Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-10-14

and battery, and tried to get them over my
head shall meet all the measurements made
concerning the publication IN due season.
After further conversation OF no particular
interest to the public, our reporter withdrew.
/ MIR. X. VI. Il. Hunters Address.
We lately mentioned the main points of the
address delivered by Mr.. Hunter at the Aeri
cultural Fair 10 Winchester. The following is
a fuller account Of u portion Of his rcmarks:-
mo people ever had to discharge the daily
care and usual duties of lie under greater dili-
culties, or with less assistance from those from
whom they had right perhaps TO expect II,
than has been our case since the war. The whole
country was nearly stripped OF its cattle and
stock, the negroes enamel pat"d without y cent of
compensation, the whole system of labor Ills II
ganized. The capital of the country lost and
nothing left but debts and the naked land.
Scarcely dollar was to be borrowed abroad,
for there was security to offer but land OF lit
tie value.
itself poor ard in deb. The lt dcral government,
which emancpatcd the slaves, offered no com.
| pensation, as other governments had done when
| irving the experiment. Indeed" Mr. Uunter
said, '1t seemed to be their purpose to make all
these changes operate on US rs harshly rs posi-
| ble and if it had been their design to depress
still further the country and the people, already
poor enough, their course of action could not
have been much better suited tn that end.
Such were the difficulties u! der which we had
to begin the work of reconstructing our entire
system OF industry and production. Deeply rs
we were in debt, our government WAS debarrcd
by the constitution % the United States from ut
tempting to read just the contracts of the country
so rs to ada their performance more easily to
the changes Of The times and the true spirit of
the CT ginal agreement in the contemplation Of
the parties TO IT,.
He referred TO the action Of other governments
for the relief of the debtor class after war; and
called attention to the United States constitution
to show that such relief rs Was deemed just and
necessary in other countries was Impossible IN
this Here the poor citizens had been forced TO
pay heavy taxes upon their productions, espe-
cially of tobacco, from the cultivation of which
the PEG 10 of Virginia hoped to derive the means
to recusitste their agricultural industries He
had seen it recently reported that Virginia had
paid in internal taxes since the war DW0o 900,
Of which by far the greater part had been psi1
on tobacco. Such fund rs this judiciouS!y
distributed in loans among the people, would
have done much to build ZIP the industrial in
terests Of the STATE.
In the interview at Old Point Comfort be-
tween Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward and the
Commissioners of the Confederate States (of
whom was one) this subject OF compensation
for emancipated slaves WAS introduced Mr.. Lin
coin himself He said that prominent citizen
| i
bly, surprise u.s. had written To him to say that if
the slaves were ernancipatcd SlU0 00 $50 ought
to be distributed among their former owners.
The money, as well rs remember, was proposed
to be given to the State in proportion to the num-
Der Of negroes freed within their riders, and by
them to be distributed among the individual
owners. That this would have been II very in
adequate compensation for 100000 slaves is ev-
idenL to all. But who can estimate the relief
which it would have afforded to the dcspoiIed
| IL .YriI, tod bnI of,nr
the war it would we been OF lncStinlablc value.
MIR. Lincoln said he had no authority to
speak for any one but himself, but he himself
WAS in favor OF it, Mr.. Seward expressed some
Impotence, saying that the government paid
enough in the expenses OF the war which l sup
pose he felt to have been wagcd for negro email
| c:pation-u poor excuse to be made in regard TO
the claims of any of the States. but none certain
ly in the cases of Kentucky, Missouri Maryland
and Delaware, which never seeded, and were
never even called rebelIous. To this Mr.. Lin
coin replied with equal earnestncss: know you
VII say that it WAS sinful to hold slaves, and u.
there was no right to do so, there is nc justice in
the claims for compensation. Now" said he
| lift was sin in the South to hold slaves twas
Il sin the North to sell them, which they did to
II very great extent, NE we all know"
| Mr.. Hunter then spoke NJ some length to
prove this last assertion of Mr.. Lincoln, quoting
in its support from DR.. Danby's defence Of
Virginia and Of the South and said:
!
could be considered US deprived Of the claim to
compensation. If we were still citizens, and
States within the Union, the sposton WAS UNI
constitutional, and we were certainly entitled 10
some compensation for damage sustained II
we were separate and independent beligerents
such an act Of plumber was not justified by the
laws of war; and we we're entitled to compensa
ton upon the precedents of both wars with Great
Britain. She solemnly bound herself by the
treaty of 1888 to pay for al our slaves whom she
carried away, and she WAS found liable to do the
same thing for those she took away in the last
war by an award of the Emperor OF Russia -
decision made upon the very terms of the Treaty
of Client.
New England" he continued, lis mistaken
if she hopes to escape all moral responsibility ut
the bar of public opinion for what she acknowl-
edges to have been grea: wrong, by throwing
the whole loss and punishment upon those whom
she accuses of being the recipients of the stolen
goods"
THE GREAT STORM IN AUGUsT.-A report