s J /' I hnj nJU^-' GRANT AND SCHURZ ON THE SOUTH. SOUTH, AHT> EXTEAC lb ^ ^ JlBW J()irNS ON, SUB ^D T BY HIM 00 B SulrOATED TO CONGRESS A * Di5L DECEMBEK 19, 1865. LETTER OF GENERAL GRANT CONCERNING AFFAIRS AT TUB SOUTH. Headquarters Armies of the United States, Washington, D. C Dec. IB, l^ S,r • In reply to your note of the ,16th in- information as I »ay be po ssea e J ^^'r^theXuea^r^rtteirresolLo,, ofThe 12th tuuCl have the honor to submit and to see what changes were ""JJ^"^ ''^co^trt^retceT^bere- ot tue couuuy , "-J . i , learn, „o days i ,? u X,u Lv: Umg a ffwhile sto'pp-? one day. Bothin tr »™"??i.i„ „j|b the eili- I S aw oauch and con™ ^ J ff Y olficer3 of OT t te "f^Ke. ^d VoveVor by! time has been given lor reflection, that h j cision has been a fortunate one for -the whole country, they receiving like l« u «%' m jJ with those who opposed them m the held ana in council. , Four years of war, during which law was ex- ecuted only at the point, of the bayonet through^ outU.eStatesinrebellndn haveletthepe^de oossibly in a condition not to yield that leauy obedience to civil authority the American poo- ^L"e generally been in the iKUmcdy.l^ This would render the presence of small gar isons throughout those States necessary until such time as labor returns o its P«u»W4A» \ „el, and civil authority is ally es ah ; 1» W 1 did not meet any one, eitnCr tlo,o hold places under the government or citizens of ^the Southern Stales, who think it practicable to Sdraw the military from the South at prese • The white and the black mutually require the protection ot the general government. There is such universal acquiescence .in the authority of the general government throng out the portions of country visited by me, tha he mere presence of a military force, without regard to numbers, is sufficient to maintain or- der The good of the country, and economy, require that the force kept in the interior, where there are many freedmen, (elsewheie . . ho Southern States than at torts upon h< >£■»•« no force is necessary,) should all be win e troous The reasons for this are obvious with- o r u°t mentioning many of them. The presence of black troops, lately .-laves, demoralizes ia bor both by their advice and by furnishing in their camps a resort for the freedmen for long SnceTaround. White troops generally ex- cite no opposition, and therefore a sm> I u ber of them can maintain order in a given Srict. Colored troops must be kept in bodies sufficient to defend themselves. It is not .the Sing men who would use violence towards any class of troops sent amOng them by the general goveinme^tybut the ignorant in some Sees might; and the late slave seems to be buedwah the idea that the proper. y ot his 'Se master should, by right, belong to him, or Ltleasl itectioo trora the col- ises, My observations lead me Lo the couclu ion i hat. the ciLizens of llie Southern States are anxious lo return to self-government, within the Union, as soon as possible : that whilst re constructing they want and require protection from the government ; that they are in earnest in wishing to do what they think is required by the government] not humiliating lo them as citizens, and that if such a. course were pointed out they would pursue it in good faith. It is io be regretted that there cannot be a greater commingling, at this lime, between the citizens of I he two sections, and particularly of those intrusted with the law-making power. ] did not give the operations of the Freed- men's Bureau that attention I would have done il more time had been at my disposal. Con- versations on the subject, however, with officers connected with the bureau, lead me to think that, in some of the States, its affairs have not b >eh conducted with good judgment or economy, and that the belief, widely spread among the freed men of the Southern States, that the lands ol their former owners will, at least in part, be divided among them, has come from agents of 1 his bureau. This belief is seriously interfer- ing with the willingness of the freed men to make contracts for the coming year. Jn some form the Freedmen's Bureau is an absolute ne- cessity until civil law is established and en- forced, securing lo the freed men their rights and full protection. At present, however, it is in- dependent of the military establishment of the country, and' seems to be operated by the differ- ent agents of the bureau according to their in- dividual notions. Everywhere General Howard, the able head of the bureau, made friends by the just and fair instructions and advice he .gave ; but the complaint in South Carolina was that, when he left, things went on as before. .Many, perhaps the majority, of the agents of the Freedmen's Bureau advise the freedmen that by their own industry they must expect to live. To this end they endeavor lo secure em- ployment for them, and to see that both con- tracting parties comply with their engagements. In some instances, 1 am sorry to say, the freed- tnan's mind does not seem to be disabused of the idea that a freed man has the right to live without care or provision for the future. The effect of the belief in division of lands is idle- ness and accumulation in camps, towns, and cities. In such cases I think it will be found I that vice and disease will tend to the extermi- nation or great reduction of the colored race. It cannot be expected that the opinions held by men at the South for years can be changed in a day, and then fore the freedmen require, for a few years, not only laws to protect them, but. the fostering care of tho e who will give them ' lod coun el, and on whom they rely. "he l-'rerditien's Bureau being separated from the military establishment of the pountry, re quires all the expense of a separate organisa- tion. One dors not necessarily know what the other is doing, or what orders they are acting as to me thii could be < oreected by re • iry otfjcej on duty with (i 2 in the Southern Stat< i ana t of the Freed- men's Bureau, and then have all orders from the head of the bureau sent through department commanders. This would create a responsi- bility that would secure uniformity of action throughout all the South; would insure the orders and instructions from the head of the bureau being carried out, and would relieve from duty and pay a large number of employees of the government. