Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1863-01-15

REPoRT OF TIE EMANCIPATION Commission.
ERs.-panlel r. Geodloo, Horatlo King and
John NJ. Brodhead, the commissioners appoint
cd In pursuance Of the act Of emancipation In
the District Of Columbia, hsye reported favor-
ably upon 900 outirc petitions, and rejected en-.
tlrely 30 petitions, and In part 81 petitions.
The Whole number Of servants for whom COM
ponsntion has boon awarded le 2,059, aud the
whole number OF servants for whom compon-
satiOn has been withheld Is III making a total
Of 3, 100 Included In the 1,O58 petitions. As
| regards the question Of loyalty, there are but
Tow instances In which the evidence was Of
nature 10 warrant the commissioners in with
holding compensation, The few cases Of this
kind In which the evidence Of unpatriotlC or
dlsloyal syinpathles is most manifest are those
Of ladies advanced In years. THEY woru re.
quirud like other petitioners TO take the oath Of
allegiance, and TO produce two witnesses to at
test their loyalty. They received their proper
Tomato allowance Of compensation.
Several claims have been put IN for slaves
who had abscOnded prior TO April 10Th, 1882.
In these cases both the claimant aud the slaves
were interested In favor of construction of
tho act which would entltlo the owner 10 com.
pensatlon. In some Instances the fugitivcs
came back in order 10 avail themselves Of the
benefit of the act, but in others this was not
tho case. ~. . .......
The commissioners, after careful lnyCst-
CATION, have decided that where the owner OF
the fugitlyes could give evidence that no had
used ordinary diligence TO recover his slaves,
and where tho lapse Of time has raised no pre-,
sumption Of death or abandonment, compcu-
sation may be allowed -
Tho commissioners say there arc few persons,
especially In community like Washington,
where slavery has boon for many years an In
tcrcst Of comparatively trinlng Importance, who
possess the knowledge and Discrimination as TO
the value OF slaves which is necessary TO Just
apportionmcnt Of compensation under tho law.
None Of the commissioners could lay claim TO
this species of Information, and to supply IL
they determined 10 summon % their aid an OK.
periencCd dealer In slaves from Baltimore, Mr..
y. NJ. Campbell, VINO was al the Same time lC-
norant, In almost every instance, of tho indi-
vlduals upon whose claims he was called 70 pass
Judgment His testimony accorded with that
Of others whose Information In TIC premises
was entitled to welght-that in the, disturbed
state of the country, since tho commencement
of tho war, ii would be difficult to assign value
TO slaves.
The sales have been few, aud generatlyhndor
circumstances of pccuniary pressure which left
no discretion with tho seller. Slaves, In fact,
cannot DO said TO have had a current saleable
value since the commencement of the war,
while their intrinsic value on the 18th day of
April, us determined by the undin.inIshCd value
OF the produce of the soil and tho undiminished
wages Of labor, was not less than formerlyi in
Decd In both these respects Il was greater since
there has been a constant rise of prices both of
labor and products. g.F
Tho minutes Of tue evidence taken by the
commission furnish sufficient data to establish |
an actual value Of slaves In many cases far |
greater than the compensation made by the |
law.