New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-12-29
STARTLING REPORT FROM GEORGIA.
A RUMORED SLAVE NSURRECTIOs.
EFFORTS TO KEEP 1T SECRET.
Planters Sending their Families North.
n Dispal Cd 70 Tho N. Y. Tribune.

Special Dispatch 70 The N. Y Tribune.
WASHINGTON, Friday, Dec. %, 1860.
The following dispatch, dated at Macon, Ca,
on Thursday, Dec. "a, reached Georgian gen
tleman here last night, who has allowed me to
copy it for THE TRIBUNE:
"Rumors of rising among the slaves in the
southwestern part of the State prevail here. 1t
is impossible to say with certainty whether an
instruction has really taken place, or is only
threatened.
1.-The greatest care ia taken to keep the mat
ter secret, but most exaggerated reports are whis-
pered aloud in this town to-day.
"There is certainly much excitement among
the negroes everywhere, and the occasional rumor
of fighting at Charleston nuke them restless and
very dangerous.
Il am told that some planters are hastily get
ting all things ready to send their wives and
young children to the North"
From Our Own Correspondent.
AUGUSTA, Ca, Dee. IS, 1860.
Christmas Day Peace on earth and good
will to men The old song, as heard here just
now, has something in it very like mockery.
do not have in mind merely the financial gloom
and the want now beginning to pinch the people;
nor yet the dark prospect of the coming political
storm, so sure to break on the South if she
persists in her mad course There is another
danger threatening her, so appalling that all
calsmities else dwinole 70 petty troubles--so
terrible in its spectral ugness that strong men
think Of il with sbuddering-dara- hardly whisper
it among themselves. 1t is the awful peril OF
serviIe insurrection, the possibility OF which no
one can think of without extreme dread. POSSE
JiItp, said probability is the word to be used.
For the catastrophe is probable, and even while
| write may have occurred.
All must have remarked that s6ry little is al
low ed to appear in the Southern prints on this
sui ject, and the reticence is natural. The sub
iect will not bear talking about. As well might
a man carry an unshieded csndlelght to barrel
of loose powder to see if all is safe there, as to
take open precautions against insurrection among
the slaves. Is it not bad enough to have what
Mr.. Buchanan, the President Of the United
States, calls "yague notions of freedom" GERM.
nating in the mind of the negro, without letting
him perceive that be is considered very dan.
gerous and powerful belng7 Even what does
appear in the Southern newspapers is not trust
worthy; on the one hand, the reports of attempt
ed instructions are exaggerated for some local
political purpose; on the other, they are made
light Of, in order that fire may not kndle fire.
We occasionally hear Of plan Of insurrection
nipped in the bud, Of whippings and hangings
and burnines, and then there is silence; the mas
tiers would have us believe that these extreme
punishments cure the evil. They know that it is
only aggravated, and that every plot so sup
pressed adds explosive power to the mine.
1t is not in the papers that We must look for
the truth concerning the possibility of insurrec-
tons. We must use our own powers of observa-
ton, and must form our opinions by what We see
ard hear in actual daily life among those people
We are at hotel, or on steamboat; negro
servants, slaves, are about US. Some of them
are clearly careless, paying little or no heed to
what goes on about them; others, and they are
many, have a grayer air, an intelligent eye, and
ears eagerly open, to catch every spoken word
With as little thought of these listeners as if
they were indeed the brutes their owners declare
them to be, the conversation upon the politics of
the day goes on in their presence; they hear that
the country is in dire confusion; that great
changes are to be made; that the South is to
separate itself from the North; that Slavery is at
the bottom of the matter; that the North refuses
TO give up Fugitiyes and that it ia bent on CIV
ing freedom 70 those in bondage; that man
named Lincoln, and 4 free negeo named
head of the General Government; that the South
will not submit TO this rule, because their prop
erty would be worthless to them under it, and
that fighting may result. The property" you
see there putting fuel into the stove, and taking
an unnecessary time to do so simple an act, hears
the talk, and among the distorted notions there
from born in his brain--for i believe it is con.
ceded that be has brain Of some sort--there is
enc very firmly fixed and not 40 foolish as many
Others; il il that through the election of " this
"man Lincoln" and this " free negro Hamlin,"
for he really believes in the elegant Southern
fiction that the latter is of African blood great
good is to come 10 him and his fellOw.chattels;
he il TO become less valuable az an article Of
trade, and consequently worth more to himself.
You can't help noticing that the property" il
remarkably attentive to that FIRE, and that he
finds many occasions for coming within hearing
of the talk about " this man Lincoln" and this
" free negro Hamln." Do you suppose he does
not speak to the other property" about what
he hears, that he does not convey some of his
vague ideas of freedom into other brains1
Let US 90 now to plantation not many miles
from this place. About tho house We shall zee
number Of very well-clad and well-fed slaves Of
various shades, some of them rather closely con.