87 the views and information to which the mass of the rebels are limited, they, doubtless, earnestly believe, that the war in which they are engaged' is as righteous, justifiable, and hopeful as that of the Revolution of '76. In view of these facts, then, it is not simply an expedient, subject to our discretion, which way to use to put down the rebellion ; for it is patent to the humblest understanding, that an earnest purpose to put down rebellion will be indicated by using every instrumentality calculated to compass that end. If this be so, then, how are we to understand a discussion of three weeks' duration, as to whether it would not be better to prohibit by law, the use of loyal men of a particular shade in quelling this rebellion. The arguments adverse to the employment of blacks being silenced by the Battle of New Orleans, and more emphatically so, by the operations in Hayti in the attempt to re-enslave that people when the negroes, under the leadership of a man born a slave, hurled the disciplined troops of two of the most warlike nations of Europe, quivering from their shores ; when only by a meanly contrived strategem of the great Napoleon, and by it getting the person of L'Overture in his power, could France temporarily subdue the little island of Hayti. I am not advocating either the social or .political rights of any race, adversely. I prefer to speak on one subject at a time, and I speak of the muscles of a black man as I would of the muscles of a horse, for a definite purpose ; and, in my opinion, nothing can transcend the beetle-heeded stupidity of those men, who cannot discuss the digging of trenches and shooting of rifles without merging, by an affinity of ideas known only to themselves, into the most occult questions of ethnology, as to essential equalities of races, etc. How absurd it would seem if we stood in " Fives Court," London, about a century ago, while Cribb and Moleneaux were contending for the championship of England, and would there suggest the essential difference of the white and black races as a settlement of the question contested by the two giants. It will be remembered that on that occasion the black was beaten by foul play a thing of which the negro seems to have always had his share. I would suggest to these philosophers that we do not stick to purity of races in the army now. Amule compared to a horse would be considered a rather illegitimate style of an animal, yet nothing but mules could pull long enough and fast enough to suit our recent march to the James River, notwithstanding the inferiority of the race. But, seriously, I would here make a remark which I will not allow my shoulder-straps to suppress ; shoulder-straps or no shoulder-straps, I say that 1 have seen men suffering the privations inseparable from the line of duty during the recent campaign on the Isthmus, doing a hard day's duty in the field, followed by a hard tour of duty in digging trenches, and human nature has sunk beneath the load, and I have seen them rolled in their blanket and laid down in their final rest superinduced, doubtless, by a tax upon their energies which might have been divided with the slave, who must, inevitably, share the benefit of the triumph. I leave the transcendental philosophers to defend that policy which sacrifices a white man to save a black one, while at the same time, contending for the superiority of the former. Let every man who claims to be a patriot banish his theories of the past, and suspend his schemes for the future, wherever they would interfere with present usefulness. We are now at war with the rebels, we are now at war with the rebels , therefore, all words and acts indicating any other treatment of the rebellion than by the sword, is treason or imbecility. When war begins, diplomacy is exhausted. That man is simply a knave who speaks of conciliation while the red tide of blood dyes the banks of the James and the Chickahominy. The two policies of combatin"- and conciliation cannot be at the same time pursued by the Government. And it is a still bolder treason and fraud to suppose that they can be both applied by a general in the field. It would seem in the past, as if some of our generals thought Civil War, meant a war conducted without giving offence to the enemy And some have secured the applause of the enemy by olive branch campaigns and conciliatory conflicts! Let the line be drawn at once and let those who still chirp conciliation seek the purlieus of putrid politics, and let not
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