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618      DOUGLASS' MONTHLY.      MARCH, 1862.

From the Washington National Republican. 
WILL THE CONTRABANDS FIGHT?

It has been shown, in previous numbers of the National Republican, by the testimony of indisputable facts, that contrabands can and will work, and that they can and do learn.——The question at the head of this article——Will the Contrabands Fight?——is a direct corollary from the others, and one of the most important and serious that can be answered at the present time.  If it be true that the contrabands will fight for the preservation of the Union, even as they are at this moment armed and equipped to fight for its destruction, then it follows that the fact ought to be generally known, that the people and Government of the United States may act accordingly.

From the earliest ages of the world, the people from whom the contrabands of this country originally sprang, have been a people of war.  The antecedents of centuries in the nations around them combine to make them warlike.  The origin and progress of the slave trade have done the same thing.——Through all the tribes of the people of color, not only in this country, but in all others where they reside in numbers, the relations of tribal authority, royalty, chieftainship, war-like propensities, are preserved, canonized, and handed down from generation to generation.  As the people of color have increased in this country, as they have become Americanized and carried comparatively remote from the kings, and queens, and warriors, from whom portions of them sprang, they have still preserved and cherished the war-memorials of the past.  They have almost wholly, and for years, acted on the belief that they are to be delivered from American bondage as the children of Israel were delivered from the bondage of Egypt.  Through many parts of the South there is a song sung that illustrates and intensifies this idea.  It has been in use in some parts of Virginia for years, but has been forbidden to be sung in certain quarters of that State, and is never or seldom heard in States further South.

Here are the clearest intimations of the spirit of war.  Here is the strong conception of the people of color that Moses and the children of Israel had a God-given right to resist tyranny.  In addition to this testimony is that constantly presented in the events of the past and passing times.  Although the contrabands have not been allowed to read, yet they have frequently overheard the reading of others.  The result of the insurrection in St. Domingo has long been known among the contrabands of the South——the name of Touissant L'Overture has been passed from mouth to mouth until it has become a secret household word——and a love of liberty, fed by a love of arms, has been rendered universal and almost omnipotent.  It has been felt that if it was right for the colored Haytiens to fight to be free, it is equally right for colored Americans.

A strong incentive to the war element in the Old Dominion is found in the parade of the motto of the State on various public and private occasions.  "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God," is pictured on the Virginia shield, with figure of an armed woman, personating Liberty, with a lifted sword in her hand and her foot trampling on the neck of a prostrate tyrant.  How suggestive to the contraband!  Yet he has seen it, heard it explained, exhibited, illuminated in transparencies, painted in pictures, paraded on banners, fulminated in the thunders of stump speeches and dinner table oratory, until he has learned it all by heart, and drank deeply of the inspiration from which its springs.——There has not been a Fourth of July oration, nor a reading of the Declaration of American Independence, nor a salute in honor of the spread of republican liberty, nor a shout for LaFayette nor Lamartine nor Kossuth, but it has been like an electric spark to the war passion in the sympathetic soul of the struggling contraband.  The war fire has been kindled around his soul, and it has warmed within him the self-evident and unconquerable love of liberty.

So general is the conviction in the South that the determination to fight for freedom is universal, however latent, among the bondsmen, that there are cases where the singing of this very song of Moses leading the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt——in a far off country and remote age as that event was——has been punished in the most severe manner.  Facts on this point are abundant, if there were room to insert them here.  What mean the armed midnight minutemen of the Southern cities?  What is the omen of the alarm bell in the centre of all these towns?——Wherefore are they supplied, in their very hearts, with arsenals, cannon, magazines?——Why was it that John Randolph, in his "Notes on Virginia," makes the startling statement——"The midnight bell tolls not in Richmond, but the mother hugs her infant more closely to her breast?"  How impressive are those other words of the Sage of Monticello: "I tremble for my country when I remember that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever; for in the contest which must inevitably come between the master and the slave, the Almighty has no attribute that can take sides with the master."

All these ominous things the contraband knows, sees, hears, feels.  What is the lesson that they teach?  This, and only this: THE CONTRABAND WILL FIGHT!  In Canada, it is well-known, the escaped people of color have been organized into companies——in some instances into regiments——where they have learned the practice of war.  Some of these have been accepted and well tested by the British Government.  And knowledge of the fact has reached many parts of the South, and been communicated, by the mysterious affinities of slavery, all among the contrabands.  In the West Indies, the East Indies, China, Africa, and other countries, some of the best, bravest, most thoroughly disciplined, vigorous soldiers of England, France, Russia, and other countries are, or have been, of the contraband persuasion.  What is true in other lands, other things being equal, is equally true in America.

