The News.
...The determination of the government to sustain Gen. Butler's act of receiving and detaining slaves, will cause a stampede among that species of contraband goods in Virginia. Wheaton says that "all warlike instruments or materials, by their own nature fit to be used in war," are contraband. It cannot be denied that slaves come under this definition. If they are received and set at work they must be protected and fed. Should it become necessary, they would, in an emergency, upon the same principle, be furnished with arms, to aid in their own defense and of that of their captors. This is the beginning of the end of slavery. It is well that a Breckenridge democrat should commence the work....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
"The News," Janesville (WI) Daily Gazette, May 31, 1861, p. 2.