The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1862-08-22
VOL. s NO. 3

that one General in the army has already orga-
nized full regiment of negroes. We forbear
to discuss the question, whether such soldiers (l)
are not burlesque upon the name, and wheth-
er clothing and arming negroes as such, beside
fhe waste of clothes, arms and other supplies,
is not exposing us to defeat in battle, from the
clearly established fact, that the negro is utter
ly disqualified by nature to stand the musketry
and artillery fre-not to speak of the bayonet
charge--of modern warfare. The subject has
infinitely greater proportions when regarded in
its effect to discourage enlistments by our own
race; resulting from the commenlable repug-
nance of the white man to be placed upon an
equality of military rank with the negro.
And not the least Objectionable consideration
is the fact, that this inferior race having their
minds and passions infaIned by the tales Of real
OF imaginary wrongs which Abolitionisn is too
careful to impart to them, WILL with arms in
their hands, perpetrate the atrocities of 'rhe
indiscriminate slaughter Of all ages, sexes, and
conditions" in warfare-of which
our ancestors complained against Great Britain
who had employed against them the 'merciless
Indian savages."
The history of negro wars and instructions
|
| is replete with the barbarities of rapine and
slaughter Of helpless women and infants that
shock the sensibilities of the lowest development
Of humanity in the white man. And yet, should
the negroes in the Southern States be employed
and armed by the Federal Government against
the white population, then the atrocities Of the
West India Islands we may naturally expect to
be repeated here only on a vastly more extend
ed scale. Against such fiendish policy would
not the moral sensibilities of all the whites Of
the Northern States who have not become bru-
tazed by the devilishness of Abolitionism, be
most painfully shocked but the whole civilized
world would condemn US, and probably in the
cause of humanity, rise to stay atrocities so dis
graceful.
But what sane man can doubt that under
such policy the last spark of Union sentiment
in the South would be extinguished, and the en-
tire Southern population become united as one
person against the Goveroment? 1t were the
merest folly to suppose otherwise! How then
would such fighting bring back the revolted
States into the Unioni Can the 8,000,000 of
white people there be held under our republican
form of Government, in subjugation Is ii be-
| lieved that the people of the North can be mad
dened into the effort for the determination of
100000 of people, with whom we have hith-
erto lived in Union held together by fraternal
members Uf uu-orrG r,lesa-ara n2,u hnnnd tn
ties of consanguinity? If we were to exhaust
all our physical resources and all our pecunary
means, could we if we would, accomplish such
purpose of extermination! Can we hold the
Southern States or people in subjIgaton with
out overthrowing our Constitution and the I'm
ion; without, in fact, establishing government
the most despotic!
We need not answer for you these inquiries.
We know what must be the response OF every
mind not demented by Abolitionism.
Have we not shown, then, the policy of Abb
olitionism. if carried out, is the overthrow of
our Constitution and Union! That Abolition
lists are the enemies of the Republics Believing
we have done so, it remains to inquire, What
is the relief for us in this our hour Of gloom for
our beloved country2 We answer: Remove the
causes: remove Abolitionism and Secessionism.
Put down the former at the ballot-box; put
down The latter (backed by the force of arms)
by force of arms. In the execution OF the lat
ter, that the Government shall stand ny It's
! pliehted faith-to conduct the war to uphold
the Constitution and the Union, and not as Alb
oltionism would have it, to make disunion COM
plete and to overthrow the Constitution! AS
Pcsrsylvanians, you have possibly greater
stake in the preservation of the Union than the
people of any other State. Should the coop
erative, yet, in some sense hostile movements OF
Abolitionism and Secessionism succeed and dis
union becomes an established fact, Pennsylvania,
owing to her peculiar geographical position,
would be exposed to the desolation and become
the battle field of the conflicting forces that
might undertake to settle allquestions that would
remain as the heritage of disunion.
These. however, we forbear now to contem-
plate; for we are unable to believe that ''that
! God who presides over the destinies of nations
will permit such a terrible dispensation to beta
u.s. We are unwilling to believe that the peo-
pie of the free States will ever become so mad
dened as to aid the spirit of Abolitionsm, that
seems now to brood over us like some evil ge-
MUS, that would control us to our destruction
1t cannot he that we. are to have doom worse
than befell Babylon after she had ''become the
habitation of devils and the hold of every foul
spirit"
The only excuse offered by Abolitionism for
its policy, is the plausible fallacy that slavery
is the cause " our threatened disunion." 10
those who look only to immediate and proxi-
mate causes, this position is captivating; but to
those who remember that the original Union,
which waged the war Of the Revolution, was
made up Of thirteen slaveholding States; that
the Union at the time of the adoption of the
present Constitution, consisted OF twelve slave
holding to one free State, it is very plain, that
instead of slavery producing disunion that, IN
less it had been recognized and the faith of the
{ whole people pledged for its projections, this
Union would have never existed. t,
1t would be as reasonable to argue that hou'
ses and money should be exterminated because
90 Iono no thew exist there will be ifcendiarfes