Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1863-04-16

JOE GEIGER ON ARMIYG NEGROES.
Gen. ]. H. Geiger, of Columbus,
some time since made speech at
Springfield. He always makes points.
Here is what he said about arming ne
groes: o.
This extraordinary sensitiveness as
to the employment Of negroes. 1, as a
loyal man, cannot understand. That
it will check the South is evident; they
are a shocking people. and raise their
hands in horror over our employment
Of the same means they use. II slaves
can be engaged to break down our
laws and Constitution, certainly they
can be made to maintain them. The
traitors use them to raise their produce,
build their Notifications, man their can
non, and fight in the field so far as
they dare with safety to themselves;
but our Government is denounced as
unchristian in preserving its life by the
same instrumentalities The end sane
ti6es the means, and am not particu-
lar about the agencies which extiu-
guish traitors who murder our people.
Self-preservation demands tha. the vi
tails of the rebellion be reached and
crushed, and il negroes can do it bet
ter than white men, or in any way aid
in doing it-employ them. We, not
the South. are to judge of our appi-
ances TO punish the guilty. II limbs
are to be mangled and lives sacrificed
10 battle, l am Just as wiling they
should belong to negroes as to loyal
whites. / am willing to use a dog to
kill skunk, and | am willing to use
negro to kill a traitor. hive more
respect for negro than triitor, and
in controversy between them bid the
negro God speed
| would rather trust a byal man
with black face than a white man
with black heart. hond negro
more who strikes for the country's
welfare and slays its foe, thai the das-
tsrd who slaughters our citiens to up
turn the Constitution. The one strug-
giles for country in which he has had
but few rights. and the other against
Government which has given and pro-
tected him in every thing. In battle,
it is perfectly legitimate to use horse
to ride rough.shod over the field. to
trample upon the bones, and crush out
the hearts and brains OF men, or TO use
iron grape to NOW down hostile col
umns, or rams to sink the vessels OF
and drown your enemies; yet you dare
not use negro for the same purpose.
A negro is better than horse, and
certainly in creation superior to the
metel dug from the earth. Gen. Jack.
son, used them to kill the British, and
he would, if living. instigate them e
destroy JEFF. Davis and his minions.-
But these rebels OF the South, and their
allies here, wish to exempt themselves
from the rules to which we are subject.
By the common law, which is in force
in Ohio, il any man resists an officer
in the performance of bis duty, that
officer calls the posse comitatus to bis
aid. II you or resist him, he calls
upon all around to assist in our arrest;
white as well as black must respond,
and if a black man refuses to aid him
he is punished. The negro dare not
refuse or he will be imprisoned, and
that negro has the right TO use all the
force necessary to support the officer,
even to the taking of our lives, and if
he thus kills US, he is not answerable,
for it is .justi6able homicide Now, l
am not willing to concede that'a traitor
ia South Carolina is any better than a
loyal man in Ohio. I can not agree
that negroes shall. by our laws, be
compelled to capture US, while merely
resisting an officer, and not be proper
instrumentality to aid in putting down
rebellion, which strikes at the honor,
the laws, the Constitution, and the life
of the country. / can not ignore my
manhood, by admitting that negroes
are 6t to force us into obedience, but
not suitable to put down traitors; and
he who can has weak head or rot
ten heart. The fact is, that the men
who are so averse to employing all nec-
essary means to crushing the rebellion,
are generally anxious it should sue
ceed. They do not want to see it ex-
! tirpated under this AdminisxaNon, but.
infuristed BY party madness, would