Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1862-01-31
nnAcr1cA1. EMANCIPATION.

We have urged on several occasions that
I without superseding the necessity Of some
uniform policy on the part q Congress, or
the government. one Of the besi methods Of
distinguishing slavery, which is the only cause
of difference between the North and Souih
is to move an army into the slave regions.
Nothing can be more obvious than the con-
sideration that the presence Of great army
ia the midst Of a multitude Of slaves must
disorganize the system by which they are held,
in very many ways. in the frat place, il
drives the master class from their homes and
compels them to leave the subject class to
shift for themselves. This has been the case
in the Sea Islands where all the slave-Own-
ers have fed. and abandoned their lands to
the first conner and their laborers to their own
devices. OF the thrty-fout thousand negroes
in the Port Royal district. there is scarcely
score who do not regard themselves as prac-
tcally free. All that the government has to
do is TO set them at work under some scheme
which will maintain order, and assure the la
borers remuneratng wages for their work
In the second place when an army moves
in force into a slayeholding region. it not
only drives away the disloyal masters, but IL
creates innumerable opportunities and facili-
ties for the slaves to escape. Many Of them
rush into its lines where they are employed
by the officers as servants and menials. or
where they are regularly set to work on the
various entertainments and constructions As
the army advances they are likely to advance
with it, and the places which knew them or
iginally know them no more forever But. in
addition 20 the number that follow the camps
much larger numbers run away altogether,
and in a direction o. fosite 20 the movements
Of the camps. This has occurred in Missouri,
and to an extent which, il the reports can be
relied on, will seem surprising. BY the CEN
Gus Of 500 the number OF slaves in that state
was set down at ll4OOO, but certain Missou-
rians now estimate the number at only 80
600, while Kansas Authorities engaged in
military operations doubt whether it exceeds
5000. Some OF them have been taken
Southwark by their masters, but the greater
part have trusted to their masters horses or
their own limbs, and diflsed themselves in
Kansas, in Iowa, 10 Missouri, and other free
states and territories.
The estimate OF the losses by this voluntary
exodus must be exaggerated we think but
whether they be more or less, they show the
actual tendencies Of military occupation
They show that the army, by virtue Of its
presence, is designating force so far as
tiers and dissipates their chattels. The in
stitution" becomes like a candle which il
burnt at both ends. and, of COURSE must soon
be consumed. All its alleged constitutional
guarantees wither in the same fame Fugitive
slave laws are utilities where the fugityes
are to be counted not by the halfdozen but
by the thousands, and particularly where the
civil tribunals heretofore charged with their
rendition have been destroyed by an outbreak
Of treason or silenced by the din Of arms
No master who has his own life and limb to
look after will await 'the due process of law"
TO recover his fugacious chatters he will be
satisfied if he can save his own neck while
the chattels viii not cease TO run until long
strip of free earth is put behind their backs.
Whatever other effect this war may have
upon slavery, it is pretty sure to remove it
from most Of the border states. The process
of depletion already begun in all Of them
in Virginia, Kentucky. Maryland Missouri
and Tennessee, before the war, but more de-
cidedly in some than in others. Although,
in the ten years from $50 to 1850. there was
a small increase in the number Of slaves, in
all these states except Maryland it was a
timing increase cnmparea ~ the increase of
the uhfte population. 10 other words 4, b;,o
laborcrs. In a few ycars H-a-. tho hiaoL lie
ment would have been smOthered. and the IN
terest in negro property, instead of being
leading interest, would have dwndled to
small and inferior interest, The filling up
Of our more eligible northwestern states
would have turned the tide Of emigration
from the Northwest TO ths South and South
west, and this influx would have accelerated
the disappearance and fual overthrow OF slave
labor BY the outbreak of the war, the social
Transformation has been arrested 10 one form
the immigration of white labor has been tenn
porariy stopped ; but the departure OF black
labor has been quickened aud when the
war shall be ended, the vacancies created by
the exodus Of the blacks will be supplied by
an ingress Of the whites.-N. T. Euening
Post.