Washington telegraph. [volume] (Washington, Ark.) 1839-1871, 1862-12-17

FoR WHAT ARE WE FIGnTING?- Those who
say that eight millions of people are called
to suffer all the horrors and prvations of war.
to ''protect the properly of slave owners. /"
have narrow view of the objects of this con-
test. Were that all--were it a mere question
of the protection Of a certain amount of nron-
erty, OF certain number ofindividuals. with
no higher object or principle involved. we for
one would be willing to drop our arms and
close the contest.
But we conceive differently. We are fight.
ing for nationality. We are fighting for great
principles We are fighting for domestic and
social institutions, OF which. indeed slavery is
the Chief. which we believe sanctioned by
heaven. and under which we and our postertv
exp ct to reach pitch of happiness and ma
uouAi prosperity unparalleled in the history
Of the world. IL : not that we care particu-
u!nrIy whether this man or that one. loses his
negroes or keeps them, But we do care,for the
maintenance Of one institution under which all
our tropical swamps will be converted into
teemiEg beds of wealth, and other institutions
under which the humblest and poorest citizen
viii retain the exalted position of oneof the SOW
ereigns OF the land, without being ground to the
earth, and brutaized by the stern necessity
Tor daily bread. IS is the case with the opera.
uyes Of Europe and New England
The slave owner of this generation NAV no
tue padper of the next. Tie poor man of to-
day may be the slave owner of Tomorrow
Zach may hope by industry to avail himself
Individually of the benefits which result from
the possession of slaves. The ppug,..i weller
IN the owes Of the mountains, may hope for
his posterity the position Of the lord lest T. auter
of the bottoms, and even should thu I.il Il
this, he may confidently believe tnat the, VIII
constitute class above the mental .r,,r,tiycs
who, in some form or other. coi,,,,rut. the
''mud-sils" Of the social system. Al are
equally interested, when the field of yier, he
comes enlarged. 1t il the institution itself
which We detenL It's benefits pcrmcate all
classes of society, and its highes: positions
are open to all. The poor mau fights, not to
protect the slave property of his neich5or
alone. He fights for an independence, and
state of society, bencfcent itself. and in
which he himself, or his children after him.
may become participants of the highest bene-
efits.
We fight for tue negro race, with a tru.r
humanity. We would maintain it as 1t has
been entrusted to us by Providence, with all
its present moral elevation, happiness and
contentment. We ''have charge to keep"
The negroes are our pupils and we are their
guardians. Kept in their normal condition
their progress will be steadily forward. They
will fill the highest position capable to them
in the social organization. They will be pro.
ducers of wealth for the enric hment of the M
ton, the benefits of which will flow tbronqb
all classes of society.
Enfranehised and neglected, as they would
be by the enemy. they would dwindle into in
significance, and gradually the last abiect
rennants would become extinct.
is miserable falacy to say that the poor
man has no intcyes: in tits war He has n
country at stake. A country fraught with
higher advantages, and with promises of
greater preferments than any other on the
face of the globe, If We fail, the poor man
! gees to hopeless poverty, and he and his pos
terity with here and there a lucky exception.
! become .-hewers of wood and drawers of water
for capitalists" whom he can never hope to
rival
1t the war of the freeman, sustained in
his social elevation by class ordained for the
| nurnose and contenlinr against the imnosi
ton of social system in which brothers OF
his blood AMI children of his body may be
ground to the position of slaves.