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About News & planters' gazette. (Washington, Wilkes County [sic], Ga.) 1840-1844 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1843)
These objects are totally distinct in their nature, and in interpreting and exercising the grunt of the power ofcxclusive legisla tion, that distinction should be constantly borne in mind, is it necessary, in order to render this place a comfortable seat of gen eral government, to abolish slavery within its limits? No one cun or will advance such a proposition. The government lias remained here near forty years without the slightest inconvenience from the presence of domestic slavery. Is it necessary to the well-being of the people of the District that ! slavery should be abolished from among i them ? They not only neither ask nor de sire, but arc almost unanimously opposed to it. It exists here in the mildest and most mitigated form. In a population of 39,- 831, there were, at the least enumeration of j the population of the United Statss, but 6,- 119 slaves. The number has not proba bly much increased since. They are dis persed over the ten miles square, engaged in the quiet pursuits of husbandry, or in menial offices of domestic life. If it were necessary to the efficiency of this placo, as a seat of the general government, to abolish slavery, which is utterly denied, the abo lition should be confined to the necessity which prompts it, that is, to the limits ofthe City of Washington itself. Beyond those limits, persons concerned in the government of the United States, have no more to do with the inhabitants of the District than they have with the inhabitants of the adja cent counties of Maryland and Virginia which lie beyond the District. To abolish slavery within the District of Columbia, while it remains in Virginia, and Maryland, situated, as the District is, with in the very heart of those States, would ex pose them to great practical inconvenience and annoyance. The District would be come a place of refuge and escape for fugi tive slaves from the two States, and a place from which the spirit of discontent, insub ordination, and insurrection might be fos tered and encouraged in the two States.— Suppose, as was at one time under conside ration, Pennsylvania had granted ten miles square within its limits, for the purpose of a seat of the general government; could Con gress without a violation of good faith, have introduced and established slavery within the bosom of that commonwealth, in the ce ded territory, after she had abolished it so long ago as the year 1780? Yet the in convenience to Pennsylvania in the case supposed, would have been much less than that to Virginia and Maryland in the case we are arguing. It was upon this view of the subject that the Senate, at its last session, solemnly de clared that it would be a violation of im plied faith, resulting from the transaction of the cession, to abolish slavery within the District of Columbia. And would it not be ? By implied faith is meant, that, when a grant is made for one avowed and de clared purpose, known to the parties, the grant should not be perverted to another purpose, unavowcd and undeclared, and in jurious to the grantor. The grant, in the case we are considering, of the territory of Columbia, was for a seat of government. — Whatever power is necessary to accomplish that object, is carried along by the grant. But the abolition of slavery is not necessa ry to the enjoyment of this site as a seat of the general government. The grant in the constitution, of exclusive power of le gislation over the District, was made to en sure the exercise of an exclusive authority of the general government to render this place a safe and secure seat of govern ment, and to promote the well being of the inhabitants of the District. The power granted ought to be interpreted and exer cised solely to the end for which it was granted. The language of the grant was necessarily broad, comprehensive, and ex clusive, because all the exigencies which might arise to render this a secure seat of the general government, could not have been foreseen and provided for. The lan guage may possibly be sufficiently compre hensive to include a power of abolition, but it would not at all thence follow that the power could be rightfully exercised. The case may be resembled to that of a pleni potentiary invested with a plenary power, but who, at the same time has positive in structions from his government as to the kind of treaty which he is to negotiate and conclude. If he violates those instructions, and concludes a different treaty, this gov ernment is not bound by it. And, if the for eign government is aware of the violation, it acts in bad faith. Or it may be illustra ted by an example drawn from private life. I am an endorser for my friend on a note discounted in bank. lie applies to me to endorse another to renew it, which I do in blank. Now this gives him power to make any other use of my note which he pleases. But, if instead of applying it to the intended purpose, he goes to a broker and sells it, thereby doubling my responsibility for him, he commits a breach of trust, and a viola tion of the good faith