and patriotism." Another government official in Florida was quite doubtful of
the Southern whites. "I would pin them down at the point of the bayonet," he
declared, "so close that they would not have room to wiggle, and allow
intelligent colored people to go up and vote in preference to them. The only
Union element in the South proper . . . is among the colored people. The
whites will treat you very kindly to your face, but they are deceitful. I have
often thought, and so expressed myself, that there is so much deception among
the people of the South since the rebellion, that if an earthquake should open
and swallow them up, I was fearful that the devil would be dethroned and some
of them take his place."

The point of view of the Confederate military leaders was exhibited by General
Wade Hampton in a letter to President Johnson and by General Lee in his advice
to Governor Letcher of Virginia. General Hampton wrote: "The South
unequivocally 'accepts the situation' in which she is placed. Everything that
she has done has been done in perfect faith, and in the true and highest sense
of the word, she is loyal. By this I mean that she intends to abide by the
laws of the land honestly, to fulfill all her obligations faithfully and to
keep her word sacredly, and I assert that the North has no right to demand
more of her. You have no right to ask, or expect that she will at once profess
unbounded love to that Union from which for four years she tried to escape at
the cost of her best blood and all her treasures." General Lee in order to set
an example applied through General Grant for a pardon under the amnesty
proclamation and soon afterwards he wrote to Governor Letcher: "All should
unite in honest efforts to obliterate the effects of war, and to restore the
blessings of peace. They should remain, if possible, in the country; promote
harmony and good-feeling; qualify themselves to vote; and elect to the State
and general legislatures wise and patriotic men, who will devote their
abilities to the interests of the country and the healing of all dissensions;
I have invariably recommended this course since the cessation of hostilities,