to iksc Y\_su» UiinLL. I8fe8 4 Glass. Book For Circulation in Great Britain and in the United States. ~~ — " • t aa o > A BRIEMEMOIR INFORMATI EUROPEANS CO e. 9 S-& in* s> p EMIGRATING 8= CO i> nsfled $1$ NEW WORLD. [This Memoir was pub Zeituxg," and ten thous had been secured, and pa K P »— ' o P CD CD o o TO Richmond, Virginia, December 30, 1867. ) The undersigned, European Agent of Immigration for the State ot Virginia, for thirty years an inhabitant and citizen of the United States, a European by birth, addresses himself in the following lines, chiefly to that class of emigrants, who desire by cultivation of the soil or devel- opment of mineral resources and manufactures to create for themselves an independent home in the New World. Many years of residence and experience in this country, joined to extensive travels North, South and West, as well as a personal acquaintance with the most prominent men in the United States, during that long period, have given him unusual and ample opportunities for rigid examination of the capacity of the soil, the influence of the climate and the character of the inhabitants of the various States now composing the Union. It is, therefore, upon the basis of personal experience, that he has undertaken !•» itiauuiirute a system of immigration to the State of Virginia, as, in his opinion, offering, in every important respect, excellent facilities in soil, climate and productions, for the labors of the intelligent and thrifty husband- man, mechanic, artisan, miner and manufacturer, and the aceu mil ition of wealth. In prosecution ot this plan he will visit the principal Euro- pean countries shortly. At this time he proposes merely to give a brief outline of the State, as regards her natural divisions, the different soils, climates, productions and facilities for transportation, of each district. Geographical Position. — Virginia lies between 36° 30' and 40° 3S' north latitude, and between 75° 10' and 83° 30' west longitude, being about 425 miles in its greatest length from east to west, and d\0 in breadth, including an area of about 61,352 square miles, or 39,205,2:30 acres, only 11,437,821 of which, making a little over one-fourth of the whole, were improved in 1860. The cash value of the improved and unimproved lands is estimated at $371,761,661 — an estimate which is exceeded only by the value of real estate in Illinois, Ohio, New York" and Pennsylvania. The boundaries on the north are Maryland, Penn- sylvania and Ohio— on the east, Maryland and the Atlantic oce.iu— on the south, North Carolina and Tennessee — on the west, Kentucky and Ohio. It is separated from Ohio by the river of the same name — from Maryland by the Potomac — and from Kentucky partly by the Cumber- land mountains and the Big Sandy river. No State in the Union presents a greater variety of surface and climate than Virginia — from the mountains of the interior and the rugged hills east and west of them to the rich alluvions of the rivers, and the sandy- flats on the sea-coast. * The greatest extent of mountains, and the greatest variety of timbers are found in this State. White Top moun- tain, in Grayson county, attains an elevation of six thousand feet. The State is by nature divided into five districts or regions, viz: the Low or Tide- Water, the Piedmont, the A r alley, the Alleghanies and the Trans- Alleghanies. We will glance at them in their natural order. LOW OR TIDE-WATER DISTRICT. Thirty-seven counties, mostly bordering on the Atlantic ocean and the Chesapeake bay, compose this district. It is generally level, not more than sixty feet above tide, even in the highest places. Great navigable streams traverse it in a south eastern direction, such as the Potomac, Rappahannock, York and James rivers, with a multitude of smaller streams. The great slope which forms this district " is divided by natural boundaries into no less than twelve principal peninsulas," says Gen. Wise, of Virginia, in a recent address, replete with valuable information, "The eastern shore of the Chesapeake; that between the Potomac and Rappahannock; between Rappahannock and the Pianka- tank; between Piankatank and York; the York and the James; the Mattaponi and the Pamunkey; the Chickahotniny and the James; the Nansemond and Dismal swamp and the ocean; the Nansemond and James and the Black water; the Black water and the Nottoway; the Nottoway and the Meherrin; the Meherrin and the Roanoke." This favored region contains every variety of soil. The Delta of these rivers, "in the borders of Virginia, is richer and rarer in every produc- tion than the Garden of the Nile. There is nowhere near it any " arida nutrix leonum" says General Wise, "and its only quags of swamp, even in the Big Dragon of the Piankatank and on the Chickahominy and around the ' fire-fly camp' of Drummond lake, are capable of being converted into a New Holland by dyke and ditch of 'easy spit and drain,' or horticulture of every fruit and vegetable, where drought can not parch, and of a temperature milder than that much farther south. Vegetation is