Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1862-11-25
Armed White Colonization Of Florida.

slaves. The Government owns in the State
over 20,000,000 acres Of land,-an area
nearly as great as Inciana. The white
population Of the Southern half the State
below Marion county-in which the
greatest quantity of public land is found,
numbers but about 1900 this is an area
several times larger than Massachusetts,
ana with 4 soil far more fertile, and eli
mate the pleasantest and among the most
salubrious 10 the world.
1t has been proposed to the govern ent
BY Eli Thayer and othes, who gained ex-
perience in the colonization of Kansas, to
settle the Soathern part Of Florida by what
may be called peaceful army OF occupa-
ton. AS the plan has received. to a GER
tain extent, the consent Of the adminisra-
ton, aud promises to be successful. the fol-
lowing details will ce Of considerable utter
est to the public:
1t is proposed, after the draft is eomplet-
ed, to enlist 10000 volunteers, stout, able
bodied agriculturists - picked men - for
special service in Florida. The term oil
enlistment is for six months, the men to be
armed andequipped as soldiers, to be reg
ularly drilled and formed into companies,
regiments and brigales. They are to be
sent into Florida to occupy the State, re
place the government in possession Of IN
lands, and Of these government lands each
soldier is thereupon to receive, under the
regulations Of The Homestead law, as aetu-
al settler, 100 acres Of land.
Twenty thousand picked men, most Of
them married, would probably yield to-
tai population Of 100000 souls, an addition
to her present white population Of which
Florida may be happy. 1t will be better
to her than the discovery of gold mine.
Intelligent, moral and skilled laborers are
not so plentiful in the world bat that
State may gratefully accept them, which
has now 0 total population, slave and free,
Of little more than two to a square mile,
and a soil, climate and situation which may
make it one of the weallhiest States ia the
Union. The colonists are enlisted for six
months. That period OF time, it is beiey-
ed, will suffice to restore the authority Of
the general government in the State. At
ter that the government is at no further
expense in their behalf. 1t has benefited
bv their services; it leaves them there as a
part Of the permanent population Of the
state; and in their future career they dc
pend upon themselves. Thus private en-
terprise steps in, and relieves the expense
az MAINTAINING an army of occupation.
The new settlers, being of the farmer
class for the most part, will turn their at
tenton to the cultivation Of theif lands.
They have their choice from great variety
IF crops. Florida has immense tracts in
which the finest sea-island cotton can be
grown. Rice, sugar, wheat, Indian corn
and all varieties Of ftuits and vegetables, Of
the tropics as well as Of the temperate zone,
may be raised for the markets Of the North.
The climate, ameliorated and made healthy
by the constant sea breezes which sweep
acros the Peninsula, from the Atlantic TO
the Gulf and back is such that white men
can till the fields without distress. But it
is proposed TO bring TO their aid The numer-
Gus freedmen of the South who have not
hitherto found a place in our social econo-
my, and are yet hanging on by the eye-lids
with no sure place or prospect IN life before
them.
1t is believed that there are now not less
than 100000 free blacks on the hands of
the government, most Of them drawing ra-
tons, and in other ways an unwilling and
helpless burden on oAicial and private char
ity. What to Go with these people has
been one Of the formidable problems Of the
war. 1t is now proposed to send them to
Florida where they will obtain work for
regular wages, from the new population of
Northern colonists. The great want Of
these Independent farmers viii be labor.
The great want OF the black freedmen is
regular employment at wages. The latter
have no place, nor any near prospect Of any,
where they may work in peace and securi-
tn. Send them to Florida, under the pro-
posed system, and the problem what to do
With them, il settled. They are free, hardy,
Injured to toll, and accustomed to the hand
limo of cotton, rice and sugar. They viii
prove most valuable assistants to their en-
pIoyers; and with these, would make free
population of some 100000 souls, placed
in a part of the Union now almost unin-
habited. They would at once take their
appropriate place in society and one Of or
perpexiug difficulties would be solved. The
social system Of the South, threatened with
total disorganization and ruin BY the recS-
less rebels, would be re-established in one
Of the most fertile and adyantageously Sit
uated States Of the South; and instead Of
desolatiou and destruction brought about
hy the rebels, would be substituted, with
out a dollar Of expense to the government.
social and industrial system, flee, ener-
getic. intelligent and loyal.-N =. Eeea-
ing Poet
Szzss---------------