Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-01-12
THURSDAY, JANUARY s, 1885,
Arming the Slaves

|
n Ia now regarded as certain that the
,,ss, authorities hsyedeterminea 10 arm
NE slaves. Gen. Lee has, according W
=. Richmond Enquirer, declared In IA
man, Of the experiment, In letter to the
MILITARY Committee OF the rebel House
Tnis Is supposed to settle the question,
Vas scheme, when irst proposed raiseu
aash a furor of oppositlon-there was
sush an evident and general rear OF al
,~n,ed slaye-that It was hardly belieV-
"A the slsyeocratlc mind could by any
means be brought TO a favorable CON
alteration Of the subject. But the apie-
sod,ed whites are exhausted sherman
march through Georgia ana Ihoihas
victories over Hood have struck the
rbel leaders with unutterable cons'ef-
alton, the only alternative Is surren-
40, mr. a resort to this last, desperate
experiment; and under such cireun-
ysances they are driven to the last stage
~ humiliation, that of appealing 10
,..,r own slaves, whom they have re-
,,rdea and treated as beasts OF the
se,d. to do for them what they cannot
DO for thensslves--gye success 70 their
treason.
Arming their slaves involves the no
seesity of freeing them. This the reoe's
.me.,de. They committed treason 10
,ss Union 70 defend and perpetuate
slavery; they are compelled TO destroy
slavery in self-dsfense they shiVer
with their own, hands the boosted "cor-
per-stone" Of their confederacy'
They rebelled under pretense OF pro-
,ectiug the right Of each slave state TO
regulate its institution" In its OWE
vay, without interference. They sur
render this state right" to the reoe
government which "interferes," arms
and frees the slaves, without regard u
rtate action. They recognize In
hct that freedom is blessing U
every man without regard to I'M
.hade of his cuticle or the curl OF nj
hair, for they offer it to the slave as
x,,sa,d for his service in their behalf
In short they are forced to acknoWledg
In effect that slavery is wrong, ana U
surrender it sacrifice to their oW
oyer-le aping ambition. Worst OF al
mis- boosted, fighting southern chivalr
are compelled to depend upon their de'
pjsed and NAL treated negroes to q
their fighting for them. The humih'
lion is complete, and nothing else coul
show with such terrible force the extel
of the physical exhaustion to Whie
the eonfederacy is reduced, as the con
tpalsory surrender of everything II
which the rebellion was inaugurated'
the hope that with negro help 1t ms
hold out little longer.
whether the slaves viii night for the
traitorous masters, is a question TO
solved by the experiment. we 40 u
believe they will do 1t 'o'I''"gfyi ana
be of any such assistance to the reo'
as their necessities demand, the siaN
must be armed in such numbers that I'd
cannot we'll be compelled to hight In
will not fight against their own race
e this side. Accounts all agree as TO
devotion of the southern negroes to
Union cause; and If they do not u
npon the rebels they will undouote
desert from their ranks whenever
portunity occurs; they will prove
fruitful source Of decentralization
distrust to the remaining white soid
in the rebel army; friendly as the
groes are to US, it will require
white rebel soldiers to watch one ol
one and in the present stage OF
rebellion, there is not shadow OF
reason to suppose their being armed
lengthen the war day. On the
trary. we believe this last despe
rebel experiment, if really tried,
hasten the coming Of peace ana Uni