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant. U. S. GRANT. Lieutenant General His Excellency ANDREW Jon.vsox, President of the United States. Grant's letter exhibits his characteristic can dor, consistency and freedom from prejudice, showing his desire for harmony, peace, and re- trenchment of expenses connected with the ad ministration of affairs. Schurz's report is lengthy and sensational, in which the personal pronoun I figures very extensively; and it is anything but flattering to the people of the South, whether white or colored. Although he says that "he has conscientiously endeavored to see things as they were, and to represent them as he saw them," the great inconsistency be- tween his views then and his recent utterances must be apparent to the most casual observer of his vacillating political course. m REPORT OF CARL SCUURZ ON THE STATES OF SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALA- BAMA, MISSISSIPPI, AND LOUISIANA. Sir : When you did me the honor of selecting me for amission to the States lately in rebellion. for the purpose of inquiring into the existing condition of things, of laying before you what- ever information of importance 1 might gather, and of suggesting to you such measures as my observations would lead me to believe advisable. I accepted the trust with a profound sense of the responsibility connected with the perform- ance of the task. The views I entertained at the time, I bad communicated to yon in frequent letters and conversations, 1 would not have ac cepted the mission, bad 1 not felt that whatever preconceived opinions 1 mighl carry with me to the South, 1 should be ready to abandon or mod- ify, as my perception of facts and circumstances might command their abandonment or modifica- tion. Vou informed me that your " policy of re- construction" wis merely experimental, and thai you would change it if the experiment did not I e»d to satisfactory results. To aid you in forming your conclusions upon this point I un- derstood to be the object ol my mission, and this understanding was in perfect accordance with ilii' written instructions 1 received through the Secretary of War. These instructions confined my mission to the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the department of the Gulf. I informed you, before leaving the North, that I could not well devote more than three months to the duties imposed upon me, and that spare of time proved sufficient for me. to visit all the States above enumerated, except Texas. Before laying the results of my observations before you, it is proper that I should state the modus operandi by which I obtained informa- tion anil formed my conclusions. Wherever I went I sought interviews with person? who might be presumed to represent the opinions, or to have influence upon the conduct, of their neighbors ; I had thus frequent meetings with individuals belonging to the different classes of society from the highest to the lowest ; in the cities as well as on the roads and steamboats I had many opportunities to converse not only with inhabitants of the adjacent country, but with persons coming from districts which I was not able to visit ; and finally I compared the impressions thus received with the experience of fche military and civil officers of the govern- ment stationed in that country, as well as of other reliable Union men to whom a longer resi- dence on the spot and a more varied intercourse with people had given better facilities of local observation than my circumstances permitted me to enjoy. When practicable I procured state- ments ot their views and experience in writing as well as copies of official or private reports they had received from their subordinates or other persons. It was not expected of me that 1 should take formal testimony, and, indeed, such an operation would have required more time than I was able to devote to it. RETURNING LOYALTY. It is a well-known fact that in the States of Tennessee and North Carolina, the number of white Unionists who, during the war, actively aided the government, or at least openly pro- fessed their attachment to the cause of the Un- ion, was very small. In none of these States were they strong enough to exercise any de- cisive influence upon the aetion of the people, not even in Louisiana, unless rigorously support- ed by the power of the general government. But the white people at large being under cer- tain conditions charged with taking the prelim- inaries of "reconstruction" into their hands, the success of the experiment depends upon tin; spirit and attitude of those wdio either attached themselves to the secession cause from the he- ginning, or, entertaiuing originally opposite views, at least followed its fortunes from the time that their States had declared their separation from the Union. The, first southern men of this class with whom I came into contact immediately after my arrival in South Carolina expressed their senti- ments almost, literally in tin; following lan- guage: "Wo acknowledge ourselves beaten, and we are ready to submit to the result of the war. The war has practically decided that no Stare shall secede and that the slaves are eman cipated. We cannot be expected at once to give up our principles and convictions of right, but we accept facts as they are. and desire to be re- instated as soon as possible