The National tribune., 1909-10-07
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Continued from page one. }

survival of the old aristocratic feeling
running thru the ages, that only the
aristocracy and best men in IA country
should be allowed to bear arns.i This is
! the history of every country in Europe,
| from the Roman tines down. 1t Is the
feeling in the great Turkish Empire,
where the bearing of arms has always
been restricted to MaIometans.. Every
where in Europe in the Middle Ages
| only men of the better classes were al
| lowed to wear STEEL. and the peas
antry strictly denied any weapons but
clubs.
| The Irish soldiers in the army took
particular offense at the idea OF enlist
ling the negros, but neither did the rest
of the soldiers take much more kindly
| to the suggestion a great many of our
Generals, with Sherman at the head,
were more or less hostile to the idea to
the very end of the war. They felt, as
did every soldier, that the white men
who refused to do their duty should be
drafted and sent to fill up the depleted
| ranks. On the other side, the Generals
who occupied positions in the country
where slaves were numerous had great
numbers of negros thrown upon their
hands, and naturally longed to make
use of the StalWart young blacks in a
military way. 1t seemed to them that
there was great Mississippi River of
youth and strength which was being
allowed to run to waste at the time
| when the country was in dire need of
youth and strength. At New Orleans
| Gen. Butler with his accustomed
shrewdness, discovered on the Louisiana
Statute Books laws recognizing militia
companies of colored persons of African
descent, and began organ Zing the ma
tive mulattos under its provisions which
he styled at first Native Guards" and
then "Chasseurs d'Afrique."
1 H.
| Head, found his camps encountered
with thousands of slaves from the rice
plantations, and was at a great loss to
| know what to do with them. He set
many of them to work upon the aban-
doned plantations and to build fortif-
cations, etc, but still the supply was
greater than any use he could find for
them. He needed troops very badly
and so began organizing regiments first
lenlisting mulattOS and others who
seemed to be of the most promising ma
terial for this purpose.
This aroused the Democrats in Con-
gress, particularly the Representatives
and Senators from the Border States.
who peremptorily demanded whether
the President and Secretary of War had
authorized these.
This brought about a crisis that had
to be met with tact. until the public
mind was ready for negro soldiers.
| replied tn8t fIen.
! Hunter had not been authorized to do
so. but the Adjutant-G General would in
quire of Gen. Hunter. and upon receipt
/ of his answer il would be furnished to
| Congress. When Gen. Hunters letter
came that sturdy old soldier said~that
the instructions which had been turned
| over to him by his predecessor author
iZed him to engage all loyal persons Of
| fering their services in defense of the
Union, and he found no restrictions in
| these instructions as to the color of the
persons, nor in what manner they were
to be employed. He had not enlisted
fugitive slaves, but men from whom
their masters had run away. It is true
he had not received any specific in
structions about putting guns in the
hands of the men he had enlisted nor
had he received any as to giving them
picks axes and shovels; the matter was
one left to his dscretionIasc commander
or the department. GEM Hunter at the
same time paid a high tribute to the
great efficiency of the troops he had
organized. Senator Wickljffe of Ken
lucky, denounced this answer as an
'fndignity to the American Congress
an insult to the American people and
10 our brave soldiers in sarmss" but.
somehow, Congress refused to agree
with him, and tabled his resolution.
HarryinS the President.
Ihe advocates and opponents of ne
gro enlistments gave President Lincoln
no rest. AT the head of the former or
at least the ones who made the most
noise, were the man and brother"
Abolitionists of New England, who in
sisted that racial equality would be ac-
complished swiftly by putting the negro
in the army alongside of the white man,
and giving him the same dignity as a
soldier in defense of his country. The
more practical people urged that the
labor of the North was being severely
drained by the enlistments of the best
workers to the embarrassment of the
productiVeness OF the country so neces-
sary to maintain its armies and its rev.
1enues. The patriotic impulse of the
loyal young men had carried all the
best of them into the army, and any,
thing which increased this drain. while
bringing in great number of men,
would work an enormous hardship In