Year: 1861

ing travelled extensively through the adjoining slave
States l am able to give yon particular inior'nn'ion
regarding the topography Of these regions WHICH, -
some extent did in my last letter, and also, reSau
ing the people of these States and their aoiN'! "
sustain themselves in the war upon when 'ne! HA'e
entered. -,


At present Missouri need not be considered az hkey
to resist the Government and this for two reasons-
one because the majority Of her people are 10 'aVor OF
tbe Union and the other, because her Governor. and
soe Of her leading men, though exceedingly anxious


10 secede simply dare not and ii is enough now to cay
that if Gov jackson escapes hanging before this bus
nes- ia through he will be fortunate than am
willing TO predict So, for the time being we may lay
Missouri on the shef as out of the way.


Kentucky, on the whole, is good and wealthy
State. She is rich in good farms, in energetic able
bodied and hehlthful men, and when compared with
the rest of the South as being selfsusaining and as
possessed of whatever makes people Prosperous-and
happy, she is worth al the Cotton States combined
Her SOIL for the most part is excellent, though consid
eraby iuferior TO that of Ohio Good schools particu
larly for young persons somewhat advanced, are nu
merous, though her common-school system is inferior
to that Of any Free State. great many young men
are really well informed, and can speak and



phrases, and often, they can scarcely be dis
tincushed from those of the same age, brought up in
Ohio or New-York. The number of young people who
can write correctly than the Governor must be
very great. All this is owing to the employment of
Northern teachers. 1t is frequently the case that
Young men, when possessed of means, come hither to
Illinois, buy farms and stock them with mules and
here spending portion OF their time, are much liked
Frequently they marry, and by this and other means,
we have become very friendly. What have just
said applies to the middle class Of Kentuckians, some
of whom own few slaves, and they form, with their
connections majority. Bat in Kentucky, az else
where in the Slave States, it has been customary
always to vote for Shareholders even if the opposing
candidate being non-slaveboder) is much more COM
peeDt and this is the why this State and North
Carolina and Tennessee and Missouri, are 80 msrepre-
sented by their Governors. 1t Is the shareholders, and
not the people who taking State alter state out OF
the Union and the time is not far distant when the nom
shareholders Of the South mnst seek their own preser
vation for their personal liberty is destined to follow
the loss of their political liberty, though may be said
this they never possessed. At the present time Ken
tueky is changing a little the Secession flags are CON-
ing down and their troops are dsbaDdine. They see
that if necessary, hundred thousand troops cen at
months notice be ready TO crocs the border and the
experience thus far of this unwarlike age is, that
nothing il so powerful if not convincing, as well
appointed army ready TO march at the tap OF the drum
Kentucky in the progress Of events that the
fate of Missouri s TO be hers unless she returns 10 her
duty. However more than what she calls duty viii
be required of her; but wait little, while it is re-
neinbered that Gov. Magofin is no better than Gov
jackson.


Now, let us look at Arkansas This s naturally
very poor State, far soil is concerned and yet
is said j; has slaves, in proportion TO the whites
II an any othera any rate, the best parts OF 1t are
particularly 30. The people have been described as
very rich or very poor In my opinion, they are all
very poor; for, though man may have ~ or 100
slaves and 2O00 or 5000 of land, yet if be live
in log house. aud have milk, no butter and no
fruit if no schools near and be have ague good
part Of the year. he is poor man, poorer than ever
expect TO be- whatever bad luck may have. This is
the true condition Of great part of Arkansas In sd-
dition the land off the bottoms s comparatively worth
less except for raising cotton. field OF timothy or OF
tame g1ass is sedom seen, thousands never saw red
clover and the average yield of does not exceed
twelve bushels per More than all, the seasons
are very dry. Had not the graspng hand OF European
and Northern machinery been felt here, this region
would be wilderness to-day. But with Slavery Tre-
yaiing social system, whose foundation is injustice,
cruelty and crime, has been established by the help OF
plimmer of civilization. The Secession element of
this State il composed Of two classesthe Shareholders
and their eons educated gamblers, and petty Office
holders and the poor miserable, white trash, who like
10 hunt and drink whisky, and at the head Of these Id
the Governor The small land-holders, who do their
own work, woud be Union men if they dared to be.
OF all the dark places on the earth the darkest the
large cotton plantations of the semssvsge State Of
Arkansas


Tennessee il little lighter and brighter. The land
il better the streams are clearer and swter and
the sun seems to shine more cheofuly Eastern Ten
nessee though sterile except among the coves Of the
mountains and along the water-courses, is seed by
an honest, industrious and mainly intelligent people
and this section, when considered with reference 10
climate, health good water, beautiful scenery, and
ability TO grow fine fruit the most desirable region
in America, aud perhaps in the whole world. Here
the people live to great age and agues and pulmonary
disc ases are unknown In the future when there shall
be no slaves, this part Of Tennessee will be valued
and become the resort Of the invalid the wealthy and
the lover Of whatever is beautiful in nature. There is
scarcely place in the world unless be the Island
of jersey which is so well adapted for all kinds of
fruit ar this. Yet and other grains are raised here
with some difficulty and the average will not eXceed
ten bushels per acre.


While on the subject of grain-growing, would say
that the further South goes he will find the ground
and labor ess and less capable Of producing grain and
though Tennessee in the aggregate produces an enor
nous amount it is owing TO the large planted. In
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the land
which is under cultivation cannot be made to yield
average over five bushels per acre, and perhaps not
even that. bale of cotton can be produced from


- Ill Of IL