Alexander H. Stephens in public and private : with letters and speeches before, during, and since the war

Front matter

Jiii^

Cornell University Library E 467.1.S83C63

Alexander H Stephens in public and priv

Preface

A few words, and a few only, may not be improper by way of preface, or introduction to ttie following pages. Mr. Stephens has for a long time filled a large space in the public attention throughout the United States. Taken all in all — physically, morally, and intellectually — he may very justly be regarded as one of the most remarkable men of this country and age. For a quarter of a century he has been an active participant, and often leader, in the great questions of war, peace, change, and progress, that liave made the most interesting chapters in the history of the western world ; and in the late semi-decade of conflict he watched the shifting of the mighty scenes from the high stand-point of the second office in the southern: confederation.

■It is but fit that what he has said and done in all this eventful pferiod should be preserved in some durable form. This has been the principal object of the writer ; and in the execution of his purpose perfect accuracy has been his controlling motive. With this view he has communicated his design to Mr. Stephens, (havingibeen on intimate terms of friendship with him for years,) and received his consent to the undertaking. During the late summer (of 1866) he had free access to all his papers, with no restriction upon their use, save in questions as to their present interest to the reader, or of propriety and good taste. The result of the labor of compiling and arranging, as well as biographical description and sketching of interesting incidents, is respectfully presented. The writer only hopes to receive from the wider circle of the American public, that kind indulgence so generously accorded to different efforts in a narrower sphere. To the student of biography the private life of this great and good man is full of interest. To those who desire to know their country's true history, there will be value in the thoughts and words of one who was so trusted and honored by the southern portion of the

8 PREFACE.

late contestants, and who stood for the Union and its constitution amid its enemies in a time when many despaired of it in the land of its friends.

The writer has submitted to Mr. Stephens the result of his undertaking, and, as part of this preface, subjoins a letter received from him on the subject of the present publication. Should the effort meet with favor, the credit will be due to the subject ; if not, the writer will only think he has been unfortunate in his manner of presenting it.

H. C.

Ceawfoedville, Ga., lOth Nov., 1866.

Henry Cleveland. •

My Deae Sir : —

Your letter with proof-sheets of your forthcoming volume has been received. I have looked over the latter, and made some corrections and suggestions which you will notice. With these the work in all essential facts will be, I think, substantially correct.

I have not had time to examine closely the speeches taken from the Globe. You must see that these are as they there appear. All the others, I believe, are correct, as well as the letters contained in the book.

I have no objections to your using this letter as you may think proper.

With best wishes, I remain as ever,

Yours truly,

Alexander H. Stephens.

GENERAL CONTENTS.

Preface ,

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

I.— INTRODUCTORY.

Home scenes — Personal appearance — Birth and lineage — Education and early manhood 17

II.— SUCCESS AND RISE IN LIFE.

Admission to the Bar — Election to the Legislature — Election to Congress 43

III.— POSITION IN RELATION TO POLITICAL PARTIES.

Always States Rights — Never partisan — Against the policy of the Mexican war and the acquisition of any territory by conquest — A Constitutional Union man throughout 70

IV.— REVIEW OF SPEECHES AND LETTERS.

Speech against acquisition of territory from Mexico — Against Clayton compromise — ^Personal rencounter — Presidential campaign of 1848 — The compromise of 1850 — The Georgia platform — The Kansas and Nebraska bill — Territorial policy in regard to African slavery — Know-Nothingism — Admission of Minnesota and Oregon. 83

v.— RETIREMENT FROM CONGRESS.

Speech at Augusta, July 2d, 1859 — Views of the proper relation between the white and black races at the South — Presidential canvass of 1860 '. 124

10 ' CONTENTS.

VI.— POSITION ON THE QUESTION OP SECESSION.

Speech before the legislature in oposition to secession, November 14th, 1860— Correspondence with Mr. Lincoln — Speech in the secession convention- — Goes as delegate to Montgomery, and is elected Vice-President of the Confederate States organization 149

VII.— VIEWS OP PUBLIC POLICY AND COUESB DUEING

THE WAR.

