Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1862-07-23
GEN. LEW WALLACE'S SPEECH
AT WASHINGTON.

/ at Washington last week and was called
out on Wednesday evening for speech.
| In the course of his remarks, he consid-
cred some questions of great public in
terest at this time, from the stand point
Of soldier. Here is an extract or two:
| WHAT TO DO WITH THE NEGROES
| / speak not as politician, but as a sol
dier. Applause | WIS at the Senate
Chamber to-day. They were discussing
the policy of the war. The question in
agitation was, or what at least seemed to
be the paramount question, Should the
negro be used or not?' Cries Of . Yes,
yes" and q No" "no. Well, | inG
my audience precisely as found the SEN
ate Laughter and applause Some
said eyes" and some said 9 no Just as
you are saying Laughter. A voice
viii you give us a soldiers opinion 2
y Yes, let me speak about that as a soldier
LGoodl not as e politician. :" Don't wan t
any politicians. lie aoould be poor
soldier IN nly opinion, aoho arould fuiL to
use eUery element Of aoGr aehich God AZ
mighty gdUe him, If he could use 1T to his
advantage. Prolonged and enthusiastic
cheering l think you concur with me
in that at least Cries of Certainly we
| do; Every sensible man viii. Now,
then, If we find the negro before us or
around us as we advance, planted there
by some accident-Providenc may have
had great deal to do with it-and we can
find his services available, would not that
General be a crazy man who would re
fuse to use them? Most assuredly,
and applause. SO it seems to me, and
my position may be plainly stated upon
that. If by the services of a negro | can
10 cClItarS fpr t.Il 10 ~ +ha
services Of a band Of negroes | can relieve
them of oAerous duties and hard work
if | can make them available to dig my
trenches I" That's right shall not do
it? Cries of 8 Yes, yes" Loud APP
plause.l Yes, and 1 will do it [yocif
erous cheering. a voice" Soldiers Will
follow you to the death for that" An
other voice" Put no arms in their
hands Several voices" Oh, yes, as
many as they want Now, then, 1t me
speak about that Cries of . All right
now, GU are mighty good boy" If
| accept the services of a pegro, and he
works we'll and faithfully, fed by us,
clothed by Us, and he stands by my gal
liant regiment, relieving them Of the hard
duties have mentioned, would it be hui
man, would it not be cruel to put him
into tl'e - s - -
give MIN III tniu1 WIN WHICH ~ uClSiiN
himself? Cries Of That so, and loud
and continued cheering. My fellow cit
izens. | speak as Il soldier all the time
recoiiect. | am not viewing this matter
in It's political aspect, for | have as much
prejudice against the negro politically
and as much opposed to slavery agitation
as any of you can be Yet where he can
be made available, let us make him So.
Then what shall we DO with him 4
voice" Place him in the rear No
put him to the front" applause A
voice" In the ditch. Stop one mo-
ment there is policy in war as well as in
politics One thing is very certain, moth
ing is to be so carefully guarded against
as the preiudices Of the soldiers, and un
less it was some desperate occasion, some
last resort, when even soldiers would be
grateful for their assistance, | would not
propose to put him in the line Of battle to
the front r. That's the true doctrine,
and applause But to every brigade
would have a rcgimant of working negroes
to every company | would have a fair
complement of cooks. Applause /
would feed them, | would organize them,
and to each one who did good service,
would at the end of the war give him or
her freedom. Immense cheering
HOW SLAVE LABOR sCsTAINs The REBELLION.
The common impression has been that
this was war in Which we had all the
advantages Now, then, listen to my
practical experience. | tell you it has
not been such a war of inequality as
many suppose | have visited plantations
in the course of marches. have asked,
Where is the man of the house He is
in the army. | have looked around |
have seen his harvest field full of staIwart
negroes They reap his harvest and they
put it away Us well and as carefu fully as if
the man had been at home and not in the
army and what was the result? lie had
plenty TO eat-a supera1undance-som
which he was sure would come to the
sustenance of that Southern army. There
are supposed to be /, 600, 900 negroes Do
YOU suppose that Jefferson Davis, if we
went humbly to him beseeching such a
thing, proposing to him Iou have 4000,
600 of operatives belonging to your people
IN the South, under our policy we may
not touch them-not modest them. We
viii leave them upon your farms to work,
viii You agree to leave us 1900, 600 of
operatives home on our farms, in our shops,
unmolested Do you suppose that Jeffer-
son Davis would agree to that? ? No =
L ct ne WOULD nave To agree 10 It before
equality of advantage was established be-
tween Us. Applause Jefferson Davis
Is better manager, because he Is a des-
perate man. Applause.
THE POWER OF THE GOVERNMENT MUST BE
EXERTED.
Now, then, what do YOU think Of the
legislator who viii sit in the halls of our
Congress and be afraid to use the power
Of the Government TO sustain the Govern
ment T" That's it Hit EN-. jeff
Davis, early in this war, impressed men.
He was not afraid He saw the necessity
of it, and he, being bold man, resorted
to impressment We want soldiers, and
want them quickly There is way to
get them. In time they viii come by vol
unteering, but the exigencies of the mo-
ment are so great ii is dangerous 10 wait
/ VIII this Congress, before 1t adiourns-
and the time of its adjournment. | am
told. approaches-win il have the courage
to leave behind on the statute book draft
Ing law2 | fear not . es, they Will I
And yet they ought, by all means, because
the time may come when every strong
arm in the North, and in the Border
States, too, may be required 10 sustain the