New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-01-27
The Arrears Of I'm, 90 CoIered Troop..

SIR: No one can oyerstate the intense anxiety
partmen are awaiting action from Congress in regard
to She arrears OF pay Of their men
1t is not matter OF dollars and cents onyi 1t Is
question Of COMMON Observation-Disclosures tae United States
Government hae sufficient integrity for the fullmen!
Of an explicit bus ness contract.
The public seems 70 suppose tina. an required Justice
will be done by the passage OF bin equalsng the pay
Of oil soldiers for the future. But. no far I'd my own
regiment is concerned this Is but half the question
My men have been nearly sixteen months IN the
service. and for them the immediate isuc Is the quee
They understand tie matter thoroughly, II the public
does not Every one of them knows that be voneered
under an explicit syintH from the war DE
partment that he should have the pay OF white sol
der. He knows that for five months the regiment re-
ccved that pay after which il cut down from the
promised slJ per month to slo for reason TO him
inscru'abe.
He does not knowfor have not yet dared TO tell tho
mentha the Paymaster has been already reproved ~
the Paw DEPARTMENT for fulfilling ever in part the
pledges Of the War Department. that OF the next pay
ment the ten dollars are 10 be further reduced TO seven
end that Ia the WHOLE all the previous oycrpay
10 be again deducted OF stopped" from tho future
wages, thus leaving them little more than d0iiar
month for six months 10 come, unless Congress IN
tefferc
Yet clear the terms Of the contract that Mr..
Solicitor W biting, having examined the original in
strncions from the War Department issued TO Brig
date Of Dee. g. l-6 that the faith OF the Government
thereby pledged every officer and soldier enlisted
under that call"
lie goes on TO express the generous confidence that
"the pledge viii be honornhly fulfilled" observe that
every al the North seems 10 feel the same cont
denCe. bnt that meanwhile, the pledge rs unfnhled
Nothing l. said In Congress about fulfilling IT, have
no. proposition In Congress to pay the col
ored soldiers, from date 81 eaUsnt the same pay with
white soldiers and yet any thing short of that IS in IN
eluyoce breach of contract 50 far as this regiment
concerned
Meanwhile the land sales are beginning. and there h
danger OF every foot OF land being sold from beneath
my soldiers feet because they have not the petty sum
which Government first promised and then refused
TO pay.
Tho officers pay comes promptly ard fully enough,
and this makes the position more embarrassing For
how to explain 70 the the my stery That Coy
eminent afford hundred or two dollars month,
and yet mus. keep back six Of the poor thirteen which
Il promised themt Does 1t not naturally suggest the
cruel suspicious in regard TO us And yet moth
ing but their chidke faith in their ocer. and in that
ncArDato soul Of honor Gen. Sayton. has sustained
their faith. or kept them patient thus far
There Is nothing mean inerccnary about these men
In general. Convince them that the Government
actually needs their money and they would serve IL
hsrefoOte1 and half ratiOns. and without dollar
for time. But, unfortunately they white soldiers
beside them whom they know to be In no way their ~.
peTOrs for any military service receiving hundreds oil
dollars for reenlstng from this mpO' ershed Govern
ment which can only pay dollars out " thirteen
20 Its black regiments. And they see, on tho other
hand those eolored men who refused to volunteer vs.
soldiers ana W:c nave iohhh more hVhent ps. ps'ei
than tie United States Government. now erniting a
well filed pockets and able 10 buy the little bometeads
the soldiers need and to turn the soldiers families Into
the streets Is this school for sefsacroing patriot
isn't
should not speak thus urgently vsre II not beeon-
Ing manifest that there Is 10 be promptDess Of action
IN gress regards the future pay OF colored
sodels-sD9 that there l. especial danger OF the whole
matter Of going by default, should j. be So II
will be a reputation ungenerous than any which
Jefferson Davis advocated OF Sydney Smith denounced
IL will sully with dsho.Or OIL The nOhlcnes- OF this
opening page ~ history and IL upon the North brand
u nieaness than either SOutherner or English
man has yet dared 10 mpue. The mere dsioy IN the
fuiiment Of this contract has already inflicted untold
suffering has impaired discipline has reIned oyolty.
and has gun 20 implant feeling Of snen i-rust IN
tho very regiments whose early career solved ne proc
FOL emancipation possible.
Nixon Had jan. - i-5;.