The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-07-12

| Ehe Government is hiring in the District
several hundred negroes, some as team
sters and some for other purposes, TO the
exclusion of white laborers, thousands Of
whom, together with their wives and
children, in our large cities are suffering
for the want Of employment. speak ad-
v;sedly when | say that the Republican
party are already paving. Of tNV-cOtbsved
money, in this District alone, over three
hundred thousand dollars per annum to
buy, clOthe, feed and exalt, the African
race. Thus for the negro you expend
more in single year than you appropri-
ate for the government and protection of
all the people in all the organized Terri
tories Of the United States. The negro
is made superior, in your legislation, to
the pioneer white men that settle the
great West, and, amid hardships and dan
gers, lay the foundations Of new common
wealths; the hardest and noblest meU OF
our common country.
So the people are taxed more yearly
for the benefit Of the black race in this
District alone than it costs to maintain the
burdens Of State government in either
lawa: Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
MaIne,I New TIanIpSmre, VERMONT, Con-
necticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Del
aware, or Maryland.
But it is not in this District alone that
you require the people to pay tribute to
the idol of your affections. Wherever
you find our Army, with one or two hon
orable exceptions, you will find that hun
dredS of rations are being issued daily to
unemployed negroes who rendezvous in
and around the camps; wherever the
Army is they are employed il various
capacities at good wages, and to the utter
exclusion Of white labor that now Ian
guishes in irksome idleness throughout
i 's>.S >-oa>,>,,: a s,tsSee, >N>xtEu. ,4HR&|,
think truthfully, that the Government is
already paying 100000 per day for the
support and employment Of negroes
paying it, too, out Of money, raised tlro'
the toll, deprivat!ons and taxation of our
own kith and KIN.
In my district, Mr.. Chairman, my con-
stituents are selling corn at eight cents a
bushel in order to support their families
dilu tudiiildili IilC VI
our Government. Shall the money thus
raised and for such purpose be diverted
to the entertainment of the African? Will
my people, will the people anywhere, en-
dorse the party and the Administration
that thus seeks the elevation of the negro
even at the cost of the ruin of their own
race!
One might suppose that your ardor in
the care and protection of the negro would
stop and cool here; but no, you 60 still
further. Having made him your equal as
civilian, you now seek to place him on
the same level with American sailors and
soldiers. First came the order of the Sec
retary of the Navy, Mr.. Welles, which is
as follows
NAVY DEPARTMENT, April 30th, 1862.
SIR: The approach Of the hot and sick
ly season upon the southern coast Of the
United States, renders it imperative that
every precaution should be used by the
officers commanding vessels to continue
the excellent sanitary condition of their
crews. The large number of persons
known as contrabandS" tlocking to the
protection Of the United States flag, af-
fords an opportunity to provide in every
department of ship, especially for boats
crews, acclimated labor. The flag officers
are required to obtain the services Of these
persons for the country by enlisting them
freely in the Navy. with their consent,
rating them as boys, at eight. nine or ten
dollars per month, and one ration. Let a
monthly return be made of the number OF
this class Of persons employed on each
vessel under your command. | am, re-
specifully, your obedient servant,
GIDEON WELLES.
Under the plea-of the approach of the
sickly season, Mr.. Welles issues this or
der; under the same plea the negro may
be called into any service in the South,
through the sickly season, but the terri.
ble effect it may have upon our Army
and Navy was not thought of by any Re.
l publican official until very recently.
Having made this progressive step in
our Navy, (as my colleague from the Bu-
reau District Mr.. Lovejoyl would call iD,
it remains to be emuated in our Army.
Not long does it await an imitatOr; Gen.
ID. NJ. Hunter, commanding the military
department Of South Carolina, Georgia
and Florida, issues an order to enroll
companies, regiments and brigades Of ne
groeS in the military service of the United
States.
Thus, in less than two years after the
accession to power of the Republican par
ty, the negro is made, as far as possible,
the equal of the white man as a civilian,
n sailor and soldier. Nay, more than
this; the Constitution is violated that
white men may be bereft of their guaran-
teed rights. White men are stripped OF
the armor of American citizenship in or
der that the negro may be clothed there
in. All this has been done against the
earnest protest of oil conservative men.
And propositions and amendments to bills,
appropriating money for the suppression
Of the rebellion, which provided that no
money should be diverted either e. 'l.N
freeing, the support, or the enlistment OF
negroes, have been invariably voted down
by the Republican party in this House.
Worse than this even, Gen. Hunter, in
his zeal for the negro, withdraws the
protection of his army from the loyal cit
izens of Jacksonville, Florida, in order to
perfect his great negro boarding house
and African military academy at the
mouth of the Savannah river This is
undoubtedly in harmony with his brilliant
discovery that African slavery and martial
law are Incompatible. Common minds
have heretofore considered that martial
law and slavery, either for whites or blacks,
were among the most concordant insti-
tutions upon earth. This proclamatory
commander, who vies in profundity with
the immortal General Phelps, undoubted-
ly considers martial law the very jewel
casket of American liberty.
My mind, Mr.. Chairman, revolts at the
idea of degrading the citizen soldery of
my country to the level of the negro
Sir, the American volunteer has always
been our reliance in peace, and our vim
dication in war. am opposed to equal.
ization in the ranks of citizens and slaves.
Having made such efforts for the negroes
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