The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1865-05-06

y
souls of q few Copperhead politicians.
How has this revolution been effected?
Eighteen months ago it was not safe or u
colored man, woman or child to be see in
the streets Of New York. Three years aro
last month the speech of Senator Grimea
proposing to arm the freedmen of the South
(the first move Of the kind that we find in
the !, official records Of Congress), was then
deemed premature by many of his Repub-
lican colleagues. A few months later r
bill passed Congress with much difficulty,
authorizing the President to receive into
the armies persons of African descent, for
the purpose demonstrating entertainments
or performing camp service, or any other
labor, or any military or naval service for
which they may be found competent
the phraseology implying that there was q
doubt whether they were fit for any mill
tary service other than the mental occusa-
tons of camps and garrisons. The process
through which the public mind was final
ly brought to the belief that colored men
could be taught to handle muskets, and
that they were good enough to shoot rebels
or to stop bullets aimed al Union soldiers,
seems slow indeed but when We think of
against the African race, in which We have
been born and baptized, the progress we
have made as nation in the path of chris
tfan advancement is little less than a..
founding, and we may be assured that
nothing short Of the fiery trials of war
would have suff1ced to teach us 30 noble
and valuable lesson.
The marks of respect paid to the colored
troops in New York, where we should
least have expected them, has been won by
the blood of colored men shed in battle
In no other way could they have been won.
1t was not necessary that the negro soldiers
should prove as efficient as white soldiers.
That was not to be expected. Intelligence
and the confidence which intelligence alone
can inspire, were wanting to the colored
troops, and this was a defect not in their
manhood but in their surroundings. Yet
1t was necessary that they should be brave.
1t was necessary that they should show
themselves possessed of noble emotion,
in the only ordeal where its possession
could be thoroughly tested, before they
could hope to excite corresponding emo
ton in the breasts of those who had been
accustomed to look upon them as an infe-
butte which commands the respect Of man
kind, and the oheisance made by the mo.
ney kings and queens Of Fifth Avenue to
the colored regiment was tribute to cour-
age under black skin. The blood shed
at Port Hudson, Fort Wagner and Peters
burg was not shed in vain. 1t watered the
tree of liberty. It gave the blackstheir ii.
of the white race the pleasure ofdiscardi1g
an Unworthy prejudice and adopting the
precepts of christianity in their broadcast
sense in our treatment of our fellow men.
Chicago Tribune.
THE TERRIBLE CALAMITIEs IN THE
HOUR OF TRIUMPH The assured triumph
of the nation, the lifting of all the clouds OF
doubt and dependency of the last four
years, is filled with horror and pain by as
sassination and by the dreadful slaughter
ofour returning soldiers by supposed acct
dents. All the dangers of transit by land,
and sea seem to have eliminated to kill
the soldiers who have escaped the dangers
of battle and tho horrors OF Southern TIM
prisonment. What multitude Of longing
hopes, Just bounding with the assurance Of
speedy fruition; what a mass Of yearning
affection for homes, parents, wives, child-
rem, and all the loved ones-separated by
years of absence, saved through u thousand
perils, and now exulting in the prospect of
swift reunion, never more to part were in
a moment brought into the presence Of de-
spair and death in its most horrible shape,
when fifteen hundred Of our returning col.
diers were destroyed by the steamer Sui
tana!
+ What widespread grief does this catas-
trophe carry TO families in the North; u
grief destitute of even the stern solace that
6orfoins ~ doofh m fho haftlo.fSoldV II ia
bnt 5 u,,ia vh;ia since q s;mii.- sienohssr
iron thonoht terrible IN m. 1nitnde tSonch,
No. . f.sce;o,, ~ thi. -,cc,,ere.s h,, ~ 10.
~ sn ocesn .t.sn,ar ' Tho Sro"uaycv ~ a..
c;ae,t" - ,asI,oaI trains nonva.;yS o,,-
."1S;. sn reoantiv de,;vera5 ron. Snns hsrn a
crnaI honTeaa must have .trmck tta n~h !.
IT, r,;na nm. co;,,c;deroe 49, =, n-seIs;n,,
NJ fStai;.;a. .n s irr"sistihiv :. srsto,,.
and n,athoa exnd thare ;s avsrv,h;n~ in
concnrrent cirrm nstsnces IN tia nnfnrioms
sontha,r Sisns;,;"n mi ' - ~, rravi,r,. ~
femnts to eivs force Ia the snsnicion. :,
( TIE destrncfion If n sssnner Manner i
an orosnized svsfem IF Southern varfsG
We need not recalI the exsmpiee of r.. Il
has heen onenlv deciared in to Snnth ana
freuuentl4 carried Into execution on ~
Miesisainni. Takino nssssre in nsssonea,
steerner1 on the ocean ma iakes. 'to r3se
and overpower The crew and dsstrnv ~
vessel OF mss her 10 commit other nirsciea.
leader Davis to DO done 81 his Warrsnt.
So also have robberies Of Northern viva.
ges, by gangs organised In Canada. So
also the secret obstruction OF railroads. "a
precipitate passenger trains to destruction.
Recently several cases Of arson are IN.
nounced, 40 traced to paroled rebel sol