Horrible purposes of the party in power.
The Richmond
Examiner says that an incorrect and imperfect statement of a conversation between
Dr. Wirt, of
Westmoreland, and
Salmon P. Chase, the new supposed
Secretary of the Treasury, the strongest will and leading spirit of
Lincoln's Cabinet, having appeared in the telegraphic reports of a morning paper, the gentleman to whom the following letter is addressed desires to make public this full and authentic statement of that conversation.
It flats like a pencil of light on the whole proceedings of the new party in power.
"I have been anxious to communicate the substance of a conversation held by
Dr. Wirt, (my brother-in-law,) with
ex-Gov. Chase, of
Ohio, in
Washington, on the evening of Friday, the 15th February.
He called upon
Chase and expressed a hope that as he would probably be in
Lincoln's Cabinet, he would use his influence to preserve peace in the
South, and not attempt to reinforce or retake the
Southern forts; and
Chase told him that the
President would do his duty, and reinforce
Anderson and protect him at all hazards.
If
South Carolina resisted, the consequences would be on her own head.
Dr. Wirt told him what would be the effect of such a course on the
South.
All the conservative and Union-loving men of
Virginia and the
South would resist; secession would result, and the entire
South forced into Union.
He answered that could not be helped — When
Dr. Wirt inquired if he ever expected the
South to return to the
Union after their homes had been threatened and their country devastated, he answered, 'We do not want them to return.--If the slave States remain in the
Union, they will have to be satisfied with much less than they are now demanding.'
Dr. Wirt then inquired if he expected to subjugate the
South?
He said:
‘
'Ten millions of people, with four millions of slaves in their midst, could scarcely resist twenty-six millions.' But what is your object?
Inquired
Dr. Wirt, and he answered, 'to free the slave who is the cause of the war.' What will you do with him when thus freed? 'Allow you to have him as a "
Peon" to work your fields, if you are willing to pay for their services; if not, they can be colonized in
Central America.'
Dr. Wirt then inquired if the fugitive slave law was to be respected.
Mr. Chase said:'It would have to be modified, and when a slave who escaped was
pursued and identified, he could be given up or paid for; if paid for, he would be sent to the aforesaid colony in
Central America.'
"He added, in the event of war in the
South, no slaves would be in
Virginia within one year; and in ten years, no slaves would be found within the borders of the Southern Confederacy."
’