in the enjoyment and exercise ot our political rights" This de- claration was repeated to me hundreds of times in every State 1 visited, with some variations of language, according to the different ways of thinking, or the frankness or reserve of the dif- ferent speakers. Some said nothing of adhering to their old principles and convictions of right ; others still argued against the constitutionality of coercion and of the emancipation proclama- tion, others expressed their determination to be- come good citizens in strong language, and urg ■ I with equal emphasis the necessity of their home institutions being at once left to their own con- trol ; others would go so far as to say they were glad that the war was ended, and they had never any confidence in the confederacy ; others pro- tested that they had been opposed to secession until their States went out, and then yielded to the current of events. Some would me give to un- derstand that they had always been good Union men at heart, and rejoiced that the war bad terminated in favor of the national cause, but in most cases such a sentiment was expressed only in a whisper; others a^in would grumblingly insist upon the restoration of their "rights," as if they had done no wrong, and indicated plainly that they would submit only to what, they could not resist and as long as they could not resist it. Such were the definitions of " returning loyalty" I received. Upon the ground of these declarations, and other evidence gathered in the course of my ob- servations, I may group the Southern people into four classes, eacli of which exercises an in- fluence upon the development of tilings in that section.: 1. Those who, although having yielded sub- mission to the national government only when obliged to do so, have a clear perception of the irreversible changes produced by the. war, and honestly endeavor to accommodate themselves to the new order of things. .Many of them are not free from traditional prejudice but open to conviction, and may be expected to act in good faith whatever they do. This class is composed, in its majority, of persons of mature age — plant- ers, merchants, and professional men ; some of them are active in the reconstruction movement, but boldness and energy are, with a few indi- vidual exceptions, not among their distinguish- in:',- qualities. 2. Those whose principal object is to have the States without delay restored to their position and influence in the Union and the people »/' the Siittes to the absolute control of their home, eo/t- cems. They are ready, in order to attain that object, to make any ostensible concessions (hut will m/t prevent them from arranging things to suit their taste as soon as that object is attained. This class comprises a considerable number' probably a large majority, of thV professional politicians who an- extremely active in the re construction movement. They are loud in their praise of the President's reconstruction policy, and clamorous for the withdrawal of theFeleral troops and the abolition of the Freedmen's Bu- reau. 3. The incorrigibles, who still indulge in the swagger which was so customary before and dur- ing the war, and still hope for a time when the Southern confederacy will achieve its indepen- dence. This class consists mostly of young men, and comprises the loiterers of the towns and the idlers of the country. They persecute Union men and negroes whenever they can do so with impunity, insist clamorously upon their "rights," and are extremely impatient of the presence of the Federal soldiers. A good many of them hate talcen the ortth of allegiance and amnesty, and as- sociated themselves with the second class in their political operations. This element is by no means unimportant ; it is strong in numbers, deals in brave talk, addresses itself directly and incessantly to the passions and prejudices of the masses, and commands the admiration of the women. 4. The multitude of people who have no defi- nite ideas about the circumstances under which they live and about the course they have to fol- low ; whose intellects are weak, but whose pre- judices and impulses ye strong, and who are apt to be carried along oy those who know how to appeal to the latter. But whatever their differences may be, on one point they are agreed : further resistance to the power of the national government is useless, and submission to its authority a matter of neces- sity. It is true, the right of secession in theory is still believed in by most of those who for- merly believed in it; some are still entertaining a vague hope of seeing it realized at some future time, but all give it up as a practical impossi- bility for the present. OATH-TAKING. Of those who have not yet taken the oath of allegiance most belong to the class of indifferent people who "do not cure one way or the other." There are still some individuals who find the oath to be a confession of defeat and a declara- tion of submission too humiliating and too re- pugnant to their feeling. It is to be expected that the former will gradually overcome their apathy and the latter their sensitiveness, and that at a uot remote day, all will have qualified themselves, in point of form, to resume tin; right of citizenship. FEELING TOWARD Tin: SOLDIERS AND PEOPLE OF Tin: NORTH. No instance has come lo my notice in which the people of a city or a rural district cordially fraternized witli the army. Here and there the Boldiers were welcomed as protectors against apprehended dangers ; Inn general exhibitions "i cordialil v on i he pari, of the population I have- not In aid of, 'I In re are, indeed, honor- able individual exceptions lo this rule. Many persons, mostly belonging to the first, of the lour classes above enumerated, are honestly striving to soften down the bitter feelings and tradiiional antipathies of their neighbors; others, who are acting more upon motives of policy than inclination, maintain pleasant re- lations with the officers of the government. But, upon the whole, the soldier of the Union is still looked upon as a stranger, an intruder — as the " Yankee," " the enemy " It would be superfluous to enumerate instances of insult offered to our soldiers, and even to officers high in command ; the existence and intensity of this aversion is too well known to those who have served or are now serving in the South to require proof. This feeling of aversion and resentment with regard to our soldiers may, perhaps, be called natural. The animosities inflamed by a four years' war, and its distressing incidents, cannot be easily overcome. But they extend beyond the limits ot the army, to the people of the North. 