[213] of Vicksburg and fight him on ground of his own choosing. Of course this scheme may miscarry in whole or in parts, but as yet the chances all favor its execution, which is now just ready to begin. It may be that the future will justify you, Greeley, General Scott, and John Van Buren in your idea of “letting the wayward sisters go.” But I judge that it will be long before the body of the American people will adopt that notion. The strongest sentiment of this people is that for the preservation of the territorial and political integrity of the nation at all costs, and no matter how long it takes. In other words, they prefer to keep up the existing war a little longer, rather than to make arrangements for indefinite wars hereafter, and for other disruptions. Let us have it out now and settle forever the question, so that our children may be able to attend to other matters. For my own part, I had rather have one nation and one country with a military government afterwards, than two or three nations and countries with the semblance of the old Constitution in each of them, ending in war and despotism everywhere. During the eight days that I have been here, I have got new insight into slavery, which has made me no more a friend of that institution than I was before. Between the lower Arkansas line and Cairo, the Mississippi is monotonous and wild enough, but as soon as you come to Louisiana the scene changes, and rich and old plantations begin. The plains stretch far back from the river, with the mansions of the owners embowered in roses, myrtles, oaks, and every sort of beautiful and noble tree, and the negro huts cluster near them. Though I had seen slavery in Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, and Missouri, it was not till I saw these plantations, with all their apparatus for living and working, that I really felt the aristocratic nature of it .... Yesterday I went down with a flag of truce to the vicinity of Vicksburg, so that I got a capital idea of the town. It is an ugly place, to be sure, with its line of bluffs commanding the channel for full seven miles, and battery piled above battery all the way. The officer who came to meet our flag
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