confined to no one class of plants and trees — and flower and fruit, and cereal and staple crops of every variety flourish with a beauty and a fullness and a flavor to cheer industry and art with luscious plenty at home and a paying profit at the markets of every Eastern city. There is a navigable stream at almost every door. There are eligible sites on every creek and river in this region, not only for all the more common fruits, such as apples, peaches, pears, cherries, berries, plums and melons, but for the rarer and more delicate fruits, such as grapes, figs, pomgranates, apricots, nectarines, Persian cantelopes, strawberries and cranberries. According to Prince, there are no sites on the Conti- nent so Italy-like for fruits as some of these peninsulas of lowland Vir- ginia. The crops of grain and vegetables are still more various, and the lands the easiest tilled in the world, with mines of marl and shell, and fossils and muck for manure in every part. And it is a great mistake to suppose that this section is not equally good for stock raising of its kind, and for clothing as well as food. It has the finest ranges in its savannahs and salt marshes for small cattle, of the Devon breed, and the best for hogs and sheep, and the hardiest blooded horses. The ponies of the Chincoteague Island will sell for a higher price than any horse in America, proportioned to his girth; and the best racers of the two last centuries were foaled from the blood of the south-side of the James. Flax and hemp may be grown to any extent; and cotton has been grown profitably. Its forests furnish the choicest ship timber, from its salt sea atmosphere in thirty miles of the coast. Its Hampton Roads is the largest harbor of the continent, to which the Eastern rivers con- verge from every point of the compass for commerce. And, every- where, on land and water, Nature has provided a meat-house of fishe- ries and game, venison, wild turkey, quails and woodcock, rabbits, squirrels, robins, sora. reed birds, shell fish, scale fish, terrapins, turtles, swans, wild geese, brant and wild ducks, and plover innumerable, and indestructible. The salubrity "of its climate," says General Wise, " will compare with that, of any other region, since drainage and liming of the lands began to remove the causes of malarial fevers, chiefly at the points where the tides of salt water meet the currents of the fresh water at the rivers." The entire region is favorable to the growth of the finest kinds of tobacco, offering great inducements for the settlement of growers from the various portions of European tobacco regions. There is no reason why the finest Cuban tobaccos should not grow here, and with the now spreading cultivation of the Latakia tobacco plant, brought by Bayard Taylor from Palestine, and successfully introduced already by him in Pennsylvania, a great future is opened for this staple in Virginia Mr. Taylor thinks this variety incomparably better than the finest Vara or Cuba ever grown, and states that it does not deteriorate by being trans planted, but retains perfectly all its delicious characteristics. Market gardeners near Norfolk cultivate early vegetables for the mar- kets of Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York, having their produce ripening from three to four weeks earlier than in those more Northern latitudes. They have been known, on from five to ten acres in culti- vation, to make per annum from $2,500 to $5,000 clear piofit. By the Anamessic lineof railroad, which now in thirteen hours travel, connects the city of Norfolk with the metropolis of New York, market gardeners and fanners on the lower Chesapeake bay, especially those who live in Accomac and Northampton counties may directly, and those of Princess Anne, Norfolk, York, Gloucester, Matthews, Middlesex, Lancaster and Northumberland may, by means of their own little schooners, in one night's travel across the bay, offer their produce for sale within twenty- four hours in the best market on the American continent. The fisheries on these coasts are world -renowned. On the whole line of the counties above enumerated, fish-manure can be abundantly obtained for the labor of carrying it away. Wheat and other cereals flourish. During the war, in this section, after the Northern armies and fleets had destroyed everything, the inhabitants felt no apprehension on the score of living they could find fishand oysters and wild ducks everywhere and in plenty In Nansemond county in the celebrated Dismal Swamp, peat has been discovered. It is now being cut, molded and shipped to the Northern cities and found to be extremely profitable. By allowing one hundred inhabitants to the square mile, and giving sixty acres as a homestead to each family, the lowlands of Virginia can maintain a population of one million six hundred thousand souls. PIEDMONT DISTRICT. "At the foot of the mountains, " stretching away to where the navi- gation of the rivers, which traverse the lowlands, ceases, a region, em- bracing thirty-two counties, lies, more diversified in surface than