The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1863-02-19


they ara placed thus together In moment
OF danger, can they be kept separate at th
camp IRE and the mess table? IF that asso
citation Is permitted, you know we'll enoug
the tempsr of the Army to be assured tha
II Will thin out the ranks of white soldiers
They will not submit to association of thi
kind. If It Is not permitted, if these hlacl
/ troops are to stand on an equality with tn
white troops in the battlefield and at ever,
point Of danger, and in all the other rela.
tions OF soldiers life. and at every othe
moment they are to be marked by de-
grading and ignominious isolation; how Ions
will you be able to maintain discipline anc
order in your Army--I do not say, content
ment and zeal and alacrity among these
troops?
And what do you propose to do with these
black soldiers after they shall have retu rned
from the battlefield? Gentlemen have told
us that these eniistments are found neces-
sary IN order that the Army of the United
States may be made sufficiently strong to ac-
complish the work it has to do. They tell
US we are in the very crisis of the war
They tell us that now is s'the time to put
forth our whole power, or else the result Of
the struggle isin doubt. They tell US that
the white race alone, so far as its strength
has yet been developed, is not entirely com
petent to render to the cause of the u Uniou
and the Constitution an assured victory
And they tell us that these colored men are
ready with their strong arms and their brave
hearts to maintain the supremacy of the Con-
stitution and to defend the integrity of the
Union which in our hands to-day is inn
psriled. -.....
? What is that Constitution? 1t provides
that every child of the Republic, every citi.
- Off he io haf 81 l.. Al
of every other. It provides for all Of them
trial by jury, free speech, free press, entire
protection for life and liberty and property.
1t goes further. 1t secures to every oti-
zen the right of suffrage, the right to hold
Office, the right to aspire to every office or
agency by which the Governm ent is carried
on. Every man called upon to do military
duty, every man reqxired to take up arms
in its defense, is by its provisions entitled to
vote, and competent aspirant for every
Office in the Government. You now say to
these black men, come to the defense of this
Constitution. Come, aid US to maintain. its
supremacy. Come. aid Us to uphold Gov
ernment which is thus beneicent to all its
children. Suppose your utmost hopes are
realized; suppose they come, and that by
their aid you are successful. They will come
back with your victorious hosts, following
manned and SCARED. What will you do
with them2 Will you consign them again
to political inferiorty, to social isolatiou?-
Will you again d eny to them those privileges
which are guaranteed to every citizen by the
Constitution which they have helped you
to maintain? Or will you take them to
political and socialequality with yourselves?
Will you give them the right of suffrage;
the right to hold Office? Will you put them
side by side with the white citizens of the
land2
1 put it to my friend from Ohio who has
Just taken his seat Mr.. Trimble, who told
us that in every relation and in every con-
dion of life he believed the negro was in
ferior to the white man. l put it to the
gentleman from Pennsylvania. who sits be-
fore me, Mr.. Mcpherson as one Of jealous
advocates of this bill; put it to these gem
tlemeu whether, after having called upon
these negroes, as citizens and loyal friends, |
iu the hour tn cir extremity, TO maintain this
it is their intention again to
consign them to social inequality and polit-
ical degradation. or to elevate them to the |
level of the condition of the white citizens?
I get no answer to this question.
The gentleman from New York, Mr. |
4, ] yesterday, with more frankness
than any gentleman who has spoken upon |
this suject, has given to US what cannot
help thinking is. with many of his friends,
the true motive for insisting upon the pas
sage of this bill He said:
Sand yet these things have been yielded to as
facts, and so will it be with this
even though it had not the sane
ton of constitutional authority, when once you
put this bill iuto practical operation; for COM
munity of negroes who have once had arms in
Il cir hands can again be subjugated to the re-
. olo Histnrv fnrn has oh
example. The arming of the slave population
is the end of the institution for all time, and no
less the end of this rebellion. 81
stI talk not about the Constitution. 1t has be-
come, in the hands of the timid lawyers and
politicians, shield between the
Government and the persons and the estates of
the rebels. To such base uses has it come ut
last 1t Is continually frustrating the efforts of
this Government to put down this rebellion"
Is that the inspiration Of this bill? Is
that the motive for those persistent efforts?
Was it because "the arming of slave popu-
lation is the end of the institution for all
time ,"that we were required to pass this bill
on Wednesday morning without discussion
or examination? Was it because the party |
was unwilling to declare what the gentleman
from New York Mr.. Sedgwick] has so
frankly avowed, that minority on this floor,
feeble in mum bers, were obliged to resort to
eyery expedisut of parliamentary warfare
during the whole of Wednesday night in |
order thst we might have this much of de-
bate? Did they. hesitate to tell the country
that "no community of negroes who have
once had arms IN their hands can again be
subiugated to the restraints of slavery" and
that this cousid Grafton constituted q chief
reason for passing this bill? But Iquestion
the accuracy with which the gentleman
states the lessons of history. Greece and
Rome both furnish the -refutation of his
theory. The Helots, the slaves of Sparta,
revolted against their masters, and were re-
Tha eo~vila 0f