Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-11-04
How about this 8 Niggsr'' war ?

How about TINS - HA8BeE Heft .
Its officially announced in the Southern
papers that the rebels intend to arm SOO,-
900 slaves in the spring, giving them
their freedom and fifty acres of iAnd IS a
reward Tor their services. @
Why is II that the opposition at the
North are not denouncipg this new piece
of barbsrisrn, this opposition to Christian
warfare? Sc soon as Abraham Lincoln
began to arm the slaves to put down the
rebellion, they began to denounce him as
horrid Abolitionist, and the war as q mig
ger war" But since Davis has conceived
the idea Of aiding the rebellion by arming
the slaves, their denuncistions do not fall
upon his head. Why is this2 Why do
they denouncs the Emancipation Procla-
nation which assists in maintaining the
Union, while they point out the advanta-
ges to be realized BY the rebels in q proc
lsmation Of emancipation calculated to de-
stroy the Union2 Is the solution Of this
question dif6c1lt2 Not at all In the
one case, the Union is TO be preserved IN
the other case it is to be destroyed
"There's the rubl"
But the question. of arming the slaves
has bearing vastly more important than
any relating to the democratic party in the
North. It lisa question Of profoundly alb
sorbing interest TO US, whether the rebels
will be able to add permanently 10 their
military force the fighting men among the
three millions Of slaves yes remaining.
This last desperate extremity proves that
the fighting force Of the white population
is nearly exhausted, and that the eOutin-
nation of the struggle as they have been
carrying it on, must inevitably result in
so great q reduction of the white Popula-
ton that there would not be enough Of
them left to control the black race.
Ii may be advisable in the estimation Of
rebel leaders therefore, on grounds of po-
litical economy, to reduce the blsck PoPu-
lation by slaughter, so as to prevent their,
too rapid increase. But the ques-
tion is viii these slaves prove loyal sol
diers to their former owners They rely,
it seems, on the Inducements Of freedom
and fifty acres of land, to retain their ser
vice in the rebel ranks. The inquiry
naturally occurs whether, if the slaves are
intelligent enough to. appreciate the gift
which it ia proposed to make them
they arenot also capable Of understand
ing that IN securing their freedom
they rivet the chains closer to the
limbs Of their mothers sisters, fathers
and children-; and that in securing
the fifty acres of lard, they merely secure
their own isolation and separation from
those to whom they are hound by the
strongest of ties. The negro is very do
nestle. Their social affections are even
stronger thAa those of the white race. 1t
seems, therefore, that any confidence in his
loyalty to the rebels, based upon the offer
of freedom and property, must be mis-
placed. On the other hand, SO soon as one
of these black soldiers Of the rebels was
taken prisoner and exchanged, he would
communicate the fact that the. Union
armies offer both freedom for himself and
his relatives; and instead Of the paltry
pittance of fifty acres of land, we can af-
ford to give him hundredo or more, carved
out of the plantations of his rebel master.
The negroes of the South have under
stood, from the beginning, that, practically,
the North is fighting the battle of their
freedom It would not be astonishing,
therefore, If the result of this new despers-
ton of the rebellion should only serve 70
hasten both the overthrow of slavery and
the restoration of the Union. We cannot
look upon the infatuation of the rebel
leaders in any other light than as an instru-
mentality in the hands sfzan all-wise
Providence to effect the emancipation Of
the black race znd the restoration of the
Union in all the power and glory of a free
and happy people.