from Tennessee, would
be kidnapping, an insult to a sovereign State, and in a States'-rights
country such a procedure could not be tolerated. Requisitions from the
governors of Tennessee and Georgia might, of course, be procured, but
this would take time, and in this time the offender could walk leisurely
into Alabama or North Carolina, neither of which States is very far
away. In fact, the presence of large numbers of these desperados, in
this locality, at all seasons of the year, has prevented its settlement
by good men, and, in consequence, there are thousands of acres on which
there has scarcely been a field cleared, or even a tree cut.

The somber forest, with its peculiar history, suggests to our minds the
green woods of old England, where Robin Hood and his merry men were wont
to pass their idle time; or the Black Forest of Germany, where thieves
and highwaymen found concealment in days of old.

What a country for the romancer! Here is the dense wilderness, the
Tennessee and Chickamauga, the precipitous Lookout with his foot-hills,
spurs, coves, and water-falls. Here are cosy little valleys from which
the world, with its noise, bustle, confusions, and cares, is excluded.
Here have congregated the bloody villains and sneaking thieves; the
plumed knights, dashing horsemen, and stubborn infantry. Here are the
two great battle-fields of Chickamauga and Mission Ridge. Here neighbors
have divided, and families separated to fight on questions of National
policy. Here, in short, every thing is supplied to the poet but the
invention to construct the plot of his tale, and the genius to breathe
life into the characters.

It may be possible, however, that the country is yet too young, and its
incidents too new, to make it a fertile field for the novelist. The
imagination works best amid scenes half known and half forgotten. When
time shall have thrown its shadows over the events of the last century,
and the real and unreal become so intermingled in the minds of men as to
become indistinguishable, imaginary Robin Hoods will find hiding places
in the caves; innocent men, in deadly peril, will seek safety in the
mountain fastnesses until the danger be past; conspirators will meet in
the shadowy recesses to concoct their hellish plots, over which truth,
courage, and honesty will finally triumph. Here the blue and the gray
will meet to fight, and to be reconciled; and there will not be wanting
the Helen McGregors and Die Verno