1 have read in Southern papers bitter complaints about the unfriendly spirit exhibited by the Northern people— complaints not un* frequently flavored with an admixture of vitu- peration. But, as far as my experience goes, the " unfriendly spirit" exhibited in the North is all mildness and affection compared with the popular temper which in the South vents itself in a variety of ways and on all possible occa- sions. No observing Northern man can come into contact with the different classes composing Southern society without noticing it. tie may be received in social circles with great polite- ness, even with apparent cordiality ; but soon he will become aware that, although lie may be esteemed as a man, he is detested as a " Yan- kee," and, as the conversation becomes a little more confidential and throws oil' ordinary re- straint, he is not unfrequenlly told so ; the word "Yankee" still signifies to them those traits of character which the Southern press has been so long in the habit of attributing to the Northern people; and whenever they look around them upon the traces of the war, they see in them, not the consquenees ot' their own folly, hut the evidences ot " Yankee wicked- ness." SITUATION' Of UNIONISTS. It. struck me, soon after my arrival in the South, that the known Unionists — I mean those who, during the war, had been to a certain ex- tent identified witti the national cause — were not in communion with the leading social and political circles ; ami the further my observa- tions extended the clearer ii became to me t hat their existence in the South was of a rather precarious nature. Already in Charleston, S. Gt| my attention was called to the current talk among the people, that when they had the con- trol of things once more in 1 heir own hauls, and were no longer restrained by the presence nf "Vaiil.ee soldiers, men o-l Dr. Mackey's Stamp would not be permitted lo live there. WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. While the generosity and toleration shown by the government to the people lately in re- bellion has not met with a corresponding gen* erosity shown by those people to the govern-. merit's friends, it has brought forth some results which, if properly developed, will becom e of value. It has facilitated the re-establishment of the froms of civil government, and led many ot those who had been active in the rebellion to take part in, the act of bringing back the Slates to* their constitutional relations ; and if noth- ing else were necessary than the mere putting in operation of the mere machinery of govern- ment in point of form, and noi also the accep- tance of the results of the war and their de- velopment in point of spirit, these results, al- though as yet incomplete, might be called a satis- factory advance; in the right direction. But as to the moral value of these results, we must not indulge in any delusions. There are two principal points to Which I beg to call your attention- In the first place, the rapid return to power and influence of b6 many of those who but recently wore engaged in a bitter war against the Union, ha& had one effect which was cer- tainly not originally contemplated by the govern- ment. Treason does, under existing circum- stances, not appear odious in the South. The people are not impressed with any sense; of its * cirminality. And, secondly, there is, as yet, among the Southern people an utter absence of national feeling. I made it a business, while in the South, to watch the symptoms of " return- ing loyalty " as they appeared ne>t only in pri- vate conversation, but in the public press and in the speechs delivered and the resolutions passed at Union meetings. Hardly ever was there an expression of hearty attachment to the great re- public, or an appeal to the impulses of patriot- ism ; but whenever submission to \\\c- national authority was declared and advocated, it was almost uniformly placed upon two principal grounds : That, under present circumstances, the Southern people could " de> no better ; " and then that submission was the only means by which they could rid themsel/ces of the federal soldi/ rs and obtain mice more control of their own affairs. Some of the speakers may have been inspired by higher motives, but upon these two arguments they had principally to rely whenever they wanted to make an impression upon the popular miud. While admitting that, at present, we have perhaps no right to expect anything better than this submission— loyalty which springs from necessity and calculation- — 1 do not consider it safe for the government to base expectations upon it, which the manner in which it manifests itself eloes not justify. KU-KLTIX: IN 1865. The organization of civil government is re- lieving the military, to a great extent, of its police duties and judicial functions; but at the time I left the South it was still very far from showing a satisfactory efficiency in the mainte- nance of order and security. In many disfa robbing and plundering was going on with per feet impunity ; the roads were