It was an emancipation not merely of the slave but of the proprietor.

It was felt as such; openly acknowledged and rejoiced in as such.

Never have I witnessed more apparently unfeigned expressions of satisfaction than were made on that day by the former owners of slaves, at the load of which they had been relieved.
I do not wish to be understood as asserting that previous to the working of emancipation, the slave proprietors wished the abolition of slavery.

Far from it.

But having, though unwillingly, been made witnesses of the operations of freedom; and having themselves tasted of the previously unknown satisfaction of employing voluntary and contented, because _free_ laborers; their minds became enlightened, softened, changed: and from being the determined opposers, they became themselves the _authors_ of complete emancipation.