Between Millidgeville and Macon the route became all but impassable: at each mile we anticipated a stand-still; the rain was incessant; the creeks were flooded, and the bridges in an indescribable condition. We were frequently compelled to alight and walk, being in momentary expectation of an overturn: and so we journeyed on, our numbers reduced to six, in order that a lighter vehicle might be adopted. The way in which this drafting was effected was on principles perfectly fair, and submitted to without a murmur: at Sparta, the agent informed us that only six passengers could be taken on; and that, unless we arranged otherwise, he should strike off the last three names entered in the way-bill, as being the juniors in this hard service: luckily for me, I had just the magic three under my name,—a piece of good fortune that rescued me from a sojourn at Sparta, which, with all due deference to its venerable name, I could not contemplate without a shudder.
Six hardier or better-humoured men, if I may venture to include myself in the number, never roughed it through Georgia in company. At one pass, through a swamp lying a few miles north of Macon, we were turned out, at a hut where large pieces of light-wood, as the pitch-pine is called, were procured for the party; from this point we were instructed to make a cut through the forest, whilst the lightened coach followed the road. We struck into the line pointed out, guided by one of the party who had journeyed this road before; and six merrier men, having less cause for mirth, might not have been found within this fair state.
After floundering along for an hour or so, we saw the torches of the stage, and heard the halloo of the driver: hence, without mischance, we reached Macon before daylight; and here one of our company knocked up through cold and over-weariness; a vacant place was thus afforded for the judge of the district-court, in whom we found a well-informed and most intelligent companion.
Nullification was the subject for the morning, and much was advanced pro and con.; its opponents being two New York men who had been my fellow-passengers from Augusta. On this occasion, as I have always observed amongst Southern men, the right of separation from the Union was vehemently insisted upon, even whilst the policy of such a movement was deprecated; the principle, in fact, of nullification was maintained by those who were against the practice of such an experiment.
The condition of justice upon these wild frontiers was next freely canvassed, and was on all hands admitted to be weak and short-armed enough: very few, in truth, seem in criminal cases to seek for or approve of its interference, except in some so monstrously atrocious that no sympathy can be felt for the criminal; and even in such cases his flight, if he condescends to such a movement, is a matter of small difficulty.
Most of the many murders committed are the result of quarrels or personal rancour. Jealousy of a favoured rival, a gambling or a political dispute ends in a defiance, mutual and deadly, the ever-ready dirk affords present means; or, if the interposition of the bystanders prevents this, one of the party shoots down the other on the road or at his own door; when, if the slain man has friends, the feud is adopted by them, and the first homicide is revenged by another, or several, as may be. These affrays are by convention termed duels; and, in fact, as on our borders a century back, each man rights with his own hand his wrongs "wherever given," in street or forest, in the court of justice or within the house of prayer.
In the mean time, notwithstanding all this, the frontiers flourish; trade yearly increases; and, as well as I can learn, civilization and security also slowly but steadily march onward; but, from the very nature of the country, it must be long before the wild spirits congregated here can be subjected to the wholesome rule of well-administered laws.
At Talboton we found six passengers, the freight of the stage preceding us, which had been upset in the swamp the night previous; one of them had a couple of ribs broken, and all were badly bruised. One young man begged to be taken on the seat of our coach, which was readily permitted, with cautions against his venturing on such an experiment. The additional mail-bags were also to be carried forward; and the largest were accordingly stowed into the coach, in the space usually considered by passengers as designed for their legs; complaint, however, was quite useless; those who did not like the conveyance being at full liberty to wait on any part of the road they might select, until one better adapted to comfort chanced to come by.
We quitted this place, six men, with just space enough left for us to crawl in, and we sat, bent almost double, with our legs stretched out before us. I consoled myself by concluding that we now had reached the extremity of our inconveniences; but I knew mighty little about the matter. It would have been impossible, for any length of time, to have borne the position we were now compressed into; but luckily this was not expected, since constant occasions were afforded us of stretching our legs, and getting cool under as heavy rain as the lover of a shower-bath could desire.