New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-09

of emancipation, and, the case was even DfoughG
before the legislature but he fought his ground
inch by inch and he told me that he had resolved
not leave the spot alive till he could bring his
quota of black property with him to the North.
He prevailed. He was suffered TO choose his
share of the property, and he chose those whom
he supposed to have the lowest market value, and
70 be therefore most likely to suffer wrong as
slaves: so that he had more than third part,
more tl4ar forty in number, all Of whom he brought
to the North, and cared for TIL they were Iii
positions in which they could earn Their own NV
| ING To all his friends it seemed n0bly phllan-
| thropic transaction he regarded 1t simply as a
painful duty laid upon him By the DIVINE FIoN-
dence, and inevitably incumbent on HIM
To q Northem man nothing was more lully
manifest tim the ShiftleSsnesS Of the S0utherners
| The slave States, both Eastern and western, mad
. been settled, on an average ABOUT as curry as
the Eastern and Western free States, respectively
| but there seemed a centurys difference between
the condition of the North and that OF the south,
as to all that constitutes advanced CIVILIZATION;
| Savannah was dependent on the North LOT an
| kinds Of fine mechanical work, whether Oi manu-,
| facture or repair. | Mt that time wore diamond
ring, in which the stone fell from its setting
| The resetting was an affair of few minutes and
| small cost as / found at Cincinnati; but car
ried the ring to every jeweler in savannah, and
| they all offered to send it To New-York: III was
finer work tlian they knew how TO do. learned,
too, that even nice furniture was sent to New
York when it needed repairs. In point Of fact,
| the classes of men which at the North furnished
| skilful artisans deemed handiwOrk beneath them.
| The case was the same as to the kinds of men
that ought 10 have been leaders III pubic improve
meuts in the establishment Of lines OF communlca-
| ton, and in the development OF the resources
Of the country, other than simply agricultural
which, in many quarters where they were the
richest remained uneXplOred and unimagined. Such
men regarded it as beneath their dignity to be
| ANYTHING but planters and politicians The CON
sequence that, of such improvements as had In
| tie lapse of time been made iii the free States
there was in the slave States an absolute dearth
or at best, beginnings so awkward and ulcon-
| trived as to seem burlesque of what they were
meant to be- On the Atlantic seaboard and far
| into tba iDta n
| well-constructed and wel-equipped lines of rail-
road, and the Aleghanies were already crossed
by rail on a series of inclined planes, which took
not only passengers, but loaded cana-boats with
out breaking bulk, over the steepeSt heights that
| steam power anywhere in the world had begun TO
climb The contrast in this respect between the
two sections of the country may, OH the Southern
side, be illustrated from the notes OF my journey
from Savannah TO New Oreans.
The railroad from Savannah TO Macon, 200
miles in length, was traverSed in twelve hours.
On the way there not single village. and
there were but few houses in sight. There was
not single stationhOuse or railroad building OF
any kind About once in ten miles the train
stopped for wood and water, the pumping app2r-
atus being of the rudest description. BY the
pump was little pile Of pine wood. the STICKS
| charred at each end. showing that fire had been
employed to facilitate supeIsede the labor Of
ch0pping. At these stopping places there was
generally small drinking-shOp, at which the
mails were opened and changed. and IN which
passengers probably sheltered themselves in bad
weather when waiting for train. 1T one Of these
places was q shanty, in which we breakfasted.
| We dned under new house that stood on piles.
The earth was our dining room floor. The dinner
would have been decent but for the sand that was
sffted through the cracks in the floor above
with every football
| From Macon to Griffin, sixty miles went by
rail in six hours The rail series of fiat
strips of iron fastened by spikes to wooden rail,
and OF course, liable to spring into what were
called snakes heads. The myth was (and had
there been enterprise enough to import japanese
runners it need not have been myth that
.lxrnp n..ft1 trofF, mil nnIg ~
the snakes heads. The tank that fed the boiler
| eaked so badly that had to take in water
every five miles. This defeat had the compensat-
ing advantage OF so thoroughly watering the track
| as to prevent any annoyance from dust. The
| passenger could have been derived from no
anterior type. but must have been evolved from
the brain of some native architect. When
! entered the l found myself in a long. rudely
built unglazed wagon, with huge splttOOn in
the centre, with ample standing room, and, as
at first supposed, with no seats But at length
aSoertaned that there ran round the entire perlph-
cry of the car shelf, little more than hands
breadth in width covered with blue baize, and
that it was a scat followed their example, but
standing would have been much more comfortable.
From Griffin to Chehaw, Ala, had stage
coach journey OF 10 niles, accomplished In twenty
hours, through Sparscly settled country, passing
house, generally log house perhaps every half
mile These houses, oftcner than not were deSti-
tutp of glazed windows, with wooden shutters 10
exclude the rain, which when closed must have
excluded light also, unless there were struggling
day-bcans that found their way through the I'M
plastercd chinl{S between the logs. These houses
made my night journey very picturesque. Candles
were little used, oil still less but pine knots were
| burned freely, and house Illuminated By them.
as they sh0ne with intense brilancy through doors
and windows and numberless apertures in the
rough log walls with similar lights in surrounding
negro cabins had the effect of magnificent fire
works got up for show But how the United
| States mail lived through such fiery dispensatlon
was 10 me incOmprehcnsible. The mailbag was
opened every four or five miles, in front Of the
| IL of .
| aiming IL with a blazing torch in one hand @
torch too, that scattered sparks that might easily
have turned the entire correspoDdence into ashes
| At Chehaw We took rail for Montgomery, a
distance OF forty miles, accomplished In four hours
and half Here l encountered what | fouad
TO be characteristic of Southern travel. Two
| o'clock was the nominal hour for starting, and
the passengers were all on hand then. ready 70;
| starting, hut the engineer had oversight himself
IN N, an auer-dlnner nap so that we did not start
till three subsequently had ample experience
| VI the Ignoring of the time element. especially
| by steamboats,. 1t not even expected that
| they would start at the advertised time Thus
for my voyage up the Mississippi, went on board
my steamer in the evening. thlTty-slX hours after
the time advertised for starting, and slept that
night on board, alongside of the, pier
From Montgomery, after waiting Two days fol-
boat reported as due on my arrival, i took pas
sage on the Alabama River to Mobile, the passage
| occupying three entire days, the boat being tied
| up for the two intervening nights 20 tree, on
| account of sandbanks, through which there had
| not been enterprise enough even 10 procure an APP
pTOprlaHOn from COngreSS-neNer dliilcult In De-
| hall OF southern rivcr--tO cut a safe channel
From Mobile | went By steamer 10 the eastern
| shore OF Lake POntchartrain. thence by rail
| road OF five miles 10 New-Orleans the road having
| been built through noisome and loathsome
| swamp laden with miasmatic capacity sufficient
| to poison the air for miles around. which only a
! slave-ridden community could have left un-
cleared. unceansed and undraned at the very
| back door Of rich and great commercial city.
In NewOrleans. which then at the height
Of its prosperity IL was perfectly evident that the
l large businees Interests were pripcpelY IN ohe