Cotton loan — Martial law — Conscription — Impressments — Habeas Corpus suspension — Efforts for peace — The two brothers — Hampton Eoads conference 170

Eelease on parole — Election to United States Senate — Eeconstruction speech before the legislature, February 22d, 1866 — Testimony before reconstruction committee — Newspaper comments 201

IX.— CONCLUDING EEMAEKS 230

SPEECHES, LETTEES, ETC.

Eeport of the minority of the committee" on the state of the republic, Georgia Senate, 1842 245

Speech on the right of members to their seats in the House of Eepresentatives, February 9, 1844. 259

Speech on the joint resolution for the annexation of Texas, delivered in the House of Eepvesentatives, January 25, 1845 280

Speech on the subject of the Mexican war, delivered in the House of Eepreseutatives, Jime 16, 1846 302 .

Speech on the Mexican appropriation, or "three million bill," in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, House of Eepreseutatives, February 12, 1847 320

Speech on the territorial bill (Clayton's compromise), delivered in the House of Eepreseutatives, August 7, 1848 334

Address before the Maryland Institute, in Baltimore, February 23, 1852, in comm'emoration of the birth-day of Washington 352

A.ddress before the Few and Phi Gamma societies of Emory College, Oxford, Georgia, July 21, 1852 364

Speech on the bill to prevent frauds upon the Treasury of the United States, in defence of Mr. Corwin, and the G^lphin claim, House of Representatives, January 13, 1853 STG

CONTENTS. 11

Nebraska and Kansas speech, House of Representatives, February 17, 1854 394

Speech delivered in the House of Representatives, December 14, 1854,' in reply to the remarks of Mr. Mace, of Indiana, on giving notice of his intention to introduce a bill to restore the Missouri compromise 416

" Georgia and Ohio Again." Speech in reply to Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, delivered in the House of Representatives, January 15, 1855 . , 432

Letter to Judge Thomas W. Thomas, on the subject of the Know- Nothing party, written, Crawfordville, Georgia, May 9, 1855 459

Speech at the City Hall, Augusta, Georgia, announcing himself as a candidate for re-election to Congress, in 1855 472

Debate with Mr. Zollicoffer, of Tennessee, on the power of Congress to establish or prohibit slavery in the Territories, House, January 17, 1656 489

Speech delivered in.the House, March 11, 1856, on the Kansas contested election - 515

Speech on the bill to admit Kansas under the Kansas-Topeka constitution. Hoijse, June 28, 1856 531

Speech on the Presidential election of 1856, the compromise of 1850, and the Kansas act of 1854. House, Jamjary 6, 1857 561

Speech on the admission of Minnesota and alien suffrage. House of Representatives, May 11, 1858 580

Impeachment of Judge Watrous. House of Representatives, December 15, 1858 591

Letter on the subject of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, written March 13, 1857. Number one 605

Letter on the subject of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, written March 17, 1857. Numbea: two 611

Speech on the admission of Oregon, House of Representatives, February 12, 1859 621

Farewell speech on retiring from Congress, delivered in Augusta, Ga.,

Athens, Georgia, literary speech, in August, 1859 651

Letter to Hon. John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, Jan. 21, 1860 656

Letter of thirteen gentlemen of Macon, Georgia, and reply of Mr.

Stephens, May 9, 1860 ' 661

Letter to Dr. Z. P. Landrum, of Lexington, Georgia, July 1, I860.. 668 Union speech delivered in the City Hall Park, August?,, Georgia,

12 CONTENTS.

Celebrated speech, delivered in opposition to secession, before the Gabrgia Legislature, November 14, 1860 694

Bules for the government of the Confederate Congress, Montgomery, Alabama, 1861 713

Speech known as " The Corner Stone," delivered at the Athenaeum, Savannah, Georgia, March 21, 1861 717

Speech before the Virginia State Convention, Kichmond, April 23, 1861 729

The Convention entered into between the State of Virginia and the Confederate States 745

Letter on Martial Law, to the Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, September 8,1862 747

Substance of the speech on the " Produce Loan," Crawfordville, November 1 , 1862 749

Speech on the state of the Confederacy, before the Georgia Legislature, March 16, 1864 761

Letter to the Hon. James A. Seddon, Secretary of War, April 29, 1864 786

Letter to Senator Hersohel V. Johnson, of Georgia, June 22, 1864. . 790

Extract of a letter to Alex. J. Marshall, of Virginia, November 4, 1864 796

Address before the Georgia Legislature on the Eeconstruction of the Union, February 22, 1866 804

Testimony before the Reconstruction Committee of Congress, April 16, 1866 819

INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PlOTUEB OF AlBXANDEE H. STEPHENS, FEOM THE IMPERIAL PhOTO-

GBAPH BY BbADT, TAKEN AT WASHINGTON CiTY, MaECH, 1866. FrmtUpiox.

