Weekly national intelligencer., 1864-03-03
COMPULSORY ENLISTMENT OF rREEDMEN.

Much disappointment has been confessed il
certain quarters at the paucity of negro troops
which the Administration has been able to gather
and enlist in the Southwest. And recently ieso
luton was passed by the House of Represe ntativei
suggesting to the War Department that more Wig
orous pocyia this roction would meet the wishes
of that body
We think this censure of the War Department
WIS undeserved. There has been no lack of vigo,
In the prosecution Of enlist nents among the slaves
OF the South brought under our CONTROL for where
ever able-bodied blacks could be found they have
been seized and put in the ranks. To such an ex
tent has this policy been pursued that Mr.. Yeat
man, the chairman of the Western Sanitary Com
mission, assigns the fear of being drafted into oul
service as the reason why SO few slaves avail them
selves Of the emancipation proclamation by escap
ing from their masters and coming within our
military lines He says
There are but few men among the lsborers most OF
them having been carried far into the interior drafted
into the service that iessees will have to rely mainly
upon the labor of wOmeo unless the Government should
establish non interference by the military with such
as should come in to labor the plantations The fear of
beng drafted into the army is preventing thousands from
coming IN Of course all who wish to enlist should be
permitted to do So but not forced against their Wills
trust such policy will be adopted it will give thou
sands OF aborers for the production of cotton which would
"Al that is now required is protecton-protecon
against the rebels and protection against enstng off
GERS who seize upon any able bodied that into
our lines and force them into the ranks soldiers If
left to themselves doubt not that large numbers would
voluntarily enter he service but the pursued not
only manilesty unjust but calculated to ghten and keep
on thousands who would flock into lines and
their OCCUPATION tillers of the soil
The New York Anti-Slavery Standard of the
9th instant, in commenting on this policy of COM
pulsory enstnlents enforced on the blacks of the
South and not on the whites of the North, says:
II may be asserted that liberty is worth the risk of
DEATH and that the surest path manhood and citizenship
is for the late slaves through military discipline All this
can be admitted without mpang protest against the
injustice and the impocy OF forced enlistment OF the
coored refugees We have declared them uncond onaly
free before they reach lnes and if regard
them as felowbeings they should be- liable only to the
same responsibilities other ctzens-empted to volun
teer by bounes aud enrolled among those subject the
draft We have abundant evidence that under proper
couragement the majority of those who would
prefer the soldiers TO the planters life, especially while
the wages of the former exceed those of the latter At
any rate theirs the right to choose As for the argument
based the eevang Influence of service under the
tons banner cannot be doubted that the free people
color at the North by universal enlistment would enhance
immensely their natural claim to equality before the law;
but could this be taken justify conscrpuon of all their
beboded representatives And how specous this
soDng appears presence of the deberave dsranchse
ment OF the made freemen In maintaining the
those who have willingly exposed their lives for this
summation, aud without whose blood aud sweat the Re-
public might have persisted What shall say Of eman
cpaton granted upon such terms and attended by such
pohcyi Is it that for which have labored these thirty
years Having camored in tho name Of the slave for
bread are we ready now to accept a stone7"