The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1864-10-10
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the double purpose ofdischarging my dut!
asoan electoral candidate and of raising tn
i regiment. Thus you see that my objecth
making the very speeches on account 9
which 1. am accused Of discouraging enlist
ments wssyo enlist troops; and, it was not
until. .afterd had succeeded in raising full
jregiment that was arrested past gl @g
qThihk of it! You charge me with, dis.
couraging enlistments BY my speeches
when those very speeches enabled me te
raise Q regiment for the service in shortel
time than any regiment was ever raiset
before inithe State of Kentucky! Speaking
for recruits, and obtaining them with nm
precepented rspidity, and yet disconraginl
enlistments +. .5I - le9 Hiil .sfAaa 71- f,
But your friends say Idid not ask the ne
gro to Join me. 1t is true, I did not.
told the people that wanted white men
brave men, and honest men; and that
would not receive, if knew it, 2 negro,
coward, or q thief-as desired to associate
with my men, and did not wish to associate
with negroes; as / desired to whip the reb
els and wapfed brave men with whom to dc
it; as | desired to cultivate good feelings
between the citizens and the soldiers, ant
therefore wanted honest men, who had
high appreciation of private rights, and who
would remember that the dwelling of every
American citizen is sacred, because it isths
castle of q freeman's defence and the home
of q sovereign. e,,t rs1.c v,a ,aaIo!l sg}aG
In relation TO enlisting slaves, II didsay
that was opposed to the policy of the act
of Congress authorizing it, and doubted Its
constitutionality. but that it was the duty
of the people to make no opposition to il
except legal opposition; that they had {
right to bring suits and let the judiciary
decide the question: - .1lti
Those speeches were made to white men
not for the purpose Of preventing the en-
listments of degrees; but one purpose wsi
to allay the excitement of the citizens, and
keep down forcible resistance to your meas
ures, and T know THAI they did much gooc
in that way.
And now, Mr.. President, / propose fol
every negro that. any Of your agents car
find that has been directly or indirectly In
Huenced by any of my speeches not to OH
the army, to find you one hundred white
men who have been kept out of the army
by your proclamation. You have the pow
er,, but truth and Justice are with me.
l thank you for the printed copy of your
letter to Mr.. Hodges, which you sent to me
. with the profered parole. I have read il
carefully, and find in it this remarkable
statement:
"By general law, life and limb must be
protected, yet often limb must be ampu
tated to save. a life; but life lis never wise
| " given to save limb. l felt that meas
ures otherwise demonstrations might be-
come lawful by becoming indispensable to
the preservation of the Constitution through
the preservation Of the nation. Right OF
wrong, l assumed this ground and now
avow it." .e.. ...s-.a
Unless have been strangely misinstruct,
ed, Mr.. President, the Constitution is not q
limb attached to the Government, but it is
the life of the Government. In destroying
it you destroy the bond by which the
Union is held together, and take the life ol
the Government. The idea OF an unconstl'
tutional policy becoming necessary to pre-
serve the Government and save the Con-
stitution, is like the idea of killing a man to
save his life and keep him from dying Of
disease. You aunul the law to make the
rebels obey it--disregard the Constitution
to make them respect it-break your oath
to keep from breaking it. The trainers oil
the Constitution surely never intended that
President should tamper with his solemn
oath and with that sacred instrument in
such a manner
Again, you say:
81 was, in my best judgement, driven to
the alternative of either surrendering the
Union, and with it the Constitution, or Of
laying strong hand upon the coored sle
ment. choose the latter
Do you really mean to say that the white
citizen soldiers could not whip the rebels
and that, after exhausting all the wisdom,
strength, resources, power, and valor OF the
white men, you failed to save tho Union;
|, that, with two millions of able bodied white
men still in reserve, you had to force the
negroes to fight in order to save the coun"
try? Ifyou do, Mr.. President. what com
piment you pay to white men in and out
| of the army! One negro, according to this
doctrine, is worth in the army much more
than dozen white men. Do you believe
it, sir2 You claim gain by this policy
OF one hundred and thirty thousand colored
! soldiers to the army. Would not two hun'
dred thousand white men have done as
well? You add: ....
"Now, let any Union man who complslr'
of this measure test himself by w"',hs
down in one liue that he is for suhInlhs Tue
rebellion by force of arms, H,d IN the ne*'
that be is for taking ons, aandred ana mir,
tv thousand men fr-.n the Union side and
nIacinp them vaere they would be but for
rho messr.s he condemns. IF he cannot
f.co his case so stated, it is only becaute he
sannot face the truth
I am tbA Union man, and thus face the
case: To lace your one hundred and thir
ty thousand colored men where they would
be but for the measure in question would
! be to place most of them back into the corn
fields to raise supplies for our army, and to
return the remainder of them to their legal
owners, making them monument of the
iu.tice, magnanimitY, and good faith of our
Government, being, as they would be, SO
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