were specially named in the
act. The act, though apparently so fair on its face, and interlarded
as it is with patriotic and moral phrases, is nevertheless very narrow
and technical, liberating only those who enlisted by the appointment
and direction of their owners, and who were accepted as substitutes,
and who came out of the army with good discharges. It is not hard to
see that even under this act many an ex-soldier might end his days in
slavery. The Negro had joined in the fight for freedom and when
victory is won finds himself a slave. He was both a slave and a
soldier, too often, during the war; and now at its close may be both a
veteran and a slave.

The second war with Great Britain broke out with an incident in which
the Negro in the navy was especially conspicuous. The Chesapeake, an
American war vessel was hailed, fired upon and forced to strike her
colors, by the British. She was then boarded and searched and four
persons taken from her decks, claimed as deserters from the English
navy. Three of these were Negroes and one white. The Negroes were
finally dismissed with a reprimand and the white man hanged. Five
years later hostilities began on land and no opposition was manifested
toward the employment of Negro soldiers. Laws were passed, especially
in New York, authorizing the formation of regiments of blacks with
white officers. It is remarkable that although the successful
insurrection of St. Domingo was so recent, and many refugees from that
country at that time were in the United States, and our country had
also but lately come into possession of a large French element by the
Louisiana purchase, there was no fear of a servile insurrection in
this country. The free colored men of New Orleans, under the
proclamation of the narrow-minded Jackson, rallied to the defence of
that city and bore themselves with commendable valor in that useless
battle. The war closed, however, and the glory of the Negro soldier
who fought in it soon expired in the dismal gloom of a race-slavery
becoming daily more wide-spread and hopeless.

John Brown's movement was military in character and contemplated the
creation of an army of liberated slaves; but its early suppression
prevented any display of Negro valor or genius. Its leader must ever
receive the homage due those who are so moved by the woes of others as
to overlook all considerations of policy and personal risk. As a plot
for the destruction of life it fell far short