reducing, will resume formidable proportions, and your expenditures will follow in the same path. Be true. The point at stake is not to impose on the South a moral change, if not a sort of conversion, but to put an end, before its readmission, to the question which has divided you.
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