Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1865-03-07

MONTPELIER, VT.
Tuesday Morning, March =, 1863.


The rebels ara sofeIy troubled about The negro.
They have Liza comfortable, happy, rapidly being
eivii.rl, a.l in is high foad that Ia,d'to Bishop
Iop4a. h.7aa, aad a.' th. through the benign
aad divine institution OF slavery and the exceed
0gy cppor,uae oorso Of Ham. They know 'ls-
very tho bss. condition for hm,thst he would
be a mi.erable, starving yagsbord, or an idle ra'-
cal SID thief il no were not slavei and moved
ey tie highest considerations for the welfare and
happ,aea Of the peer children 3f color they Rave
mace wax on lhs United States, bscau'c the
Yankee, animated BY an ignorant aud nhdsI
philanthropy, had expressed the opinion that sla-
very was 40. benefcienl instilution. Scripture
inform 70 tha.tho virtue Of dying ior ones fteld
"a nol common, and yet the rebels have darsd and
suffered death in al tue manifold forms in which
tEs g,im monster appsars 10 war,-v-I II 'o-tbo
negro, for bis good, and IN order that the curse Of
Ham may net BE- removed before iu appointed
time. II their view Of it, their war on the gov
ernmenl has been made wholly in the negros
behalf, and not a. all on their own account.
Stephens aid before Georgia seeded that the
Solh bad 10 ground Of compliant, and the
other rebels never pretended that they had any
except toe fear Of abolition. But their slaves
didn't want their freedom, and Ners 80 contentsd
snd happy ia their pstrarohal state, that their
masters could not permit the Yankees to interfere
with their bestifc conditions and accordingly
these ssltdsnying masters have periIed and sscri-
feed their own lives in the effort to save their
happy negroes from the curse Of freedom.
Tie masters, however, are becoming scarce.
Bsuamiu told tbegloomy audience that gathered
to hear him speak 10 Richmond, that there were
no mere whites to put in tie army, and he sug-
gesel that /, would BE- as well 10 call upon tbs
privileged class, The negroes, to hep the traitors
hght their battles. He didn't say, but he might
have said, that, as the war was for slIvery on the
ono side and freedom on tue other, the negro
ought 90 fgh. for slavery, because, as every
body knew, thit was his diynesi and happiest con-
, dilion,-that the masters would be glad to fight
the battle out fer the benefit Of the negro, but
white faces were becoming aarmngy unfreqaenl,
and ,hs negro must nov strike blow for himself,
or the blessings Of sivsry, 50 inyitngy set forth
BY Bishop Hopkn' would be torn from him by
The Yankees forever, and the sable descendants Of
Ham would soon be plunged into all the dangers,
responsibilities and pers Of freedom,-being only
gradually let down by Banks system Of appren-
llce'hip from the heights OF slave felicity, into
the depths Of the freedom in which northern
muds,.l," wallow and Gle. This was not pre-
csely tns line Of Benjamin's argument; for the
slaves, by some strange PsrVsrsty Of nature, pre-
lor liberty TO their enforced servtuds, and have
therefore very generally regarded the rebellion as
their masters Wal, and not theirs, and the rebels,
after all, feel compelled to deal with human nature
as !, is, rather thsn as it ought TO be and BeDja-
min, therefore, treated the question m,uy a, one
Of reinforcement aud not much IS one Of princi-
pie, and advised tha. the negroes be armed for
the reason that Tiers was nobody slse 10 arm,
those Of paleT complexion being all in the army
or deserted from it.
This logic Of Benjamin is iolsrably conclusive
even from southern point Of view With him
it i' either aruiug the negroes sr giving up the
rebellion, and he prefers 20 swim by S,mbo's aid
rather than TO 90 to the bottom. But, rather
unfortunately for the rebels, when they have
adopted this view, they are but at the begnnins
Of ihs,r difficulties. How shall the negro be
armed AS a slave or free man 7-is, after al,
more perPexing Inquiry than the as,. Gen. Lee
says " those who are employed should be freed, "
and that /, would be neither Just nor wise to re-
qure them TO serve as slaves, and thereupsn the
Richmond Examiner expresses doubt whether
he, (Gen. Lse) is a good southsner; that is,
whether he is thoroughly satisfied Of the justice
and bens6cience Of negro slavery, as a sound'
permanent basis of cur (rsbeD national poity"
And the editor adds:
As TO thoss other and larger consider atiohs,
which do not depend upon military nsoessi .y, nor
on the present exgenoy, but go down to the found-
atons Of society and the natural relation of races
those Senators who hold that il would DO cruel
nlHy both TO white and back, to sever their
present. relation Of master and slave, that to make
freedom reward for ssryics, Is At war with
the first principles OF this fslstsn, and is the be-
ginning OF abolition, means the abandonment Of
The black race TO inevitable destruction upon this
continent, those Senators are undoubtedly right.
Ibis 10 the true Southern principle and the only
righteous principle But what then WHAT good
vii our principle do Il tho Yankees coms in over
W. Nlll thers be any comfort 10 going down to
pcrduon carrying our principles with us intact
The principle OF slavery is sound one but is il
so dear to Us that Ia her than give it up We would
be slavei ourselves Slavery, like the Sabbath, wa,
made for man, not man ios slavery.
How strange it is that the dsluded negroes
cant see slavery 10 the slime light as this philan.
thtopc edllor-cannCt uDdetstand that all the sac
rtices OF southern blood and treasure have been
lor the good OF the sisye,--and cannot bo made TO
ugh for treason except by promise OF what the
negroes ioollshly think will bs a blessing, but
wAioh will prove their +" inevitable destruction Z"
And isn't 1t rather shocking, after a that the Err
duinsr sloud be wiling to eonsgn the colored
race TO this "nesitabs destruction" even to save
'tscI', Southern caiyaly should never purchase
its own ransom with the blood Of an ignorant and
dependent race aud the 'acriace of a "ri.h ecu,
pIlncipIe, and If il does can it any longer be
rshdully called ohivalry'
Butths question Of most immediate consequence
to the reOels is" 10 be or not to bs ?" and in the
solution Of this they will, undoubtedly, ei,s up
every prinoiple they ever held or nretet,dsa IN