infested by bands Of highwaymen: numerous assaults occurred, and several stage lines were considered unsafe. It is siated that civil officers are either unwilling or unable to enforce the law; that one man does not dai\: to testify against another lor fear of being murdered, and that the better elements of society are kept, down by lawless characters under a system of terrorism. Moth the Govern- ors ol Alabama and Mississippi complained of it, ill Official proclamations. Such a state of demor alization would call for extraordinary measures ■in any country, and it is difficult to conceive liar, ■in the face of the inefficiency of tlte civil auihori ties, the removal of the troops can bethought of. It is well known that the levying of taxes for the payment of the interest em our national debt is, and will continue to be, very unpopular in the South. It is true no striking demonstrations have as yet been made ol' any decided unwilling- ness on the part, of the people to contribute to the discharge of our national obligations. But most of the conversations 1 had with Southern- ers upon this subject, led me to apprehend that they, politicians and people, are rathe;' inclined to ask money of the government as covnpenstilion for their emancipated, slaves, for the rebuilding of the levees on the Mississippi, and various kinds of damage done by our armies for military pur poses, than, as the current expression is, to "help pay the; expense's of the whipping they have re- ceived. THE SOTJTIIF.TtX PEOPLE EXPECT TO BE PATH FOR EMANCIPATED SLAVES BY THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT, AND ARE OPPOSED TO BEING TAXED TO HELP l'AY THE NATIONAL DEBT. In fact there are abundant indications which render it eminently probable that, on the claim of compensation lor their emancipated slaves, the Southern States, as soon as re-admitted to t'ongress, will be almost a unit. In the Missis sippi convention the idea was broached in an elaborate speech, to have the late stave States relieved from taxation "for years to come" in consideration of debt due them for emancipated slaves. I need not go into details as to the efforts made in some of the Southern States in favor of the assumption by those Slates of their debts contracted dining the; rebellion. ^, It may be assumed with certainty that those who want to have the Southern people, poor as they are, taxed for the payment of rebel debts, do not mean to have them taxed for the purpose of meeting our national obligations. But what- ever devices may be resorted to, present tndica tions justify the apprehension that tht enforce~ no id. of ton- i\ Di inn imr.s mid unit with U n i'rae- tory spirit, and may requin sterner measures than the mere sending of revenue officers i that part, of t he country. THE LABOR QUESTION. When the war came to a close the labor sys- tem of the South was already much disturbed. In some localities, where our troops had not yet penetrated, and where no military post was within reach, planters endeavored and partially succeeded in maintaining between themselves and the negroes the relation of master and slave, partly by concealing from them the great changes that had taken place, and partly by ter- rorizing them into submission to their behests. But aside from these exceptions, the country found itself thrown into that confusion which is naturally inseparable from a change so great and so sudden. The white people were afraid of the negroes, and the negroes did not trust the white people; the military power of the na- tional government stood there, and was looked up to as the protector of both. GENERAL TREATMENT OF THE NEGRO. A belief, conviction, or prejudice, or whatever you may call it, so widely spread and apparent- ly so deeply rooted, as this, that the negro will not work without physical compulsion,. is cer- tainly calculated to have a very serious influence upon the conduct of the people entertaining it. It naturally produced a desire to preserve slavery in its original form as much and as long as possible — and you may, perhaps, remember the admission made by one of the provisional governors, over two months after the close of the war, that the people of his State still in- dulged in a lingering hope slavery might yet be preserved — -or to introduce into the new system that element of physical compulsion which would make the negro work. Efforts were, in- deed, made to hold the negro in his old state of subjection, especially in such localities where our military forces had not yet penetrated; or where the country was not garrisoned in detail. Here and there planters succeeded for a limited period to keep their former slaves in ignorance, or at least doubt, about their new rights; but the main agency employed for that purpose was force and intimidation. In many instances ne- groes who walked away from the plantations, or were found upon the roads, were shot or other- wise severely punished, which was calculated to produce the impression among those remaining with their masters that an attempt to escape from slavery would result in certain destruction. * * » * # * Brigadier General Fessenden reports: — "A spirit of bitterness and persecution manifests it^ self towards the pegroes. They are shot and abused, outside the immediate protection of our forces,/'// men who announce tlieir determination to take the law into tlu ir own hands, in defiance of our authority. To protect the negro and punish these still rebellious individuals it will be necee to have their country pretty thickly settled wit h soldiers." ****** The liabit is bo inveterate with a great many 1" i iBasto render on the least provocation, the impulse to whip a negro almost irresistible. ft will continue to be so until the Southern peo- ple will have learned, so as neper to for get it, that a black man leas rights which a white