Year: 1862

for the emancipation of their slaves un-
der the Pres dents Proclamation. Be-
fore leaving Helena, few weeks ago,
learned the fact that many of the slave
holders of that region had already en-
tered into contract with their slaves to
remain on the plantations under ardges


,,y n G, n@re are G4lS essentIaf to the South
and no class will be more opposed TO
their colonization in foreign country,
when the war is over, than their former
masters.


The hatred OF. the negro at the South is
far less prevalent than in the Northern
States. Familiar association with them,
their presence in every household, their
fidelity, and the afiectionate nature they
possess, have created strong attachments
fetween them and the superior race. In
childhood they have mingled together,
black nurses have carried the white
children in their arms. and kissed and
froiicked with them during their tender
years, so that the prejudice against the
complexion of the negroes at the South
scarcely exists With the Southern peo-
pie it is simply prejudice against their
becoming free They want the slaves
labor without paying for it; they want
the absolute control Of the black race,
for purposes of profit, and the graft
fcation of pride, passion, and the love of
power; they love the negro, but they
love him only as slave to their self
interest, their lust, and their domineer-
ing propensities. They hate the free ne
gro merely because he is free, not be-
cause he is black. They are afraid of his
influence upon the enslaved they
hate him because he has passed beyond
their personal control When all shall
become free they will then find the whole
race alike useful and essential to them
as hired servants and laborers, and this
special hatred of the free black will pass
away. The negroes will become use
full peasantry to the proprietors of the
soil, and the relation of paid laborers to
their employers viii retain with it some
thing of the old feeling on the part of the
planters implied in the words, These
are my people" "my servants" "my
laboring population;" and from this win
spring laws for their protection, and a
new order of things, in which the blacks
will have their own households, their
rights of marriage and parentage guar
anteed to them, and be provided with
schools for the education of their child
ren.


| have conversed with several slave
holders on the subject, and after brush
| ing away the cobwebs of prejudice that
surround the subject, and getting at the
root of the matter, they confess that this
is the course likely to be taken, and that
they are beginning to make preparation
for it


On the steamer from Memphis to
! Cairo / learned from a Mr. Aiken, a
cotton planter from Tennessee, that the
Presidents Proclamation is expected to
go into effect on the first of January,
and that he and several of his neighbors
had already had a talk with their slaves,
and agreed with them that they are to
remain as hired servants and receive
wages. .y ~--- .1 ~sfcz..,


Mr.. Aiken said to me: "Sir, we are
attached to our slaves. Some of them
have watched over us in our infancy;
some of them have proved their fidelity
to US under trying circumstances; as a
whole, they are necessary to us as labor
ers; they are acquainted with the cult
walton of cotton, our staple crop, and we
prefer them to any new set of laborers
that we are likely to get r a..


He continued, 1--WE have talked the
matter over with our slaves, and said to
them, on the first of January we expect
you will all receive your freedom by the
proclamation of the President, but we
want You should not leave us. In the
meantime let no one run away. Stay al
home, and continue at your work, and
We will do Justly by you. You shall
have fair wages, and by remaining to-
gether you will be better off, and far hap.
per"


Mr.. Aiken said that his slaves had ia
ken his advice, and not one of them
could be enticed away from him. He
gave an interesting account of the fdeli.
ty of one of his negro men, who had as
sisted him, with pistol in hand, to defend
wagon load of cotton they were taking
to Memphis, from three cotton-burnera
whom they met on the way D" That ne
gro" said he, was brought up with me
from boy, and / would trust him to GO
to ST Louis or Chicago with uncounted
gold, and he would return safely to nae.


Opposite Helena, on the Mississippi
side of the river, there was large plan.
tation belonging to the estate Of de-
ceased Col. Trotter. On the arrival oi
the Union army, the slaves, so in num-
ber, were captured by scouting party
! and brought to, Helena There they re-


mained till few weeks ago, when the
widow of Col Trotter came all the way
from Columbia, Middle Tennessee, and
!. persuaded the most of them to return
with her, promising them that they
: should have their freedom the first day
Of next January, under the President
Proclamation, and pleading with them
that she wished them TO live with her at
%, Columbia as hired servants, and that the
old slave families should not be broken.
The women and children all went with
her, and most of the men. Only few
remained behind