The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-29 00:00:00

subject of their pay has yet to be decided ; the
frieede of the negro asserting that he ought to have
exactly the same pay and allowances as the white,
and the opposite party maintaining that he should
only b 3 pail what he i 3 worth, which is much less
than a white man, and juetifying th ablishraent
of a d'fferential rate by the example o the British
Government in India, that allows its Sepoy soldiers
a much smaller sum than it finds it necessary to give
to its European troops. As several negro regiments
have threatened mutiny unless they are allowed
equal pay with the whites, it is probable that Con-
gress will conceCe the point, the more especially es
the need of the Government for men is great, and no
one can tell where they are to come from if the
negroes as a body be disheartened by what they
consider injustice.
An amendment having been offered to a clause of
the Enrolment Act to the effect that clergymen not
engaged in trade or any secular business should be
exempt from military service—an amendment
which, if carried, would have compelled such
preachers as the Rev Henry Ward Beecher to forego
the secular business of lecturing, or take their chance
of shouldering the rifle—Mr. Cox, of Ohio, expressed
his opinion that the clergy had done more than
any other body of men in the country to produce,
embitter, and prolong the war ; and that such
" pestiferous" persons ought by no means to be
exempted from military duty. Mr. Eldridge, of
Wisconsin, while agreeing with Mr. Cox that the
preachers were intermeddlers and stirrersaip of
mischief, was willing to accept any preacher who
would declare on his honour that he never had
introduced, and never would introduce, politics into
his sermons. This suggestion was received with
loud laughter; but the amendment having been put
to the vote was summarily rejected. As the bill now
stands the clergy of all denominations are liable to
military duty with the rest of the community, and
must either fight or pay. At a later stage of the
debate Mr. Fernando Wood proposed to exempt
from the draught all persons " who, from conscien-
tious disbelief in the humanity. necessity, or even-
tual success of the war, are opposed to its further
prosecution until an effort should have been made,
and failed, to end it by negotiation." As, notwith-
standing the madness of the hour, this wide ex-
emption would have included a full half of the
American people—the women and the preachers
excepted, Mr Wood's proposition fell to the ground,
though 23 Democratic representatives were found
to vote in its favour. On the following day it was
moved to exempt members of the Society of Friends,
and all other persons having conscientious scruples
against fighting, upon condition that they would
make themselves useful in taking care of escaped
and freed negroes. A representative from Connee-
4;eut said there were at least half a million of per-
country who held the doctrine of non-
sons in tut...."
resistance ; and if they were to be exempted the
probability wee that the ranks would be recruited
those of the army. The
very much faster then
amendment, like its preeleeeesors, was rejected, and
the non-resistants will theref4-we have the privilege
of paying for the faith that is in them should an
unhappy turn of the wheel inscribe their names on
the grim r6ll of battle.