man is bound to respect. So far' the spirit of persecution has shown it [self so strong as to make the protection of the I freed in an by the military arm of the government in many localities necessary — in almost all, de- ! sirable. EDUCATION OF THE FREEDJIEN. I was forced to the conclusion that, aside from a" small number of honorable exceptions, the popular prejudice is almost as bitterly set against the negro's having the advantage of education as it was when the negro was a slave. There may be an improvement in that respect, but it would prove only how universal the prejudice was in former days. Hundreds of times I heard the old assertion repeated, that "learning will spoil the nigger for work," and that " negro education will be the ruin of the South." An- other most singular notion still holds a potent sway over the minds of the masses — it is, that the elevation of the blacks will be the degrada- tion of the whites. They do not understand yet that the continual contact with an ignorant and degraded populatien must necessarily lower the mental and moral tone of the other classes of society. This they might have learned from actual experience, as we in the North have been taught, also by actual experience, that the educa- tion of the lower orders is the only reliable basis of the civilization as well as of the prosperity of a people. The consequence of the prejudice prevailing in the Southern States is that colored schools can be. established and carried on with safety only under the protection of our military forces, and that where the latter are withdrawn the former have to go with them. There may !»' a few localities forming exceptions, hut tlieir num- ber is certainly very small. THE REACTIONARY TENDENCY. I stated above that, in my opinion, the solu- tion ot the social problem in the South did not depend upon the capacity and conduct of the negro alone, but in the same measure upon the ideas and feelings entertained and acted upon by tin' whites. What their ideas and feelings were while under my observation, and how they affected the contact of the two races. I have al- ready set forth. The question arises, what pol- icy will be adopted l>y the " ruling class " when all restraint imposed upon them by the military power of the national government is withdrawn, and they are left, free to regulate matters accord ing to their own tastes? It would be presump- tuous to speak of the future with absolute cer tainty ; hut it may safely be assumed that the same causes will always tend to produce the same effects. As long as a majority of the Southern people believe that "the negro will not work without, physical compulsion, *' and that ".the blacks at large belong to the whites at large," that belief will tend to produce a sys / tern of coercion, the enforcement of which will be aided by the hostile feeling against the negro now prevailing among the whites, and by the general spirit of violence which in the South ■was fostered by the influence shivery exercised upon the popular character. It is. inde e d , not probable that a general attempt will he ma '<■ ;■> restore slavery in its old form, on account of the barriers which such an attempt would find in its way: but there are systems intermediate between slavery as it formerly existed in the South, and free labor as it exists in the North, but more nearly related to the former than to the latter, the introduction faithfully co-operated with the government. I; ■;>e which fixes them in their | tions. That hope nourished or fully gratified, they wiil persevere in the same direction. That hope destroyed, a great many will, by the force of necessity, .,' once ace immodate themselves to the logic of the ehange. If, therefore, the na- vonal frovernui [y and unequivocally announces its policy not to give up the control of the free-labor reform until it. is finally accom- plished, the progressof that reform will undoubt- edly he far more rapid and far less difficult than it will be if the attitude of the government is such as to permit contrary hopes to be indulged in. , THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU A coon AGENT TO SE- CURE FREE LABOR IN' 'Hit: SOUTH. The machinery by which the government lias so far exercised its protection of the negro ami of free labor in the South — the Freedmen's Bureau — is very unpopular in that part of the country, as every institution placed there as ;l barrier to reactionary aspirations would be. * * * 1 feel warranted in saying that not half of the labor that has been done in the South this year, or will lie done there next year, would have been or would be done but for the exertions of the Frecdman's Bureau. The confusion and disorder of the transition period would have been infinitely greater had not an agency interfered which possessed the confidence of the emancipated slaves ; which could disabuse them of any extravagant notions and expectations and be trusted ; which could administer to them good advice and be volun- tarily obeyed. No other agency, except one placed there by the national government, could have wielded that moral power whose interpo- sition was so necessary to prevent Southern so- ciety from falling at once into the chaos eff a general collision between its different elements. That the success achieved by the Freedmen's Bureau is as yet very incomplete cannot be dis- puted. A more perfect organization and a more carefully selected personnel may be de- sirable ; but it is doubtful whether a more suit- able machinery, can be devised to secure to free labor in the South that protection against dis- turbing influences which the nature of the situa- tion still imperatively demands. SOUTHERN DELUSIONS. The Southern people honestly maintained and believed, not only that as a people they were highly civilized, but that their civilization,/ was the