The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-08-09
| am, sir, your oh't servant,
WILLIAM II. SEW ARD

made hy military authority.
am, sir, your oh't servant,
WILLIAM II. SEWARD.
While Mr. Srward was issuing this or
der for Il general Jail delivery Of the ne
..ro,.>, lac was also sending, under Il usur-
patton of power, and in violation of the
laws Of the Construction. hundreds Of
white men 3nd women to ill the cells of
the PRISONS in this District and through
out the loyal States. Against many Of
these white men and white women thus
ncarcelated 10y this dc>potic Secretary Of
State, no charge has ever been made
they are imprisoned without the form or
authority IT law, and thus the personal
liberty of the Caucasian is ruthleS>ly viu-
lated while the African is most tcnderly
and carefully guarded, even to the nuIliii-
cation Of State enactmentS aud national
statutes. Let rumor become current
that negr0 has been deprived of personal
ibrrty-,ithor in this District or any.
where c,Sc-and there are dozens Of Re
publican members Oh this lluor striving to
obtain the attention of the House while
they may offer resolutions inquriug by
what law, by whom, when, and where,
these objects Of their undivided affections
may have been arrested. But never vet
has any one of these philanthropic gen
t!emen made inquiry Tor the law or the
authority under which white American
citizens have bven kidnapped by the State
Department, dragged from their homes,
and left to pine and lie, perchance, in
some of the many ba>ti!es which this Ad.
mini>tration has established.
1t is well known, sir, that ii any white
citizen, pe5Sm.2U iathcr or broth@r, de~iKe
to visit relative or acquaintance i'll tie
military service of this Government, that
he is obliged to secure Il "paSs" from
some competent authority : and to obtain
this, he is required upon his honor to de-
clare his loyalty and fidelity to the Gov
ernment. But the negro goes and comes
within the lines of our Army without a
pass, whether his destination be towards
or from the enemy; the color OF the black
man is his passport, and is received as
equivalent to the pledge Of honor and 10y
atty upon the part of a white person.
In this District you have abolished
slavery. You have abolished it by COM
pensation. by adding $l,000,000 to the
national debt, and tax Of S73 900 to be
pad 8~nually, as interest upon this sum,
by taxes imposed on the iaooring white
people of these States. Not satisfied with
doing this much for your especial favorite,
you extend the freedom Of this city and
the hospitality of the Government to all
the runaway negroes Of the country who
choose to visit the District Of Columbia
You issue rations to them day after day,
and week after week, rationS which must
be paid for through the sweat and toll of
taX,ridden white people. Yon are thus
supporting in incidence hundreds upon
hundreds Of black men. How many and
at what cost am unable to state, because
when a resolution, asking for this infor-
nation, was introduced by the honorable
gentleman from Ohio, (Mr. Cox, it was
Immediately tabled by the Republican
majority on the other side of this House.
These gentlemen dare not let this inior-
nation go to the country; they shrink
from the exposure which truthful reply
to such inquiry would make. The reso-
luton of Mr.. Cox also asked for the num-
Der of negroes employed as tcamsters in
the army, and at what wages; but this
was equally Objectionable, for it would
have illustrated the fact that negroes by
the hundred are receiving better pay as
drivers than our own white sons and broth.
ers are for periling their lives as soldiers
in the defence Of the Union and the Con-
Stitution.
Having been thus deprived of obtaining
official information upon these questions,
am obliged to gather my statistics from
such sources as | can. shall make no
statement that have not received from
respectable and responsible parties, and
none which do not conceive to be rather
under than over the true estimate.
The Government is to-day issuing ra-
tons to about two thousand negroes in
this District alone. that cost over twenty
cents per ration-S4OO per day, in viola
ton Of law, is being paid for this purpose.
The Government is hiring In the District