sides by free soil. Few Northern emigrants desired to settle in
the midst of slavery. The distinction between the ruling and laboring
classes was not as great as in the cotton States, but there was a
distinction beyond dispute. Whatever his blood or complexion, the
man who labored with his hands was on a level, or nearly so, with the
slave. Thousands passed up the Missouri River, or crossed the northern
portion of the State, to settle in the new Territory of Kansas.
When political influences ceased, the result was still the same. The
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway threw its valuable lands into the
market, but with little success.

With the suppression of the late Rebellion, and the abolition of
slavery in Missouri, the situation is materially changed. From
Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana, there is a large emigration to Missouri.
I was recently informed that forty families from a single county in
Ohio had sent a delegation to Missouri to look out suitable locations,
either of wild land or of farms under cultivation. There is every
prospect that the State will be rapidly filled with a population that
believes in freedom and in the dignity of labor. She has an advantage
over the other ex-slave States, in lying west of the populous regions
of the North. Hitherto, emigration has generally followed the great
isothermal lines, as can be readily seen when we study the population
of the Western States. Northern Ohio is more New Englandish than
Southern Ohio, and the parallel holds good in Northern and Southern
Illinois. There will undoubtedly be a large emigration to Missouri
in preference to the other Southern States, but our whole migratory
element will not find accommodation in her limits. The entire South
will be overrun by settlers from the North.

Long ago, _Punch_ gave advice to persons about to marry. It was all
comprised in the single word, "DON'T." Whoever is in haste to emigrate
to the South, would do well to consider, for a time, this brief, but
emphatic counsel. No one should think of leaving the Northern States,
until he has fairly considered the advantages and disadvantages of the
movement. If he departs with the expectation of finding every thing to
his liking, he will be greatly disappointed at the result.

There will be many difficulties to overcome. The people now residing
in the late rebellious States are generally impoverished. They have
little money, and, in many cases, their stock and valuables of all
kin