“WHEREAS, We have for four years most bravely and gallantly contended for our rights with the United States; and, “WHEREAS, We have been overpowered by numbers, “_Resolved_, That we will, for the present, submit to the Constitution of the United States, and all laws in accordance with the same.” Somewhat similar seemed the view of all of our passengers who had anything to say. “Mighty ha’d on po’ Confeds. We’re the unde’dogs in the fight. We’re subjugated. I wouldn’t fight no mo’ for the stars and bars than for an old dish-rag.” “Nor for the stars and stripes nuther,” exclaimed his companion, and the sentiment elicited general approval. ----- Footnote 58: Four months later they were speaking of him as “our great Conservative Minister of State.” CHAPTER XXXIX. Mobile Temper and Trade—Inducements of Alabama to Emigrants. Between Meridian and Mobile, the railroad passes only very small tracts of land that appear at all inviting to Northern eyes. Much of the country is grown up in pine. Possibly lumbermen might find it a good location, but planters are likely to keep away from it. All in all, however, Alabama offers better inducements to the Northern emigrant than almost any of the other Southern States. The feeling against Northerners is not so bitter as through most of the South. The climate of the northern half of the State is delightful, and throughout the State it is more healthy than at any point in the same latitude to the westward. Northern, and a portion of Central Alabama, are well adapted to the growth of Northern crops, wheat, corn, oats, hay, or flax. Cotton can be grown anywhere in the State; although the only first-class cotton lands lie in the central belt. The mountain regions are admirably adapted for stock-raising. Apples may be well grown in the same localities. In the southern sections, all the semi-tropical fruits flourish in the greatest luxuriance. Worn-out and abandoned lands, within easy distance of Mobile, may be bought for trifling prices,[59] on which oranges, figs, bananas, peaches, apricots, plums, pears, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and melons can be grown in perfection, and with comparatively little labor. Fruit-growing has hitherto been much neglected in Alabama, but no branch of industry gives permanent offer of better rewards. Off the coast the fisheries are almost as productive as those of Newfoundland, and they abound in rare and valuable fishes not now known to any considerable extent in commerce.