implied in the whole transaction. But, Mr. President, if this reasoning were an erroneous oqp srs I believe it to be cor rect and conclusive, is the affair of the lib eration of six thousand negro slaves in this District, disconnected with the three mil lions of slaves in the United States, of suffi cient magnitude to agitate, distract and em bitter thisgreat confederacy ? The next case in which the petitioners ask the exercise of the power of Congress, relates to slavery in the Territory of Flor ida. Florida is the extreme portion of the U nited States. It is bounded on all its land sides by slave states, and is several hundred miles from the nearest free state. It al most extends within the tropics, and the nearest important island to it on the water side is Cuba, a slave island. This simple statement of its geographical position should of itself decide the question. When, by the treaty of 1819 with Spain, it was ce ded to the United States, slavery existed within it. By the terms of that treaty, the effects and property of the inhabitants are secured to them, and they are allowed to remove and take them away, if they think oroper to do so without limitation as to time. If it were expedient, therefore, to abolish slavery in it, it could not bo done consist, ently with the treaty, without granting to the ancient inhabitants a reasonable time to remove their slaves. But further: By the compromise which took pluce on the passage of the act for the admission of Mis souri into the Union, in the year 1820, it was agreed and understood that the line of 36 deg. 30 min. of north latitude should mark the boundary between the free states and the slave slates to be created in the territories ofthe United States ceded by the treaty of Louisiana; those situated south of it being slave states, and those north of it, free States. But Florida is south of that line, and consequently, according to the spirit of the understanding which prevailed at the period alluded to, should be a slave state. It may be true that the compromise does not in terms embrace Florida, and that is not absolutely binding and obligato ry ; but all candid and impartial men must agree that it ought not to be disregarded without the most weighty considerations, and that nothing could be more to be depre cated than to open anew the bleeding wound which was happily bound up and healed by that compromise. Florida is the only remaining territory to be admitted into the Union with the institution of domestic sla very, while Wisconsin and lowa are now ■ nearly ripe for admission without it. The next instance in which the exercise of the power of Congress is solicited, is that of prohibiting what is denominated by the petitioners the slave trade between the states, or, as it is described in abolition pe titions, the trafio in hnman beings between the States. This exercise of the power of Congress is claimed under that clause of the constitution which invests it with au thority to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes. This exercise of the power of Congress is claimed under that clause of the constitution which invests it with authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among tiie several states, and with the Indian tribes. The power to regulate commerce among the several States, like other powers in the con stitution, has hither to remained dormant in respect to the interior trade by land between these states. It was a power granted like all the other powers of the general govern ment, to secure peace and harmony among the states. Hitherto it has not been neces sary to exercise it. All the cases in which during the progress of time it may become expedient to exert the general authority to regulate commerce between the states, can not be conceived. We may easily imagine however, contingencies which, if they were to happen, might require the interposition ofthe common authority. If, for example, the State of Ohio were, by law, to prohibit any vessel entering the port of Cincinnati, from the port of Louisville, in Kentucky, if that case be not already provided for by the laws which regulate our coasting trade, it would be competent to the general govern ment to annul the prohibition emanating from state authority. Or, if the State of ; Kentucky, were to prohibit the introduction within its limits, of any articles of trade, the production of the industry of the inhab itants ofthe State of Ohio, the general gov ernment might by its authority, super sede the state enactment. But I deny that the general government has any au. thority w hatever, from the constitution, toa bolish what is called the slave trade, or, in other words to prohibit the removal of slaves from one slave state to another slave state. The grant in the constitution is of a pow er of regulation, and not prohibition. It is conservative, not destructive. Regulation ex vi termini implies the continued exist ence or prosecution of the thing regulated Prohibition implies total discontinuance or annihilation. The regulation intended was designed to facilitate and accommodate, not to obstruct and incommode the commerce to be regulated. Can it be pretended that, under this power to regulate commerce a mong the States, Congress iiasthe power to prohibit the transportation of live stock which, in countless numbers, are daily pas sing from the western and interior States to the southern, south-western and Atlan tic States ? The moment the incontestible fact is admitted that negro slaves are prop erty, the law of of moveable property, irre sistibly attaches itself to them, and secures the right of carrying them from one to a nother State, where they are recognized as property, without any hindrance whatever from Congress. But, Mr. President, I will not detain the Senate longer on the subjects of slavery within the District and in Florida, and of the right of Congress to prohibit the remo val of slaves from one State to another.