_Jan. 2._ As to the title, the right of redemption expires at the end
of two years in all cases, and fifteen per cent. interest must be paid
by the redeemer before he can take possession. Now I never thought of
paying more for these lands than the net value of two good crops, and
don't undertake it for the sake of making money at all, but for the
sake of carrying out to a more satisfactory issue the present
short-lived and unfairly judged experiment of free labor, and for the
sake of keeping the people out of the hands of bad men. You will of
course admit that such an enterprise is worthy of my assistance and
worthy of the time of such men as are now engaged in it. The health of
every white man who has lived on the seaward side of St. Helena, from
Coffin's Point to Land's End, has been perfectly good, and that is
where I intend to buy, if at all, including perhaps the places under
R.'s charge which he wishes to retain, and those of Captain John Fripp
and Thomas B. Fripp, which could easily be managed by a person living
on Cherry Hill or Mulberry Hill, directly adjoining them on the south.
We had a flare-up with Ranty about the furniture left in the big
house [at Pine Grove]. The people broke in on Christmas and took out
what we left there, appropriating it to their private uses. I found
Frank had the side-board in his new house (the old carriage-house). I
told him to give it up and asked where the rest was. Mily had taken
the desk, for safe-keeping, and offered to deliver it when wanted, but
the bedsteads are not reported. Ranty had locked up the large
dining-table in the pease-house. I blew him up for not reporting such
things instanter, and hired June to sleep in the big house nights and
be responsible for its safe-keeping. Otherwise the doors and windows
would soon disappear.
The future of our country looks darker than ever. I can't see much
prospect of an improvement in the conduct of the war, so long as the
mass of our people do not see in slavery the great cause of all the
trouble. Neither do I believe that the war will terminate slavery
unless the blacks will voluntarily take a part in it. The 1st Regiment
is at length filled here, by means of a great deal of coaxing and the
abandonment of St. Simon's Island,[95] taking all the men for
recruits. They have made two raids upon the Florida coast, where they
met with little resistance and accomplished but little. If they can
once gain a footing on the mainland and add to their numbers as they
advance, they could easily carry all before them. Any other race of
men under the sun would do it, but I doubt yet whether there is the
requisite amount of pluck in them to fall into such a scheme even when
we are ready to lead them. I feel as if this winter were the
turning-point of the whole question.