Letter from the Commissioner of Immigration.
September 12, 1864
St. Clara Colony, W.Va.,
September 12, 1864.
Editors Intelligencer:
Under date of 31st ult., Mr. Augustus Pollack of your city informs me that he had collected from citizens of Wheeling, whose contributions were from time to time recorded in the Intelligencer, the sum of $315, which together with $10 from Hon. J. B. Blair, he placed at the disposal of his Excellency, the Governor for the use of my office, adding to the above; $10 contributed by Hon. George W. Summers, and $5 contributed by Major James F. Meline of Gen. Pope's Staff. The aggregate collections for the Immigration fund known up to date amount to $340.
Although this is but one third of the estimates of my official expenses for the current year, yet it will, after reimbursing my own advances since last spring, leave an amount sufficient for my immediate necessities at the most important points of my correspondence. Those who know the amount of seal and labor I am devoting to this enterprise, will readily believe that I feel infinitely more grateful for that encouragement, than if it were tendered to use by way of personal compensation.
Our citizens who on this occasion have given such generous proofs of their public spirit, will be gratified by the assurance that their contributions are being applied with economy and discretion, and will bear fruit as soon as under our political circumstances it can reasonably be expected. - Advices from Europe betoken a favorable impression already produced, and the eager and intelligent inquiries accumulating on my hands from nearly all the States lying between New Hampshire and Iowa, Kentucky and Canada inclusively, point to a prospect of success altogether unexpected by me on this side of the Atlantic.
Very respectfully, your ob't serv't,
J. H. Diss Debar,
Commissioner of Immigration.
(In connection with the above letter we would say a word or two in furtherance of its objects. The Commissioner has received so far about one-third of the money needed by him to carry out the efforts which he is making in Europe and in our own country for the benefit of the State. The little that he had so far received has been collected here, with the exception of the few dollars mentioned in his letter. He ought to be receiving something from each county, and it is no credit to the State that he is not getting a general assistance. His efforts are to enure to the benefit of the whole State, to each and every county of the State, and a fund to aid his efforts and to make them more comprehensive and effective than at present, should be started in each county. Will not the friends at Wellsburg, Moundsville, Morgantown, Fairmont, Clarksburg and Parkersburg do something? Fifty dollars, indeed considerably less, from each county of the State, would put it in the power of the Commissioner to extend his efforts very advantageously in important immigration quarters. Now is the time, when a better class of immigrants than ever is leaving the old world for this country, for us to do all in our power to secure a choice accession to the population, power and wealth of our State from this class. Mr. Debar is laboring gratuitously to do his part. It remains for the people generally of the State to do theirs.)
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: September 1864