— These, as I have already intimated, with ultra abolitionists, are but so many mask ed batteries, concealing the real and ulti mate point of attack. That point of attack is the institution of domestic slavery as it exists in these States. It is to liberate three millions of slaves held in bondage within them. And now allow me, Sir, to glance at the insurmountable obstacles which lie in the way of the accomplishment of this end, and at some of the consequences which would ensue if it were possible to at tain it. The first impediment is the utter and ab solute want of all powers on the part ofthe general government to effect the purpose.— The constitution of the United States cre ates a limited government, comprising com paratively few powers, and leaving the res iduary mass of political power in the pos session of the several States. It is well known that the subject of slavery interposed one of the greatest difficulties in the forma tion of the constitution. It was happily compromised and adjusted in a spirit ofhar mony and patriotism. According to that compromise, no power whatever was grant ed to the general government in respect to domestic slavery, but that which relates to taxation and representation, and the power to restore fugitive slaves totheir lawful own ers. All other power in regard to the in stitution ofslavery, was retained exclusive ly by the States, to be exercised by them severally, according to their respective I views of their own peculiar interest. The constitution ofthe United States never could have been formed upon the principle oi in vesting the general government with au thority to abolish the institution at its plea sure. It never can be continued fora sin gle day if the exercise of such a power be assumed or usurped. But it may be contended by these ultra abolitionists that their object is not to stimu late the action of the general government, but to operate upon the States themselves in which the institution of domestic slavery exists. If that be their object, why are these abolition societies and movements all confined to the free States ? Why are the slave States wantonly and cruelly assailed ? Why do the abolition presses teem with pub lications tending to excite hatred and ani mosity on the partofthe inhabitants of the free States against those of the slave states? Why is Congress petitioned ? The free States have no more power or right to in terfere with institutions existing in any for eign country. What would be thought of the formation of societies in Great Britain, the issue of numerous inflammatory publi cations, and the sending out of lecturers throughout the kingdom, denouncing and aiming at the destruction of any of the in stitutions of France ? Would they be re garded as proceedings warranted by good neighborhood ? Or what would be thought of the formation of societies in the slave States, the issuing of violent and inflamma tory tracts, and the deputation of missiona ries, pouring out impassioned denunciations against institutions under the exclusive con trol ofthe free States ? Is their purpose to appeal to our understandings, and to actu ate our humanity ? And do they expect to accomplish that purpose by holding us up j to the scorn, and contempt, and detestation jof the people of the free States, and the whole civilized world ? The slavery which ! exists among us, is our affair not theirs; i and they have no more just concern with it j than they have with slavery as it exists \ throughout the world. Why not leave it to us, as the common constitution of our j country has left it, to be dealt with, under ; the guidance of Providence, as best we may or can ? Tiie next obstacle in the way of abolition arises out of the fact of the presence in the slave States of three millions of slaves.— They are there, dispersed throughout the land, part and parcel of our population.