The Cecil Whig., 1862-04-12
The Emancipation Question.

following sensible communications
There is a proposition, not in Euclid,
which vii! afford shareholders some con-
ISOLATION. When one end of the see-saw
goes down the other comes up. 1t
appears from the census of 1850 that
there are, in what we call the thirteen
slaveholding counties, in round numbers
seventeen millions ofcultivated acres, and
twelve millions of uncultivated acres. -
In the seven compare lively free coun les,
two of which have the Allegheny noun
tains to cultivate, there are nine hum
dred and eigh thousand cultivated
acres and six hundred aud thirty thou
sand uncultivatcd.
Strange to say, the cultivated farms
in the free counties, though but little
more than half as large as the cultivated
acres in our own slaveholding counties,
are worth, with the improvements, S47,-
S5l ,Gl5, while the farms in the slave
holding counties are worth $G,000,0OO
less i. c. $4l, ,770,G1G. That is to say,
that an acre of land cultiva ed princi-
pally by free labor is worth more than
twice as much as an acre in neighbor-
ing county cultivated by slave labor -
Now what matters it to us how fast
these people travel into Free State
Our land will be doubly increased in
value. A prodigious gain. We shall
then gain 100000 for what is now
assessed at but $l9,000,000, and if we
accept Mr. Iincoln's proposition we
shall have S2O,O00,OO0 to put in our
pocke from the United States.
1t does seem to US, instead of the
very severe laws ou our statue book
Furnishing the cnticing of slaves to alb
scond, and the laws forbidding their tax
a ion, and the multitude of others
encouraging the inst ution, if the State
were TO repeal the whole Of them, and
the slaves would 90 without cost to US,
We would be large gamers by the opcr-
alton.
Whether We lose our negroes by
emancipation, or by the running off pro-
cess, we will reap a prodigous benefit,
and if VIC gct paid for them beside, the
propose ion Of the party proposing to
pht . WI III SouSlucfulluII.
We append table Of S stics for the
benefit of one of your correspondents,
who does no; appear to have copy of
the census returns, merely promising
that when we speak of free coun les we
mean Washington, Allegheny, Fredcr-
lex, Carroll, Baltimore, Hartford, and
Cecil, and that the returns are those of
lS3O-the census report of 1860 not
yet having been published
Whole amount of shareholders
in Maryland, 1850 1G,0i0
| Number owning less than five 1906
| Cultivated acres in free counties $50. 147
Cucultivatcd acres i'll free coun-
ties G35 .os5
Total acres 1,Gl5,232
| Cultivated acres in slave coun
ties 1,747, ,G23
Cncultvated acres in slave coun-
ties 1,211, ,359
Total 2,95S,9 1882
Number of farms in free coun-
ties 9,G95
Number of farms in slave coun-
ties 1876
Value of free farms and i'm.
provemcnts 81, ,S51 ,Gl5
| Value Of slave farms and i'm
provcmcnts S4l, ,77o, GIG
b.
One reason, Mcssrs. Editors, why we
arc called upon to accept the Presidents
proposition is that whether we do or not
matters little to the slaveholder.
Oar slaves are walking off in many
places every day. The present times,
continued another year, would leave us
without slave labor of any value and
without the ingress of free white labor
10 replace l..
We are sitting on SNOWFALL. We
are not asked whether we will have
slavery. That We find no process can
reach, but whether VIC will be paid for
the loss of it.
Mr.. Lincoln's proposition may fail,
but emancipation may not. Our slaves,
owing to the presence of large bodies of
troops, after having heard from many
politicians the oft-repeated falsehood
thai the army was coming to cmancipate
them, begin to believe they arc freed
and behave accordingly. The slightest
coercion TO compel moderate labor, and
they are seized with desire to walk to
a free S ate, which last named place, in
view of the difficulty arising from the
temper of the public mind IN executing
the Fugitive Slave law, is fast becoming
that bourne from which no traveller
returns.
The assessed value of slaves in Mary
land is fourteen millions of dollars
We are offered twenty millions to adopt
some plan Of gradual emancipation
What we fear is that if we reject this
PROPOSE ion, and the process of walking
off and deterioration continues, till sla-
very becomes burdensome to the owner
who finds himself CALLED upon to sup
port the old and decrcpid negroes about
him, the likely ones having crossed the
line, the State will relieve us by eman-
cipa'ion, but the Western counties and
the people of Baltimore will not consent
to remunate our loss, because when the
Government offered it we refused.