Year: 1864

A new Scheme to AboIitionize the South.


1t is painful to reflect how soon the landmarks
of great principles lost smd the throes Of revo
luton. For forty years the people of the South
have been fercely battling against the mad schemes
of the abotonsts to destroy the institution ot do
mestic slavery. We have uniformly contended that
negroes were property, and that slavery was local
institution with which no power under the sun
could interfere, the sovereign States themselves
in their individual capacity. For this great princ
pie of the right of the States to regulate their do
mestic institutions to suit themselves we went to
war with the North and for nearly four years have
maintained the dreadful conflict with unexampled
success Just at the moment when all the gigantic
schemes of the enemy to sub ugate us have failed
when Grant is painting for breath to renew con-
test in which he has besn completely bafffed, and
Sherman is tong to escape from the coils Of Hood,
which threaten the destruction of his army-jnst at
the auspicious moment when the bright and gori
Gus day OF independence is about to break upon us
with the splendor of an unclouded sun-just at such
moment it is gravely proposed by respectable
though chimerical journals in the South to ignore
all of our past cardinal principles surrender the
great question for which we went to war, and do
for ourselves precisely what Lincoln and the abo
htlonlsts proposed to do for us without war-G6OL-
ish SId0ery!


This is the naked proposition of those who advo
cate the conscrption of our slaves soldiers They
propose to cOnscrpt "sl the able bodied negroes of
the country between the ages of 18 and As respec-
lively" arm and equip them and put them in the
Held as soldiers, along with our white men, AS an
lndueement to make these negroes faithful to
cause, they are to be given their freedom and per-
mltted to live amongst US after the war freemen
The result of such proposition, if successful,
not be mistaken by blind man or an idiot. 1t
will convert the sovereign States of the COneder-
acy INTO free negro colonies, with all the social and
political evils which attend the amalgamation of ad
verse races. If our negro men are made free, then
Justice and SOuQd thpir
wives and children should be permitted to enjoy
freedom along with their husbands and fathers on
the principles announced by the Richmond Engui.
rsr, that they who fight for freedom, deserve to
be freemen." Whether this be Just or not it is
very certain that slaves once made freemen, and
trained IN the skill of arms, and the hardships of
the camp and the dangers of the battle field would
not only insist on their own freedom, but on the
freedom of their entire race. Nay, more. They
would insist and have the right to Insist at the
point of the bayone upon enjoying all the CIVIL So
cial and political rights enjoyed by their former
masters, on the ground that they had suffered equal
ly the dangers and responsibilities of the struggle
The horrible result would be either the amalSama-
tion of the black and the white in the South
with all its attendant shame and run or dreadful
civil war Of determination between the white men
and the black! Can such consequences be conteln-
plated by the Southern mind without shudder for
the result? And yet this is the certain end to
which it is now proposed to educate our slaves for
we hold it to be impossible that escape these
calamitiouS consequences with half a million Of
negroes trained to the of arms and suddenly el
eVated TO the rights and notions of freemen


Look at the question in another point Of view.
If our slaves made soldiers then they will have
to be governed by the same military laws which
govern the white men, because we have only one
military code. They will, therefore, be ipSo tacto
the equal Of their masters, entitled to the same
rights and subject only to the same punishmerts.-
Ihafp Of c1o
be endured, or, if chastsed, they would have the
right and the force to chastse back again-thus
destroying the first principle Of negro subordina-
ton, which is the life of the institution of the
South


But supposing the question to be fraught with
of these terrible social and political evils it is
perfectly clear to our mind that armed negroes
would be source of perpetual danger and weak
ness to the South in this struggle, instead of
strength When shall have armed them what
security have we that they will not desert US and
join the enemy in body? Reasoning from all ma.
tural principles and from observation, they would
certainly do 1t would be folly for them to fight
for their profered liberty, when by simply walking
into the camps of the enemy, they would be ipSo
tactO free by Lncoln's proclamation. Place our me-
groes in the field as soldiers and they would sur
render every position which they might be placed
defend for it is idle to talk to sensible about
the fidelity of slaves That is subject which will
do to amuse the brains of romancers but the expe
rience Of this we'll as the teaching OF CON-
mon sense have shown that not one negro in
thousand will refuse to accept the proffered boon
! of freedom rendered by the Yankees when he can
| do so with impunty To arm the slaves is to arm
| powerful foe in our own midst


! Nor is this all. When we conscript all the able
bodied negroes, who are to cultivate our fields and
support our armiesl Put the white men and ne
groes all in the field and what will follow but gen.
cral starvation? With the negro in the field and
| in the trenches he is powerful and indispensable
auxiliary to our cause. This is the capacity in
which Lincoln fears the power of slavery. Five
| thousand negroes with the spade have made Rich
mond invulnerabe to all the powerful and ingenious
| assaults Of the enemy. The same number have
| enabled Charleston to withstand the most terrible
! and prolonged siege of modern warfare With the
I spade and the hoe, our slaves are more powerful
than an army with banners, but with arms in their
hands, they at once become source Of fearful weak
| ness and inevitable destruction.


We caution the people and the press in all SOL
emnity against countenancing this new and mad
scheme of abolition-this scheme to convert the
the slave the equal of the white man-to rob the
master of his rightful property-to emancipate the
slaves against positive State enactmens-to destroy
all hope of civil liberty in the South and make to
! Lincoln and the world the humiliating confession
that we are incapable of defending property or
our freedom.-Lynchburg Republican.


Gov. Brown ON RECoNsTUCTIoN.-A correspond
ent writes the Columbus Enquirer from Lumpkiu,
Ga, that it having been reported there that Gov.
Brown was in favor Of reconstructing the old gov
ernment provided we could get our rights, ETC., in
the Union, gentleman Of that placed addressed