New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-08-08
THE sp1HIT OF THE SOUTH.


their people approach this work of the graycSt
and widest consequence. We condense, there'
fore, from our Southern files the following indi-
cations Of that spirit, which have at least tne
merit of having been fairly and candldly
gathered, with no design to uphold any speciai
theory or view, but simply to afford iair ex'
hibit of the views and impulses now current in
that region:
Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, formerly Demo-
cratic politician of some note in Tennessee,
and supposed to have largely contributed to
President Folks nomination, lately made
speech at Columbia, Tenn, in the heart of o
section which was very intensely Rebel, as was
Pillow himself. In his remarks, he counSeled
the returned Rebel soldiers to abide faithfully
by the laws and reconcile themselves to the new
order of things, as he has done. He told them
that they had been CALAMITY whipped, and the
victorious Government had the right to set up
rule over them according to its own judg-
ment, and exhorted them to prove by their acts
that they were worthy of the confidence OF that
Government. He further said that he had been
DISTINGUISHED himself, but he had no complaints
to make, and would live up to the laws existing,
as all good citizens should.
They used to raise a laugh at Gen. Pillows
expense by relating that he, while serving III
the Mexican war, being ordered to intrench ms
brigade, dug his ditch on the inside OF ms
breastwork instead of the outside. Whether
this story had any foundation or not, he certain
" seems to have got his ditch in the right place
now.
We lay much stress on fact on which all
writers at the South seem to be ag-eed-vz.,
that the Whites are far more generally at Work
than they ever We're before. 1t Is still insisted
bv many that "niggers' will be idle if free; bat
no one denies that the overthrow OF Slavery has
been followed by very large increase OF White
labor. OF course. there is quite suhciency OF
ideness among both Whites and Blacks; but
that thousands of Whites have gone to work
who never worked before, save reluctantly and
very ftfully, is abundantly attested. And this
wholesome, hopeful change is cortain TO go on.
Men who used to think work fit for slaves only
now take hold Of it in earnest, and find II neither
so repulsive nor so degrading as they used to
esteem il. This is one of those reforms which
never 90 backward. Ifall the Southern Whites
were to-day hard at work, earning bread Tor
their families, We might at once disband the re-
mainder of our armies, leaving few regulars
to look after the Indians.
The Memphis Bulletin (July 800 gives empha-
sis to the fact that whereas labor III that city Ii
superintendent, wages are 100 per cent higher
than formerly. A contractor attributes this
anomaly 10 the Incidence of the Blacks. pre-
MUM Oh Gold ranging from 40 TO 40 per cent.
would seem q very natural explanation for at
least part it.
Holmes County, Mississippi is not fair ay'
erage of the South. 1t has pretty rude, rough
population, Of whom two-thrds were slaves III
1860, has had of late years the bad habit Of CIV
ing Democratic majorities, and was, early and
late, deep in the counselS of the Rebellion. OF
this county, The Daily Noslciue Press and Tunes
(Aug. y reports as follows:
a gentleman who has Just returned from Holmes
County Mississippi gives dark picture Of the condi'
ton OF affairs there. former citizen Of the county
returned there to get large quantity Of cotton which he
had stored away He found inquiry that one OF the
most respectable physicians and planters In the neigh
borhood had confscated the lager part oil Oecause II
was owned by a Yankee, L. C., Union man An arrest
aud confinement prison by the military authorities,
made the thief disg0ge part OF his stolen property
He s.i lies in jail Tire rest 81 the cotton some 90 900
bales was burned by the citizens soon as they learned
that the had come for it. The people there are
more violently rebeli0us then ever They take The afn.
lestv oath ard then the Unonis and the Govern
mcni more fuIiousy than 1t common thing 10
hear them remark: W ell have taken tue Odtnf
| Yes. and l am bigger Rebel by long ways than
ever was A merchant recently took out over slo.Vu
worth of goods OF the adjoining counties He lad
hnIdly opened bis goods when he was visited By
small party Of ctizcRs disguised, some OF whom he
recognized his neichbors who robbed him OF every
dollars worth Of goods Tue poor merchant went 10
the nearest post and procured guard Of forty soldiers
to arrest the guerras. The Rebel citizens Iaied 10
the number Of over one hundred bushwhacked our sol
diers nd forced them 10 retreat. The bushwhackers
then arrested the merchant stripped him Of his boots
and bat watch and 81 900 n money. and then fired NJ
teen bullets through his body, aud left him mangled.
hideous corpse. We apprehcDd that something syerer
than an amnesty oath, franchise act Is needed 10
punish population 80 barbsrOus and bitterly dsloya as
those Mississippi outlaws
It will evidently take some time to "recon-
struct such people as these.
Gen. Fisk reports that many people through
out the South are still drawing rations from the
Federal stores-somc Of them twice or thrice
overland that the whole business OF issuing
rations to the destitute is melting the grossest
abuses. We presume it will soon be discon-
tinued, now that the growing Indian corn has
become edible. The South has little else ma.
turing, but has large stand Of Corn.
On the whole, we judge that there is still
much bitterness and venom latent throughout
the late Rebel States, but no general purpose of