PlOTOEE OF "LiBEETY HaLL," THE EbSIDENCB OF AlEXANDBE H.

Stephens, at Oeawpoedtille, Geoegia ; South-east View. From A Photogeaph taken on the Geounds, 1866 23

PMmjEE OF Alexandbe H. Stephens, as he appeaeed dueing the dbliveey op his gebat Statistical Speech, " Geoeoia and Ohio Again." Pbom a Photograph by Beady, Januaey, 1835 102

The "Old Homestead Boeial Geotjnd" of the Stephens Family,

NEAE the spot WHBEE Me. STEPHENS WAS BOEN. FBOM A PhOTO- GBAPH TAKEN ON THE SPOT, 1866 232

INDEX OF AUTOGRAPH LETTERS.

Lettee from Hon. Abraham Lincoln to Mr. Stephens, Springfield, Illinois, November 30th, 1860 150 to 151

Eeplt of Alexander H. Stephens, Orawfordyille, Georgia,

Rejoinder of Hon. Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois,

Note from President Lincoln to Mr. Stephens, concerning his Nephew, Lieutenant John A- Stephens, Washington City,

Pbbruaet IOth, 1865 199

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.

I. Inteoductoey

HOME SCENES — PERSONAL APPEAEANCE — BIRTH AND LINEAGE — ^EDUCATION AND EARLY MANHOOD.

We desire to speak of this distinguished statesman, as he appears in public and private, before, during, and since the war.

Having determined to compile some of the speeches, letters, and papers of the Georgian, who has been so long and favorably known to the American public, it is proper to give a more enlarged sketch than has ever heretofore been given of some important and interesting incidents and features in the life of the author of them.

Much of the material which composes the body of this volume has never before appeared in print ; some has only been seen by those to whom addressed, and none has ever appeared in book form.

Of the man and his dwelling-place, his appearance, his earlier and later manhood, his private existence and public career, others have often spoken ; but generally through the daily or weekly printed leaves, that fall from the press as fast as the autumnal spoils of the forests, and are gone as soon. Some of the best and most accurate of these have not been widely circu. lated, and few, if any of them, are now accessible.

Men are only known as they are seen ; and as clothing modifies the appearance of man and as the manner seems an index 2 (17)

18 ALESANDEE H. STEPHENS.

of the nature, even so the land in which one dwells, the people who are his people, the society, the companionship, the home ; all become so inseparably linked with the recollections of the individual as to seem part of himself. To know the man, we should know them, for the devotion that clings to, and loves and honors, the honest and worthy, who are found in the more humble walks of life, is a different and more beautiful thing from that which only finds pleasure among the favored children of opulence, cultivation, and opportunity. There is the same distinction between these, as between the love of Pauline, in Bulwer's beautiful creation, when listening with entranced interest to the seeming Prince as he told of the dream Eden by the Lake of Como, and the same Pauline as she confesses a nobler emotion, in the arms of the poor Claude Melnotte. So, too, if we shall speak of a man who loves his home better than all other spots on earth ; it is well to know whether the home so loved, be like what Dr. Johnson tells of the " Happy Yalley of Rasselas," or but one of earth's common dwelling-places: — whether the heartstrings are tied to the bloom of womanhood and childhood, or only fasten to unpictured walls and mossgrown graves : — whether the sentiment which moves and actuates him, be in any way akin to that of the Swiss, who rejoices in his Alpine home —

"And as a child, when searing sounds molest, Clings close and closer to the mother's breast ; So the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar, But bind him to his native mountains more."

It is with some such idea, as what i^ thus imperfectly expressed, that we speak first of Mr. Stephens' surroundings and HIS HOME.

The traveller through the State of Georgia, will find it somewhat difficult to reconcile what he has heard of the wealth of that empire state of the South, with the appearance oJ poverty which greets his eyes, as the rush of the train presents a panorama of the landscape.

