Mr. Chase’s reply to the address of a negro delegation appeared in the papers before we left the city.[34] It very briefly expressed his own desire for negro suffrage, and his trust that the conduct of the negroes themselves would be such that, sooner or later, it would be found impossible longer to refuse it. The letter closed with a significant sentence, looking apparently in the direction of the proposed policy which Mr. Horace Greeley afterward condensed into the terse phrase, “Universal amnesty and universal suffrage.” Not more than half the nominal Louisiana Unionists, who had during the previous winter made up the two or three factions of the Free-State party, would publicly approve it. They thought negro suffrage might become a necessity; but they still hoped something less offensive would offer safety, and preferred to trust in Congress and wait for something to turn up. Only those who followed Mr. Durant accepted the naked issue. They looked to it as the only salvation of the Union cause; the only means for securing the rights of the negro, or for protecting the credit of the Government. The Rebels, meanwhile, considered Mr. Johnson’s North Carolina proclamation as settling the question in their favor, and already began to talk, in tones subdued only by the presence of the military authorities, about soon putting an end to the career of nigger agitators in Louisiana. * * * * * It was noticeable that General Banks, who had just been relieved, seemed to have gained no popularity by his relaxation of Butler’s iron rule. The returning Rebels appeared in no way grateful for any of the concessions he was charged with having made to their prejudices. The Unionists were in no way grateful for his late conversion to negro suffrage. All described his administration as vacillating. When Butler said a thing, they knew precisely what to expect. He might be severe, but they always knew where to find him. Banks, they complained, had done too little for the radical Unionists to command their confidence, and too little for the reconstructing Rebels to command theirs. Possibly a General who should have pleased any one of these parties would have disobeyed his instructions; certainly he would have displeased the rest. But, at the end, the man who marked out his own policy, and inflexibly pursued it, was found commanding a certain sort of respect. All classes, Rebel or Union, expressed it for General Butler. General Banks was less fortunate.