Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1864-11-04
n,IEIGH: FRIDAY, NOV. 4. 1864.
ATminS the Slaves.

,rEahle article OH lIliS
r'I.' ,ro have no wish to msrepresent that paper,
,"nisstste its position on this or any other ques-
". xs COPY the whole of its article That paper,
's;1. It urudently and ingeniously abstains from
.,,itting itself in so many words to the PROPOSE
-,o arm the slaves, makes an argument in favor
~ ,ho DrOposition, and assumes the extraordinary
I'D that the employment of slaves to fight our
Ills was anticipated previously to the war, and
s.s never been lost sight of by some who "have
,,sisteu,ly and nationally followed the course of
...Dts" We repeat what we said in our last, that
-b,terpr may have been the secret purposes of the
o-i,insl secessionsts the idea that in any event,
AN, slaves would be armed to fight our battles, was
.,sr given to the public one of the probable or
-, nossible consequences Of dissolution. On the
,,Drry the people told that the only course to
,,,,,at emancipation and the placing the slaves on
u sousi,y with the whites was to secede from the
od government; but now, it seems, the employ
,.Ot Of slaves as soldiers anticipated, and the
oDlv vsy to secure independence to the whites is
- .m,ncipa:e portion of the blacks and put them
IN the field as soldiers We are thus called upon to
,Ha very thing which it was said the enemy in
,,5d to force upon u.s. and which the cotton States
,.zssd in advance by their acts of secession. Our
.Dsmies abolitionize, and so must velour enemies
smDloy the negroes as soldiers, and so must well
0Dr enemies destroy the institution about which We
won't to war, and so must vel Werepeat, if the peo-
,e of North Carolina had foreseen that the strug-
ole would come to this, they would never have au'
borized their delegates to separate the State from
the federal Union.
But the Confederate, in order to reconcile our
people to the employment of negro soldiers, can per-
ceve "neither degradation nor dishonor" in the
merefactoftheir employmenta such by our enemies,
Init only breach of faith on their part towards the
negro and towards the South. That is the view
taken by the Confederate. What no degrada-
tiou. no d,shonor to the Northern government to
steal our slaves, infame their passions against
their former masters, place them in their armies,
and turn them loose our people to rob- and burn,
and murder? No degradation, no dshonor in white
men to employ these poor creatures "to tight bat
ts in behalf oE towards, who are afraid to tight
The war they advocate and urge?" The Editor OF
the Confederate must surely be presuming on the
redulty or the stupidity Of his readers. But 1.-THE
riue-the dishonor" of the Yankees consists, says
the Confederate, in robbing US of our property and
then using it against as, "without intending to
benefit the agents they employ" That is, accord
ing to the Confederate, the negro is forced to fight
for our enemies without any hope of benefit or re-
ward But the very reverse is the case, and just
here the shoe pinches those in the South who pro-
pose to employ the negroes as soldiers. The enemy
breaches freedom not only to the negro soldier but
ths wife and children; but the advocates OF negro
soldiers in the South offer freedom only to the male
slave. His wife and children, though he may tight
like Trojan, and even save the life of his master
dozen times in battle, are still to be held in bond
age and he is to be free only as the result OF his
escaping the chances of war. 1t is criminal, it is
diShOnOrabe, says the. Confederate, to compel the
slave to fight without benefit to himself The slave
fights for the enemy to free his entire race, but he
would fight for US only to free himself ID the
crime or dishonor must be measured by the benefit,
HWhOse door would the greater crime, the greater
dShOnor rest?
But the Confederate not only justi6es the use Of
Slaves as soldiers against US, SO far as their mere
employment is concerned, but it goes further and
seeks to reconcile people to the proposition by
holding up to them the example of heather nations.
Nreters to the Helots, the slaves of Sparta, who
we're employed as soldiers; but it omIts two very
important facts; first that these slaves were white,
and therefore of the same color with the ruling
face; and secondly, that the Helots belonged, not
" "lndlViduals, but to the State. They were simply
separate class of inhabitants, like the Doors or
'ss Of Russia. Yet these Helots, thus elevated"
S'ne Confederate says, by the use of arms, rose
%uefal times against their masters, and were with
uluculty reduced to subsection. As they belonged
ne State, the State had Alright to use them, and
Uu 50 at times with effect; but it had to pay the
penalty IN the insubordination and revolt which in
Hflaoly followed But the Spartans were heathens.
lucy were arough, vulgar, unpublished race, who des
Es'a learning and encouraged cunning and dishones-
~ 'nelr young men, insomuch that the youth who
"u'u steal most without being detected in the act
'~noSthonored. Spartacus, who dand led the
S4' conspiracy of the slaves, seventy years before
'lNr against the Roman empire, soon found him
wi ~ the head of 10000 men and so formidable
S TINS conspiracy that even Rome trembled1or
W safety This was one of the results of the "ele-
S., NUn OF white slaves by placing arms in their
i~ nus The great Napoleon was urged at one time,
M.r DS campaigns against Russia, to place arms in
i. lands of the Russian serts and encourage them
~ Ae ior their liberty; but ambitious as he was,
A"Aious as he was to humble that empire and
. S advantages to France he refused to do it, be-
El; ne was not willing to assume the response
f,.' f' Oh the horrors which Ae foresaw would result
HI. 0uen course. He was restrained, if not by
,Dh;, n sense of right, by the sentiment on this
w Oh enlightened, civilized, Christian nations.
rh;.I AnoW' too, that the Social Far of Rome,
look place in the ss2d year of that empire,
.ue way to the widest disorder, and ultimate.
n. we Dictatorship of Sylla. The Italian States,