the lowlands — and, of course, more elevated, with a genial and healthful climate. Here are found the greatest inducements for the erection of manufacturing establishments — natural water power being everywhere abundantly at command. This land is the " Piedmont of Virginia," " like the vinous land of Italy, though not so naked," as General Wise says, " for hill and dale, and gr<»ve and meadow, for lawns and orchards, and mountain spires, and undulating surface of waving wheat fields and greenswards, and buoyant springs and sparkling fountains, and bracing air — it surpasses all classic lauds of Arcadia." It is divided by the James into North and South Piedmont, from the Point of Rocks to Lynchburg, and from Lynch bu/g to the North Carolina line. The difference in these two divisions of the Piedmont is attributable more to the difference in the past habits of cultivating the two than to any great variation of climate or soil. Though one is farther north, yet the climate of each is much the same as that of the other, both being nearly affected by a mountain atmosphere. The Northern has the stiffest clay, and cultivates wheat and corn and artificial grasses and raises live stock; the Southern cultivates mostly tobacco and corn, though wheat also largely, and grazes but little. Both are beautiful, and fertile and fit lot farming, capable of the highest cultivation; are cool and bracing hi, temperature, and blessed with health. This district has an area of 10,UU0 square miles, and is capable of maintaining a population of one million souls. It is not generally a lime land, but portions of it are very rich, i. e., Loudoun, Fauquier, Albemarle and Bedford counties. The tobacco which is raised in the Southern section of Piedmont, south of 38°, is known as shipping tobacco. The fine tobacco counties in this section are Albemarle, Henry, Pittsylvania, Halifax, Campbell, &c. Before we reach the third principal region of Virginia we must cross the Blue Ridge, where we find still some of the most beautiful forests of America and an atmosphere of surpassing salubrity. The nroduc tions of this magnificent mountain-belt are similar to to those regions on its sides. Waving wheat fields and pastures; charming valleys with grazing cattle and hardy husbandmen may everywhere be met Vine yards are everywhere springing up, and its honey finds now and its wine will soon find a market in the world. To the sturdy emigrar t this ridge ofiers still thousands of acres of virgin lands, and nowhere in all America will he have nature's assurance of a long life so plainly indicated as here. This ridge alone contains at least 2,000 L are miles, or 1,280,000 acres, enough to divide into 6,400 forms of 200 acres each and to support a population of 50,000 more than it has now. VALLEY DISTRICT. Crossing he Blue Ridge mountains, we come to the celebrated Valley of Virginia (Shenandoah and South Branch), not only renowned for the m n& lts , sol, - 8 3 000 square miles in area and capable of support „g 800JW0 people; but for the splendid characteristics of its inhabitant- English, Germans, Scotch, Irish, now intermixed in one brave race-a race which dunng the late war,earned world- wide renown in the « Stone* wall Brigade," under their immortal leadar, "Stonewall" Jackson a continuation of the fruitful Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania ' k stretches between the Blue Ridge and Alleghany mountain? he entire length of Virginia obliquely from north-east to south-west, nearly three hundred miles, and is from twenty-five to thirty miles wide. pSmsS the finest grazing country in the world, and having throughout a hi e stone foundation, its lands yield, from twenty to forty bus ? e t of wheat- and from forty to fifty bushels of Indian corn, is by no means an ex to' ordinary crop. Had the Confederacy been successful if5XS£K valley, her armies could have been maintained from its produced an r^T T l " T i at Val ' ey '" Says General VVise/^ha aleady ZtreZt lt 3° Ver ^ so f- s ' -pulchres, and is bravely ren wrn| vllfherarms Sh*V?7 ^p her neighbors with alms as she did witn tier arms. She is indestructible in resources of wealth and nower- her strength is founded on her everlasting limestone rocl " To P show he remarkab e permanency of its fertility we cite the following fiX a cond onof he c? IT"* i?^*' in his Pavels, descilbes he condition of the Germans on the Shenandoah, as follows- "1 could no but reflect with pleasure on the situation of 'these peop7e',and th nk if there is such a thing as happiness in this life that they eniovit Far rom the bustle of the world, they live in the mo tdehS climate Sitfffi 681 SmI mia S inab,e ; they are everywhere surrounded with strean s U Va P lTlfw ?* -f ^i ""*** ^ ^untainsT^anspaTeLt streams, falls of water, rich valleys and majestic woods- the whole EKSSIL^^^ T Gty ° f fl r e "°^ «nrubs,^nsStut"he idiiascapc surrounding them; they are subject to few diseases- are -en erally robust, and live in perfect liberty; they are ignorant of want fnd precludes any regret that they possess not the means of enjoyTng then • but they possess what many princes would give their dominions for — health, content, and tranquility of mind."