The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-08 00:00:00

The Slaves of the South.

The following article appeared recently in the
Richmond Enquirer :
" CONSCRIPTING TUE SLAVES.
"The proposition to extend the Conscript Law to
the slaves of the States was first formally advanced

by the Enquirer in the issue of the 6th inst. Since

hat time we have rcceived many assurances of its

popular favour, and none whatever of opposition to
it. We learn that the planters in the extreme
Southern Stites favour the proposition, and some
have signified their readiness to free five, 10, or 15

of their slaves if they will enter the army. The
near approach of the time when the Congress meets
again requires that expression be given to the sen•
timents of the country upon this important measure.
We therefore earnestly invite its diseuEsion, and
open our columns to opponents as well es friends of
the proposition. The result of the late elections is
still in doubt, and whether Lincoln or M'Clellan
will be elected it is yet impossible to determine, but
there is no uncertainty as to the question of carry..
iog on the war. Whether Lincoln or McClellan be
the next President, the voice, the almost unanimous
voice, of that people is for a vigorous prosecution
of the war. The duty of preparing to meet that
issue will be before the approaching Session of the
Confederate Congress. That body will have before
it for consideration the ways and means, as well as
of men as of money, for carrying on the war on our
part. The war cries of the enemy, No parley
with rebellio❑ in the field—no compromise with
slivery in the readjustment fully inform our people
that in plain vernacular the whites of these States
are to be subjugated to slavery, and their slaves
reduced to the miserable condition of Yankee free
negroes. This is the view of the people among
our enemies, and this will be the result of the
war, whether ended by Lincoln or M'Clellan,
if the people of these States permit them*
selves to be conquered. The conscription of
negroes should be accompanied with freedom and
the privilege of remaining in the States ; this is no
part of abolitionism, it is the exercise by the master
of the unquestionable right of manumission ; it is
remunerating those who defend our cause with the
privilege of freedom. Nor should this important
subject be prejudiced with questions about putting
the negro on an equality with our friends, brothers,
and fathers. Many of the soldiers in their child-
hood were fondled and nursed by faithful negro
nurses, and yet no question of equality was ever
raised. Many a man has manumitted slaves with-
out ever being subjected to the suspicion of being
an abolitionist. The issues involved in this war
are too exalted in their importance and character
for us to permit them to be compromised by being
degraded to a question of property. The liberty and
freedom of ourselves and of our children, the na•
tionality of our country, the right of enjoying any
kind of property, the houses over our heads, and
the very graves of our children and friends, are
involved in the struggle. Failure makes slaves of
all, white and black ; robs all of property, real
and personal ; divides cur land among our con•
querors, who will plough up the very graves of our
dead as fertilised ground for making money. We
have in our midst a half million of fighting mate•
rial which is property—shall we use that property
for the common cause ? Justice and sound policy
demand that we make freemen of those who fight
for freedom. We conscript the master and we im■
press his horses, cattle, wheat, and every other
property except slaves. This very exception is an
imputation that this war is for slavery and not for
freedom. By conscripting the negroes we show to
the world the earnestness that it is in our people ;
we prove to our enemies that at the moment of our
supposed exhaustion, in the fifth year of the war,
we shall meet them with larger armies than we
have before raised; and we explode the false accu-
sation that we are fighting for slavery, or a slaves
holder's confederacy. There are those who doubt
whether sound policy woald trust negroes with
arms. We are not of those who entertain any fears
upon that subject. Drill and discipline make vain•
able soldiers of Russian serfs, and no negroes in these
States are so ignorant and brutal as those serfs. Bea
tween service with the Confederacy and with the
Yankees, between living among us,with their strong
local attachments, and going among strangers, who

are now openly buying and selling them to recruit-
ing officers, our slaves will find no difficulty in
choosing. And when once it is understood that free.
dom and a home in the South are the privileges
offered by the Confederate authorities, while the
enemy extend the beggarly hospitalities of Yankee
philanthropy, not only will desertion from our ranks
be unfrequent, but the draughted negroes of the
Yankee armies will exchange services. This subject
addresses itself to the consideration of our people at
this particular time with great force. The prospect
_ _

of four more years of war are before our people ; the

enemy will not even parley with us without nncon.
ditional surrender, the fruits of which would be con-
fiscation of all property, the deportation of whole
communities, the degradation of the people, and the
domination and tyranny of Yankee masters. There
can be no reconstruction which does not embrace
a surrender first, which will not permit confiscation
afterwards, which does not insure enslaving the
whites without freeing the blacks. If there are
any weak-kneed people who imagine they can save
their property by reconstruction, let them study the
shibboleth of all parties in the United States
No parley with rebellion in the field; no compro•
mise with slavery in the adjustment.' Uncondi.
tional surrender is first demanded before even a
parley. We are to lay down our arms and submit
to the kindness of the Butlers, Grants, Shermans,
and Sheridans ; to the fate of New Orleans, the
condition of the valley, the misery of Atlanta, and,
after all that degradation, to give up all our slaves
in the adjustment. If there are any reasons against
extending the conscription to slaves, we should like
to have them stated, but we are decidedly of opinion
that h
and thatwhole
at country
Will agree to the proposi-
tion,day the next Congress
the
an
ea r y
will be called upon to provide for it by law."
The following is an extract from a despatch from
Henry W. Allen, Confederate Governor of Louise
iana, to the Secretary of War :

" Executive.effice, Shreveport, Louisiana,
Spt.26.
come
"My dear Sir,—The timee has
into the army every able bodied man asforauss
soldier.
:rt.
This should be done immediately, Congress should,
at the coming season,
take action on this most im-
portant question. The negro knows that he can•
not escape conscription if he goes to the enemy.
Ile must play an important part in the war. He
caused the fight, and he will have his portion of the
burden to bear. We have learnt from dearubought
experience that negroes can be taught to fight, and
that all who leave us are made to fight against us.
I would free all able to bear arms, and put them into
the field at once. They will make much better sots
diers with us than against us, and swell the now
depleted ranks of our armies. I beg you to give this
your earnest attention. With assurances of my
friendly regards and very high esteem, I remain,
very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" HENRY W. ALLEN, Governor of Louisiana.
" To the Hon, James A. Seddon, Secretary of War,
Richmond, Virginia."