The experience of the present war for the Union is forcibly illustrated, in this contraband question, by the wars of the Revolution and of 1812.  In the former, Washington employed contrabands, on several dangerous occasions, among his courageous, and trusty sentinels.  It was when he said, on the perilous heights of Newburgh, not far from West Point, when, as now, the whole country was endangered by the presence of traitors, "Let none but Americans be put on guard to-night!" that he ordered COLORED MEN, contrabands, to shoulder the sentries muskets, and stand in the front rank of honor and of danger.  Full well did WASHINGTON know that the contrabands would fight.

Who was it shed the first blood in the primal battle, the initiatory fight of the Revolution?  A colored man——a contraband——the volunteer Attucks, who fell in the front rank of the American lines, the first American to fall by British bullets on American soil——the first dead martyr to American liberty!  The testimony of General Jackson in the last war with Great Britain is directly in point.  In his proclamation to the contrabands, calling on them to join him in defending New Orleans, he pays a strong tribute to their bravery, love of home and kindred, and patriotic devotion to their country.  All this is history, and cannot be denied.  Ah! yes: rely upon it, the contrabands will fight; 600,000 strong, with at least as many more volunteers from the emancipated of the West Indies.  The experience of all who have recently been in the South, in connection with the Union army and navy forces there, and of all who know what the generals and naval officers of the Confederate States have done in enlisting contrabands, goes, conclusively, to establish this great point.  The contrabands will fight, and fight to the last.  They learn the use of fire arms quickly, they are accustomed to drill, they are fond of music, they are social and clannish, and hence easily massed; and when they have brave and skillful commanders, above all, when they have a hope of liberty before them, the contrabands will fight on to the close of the war, and our glorious Union is preserved.  Many facts exist to attest the truth of these statements all over the land.

C. W. DENISON, U. S. Chaplain.
From Port Royal, S. C. 

RESPITE OF GORDON.——Capt. Gordon, who was sentenced a few weeks since to be hanged on Friday next, is respited for two weeks from that time.  Since his conviction and sentence, his counsel, ex-Judge Dean, has been in constant attendance upon the President, upon whom he has brought to bear all the arguments, legal and otherwise, which he could suggest for the accomplishment of that end.  The case of Gordon is a peculiar one.——The offense for which he is tried was the fourth violation of the law against the slave-trade, and seemed to have been characterized by more than ordinary brutality.  Unusual interest has been excited in legal and commercial circles by this case, from the fact that heretofore conviction for such crime has been a seeming impossibility, the law being apparently a dead letter upon the statute book.——Naturally all persons in any way affected, pecuniarily or otherwise, in the slave traffic, are greatly interested in Gordon's fate, and consequently no means have been spared that ingenuity, affection, or interest could suggest to ameliorate his condition.  About two weeks since, the District Attorney (E. Delafield Smith, esq.) went to Washington, that he might thoroughly inform the President of the facts in the case, and protect him from imposition by interested parties.  After a protracted interview, Mr. Smith returned, satisfied that the ends of justice would doubtless be secured.  Since that time, so determined have been the efforts of the prisoner's counsel, that Mr. Smith felt it his duty to reinform the President, which he did by writing to a prominent member of the Administration a full resume of the case, with all its horrors.  He also referred to the decided impression of the presiding Judge, of a majority of the Jury, and of the public at large, that Gordon should suffer the full penalty of the law.  Beyond this he did not feel at liberty to go, and left the whole affair in the hands of the Executive.  Yesterday the preparations for his execution were completed, and although no word had been received from Washington, the belief was entertained at the public offices that the sentence would be carried into effect at the appointed time.——Gordon seemed to have some ground for the hope of Presidential interference.  He argued that as Mr. Lincoln had made no decision as yet, he could not be expected to do so adversely, as that would give him (Gordon) but 24 hours in which to prepare for death, which, in his opinion would be unnecessarily harsh, as well as unusual.  He thought that the only proper and sensible settlement of the question would be, for the President to grant a pardon in this case while he announced his unalterable determination to punish with extreme penalty the next and all other offenders.  Late in the afternoon, while Gordon was reading an evening paper, his wife, who is a very pretty little woman of about twenty-two years of age, brought him a telegraphic announcement of two weeks' respite.

The poor woman was completely overcome with joy at so great a boon, and nearly fainted as she handed the glad word of relief to her imprisoned husband.  He bore it, as he bears everything, with the utmost nonchalance, and evidently regarded it as but one step toward the gate of liberty for which he has so persistently struggled.  Gordon looks pale and has seemed during the last few days quite anxious for news from Washington, which having come opportunely enabled him to spend last night in undisturbed rest and long needed healthful sleep.

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