The Express.
London, England, 1861-12-27 00:00:00

WHAT Is TO BE DONE WITH THE SLAVES?

(Eras the New York Tines, Dec. 14.)

Among our Washington despatches this morning
will be toured two orders, Bated by General Wool, at
Fortress Monroe, some weeks since, which touch precisely
the most important question with whizh we have to deal
in regard to slavery. General Wool found some thousands
of negroes collected about his camp—some of them aban-
doned by their masters, others fugitives from
' them—all practically enfranchised by the simple
presence of • Union army in their neighbourhood—
all destitute, without employment or relations of any kind
to society and the state. General Butler had styled them
contraband of war—but this did nothing towards providing
for their government or welfare. General Wool found
them vagrants, and provided for them accordingly. HO
directed that they should be set to work, upon system
and under supervision, and that their wagee should be de-
voted to their own support and that of the women and
children, the sick and disabled who could not work. What-
ever they earn over and above the allowance for their food
and clothing constitutes a fund, which is expended by the
quartermaster for the support of the helpless.
In this way the practical sagacity and common sense of
the veteran general of our army has solved a problem which
everybody else seems afraid to touch. He leaves the
whole question of title in abeyance. T►king these people
just as he finds them, he provides, in the most practical
and effective manner, for their own welfare, present and
prospective, while he protects the government from being'
burdened and the camps from being demoralised by their pre-
sence. They are trained to work for themselves. They are
not allowed to fall into habits of thieving and vagabond-
age. They are educated to support the young and help-
less of their own households. Their labour being far
cheaper than that of whites, government profits by employ-
ing them. They are thus prepared for freedom, subjected
to authority, and made useful to the country.
MAIM we have been misinformed, the result of the plan
adopted by General Wool up to the present time, has been
that these people have paid for their own support, saved
very large sums to the government, and accumulated a
fund of over 3,000 dollars now in the quartermaster's
hands.

Yoder the operation of such a plan as this we need not
fear the constant accession of negroes to our camps. That
such accessions will take place, wherever our armies advance
into the Southern States, is absolutely certain. Thousands
and thousands of slaves will dock to the protection of our
flag and to the friendly shelter of our camps. They cannot
anti will not be sent back into slavery, for this is a service
which our armies cannot be made to perform. Whatever
Congress may do, whatever laws may be enacted, slavery
will disappear under the silent influence of our advancing
armies, just as certainly as the snow-drift melts under the
constant best of the sun. We shall have these people on
our hand. in large and increasing numbers. And the
question of paramount importance is how to dispose of
theni. Without some system, steadily and vigorously
enforced, they sink into idlenses, into habits of theft, and
become a pest to the country in which they ought to earn
their own aupport. And the more there are of them, the
more gigantic and unmanageable will this nuisance become.

General Wool, it seems to us, has hit upon a plan, per•
fectly simple and easy of execution, which is worthy of
adoption wherever the necessity for any plau may aria*.
We respectfully commend it to the attention of Congress.
They will find some system on this subject an indispensable
preliminary to any action they may take for the enfran-
chisement of slaves, whether by emancipation or confisca-
tion ; and we are sot aware of any objection to which this
plan is fairly obnoxious.