valor of our citizens, immortality to the American arms; and in
the Northern States numerous bodies of them were enrolled, and fought
side by side with the whites at the battles of the Revolution."

Let us now look forward thirty or forty years, to the last war with Great
Britain, and see whether the whites enjoyed a monopoly of patriotism at
that time.

Martindale, of New York, in Congress, 22d of first month, 1828, said:
"Slaves, or negroes who had been slaves, were enlisted as soldiers in the
war of the Revolution; and I myself saw a battalion of them, as fine,
martial-looking men as I ever saw, attached to the Northern army in the
last war, on its march from Plattsburg to Sackett's Harbor."

Hon. Charles Miner, of Pennsylvania, in Congress, second month, 7th,
1828, said: "The African race make excellent soldiers. Large numbers of
them were with Perry, and helped to gain the brilliant victory of Lake
Erie. A whole battalion of them were distinguished for their orderly
appearance."

Dr. Clarke, in the convention which revised the Constitution of New York
in 1821, speaking of the colored inhabitants of the State, said:--

"In your late war they contributed largely towards some of your most
splendid victories. On Lakes Erie and Champlain, where your fleets
triumphed over a foe superior in numbers and engines of death, they were
manned in a large proportion with men of color. And in this very house,
in the fall of 1814, a bill passed, receiving the approbation of all the
branches of your government, authorizing the governor to accept the
services of a corps of two thousand free people of color. Sir, these
were times which tried men's souls. In these times it was no sporting
matter to bear arms. These were times when a man who shouldered his
musket did not know but he bared his bosom to receive a death-wound from
the enemy ere he laid it aside; and in these times these people were
found as ready and as willing to volunteer in your service as any other.
They were not compelled to go; they were not drafted. No; your pride had
placed them beyond your compulsory power. But there was no necessity for
its exercise; they were volunteers,--yes, sir, volunteers to defend that
very country from the inroads and ravages of a ruthless and vindictive
foe which had treated them with insult, degradation, and slavery."

On the capture of Washington by the British forces, it was judged
expedient to fortify, without delay, th