The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-10-17
Emancipation and its Promises
for the Future.

iIiDlllNS ago Thought themselves cDllfDeUel
TO silence all discussion in this directio
have left the field in anger, perhaps in di,
gust As we predicted al the outset, tt
question has forced it's way, has compelle
ttention, until at list it is the one thin
dwelt upon by the first intellects in 1h
| State, by all who are candidates for pac
and position ct the hands of the people.
There is nothing at all surprising in a
this, it would be- more remarkable were
otherwise. The advocates and specis
: champions of slavery opened the ball. chal
! lenged the attention of the whole world t
its merits, until at length discussion Wi
mot be slenced, but will continue until CIV
cry issueis exhausted, every people thor
oughly understood.
The people of Maryland may be said t
have compelled attention to these thing
at last. They have been quite ahead of til
politicians in regard to them, While the,
were dragged most reluctantly into tn
whirl of agitation set in motion by Soutl
Carolina. and while they found their inter
ests jeepardized and made to suffer by he
treason and folly, once involved in thes'
| troubles they come to the determination II
investigate fully their causes, and to 81
deal with them finally that they will never
arise-so far as they are concerned, or 81
far as they can influence the uatter-tt
! plague them again.
And in what they may choose to do ir
relation to slavery, they may well consider
themselves as wholly absolved from al
obligations TO consult the Cotton States In
setting their attempted revolution on foot
the latter took extraordinary pains to re-
pudiate all interference from the direction
Of the border States; for when Virginia
even, sought to confer with South Carroll.
ma, as to to the chance of ''com promising
matters between the Cotton States and the
Federal Government, the cotton magnates,
through their special organ, the Charles
! ton Mercury. thus scornfuliy repulsed the
ovartures made 10y the Old Dominion. II
said:
"Hear them the Commissioners "it
you please, treat them with civility, feed
them and drench them in champage, and
let them go! Let US act as if tn ey had
never come-as if they had never spoken
as if they did not exist; and let them
seek to preserve their treasury-pap through
time has gone by schen the Uoice of q Pr
ginja politician, though he coo like dope,
should be heard IN the land Gf q patriotic
people,
Well, although the debauched politicians
OF Virginia yielded finally to the alternate
dictation and Establishments of the "de-
scendants of the Hugnenots, Maryland
did not in any sense. She fell back on her
reserved rights, and suffered these States
that would have dragged her to destruction
to take the road to ruin their own way
The result is thatto-day, compared to them,
her prosperity is wonderful, her losses as
nothing. They have indeed, to a consider
able extent, involved her, in common with
other loyal States, in miseries sad to con-
template. Large numbers of her people
nave persisted, many the victims of treason
and madness; many, besides, as defenders
OF the State and of free government. Her
soil, too, has been invaded, and her interest
in slavery-an interest in the outset of these
difficulties valued at twenty millions of
dollars, rendered as nearly worthless as
seems possible, next, indeed, to positive
humiliation.
But now at this stage of affairs, Maryland
is called 81 peratively to act in regard
to slavery simply on her own behalf; look
ing, indeed, to the good OF all the States, so
far as her acts in the premises are concern
ed. Absolutely absolved from all obliga-
tlons.as we have shown--to consult the
slave States south Of her, she must deter
mine upon line Of policy for herself, and
this we are glad to perceive she is about to
do, when every man who assumes a right
or seeks the privilege Of representing her
in the State or National councils is made to
show his hand.
And so it is, atlast, that however we have
been made to suffer, suffering has brought
reflection, purpose to investigate and to
act. The first fruits of this new condition
OF things are already apparent. The polit-
zeal economists and the statesmen are in the
held to anaiyze, to compare, to show the
most lncredulous and stiff-necked in Ma
ryland what is for the best and most per-
manent interests of the State. And to show
cry other State similarly situated with her.
And what better way to do this than by the
exhibit OF figures representing facts-facts
which cannot be gainsaid, gotten over by
any displayof forid defamation on the part
OF the leaders of the rebellion.
There is no better way to come at the real
position each State holds than to compare
some other point, with some State its oppo-
site IN economic policy-its system Of la
Dor, that element which lies at the founda-
ton OF its progress. And now, with the
public attention awakened to investigate,
let us commend the following exhibit,
marking the progress, relatively, Of the
and the non slaveholding
States for single decade.
Here follows an abstract from the CEN
sus tables Of 1860, showing the number of
acres Of improved and unimproved lands
IN the slaveholding States, and their value,
and the same exhibit Of lands in the non
States-the average value in
the former being, in 1850, Sc ls per acre,
and in 1850, $40 IS; and in the latter, in
10
The Americans conclusions are TINS sta
ted:l a-
Well, the conclusion of every unpreiu-
diced mind, after carefal examination of
the foregoing figures, will of course be that
a clearer exhibit of the advantages of free
labor in advancing State, as compared
with its opposite, could hardly be given.
And what is worth noting, too, the facts
thus shown have been facts for the ten wears
preceding this war, although it has taken
the provocations of the rebellion to array |
them in this manner before the people
Ten years since, nay, five, or even three |
years since, an exhibit so offensive, so tell |
ing, could not have been considered in |
Maryland or any other slave State but as
that thing called an ''odious comparison
Now it is brought forward as something /
perfectly legitimate in dealing with our
present and prospective fate as a common
wealth; and what is more, no politician in
The State dare, in the presence of the peo-
pie ignore or deny its stern conclusions.
And this is all fright and proper. How
are we, as people, ever to find out our true
standing, our rate Of progress, the degree
If prosperity with which we are favored.
unless we have the courage to look into ali