this objection will fall, if not then
beyond all question they will cease to be employed.

"2d. It is said that the whites will not fight with them--that
the prejudice against them is so strong that our own citizens
will not enlist, or will quit the service, if compelled to fight
by their side,--and that we shall thus lose two white soldiers
for one black one that we gain. If this is true, they ought not
to be employed. The object of using them is to strengthen our
military force; and if the project does not accomplish this, it
is a failure. The question, moreover, is one of fact, not of
theory. It matters nothing to say that it _ought_ not to have
this effect--that the prejudice is absurd and should not be
consulted. The point is, not what men _ought_ to do, but what
they will _do_. We have to deal with human nature, with
prejudice, with passion, with habits of thought and feeling, as
well as with reason and sober judgment and the moral sense.
Possibly the Government may have made a mistake in its estimate
of the effect of this measure on the public mind. The use of
negroes as soldiers may have a worse effect on the army and on
the people than they have supposed.

"But this is a matter of opinion upon which men have differed.
Very prominent and influential persons, Governors of States,
Senators, popular Editors and others have predicted the best
results from such a measure, while others have anticipated the
worst. The President has resolved to try the experiment. If it
works well, the country will be the gainer. If not, we have no
doubt it will be abandoned. If the effect of using negroes as
soldiers upon the army and the country, proves to be depressing
and demoralizing, so as to weaken rather than strengthen our
military operations, they will cease to be employed. The
President is a practical man, not at all disposed to sacrifice
practical results to abstract theories.

"3d. It is said we shall get no negroes--or not enough to prove
of any service. In the free States very few will volunteer, and
in the Slave States we can get but few, because the Rebels will
push them Southward as fast as we advance upon them. This may be
so. We confess we share, with many others, the opinion that it
will.

"But we may as well wait patiently