The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-10-14
HON. r.. VI. r. HUNTERS ADDRESS
AT WINCHESTER.
WHAT HE SAID ABOUT COMPENSATION
FOR OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OF THE
FORTRESS MONROE CONFERENCE.

A Geographic dispatch from the Shenan-
doah Valley Agricultural Fair, at Win
chester, Va, briefly skctched the main
points Of the address of the Hon. r. NJ. L.
Hunter delivered there on Thursday, en-
bracing a picture of the despoiled condition
Of the South at the close Of the war, the de-
cree of improvement accomplished since,
and the failure of the Government to give
compensation for cmanciEated slaves, though
Mr.. Lincoln had declared in favor of it, &c.
\ somewhat fuller report of the speech APP
pears in the New York Tribune. On the
condition of the South Mr.. Hunter remarked
with much force and feeling as follows:
"No people ever had to discharge the
daily care and usual duties of life under
greater difficulties, or with less assistance
from those from whom they had perhaps Il
RIGHT to expect ii, than has been our case
since the SYar. The whole country was
nearly stripped Of its cattle and stock, the
negroes emancipated without a cent of COM
pensation, the whole system of labor dlsor-
sanized, the capital of the country lost, and
nothing left but debts and the naked land.
Scarcely a dollar was to be borrowed
abroad, for there was no security to offer but
land of little value. p
"Noa aid could be obtained from the State,
itself poor and in debt. The Federal Gov
ernment, which emancipated the slaves,
offered no compensation, as other Govern
mcpts had done when trying the expert
ment. Indeed" Mr.. Hunter said, " it
seemed to be their purpose to make all these
changes operate on us as harshlya as possible;
and If it had been their design to depres,
stilI further the country and the people,
already Door enough, their course Of action
| could not have been much better suited to
| TINT end. Such were the difficulties under
which we had to begin the work of recon-
| structing our entire system Of industry and
| production. Deeply Us we were in debt,
our Government Vas debarred by the Con-
s~titution of the United States from attempt
| ing to resdjust the contracts of the country
| 50 us to adapt their performance more easily
to the changes of the times and the true
spirit Of the original agreement in the con-
temptation of the parties to it."
He referred to the action of other Govern
mcnts for the relief of the debtor class after
q war, and called attention to the United
States Constitution to show that such relief
as was deemed just and necessary IN other
countries was impossible in this. Here the
Door citizens had been forced to pay heavy
taxes upon their productions, especially OF
tobacco, from the cultivation Of which the
people of Virginia hoped 10 derive the
means to resuscitate heiragrlcultural indus
tries. He had seen it recently reported that
Virginia had paid in internal taxes since
the war $50, 600, 900, of which by far the
greater part had been paid on tobacco. Such
a fund as this, judiciousiy distributed in
loans among the people, would have done
much to build up the industrial interests of
the State.
Mr.. LINCOLN AND sLAVE.C0APENsATI0N.
"In the interview at Old Point Comfort
between Mr. Lincoln and Mi. Seward and
commissioners of the Confederate States (of
whom I was one), this subject of compensa.
ton for emancipated slaves was introduced
BY MIR. Lincoln himself. He said that a
prominent citizen of the North, whose name
if given would probably surprise us, had
written to him to say that If the slaves W0re
e%mancipated 800, 100000 ought to be dis
tributed among their former owners. The
money, rs well as / remember, was proposed
to be given to the State in proportion to the
number Of negroes freed within their bor-
ders, aud by them to be distributed among
the individual owners. That this would
have been a very inadequate compensation
for 1900. 900 slaves is evident to all. But
woo can estimate The relief which it would
Afforded to the despoiled Souths Il