highest that could be attained, and ought to serve as a model to other nations the world over. The more enlightened individuals among them fell sometimes a vague impression of tin' barrenness of their mental life, and the barbarous peculiarities of their social organiza- tion ; but very lew ever dared to investigate and to expose the true cause of these evils. Thus the people were so wrapt up in self-ad- miration as to be inaccessible to tlie roice even of the best-intentioned criticism. Hence the a they indulged in as to the absolute superiority of their race — a delusion which, in spile of the severe test it has undergone, is not yet given up: and will, as every traveller in mth can testify from experience, some- times express itself in singular manifestations. This spirit, which for so ion-- a time has mt hern people bt the world be- sides was moving, is even at this mom >\\\ 8 standing as a serious obstacle in tlie way of progress. The South needs capital. But capital is no- toriously timid and averse to risk itself, not only where there actually is trouble, but where there is serious and continual danger of trouble. Capitalists will be apt to consider — and they are by no means wrong in doing so— that no safe investments can be made in the South as long as Southern society is liable to be con- vulsed by anarchical disorders. No greater encouragement can. therefore, be <;iven to capital to transfer itself' to the South than, the assurance that the government will continue to control the development of the new social sys- tem in the bite rebel States until such dangers are averted by a final settlement of things upon a thorough free- labor basis. NEGKO SUFFKAGE. Iii discussing the matter of negro suffrage 1 deemed it my duty to confine myself strictly to the practical aspects of the subject. I have, therefore, not touched its moral merits, nor discussed the question whether the national government! is competent to enlarge the elect* ive franchise in the States lately in rebellion by its own act : 1 deem it proper, however, to otter a. \\;\v remarks on the assertion frequently put forth, that the franchise is likely to be ex- tended to the colored man by the voluntary action of the Southern whites themselves. My observation leads me to a contrary opinion. Asub; from a very few enlightened men, 1 found but one class of people in favor of the enfran- chisement of the blacks: it was the class of Unionists who found themselves politically os- tracised, and looked upon the enfranchisi ment of the loyal negroes as the salvation of the whole loyal element. Hut their numbers and influence are sadly insufficient t« secure snch a result. The masses are Btrongly opposed to colored suffrage ; anybody that dares to advo* cateitis stigmatized as a dangerous fanatic; lior do I deem it probable that in the ordinary course of things prejudices will wear oil' to such an extent as to make it a popular measure. CONCLUSION. I may sum up all 1 have said in a lew words. If nothing were necessary but to restore the us; chinery of government in the Statt s lately in rebellii n in point of form, the movements made io that end by the people of the South might In' ei nsiden d satisfactory. But if it is required that the Southern people should also accommo- date thineelves to the results of the war in point of. spirit, these movements fall far short of \\ hat must be insisted upon. 'I he loynltj nl tie- mat Bes and moi t of the leaders of the Southern people, consists in sub- mission to necessity. There is, except in in- dh idual in lances, an t nlin al senct ol that natiot b '." true loyalty and pal riot i 'I I • I ion of the Slav i bruit ti d it llie | fret dman is no longer considered the property of the individual ma: ter, he is considered the slave of society, and all independent State legislation will share the tendency to make him such. The ordinances abolishing slavery passed by the conventions under the pressure of cir- cumstances, will not be looked upon as barring the establishment of a new form of servitude. Practical attempts on the part of the Southern people to deprive the negro of bis rights as a freeman may result, in bloody collisions, and will certainly plunge Southern society into rest- less fluctuations and anarchical confusion; Such evils can be prevented only by continuing the control ol the national government in the States lately in rebellion until lie- labor is fully developed and firmly established, and the advantages and blessings of the new order ol' things have disclosed themselves. This desir- able result, will be, hastened by a linn declara- tion on the part ol the government, that na- tional control of the South will not cease until such results are secured. Only in this way can that security be established in the South which will render numerous immigration pos- sible, and such immigration would materially aid a. favorable developi It will hardly be possibli uro the free- dom again- i i a: s legislation and pri- vate persecution, unless he be endowed with a certain measure <>i' political power. 1 desire not to be understood as saying that there are no well meaning men among those who were compromised in the ri bel ion. There are many, but neither their number nor influence is strong en i jh to < itrol the mani- fest tendency of the popular spirit. There are great, reasons for hope that a determined policy on the part nl' the national government will pro- duce innumerable and v. a uversions. This consideration counsels lenity as to persons, sue'n as is demanded by the humane and en- lightened spii it of our times, and vigor and firm- ness in the carrying out of principles, such as is demanded by the national sense of justice and the exigencies of our satiation. * -:<• » * * * 1 would entreat you to take no irretraceable step towards relievjug'he S a es lately in rebel: lion from all national control, until such favor- able changes are clearly and unmistakably ascer- tained. To that end, and by virtue of the permission you honored me with when sending me out to communicate to you. freely and unreservedly, my views as to i i f policy proper ! HOW res; ■ yen advise < '■ ngn ss V ■ v< xti- ffutiiit 'co ' rn >-l attained. This class comprises a considerable number, probably a large majority of the professional politicians who are extremely active in the reconstruction movement. They are loud in their praise of the President's reconstruction policy, and clamorous for the withdrawal of the Federal troops and the abolition of the Frccdmeifs Bureau. 