Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-12-22
Rebel Addition.

1t will be seen from our recent Richmond
| intelligence that the rebels have entered upon
| the serious discussion of the last great topic
| which remains to the rebellion, viz the arm
lag of slaves. The pressure in that direction
has been increasing for some time, and JEFF.
Davis views were looked forward to with
much interest. He has evidently tried to
dodge the question BY recommending merely
the arming OF the slaves now employed in the
auartermaster and commissary departments,
with freedom as a reward for efficient service,
and the filling up Of their places by draft Of
negroes from planters. By this he probably
thought to avoid the agitation likely to fol-
low wholesale arming, while the entering
wedge to that result would be secured. But
the negro question proves Just as sensitive IN
the Southern Confederacy" as it used to be
in the Union, and many a Southern heart is
already fired" by the enormity of this
proposition. disguise it as you may"
SAYS the correspondent Of a Richmond pa
per, "those who fight together in common
sense and by success win the same freedom,
enjoy equal rights and equal position, and, in
this case, are distinguished only by color.
Are we prepared for this:
Indeed, the objections to the measure from
the Southern point of view are Of the most
tiers and leaders of the rebellion have vio-
lently denied, that freedom is blessing, and
more ardently desired by the negro than ev-
erything else. 1t also admits, what has
equally been denied, that the negro has the
courage and other qualities of the white man
which fit him for military service. 1t con-
cedes that even in the Southern Coufederacy
the boosted sovereignty of the States does not
prevent the central power from abollshing
slavery-and therefore nullifes the whole ar
gument, made alike by rebels and Northern
Democrats, against President Lincoh's
emancipation policy on that ground Of
constitationality. 1t proposes to do away
with the only cause Of distinction between
the people Of the North and the South,
and therefore to prepare the way for reunion.
1t proposes to seriously diminish the
number of producers, which is already too
small at the South; to familiarize with the
use of arms and military organization the
able-bodied part of their dangerous class /;
and at the same time to furnish them with
the most powerful motives for revolt, by
keeping their wives and children in slavery.
Well, therefore, does the correspondent we
have quoted above say to the editors who
have favored this proposition of arming the
slaves: "H you had sought in the political
body of the Confederacy for some spot at
which to aim and strike one blow which
| should at once deprive it Of life, you could
not have fonnd one more vital, or have struck
with more deadly certainty than you have
done by the advocacy of such a scheme"
til, as life is dearer than all other earthly
things, we have no doubt that this measure
will be adopted, experimentally, at least.
Theories about the superior blessings Of sla-
very to the negro are well enough, but any
bridge that holds out a hope Of carrying the
| leaders OF this rebellion over the gulf they
have dug for themselves will be accepted in
| the last resort. In this connection, there
fore, we would ask the sincere opponents Of
President Lincoln's emancipation policy
where we should have stood If their objec-
tons had prevailed II we had followed out
| the original policy Of returning fugitive
| slaves, banishing negroes from our lines and
| rejecting their services, JEFF. Davis and his
officers would have had no difficulty by this
time IL representing US in such light, that
they could have put 200, 900 negroes into the
rebel ranks without any unusual fear of de-
sertlon. Then, too, they would have ap-
peared to Europe as the true emancipators Of
the continent, and would have secured inter
vention as their reward. But now the prior
action OF our Government has made this
whole question bed Of thorns to the rebels.
II they do not arm their negroes, they must
shortly fail for want Of, men. II they do
arm them, they encounter the overwhelming
oltnenlties we have indicated above, and In
eyitahiy prepare for the breaking up Of the
"noie rebel conspiracy.-Bosto1 Journal