Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1862-07-23
WHITE GE BLACK.

SGTeater love 1sstD 40 H3an tD"1 Lnl5,
that man lay down bis life for his friend"
In the face Of this greatest exhibition
of love, which one may show another,
ought not he American people to be re-
Ieved from the imputation of hating the
Negro' They a.e willing 10 lay down
their lives for him.
To enlist as a volunteer ID tImo OF
war is then to offer ones life for something
deemed of more value than life. Every
soldier stands and fights for the non-com-
bata1t old man, child, woman, or ether
person who cannot fight, and instead of
every competent person who can, but will
not, or is not permitted 20 fight.
Nearly every class Of our fellow men,
having any interest in the present struggle
for national life, has furnished its quota Of
devotees to the grave dangers Of war.
The native, the foreign-b0rn citizen,
merchants, mariners, mechanics, laborers,
professional men, orphans, only children,
brothers, fathers, lovers, the nevly-mar-
RED, men around whom cluster the hopes
md affections OF many other men, poets,
orators, artists, the pvecious fruits of their
genius not yet ripe in their souls; aIl have
devoted they know not, and we know not
what wealth Of affection, intellect, and no
bleness TO the task Of restorisg to It's pris-
tine authority the most benefceut Gov
eminent ever created.
One class has not furnished its quota
the very class that has the heaviest stake
in controversy. For the North fights
that the American Republic may not be
overthrow for having determined that
Slavery shall not be extended; the South
fights to place her desperate purpose %
maintaining and extending slavery beyond
the reach of interference or control.
Thus the Freedom or Slavery ola race
hangs on The result Of the war. And
yet not one Of that race. who knew as we'll
rs we that the war hinges upon them, is
allowed to shed bis blood in this quarrel.
How much these high-bred scholars
and gentlemen, the elite of our Northern
chivalry, must love the African to be viii
ling to lay down their lives for him. They
take his place OH weary marches over hot
and dusty roads, carrying ignominious
burthens, in biyouacs IN miasmatic swamps
with only boughs a1d blanket betwixt
them and the poisonous ground, in the
trenches with pickaxe and shovel, in the
imminent and deadly breach giving their
smooth white limbs to be torn by shot
and shell, on the hospital bed aud dire
surgery of knife and saw, while the pre-
cious negro sings and feeds and thEives,
and multipIes and replenishes the land
with his dusky progeny, kept out ofharm,
ike women or the reigning sovereign.
Why is this dark blood cherished 80
royalty among usl Is it from the convic-
ton that the negro cannot fight! The
science of war can be managed by hand
full of officers; for the mass of an army it
is simply to stand and kill. The less sol
diers know of the tactics' the more COM
plete machines they are. the better war
riors. A savage can fight about as well
as philosopher. Socrates was no bet
ter common soldier for all the philosophy
he taught at Athens. Civilization Is q
useless accomplishment in war except as
it aids in the mechanism of weapons, and
in the tactics with which the common SOL
der has nothinf to do. Let the negro
fight then, and take his chance with the
rest of US, of being mutilated or killed,
since he has muscles and endurance, can
attack as fercely and retreat as swiftly.
He is so much physical force on the
spot, and in the best possible condition,
and man of however great genius, in
the ranks of the army is mainly worth his
might, strength, and agility.
Massachusetts sends 10000 of her
Young men to the present war. The
waste of reasonably long campaign will
consume on the battlefield and IN the hos
pital 5000 Of these. Six-thousand sol
diers recruited at the North or among the
contrabands, sharing the common perils
and losses with their white couBtrymen,
would save 900 of these lives. Massa-
chusetts sacrifices 900 of her children on
the altar of her prejudices against color.
Who can tell what Of the greatness and
glory of the noble State is to perish n
this destruction.
But, it is said, if we admit negroes into
our armies, the officers will resign and the
soldiers refuse to march. Perhaps so.
Then let us have the continuance of tie
negro pec. by which we have got black
men into the Churches and even to the
Communion table. Let the negroes fight
in companies and regiments by themselves
A white man would not be comp9omi-
sed by leading them any more thau a sol
dior would be in driving an elephant to
battle. Gen. Jackson lost no dignity
dy the presence of ''coloured fellow-citi-
Gems" behind his breastworks OF New Or
leans. The English did not disdain the
use of colored troops TO put down the
great Sepoy rebellion; nor are they humi-
lated when at the head of black soldiers
in the West Indies. Brazil made soldiers
of her emancipated slaves. No war was
ever waged before among mixed popula
tons, where every available portion of the
people, in disregard ofrace and complex
son, was not brought into requisition to
inhict the utmost injury upon the enemy.
Or is the exemption of the negro from
the perils of war due to dollar and cent
estimation of his value: Is it a shrewd
Border State reckoning of the past and