STAMPEDE OF SLAVES.
Marylanders say that a few days ago, 1,000 slaves, as if by a preconcerted movement, simultaneously left kind masters and happy homes in Prince George's County, Md., and came to the District of Columbia, where they still are. Marylanders complain that the inconveniences growing out of this emigration to the whites of the country are great, free labor––in many cases now necessarily performed by persons entirely unaccustomed to help themselves––being the only kind to be had.
Some have invoked the Fugitive Slave law, but complain that the soldiers are all Abolitionists and will not allow the process to be executed within their camps. Other and more sensible masters have concluded not to go to much expense or trouble to recover fugacious blacks, being aware that even if recovered they will be very likely, now that they have once found the way to a free country, to go there again, and that they cannot be prevented from doing so, as in pre-rebellious days, by being sold South.
It is believed that this forward movement by loyal blacks of a country not over supplied with loyal whites, will strengthen the gradual emancipation party in Maryland.
"Stampede of Slaves," New York (NY) Tribune, May 16, 1862, p. 6.