our cause, leave any means untried which may aid in the accomplishment of our deliverance. Let us look the danger full in the face, and prepare ourselves for every sacrifice of life and property which may be necessary to secure our independence. Above all, let us not rely upon receiving any aid from without. The sympathies of mankind are more often with the strong than the weak, and governments especially which have no direct interest to subserve are slow to ally themselves with a cause, however just, which has not demonstrated its ability to sustain itself without their aid. When we prove our capacity to stand alone without help, the world will not be slow to recognise the fact. Although we are fighting the battle of real liberty and conservatism, against the radicalism of a mere mob, led to battle under the influence of a fanaticism which cannot be satiated but by the destruction of all who interpose to impede its despotic rule, yet the burthen has fallen upon our shoulders, and we cannot expect that others will voluntarily come forward to share the dangers and the penalties of resistance. There is, perhaps, not a single disinterested intelligent observer of the bloody drama now being enacted upon the American continent, who is not satisfied that the North is waging this war for the purposes of dominion, conquest, and plunder; and that, under pretence of love for the slave, the attempt to overthrow

the institution of slavery is only the employment of a means, to the accomplishment of their hostile intentions against the independence of the South.

Visions of viceroyalties, over subjugated provinces, and governorships of conquered cities, are held out as inducements to the ambitious Yankee; confiscated plantations, worked by semi-enfranchised Africans, are the promised rewards to be bestowed upon the conquering soldiers; while foreign mercenaries, many of them the most depraved and dissolute outcasts from Europe, have been stimulated by money bounties, high pay, and indefinite promises of the spoils of victory, to swell the invading hosts.

It may be that we shall pass through a long night of horrors before we are able to drive back our relentless foe; but let every Southerner remember, that it were better far to be the vassals and subjects of any single foreign despot who bears a sceptre, than to fall under the dominion of the mob-multitude who would be our masters if we should unhappily be subjected to the Northern invaders of our once happy homes.

No people have ever had more unmistakable evidences that they were guided and directed by an overruling Providence, which smiled upon their undertaking, than have the people of the South since the commencement of their great struggle. To crown all, we have been blessed with the most bountiful crops

that have ever before been garnered in recompense for the toils of the husbandman. While our free citizens have shouldered their muskets and have gone forth to fight the battles of their country, the Africans are contentedly working in the fields. Faithful and true to the interests of their masters; watching with kind solicitude over the unprotected women and children who have been left with no other defence than their fidelity afforded; rejoicing in the successes, or mourning over the reverses of the Southern armies, of which they are themselves a chief element of strength by means of the products of their labour; resisting alike the promises and the threats of the Yankee invaders; they have put to shame the enemies of the South, who predicted their unfaithfulness, and have taught mankind a lesson of experience, in regard to the influences and nature of the institution of slavery in the Southern States, which it is to be hoped will be more instructive than the speculative theories which have hitherto formed the basis of public opinion.*

* If any real sentiment of humanity, or consideration for the welfare of the African race in America, animates disinterested foreigners whose sympathies are enlisted in favour of the North, in the present struggle between the dissevered members of the late Confederacy, the events developed during the progress of the war should satisfy them that their hopes can never be realised under such auspices. That it is possible for the present relations between the master and slave to be broken up, by the annihilation of the white race, may not be questioned. It may even be granted that the Yankees may seize upon and occupy the plantations made vacant by the murder of their present possessors; but who can

Never yet in the past history of nations has an ignorant or a servile population been subjected to

believe that the cold-hearted, cruel, and avaricious Northerner would prove to be more lenient in his exactions upon the Africans than those who at present control them? The Northerners are proverbially more cruel towards the blacks than any other nation of the civilised world. Even the small number who are living amongst them in the enjoyment of nominal freedom, are not treated with the humanity which is accorded to beasts of burthen, and the conduct of both government and people since the war commenced, precludes the hope of any change in their conduct towards the degraded race. They first declare that they do not intend, under any circumstances, to interfere with the relations of master and slave. Next they propose to free the slave as a punishment to the master. Again they propose to inaugurate a servile war, in order that they may accomplish their fiendish designs against the Southerners. Now their government proposes to employ the slaves, as menial labourers in their camps, as hewers of wood and drawers of water, and diggers of ditches. But in all this we discover no approximation to that 'equality and fraternity,' which they would have the world believe is the purpose they seek to accomplish. The isolation of the poor African is intensified and perpetuated by the degradation of the offices assigned to him; and in the very act of being called upon to sacrifice his life in their service, he is reminded that his heart's blood, even in death, must not be mingled with the blood of the white man.

We remember with pleasure the conduct of the American Colonies during the war of Independence. Even Massachusetts repudiated the employment of Africans to aid them in their unequal struggle against the mother-country, as will be seen by the following resolution adopted by the Committee of Safety':

'Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, as the contest now between Great Britain and the Colonies respects the liberties and privileges of the latter, which the Colonies are determined to maintain, that the admission of any persons, as soldiers, into the army now raising, but only such as are freemen, will be inconsistent with the principles that are to be supported, and reflect dishonour on this colony, and that no slaves be admitted into this army upon any consideration whatever.'

But there is still higher authority to show that even in the most gloomy period of their struggle, the fathers of the revolution refused to employ the Africans to aid them in securing their independence. Washington himself in 1775 instructed the recruiting officers not to enlist Africans in the service of the United States.

At a council of war held at head-quarters, October 8, 1775, present

similar temptations, which have produced such small results. The Yankee invaders, by demoniac appeals

General Washington, Major-General Putnam, Brigadier-General Gates, and others, the question was proposed:

'Whether it would be advisable to employ negroes in the army, and if there be a distinction between such as are slaves and those who are free. It was agreed unanimously to reject all slaves, and by a great majority to reject negroes altogether."

A Committee of Conference, consisting of Mr. Franklin, the Governor of Rhode Island, the Committee of the Council of Massachusetts and others, met at Cambridge, October 18, 1775, to confer with General Washington as to the best means of recruiting for the army. On October 23, the question arose :

'Ought not negroes to be excluded from the new enlistment, especially such as are slaves? All were thought improper by the council of officers. 'Agreed that they be rejected altogether."

In general orders, November 12, 1775, Washington says:

Neither negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to endure the fatigues of the campaign, are to be enlisted.'

At a subsequent period the rigour of this exclusion was somewhat mitigated in consideration of the fact that the British Government might otherwise succeed in enlisting the negroes into the armies of the enemy. But there was no period of time when the numbers in the service of the United States exceeded ten or twelve hundred men. Of these there was one regiment of slaves consisting of about three hundred from the State of Rhode Island. Although the colonists numbered only three millions of souls arrayed in rebellion against the greatest Power on earth, yet they scorned to win their liberties by the employment of a degraded race. Now the Northerners, with a population of eighteen millions, confess that without the assistance of the Africans they cannot subdue eight millions of Southerners. The following general order issued by the present Governor of Rhode Island, presents a striking contrast to the part acted by his predecessor in that office in 1775 :—

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.

·

'Adjutant General's Office, Providence, Aug. 4, 1862. 'The 6th Regiment, authorised by the Secretary of War, under date of October 23, 1861, and orders issued therefor from this Department, No. 103, Dec. 28, 1861, will consist entirely of coloured citizens. Enlistment will commence immediately. Camp will be established under direction of General Robbins, who is directed to organise the regiment.

Our coloured fellow-citizens are reminded that the regiment from this

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