Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-02-13

Things have vastly changed on this high
way Of commerce and trade since last
Travelled on It's waters. Thorgh her bank
are no longer lined with hostile batteries
and from her beetling cliffs frowning can
non no longer look grimly down upon US
and though the bordering valleys no longet
tremble to the tramp Of armed men mar
shaling for eight, the blighting effects o
the four years Of war are eyeryWheri
mournfullY apparent.
Immediately fronting the wharf at Cairo
is the Metropolitan Saloon" where
Ulysses, the Silent, drank and smoked
and smoked and drank, aud slobbered and
played cards during the six months of his
occupancy of Cairo prior % the battle Of
Belmont, in 1861. It is the testimony Of
many that he spent days in this saloon in q
state Of stupid and beastial istoxicalion,
the saliva running from his mouth upon
has clothes in a manner disgusting to the
more decent ka5itues of the concern.
In msudlin mood he determined to
dislodge Polk and Pillow from their forti-
fed position at Columbus. With colora
flying and drums beating he sent his men
to the attack, and after leaving with the
brave, lion-hearted Confederate leaders, a
brilliant and almost bloodless victory
on their part, his decimated columns
and scattered boats returned to
Cairo, and Ulysses returned to the metrOp-
oils continuing to pay his attentions with
more assiduity TO Bacchus than to Mars.
This was Grants first exploit in the West.
II was Just afler this, when some person
referring 10 his loss at Belmont, be i'm
mortalized himself By enunciating the hui
name sentiment that a mule was worth
more than man."
At every turn Of the river, points of his
ioric interest are presented. The mind
inadvertently fingers on Island No. 10"
Surrendered after a gallant, isolated and
unprotected defense, 30 Commodore Foote
Of the Federal gunboat feet. Fort Pillow
also attracts attention, where the dauntless
and heroic wizard Of the saddle" Gen.
Forrest the Murat Of the South, captured
q Federal garrison and all its equipments.
M exploit Of the war exhibited more dar-
ing than this, nor did any call forth more
bitter falsehoods or misrepresentation.
On to Memphis Alter taking aboard
5000 sacks of corn, our magnificent steamer
glided on the rolling river. At Memphis
we met our old friends Of the corps edito-
rial, Mr.. Durff, of the ApdIdache, and Messrs
English and Birney Marshall, and Col
Leon Trousdale, OF the Appeal The Colonel
looks hale and solid as of yoTe, when his
talents adorned the eolumns Of the old
Union and American. Here, also, We parted
with j. B. Ferguson, Of your city, who is
inst from Washington city. st...
In travelling on a steamboat, Of course
bni little opportunity is afforded of finding
ont the general condition Of affairs in the
Interior. Bat enough can be gathered to
show that the condition Of the people in
the interior of Mississippi ond Arkansas is
deplorable in the extreme. Uttcr dersitu-
ton prevails. The country that once
doomed as the rose in the full tide Of suc-
cess and prosperity, is little less than vast
wilderness. Discouraged and broken down,
the people have neither the means nor the
spirit to attempt anything. Rich alluvial
lands in these two States, which before the
war could not have been purchased for less
than thirty dollars an acre. can now be
bought for two dollars, and many farms
are advertised at that price, and on credit
besides. There il not hoOf of stock going
South, and strange az it may seem, it is
nevertheless true, that mules and horses are
being sent up instead of dorm the river.
Mules in Mississippi are not worth thirty
dollars a head, and are more than three
times as cheap as they are in Kentucky and
Tennessee. Farming implements are sim
ply worth scarcely anything, there being
no demand whatever Plantations and
farms are being abandoned, and the former
opulent owners seeking asylums in more
favored countries. Very few persons
speak of attempting again TO raise cotton,
and from appearances there will ne little
planted this season. Scarcely any one, in
fact. in the two States referred TO, has the
means 10 plant extensively. Punched with
the want Of absolute necessaries, the people
will cultivate the cereals. In this, how
ever wise and needful as thiscour may be,
the most aggravating discouragements are
presented. The country is full of lazy, in
dolent negroes, who steal and rob and
pilfer of everything in the shape Of edibles
from a COW to a chicken, and from bag of
corn TO a potato. These negroes have no
restraints They are cut Of employment,
and not having energy enough to work on
their own hook they steal the earnings OF
others. 10 some counties we are assured
that scarcely 8 COW, or hog, or chicken, is
to be found. This state Of things exists
for the most part in the counties back from
the river, and not in close proximity to
the large cities. 1t is most difficult to
raise farm products and more difficult TO
keep them when raised. How long this
direful state Of things is to continue God
snly knows.
At present there is scarcely a ray of twi-
light on the horizon Of our hopes. Surely
retributive justice will yet fash her CLEAN
ing sword over the meTcenary Eorth-men
whose rapacious cupidity induced them to
visit such an Iliad of woes upon the peo-
pie Of our sunny Southland. The Eternal
God who rules the destines of man and
things, will vet hurl upon them the curses
and tbunderbolts Of His omnihc wrath.
Then woe to these blood bankers, and
plunderers, who, in the name of insulted
liberty swsrmed through CTR valleys and
along our waters, carrying the torch in one
hand and the bloody knife in the other,
and leaving desolstion, destruction, ruined
homes and crushed hearts 10 their track.
But enough Of this. We will bide our
time. We are approaching Vicksburg, the
key u Mississippi river, which during the
war, with a siege that will compare favor
ably with that Of Veil in ancient, and those
Of Calias and Saragossa in modern times.
All, Nioksburg with what melancholy
ieeiinga do we gaze upon thy dis
mantled ramparts How well do We re-
member the storm OF iron and FIRE that
vas poured upon thy ancient bluff before
our starry banner dropped its crest Many
a brave and noble Southern heart siilled
forever its hopeful pulsations in de fen ling
yon lone heights Bat further remarks
must be reserved for the present.
On the 4th Of July, 1853, Nioksburg
fell snd Gettysburg was lost, aud on that
day the star Of our yonng Confederaog
went down in blood, ia gloom, but yet il
glory. NERIrks.
-@aaaa-----=.------
Thirty years ago there was bat one Ho-
mppathic physician in New England. 10
1857 there we're one hundred and twenty