Daily national Republican., 1863-02-25
WHY NOT LET NEGROES HELP PUT
DOWN THE REBELLION.

DOWN THE REBELLION.
On this subject the 81. Louis RspUblioaa sAySi
eve would infer from the arguments Of some
of four Copperhead Unlonists, that nghtipg must
be quite luxury. They claim 70 esteem the
white man far above the negro, and at the same
time hold that all the fighting must be done by
the former. fit we're not a most excellent
thing they would certainly bs willing TO let the
negro share in 1t. The only thing which mill
tates against this view Of the subject, is that
they seem 10 have very little desire to fight them
selves, showing a strong inclination to keep
themselves within the class of non -belligsrents,
to which they would connne tho negro.
''If fighting is not an employment which re-
quires a superior order of performers, we can
not understand why our Copperhead brethren
should object to the negroes bearing hand at
it. They certainly are not opposed to the prin-
ciple of negroes working, as they favor a condi-
tion Of slavery which imposes upon the negro
the service of unbroken physical toll. II bear
ing arms and lighting battles is, therefore, like
manual labor generally, VIC cannot discover
why there should exist greater objection TO
Cuffee's handling musket, than to his handling
aSpAde. Fighting for ones country is doubt
less honorable, but is not labor generally hon
Orable, and lie not dying in any good cause the
proper subject Of praise; and II the negro Is TO
be excluded from the ranks OF our army because
of the honor of serving the country and laying
down ones life in its behalf, would not the
samereason exclude him from every department
OflSbor-And, In fact. from the privilege Of
participating in anything which iS commsnda-
BILE and praiSeworthyi
I'VE do not regard It as any special proof Of
sympathy with tho negro, that the desire Ia en-
tortAlned 10 make . soldier Of him. The oIer-
else Of shooting at others and being shot at in
return, Is not, we presume, so particularly
pleasant that any class Of citizens would be
likely to regard 1t as a valuable privilege which
they should claim the monopoly Of. There are
many other things about a soldiers pfs which
are not regarded as extremely agreeable. We
do not sec that 1t Is comforting favor upon the
white man, for which he should be especially
thankful, to impose tho sole duty Of dischargiDg
these duties upon him.
Tho sole purpose Of employing negro sol.
disrs is 10 make thom seryicable to the country,
in whose preservation the whites are most Of
all interested. The object is not one Of favor
itiSm to the negro by any means. There arr
other dutieS which the country imposes upor
It's citizens besides serving in its armies. On,
of these iS to pay taIoS upon such property Al
they may happen TO possess. Does any one re
gard 1t as an indignity to the whites, or as
favor TO the blacks, 10 mako the negro pay
taxes. The fact iS, the requirement Of military
service iB imposed AS an obligation, not as
privilege, upon any one.
eve havethe negro in the country. We can
not abolish or otherwise got rid Of him. Tn,
question then is, what shall We do with him, x
make him most useful. He happens TO be sc
situated too, that II we don't use him in behal
of the Union, the rebels will In behalf Of tn,
Confederacy. Shall We derive the advantage
to be had from his services, or shall we permi
our enemies to enjoy monopoly Of theml VI
may depend upon II that, with all their anti
negro prejudices, they do not scruPle to pu
him to the best use they can. We have th
proof that they have put musketS in their ne
groOs' hands, and do not regard them as par
ticle too good to become food for powder
The only reason why they have not more eI
tenSiveiy practiced this thing is, doubtless
because they have not dared more oGtensiVel
to trust their loyalty.
1T has been argued, We know, that negros
will not fight, but experiments have show
that they have fought, and fought very crodit1
bly,. When the consequences Of the negro sol
diH being taken prisoner are considered, W
should not wonder II he would often fight wit
desperate resolution to avoid that very result
That the negro should hght as well as the whit
man iS, perhaps, not to be expected, and, 70
the credit Of the latter, we hope not; but tn
question is, whether he viii fight well enoug
TO make his services an object. 30 far he hi
clearly done sO."