y paid for slave labor in the system of
tasks which, in an unwilling spirit of compromise, most of
the slave states have already been compelled to adopt. At
the end of five years of apprenticeship, or of fifteen at
farthest, full wages could be paid to the enfranchised negro
race, to the double advantage of both master and man. This
is just; for we now hold the slaves of Louisiana by the same
tenure that the State can alone claim them, viz: by the
original right of conquest. We have so far conquered them
that a proclamation setting them free, coupled with offers
of protection, would devastate every plantation in the
State.

"In conclusion, I may state that Mr. La Blanche is, as I am
informed, a descendant from one of the oldest families of
Louisiana. He is wealthy and a man of standing, and his act
in sending away his negroes to our lines, with their clothes
and furniture, appears to indicate the convictions of his
own mind as to the proper logical consequences and
deductions that should follow from the present relative
status of the two contending parties. He seems to be
convinced that the proper result of the conflict is the
manumission of the slave, and he may be safely regarded in
this respect as a representative man of the State. I so
regard him myself, and thus do I interpret his action,
although my camp now contains some of the highest symbols of
secessionism, which have been taken by a party of the
Seventh Vermont volunteers from his residence.

"Meantime his slaves, old and young, little ones and all,
are suffering from exposure and uncertainty as to their
future condition. Driven away by their master, with threats
of violence if they return, and with no decided welcome or
reception from us, what is to be their lot? Considerations
of humanity are pressing for an immediate solution of their
difficulties; and they are but a small portion of their race
who have sought, and are still seeking, our pickets and our
military stations, declaring that they can not and will not
any longer serve their masters, and that all they want is
work and protection from us. In such a state of things, the
question occurs as to my own action in the case. I cannot
return them to their masters, who not unfrequently come in
search of th