The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-07-19

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% RI. 7, sHAWK-EYE.
,'en' Lew wallace s;o on dshe Negro aues-
Gen. Lew Wallace was serenaded at Wash
iugton, the other evening, and made neat and
appropriate speech. The following are biz re-.
marks upon the vexed negro question:
am no politician. lCries of "Good for tbat
and Don't want any now-a-days" ProbsbIs
for regular speech had been much Obliged *
some Of my political friends if they had mad
it for me. ["Keep them in the. DARK and
laughter II it is expected that am to speak
on subjects Of political character TONIGHT. I
| know should have been Obliged for some Of
them TO have performed the task for me. If /
touch upon them, bear me witness that I speak
Of them not IS q politician, but q . soldier
! Applause. I was at the Senate Chamber to.
day. They were discussing the policy Of the
war. The question in agitation was, or what at
least seemed to be the paramount question,
"shall the negro be used or nots" tCries Of
| my audience precisely as found the Senate
Laughter and applause.1 Some said "ye,. y
and some said "no"-just as you are saving. -
Laughter. A voice-"Will you give US sol.
dier's opinion?"] Yes, let me speak about that
as soldier ['Goodl not as politician. ['Don't
want any politicians.1 He would be poor
| soldier, in my opinion, who would fail to use
every element of war which God Almighty gave
him, if he could use it to his advantage PRO.
longed and enthusiastic cheering.1 Think you
concur with me in that at least. TCries of
Certainly we do" "Every sensible man will. u
Now, then, if we find the negro before us, or
around US, as We advance, planted there by
some Observation-Disclosures may have q great
deal to do with it-and we can find his services
available, would not that General be q crazy
man who would refuse to use them? G"lost
assurredly," and applause.1 So it seems to me
and my position may be plainly stated on that.
1t by the services Of negro can make nv
soldiers comfortable; if by the services of band
OF negroes can relieve them Of onerous du-
to dig my trenches, ['That's rightnl shall I not
DO it? Cries Of Eyes, yes" Loud annlausa !
Yes, and | will do it. [Vociferous cheering. K
voice-"S Soldiers wifi follow you to the death
for that" Another voice-"Put no arms in
their hands" Several voices-"Oh YES. as
many as they want."l Now, then, let me speak
about that. [Cries Of "All right, now; ssYou
are mighty good boy."] If I accept of the
services ofa negro, and he works we'll and faith.
fally, fed by US, clothed by US, and he stands by
my gallant regiment, relieving them of the hard
duties have mentioned, would It be human
would it not be cruel, to put him in the army
in the way of shot, and yet give him nothing
with which to defend himself ? Cries Of that {
so, and loud and continued cheering Nv fel.
low citizens, speak as soldier ali the time,
recoiect l am not viewing this matter in DO.
litical aspect, for have as much prejudice
against the negro politically, and am as much
opposed to Slavery agitation as any of you can
be-. Yet where be can be made available, let us
. make him SO. Then what shall we do with him?
! "A voice -"Place him in the rear.n "No mt
him to the 'front.', (Applause.) A voiee-'In
1 the ditch.'] Stop one moment, there is policy
in war, as well as in politics. One thing is very
certain; nothing is to be so carefully guarded
against as the preudices of the soldiers, and un.
less it was some desperate occasion, some last
resort, when even soldiers would be grateful for
] their assistance, would not propose to put him
in the line of battle to the front. (ssThats the
true doctrine" and applause.1 But to every
brigade would have regiment of working ne.
| groes--to every company would have fair
complement Of cooks. [Applause.I would
teed them, would organize them, and to each
one who did good service I would at the end Of
the war give him or her freedom. Immense
cheering "4ah ''s -. '..'E2 spa >.s'
Let me make one remark further. The com.
mon impression has been that this was war in
which We had all the advantages. Now, then.
listen to my practical experience. I tell you it
has not been .snch war of inequality in our
favor as many suppose. have visited planta-
tons in the course of marches. have asked.
Where is the man of the house? He is in the
army. have looked around have seen his
harvest field full of stalwart negroes. They
reap his harvest and they put it away as we'll
and not in the army, and what was the result?
He had plenty to eat--a superabundance--some
of which he was sure would come to the susten.
ance of that Southern army. There are sup.
posed to be 100000 Of negroes. Do you SUD.
pose that Jefferson Davis, if We went humbly to
him beseechiug such thing, proposing to him:
You have 100000 Of operatives belonging to
your people in the South; under our policy
we may not touch them-not modest them
We will leave them upon your farms to work,
will YOU agree to leave us goo 900 of operatives
at home on ous farms, in our shops, unmo.
Tested? Do you suppose that Jefferson Davis
would agree to ythats INo!I Yet he would
have to agree to it before equality of advantage
was established between US. lApplause.I JET.
tsrson Davis Is better manager, because be is
desperate man.. [Applause.J Our army upon
the James River is said to be in DANGER How
true that is do not know i hope it is false
Well, if that is true, and they come back, what
becomes of the good Government that those of
US who have been in the field have been fighting
for? To say the least, it becomes imperiled.-
Now then, what do you think of the legislator
who will sit in the halls of our Congress and be
afraid to use the power of the Government to
sustain the Government 'That's it," "Hit
'em.I JEFF. Davis early in this war impressed
men. He was not afraid he saw the necessity
Of it, and he being q bold man resorted to Inn.
pressment, We want soldiers, and want them
quickly. There is q way to get them. In time
they win come BY volunteering, but the exigen.
ces Of the moment are SO great it is dangerous
to wait. VIII this Congress before it adjourns
land the time of its adjournment, I am told,
approaches-will it have the courage to leave
behind on the statute book drafting law?.
fear not. ["Yes they will"] And yet they
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