The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1863-02-19
: es5 = Ba1 /. SPEECH OF RS
HON. GEORGE Il. PENDLETON,
'-- s- OF r1FiTo i Beg t-rffi
OF OHIO,
onthe Enlistment Of Negro soldiers

1
DELIVERED DURING THE DEBATE IN THE Hous
n OF REPRESENTATIVES,, JANUARY 81, 1868.
5 The. House having under consideration bi
No. 675s to raise additional soldiers for the SCI
3 tvice of the Government
Mr.. PENDLEToE. Mr.. Speaker, the origins
4 bill, and the various substitutes for 1t, an
D all the amendments except, indeed, tn
. amendments offered by the gentleman iron
New York, Mr.. Diven, / the gentleman from
Kentucky, Mr.. Wickliffs,1 aud the gentle
man from Indiana Mr., Porter howeve
much they may. differ in phraseology or d .
tail, agree In this, that they propose to raise
organize, and arm body of negroes, to b,
received into the military service of The
United States. Most of them, 1 believe al
Of them, permit, If they do not enioin, and
cetainly contemplate, that this body of mer
shall be constituted as we'll of slaves s oil
free negroes; of the slaves OF loyal as we'll a:
of disloyal masters; and that recruiting sta
tions for the enlistment of these negroes
shall be opened in the slaveholding as well
as in the non -slaveholding States. They all
contemplate that maDumission will be grant,
ed to the slave after he shall have enlisted
/ Seme of them provide that compensatio
shall be r,ade to the master who shall have
remained loyal.
Now sir, Of all the bills and substitutes I
prefer the original: bill, introduced by the
chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means, Mr.. Stevens. 1t is characteristic
of him. 1t is plain, direct, and bold. 1t ex-
presses plainly the meaning Of the author.
1t provides, in so many words. for the en-
listment of slaves, and the establishment of
recruiting depots anywhere in any Of the
States. It promises freedom to all who shall
enlist, and compensation to the masters wac
may be entitled to it. It is not only char
acteristic of the gentleman in this, that it Is
frank and Straightforward. 1t is also char
acteristic Of him in another respect, to which
he himself alluded the other day: that be is
the forerunner of his party-that he is al
ways in advance of his party friends, but
that he finds they sooa come up to the posi-
tions which he takes.
These bills have been presented and urged
on the House from various cousideratioDs.-
They are urged as military necessity. We
are told that the exigencies of the country
now require their adoption. We are told
that there is great body of loyal men who
only wait to be asked to enter the service
OF the United States. Sir, | beg leave to
doubt tn Q proposition. / have no evidence
of its truth. / do not believe that it is true.
The experience of the country shows that it
is true. The experience of the Government
in its experiment at Hilton Head, shows
that these men have no desire to enlist in
the military service. l see by a statement
in the papers to-day, that the first negro
regiment of Kansas was sworn into service
on the 18th day of this month, aud that al
rsaGyi half of them have deserted. They
were offered freedom. They were offered
full pay. They were offered full bounty
Everything was done tc agitate-to use the
phraseology of the member from Illinois,
Mr.. LoVejoy 1-"this great ocean of loyal
hearts" But we find that the storm lasted
only until they were enlisted aud organized,
and received the advance payment of their
bounty; then suddenly it bsid ed; aud with
each rehuent wave. a company of these
loyal, war-loving negroes vanished from the
ranks. .-...... ~
Mr.. CONWAY. Mr.. Speaker
Mr.. PENDLEToE. If have misstated the
fact, l will be glad to be corrected; other
wise, 1 prefer not to be interrupted.
Mr.. CoNwAY. / do not propose to contra
dict the gentleman's statement, as / cannot
do so; merely desired to explain the facts.
Mr.. PENDLEToN. That explanation may
very we'll be made afterwards. The gentle
man will not consider it discourtesy, for l
have no intention to be discourteous, if de-
cline to yield. He will excuse me for the
present. s,.s- ..-r
Nor is it entirely certain that the e1igen-
cies of the country require resort to mea-
sures of this kind. A contrary opinion has
been very gravsly expressed. During this
session. not longer ago than the early part
of December, the gentleman from Vermont
[Mr. MORRILL, offered a resolutiol7 in these
words: ,er-r..s TrS
s'ResolUed, That at no time since the commence
ment of the existing rebellion have the forces and
materials in the hands Of the executive depart
Rert of the e.Government been so ample and abun-
dant for the speedy and triumphant termination
of the war as at the present moment" ..-
For this resolution every leading member
of the Republican party voted-in fact every
mem Ter of that. party who was present
and none more eagerly and with more EN- =
basis than those who now most zealously
press this bill. Have circumstances so great
" changed? Have those forces and msterl-
ais been so greatly and so speedily diminish
-ed: or has the desire to pass this bi II made
gentlemen change their opinion! Perhaps
/ might find an answer in the speech made
Yesterday by the gentleman from New fork'
+ Mr.. Sedgwick.1
: pass now, Mr.. Speaker, to another orancn
of this subject. Gentlemen who have urgeo
the adoption of these bills because the mill
tary necessities of the country require u.
unless am greatly mistaken, have ialieo
to tell us how they propose to organize thus
body of negro troops. Do they propose to
constitute of them separate and indepen-
dent army. which shall operate independ-
emily of all the other corps in any depart
mert of the countFy2 / can hardly thiLk
they would consider that either practicable
or wise. Do they intend to organize them
in divisions or brigades or regiments or COM
papies, and have them combined with the
white soldiers who are already organized IN
this vay2 Do, they propose to have them
Snht tnnether In the war in which the coun-