* Seventy years later, Bern- hard, Duke of Saxe- Weimar, says of this valley: "The country was pretty well cultivated, and by the exterior of many country houses, we were induced to believe their inhabitants enjoyed plenty. "f Daniel Webster, twenty years after this, in a public oration in the Shenandoah Valley, said "that he had seen no finer farming land in his European travels than in that valley." Still twenty years later, and the Northern troops when they entered it victoriously, after its great defender Stone- wall Jackson had fallen, exclaimed : "Here is a second Canaan, let us rest here and pitch our tents." What gives particular interest to this valley and to the Blue Ridge to the European emigrant is the fact that there have never been many negroes within them — at this day the land is cultivated almost entirely by white laborers. THE ALLEGHANIES. Beyond this valley westward rise the Alleghanies. Their range runs north-east and south-west 250 miles, by 50 miles of average width — making of mountains, valleys and dales, 14,500 square miles. Besides their aspect of rocks, ridges, caves, valleys, slopes, healing springs, streams, fountains, they present to the eye a most luxuriant indigenous verdure of blue grass spread over forests and fields, which offer grazing to the live stock on Nature's pastures without a cost of clearing or cul- tivation. North of the High Knob and Haystack there are no negroes. And the whole region of these mountains abounds in minerals of every description, which wait for the capital to develop them. Wheat, rye, oats and other grain, and the fruits of Northern latitudes grow luxu- riantly everywheie in the valleys, dales, plateaus and other slopes of these ragged mountains, and offer a most inviting home to a Swiss, a Scotch, a Sweed, a Norwegian, &c. There is room enough in these mountains for one million two hundred thousand immigrants, of every kind of occupation. TRANS-ALLEGHANY DISTRICT. This district, comprising forty-nine counties, sparsely settled, moun- tainous and hilly throughout, interspersed with rich valleys, dales and plateaus, celebrated for its mineral wealth, oil and healing waters, con- stitutes now the State of West Virginia. It comprises about 15,000 square miles. Productions. — Although the general productions of Virginia have been mentioned in the preceding lines, we desire to give some definite infor- mation with respect to the amounts of each staple. No later material is in existence for this purpose than the United States census taken June 1 , 1860. The present capacity of production of the soil of this State is not determined by any decrease of its fertility, as some pretend; i. * Campbell's History of Virginia, page 500. t Travels through North America, Vol. I, page 183. 9 Virginia produced leys in 1867 than she did in 1859, it is owing simply to the effects of the late long war and the decrease in the number and efficiency of her laboring population. We have no exact data at hand to tell us how much was raised this or the past year; but we have before us, a Report from the United States Bureau of Agriculture of December 1866, showing how much tobacco was produced in 1866, viz : 95,000,000 pounds and as the crop was in 1859, 123,96S 312 pounds, there is a falling off of about one-fourth. Taking the above as our guide in regard to all other products, we may, with tolerable certainty, ascertain the productions of the present year. We now proceed to state the relative position of Virginia to the other States in her principal staples: the numbers in brackets showing the respective rank she holds in the article among forty-one States and Territories of the Union; a careful consideration of the following figures is requested, as furnishing probaMy the best answer to the question, whether the soil of Virginia is exhausted or not : (Attention is called also to the fact that the quantities of produce ot all kinds represented by the figures not bracketed, come from about one-fourth part of her lands— three-fourth parts thereof not being under cultivation.) Bushels— 13, V30, 977 wheat [5]— 38,319,999 Indian corn [8]— 944,- 3c0 rye [6]— 10, 186,720 oats [6]— 6S,846 barley [16]— 478,090 buck- wheat [t>] — 515, lo8 peas and beans [8] — 2,292,398 Irish potatoes [15] —1,960,817 sweet potatoes [8J— 32,691 flax seed [4]— 36,962 clover seed [9]— 53,063 grass seed [9. J Pounds: 123,968,312 tobacco [1]— 13,464,722 butterf9T— 280,852 cheese [In]— 2,510,019 wool [8]— 487,- 808 flax [4]— 5,090,800 cott»n [1 2]— 8,225 rice [12]— 10,024 hops [1 1] —938,103 sugar [10]— 1,500,000 honey [6 ] Gallons: 320,875 molasses —41,808 wine. Tons:— 445,133 hay— 15 hemp. Head: 287,579 horses [16J — 41,015 a>ses and mules [11] — 97,872 working oxen [8] — 330,713 milch cows [8]— 615,882 other cattle |9]— 1,043,269 sheep [6] —1.599,919 swine [10]. Values .