— They were brought into the country origin ally under the authority of the parent gov ernment whilst we were colonies, and their importation was continued in spite ol all the remonstrances of our ancestors. If the question were an original question, wheth er, there being no slaves within the coun try, we should introduce them, and incor porate them into our society, that would be a totully different question. Few, if any of the citizens ofthe United States would be found to favor their introduction. No man in it would oppose, upon that supposition, their admission with more determined reso lution and conscientious repugnance than I should. But that is not the question. The slaves are here ; no practical scheme for their removal or separation from us has been yet devised or proposed ; and the true in quiry is, what is best to be done with them. In human affairs we are often constrained, by the force of circumstances and the actu al state of things, to do what we would not do if that state of things did not exist. The slaves are here, and here must remain, in some condition; and, I repeat, how are they to be best governed ? What is best to to be done for their happiness and our own ? In the slave States the alternative is, that the white man must govern the black, or the black govern the white. In several of those States, the number of the slaves is greater than that ofthe white population. An immediate abolition of slavery in them, as these ultra abolitionists propose, would be followed by a desperate struggle for im mediate ascendency of the black race over the white race, or rather it would be follow wed by instantaneous collisions between the two races, which would break out into a civil war that would end in the extermina tion or subjugation ofthe one race or the oth er. In such an alternative, who can hesi tate ? Is it not better for both parties, that the existing state of things should be pre served, instead of exposing them to the hor rible strifes and contests which would in evitably attend an immediate abolition ? This is our true ground of defence for the continued existence ofslavery in our coun try. It is that which our revolutionary an cestors assumed. It is that which, in my opinion, forms our justification in the eyes ofall Christendom. [Concluded in our Next.'] MR. WEBSTER—THE VICE PRESI DENCY. Having given prominent publicity to the recommendation of the Courier & En quirer that Mr. Webster be placed, as a candidate for the Vice President, on the Whig Ticket with Mr. Clay, commending it to general consideration, and having sta ted briefly our own dissent from the sugges tion ; we proceed to set forth our reasons, as fully as the pressure on our columns will permit. I. It appears to us that there is no intrin sic fitness in this nomination. The office of vice President is one which, except in an extraordinary contingency, neither requires nor affords scope for transcendent talents, such as Mr. Webster is known to possess. We are sure this is not a station which Mr. Webster would choose, were he compel led to accept office, in preference to many others of inferior rank but affording a more obvious field for positive usefulness. We cannot say that Mr. Webster would not ac cept the Vice Presidency, if pressed upon him by a decided vote of the Whig Nation al Convention ; but we are sure that, were he to regard only the station itself, and not the manifestation of Whig confidence impli ed by it, his feelings would impel him to de cline it. 11. It strikes us that there is implied in the course suggested adistrust ofMr. Web ster and his friends. Look at it: Mr. Webster lias for some time occupied a po sition which was regarded witli disfavor by the larger portion of the Whig party. We now come forward and offer him our nom ination for Vice President. What is the inference? Is it not that we distrust his attachment to the Whig party and its prin ciples ? Will it not be said that we ore at tempting to buy him in to support Mr. Clay? Shall we not have the old terror-cry of 1 Co alition !’ thundered in our ears ? Will not the changes be rung on ‘Bargain and Sale* as vociferously as in 1828 ? Now we are fully aware that Mr. Webster, from person al considerations, would prefer almost any other Whig for President to Mr. Clay; but we do not believe he could in any case be induced to oppose the Whig party in a Pres idential contest, whatever his personal re pugnance to its candidates. But would not the nomination suggested warrant the asser tion by our opponents, under the circum stances well known to exist, that the sup port of Mr. Webster’s especial friends had tube bought for Mr. Clay by taking up their favorite for Vice President? Deny ing the existence of any such necessity, we are of course averse to any action of the Whigs which might seem to admit it. 111. The nomination of Mr. Webster for Vice President could not fail to he regard ed as invidious bv the friends of John Da vis and John M. Clayton. We have not room to enlarge on this head, nor on the general subject. There seem to us abun dant and forcible reasons, apart from any aversion or distrust of Mr. Webster, for se lecting some other man for our Vice Presi dent. N. Y. Tribune. From the Sanrlersville Telescope. CRUMBS OF COMFORT. Although we are neutral in politics, we occasionally come across things in our po litical exchanges which are too good to pass unnoticed. For instance, the Macon Tel egraph, in its doleful lamentations over the result of the late elections, gravely tell its readers, that in the counties where the ‘old Telegraph circulated, democracy was tri umphant.’ If the Telegraph had circula ted in all the counties, victory would have been certain. The venerable editor goes on, probably instigated by the wicked one, with malice aforethought, and with force and arms, solemnly declares, that he feels no sympathy for his democratic brethren, since the fault is their own. The Tele graph was offered to them, (but not without money and without price,) and they would not accept it. An old bachelor of our acquaintance, in South Carolina, who was more distinguish ed for making money than for feeding his negroes, some years ago, concluded to em ploy an overseer, which was contraryto his custom. It was not long before the young man became displeased with the fare, and was finally compelled to quit or perish.— His employer refusing to pay him for his services, the young man sued him before a Justices’ Court. The trial came on, and the employer refused to pay the debt, on the ground that the contract had not been com plied with. The plaintiff, upon his part, contended that lie had been compelled to leave his situation—that the defendant had not supplied him with provisions—that his fare was so poor that he could not possibly get along with it. At this statement, the employer became enraged, and jumped upon his feet, deter mined to be heard, “ It is your own fault, Jesse, if you lived hard — there's plenty of cooters in the creek, and you were too lazy to catch ’em !” THE MECHANICS OF GEORGIA. There is not a class of people in the State of Georgia, so much oppressed as the hard-working mechanics. They live and move in our villages, and cities—conduct themselves uprightly—are steady—and a large number of them intellectual, and worthy citizens ; but, what of that? Are they supported in their honest endeavors to provide for themselves and family ? Or, are not their efforts thwarted by the aris tocracy, to such an extent, as to keep them back and prevent them from moving upon the same level with the rest of their fellow citizens ? It is fearfully true that the me chanic has suffered seriously ; and, his suf ferings are in consequence ofa want of ap preciation on the part of his fellow citizens. llow is the mechanic oppressed ? is a question that may arise, from the foregoing remarks. We answer, that he is oppressed, first because many of our citizens, (during the sitting of the Legislature, when the Penitentiary goods are sold, either visit, or appoint an agent to visit, Milledgeville, for the purpose of purchasing carriages, bug gies, sulkies, wagons, (Jersey or road,) rea dy made clothing, boots & shoes, household and kitchen furniture, (such as come un der the denomination ofCabinet work,) har ness, saddles, bridles, martingales, stone work, and many other things, not necessa ry to be mentioned. These articles are all offered, at public outcry, to the highest bidder—and are sold, whether they bring much or little. And, it is of but little con sequence to the purchaser, whether his neighbor at home, is perishing for the want of his patronage or not, so that he is able to obtain an article abroad, that costs him something less than it would at home. Be sides, he is vain enough to think, that, be cause the article, was purchased at New York, Jersey city, Philadelphia, or at the Milledgeville Penitentiary, it is of better quality, better make, better style, and more fashionable. This is a fatal error, exis ting among many of our fellow citizens.— It is a ruinous error ; one that is calculated to ruin our State. Our mechanics are al ready leaving this State for the West; looking out new homes ; seeking for equal rights. We shall soon be left without e nough to carry on the common business of our several communities Something must be done, to prevent them from leaving us, and to restore to them our patronage. 2nd. The labor of the mechanic is un derrated ; he is jewed, screwed, and beat down to the lowest possible notch, and is then told that the article can be purchased elsewhere at a lower rate ; or that such a negro, (it matters not whether free, or a slave,) will do the work at a much lower price. 3rd. When the mechanic may chance to get a job of work—and presents his bill for payment, he is abruptly told that the account is too large, and that it will not bo settled, short of the legal provisions : the poor mechanic is driven, from necessity, to receive just such amount as his oppressive customer may think proper to pay him. With all these provoking circumstances, the poor mechanic is prepared to abandon himself to his fate, if ho remains in the country, or seek employment in a more philanthropic State. Thus, he is driven from his home—from his country —from his friends—from his place of nativity, and is exiled to a distant land, among strangers, where he has but little hope of better suc cess, unless he should possibly pitch his tent in a land of sociability, benevolence and charity. But, before the mechanic leaves his country, lie reflects upon his happy home, (though humble it is still his home,) and, the many ineonveniencies he would necessarily be compelled to contend with —and every thing else combined —all tend to bind him strongly with us ; and, thus he ruminates, and years pass away, and he is still as poor, and oppressed as e ver. He looks around ; and behold ! he sees on every hand, a penitentiary convict en gaged at work ; who is ready and willing to work at any price, and at any place— cares not