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A TRIP THROUGH THE PINEY WOODS.1 ----------------------------------------------'
BY J. F. H. CLAIBORNE.2
We have returned to our post, after a delightful tour through ?"the whole tier of counties lying between this and Alabama.
;We traveled with Messrs. Gwin and Freeman (who had made /appointments to speak in twelve counties), and this gave us ?opportunity of seeing large masses of the people.3 We everywhere found a warm and hospitable reception, and felt the 'highest gratification in taking by the hands hundreds of our ^true-hearted and confiding friends. In the eastern counties
lThe sketches here reproduced constitute the most entertaining, though perhaps the least generally known, contributions which Col. Clai-. borne has made to Mississippi history. They were published in 1841-2 v in a paper (Natchez Free Trader and. Gazette) of which he was then junior " editor. They contain the best portrayal of the industrial and social ..conditions and the home life of the people who lived in the great pine ?? region of Mississippi in the forties. Having originally appeared in ephe-r meral form, they have been well-nigh lost to students of Mississippi history for more than half a century.?Editor.
JA biographical sketch of Col. Claiborne will be found in the Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. VII, pp. 217-244.?Editor.
'.v *The following extract from the copy of the Free Trader in which the i opening sketch of this series appeared relates to the canvass that was the occasion for the trip here narrated:
ji. ?The Canvass.?Messrs. Gwin and Freeman have made a glorious ..?campaign through twelve counties, and are by this time at Vicksburg,
\ from whence they will make a new series of appointments, as they are resolved to visit every county in the State. The people of eastern Mississippi crowded to hear them. Dr. Gwin generally spoke from an hour Jto an hour and a half. He affected no rhetoric, but spoke in a plain,
:>forcible, pointed style, as one deeply convinced himself of the truth of :.his remarks and the importance of his subject. There was no rant, no ."passion, no abuse. His speeches consisted of simple statements of facts,
?.with strong and well supported deductions drawn therefrom, showing the condition of the country, the state of parties, and the evils likely to accrue to the people, and especially to the South, should the present party :ia power remain in the ascendant. We observe that several of the Whig ipapers taunt Dr. Gwin with inability to discuss political topics. He
i might say to them like a celebrated Athenian, "Strike, but hear me!"
'They have never heard the Democratic candidate. His speeches show ?.certainly that he is no practical speaker; he has not been schooled in the courts of law; but they evince a flow of correct language, a familiarity !,jWith political history, and a capacity to reason strongly and forcibly on _any subject that would be creditable to any man in the State. Dr.
Gwin, no one can doubt, is a man of keen and strong intellect, of extensive :general information, with a gift of improvability in a high degree, and Before this canvass closes he will stand far above mediocrity?far above a t'jnere lawyer?as a public speaker. We can assure our friends with confidence tnat their candidate will make himself heard and speaks with
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