Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1865-01-06
beo:EWeekA 9tauharh.
SOUEH-CA R0AINA AND THE AR
MY NKGR0 QUESTION. 81.

OiA OouiSuCIdLc iSoldllOuS Oll EeSOlulIoLS III
reference to employment OF negroes in the
Confederate army:
The committee on Confederate Relations,
to whom were referred sundry resolutions
relating to the employment of slaves in the
army, and such portions of the Governors
Message as had reference to the same sub
ject, have duly considered the same, and
respectfully ask leave to report:
That, in their opinion, the employment
of slaves in the army should be guarded
with the greatest caution. That this prac
tice has become a regular one in the ar
mics of our enemy, is scarcely an argu-
ment for its introduction among us for it
is clear that every slave captured and so
employed in the military service the Uni
ted States is to them positive gain, add
ing to strength in one department and de-
tracing nothing from their resources in
any other; while with us the labor thus
secured to one branch of service is posi-
tive withdrawal of the of same amount of
labor from the equally important field of
supply and production. And your COM
mittee are further of opinion that it is
matter of very doubtful expediency to-in
trust the wagon trains Of an army entire
ly to negro teamsters. But they are will
ling that the decision of this question
should be left to the experience, discretion,
and prudence of those charged with the adj
ministration Of our military affairs, con-
tenting themselves with the exp reSsion Of
their decided conviction that this authori-
ty shonld be cautiously and sparingly ex-
ercised, and the very least number should
be employed consistent with the practical
advantages that this system is supposed to
possess.
And they are further induced to acqui-
esce in the adoption Of this plan, from the
hope that this authorized employment of
permanent negro force will enable the
government to discontinue, to a great eX.
tent, if not entirely, the practice of i'm
prossment for coast defence, which has
caused so much annoyance and created
such serious embarrassment to the agri
cultural labor of the States; for they can
let but think that III the number of negroes
indicated by the President as necessary
for this general purpose, he will find an
ample supply OF all labor requisite for any
military work.
But in thus conserving to the use of ne
gro labor to the extent and for the pur-
pose indicated, it is with the distinct I'M
Outstanding that such slaves shall be EN-
plOyed in duties other than those which
are the distinct province of the soldier,
and that in all such employment their
servile status shall be clearly and steadily
preserved for your committee cannot but
express their disapproval OF the plan re-
commended by the President in his re,
cent Message, by which the Confederate
government is to become the purchaser
of forty thousand negroes, who are to be
declared free ct expiration OF their term
Of service.
Your Committee can find nowhere in
the Constitution the slightest shadow of
power, either expressed or implied, to
make such purchase or DECLARE such eman-
cipation, and they are satisfied it is in -di-
rect violation of its spirit, which wisely
and explicitly commits all the social and
domestic relations and institutions Of the
Southern people to the care and charge of
the individual States.
But, even waving this objection, they
are satisfied that the introduction of such
system would only raise anew that very
class of questions, in the attempted solu-
ton Of which our present troubles origi-
mated, and which all.through our past his
tory stand like sign posts along that broad
road to ruin which the old government of
the United States has travelled so fast and
so fatally.
fthe general government could pur-
chase these negroes, they would have
either to be held as slaves or emancipated
as freemen. In the first case their status,
relations and duties would be subjects of
Congressional legislatiOn-a proposition of
which our recent and bitter experience is
sufficient condemnation. If emancipated
as freedmen, they would either have to be
employed in the dQckyards, arsenals and
other industrial establishments of the gov
eminent, or they would have to be re-
manded to the States whence they were
taken. 70 the first alternative all the pre-
ceding objections apply to the latter, the
existing legislation of all the States, es-
pecially the legislation OF Sonth Carolina,
presents an insuperable barrier, and your
Committee are of the opinion that this is
not the time nor these the circumstances
1Or discussion or modification of such leg
isation.
Your Committee do not feel called on to
discuss the question of the propriety of
emancipation as a part of the system of
slavery-a question which underlies this
proposition. 1t is sufficient for them to
observe that the emancipation of forty
thousand slaves, selected for no moral
qualification, but simply for their physical
illness for special labor, who are either to
be taken away from their families entire
ly, or to be restored to their families as
freemen, while their wives, children, and
brothers are still held in slavery, and who
arc no more deserving of freedom than
other thousands at home, who, at home,
have faithfully discharged laborious duties,
and undergone with their masters the pri.
ya,ions of this uar-ia q suotoro ,rb;ob