From th'e crest of the Alleghanies, near the Tennessee river, there is a gradual slope, which, between the Chattahoochee and the Savannah, takes somewhat the form of a great ridge, as if the mountain central crest were pointing its index finger to the Atlantic. All such ridges are poor in comparison to the fertile valleys that are set like emeralds in the mighty framework of the hills, but the treasures that are born from both hill and vale, beneath softening rain and glowing sun, can only be kn6wn when accurate statistics sum up the. sources of the nation's wealth.

On the ridge we speak of, is the village of Crawfordville, named in honor of the late William H. Crawford, of Georgia, once a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. It is on what is called the Georgia railroad, sixty-four miles from the city of Augusta and one hundred and seven miles from Atlanta, being about a medium between them in altitude. Augusta is one hundred and forty-seven feet above the sea, Atlanta one thousand and fifty feet, and Crawfordville is six hundred and eighteen feet.

Its elevation makes it a pleasant summer residence, and the water, gushing in crystal purity from the heart of the granite, is cold enough without ice. The town was built in 1826, and reached its prime some ten years later. Tradition says that while in the height of prosperity, its " Town Commissioners" kept the streets in good order. It had a good brick court house; a jail that was, as usual, a discomfort of heavy timber and iron gratings, a commodious hotel, and two chuches, only one of which now exists. There were then several hundred inhabitants.

In 1836 and 1837, there was an exodus of the people from the town and county, who were seeking more fertile and favored lands ; much capital was withdrawn, and a fire in 1838, that swept away all the buildings on the north side of the public square, marked the cessation of growth, and the beginning of its decline. The Georgia railroad trains still run through the place, as regularly as would be the oscillations of a giant pendulum sweeping through the hills ; but give little benefit, save in transportation to market for planters, and affording more speedy locomotion for travellers, than, the wagon and stage-coach which they displaced. In snmmer, the mellow sunbeams are reflected from browned herbage, or from the great red seams in the hills. At train time, there is always a little assembly at the dep6t. The fences, mostly of the Virginia worih pattern, appear to wander over the hills as aimlessly as the lazy cattle and swine pursue their own, desultory wanderings along the highway.

Conspicuous from the railroad, on the outskirts of the town, is the old Foster House, now called the Monk House, not from being a monastery, but from a late owner. It was formerly the grand house of the village, but now presents to each day's sun or cloud, a front gray by degrees, and gradually more gray.

The only brick house on the main street, and one of the only two in the village, has given way to despondency from dampness and lack of use, and a moiety of the rear wall, lying prone upon the mother earth, seeks to restore its baked material to the virgin clay, upon which it once looked down in ruddy pride. The old hotel is grayheaded all over, and leans to the street, as if looking for long gone guests ; and when we saw it, even a blue eyed child and fair maiden that dwelt there, like stray flowers in a long neglected garden, seemed a little as if the shadow of the century plant in the hard yard, had fallen on them.

The broken glass in the court house windows, appeared kept in memory of the United States troops who broke them. The Academy is kicking away the rough stones that support it, and all the glass, and the most of the window-sash, has been removed by means of small stones, hurled with unerring aim by the village gamins, who thus manifest their zeal for improvement. The time is past when the village had smooth streets of red clay, bordered by green grass and beautiful trees, with white cottages peeping out along the verdant ways ; with full stores, busy merchants, good schools, and " boys and girls playing in the streets thereof." It all now gives sad evidence of the want of road commissioners, repair, and paint. The streets are washed by rain and worn by the attrition of feet, until the very ground looks old and wrinkled. The little assembly of white houses and red chimneys were all rapidly fading into nature's neutral tints, when we saw them, under the blue summer sky of 1866.

The people, however, are good and kind, social, and given to hospitality, with upright men, noble-looking women, and pretty children.

Just out of the town is the old churchyard, where —

" Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.''

The wood and stone erected in honor of the dead seem mouldering like the once loved dusit they tried to keep in memory, and rain and sun, alternate, bathe and blister the hard, pebblestrewn clay. Near it, on the same hill, is the old Baptist church, where all denominations peaceably assemble, and all ministers of orthodox creeds are free to teach. It looks whiter and fresher than any thing else, as if some of the immortality told of so well in the humble pulpit, had penetrated the very boards. On Sabbaths, when the hill echoes to the same truths that were taught by the fishermen of Galilee, the irrepressible beauty of the South blooms out in the matchless loveliness of Georgia women, sweet as her roses and holy as her prayers. At the foot of the hill are cold springs, from which little streams wander off through the pines.

