Year: 1869

]
kindly published hastily written letter
from me in favor of emigration to the
South generally, but more particularly to
Virginia. For this courtesy to me per-
sonally, and the evidence you are daily
giving of interest in our material rccu-
peration, thank you most heartily That
the subject is of absorbing interest to our
! people, is manifest from the fact that
some of the leading journals of the South
have reproduced the letter, imperfect as
it was and others have epitomizcd it and
cordially indorsed its sentiments and state
ments of fact But, even more crafty
ing than general sympathy of my South
ern countrymen in the objects had in
view, is the overwhelming testimony [
have received from all parts of the North
that We are about to have an invasion
that will bring life, prosperity, and wealth,
in its train. Not an incursion of hungry
"carpet baggers," to stir up strife, and re-
open the wounds left by the war, and
which, God knows, heal slowly enough
under the best treatment-buta countless
host of earnest, honest, active, industrious,
and enterprising men and women, who
mean to settle here, buy land, build
houses, establish stores, shops, and fac
tories, and become incorporated with us
as "bone of our bone and flesh of our
| flesh"


| have been absent from home for sew
eral weeks, and find on my return humid
reds of letters from your Northern read
ers, of almost every pursuit and walk in
life, seeking information of every conceiv-
able nature in regard to Virginia, and all
expressing an earnest desire to move and
settle here l would like to answer all
these letters directly and at length, but it
is physically impossible for me to do So
1t has taken me to-day, from morning till
night, to read them. Pressing business
| engagements forbid the hope that can
reply to more than one in every ten or
twenty. am glad these letters have
been written, and thank the writers for
them. They bring hope and encourage
ment that we are indeed about to enter
on career of renewed and unparalleled
prosperity. The wide range inquiry made
by the different writers shows that we
have yet much to do to inform the public
mind beyond our borders of the surpas-
sing natural advantages and resources of
this State. One great Virginia mind is
now engaged in this important work.
That most distinguished of all American
scientific men, Commodore Matthew I.
Maury, is applying his great intellect to
the enlightenment of the world IN regard
to the soil, climate, productions, mines,





vantages, and population of this State
His preliminary report has just been pub
lished, and l hope will soon be spread
broad cast throughout the North, and in
Europe. A book, too, has been recently
published by Frederick B. Goddard, No.
432 Broome St, n Y, entitled "Where to
Emigrate, and Why" that will aid US
greatly. But it may be long time be-
fore these important publications will reach
the hundreds who have read my letter in
| The Tribune, and written for immediate
information to guide them in the election
of home TO greatly these your read
ers, and in the onl y way possible to an
swer all their letters, l propose to group
the subjects of inquiry, and reply to them,
with your permission, through your col
umns The information thus impaired
may not be in every case as minute and
specific as some of the writers expected
but 1 pledge my personal honor for the
truth of every statement, inasmuch as L
shall confne myself to facts within my
own knowledge, being acquainted with
almost the entire State, and in my early
life a plowman and farmer in my native
Shenandoah Valley, and, [ think, and
competent judge of our soil, climate an
impartial and productions, and in all my
feelings and sentiments Virginian, In
full accord with my own people. Above
all things, l wish to avoid misleading
any one With this preface, l proceed to
answer the most important questions that
have been asked me.


First: Can Radical Republican
Hoe here IN comfort, and uote has pr'nca-
pies oith safety?


YES. Hundreds of such have settled
in the State since the war, and thousands
have visited it, and | have yet to hear OF
the instance in which there was any fur
ther restriction on freedom of speech and
action than there is in Massachusetts,
The laws of genteel society are in force
here, and bully or blackguard who
trangresses them so far as to offer per-
sonal insult by wholesale eliminating re-
marks, will be as readily accommodated
with fight, as | would expect to be on
| Boston Common, were [ to "Huzza for
JEFF. Davis" there and damn the whole
Yankee nation" Dut a gentleman and
man of sense and character can speak,
write, and publish, with perfect freedom,
any of the political dogmas of the day /;
and if, in other respects, he is what he
should be here, or in any community, his
social standing will be exactly what he
chooses to make it for himself. We have
had so many hard cases to swarm down
upon US, and so many instances of hum
! huo and swindlino by such people since