for character—cares not for so ciety—looks not for the good of the com munity ; and still he is preferred, in pre ference to the poor, honest mechanic. Such considerations as these are well calculated todeject and distract any and every honest, and high minded tradesman. We are not willing that the mechanics shall leave us; but do we encourage them to remain ? No—we neither encourage or support them—we have forgotten their im portance. In fact, we cannot dispense with them ; but, still we do not offer them an inducement to stay. We ask, then, why is it that something cannot be done for this useful class of people ? Can nothing be done ? We answer, yes—the remedy is at hand. Let the next Legislature abol ish all kinds of mcchanicism in the peniten tiary ; convert it into a State Prison, or Lu natic Asylum. Let criminals be kept in solitary confinement, if it is designated that punishment be inflicted for crimes perpetra ted—for, it is now conceded and admitted to be a fact, that labor is not punishment. Besides, it is not denied that the penitentia ry of Georgia, at this time, is not only a place of merchandise, but also a place of cruelty and barbarity ; and does not meet the intentions of the law upon the subject. Let the impression once be circulated abroad, throughout Georgia, that the crimi nal shall be punished by solitary confine ment, instead of years oflabor, and we will hazard the assertion that there will not be, from that period, one half the crimes com mitted, as is under the present organization. Will any other press in Georgia take sides with the oppressed mechanics ? We wait to hear from them.— LaGrange Her ald. COMMUNICATION. FOR THE NEWS & PLANTERS’ GAZETTE. Yalabusha County, Miss’?., ) Sept. 24, 1843. ‘ \ Mr. Editor : —ln my letter of June 10th, I gave you a few of my “ first impres sions” on coming to this State. Since then I have had more time and better op portunities for informing myself, in rela tion to many things, which may interest a portion of your readers. In that letter, I incidentally alluded to Virgil A. Stewart, and others, who were no inconsiderable actors in the first settle ment of this country. Those at a distance can form but an imperfect idea of the ef fect his pamphlets had on the community here ; such was the tremendous excitement for a time, that, law and its ordinary course of administration, were at once abandon ed, as altogether impotent, for the emer gency, and large companies of armed men organized—and took the law in their own hands. Suspected individuals were hunted down, and executed in the most summary manner, without judge, jury, or the benefit of clergy. To say that innocent men fell victims during the excitement of those times, is what might reasonably be expect ed ; and that many who were attainted by a mere breath of suspicion, though escap ing with their lives, yet their characters a thousand times more dear to them, were blasted—at least for a time. After a lapse of years, during which the feverish excitement, I might say delirium of popular feeling, have had time to cool and reflect, as is generally the case after the ‘second sober thought,’ the conclusion is that the agitators who put the 1 guillotine’ of Mob-law in motion, and acted at plea sure on men’s fears and passions, greatly exaggerated and misrepresented, and as the result proved had other motives than the public good at heart. I doubt much whether there is or can be an emergency which would justify a repudiation or nulli fication of the law of the land, and the more summary though less uniform Codes of Gen. Lynch, substituted ; tiiat an isolated case might arise which would seem to call loudly for it, is very possible, provided we had assurance it would slop at that, but experience proves to the contrary. When I came to this State my sympa thies and feelings were all in favor of Stew art, but since I have heard from the mouths of eye-witnesses of the scenes that were e nacted under high Heaven during the ‘ reign of terror,’ and deprecate the authors of them, which added to the developements and tests of the characters ot those who bore conspicuous parts in the ‘ bloody dra ma,’ a revulsion has been produced on my mind. It is due however, to Stewart, that I should correct as to facts some of the al legations in my former letter. What I then stated was as I received it, through the medium of a kind of neighborhood version I of the artuir, and as it affords me much more pleasure ut ull times to speak well ihan ill of any person, it is but justice that I should I stute that a gentleman who had every op. portunity of knowing and recollecting ull the legal issues and decisions of the cases in which he, Stewart, was implicated, in forms me that the charges brought against him were not sustained in law. So far as I now understand the case, and the verdict of a legal jury at that time was one way, and the verdict of the public at this time the other way. A gentleman, however, whom all these retnenescencies interest, most deeply, informed me a few days since, that he should shortly be prepared to give to the world, a full history of the whole matter, from Alpha to Omega. He has been active in gathering all the documents that