On the same elevated hill as the church and the graveyard, and only removed from the town by the somewhat extended grounds, is an unpretending mansion. Its white outlines are half hid by the magnificent grove of oaks in which it stands ;

and locust, hickory, china, cedar, and other trees, shadow the large yard. The turf is a mixture of green Bermuda and white clover, spangled here and there with other indigenous grasses. The jonquilles disappear with the spring time. A plain, high board fence, not painted, with large white gates, encloses the premises. The main dwelling has eight rooms ; and two more, with a wide veranda, have been built to the rear.

From the front porch, a door opens into the hall or passage, its floor spread with oil-cloth in mosaic, and having no furniture but an iron hat rack and gigantic barometer.

On the right of the hall is the parlor, with neat, cheerful looking carpet of green, with arabesques in colors. "Jhe windows are without curtains, but have shades of green and frosted gold. On the mantle are : A large engraving of the United States Senate, during the great speech of Daniel Webster, in 1850. A small bust of Senator Berrien. A fine cast by Saunders, intended as a model for a statue of General Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia Colony. The sword in his hand has been damaged by an accident. Lastly, a cigar case, in imitation of a bunch of cigars, the much prized gift of a lady friend.

On the right and left of the fireplace, are fine oil family portraits by Healy, in massive gilt frames. On the walls hang two medallions, one of Mrs. Steele, of the Eevolution, offering a purse to General Green ; one of General Oglethorpe, with curly wig, looking like Milton, but the neck fractured. A large lithograph of the proprietor, and the grand face of that southern type of manly beauty, Eobert Toombs.

Upon a small table is the large Bible, which, upon being opened, is found to contain a family registry, including the marriages, births, and deaths of the immediate household, as well as the plantation servants. Lastly, there is a pillar of green and white marble, surmounted by the beautiful Italian marble bust of the great statesman we write of. It was among the first ever executed by the young artist of Ohio — J: Q. A. Ward. It was made in 1859. These, with the sofa, easy chairs, and other cdinary drawing-room furniture, are all that meet the eye upon entering the neatly papered room. All the rooms are ceiled, not plastered.

Opposite the parlor is a dining room. Its features are : — Brussels carpet of white and roses. The window-shades are a plain pattern of green and gold. Then an extension diningtable, an ancient sideboard, a silent clock oa the mantel-piece, before whose modest face no hands are held, and a frozen traveller watched by St. Bernard dogs, displayed ujjon the firescreen.

Next a pantry. Then a bedroom carefully reserved for an occasional visitor, a friend who at all times has a home and welcome at the mansion, whenever he will come. Its common designation is — Mr. O'Neal's room. There is another bedchamber next the parlor.

The upper rooms, four in number, are neatly but plainly furnished, and kept for the guests, male and female, who often come, and are always made at home, in what by the owner's own designation-' of long ago, is widely and familiarly known as Liberty Sail.

In the back passage, there is always a cedar pail of pure cold water, that is so refreshing in the long, hot, summer days. Then the porch, connecting the two rooms built to the rear, with the main building, and extending on the eastern side into a wide veranda, with massive square pillars.

The first of the rear rooms is the library, a pretty room, fifteen by tweiStSy feet, its floor covered with neat carpeting in stripes. The collection of law and political books is large and excellent. Many valuable miscellaneous books belong there, but numbers of them are always out in the hands of borrowers. The library is the collection of thirty years. Numerous trunks con tain the accumulated letters of a lifetime. A bronzed bust of Daniel Webster looks gloomily down from a shelf over the inner door. It is gray with dust, and bears no trace of that "living light" in which his eloquence embalmed the flag of our country. He needs no bust or statue, for our memories are the amber that keeps his fame. "Would that his shade might return, and re-utter to the whole land, those earnest words to — "The sober men of Boston."

