Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1864-04-20
rnucArIos FoR FREEDOM.

southwestern army, suggesting means to
make our colored, troops Effective He
thinks that these troops, instead of being
scattered among our white forces and
made to do the bulk of the rough work,
should be combined into seperate col
ulm, uuder skillful leaders. to undertake
enterprises of their own, He suggests
that their celebrity of movement and their
superior endurance on the march would
make them very efficient in sudden move
ments into the snemy's country, and that
if united in single army they would
soon acquire better esprit du eo'ps,and SO
says become much more efficient. He.also
that the education CT these troops, should
be a regular part of their training, and be
considered as Indispensable as their drill
in the use of arms. With such training
he thinks the freed negroes will become
very effective soldiers, and not only reu-
der valuable service in this war, but be-
come an important element in the militia
ry strength of the nation. raa
More important than these considera-
tions as to the military discipline upon
themselves. tbs the best possible train
ing they can have for their future duties
as free citizens. That they need some
preparation for the full enjoyment ofliber-
.tv no one who knows the character Of the
negroes in the South will deny. In his ma
tive country the African is idle and va
giant because nature feeds him without
much eyertion on hisspart, and his wants
are few and simple. Transferred to this
country he has been taught to labor, but
his work is compulsory and without any
such motives as Inspire and quicken the
faculties and convert q task into pleas.
ure Educated for generation after gene.
ration in such unjust and Unnatural re.
lations towards the rest of mankind and
the soil upon which he labors, it. is inev-
liable that the negro should have notions
and prejudices about life that are wholly
false and destructive What else can b
looked for than that the man who has NJ
reason for exertion hut to escape fog
cling. and who always made it his chic
study to do as little as would keep biz
skin whole, should think of.liberty chief
ly as freedom from work F.? This in fact
the slaves idea of liberty and when
cmancipated he lies down in the sun and
is as careless Of the future as if he were
sustained by the most sublime Christian
faith.
The negro is essentially like other men,
no doubt. if We could find him in his ma
tive condition, but the negro as centuries
Of slavery have left him is about as un-
like white nglo-Saxon as he can well
be and live on the same planet and be-
long to the same race He has no indus
try. no self-reliahce, no thrift. nothing
that fits him to enter upon life of self.
support and self-direction. He is grown
up child. We must deal with him and
with the facts around him as they are.
He is to be considered man, with the
rights Of a man, in the general. But no
theory justifes us in ignoring his actual
condition. Having determined ,to raise
him to freedom and citizenship, our first
duty is to fit him for the use and enjoy
ment Of these prerogatives 1t is now
generally conceded that we cannot Danish
the four millions of negroes from the
country if VIC .would There is no place
for them elsewhere;' Africa is now as al
len to them as to us. They willnot leave
this country willingly, and we have no
right to drive them out. Their claim to
the soil of the South is better one than
its white population can show. They are
to stay in the South permanently, as its
laborers ultimately as owners of the soil
and as citizens in every respect. Militia
ry discipline, combined with such general
education as they are capable of receiving.
is obviously the best training to which
they can be subjected. 1t is for these
and such like reasons that we have always
held the employment of the freed negroes
as soldiers to be the most positive and
permanent means of emancipation. A
years service in the army must 60 far to
disqualify a negro to be slave, and