The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-06-02
SELECTIONS.
From Brownlow's Knoxville Wing.
The Question Of Aiming Negroes.

The Question Of Arming Negroes.
We are not one OF those tender foote's
Southerners, to object to the use of all TIA,
slaves that can be found in the reyolted States
for the purpose of carrying on the war, an.
putting down the rebellion. We are the ad
vocate Of the policy of arning, and otherwis,
using the negroes, just as We are the advocate
OF using rebel horses, mules, and all othel
articles gf property. From the time Gen
Butler set gang OF Virginia negroes tc
work, who escaped from Febeldom and took
refuge in the Federal lines, until now, dread
ful howl has been kept up in the South. The
same cry was raised against Gen. Mcclellan
aud Gen. Burnside, for doing the same thing
although the rebel army was drilling negroes
at tie time, and using them by thousands 10
aid and abet the cause of rebellion.
This matter raises the question of interna-
tlonai law, and brings up the several prece-
dents that the Federal officers first complain
ed OF are following A synopsis of the doc
trine was given by Maj. Gen. Edmond p.
Gaines, at New Orleans, in 1893, Southern
man and slave owner. Gen. Jessup had
captured many slaves in Florida, and had or
dered them west of the Mississippi. At New
Orleans the slaves were claimed by the own
ers under legal process: but Gen. Gaines,
commanding the military district, and man
never tainted by dboiitionism, refused TO de-
liver them to the Sheriff, and appeared In
court, making his own defense, the details Of
which we're given at the time in the newspa-
pers North and South. We give the follow
ing extract from the reported defense Of Gen.
Gaines, and submit whether he did not regard
negroes as contrabands Of war
'.He declared that these people (men. women
and children) were captured in war, and held
as "prlsOners of war; That as commander of
that military department or district, he held
them subject only TO the order of the National
Executive, that he could recognize no other
power in time of war, or by the laws of war,
as authorized to take prisoners from his pos
session.
lie asserted that, in time of war, all slaves
were belgerents, as much as their masters
The slave men, said he, cultivate Garth and sup
ply provisions. The women cook the food nurse
the wounded and sick, and contribute to the
maintenance of the war often more than the
same number of males. The slave children
equally contribute whatever they are able TO
the support of the war.
Nor could he, as a military officer, know what
the laws Of Florida were while engaged in main
tanning the Federal Government by force of
arms. Ia such case he could only be guided by
the laws Of war, and whatever may be the laws
of any State, they must yield to the safety of
the Federal Government
II the Tennessee conservative, or the bor-
uCT DtdtO SOplCiHtdnf 10 dHAtOuS W see tuc
defense of Gen. Gaines, alike able and conclu-
sive, il may be found In House Document,
No. 225, of the second session of the twenty
fifth Congress.
The General sent the slaves West, where
they became free, and, although he was called
to an account for IT, he was sustained by the
then Democratic Administration. Among
the men In Congress who sustained him, from
Tennessee, were Hugh Lawson White and
Felix Grundy, of the Senate, and John Bell
and james X. Polk, OF the House of Repre-
sentatives. Gen. Gaines was also sustained by
Senators aud Representatives from Virginia,
North Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia,
Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana. These
Southern Congressman sustaining Gen Gaines
were not then Aboiitionists = first, because
the reign of Secesh had not then set in; and
next, because Lincoln was not then President,
but Van Buren was, and he was "a Northern
man with Southern principles" 1t was then
not only right to set negro slaves TO work and
TO iighting 10 time of war, but 1t was marvel
ously proper 10 send them west of the Missis-
slppi and liberate them for their gallant SER
vices.
In 1888 Gen. Zachary Taylor, the father
in-law of JEFF Davis, and Southern slave
holder, well known to the country and the ar
my, captured number of negro slaves, who
turned out TO be fugitiyes from their lawful
owners Citizens of Florida prepared to prove
themselves TO be their lawful owners, rallied
TO the camp of General Taylor and demanded
q surrender OF their property. The General
replied, 81 have no prisoners but prisoners OF
war" The owners desired to examine them
but the veteran General, in the true spirit OF
modern Lincolnlte, told them that no man
should examine his prisoners for any such
purpose, and he ordered them, in hot haste,
to leave his encampment Complaint was
made TO President Van Buren,, and TO his Cab
met. and Gen. Taylor was sustained by the
unanimous vote thereof, while the slaves
were sent West and liberated.
In 1896 Gen. Jcssup wanted men to act as
spies and guides In his,army, and he engaged
some fagitire sldres, stipulating that if they
served the Government faithfully he would
secure their freedom. The negroes fulfilled
their engagement to the letter; they were
sent West and liberated, and Van Buren's
Democratic Cabinet, Including its Southern
members, who controlled it, approved the
emancipation contract. Not only so, but the
same question came before John Tylers ad-
minlstration, and Gen Jessup's contract was
again indorsed, the Southern members OF the
Cabinet standing up for this Lincoln measure
Tyler has since been elected to the rebel Con.
gress at Richmond, and the measure has thus
been remotely indorsed by the Coniederacy
1t is no excuse 10 say now that the United
States Government was then lighting agains
the Florida Indians-the same Government /.
now fighting against the Sepoys OF the Con
federaey, a more cruel and savage set thar
were the Florida Indians.
But we come upon Tennessee conservatives
with knock down argument, taken from thu
acts and arguments OF Major General Andrew
Jackson, when our government was flghtin,
that OF Great Britain. In the month of De
cember, 1914, Gen. Jackson seized upon larg,
number Of slaves at and around New Orleans
actually In the possession of their lawful own
ers, and kept them at hard labor, erecting de
fenses, behind which his troops won the victo
ry OF the Sth of January, 1915. The owner
demonstrated, denounced Jackson as a usurp
er, and they would have called him "a d.
old Llncolnte," but this opprobrious epithe
was not then in vogue. jackson, who wa
rather man Of his own head than otherwise
dsregarded their remonstrances- no sor
of attentian To their abuse-kept many OF tn
slaves at work, Others In arms and on the fie
of battle, until many Of them were killed b
the enemy's shots. The case went befDr
President Madison and his able Cabinet. il
the form of complaint. jackson was sus
tanned by them, aud by Congress afterwarc
and when the owners applied for pay for thei
slaves afterward, Congress refused them an
compensation, and that, too, by Souther
votes. But that was before our statesmen
the South were afflicted with niger on u
brain! These slave owners were the friend
OF the Federal Government, and were tht
treated because it was done In the exercise
the war power, as military necessity, and
military chieftain, whose motto was the
and 10 the day Of his death-"THE Fedora
UNIoN-IT MUST BE PRESERVED" And
the American generals under President Lii