Smyrna times., 1861-08-08
TRIP TO NArcmrz-GENERAL REMARKS.

.
/ Na.chez. OF the 1900 steamers on the river
not tthe are now in employment, and the
owners are in bad way. 1t was late al night
when the steamer arrived at Natchez, and
next morning early took shelter in another
enginelcss steamer, which was thought to be
hotel by its owners. Old negress on board,
however, said, " There was nothing for break
fast, go TO Curry's, OH Shore" Walk up hill
to Curry's-a bar-room, waiter and flies
Z" Can have any breakfast" No, stree it's
over half an hour ago." "Nothing to eat at
all?' No, sir" &" Can get some any
where else o. 81 guess not" 1t had been
my beliefthat person with money in his pock.
ct could not starve in any country Soi.disant
civilized. Exceptions prove rules but they are
disagreeabie things. l chewed the cud Of fem
cy .fante de mieur, and became the centre Of
attraction to citizens, from whose conversation
| | learned that this was " Jeff Davis fast-day."
Observed one, 1t quite puts me in mind of
Sunday all the stores closed" Said another,
"We'll soon have Sunday every day, then, for
| 'spect it won't be worth while for most shops
to keep open any longer" Naichez, a place
of much trade and cotton export in the season,
is now as dull-let us say as IIarWich without
regetts. But it is ultra Secessionist, nil ob-
stGnte. My hunger was assuagcd by friend,
who drove me up to his comfortable mansion,
| through country not unlike the wooded parts
of Sussex, abounding in fire trees, and in the
only lawns and park.likc fields have vet seen
in America. In the evening, after dinner, my
host drove me over to visit small encamp.
ment under wealthy planter, who has raised
equipped and armed his company at his own
expense.
We were abliged to get out at a narrow lane
and walk towards the encampment on foot
sentry stopped US, and wo observed that there
was q seRblance of military method in the
camp. The captain was walking up and down
the verandah Of the poor deserted hut, for
which he had abandoned his splendid home.
A book Of tactics rdee's)-which, in part.
is O. translation Of the French MauuaI--lav on
the table. Our friend was full of fight, and
said he would give all he had in the world to
the cause. Bat the day before a party of
horse, composed Of sixty gentleman in the dis
trict, worth from 100000 to Gj0,000 each
! had started for the war in Virginia. Every.
1 thing TO be seen and heard testfes to the great
zeal aud resolution with which the South have
entered into the quarrel. But they hold the
! power of the United States and the loyalty of
/ the North to the Union at far tco cheap o a rate.
! crossed the river at Natchez, and saw one
fine plantation, in which the corn, however,
was by no means so fine as have often seen.
In this part Of Mississippi the secession feeling
was not so oVerpowerlng at first as it has since
the ma jority declared itself, but the expression
Of feeling is now all one way. The rage of
Southern sentiment is 10 me mex plcable, max.
ing every allowance Tor Southern exaggeration.
/ 1t is sudden, hot, and apparently as cuuseless
as Summer lightning. From every place
touched at along the Mississippi, large por-
ton of the population has gone forth TO fight,
or is preparing TO do 80. The whispers which
rise through the storm are few and feeble
Some there are who sigh for the peace and
happiness they have seen in England But
cannot seek those things; they must look af-
| ter their property. Each man maddens his
neighbor by desperate resolves, threats aud
vows. Their faith is in jeff Davis Strength,
and in the necessities and weaknesses of fFrance
and England.
The inhabitants Of the trncts which lie on
the banks of the Mississippi, aud on the inland
regions thereobout, ought TO be, in the natural
| o.1~ e -
enabled them to turn their rivers into high
ways, TO open primeval forests to the light Of
day and man. All this, however, would have
ayailed them little had not the dema nds of man.
ufaclure abroad, and the increasing luxury and
and population Of the North and West at home,
! enabled them to find in these sWamps and up
! lands sources of wealth richer and more GER
tain than all the gold mines in the world
But there must be gnomes 10 work those mines.
Slavery was an institution ready to their hands
In its development there lay every material
means for securing the prosperity winch Man.
chester opened to them, and in supplying their
own counirymen with sugar. The small, slrug
Cling, deeply-morguged proprietors OF swamp
and forest set their negroes to work 10 raise
| levees, 10 cut down trees, to plantan sow. As
the negro became valuable by his produce, the
Ine lTIsu eUlleIdHl CoUh hiS P'uNO t' t"N NiS
err labors of the plantation, and ditched and
dug, and cut into the waste land. Cotton at
10 cents a pound gave nugget IN every boil.
Land could be had for a few dollars an acre.
Negroes were cheap in proportion. Men who
made few thousand dollars invested them in
more negroes and more land, and borrowed as
much again for the same purpose. They wax
ed fat and rich, ,--there seemed no bounds to
their fortune. But threatning voices came
from the North--ihe echoes Of the sentiments
of the civilized world repeating Of its evil pier
ced their ears, and they found their feet were
of clay, and that they were nodding to their
fall in the midst Of their power. Ruin Inevita-
bly, awaited them ifthey did not shut out these
sounds and stop fhe fatal utterances. The is-
sue is TO them one of life or death. Whoever
raises il hereafter, if it be not decided now,
, must expect to meet the desdlv al nnOsily which
=. l...Ia..nd ln,,n rlIa iha Nnrth u,hn anccna