The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1863-09-24
THE DAILY REGISTER
THURSDAY. -. SEPTEMBER "a 1856:
- 7----7-- III
Important from Europe.
8 ! $ ARRIVAL OF THE HECLA.
THE AMERICAN QUESTION.
E AMERICAN QUESTION.

1
tFrom the London Post (governmet organl Sept. 8.
Arming OF tho Son n ern Negroes Appro
Val or the Measure IN England.
u The numerical inequality Of the contes
betweon the Confederates and the federall
appears likely to be redresSed in a some
what unexpected manner. 1t has been OBJ
vious, from the beginning Of the war, tha
the former possessed latent element o
strength which the rigor of their own pre-
JUDGES, and the difficulty attending its de
velopment, would prevent them from call
ing into action, except under the pressure Of
greateemergency. The great slavenoldiug
aristoeracy of the South have been very
unwilling to confer upon the black popula
tion what superior nation seems intuitiv-
ely to deem the dignity of bearing arms.
but have hitherto entertained the same
prejudice as that felt by the Turks toward
their subordinate royal races. To certain
extent, in deed, the Confederates have al
ready made the experiment of forming and
equipping negro regiments. But this wa
tried only on the most Insignificant scale.
Events meanwhile have thickened. Th'
great superiority of the North in point o.
numbers has at length begin to tell upor
the fortunes of Campaign in which the
heroiSm and martial character of the South
had at first seemed likely to prove invinci
BILE. The inequality between a nation OF
some six millions and nation of above
twenty millions has necessarily become
more manifest, now that increasing armies
have been required on the other side, and
great losses have been so frequently sus
tanned on both. By degrees the sources Of
recruiting have diminished among the
whites in the South; while the tide of emf
grafton from Europe to the North; which
even the warfare of the day has not who'll
ly arrested, has been swelling the numbers
at the disposal of Northern conscription.
The President of the Confederate States
has, therefore, it appears, resolved. in con-
currence with the governors of the individ-
ual States, TO call out an army of half
million of slaves. This giant resolution is
only in proportion to the emergency OF the
hour. Of course it was impossible to APP
ply the compulsion which has been exercis-
ed on both sides among the DONNA mt race.
The negroes, therefore, are offered sub
stantial incentive. In all probability it is
one which will prove prove sufficient. They
are promised their liberty and a grant OF
fifty acres of land on the termination of the
war as the reward of their present services
in the field.
Independently of the obvious Importance
of such a measure in directly strengthen
ing the hands of the Confederate comman.
ders, there are many other considerations
which combine to render the present reso
luton masterpiece of policy. In the frs
place, it involves vast inroad on he part
o the Southernros themselves upon the prin-
| clple of slavery. Such measure, there
fore, must revive the smypatnies of E europe
with the Southern cause, by lessening or even
abolshng the only counteracting influence
to its general popularity on this side Of the
Atlantic. Again, it has long seemed to be
slur upon the domestic institutions of
the South that the nation were, t all ap
pearance, afraid Of arming their s,&v's.-
One argument Of the Southern States, in
defence Of slavery, has long been that
slaves under good masters were quite rs
we'll of and as content as free laborers IN
der good employers. But the taunt never
theless, remained in the mouth of every
Pennsylvania or Ladcashire abolitionists,
that, in spite of the alleged well being of
the slave, his master was afraid to trust
him with arms in his own service. If the
slaves were really not otherwise than at.
tached to their lords, the lords would com
bine taem with themselves for the defence
Of theit country. By the present, resolu
ton, however, the Confederate authorities
are ready to trust the use of arms to a
body of men more than equal in numbers
to those whom they have already in the
field of their own countryneD. Nor IS
this all. The spectacle Of negro regiments 8
being raised by the North to fight against
tae South, while no adequate counter DEM
omstration existed, served to strike Europe
with the nation that the Shareholders were
natural enemies of the negroes, and the
North their natural friends. Illusory as
this conclusi on really Swas, it remained
plausible. Moreover, there remained a
danger that the appearance of Northern
black regiments on the field OF Southern
1attle might lead the slaves OF the Coned
crate States, # still engaged purely with
them. This danger has in fact, become a
very great one.
in which the enslaved negro OF the Soutt
looked upon the dominant population
around him, the placing of confidence il
him was likely to strengthen the ties be
tween him and his master. Ia this consid
Grafton also there was moral victory a
stake, as between South and North. Th
Washington government has long threaten
ed to play decisive card by calling upol
{, the whole of this slave population to revol
against the whites, and thus to carry carnag
aud rapine into every hearth. That Nj
y Lincoln has not actually taken this cours
is probably to be ascribed less to his con
cern for the atrocity of such transsctio
than to his consciousness of his inabiht
- to carry out he threat. Bat his declars
ton, nevertLeY-ss, stands On record as
boast of the Washington government tina
they could at any time terminate the rebe
l.. lion by raising servile war. When Fea
- 4 a. L H.