The inner room is the sanctum sanctorum. If the visitor come in winter, a light tap is given on the door, a quick, but pleasant voice says "Come in," and turning the top knob of the door gives admittance. All is open in summer. There is a pretty carpet of green and flowers. Low French bedstead draped in white. The walls too are white. There is a bureau and mirror, cot-bed for waiting-boy "Tim," wash-stand and toilet furniture. Over the mantel, Brady's imperial photograph, taken in 1855, of which our third engraving is a copy. It is flanked on the right by the picture of "Faith at the Cross," given while at Fort Warren, by a much valued lady friend. On the left by an embroidered watch-stand, and a pair of lamps. Then a bookcase with broken glass, and bundles of papers in great seeming disorder. The disorder is not so great, but the owner can readily find what he wishes, and before the confusion incident to the late war, no statesman kept such perfect order among so many various papers. There is a little round top writingtable, with eyelet press, and papers and scraps. More papers and scraps are in the little table drawer, and the mind of the owner is the index to them all, if they are not disturbed. That annoys him greatly. His old office, and another library, are at the court house, but he seldom goes to it.

On the worsted hearth-rug of this room, iif winter, and on the grass of the yard in summer, lounges a huge brown mastifl." named Trou;p. Near this larger specimen of the canine species, is usually to be seen a little black terrier, with a chronic growl; he is called Frank. A restless yellow pup sometimes intrudes, but is generally sent away with the proper rebuke from his grave seniors. He bears the appropriate name of Sir Bingo Binlcs, one of the characters in "Walter Scott's "St. Ronan's "Well."

Eio (called Beo), the famous poodle dog, the favorite pet and companion of the statesman for years, both, at home and abroad, has had, since 1863, a dreamless sleep in the garden. The red clay mound that marks the spot of his burial, still awaits the tablet for which an appropriate epitaph was once written : —

"Here rest the remains

Of what, in life, was a satire on the human race

And an honor to his oivn —

A faithful dog."

On the left of the fireplace of the room we last spoke of, in winter, and in the veranda in summer, is generally seen the owner of the premises. The man is known personally, and by thousands of pictures, from the St. Lawrence to the Eio Grande. The face is so kind that it is almost handsome ; and many years of high thought, generous deeds, and patient suffering, have given it that peculiar look of the maturely good which is almost beautiful. His age, on the 11th of February, 1866, was fifty-four. The eyes are large, dark, habitually thoughtful, and almost sad, sometimes full of brilliant power, and always fine. His dress is much as described by the "Blind Chaplain," whom we will quote hereafter, except that in summer it is usually white. The pure and delicate fabric of the outer garments, however, hide the heavy woollen that ill health and neuralgia compel him always to wear.

At the first, he was a poor orphan ; then, successful lawyer ; champion of education ; advocate of a great railroad ; protector of the weak against the strong, righting wrong and securing justice; benefactor of the poor; faithful ever to the home and graves of his sires ; laying aside the robes of oflELce from choice, while in the noon of power ; an ardent defender of the Union, as well as devotee of the doctrines of State rights of the school of Jefferson and Madison ; ministering-spirit at the hospitals, and caring for captive enemies as for brethren. Then, a State prisoner, and afterward a Senator elect, dedicating his matchless eloquence again to harmony, wisdom, peace, and Union ; hero of civil triumplis and bloodless tattles ; Christian gentleman and patriot statesman ; in a word —

ALEXANDEE HAMILTON STEPHENS.

What he calls his old Homestead place, is about two miles from Crawfordville, and is the object of his most cherished affections. It was the home of his grandfather and his father ; but was sold at his father's death, and repurchased by him with his first earnings at the bar. He has added largely to the original tract of about two hundred and thirty acres, and besides that, owns another farm of two hundred and seventy acres, which is the best grazing farm in the country. The soil of the old homestead place is sterile by nature, and mainly what is termed " upland." It is in perfect order, and by careful skill and liberal fertilization, is quite productive. There are two fine orchards on the place, and a vineyard, which, with the one he has in the village, made him, in 1860, five hundred gallons of Catawba wine. He has, however, made none since, and grape culture in Georgia is, so far, a failure. The dwelling on the farm is frame, unpainted, and surrounded by the usual negro cabins that are seen all over the South. The place is more elevated, and has even colder water than the village home. His negroes have all remained with him, and his plantation is entirely in their hands under contract of rent. The following on the subject of which we are now writing, is from the special correspondence of the New Yorh Herald, and will be read with interest :