The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1860-12-20
ACANDID VIEW OF SECESSION.
Extract Of a Private Letter from Lady In
South Carolina Received In this City.

From the n. Y. Times.
&. 3. c., Saturday, Dec. l. 1860.
MY Dear Uucie 1t Is with different
feelings that l sit myself to pen these
to YOU, from those which actuated me
when l wrote you last. Then all look, d
bright and cheerily in the future-now,
how gloomy and portentous, still fer.
ven'ly "pray God that this cup may pass
away from US" The country here is all
aglow with the fires:: ::of the revolution, aod
such is the intensity of excitement that
We can scarcely fpd time or inclination
to talk or think of anything else than the
political topics Of the day, and the moral
aud social consequences directly pertain
ing to secession. l fear that secession
and revolution are, with our people, fore
gone ctuclusions; that we have gone SO
far, that retraction a, recession are i'm
possible, and that civil war, with oil its
consequent horrors, is already upon US.
| shudder for the wives and mothers, sis.
ters and babes Of South Carolina, a. l
contemplate the immediate future of the
State. You need not be surprised at any
time to see me and the children in your
I midst, for no argument could induce me
to remain an hour longer than should
be compelled to, if the worst should come
to the worst
You may imagine, dear uncle, our sit
uatlon, but you can never realize it in its
fullness. Already We tremble in our
homes In anticipation and expectancy of
ment, a negro insurrection. Could you
see the care aud precaution displayed
here by the proprietors Of the negroes,
not only by planters, but others. you
would not for moment envy our posses
sions. Not night passes that we do not
securely lock our field servants in their
quarters; but our most loved and v,lued
house servants, who in ordinary times we
would trust TO any extent, are watched
aud guarded against with all the scrutiny
and care that we possess. Our planters
and owners of slave property do not al
low their servants to have any intercourse
with each other, aud the negroes are con-
fined strictly to the premises where they
belong. We are obliged to increase our
force of overseers toprevent too free in
terc0urse even among our own servants.
The negroes feel aud notice these new
restraints, and naturally ask "why is
this p But it is unnecessary for them
10 ask the question, for they all colnpre.
hend the cause as well as ,.e who own
them. They have already learned enough
to give Il EN- nn idea OF what is going on
in the State aud nation, aud this knowl.
edge they have not gained from Aboli.
tionists, as some suppose, but FROM the
of their owners indirectly
held in their presence They have al
ready heard of Lincoln's election, land have
heard also that he is for giving them their
liberty, and you may imagine the result.
You have heard that our servants all
love their masters, and their masters ,
families, and would lay down their lives
for them-tha: the colored race in the
South prefers slavery to freedom-that
that they would not be free if they could,
&c, &c. That is but the poetry Of the
case, the reality consists in sleeping up.
on our arms at night-in double. .bolting
and Earring our doors-in establishing
and maintaining an efficient patrol force
in buying watch dogs and in taking
turns 10 watching our sleeping children,
to guard them aud ourselves from the !
Of these "loviug servants
a vengeance which, though now smould
ering, is liable to burst out at any mo-
ment, to overwhelm the State in spite of
the Palmetto flags or state precautions.
You at the North are not the only ones
who are suffering financially by this new
panic. The planters among US are really
suffering from the depreciation in their
property. Already negroes are not worth
half price. No one dares to buy ser.
want, fearing lest he, in doing so, should
be introducing upon his plantation one
with the idea Of freedom
My husband has but few servants
l believe but thirty -one all told-aud still
l feel (and so does he) that they are
thirty one too many in such times as
these He would sell them Immediately,
if it were possible, but the truth is he
could realize nothing for them at present,
or at most not over half their real value, !
Slaves are . drug in the marker, my bus.
band says, and you know him well
enough to judge Of his Judgment in such
matters.
Now, one word as to the military force
of the State, to protect us against an in.
surrection. | presume, with the excep.
ton Of Charleston, and perhaps a few
large towns, that the remainder Of the
State is situated very much as We are
here and will give you an idea Of how
we'll prepared We are to resist mob
Upon our place Of about 1900 acres We
have: OF whites, males-husbsnd, two
cyarsssre srd my scc Of l8 ye.rs-tot.!.