New-York daily tribune., 1861-08-14
THE WAR Fer The UNION.
IMPORTANT fRON NORTH CAROLINA.
rTrE NEGROES ON TI1E ALERT.
PROBABILITIES OF INSURRECTION.
CONDITION OF THE REBELS.
THE spy SYSTEM, &C., &c.

consequence, having less tn1n t"o "u"
dents and no business beyond that parasiticaIy car
ried o by restaurants hotels faro banks, ana grog
.hons The railroads are the Raleigh and CASTOR;
the Seahoard ard Roanoke, terminating nj for1s-
mouth, opposite Norfolk, Va; the wilmington ana
welaop: and the Weldon and Petersburg, running
respectively West, East, South, and North, and
constituting links Of of the great through lines
of Northern and Southern travel.
The place is on the Roanoke River, on either
side of whose banks lie the famous " Roanoke
fauds," which form the most productive agricul
tural region in the State. The river traverses
the wealthy and largely .slaveboldiDg counties Of
Warren, Halifax, Martin, Northampton and lser-
tie, and empties into Albemarle Sound not Tar
from Plymouth. 1t is of very considerable length,
narrow but deep, with strong current, differing
n this respect from most of the streams in Ea.teru
Caro obua and rises rapidly after heavy rains, fire.
quently oyerfosing the adjoining banks aud fer
taizng them with its rich deposits. The falls at
Weldon, around which q canal for boats has been
constructed, furnish a splendid wster-power, in
the improvement of which large sums have been
expended, but hitherto with little practical result
cradle trade, and has an aDtiquated air which
well comports with its historic note as the cradle
Of the old Constitution of North Carolina, which
was signed on the 10Th of December, 1916, IN
the Court. House. yet standing and IN use
A large transient crowd seems to be CONSTANTLY
hanging about Hsppers Hotel, which ID e"n'enl-
emily and proftaby close to the place oi debark-
alton from the frequent trains. There is a tee-
graph station bere-the only one in this quarter
of the StaIe-and the flow of gossip and retailing
Of rumors is often interrupted IN these times by
the reception of some startling dispatch coming
TO an IDLE and curious platter from the neghbor-
hood and Immediately made known to the gaping
multtude. Messrs. Long, Bell, Ransom, and
others, who can afford to pay, are the benefcent
dispensers of this occasional intelligence. You
should see the rush when the train gets in from
Petersburg, at IL o'clock, bringing Tie Daily
Express, a penny paper crammed with sensation
items, which sells readily for Eve cents copy.
Were 80 disposed, / might fiji your columns
with alarming statements upon almost every con-
eeiyable exciting topic, and fully as reliable"
doabtess, as the stuff of which great deal OF
news is made nowadays. Whether the
old men zee visions" and the "young men
cut of imaginary data, cannot tell with cer-
taiuty, but presume not altogether. OF one
thing ! am sure: that the negroes, whose cun-
ming and duplIcity are wonderful. have pretty
Eair idea OF what is going on, and only await
the word to work fearful mischief. Somehow or
other, by some secret telegraph which cannot be
- -,
nicsted to the rest. They hang about groups of
whites, their cOuntenaEces unutterably stOld, or
graniDg with stupid indifference, as if they
neither heard nor understood, and catch up ev-
srytbing that is said. They all know Of the negro
Tinnan and his deeds, and they recolect Fre-
mont and John Brown. Indeed, their OppOrtu.
mites for getting information are vastly better
than those of the poorer class of
whites. So ubiquitous are the negroes
in a Southern household, that neither the
table, the parlor, nor the sleeping -room has hpy
secrets from them, and they are remarkably
shrewd at drawing inierences. Many masters,
with infatuated and idiotic folly, have actually
called their slaves together and given them long
pretended explanations" Of the pending
troubles, and told them bug-bear stories of what
the Abolitionlsts in "Old Abe's" army would
do to them if they ever got them in their
clutches. But slave is not so gullible as what
u Known in the South as "mean white man"
(who may be imposed upon in this way, and he
sees through lie as well as anybody though
he has setse enough to disguise his unbelief and
net "let on" that he knows better. So ripe,
already, are these pariahs Of labor for revolt,
that Nat Turner would now succeed, and the
miserable failure Of 81 would BE-, in '6I an in
evitable triumph. That this trying crisis of the
" institution will pass without Spartacus /
do not believe. Meanwhile, patrol duty is dill
gently performed night and day, and the
strictest vigilance is sedulously exercised;
yet there are frequent reciprocal butcheries
Of whites and blacks, and continual
slave escapades, some Of the fagitves being caught
after much trouble, but most Of then euding all
search. The sxamps which cover fully one-tenth
part of the State, with its nearly fifty thousand
square miles, afford an impenetrable covert to
the runaway. have heard Of case, near Ply
mouth, where gang of negroes was accidentally
discovered in a marsh, within SIX miles of town.
some of whom had disappeared thirteen years
before. Not long ago, a planter named Wood.
ruf, living in Northampton County, near here on
the railroad, was murdered by his slaves. In
BERTHE County, Mr.. Askcw, a bachelor, fell
victim to a conspiracy of between thirty and
forty negroes (as appeared by the confession of
one of those iuplcated) who, after brutaly ki-
ing him with an Ak, set fire to bis house, in the