Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-03-06
Niggers and Mules, To the Rescue

NfgEers and Mules, To the Rescue
Some people are Mortified whenever the
negro is mentioned, seeming to fear "negro-
equality" with a personal timidity. They
seem to be afraid that the recognition of man.
hood in one of dark skin somehow or other
detrac:s from their manhood. There is our
amiab,e neighbor down the way, who talks
himself hoars when he speaks, and writes
himself dry as powder-horn, when he
spreads himself for the Courier, in giving ex-
preston to the kind of fear indicated. He
seems to be afraid that Cuffee may be esteem
ed as good man as he is, unless he con>ta t.
ly asserts and reiterates his vast superiority
to all the Cuffees outside of Hottentot. We
cardidly confess that we have bett opinion
of the Judge. At all events, we believe he
has superior requirements to those Of most
negroes we have seen. He has had better
advantages. He can read, and write, and
CIPHER, and run for Congress, and get beau
tfully whaled out, and all that sort of thing.
whereas negroes very often can neither read,
nor write, nor CIPHER, and cannot run for
Congress and get beautifully whAled out At
all. That's where he has 'em. So we trust
he ~ill qait being scared half 10 death on
this subject. 1t j, our honest opinion there
are not three colored men in this district who
could beat the Judge for Congress. and there
is no sort Of stow for their nomination. We
cheerfully yield this eulogium to our neigh
Dor, because, first, we ar in an amiable
moo !, secondly, because it is nothing more
than justice to say this much, and thirdly,
because we really think the Judges fears Of
Sambo are entirey groundless. Our eleven
other reasons are herewith postponed on &C.
count Of the weather. 1t is hardly neces-
sary to add, they all amount to about the
same thing.
This much we have deemed it necessary
to say by way of good natured exigesis to
what is coming on the important subject at
the head of this article.
This rebellion must be put down, at any
cost, and by the use of every means within
our power. Jtf. Davis himself is not too
good to be shot by negro. But we lieve
in using negroes in this war, not solely to
save them from s!av cry, but that they may.
help to save us-that they may save the lives
of thousands of our troops, and help to avert
from the country the grinding tyranny VIII ch
now reigns in the South, and the uns,eaka-
BILE miseries which would result to this and
succeeding generations were this most foul
REBELLION to succeed. Cannons have not done
so much for civilization as the New Tesla
ment, but Henry of Navarro and Condo ara
not to be despised for all that. War itself is
a means, not an end. Emancipate slaves,
arm them-let them fight out their salvation
and help to eight out ours. Who can object
to the use Of such means but those who do
not wish to see the Union restored, and the
power of free government indicated in such
way that 1t shall stay indicated for centu-
ries?
We are utterly opposed, both on principle
and taste, to negroes inter,narrying with
whites, 10 their being placed on an equality
with whites in other respects-to their voting,
sitting on juries, running for off e, ETC. But
we do not think there is sense or reas n in
preventing them from shooting rebels. The
only question is, can the blacks be made to
fight well? They have fought well, in this,
as in other wars - in the revolutionary war,
and the war of 1912. A colored regiment
lately made most important expedition from
Port Royal into Georgia and Florida. They
encountered many difficulties and fought sue
cessfully two or three times against superior
numbers. Col. Higginson, the commander of
the Regiment, thus concludes his report on
the expediti n referred to-:
No officer in this regiment now doubts that
the key to the successful prosecution Of this
war lies in the unlimi ed employment Of black
troops Their superiority lies simply in tho
fact that they know the country, while white
troops do not and moreover, they have Pc
culiarities Of temperament, position and motive
which belong to them alone. Inst ad ofleav.
ing their homes and families to fight, they are
fighting for their homes and families, and
they sh W the resolution and the sagacitv
which personal purpose gives. 1t would
have been madness to attempt, with the
brave>t white troops, what have successful
" accomplished with black ones. Everything.
even to the plotting Of the vessel and the Sc.
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