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.