The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-08-01
"The Want of the Hour"

This Is the cantinn nj on "-~"1i--' - =
ticIe in the Springfield Republican,, demon.
stratipg that the want of the hour is men,
white men. After abiding to the great,
stubborn facts that we, white men of the
Union-have nationality, political freedom.
personal and political honor. and the inters
ests Of republican institutions at stake, facts
which the people are strangely slow to COM
prehend, the Republican says:
Yet there are white men among us who
fold their hands and whine, and talk about
our "natural allies" and complain that
they are not permitted to " fire into the
enemy's magazine, men who seem to
think that, somehow, emancipation and the
negro will do their work for them, when
they have got to do bigger fighting than
they have done yet to secure emancipation
at all. 1t is all nonsense to lie back and
say that different policy is wanted, and
that we shall have no success until differ.
ent policy shall be inaugurated. The poli-
cy that gives Us white men enough to whip
the enemy is the policy that will insure sue
cess in the task we have undertaken. The
policy that took New Orleans was ships,
guns, white men and pluck. The policy
that cleaned out Tennessee, Kentucky and
Missouri was plenty of white men and gun
powder to match. The negroes of the South
-" our natural aIies"-are unorganzed,
unarmed, Ignorant and inaccessible. We
cannot reach tenth part of them by proc
lamation. What is the use, then, in talk
ing about utterly impracticable schemes
when the thing to be done is as plain as o
pike.staff.
The want of the hour, we repeat, is S00,-
900 white men. We have not the slightest
objection to black men, if we can get them
We have not the slightest objection to the
organization and the arming of the slaves
Of rebels every where, provided they can be
got hold of. Indeed, it would be exceeding.
ly pleasant to have all the fighting done by
those persons. Fighting is not the most
delightful business in the world, and any
amount of it that could be conveniently
turned off upon the negroes would be re-
lief. UnluckiIy, however, very little of it
can be assumed by them. We should be
obliged to employ one army to free them,
while holding their masters at different points
with another.
We are among those who, from the first,
have be ieved and prophesied that the war
has sealed the fate of slavery, but we have
never believed that the slaves would help us
10 any fight with the rebels. They have
not even shown pluck enough to get up an
insurrectioD. We have lived among them
10 towns and on plantations, and know them
" like book" Those who live in towns
and cities are bright and shrewd, and some
of them are doubtless brave; but at least
fve-siXths of all the southern negroes live
on plantations, and while there are among
them a few who know something, and would
&C: Extensively against their masters if they
had chance, the great mass are Ignorant,
goJd'uatured, indolent and stupid, and
would just as soon think of cutting their
own threats as the throats of their masters
Plantations of from 100 to 500 negroes are
managed by two or three white men, who
find no difficulty in keeping them in suhjec.
ton. They are brought up to fear guns
powder, and can be driven by hundreds be-.
tire single musket. What education and
dr'l! would do for these men we cannot tell.
They would do much without doubt but
we cannot wait for this. We are called
upon tc act in au emergency. The hour
his bour-has its pressing wants, and this
want is men, and the only available men we
hive are white men. 1t is our business to
save to ourselves country, and to save it
by fighting with our own hands. If we
taI, it will not be because the negroes did
not help us, but because we were toe, mean
md too cowardiy to help ourselves.