Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.
the speculators — probable Detention of S. W. Ficklin — death --Bishop Meade, &c.
Charlottesvills, Nov. 18, 1861.
The citizens of this town and vicinity complain bitterly of the extortions of the speculators in the necessaries of life, and especially in the article of salt.
A sack of salt from the salt-works of Stuart in Washington county contains from 139 to 140 pounds, and this is called three bushels, and the moderate price asked and obtained per sack in this place last week was nine dollars. But it is to be hoped this state of things has come to an end, as one of our citizens on Saturday purchased in Lynchburg salt at $4 per sack.
and to-morrow one of our merchants will leave here to purchase a sufficiency for all who desire it, and the price to the consumer is to be cost and freight.
The speculators perambulate all neighborhoods to purchase everything they can find and then sell it at exorbitant rates, and yet they escape paying any revenue to the State, while the merchant cannot buy and sell $250 worth without obtaining license and paying revenue tax. The speculator sells his tens of thousands, on which he realizes his one, two, three and four hundred per cent., and no commissioner of the revenue or sheriff even troubles him; and yet if a poor widow, (whose husband is fighting the battles of our Confederacy, and leaves behind him five or six small children dependent upon the labor of their mother for a support,) should gather a few dollars worth of goods and sell them without first obtaining a receipt from the Commissioner of the Revenue and pay a license, she would be presented at the next sitting of the Grand Jury of the county. Is there justice in this? A speculator who roams the State to buy and sell, if not a merchant is a peddler, and ought to be compelled to pay a license in every county where he transacts business. Will the Attorney-General give an opinion on this subject.
It is reported and believed that Mr. Slaughter W. Ficklin, of this place, has been taken prisoner by the enemy. About four weeks since he left home, as an escort to the lady of Col. Tompkins, (the brother-in-law of Mr. Ficklin,) who wished to return to Kanawha. Mr. Ficklin, it is thought, under a flag of truce, passed into the enemy's lines, and cannot get back again. Should this prove true, it will be a source of great affliction to the relatives and friends of Mr. Ficklin. He was an energetic, persevering, far-seeing, and industrious man, and deserves a better fate and higher reward than the dungeon of some castle in Lincoln's dominions.
Mr. Chiles N. Brand, one of our old citizens, died last week. He was an honest and good man, a firm and decided tee-to taler, and known everywhere as the wheel-horse of the temperance cause. Among others at his funeral I saw the venerable Gen. John H. Cocke, of Fluvanna, another distinguished advocate of temperance. Both Mr. Brand and Gen. Cocke served the State in the war of 1812, and their sons are now in the service of the Old Dominion fighting for the Southern Confederacy.
The Right Rev. Bishop Meads paid a visit to our town a week since; he appeared to be in good health, and, although advanced in years, his intellect is bright and vigorous, and his labors in his Divine Master's vineyard are as earnest and zealous as ever. His prayers and his sympathies are with and for the Southern Confederacy, as he believes the cause we are now engaged in to be a righteous one. He has been heard to say were he a few years younger he would shoulder his musket and do battle against the enemies of his country. I saw in his hand a cane made out of the flagstaff of Fort Sumter. May he live to see our Confederacy acknowledged by the nations of the earth, and peace and prosperity crown the labors of the patriots who are risking their lives in the defence of their country's just rights.
Rev. William Hoge, who was associate pastor with Rev. Dr. Spring, in New York city, until a few months past, when he resigned, is now the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in this place, and is destined to accomplish much good as a minister of Jesus Christ.
It is also reported that the Baptists are endeavoring to get the Rev. Mr. Brantley, of South Carolina, as their pastor. This clergyman has for the past several years settled in Philadelphia, but the war which Abe Lincoln is waging against the South caused him to resign and return home to the land of his birth.
