The Express.
London, England, 1861-10-03 00:00:00

RA VSI A RIC IT,

Tilt. I It•tIVI. I' \I VI HEART SLCER WON FAIR LADY.
—THE -.0; r • K. Ngerk4..nr, C. Slathewx:and tA,m1.1..n
3lm E. NE.0....-I•AEL PAY NIARICIED AND rikOIILED.
—ANA .t Is • • I\ THE La DlA.—Couportoce at I.

I' R I ver.nry.

THIS Errxrct.Tlti: I I"11-47.V)1 PL AVIN O WITH I,IIIIC.
Mrson. •1 un. Lyekr. 11. V. 1.1 licoloslo, J..r.10n
Ur I rarl.4t4 Lycler...i. R. Lawler...l, ita..l
rilL CARIKALDI taccessosisTs.

AT. JA Drs.
II ansumr. 31r. Alfred Wilma.
The are ram.. rttioly Infieswett that this theatre will re.
opts tut Lee "ti Lundy, Oct. 14.

NEW ROYALTY.
tw•lnalrimi.lhfiwll.atrert.
t lairs 111.. hiseetkow .4 ?IJIk. Aliana .II Ithroia.
The public are n....asalfally Informal" that this 1 heatre will
opus at earl) pcfMaL

BRITANNIA.

fill rArtn, Tla: 1ai41,14: 1W THE 01WHANS.—Tin
Orrst Nlairkney. -- Vetere, Strplum.—TH WATEIt HA S.
Mr. J. Plailap.t.no leopl Dr.. W. enoelord.—Aol la:I/JOHN THE
LAW,:. Mrs.. E. 11.4ther.—Cummesee M lull pot C.

emu WATIA AT IA)TOON 11111001.
!nth DAY—flambe& OIL H1M.... Atlarsess. 111.12111.
To 5c0.r...,w-11..tnirg, lb. Sta..— Alarrsoa. 1► L.

LuNDuN, THURSDAY, OCT. S.

TO OUR READERS.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

A !ate edition of the Express is published every
evenisg (hiring the racing seam; containing the
results of the da►•'s races.

Tue most superficial observers of American
affairs are saying now that the beginning of the
end of American slavery has arrived. Better
informed persons know that the beginning of the
end was ou a certain day thirty years ago, when a
handful of citizens determined that slavery should
cease, and that the end itself is now near. The
last week has thrown new light upon various parts
of the field of observation which nono can long
pretend nut to see, or to interpret in all ways but
the right.
A most int•restirg question has been what the
PRESIDENT would do about General FREMONT'S Pro-
clamation announcing freedom to the slaves of rebel
proprietors in Missouri. For many days the
Northern millions were keeping anxious watch,
dreading the recall of the popular General. The
PRErilloi.NT was never an Abolitionist; he had
taken all possible pains to make this understood
before his election : and he has since given every
possible evidence of his intention to adhere to
his construction of the Constitution, and to the
auppoesd opinion of the majority of the Northern
citizens. Nobody, therefore, could have been sur-
prised if General Fareimr had been removed as
MOOD as a mall could reach him. But the PRE-
SIDENT took some days to consider—that is, to
inquire—and the feeling of public satisfaction at
what FREMioNT has done is so wide-spread, hearty,
and unmistakeable, that his position as Ge-
neral of the West cannot be mailed
from Washington. He has nothing to fear from
that quarter ; and Mr. LINCOLN declares with all
frankness that ho will not undertake to control
the policy of any of the generals charged with the
responsibility of any important section of the war,
because the vigour and wisdom of their action
depend largely on their independence in their own
function. Ile believes Isesiiisr'is Proclamation
to transcend the scope of the new law ; and he
has written to the General to say so, and to re-
finest him to modify the terms of his manifesto.
But he leaves him free to conduct his campaign in
his own way, and to judge of the right course to
pursue as to the slaves as circumstances arise.
It would be easy to show why events must take a
particular turn in Missouri, whatever may be the
military conduct and fortunes of the respective
parties ; but it is more important to turn to what
is actually going forward in part remote from the
field of war.

From the time whoa General Brrtza made himself
the exponent of the perplexity and indecision of the
Government and the people about the treatment
of the negroes who turned up on the march of the
forces, there has been a growing conviction that
the thing most needed was that all parties should
know one another's minds. F11410147'8 act has
art everybody saying this, and consulting how to
arrive at a general understanding. To the Paz-
mower, above all, it is necessary that the people
should explain themselves ; and they are bestir-
ring themselves to do it. Steps had been taken
before by far-sighted citizens to make the abolition
of slavery the avowed object of the struggle, on
the ground that slavery was the cause of the sec-
tional strife, and that it could never again be as-
sumed to be compatible with republican institu-
tions. Suddenly it appears that almost everybody
is of the same mind, and that it only remains to
settle what plan shall be proposed to Government,
and what organization shall be formed, to com-
municate with Government first, and to support
its action afterwards.

The citizens are in consultation in the towns,
and meeting for conference in country places ;
and we shall soon be seeing how they express
themselves in laying open their minds to the PRE-
PIDENT and his Cabinet. One memorial which
lies before us is sufficiently clear in its terms to
show that there can be no going back—no settling
down again under the compromises of the consti-
tution ; while the businesslike character of the
Northern mind appears in singular contrast to the
confusion of those persons on both sides of the
Atlantic, who fancy that negro emancipation
means servile war, massacre of whites, ruin of
plantations, and extinction of industry, instead of
being the only security against these calamities,
which no other means can avert.

The citizens thus combining and consulting per-
ceive that something decisive must be resolved on
and announced immediately. There are nearly 2,000
fugitive slaves at Fortress Monroe, and many
hundreds more in the camps about Washington.
The North Carolina slaves are thronging to Fort
Hatteras, and General FREMONT also has his hands
full. During the summer months and warm
weather these negroes have had work in the
camps and ou the defences, but the cold weather
is now at hand, and preparations must be made
for housing them through the winter. The most
timid and oven pro-slavery citizens declare that
the only possible course is to employ these negroes
as labourvrs (ss labourers are in the North) for the
present, whatev..r terms may be made with their
owners fur tho future. This led, some week's ago,