The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-11-22
Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.
Emigration Scheme for the Settle
ment of Lower Virginia.


immigration schemes all appear to drag
heavily along, and must continue to do SO
for some time to come. The country pro-
posed to be benefited is in too unsettled
q state, and while this is the case emf
grants will be indisposed to leave quiet
communities and settle amid scenes OF
social disorder.
| Nevertheless, it is a subject not to be
lost sight of. 1t must be discussed and
agitatcd, perhaps for years, if anything is
ever to come of it. Affairs cannot remain
as they are for an indefinite period; and
during the transition from disquiet to
repose, the best methods of promoting the
great object should be carefully studied
Before emigration to tide-water Eir-
ginia can become a fixed fact it is be-
lieved that there must be unity of action
among the great body Of andholders. The
lands must be put in market at a fixed
price, according to their value; and be-
yond that price the owner must deny him
self the privilege of making any advance.
| Otherwise, when the tide begins to come
| in, its progress will be checked by dou-
bling or quadrupling the estimates which
had been placed upon it before there was
any inquiry IN regard 10 IL.
To carry out this plan in systematic
and eifectual manner the landholders of
any county, or Of several contiguous coun-
ties, should unite in placing at the dispo-
sal Of competent and trustworthy agent
or company, say one-half of their lands at
| Il very low price. The agent, having these
| lands under his absolute control, will find
no difficulty in raising money upon them
| to prosecute the work. Every man must
be convinced that emigration is not to be
attracted hithcr without considerable eN-
pnnse. The agent will have to furnish
himself with maps and plats, that he may
give full description of the country to
persons proposing to cmigrate, and, in
fact, place him in any particular location.
II is Us if the whole disposable part
Of the country We're laid off in sec
tons and quarter sections. This would
enable colony Of emigrants 10
settle all in the same neighborhood or dis
trict, and they would know what each sec
ton or part of section of land would
cost before leaving their native places.
| This is the mode adopted for disposing OF
the public lands of the United States, and
Il is probably the best ever devised by the
wit OF man. But suppose the United
States had only sold alternate sections, re-
serving the others until the alternate ones
had been bought up. The reservation
would then have readily brought ten or
twenty prices.
Now, if lower Virginia is ever to tie
filled up by industrious small farmers, it
can only be by plan, the leading features
g ,,,ls 4, al 70 hat fy,r
diSposing Of the public lands. If a farmer,
therefore, puts half of his land in the
scheme at low price, or even without
price, he may expect in the course Of
years that the remainder will be worth
many times as much as the whole is now.
And this is probably the only way in which
he will ever be able to sell it even at
nominal figure.
1t is evident that this scheme can only
apply to those places where the lands, in
regard to price and natural advantages,
can be brought into successful competi-
ton with the national domain. And such
a place, in preGminent manner, is the
whole of tide-water Virginia, on account
OF its general salubrity, its admirable eli
mate, its kind aud improbable soil, and it's
WONDERFUL ldCllluleS lOf COMMUNICATION
with the best markets. In the Piedmont
country the price of land is too high to
render such a scheme feasible; and. in the
Valley it is higher still, besides being al
ready densely peopled. But here we
have hundreds of thousands, indeed mil
lions of acres, not one-half Of which could
be forced on the market at the Govern
ment price of dollar and quarter per
acre, but which might be taken up in the
manner proposed in the course Of single
generation.
1t is understood that there are men in
New York who have long been engaged in
promoting emigration to Missouri and
o'her western States who are willing to
p p Their efforts towards the peopling of
Virginia with the best emgrants from the
old countries. There are gentlemen also
IN Petersburg who have given the subject
much reelection, and are willing to lend
their aid in carrying out the scheme. II
Is hoped, therefore, that all whose interests
would be advanced by it will calmly survey
the whole field and cordially cooperate in
giving vitality to the movement.
SNowDES.