New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-12-18
rig BUGS SOUTH.

ton. For instances: "When defeat brings
" death to the best and brayest of our land,
" and more than death to those who merely
" survive, reckless must be the man who as
" sumes to play any part in this desperate
" game without more than ordinary solictude."
This is put, it will be noticed, in the best
Doctor.Samuel-J ohnsonian style. What is put :
the reader may ask. Really, We don't know
All we know is that whatever is put is very
we'll put indeed. But this is better still: "lf
" the ship is lost the captain goes with IT,
" If our cause is lost, all who hold big places
Z" in the Southern States must perish first in
=" its fall"
--Pettus evidently felt crick in the neck
when be emitted this sentence. His Is one OF
Z" the big places" and his may be one OF the
fret halters. The "big places will become
"tight places" when sour cause" is " lost -"
Pettus understands what his peril is with
reasonable cearness. He is also kind enough
to observe that not only will those :" in high
"places" be hung, but that Zone common
L" destiny awaits us ALL" Still, he seems to
think that being big placeman he VIII DO
turned of in the very first batch. SO far from
saving him, his "big place" will seal his doom.
Well, if anybody is to be hung, why not
Pettus
Two things we may reasonably conjecture.
1t is evident in the first place, that GoV'
Pettus feels that he deserves halter. You
see. reader, that he takes it for granted, In
the very beginning that if caught, he VIII be
indicially strapgled. You notice, too, that OF
this he, by no means, complains. lie no more
thinks of making other than a hempen exit,
than ordinary men-not "big' men--thnk Of
expiring in their shoes and outside their sheets.
He knows that if he conquers, he comes IN Tor
the cakes; if he is conquered, for the AFORESAID
crayat. Pettus is philosopher, Pettus is, and
when the hour of his strangulation has struck,
pettus will 90 out in Roman way, and
without murmur.
1t may be noticed, in the second place, that
Pettus is far from jolly, though he does get up
for the nonce o little damp enthusiasm. His
speech has moldy SAVIOR, as of the tomb. 1t
is astonishing TO observe how much he has to
say about death in various shapes, and particu-
larly about " the pale caravan for the tomb, "
which. together with "tbe red rain Of battle"
and the dark and bloody ground" gives a
iunereal tone to the Pettus Inaugural, as If it
were the Pettus Valedictory. What with the
chance of death in the field and of death on
the scafiod and other varieties of death alluded
to by the Governor, we fancy that in early
life he was bound prentice to an undertaken,
and cannot get the old collins out Of his crani-
um. But, then, ambition always has been and
will be costly. If you must have one OF ST the
4" big places, you must also pay for It,. Look
at Caesar, Dead he is in the Capitol. Look
nj Pettus, Dead he is not thus far, but dead
he expects to be, and soon. "One common
" Destiny" says Pettus, " awaits US all" We
4" big" fellows will go fret, but you little ones
will follow surely. Indeed, We are not sure
that, by sort of intellectual projection, Pettus
does not consider himself as bad as dead al
ready. for there is an "as / am now, so you
" must be- tone in this Inaugural, which is as
un.naugural as possible. Who would be a
"Big 'un ~
But it seems to us, finally, that Gov. Pettus
does not know how to die with discretion.
Why, in letting out his own soul, did he also
hberate from the bag such an extraordinarily
large eat Is the "Confederacy'' a Republic
or an Aristocracyl What are these "big
baIJ Tbot
is the qualification of Mississippi arstocratl
Color? Cash' Birth How "big" must
man be to hold ga big place." Can mis-
creant so utterly impoverished as not to own
one square-iuch of negro aspire to ga big
"pace" and an early DEATH Must a man be
a big man to fill "a big place ?" What is
the minimum of abdomen which, according to
the Mississippi Constitution, is consistent with
a big place Must the fit be tight or a
loose one Are men elected to big places by
admeasurement of a tailor's tapel If this be
so, we hereby express our commiseration for
all lean, hungry, and niggerless white men
within the Pettus baiwck-p0or creatures,
who find it hard work to live, and who are
not allowed even the liberty of dying, until the
gpace people are costly cofined.
We don't knOw-not having lived under the
mild sway of Pettus, we cannot he sure-but
we think, if we resided in Mississippi, and
were mere poor white man, with nothing
but our soul and body to call our own, that
when Pettus called to us from his big place to
20 forth to The CORY field to die in defense Of
Pettuss great gang of "niggers," we
should think it rather hard if, by the force