Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1864-11-25
Abolition Question at the South.

that the controversy there upon the
negro question is becoming violent
and leads to private quarrels. AT
the Spotswood house, Sunday week
there was fight between a Georgia
and a Virginia member or the rebel
congress, about arming the negroes
the Virginian favoring the project
and the Georgian opposing it. The
Georgian threatened a division Of
the confederacy if the thing should
be attempted; and so they came to
blows, the argument being exhaust
ed.
In the congress the discussion was
renewed on Thursday last, the reso-
luton of Mr.. Foote and others being
M. Mr.. Chambers Of Mississippi
opposed the proposition. He said,
among other things -
The president appeals to the SYM
pathv Of the negro. He held out to
him the promise of home. But the
Yankee said he would give him a
home and the right Of property
The president can offer him no mo-
tive which the enemy cannot easily
counteract by Offering him a higher
one. TO our offer Of freedom they
would offer freedom and home in
the South after our subjugation, as
well as exemption from military ser
vice meanwhile. How did gentle
men propose to fight negro troops ?
He hoped they did not propose to
commingle them with our brave white
soldiers. H W would they fight
them? Not by regiments; not by
any corps, b u t by companies
Place the negroes in the front; put
a company here and a company there,
and all mutual rivalry is lost by the
interposition Of this timid material,
our line wavers and is swept away.
Mr.. Chambers said he was ashamed
to debate the question All nature
cries out against it. The negro
race was ordained to slavery by the
Almighty. Emancipation would be
the destruction of our social and po-
litical system. God forbid that this
Trojan horse should be introduced
among US. The negro, said Mr.
Chambers, viii not fight All his
tory show this.
Mr.. Simpson OF South Carolina
lsotto voce)--The Yankees make
them fight.
Mr.. Lester of Georgia-Not much.
MIR. Marshall of Kentucky-Fill
them with whiskey, and they will
fight
Mr.. Chambers-It is not denied
that the negro will fight, but will he
fight W ell enough to resist the
Yankee armies ? The negro cannot
be made a good soldier. The law
ofhis race is against it. Of great
simplicity, of disposition tractable,
prone to obedience, and highly i'm
itative, he may be easily drilled /;
but timid, ayerse to effort, without
ambition, he has no soldierly quality.
Being adapted by nature to slavery
as he makes the best of slaves, he
must needs make the worst of sold
iers. He could recollect no instance
in the war Of '76 where negro troops
were used in regular organization
aud regular battle, except the battal-
ion Of slaves which Lord Dunmore
brought into the fight near Norfolk
agains- the Virginia militia, and in
that affair, as we arc told by the his
torian Botta, they "acted shabbily,
and saved themselves by fight. -
When, in 1893, the English landed
on The island Of Saint Domingo, they
found it defended by over twenty
thousand troops, chiefly mulattoes
and negroes, but with less than one
thousand men captured several i'm
portant strongholds, and with less
than two thousand finally seized up
on Port au Prince, the capital of the
island. The French authorities, in
their extremity, offered freedom to
the s-over 100000 in
number-on condition Of military
service for the occasion, in defense
of their homes, as we would say,
vet only six thousand availed them
selves of the offer, although these
slaves were still bloody from the
insurrection of 1870. They prefer
red slavery to military service
So, in the beginning Of this war, the
negro escaped at every opportunity
to our enemies, to avoid work, but
since the system Of negro conscrip-
ton has been adopted by the Unit
ed States government he now re-
mains with us, true to the instincts
of his race.
Mr.. Goode Of Virginia said hei
was opposed to the employment of
negroes as soldiers under any Cir
cumstances. He was opposed to i'd
because it was confession of weak
ness to the enemy. He was oppos-
ed to it because he thought it would
end in abolition. He was opposed