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Slavery in Missouri.
The most significant item in the news of this morning is the complete triumph, in the principal city of a slaveholding State, of a party openly and avowedly in favor of Emancipation. At the charter election in St. Louis the contest turned upon that issue, and the Emancipationists carried it by a very decided vote. There can be no doubt that the disorderly and outrageous proceedings by which the Pro-Slavery Party in Missouri has endeavored to force Slavery upon Kansas,- the agitation of the subject in this connection at home, and the effect which these things have had upon the trade and general business of St. Louis, have brought up this issue at the present time and contributed largely to the result. The people have been compelled to compare the two systems of free and slave labor, with immediate reference to their own interests; and when this point is once reached, in any slaveholding State, the result cannot be doubtful.
The effect of this election upon the public sentiment of the State at large will be very decided. A very large emigration is already pouring into Missouri, from Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois,- which is attracted by the comparative cheapness of land; and it needs but slight observation after arriving there to show that the only thing necessary to make the farms of Missouri as profitable and as valuable as those of adjoining States, is the substitution of free for slave labor. Almost the entire slave population of the State, which is now about 100,000, is confined to 12 out or the 107 counties in the State. Since 1840 the white population has increased nearly 500,000 and the slaves only 50,000;- and the high price which slaves now command in the cotton-growing States is rapidly diminishing the slave population of the State.
These natural causes, if undisturbed and unchecked by foreign interference, are quite certain to weaken the hold of Slavery in Missouri and eventually to make it a Free State. An effort will undoubtedly be made by the Pro-Slavery Party to connect the question with Federal politics, and thus bring party discipline to bear against the progress of the movement. This will be aided by the overzealous demonstrations of the opponents of Slavery in other sections of the Union; but we trust it will not succeed. The question is one for the People of Missouri themselves to settle,- and we hope it will be regarded and treated, uniformly and exclusively, as a matter of local and domestic concern.