-—farms $371 ,761 ,661 [5]- live stock $47,803,049 [8]— farming implements $,9,392,296 [7]— slaughtered animals $11,491,027, [7] — home-made manufactures $1,576,627 [5] — orchard products $800,650 — market gardens $589,467, &c. &c. 4 Farms— How Divided, Sfc, in Virginia. — The cultivated land is divided into farms, as follows: 2,351 farms of 3 and under 10 acres. 5,565 farms of 10 and under 20 acres. 19,584 farms of 20 and under 50 acres. 21 ,145 farms of 50 and under 100 acres. 34,300 farms of 100 and under 500 acres. 2,882 farms of 500 and under 1,000 acres. 641 farms of 1,000 acres and over. 86,468 farms m all. 10 The 3,500 large tracts being under cultivation— parts of which are now ,„ the mapke,, | le RCa , tPrHd OVer the pnfi|e SfR{e TJ some nnblK lands in Virginia, hut the loral land offices have Ion- since b«en closed, and there are at this time none for sale. We have seen hew, ver Hint barely one-frurth of the State is rnl.ivated,the remainder still heme Winn - il. The residents are n. w vv. rking but one-half in i. am mM»tires loss than on, -half, i.f what they did in I860 Good lands lying idle, logeth, r with lb se that have never been cleared can be purchased at bom two to twenty dollars per acre on part payment and On nedit, or rent, d, or leased f r a term of years on the most ad- vantage, us terms, and for low prices or on shares. Yiieinia ran with rott/if/enre repose upon her generous soil and salu- bnr lis • Im.aie. Her present political I roubles are but temporary, and need in ..» way aflecl the immigrant. They are being rapidly dispersed by the Minshiue nj a briybtly dawning future. We' have already wel- comed people Irom the Northern and Southern sections of our Union wno have made here permanent nomes, and have received the North- erner in the same spirit of kindness with which we provided a home tor the exiled Poles in Spotsylvania county last year. Much remains to be said of her mineral resources, her growing and extending manufactures, all inviting alike the energy and capital of the woild. Of the advantages she offers over the other States of the Union, north, south, west, &o., only a few additional remarks can be made W hen this .Agency is permanently established in Kurope, thorough inf ta- rnation, leaving nothing unstated, will he placed at the command of the formers, laborers, mechanics, merchants and capitalists of the world. First, then, in regard to the mineral wealth of the State; very little is known abroad how inexhaustible, how scarcely touched it is. The list of mineral treasures includes gold, copper, iron, lead, plumbago, coal, salt, gypsum (in vast beds), porcelain clay, fine granite, slate, marble, soapstone, lime, water-lime, umber and fire-ciay. The ore of Manassas Gap mine, Fauquier county, seventy miles from Alexandria, yields seventy-five per cent, of pure copper. But the greatest sources of wealth in this State are her homelier minerals, coal and iron." (lAppmcoWs Gazetteer.) They are faind in the entire extent of the Blue Ridge and the Alleghatiies. In South- Western Virginia, in the county of Montgomery, coal and iron are found in such juxtaposition, as to make the inarmfa* tilling of iron, exceedingly profitable. Here is a vastfield lor European enterprise and capital. In Chesterfield county are the most valuable coal mines, extending over the entire county, which have been for years worked most successfully, and supply Richmond, Petersburg and the entire surrounding country and the Northern demand. In Wythe county, in South- Western Virginia, are lead mines, apparently inexhaustible, which for the last two years of the \vnv,alo/te supplied the Confederate armies, yielding 150,000 pounds per month, as is stated by Col. W. Leroy Brown, the Chief of Ordnance 11 of the Confederate Army. The mineral springs of tin's noble State are anion? the wonders of the world. Settlements all around them are practicable, and would be quite remunerative — numbers of visiters from all parts of the United States congregating: there annually. Pe- troleum springs are, also, found; but this branch of industry, as all others in the State, is yet undeveloped. There are vast marl deposits — very valuable in the restoration of laud — in the counties of King. William, King & Queen, New Kent, Hanover, James City, &c. It is a fact that these deposits exist in many places in these counties, within a (ew inches of the surface. As regards the real advantages of Virginia over the other States of the Union, the>j have been stated impartially in an address of the Colony of New Poland to their countrymen in Europe, dated August 'iT, 1867. In the resolutions ad >pted by these colonists occurs the following: "The congeniality of its climate with our constitution; the ascertained productiveness of its lands, and its adaptation to a greater variety of Crops than is the land of the North- Western States and Territories; the hospitality of its people, and t*te consideration that its local laws extend the same political rights and ecpial protection to the native and natural- ized citizens and to all religious creeds, in connection with the man's natural disposition to