The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1864-04-30
LINCOLN O. THE NEGROES.

the United States, through his trlena,
Colonel A. c. Hodges Of Frankfort. Ken
lucky, letter, explaining his views and
purposes in regard to the black population
of the United Stotes, and the Confederate
States Profoundly aware that the voice
Of the President is the voice OF the Peo-
pie, In, ..c IS eaninently worthy OF them,
and tha! they, if favored by Divine Prov
ideuce may become, if they are not al
rea Y worthy Of him. ! examine with all
the ditiidence ought for these reasons to
feel the positions of the President enun-
ci;ited in that letter.
Closely considered, the Presidents let
ter contains but one proposition: which
is, that it was indispensably necessary to
destroy slavery TO preserve the constitu-
| ton and the Union. All else contained
| in the letter, is but an explanation OF the
! reasons which induced him at sometimes
to fo:bear acting upon that proposition,
and afterwards to act upon 1t %
| at the commencement of hostilities,
the white population Of the United States,
! was & bout twenty millions 7inhabting
! what have since been called the loyal
/ States, and about six millions inhabitiag
! twenty millions We're as unanimous as any
! people ever were, on ary subject against
secession Mere than two millions of the
six millions were a n tit Numerically,
| the force in the hands Of the Government,
! Tor suppre<sin. the rebellion, was there
! fire moe than SIX 20 enc of the force up
! holding il.
All other means were in q proportion
equally favorable TO the government
| " hlle this state Of things continued. it
was obviously not ''indispensabiy necessa.
~ 10 Law hands upon the black raaa ac>
cerdingly. when the black man erroneous
! ~ supposiEg that the dav Of iubulo had
come tbroHged the camps Of the Presi
/ dents armies. he was driven forth from
them with stripes by Lockwood ia Nrr-
! GINA, with ignomiuv by lia.leck in Mis-
! sour and Buell. ia Kentucky. The negro
had Nj taken his time, He was not
wanted then.-Freemont, acting under a
law OF congress undertook 10 free the
slaves of rebels, but Of rebels o.ly rs fast
/ and only is fast, as re could lay his hands
upon tneGn, But Fremont made q great
mistake. There was some semblarce Of
law on Ais side. and that was not what
was wanted Fremont vas repudiated u
the negro was every where rerellcd from
I the armies, everywhere reminded Of lis
scYy.tUde.
BY these means, the back man was
taught that it vas best to stick to his
. master, and Labor for him BY these
means the "indlspeusabie necessity was
! created for issmirg the Proclamation OF
/ January. 1868. That proclamation tended
also TO create its owu Indispensable ne
cessity by detatchina from the suppo-
I Of the Union, somewhat IA u" than two
millions OF white men in the seeded
States who in the outset were disposed 10
rendev it support, and transferring then,
to the support OF the cause which was
seeking to snbVeri :he Union. In this
particular, the i.rociaration. aad other
auxiliary means, tending 10 tho same end
was most haIpiy successful This NAV OF
may not g good logic blu, bulit 10
. every candid and we'll info med mind.
whe :ner II !, OF Is not, the true logic Of
facts aud events
i IS no. any reason oi this kind, how
ever, That has drawn my present atom
ton to the Presidents letter
The President supports his proposition
With this argument: The Plocla,ua ton
has given us 80 go black caer. - soldiers.
sesmen and laborei,, who but for the
Proclamation would have been against Us
Gus to the proclamation, hlackmon desired
to enlist IN the army, and 10 labor for il.
and were rePe!ied froDl the design by the
orders OF the President How then d ii
the proclamation bring these 10000 black
men under our banner? If they had
been received, protected, fed, equipped
anG organized. rs fast as they desired, as
our armies advanced into the country ef
! their masters, would less than 10000
have been uuder orr banners now? In
fact, are all these 10000 black men es-
capped slaves OF the South j it pre-
suupti' u to ask how many OF them are
free men of the north. enlisted bv the
states 10 make up their GU tas, winch they
were unable OF unwilling to fill with white
men? Did it take the Proclamation to
bring these men into our armies? Such is
the foundatinn upon which the Presi-
dent argument seems 70 stand Ii is
undoubtedly worthy of the President
and worthy Of the people 10 whom it Is
addressed,
But there is another aspect in which
the policy of the President i. rather omi-
nous 1t may bring desola,ion nearer
home TO eur own doors, than az thing else
has yet done.
Such portion of these 10000 black
men, as were free W b en- they were enlisted,
are recognized by the enemy as entitled
as soldiers TO all imnunities that our flag
cOnters upon white troops In regard to
them, there is no d tiicllty Bot in regard
! to such portion of these 10000 men as
are their escaped slaves; the enemy all
ledge that they are not protected by the
laws OF war. and also TINT the white Off
| GERS that command them srs not, and
, both assert and execue the right to put
- J. i'll e.
as they fall iuto their hands, If the oues-
ton OF right IS on the enemvs side, the
| exercise Of that right "a has been done
at Fort Pillow AMI elsewk ere is most bar
Larious, Inhnnan and uniustifiabe IF
Il ere is any question whatever rs to The
! rlsht OF this government. to set escaped
slaves IN battle array against th cir former
masters, then this government is particeps
criminIIs, in the inhumanitv OF the enemy,
There probably is such question: but
do not now propose to discuss it. Ifhow>
ever, the question Of right is with our
government. this question Of policy still
remains We cannot set these slaves in
battle 'rray, without SuhjeetiHg them and
their officers to massacre as fast as they
fail iato the encmys hands We cannot
allow such massacre to 90 UNPUBLISHED -
Punishment, whether Justly or unustly,
will bring retaliation That will bring
or war Of exterrlinat on, over which the
black flag will fioat with all its horrors
The disgrace of such state of things
may be noihing-but the desoiation that
it will bring to the homes Of the north,
the desperate passions that desolation
will rekindle, may be counted for some,
thing. Surprising the right to set these
slaves IN battle array to be incontestible
policy may require, neverless, some defer
ence to the claims of humanity As a
question of policy, if not of right, it may
he worthy of considerations whether the
aid we may derive from escaped slaves
transformed into soldiers, will compensate
for the horrors which the adoption ofthst
| measure will brine hama IN os,r doore T.,