The Daily Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia CS
A bright idea.--Nothing
seems to give our good friends, the Yankees, so much trouble as the
"contraband"--or, in other words, the negroes they have stolen from
Southern plantations. They are utterly at a loss what to do with them.
They cannot send them to Liberia, for Liberia has set up for herself and
will soon have an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of
her vim at the Court of the White House,
and her consent must be obtained before so many lazy, ignorant
vagabonds can be packed, upon her. They cannot turn them loose in
Central or South America, for they own no land there, and John Bull,
backed by France and Spain, is determined that the "area of freedom,"
shall not be enlarged in that direction. They will not let them settle
in Yankeedom, for of all things in nature, a negro is most detestable to
a Yankee. In this dilemma, "certain prominent members of Congress," as
we are assured by that mirror of truth, the Washington Star,
are coming forward to solve the difficulty. "They are considering,"
says the Star, "a new proposition for the solution of the 'contraband'
question in order to avoid the expense of supporting crowds of slaves in
idleness, and to furnish the American mills with cotton. "
The
latter part of the sentence in the key to all Yankee movements. They
have found out that cotton is king after all. They are mad for cotton.
Put a bale in their sight and they fall into convulsions, as a rabid dog
when he sees a vessel of water. They can't get cotton, and they are
prepared to go all lengths for it. Their present scheme is a very wise
one. "They take the ground," says the Star, "that the Indian territory
west of Louisiana and Arkansas was ceded to the United States by treaty,
and on certain conditions." The Indians having violated the treaties
and spurned the obligations, it is proposed by these long-headed
Congressmen to occupy their territory and put the contrabands in
possession of it. The plantations of the Choctaws and Chickasaws alone,
the Star tells us, could fully supply the American mills the first year,
and, as Cuff is famous for making cotton only when he is compelled, a
system of apprenticeship is to be established, to take the labor that is
in him out of him. "The country is approached," it seems, "from St.
Louis through Springfield, a distance of three hundred miles.""The
remainder of the railroad from Rolla to Fort Smith can be completed in
twelve months.""The county thus reverting to the Government embrace the
vallies of the Red, Arkansas, and other rivers, and contains 20,000,000
acres of unsurpassed fertility, capable of producing 15,000,000 bales of
cotton per annum."
This
is certainly a grand scheme, and does credit to the "prominent-members
of Congress" who concocted it. As there will be some difficulties in
carrying it out, we venture to point them out to the "prominent members
of Congress," that being forewarned they may be forearmed; 1st, There is
a man named Sterling Price living out in Missouri on the line of this
railroad, who will be sure to object to it, and, if not summarily deal
with, will be very apt to thwart it. He is a man whom it will not do to
despise. Some time ago a body of Federal troops were attempting to get
to Arkansas through this very Springfield, when this fellow Price fell
in with them there, and cut them into ribands. We are not sure that what
were left of them are done running yet.--Nay, he followed them up, and
took a whole army of them prisoners within
a week afterwards. It is not altogether so certain that he will not
have St. Louis in possession before the "prominent members" can start
the first cargo to the promised land of cotton and glory. Now it is
certain that Price will raise his sack against this scheme, wise as it
is; and as he has something like fifty thousand men at his back and
call, and is a desperate fighter, there is a chance that he may cause
trouble. In the second place, after disposing of Price, it is but too
probable that the Choctaws and Chickasaws may not be willing to give up
their lands at the bidding of "prominent members." They number some
eight or ten thousand warriors, and would have at their back all
Arkansas, all Western Louisiana, and all Eastern Texas.
This
scheme will not do. We can put the "prominent members" on a better. Let
them drive out the whites from Louisiana and Mississippi,
and plant the "contrabands" there. They will only have to walk-over the
bodies of some hundred and fifty thousand men; and, to a bloodthirsty
Bull Trotter this would hardly furnish food for a breakfast. If they
object to this as an enterprise too easy of accomplishment, let them
take in Georgia and Alabama, or Arkansas and Texas, or all of them
together.
If
Yankees were not so notoriously bloodthirsty, we have yet a scheme in
reserve, which we would submit to the "prominent members." In doing so,
we betray confidence, but we feel justified by the occasion.--A great
English astronomer has made discoveries through the great telescope of
the Earl of Ross, which throw all others — even there revealed by Lock
twenty-five years ago — into the shade. He has found that there are
magnificent cotton lands in the moon, and not a Choctaw or a Chickasaw
anywhere near. Let the "preeminent members" forthwith seize them for the
benefit of the "contrabands."--It will be much easier than it is to
take the lands of the Chickasaws and Choctaws-Professor Lowe can furnish
them with transportation. Let them apply at once. They will give him an
opportunity of doing something really useful.