go there in search of the means of living and competency for his family, where their acquisition is easier and more probable, were our only guides in selecting Virginia as our adopted State. We assert now upon ihe evidence of our own personal expe- rience, acquired since we settled here, that the denial of the existence of these advantages, and better chances of su'*eess in Virginia, which can make an agriculturist independent and contented, must be attributed either to gross ignorance of the letter writers or to some ill and malicious design " "That, the quality of our cleared land is inferior to the newly- cleared land at the North- West is admitted, but its inferiority is only its exhaustion, caused by bad cultivation; it can, therefore, he i o proved at le*s labor and expense, and in shorter time than the clearing of North- Western lands requires. As to our woodland soil, it is not inferior to the North Western." "Here in Virginia, the winters being shorter and milder, we have in the year four months' longer working season." "And in this State the typhoid and typhus fevers attach to no section, and are almost unknown, whilst in t m new North- Western settlements they destroy prematurely thousands of lives every year." k - We desire to inform our countrymen in Europe th it in the selection f Virginia for our adopted State we were influenced only by the foregoing consi- derations of advantages." Internal Communications. — Internal communications in Virginia and facilities for sending of produce to the great markets at her very do >rs, are not inferior to those in the Atlantic States; superior to all of the more recent Western Stales, ami tin equalled by any of the States South. From Virginia the traveler may procead to all parts of the 12 Union by railroads; and direct lines to the West to connect the harbor of Norfolk with Cincinnati are in contemplation and progress of execu- tion at this time. The railroad, known as the Virginia Central, pene- trating the entire breadth of the State, is to be extended from Covington, Va., through West Virginia, thence to the mouth of the Big Sandy river, on the Ohio, to the city of Cincinnati, the whole route being about 690 miles in length. The establishment of this great thoroughfare appears no longer a matter of doubt, and its importance to all Virginia cannot be over estimated. Another road to go through. Kentucky (an extension of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad) is in contemplation, to connect Norfolk with Cairo and Louisville, Kentucky, and Hickman and Nash- ville, Tennessee. Ol the harbor of Norfolk, Mr Robert W. Hughes, the President of this proposed road,sreaks pointedly that "it possesses over all Northern seaports the advantage of beins nearer by overland route to the centres of Western trade; and o\erall Southern seaports the advantage of being nearer by the ocean route to all European ports." Lieutenant Maury, the greatest authority in such matters, is quoted by Mr. Hughes in regard to Norfolk as follows: "As to natural advantages of position, depth of water and accessibility by land and sea Norfolk has no competitor among the seaport towns of the Atlantic. Its climate is delightful and it is exactly of that happy middle temperature where the frosts of the North bite not, and wheic the pestilence of the South walketh not."' There were, m Virginia, in I860, 1,771 miles of rail- road, constructed at a cost of $64,959,807. Nor has Virginia been behindhand in the construction of canals and river improvements. The Chesapeake and Ohio, the Alexandria, the James River and Kanawha, the Dismal Swamp and the Albemaile and Chesapeake canals constitute a length of line of 381^ miles. The Potomac is navigable for the largest ships to Alexandria, one hundred miles from the Chesapeake bay, which latter is daily whitened by hundreds of sail; the Rappa- hannock to Fredericksburg for vessels of 140 tons; the York and its branches to Yorktown, forty miles for large ships; the. James to Rich- mond, and the Appomattox to Petersburg for vessels of 100 tons In many parts of the Slate are '-turnpikes;" innumerable smaller roads traverse every county, and if they are not quite as passable as similar loads in Europe, there are none worse than some we may see at the present day in France and Germany. Inhabitants. — Virginia is among the seven States which were migra- tive in 1850, and have since changed to be receiving States; since the war, as already said, people, from both \ th and south of her, are immigrating. The population in 1860 was composed of 1,047,299 white, 58,0.12 fieo colored, 490,865 slaves, and 112 Indians, together amounting to 1,596,318. There wen; among the white popu/ation 35,058 foreigners, of which 5,490 were Scotch and English, 10,512 German, 16,501 Irish, 571 French, &c. &c. Among the cities of over 5,000 inhabitants are: 13 Richmond, with 37,1>10 inhabitants, including 0,358 foreigners. Petersburg, " 18,266 " " 744 " Norfolk, " 14,620 << « 1,971 « Alexandria, " 12,654 " " 1,246 *1 Lynchburg, " 6,S53 » " 657 Fredericksburg, " 