Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1867-05-29
WAITS FROM VIRGINIA.


WAITS FROM VIRGINIA.
RICHMOND Va. May Is. 1867.
To the Editor of the Boston Journal:
THE CAPITAL or VIRGINIA.
Richmond was the seat Of an empire,
when, in 1906, Captain John Smith first
assembled the James river, and there visit
ed Powbatau, an Indian Chieftain who
had subdued or allied to himself all the
tripes between the mountains and the sea,
from the Potomac to the Roanoke. His
residence is described as truly an aborigi-
nal paradise. we'll palisaded and thor.
oughly protected, the neighboring falls of
the river affording every opportunity for
the use of the spear or the trap in catch.
ing fish, with hunting grounds, densely
wooded, all around Seventy years after
ward, the English colonists, headed by
Nathaniel Bacon, attacked the Indian vii
lage at night, and after stubborn resist
ance massacred its inhabitants. 1t was
then selected as the headquarters of one
of series of armed colonies along the
frontier, the inhabitants Of which were
bound by feudal tenure as protection
against the exasperatcd saveges.
In l743 the frontier post became a
town, named from supposed resemblance
to Richmond Hill 10 England, which had
been SO christened by the Normans be.
cause it was Rouge monitor red hill up
on the banks of the Thames. In 1878,
when Thomas Jefferson was Governor of
Virginia, the Seat of Government was re-
moved from Williamsburg TO Richmond,
but 1t did not remain there long undis-
turbed. In 1871 General Benedict Ar
mold, at the head of eight hundred British
troops. landed just below the place, march
ed there without opposition, burned and
plundered at will, and then returned in
safety to the fleet. A distinguished Vir-
ginia historian justly says that this is a
blot upon the memory of Jefferson that
no amount of excuse can ever wipe away.
"Had he shown frmness and met the dan
ger instead of running away from it-had
he been more anxious to preserve the pub
lie honor than to save The public stores
had he ialliel the forces on the spot
against the enemy himself, instead of en-
ploying all hands in carrying off arms
he would thus, in place of creating panic
that conquered the town before the enemy
reached it, have produced a spirit Of con.
fdence and driven them back to their
ships"
Remember, it is Virginia historian,
and not Yankee correspondent, who has
thus described the cowardly fight of JEFF
ferson and the chivalrc citizens Of Rich
mond, before eight hundred men. A
Union man who was here at the recent
evacuation of the city, says that Governor
Letcher displayed equal alacrity in leav-
ing Richmond to its fate. while the gray
backed Vandals under Breckinridgc did
all in their power to destroy it. On every
hand. in the business portions of the city,
one sees marks of their devastating sue
cess. and so changed is the rebuilt Main
street that | can hardly recognize Rich
mond as it was ante beilum.
Yankee energy, German industry and
thrift had made Richmond busy, indus
trious. commercial centre, with shipping,
ocean steamers, river traffic, canal ex.
tending some two hundred miles into the
interior, and lines of railroad reaching
out like fingers, to grasp the trade and
the productions OF the Old Dominion.
The Tredcgar Iron Works and Foundries
had world wide reputation, as did the
Galepo -four mills, which turned out 800
barrels of unequalled flour day, while
hundred tobacco factories furnished
enormous supplies of the Virginia weed
to all parts of Cbristendom.
There was another traffic here-more
profitable than all the rest, and more de-
testable than any--the slave trade. Thou
sands of men, women and children, Of
every hue, from snowy white to sooty."
but all having more or less African blood
in their veins. (often mingled with that
Of the frst families Of the old Dominion
we're brought here, kept in large jails'
sold like cattle, and sent down to the rice
swamps or to the cotton fields. The men
engaged in this accursed traffic were nat
urally despotic, wicked and desperate
They bad the sense to see that the tide
Of emancipation was rolling southwark
and it was their i'll gotten wealth which
prccipitated secession. 1t was the negro
dealers who hired the pauper lawyers ol
Richmond TO write inAammatOry and sedi
tious articles for their newspapers. 1t wal
their money which paid for music, and