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Mississippi Historical Society.
hospitality is a primitive and cardinal virtue. It is handed down in its old fashioned kindness and profusion, from father to son? and the good old customs of Virginia and Carolina still prevail. There is no distinction of party on this subject?Democrats welcome Whigs, and Whigs Democrats?all are alike kind and attentive to the stranger. Our own political friends were all enthusiasm at home and abroad; our Whig friends would rub us severely at the court-houses and hotels; but the moment we crossed their thresholds politics ceased, and all was good feeling, attention and abundance. Many blessings on this generous and untainted people?untainted by sordid refinements, that fritter hospitality down through selfishness?uncorrupted by pursuits and associations, that, too often, render society heartless and deceitful.
But little is known in this portion of the State of the conditions, manners and resources of the East. There is little intercourse between the two sections, yet there is no more interesting region. We will, in a few days, lay before our readers some extracts from the note-book of our late excursion.4
effect and vigor before any audience. He made, throughout his tour, a most favorable impression and laid the foundations of a deep and abiding popularity.
"Mr. Freeman is an orator of the first class, and no one who hears his forensic displays will dispute it. He confines himself exclusively to the subject of the State bonds, and was generally two hours and a half upon the stand. His manner is composed, chaste and suited to the tenor of his subject; his gestures expressive, his language eminently beautiful, his arguments, as we think, beyond refutation, and his appeals to his audience affecting, eloquent and exciting. We write this entirely aside from the partiality of friendship, and express candidly the impressions left on our mind after hearing from Mr. F. ten consecutive discourses. He has established in the east a most enviable reputation as a debater, and we doubt not he will make the same impression wherever he S0??' We have always ranked Mr. S. S. Prentiss as the first orator of this State for stretch of thought, burning words, richness of imagery, severe invective and force of manner, perhaps excelled by no man in the Union, certainty by no man of his age; yet on this bond question we would willingly pit Mr. Freeman against him. We feel certain that he woiula come out of the contest triumphantly. Until we heard Mr. F. we ha many doubts on the question; we were once entirely on the other side o the house; but those doubts and scruples were all removed by the P?"!? erful reasoning of the orator on the subject. We would cheerfully '?J?1 Vicksburg to near Mr. Prentiss on this question, and in turn we ask editor of the Whig to give Mr. Freeman a fair and candid hearing-
"As to public sentiment in the east, we think that ninety-nine nu dredths of the people are anti-bond payers.?	.	_
?The above sketch was published in the Free Trader and Daily '~>a of July 28, 1841.
A Trip Through the Piney Woods.?Claiborne.
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July 5th.?Passed the beautiful country seat of Judge Turner, in Franklin County. The grounds are laid out with great taste and expense, and present, we are told, the best specimen in the State of English landscape gardening. Mr. Turner?now one of the judges of the High Court of Errors and Appeals?is the patriarch of the Mississippi bar, having come here in Territorial times, and held at different periods the station of Judge ,of the Circuit and Criminal Courts, Attorney General, Chancellor, &c. The Natchez bar, in the olden times, as at present, could boast a weight of talent, surpassed in few cities of the Union. The compeers of Judge Turner, John Taylor, Lyman . Harding, the late Judges Simpson and Shields, Gov. Poindexter, Charles B. Green, Thomas B. Reid, Joshua Childs, and others, whose names do not occur to us this moment, were men of profound learning, and some of them of great ability. At a period ! somewhat later, Christopher Rankin, Bela Metcalfe, R. Stockton, William B. Griffith, R. H. Adams, D. S. Walker, F. Winston,
; Wm. Daingerfield, Henry Cox, S. M. Grayson, and others, .appeared at our bar. Alas! they soon ran their meteor course. /Out of all those we have mentioned, but two survive. The : mortality among the lawyers of this city is remarkable. ?Death
?	loves a shining mark.? At no distant day, we intend to draw ,-up biographical sketches of these distinguished ornaments of the profession. We have a distinct recollection of them all . on the bench, the bar and the hustings. Their eloquent accents ?Still ring in our ear. Their pathos, their cutting repartee, their fun of circuit anecdotes, still dwell on our memory with a -lasting impression of boyhood, and we are sure our readers will ?^feel interested in details full of the incident, the adventure, /romance and vicissitude that checked the lives of some of /these distinguished men, more than one of whom rose from /poverty to wealth, from obscurity to distinction, and fought " their way to the eagle eyes of human ambition, through the , 'urnace of detraction and opposition to fall, as it were, at the fvery moment of their triumph, before the scythe of the spoiler. .?The fate of Reed, Rankin and Adams, impress this lesson ^Strongly on the mind. They literally forced their way up to /exalted station, against the drawbacks of poverty and opposition, and perished just as they attained it. The same fatality