Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1862-07-25

''''' WV f'''N -
THE WANT OF THE HOUR.

HE WAN OF he MUM
Everybody sees that we have reached a
crisis in the rebellion and in the effort TO sup
press il. Amer long series Of Union sue
cosses, in which much lost ground has been
rcoccuped in which Nashville and Memphis,
and Norfolk and New Orleans, and nearly
the entire length of the Mississippi river have
been restored to federal conlrol--in which
vast bodies Of the enemy have been Wiped out
and an uncountcd number of their guns cap
tured--we have been checked before Rich
mond, by conspiracy between the elements
and the enemy Now the great hosts are
taking breathing spell, before renewal o!
the contest Driven in from the seaboard,
collected from all the scattered points Of pre-
yious action, swelled by the act Of conscrip-
ton, more than 200 900 men are gathered at
the confederate capital, and we find ourselves
confronting them with only 100000. We
have been compelled to change front by sheer
force of numbers and there has gone forth
the cry for more men The President calls
for 800, 900 volunteers, that the work which
we had so well beguh-which was, indeed,
in splendid progress-may be carried on to
| perfection. The want Of the hour is men
white men. We could not &c. the black men
| quickly enough if we wanted them. General
| Mcclellan cannot get negroes to do his work
/ for him and his soldiers so fast as he wants
them. He is obliged to move them up from
| Fortress Monroe.
White men, we say, are the want Of the
hour, and white men must be our reliance
Is it to be supposed that negro will fight
for his liberty any more readily than white
man finds in the considerations that are thrust
upon him We have nationality at stake ;
we have our own political freedom at stake I;
we have personal and national honor at stake;
we have the interests f republican liberty
throughout the world at stake. 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. who seem
to think that, somehow emancipation and the
negro will do their work for them, when they
have got to do bigger lighting than they have
done yet to secure emancipation at all. 1t is
all nonsense to lie back and say that a differ
ent plicy is wanted and that we shall have
no success until different policy shall be in
augurated. The policy that gives US white
men enough to whip the enemy is the policy
that will insure success in the task we have
undertaken The policy that took New Or
leans was ships, guns, white men and pluck
The policy that cleaned out Tennessee Ken
lucky and Missouri was plenty of white mer
and gunpowder to match The negroes OF
the South--"our natural allies'--are unor.
ganized unarmed ignorant and inaccessible
We cannot reach tenth part Of them by
proclamation, What is the use, then, 10
talking about utterly improbable schemes
when the thing to be done is as plain as
rike-staf,
The want Of the hour, we repeat. is 500, 00C
white men. We have not the slightest OBJ
lection to black men, il we can get them. 49,
We have not the slightest objection to 10,
organization and the arming Of the slaves o
rebels everywhere, provided they can be go
hold Of Indeed. il would be exceedingly
pleasant to have all the fighting done by those
persons. Fighting is not the most delightful
business in the world, and any amount of il
that could be conveniently turned off upoI
the negroes would be relief Unuckily
however. very little OF IL can be assumed b,
tnem We should be obliged TO employ on,
army 90 free them, while holding their masters
at different points with another.
We are among those who, from the first
have believed and prophesied that the wa
has sealed the fate of slavery, bug we have
never believed that the slaves would help ui
in any fight with the rebels They have no
even shown pluck enough to get up an insur
recuon. We have lived among them In town
and on plantations and know them like
book A" Those who live in towns and oitei
are bright and shrewd. and some of them are
doubtless brave but no least fvs-sixth Of al
. the southern negroes live on plantations, an,
while there are among them few who know
something, and would act extensively nguins
their masters if they had chance, the gtea
/ mass are ignorant good -natuied, INDECENT AM
stupid, and would just as soon think OF cut
ting their own throats as the throats of thei
masters Plantations Of from 100 20 500 ne
groes are managed by two OF three white men
who hud no difficulty in keeping them in sub
: lection. Icy are brought up to fear gun
powder. and can be driven by hundreds be
fore a single musket What education an
drill would do for these men we cannot tell
Z They would do much, without doubt; bu
I we cannot wait for this. We are called upo
! to act in an emergency The hour--thls hou
n has its pressing wants, and this want
a men, and the only available men we have ar
o white men.
y The confscation bill which has just bee
/ enacted amounts to little more, practically
e than an emancipation bill. Our government
IS not going 10 TAKE property 90 any great ca
d tent and hold it for the benefit Of the childre
of rebe.s But the slaves will be set free an
cannot be reclaimed Already the slaves i
some portions of Virginia are exacting wage
from their masters, as the condition of thei
4 labor. The accursed institution is bleedin
at every vein, and can never survive tn
struggle which is now in progress--a strug
gle which seems likely to continue until, b
the administration of Providence, not slav
: will be left upon American soil. We hav
no faith that any human enactment or an
change Of government policy will hasten thi
most desirable result by day Our father
tied our hands on this question of slavery
and God took it into His own, and if we d
the duty Of the hour, lie will take care Of il
II is our business to save ourselves a country
3 and to save it by fighting with our own hands
> If we fail, it will not be because the negroe
e did not help US, but because we were TO
mean and too cowaIdly to help ourselves.
The Washington correspondent of the Ne,
York Post makes the following surprisin
statement. We cannot resist the belief tina
= it is greatly exaggerated
IL - toa