5,023 « " 234 <* Emigrants coining to Virginia will, therefore, not be as isolated as it other Southern States south of Virginia, and representatives fron nearly every nationality on the globe may be found here. Character of People. — The character of Virginians stands deservedjj high in all parts of the Union. Their most distinguished traits ah hospitality and conservative sentiments betokening a stable population not easily drawn into revolution, except for self-preservation. In a! momentous periods of the history of the State this characteristic ha' been manifested: as a colony, when Virginia opposed the Protectorate under Cromwell, inviolately preserving her loyalty- to the King; he commendable patience in remonstrating against the oppressive course o the mother-country anterior to the revolutionary war, and finally whet she held aloof, for a long time, from the Southern Secession movement and only joined her Sister States when ail remostrances had been it vain, and the United States had called upon 75,000 volunteers to invadi the Southern Territories. The participation of Virginia in the wa was a defence of what she regaided the imperishable principles under lying the American Constitution. The thought to perpetuate Alricar slavery was foreign to Virginians and had no influence in their determi nation to combat northern encroachments. When despite the harrier: which the inherited institution of slavery had naturally created agains immigration, they saw the slaves in the frontier States gradually fbrce( southward by the influx of a superior race of white farmers and laborers they would have been blind to make war upon any such foundation On the contrary, the wise men of Virginia saw what was inevitable anc ardently desired the peaceful and gradual abolition of African slavery Northern agitation, unhappily', prevented this desirable consummation and through blood and ruin was attained what might have been securer by moderation and patience. Virginia can hold up her hands and shovi them to be clean of guilt. The race of negroes which it was the desin of the North to benefit by emancipation, is threatened with totA'l tie struction instead of it. If it be true, what Gen. Howard of the freed men's bureau states to be an official ft^t, that, since the war one- foil nl of the negroes have disappeared — what a ui"tiriiful destiny awaits ttia unfortunate race; tenfold more terrible, rapid and certain than the dis appearance of the native sons of America from the soil of their fathers Whatever sufferings have been Virginia's lot, these broad facts stan,< prominently before us: she has still a leitile soil, an incomparable cli mate, her manifold productions, natural riches, and a white population 14 neither too proud nor afraid to work their lands, with their own hands. Her future is. then, full of promise. Unable to devel-pe their mineral resources and fe cultivate farms as large with their unaided strength. as when over 400,U«>0 laborers were at their disposal, the land owners of Virginia offer a part of it to the industrious European working irmrn- giantsand capitalists. By .loins so they aid the State and themselves, and benefit the purchasers: the transaction Is for the mutual advantage. Bv disposing oi a part of their soil— nracWfe and mineral— at a sac rifice (considering- the value of YjrKiiiia lauds previous to the war) thev desire to secure for it skilful and thrifty settlers and laborers from abroad— to conler upon then: all the benefits and righto they themselves enjoy Thev wish future white citizms—^ud with their joined efforts thev tee! assured of being able to raise the State of Virginia to a height of prosperity it has never before attained. The foreign population o! Virginia has always received a kind welcome from the State, now, more than' ever, will thev be received as friends and equals. That sue!)' will be the case, the undersigned assures them through an expe- rience of now fifteen years among Virginians; Simultaneously with the undersigned European Agent of Immigra- tion for Virginia— the State Board ^ Immigration appointed Gen. J. D. tmboden and Col Roger I. Pago, its Domestic ageuts-who are coope- rating with the agency of the undersigned. Under- the arrangement oi these" two agencies, Europeans desiring to immigrate to Virginia .can secure for themselves homesteads and employments in every blanch oi industry before they leave Europe-and every facility for crossing the Atlantic will be secured ami offered them. On their arrival at the 1 or s of V rginia they will be received by the Domestic agents of the Stat* and bv them directed to then- new hOmes^alreMy selected or such as they may select on reaching the shores of Virginia, Any further m or- mation If required, will be furnished in the language in which the letter o en v Ly be addressed to the undei.gu.d-^ £""«£ juchmoiicl, Virginia; until fuller ftotlwi i»e g,ven_where m Europe the Signed has established his offices-at which he w.l receive per- sonally^ by his assistants all inquiries written and verbal and furnish