or six thousand dollars. Cotton-planting was very profitable
under almost any management, and especially so under a prudent and
economical owner. Being thus profitable with slave labor, it was
natural for the planters to think it could prosper under no other
system. "You can't raise cotton without niggers, and you must own the
niggers to raise it," was the declaration in all parts of the South.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

WAR AND AGRICULTURE.

Official Favors.--Division of Labor.--Moral Suasion.--Corn-gathering
in the South.--An Alarm.--A Frightened Irishman.--The Rebels
Approaching.--An Attack on Waterproof.--Falstaff Redivivus.--His Feats
of Arms.--Departure for New Orleans.

Our cotton having been ginned and baled, we made preparations for
shipping it to market. These preparations included the procurement
of a permit from the Treasury agent at Natchez, a task of no small
magnitude. An application for the permit required, in addition to my
own signature, the names of two property-owning citizens, as security
for payment of the duties on the cotton. This application being placed
in the hands of the Treasury agent, I was requested to call in two
hours. I did so, and was then put off two hours longer. Thus I spent
two whole days in frequent visits to that official. His memory was
most defective, as I was obliged to introduce myself on each occasion,
and tell him the object of my call.

A gentleman who had free access to the agent at all times hinted that
he could secure early attention to my business on payment for
his trouble. Many persons asserted that they were obliged to pay
handsomely for official favors. I do not _know_ this to be true. I
never paid any thing to the Treasury agent at Natchez or elsewhere,
beyond the legitimate fees, and I never found any man who would give
me a written statement that he had done so. Nevertheless, I had much
circumstantial evidence to convince me that the Treasury officials
were guilty of dishonorable actions. The temptation was great, and,
with proper care, the chances of detection were small.

Armed with my permit, I returned to the plantation. Mr. Colburn, in
my absence, had organized our force, lately engaged in cotton-picking,
into suitable parties for gathering corn, of which we had some three
hundred acres standing in the field. In New England I fear that corn
which had remained ungathered until the middle of February, would be
of comparatively little value. In our case