The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1863-10-10
Can,Jeff. Davis Persuade the slaves
60 Fight for Hint

ayes" answered an intelligent man to
this interrogatory, the other day "lor If
the rebel leaders have been able to de-
ceive the white population of the South
so egregiously, and make them fight, they
will have less difficulty in deceiving the
ignorant slaves and using them in like
manner" This view, we confess, APP
pears plausible At first sight; but let US
examine II more closely.
The reason assigned for believing that
the negroes will fight for the slAvehold-
ers' Confederacy is based on the igno-
rance Of the slaves entirely, and their
lack of cunning and shrewdness We
are positive that the slaves possess as
much intelligence on An average as the
bulk Of the "Butternuts" who are in the
rebel army. None but those who have
mixed with the private soldiers of the
rebel army have any idea of the gross
and besotted ignorance which darkens
the intellects of these poor people Very
few Of them ever read book or took a
newspaper. Most Of them are unable to
read At all. Among the officers are many
men of intelligence, and some of high
cultivation; but with the rank and file
it is different. The newsde alers in the
Federal army make fortunes by selling
vsst numbers of newspapers, but there is
but little call for reading matter in the
rebel army. There is not brigade in the
Army of the Cumberland where more
newspapers are not bought, and letters
written, than by the hundred thousand
"Butternuts" Of Bragg's army. Read
the reports of the Bible Agents for the
last twenty years before the rebellion
broke out, and see how many of the poor
white families of the South are reported
as destitute of Bibles, Testaments, or
books of any kind, while an appalling
number can neither read nor write.
Then 80 far as the means of acquiring
knowledge go, the slaves and the mass
of the degraded white population Of the
South are on an equality; both depend
solely upon their native wit and unaided
powers of observation. Under an out
ward display Of simplicity and stupidi-
ty, the negro slave conceals no little cum
ming and ability to take care of himself
His fret lesson teaches him that others
intend to rob him of the fruits of his
labor, and that he must provide for him.
self. He trades; be shirks the labor
which brings him no return; he steals,
whenever he can, the wages Of which the
task-mAster meanly defrauds him.
There is not plantation in South CARROLL
ma where the slaves have not as clear
ideas Of Right and Wrong as can be
found in Bragg's vast army. Necessity
is the mother of invention, and oppres-
sion and poverty sharpen the wits.
Now let US remember that for more
than thirty years--a whole generation
the politicians of the South, and the
Shareholders themselves, have been pro
claiming everywhere thai slavery was OF
divine appointment, and that the North
was wickedly trying TO destroy IL. Ora
tors said this on the stump in the hear
ing of thousands of slaves for we have
attended many Of the largest Mass meet
ingS of the South for years, and always
found multitudes of slaves in attendance
The white preachers who preached to the
slaves told them that slavery was right
and that they must obey their masters
phile DE black preachers never did. The
slaves have not failed TO notice this fact
On TIE plantations the slaves heard The
same words from the lips Of their masters
and watched his explosions of fiendish
rage against anti-slavery men. They
have seen hundreds of preachers, school
teachers, book agents, pedlars, and bust
ness men mobbed in every noighborhOoG
of the South, or banished unceremonious
ly because they were suspected of being
opposed TO the institution of slavery
They have seen shareholders like Cassiul
M Clayproscribed, and their assassination
attempted, because they advocated eman.
CipAtion. These things have been witness
sed for more than thirty years in every
county in the slave States yes, in every
neighborhood; and whenever slave
male or female could escape th
oversOer and avoid his bloodhounds, tn
fugitive fed, rs IL prompted by instinct
TO the North for probation and freedom
The slaves, therefore, up to the memora
ble year Of 1861, had many reasons 70
believing that the people Of the Nortl
were their friends. They heard then
denounced as Abolitionists, while tn
South was forming new slave States, an,
the slave trader was carrying droves 0
human ohattles 10 the cotton and suga
plantations. But after the rebellion
broke out the slaves heard a flercer err
than ever, raised by the stakeholder
against the North. "Lincoln is comin)
20 set our negroes freep "The Yankee
intend to abolish slavery, and establish
negro equality in the Southp Such wer
the words which the slaves heard every
whore. In the course Of few month
came the cOnaacation act s.tt.,, - III