desired informal! .fas. . ^ T00HMAN> European $ghnt of Immigration for Virginia. IJmthd Statk's of America: State of Virginia 3 to wit: Where vs by an act of the General Assembly of Virginia passed the third dau of March, Wfio, entitled -An act t> prompt and encourage immiR«MOi into the Stale of Virginia," the undersigned have beer, dulva 8 ppoit ed a Board of Immigration for the Sta.e-aud ,t is made ,!' "the Hoard to settle upon and carry utfo operation a prac- tcal pan for the introduction of sober and industrious emigrants iciin their fdntilils from Europe into this State; to open correspondence with 15 immigration agencies and steamship companies in Europe; to cause to be published such information as will fully show the datura! resources of the State— its soil, climate and mineral wealth and pr ductkms — and also the demand for labor, and the inducements which Virginia offers as a home to the emigrant'] to cause correct and accurate intelligence to be furnished to emigrants desiring t<> remove to thfs conntiy; to aid and assist them, as far as possible, in their removal to this State; to make suitable arrangements to receive immigrants upon their arrival, and transport them to their destination or place of employment; and generally to adopt, establish and organize such plans and mi will tend to secure or facilitate the introduction of foreign lal State." And, whereas, in order to carry into effect the provisions of the said recited act of Assembly it is deemed expedient iu uppt.mii Agents of unquestioned character and qualifications to represent the State in Kurope, and to make known to such persons as may desire to emigrate to Virginia the advantages which may be readily and cheaply obtained here, and the Board being assured of the just title of General G. Toe h man and B. Johnson Bakbour, Esq., to the confidence and respect of the State, have constituted and appointed and do hereby constitute and appoint the said General G. Tochman and B. Johnson Barbour, Ksq., Agents f »r the State, to proceed to Europe, and there to communicate and make known the advantages offered to emigrants to this State, by its dimate,,soil, productions, access to maikets, cheapness of land and other considerations and advantages, of which they are accurately informed, and which the Board has entire confidence that they will truly and faithfully represent. And for the protection, security and convenience of such emigrants as by the information and agency of Gen. Tochman and Mr. Barbour may come to the State of Virginia, General J. D Imboden and Colonel Roger I. Page are hereby appointed Domestic Agents in Virginia, to receive the said emigrants upon their arrival and forward them to such places of destination within the State as they may desire. And the said Imboden and Page are required to report from time to time as they may arrive, a descriptive list of all such emigrants to the Commissioner of Immigration for the State, who shall lay the same before the Board. This letter of appointment is not intended to authorize, and does not authorize the creation of any pecuniary liability, expense or obligation on the part of the State or the Board. In testimony whereof we hereunto sign our names, this 9th day of August, lb67 ; at Richmond, in the State of Virginia. THOMAS J. RANDOLPH, R. B. HAXALL, VVM. H. MACFARLAND. By the Board, W. H. RICHARDSON, Commissioner of Immigration. lb Virginia: I. Francis II. I'kiui'oint, Governor of the State of Virginia, do by certify that 'j'hoinas Jefferson Randolph, K. Barton Ilaxall and W. Hamilton Maclarlaud, whose names are subscribed to the annexed document*, were at the lime of subscribing the same, and now are, the Board oi Immigration for the State of Virginia, duly appointed according to law, and that William II. Richards -n, whose name is also subscribed to the .said document, was at the time of subscribing the same, and now is, Commissioner of Immigration, duly appointed by the said 13 >ard, as is by law required, and that to all the official acts of the said Board and Commission.'!- of Immigration full faith, credit and authority are due and oughl to be given. In testimony whereof, 1 have hereunto set my hand as Governor, and caused the great seal of the State to be affixed. §SfflT»ll" D'Uie at the city of Richmond, this 14th day of November, \fegs2pJ? A I) 1S67, and in the ninety-second year of the Common- ** wealth. F. H. PEIRPOINT. By the Governor, J. M. HERNDON, Secretary of the Commonwealth and Keeper of the Seals. For the information of emigrants we state here that, by reason of mutual agreement with Mr. Barbour, made with the consent of the Board of Immigration, the organization of sub-agencies and the arrange- ments to facilitate the transportation of emigrants across the Atlantic will be attended to, in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe, exclusively by the undersigned, G. Tochrnan, and with him alone the undersigned Domestic Agents are cooperating. G. TOCHMAN, European Agent of Virginia. J. D. IMBODEN, ROGER I. PAGE, Dothcstic Agents of Virginia.