Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1862-06-25

The only plausible objection which !
have seen or heard urged to the emanci-
patton of the slaves of leading rebels is,
that it would turn loose among the loyal
slave owners large number of freed
men, aud that they would be overrun by
free negroes corruptiDg their own slaves,
and disturb society in its various depart
ments. To these objections of loyal
shareholders there are various answers.
| prefer to begin with the first, the all
comprehensive answer. If slavery has
brought these evils upon the country, and
if to arrest tho traitors in their unholy
work it is necessary to dissolve the rela-
ton of servitude between them and their
slaves, whoever loves his country is bound
to yield to its necessities. That patriot
ism which only rises to the level of self
interest, and which quivels at the APP
preach of personal sacrifice, is unworthy
an American citizen. While tract after
tract of land in the Northern States may
be swept away from the owners, from
sheer inability to pay the increased taxes
thereon, how can any truly loyal man
grumble at vague fear that the enamel
patton of his disloyal, traitorous neighbor
may possible put him to Inconvenience,
that his own slaves may be corrupted and
demoralized, and all that sort of thing
But let me ask the loyal shareholders, if
they are quito sure that these results will
follow the dissolution of the bond be-
tween rebels and their slaves? The same
power which gives efficiency to the man
date of liberation is competent to. and
doubtless will provide an adequate police
and economical establishment for the re-
straint and employment of the slaves, SO
that there will be but little difficulty in
inaugurating system of free, paid, and
productive labor upon the very soil where
slave labor has been employed for the
purpose of subverting the Government.
But again, loyal Shareholders have no
right to complain of this policy of eman-
cipating the slaves of rebels. Every man
who invests his capital in property of any
kind is presumed to do SO with full
knowledge of all the incidents, relations,
characteristics, aud casualties to which
the same is subject. He who invests his
money in gunpowder does so with the
full knowledge that it is explosive, that it
is extra hazardous; so he who chooses to
brave the moral sense of mankind, by
affecting to own man as property, does
SO with full appreciation of all moral,
social, and political consequences. He
who pays his money for human brains
and human legs, does SO with the knowl-
edge that brains were made to think, and
that legs were made to run. He takes
his risk for time and eternity, for peace
and for war, for good or for evil, subject
to all the incidents of his unnatural ten
ure.
Let me here say, for I cannot enlarge
upon this subject, that when the slaves
of rebels are stripped from their masters,
emancipated, free, slavery will thencoforth
take care of itself. 1t will cease te be q
political power in the country. Loyal
men will not desire its maign supremacy,
and rebels will be glad of such personal
immunity as may be granted them. But
we are asked, what shall be done with
the liberated slaves? Let me ask what
has been done with them heretofore
They have performed various feats-they
have done nearly all the labor of the field,
the household, and the shops. They
have reared and demoralized naughty
and disloyal aristocracy, and reduced the
poor whites in their midst to condition
of hopeless degradation.
Shall we send them out Of the country
-colonize them abroad Sir, in the
fist place we have no right to expatriate
them without their consent, until, by
their own wrongful acts, they forfeit their
God giving right to live upon the soil
of their birth. In the next place, we
cannot at present spare them from the
country. Their free labor will be as es-
sential to the cultivation of free soil
as their slave labor has been to slave
soil. A long time must elapse before
free white labor, in anything Ike an nd
equate amount, could be found TO supply
their place. They are nure,l to toll, they
are adapted to the kind of labor needed !;
and, from their known docility, they
would ehecrfully submit to any educa-
tional policy or economical system which
polite justice and wise humanity should
suggest. The same plantations would
remain spread out before them, inviting
their labor. The same fields which have
been the scenes Of their terrible wrongs
would become their happy and peaceful
homes.
No, sir, we cannot afford to send away
from the country such a vast capital OF
labor. To do so would be to turn the
rich plantations of the South into barren
deserts, and leave the remaining loyal
shareholders lonely denizens of solitary
GASES in the midst of widespread desc
ation.
Again: on the score of economy and
justice towards the loyal people of the
nation, the present is certainly most
unpropitious time to inaugurate such a
policy. Suppose that three-fourths Of
all the slaves in the rebellious districts
(say three millions in number, and this
is low estimate are to be paid for and
sent out of the country under this colo
nization scheme. If each slave thus lib
Grated and sent away costs the Govern
ment five hundred dollars, you have the