would throw light on the subject. I would not have bored you with such a long yarn on a local history, that may be unin teresting to many of your readers, did I not know that there are thousands and tens of thousands of men who are good and true in all other respects, and strong advocates of * Lynch-law even to the taking of life. My object is to refer all such to Mississippi, for a commentary on its dangerous tendency. Let them ask intelligent Mississippians who, perhaps, have had opportunities of witnessing more of its effects than the citi zens of any other State in the Union, and they will tell them that judge Lynch should be impeached for malpractice in office, and that any man hereafter who nominates him for re-election, or votes for him, should be disfranchised. As this is about the season when the Cotton crop (politics excepted) is upper most in men’s minds, and as your State e lections will he over before this reaches you, perhaps a word on that subject may not be uninteresting to the “ Planters’ Ga zette” part of your readers. As regards the crop of this State, I have made diligent inquiry, and I have had an opportunity of making up something like a sufficiently ac curate estimate, to say unhesitatingly, that it will he a short one. I have seen sever al New.Orleans Commission Merchants who have been-drumming through the State all summer, and not one, so far as I can learn, who does not set the crop down at one-fourth short of last year. I deem it needless to give particular reasons : One of them, however, is the same that I see noti ced in all the other Cotton States—a cold backward Spring—added to which in some sections, too much rain ; in others, too lit tle ; in some, rust ; in others, worm. The counties North of this, viz.: Panola, De Soto, Fayette, Marshall, &c., I am inform ed, cannot make more than two-thirds of a crop. Some estimate them at loss. It is supposed that one hundred thousand bags were lost by the inundation of the Missis sippi River last spring. The crops on Red River are also injured by heavy rains, and if the newspapers of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina have correctly estimated, the falling off in those States, will be e qually great. North Carolina and Ten nessee, and indeed all cotton North of 34 degrees, with an average frost, must be cut off at least one-third. So put this and that together, my say is eighteen hundred thou sand bags. I may be a bag or two under or over—time can only tell that. Notwithstanding all these things, I yesterday in one of my neighbors that he and others say will make 2500 lbs. per acre. He says he made it last year, and it is quite as good now as then. Yula busha county will make more Cotton than last year ; the seasons have generally been good, and the cotton is well boiled. Land, Negroes, and Cotton, are the “ three senses” here through which impres sions are made on men’s minds, and I find it quite infectious. It has required a very short experience to convince me that the Farmers’ is the most pleasant life, after all. Orators have eloquently contrasted jls advantages ; Philosophers its adapta tion to intellectual developements; Doctors its physical advantages ; Divines its soul inspiring influences to love and gratitude, arid Poets have rung and sung the changes of its beauties and charms, in every nation and land and tongue—nor do I think any of them enthusiasts. The Lawyer leads an anxious file, ’Mid musty books and human strife, The case, to his amazement's lost, His client mulcted in for cost. The Doctor has his hopes and fears— His patient dies ; the wife’s in tears. Surprised, he vents a mental curse Upon the sleepy careless nurse The merchant deals in loss and gain, And after years of toil and pain ; He finds, as thousands late have done That loss has all, and gain has none. Not so the Farmer, slow but sure, His trust in God, the earth his store, With health, and strength, and Willing mind He sows, but “ sows not to the wind.” The more I become acquainted with the Agricultural resources of Mississippi, the more am I convinced that it is here the Far mer will find the true El. Dorado of the South ; the treasure is in the soil, the sur est treasure in the world. Had Cortes and DeSoto pointed their deluded followers to the soil of the great valley ofthe Mississip pi, in lieu of mountains and rocks, for the “hidden treasures,” they would now live in the memories of men as great public ben efactors, and their names rank with Penn and Oglethorpe. Our country continues, as the Doctors would say, ‘alarmingly healthy;’ v/ehtJ? now passed through what is considered here the sickly season, and if we take this year as an average, I am certain that I speak within the bounds of truth when 1 say that Yalabusha county is more exempt from summer and autumnal diseases, say bilious fever, with its various types, than any Cot ton-growing section of country that I have ever seen. Permit me to venture an opin ion, as an M. D. of some twenty years ex perience and observation, on the why and wherefore of the comparative health of this country : In the older Southern States, say from the Potomac River to the Gulf, every class of persons use for breakfast and sup-