3. The Lncorrigibles, who still indulge in the swagger which was so cus- tomary before and during the war, and still hope for a time when the Southern Confederacy will aohieve its independence. This class consists mostly of young men, and comprises the loiterers of the town and the idlers ol'tha country. They persecute Union men and negroes whenever they can do so with Impunity, insist clamorously upon their ••rights," and are extremely impatient of the presence of the Federal soldiers. A good many of them have taken the oaths of allegiance and amnesty, and associated themselves with the second class in their political operations. This element is by no means unimportant ; it is strong in numbers, deals in brave talk, addresses itself directly and incessantly to the passions and prejudices of the masses, and commands the admiration of the women. 4. The multitude of people who have no definite ideas about the circum- stances under which they live and about the course they have to follow ; whose intellects are weak, but whose prejudices and impulses are strong, and who are apt to be carried along by those who know how to appeal to the latter. Oath-taking. A demonstration of " returning lo3~alty" of a more positive character is the taking of the oaths of allegiance and amnesty prescribed by the general gov- ernment. At first the number of persons who availed themselves of the oppor- tunities offered for abjuring their adhesion to the cause of the rebellion was not very large, but it increased considerably when the obtaining of a pardon and the right of voting were made dependent upon the previous performance of that act. In some cases the taking of the oath was publicly recommended in newspapers and addresses with sneering remarks, and I have listened to many private conversations in which it was treated with contempt and ridi- cule. While it was not generally looked upon in the States I visited as a very serious matter, except as to the benefits and privileges it confers, I have no doubt that a great many persons took it fully conscious of the obligations it imposes, and honestly intending to fulfil them. On the whole, it may be said that the- value of the oaths taken in tk<& Southern States is neither above nor below the value of the political oaths taken in other countries. A historical examination of the subject of political oaths will lead to the conclusion that they can be very serviceable in certain emergencies and for certain objects, but that they have never insured the stability of a government, and never improved the morals of a people. Feeling towards the Soldiers and the People of the North. A moi - e substantial evidence of " returning lo}'alty" would be a favorable change of feeling with regard to the government's friends and agents, and the people of the loyal States generally. But no instance has come to my notice in which the people of a city or a rural district cordially fraternized with the army. Here and there the sol- diers were welcomed as protectors against apprehended dangers ; but general exhibitions of cordiality on the part of the population I have not heard of. There are, indeed, honorable individual exceptions to this rule. Many per- sons, mostly belonging to the first of the four classes above enumerated, are honestly striving to soften down the bitter feelings and traditional antipathies of their neighbors ; others, who are acting more upon motives of policy than inclination, maintain pleasant relations with the officers of the government. But, upon the whole, the soldier of the Union is still looked upon as a stranger, an intruder — as the " Yankee," "the enemy." N o observing northern man can come into contact with the different classes composing southern society without noticing this aversion. He may be received in social circles with great politeness, even with apparent cordiality; but soon he will become aware that, although he may be esteemed as a man, he is detested as a "Yankee," and, as the conversation becomes a little more confidential, and throws off ordinary restraint, he is not unfrequently told so ; the word " Yankee" still signifies to them those traits of character which the southern press has been so long in the habit of attributing to the northern people ; and whenever they look around them upon the traces of the war, they see in them, not the consequences of their own folly, but the evidences of "Yankee wickedness." In making these general statements, I beg to be understood as always excluding the individual ex- ceptions above mentioned. Situation of Unionists. It would have been a promising indication of returning loyalty if the old, consistent, uncompromising Unionists of the south had received that measure of consideration to which their identification with the new order of things entitled them. This appears to have been the case during that "first period" of anxious uncertainty when known Unionists were looked up to as men whose protection and favor might be of high value. At least it appears to have been so in some individual instances. But the close of that "first period" changed the aspect of things. It struck me soon after my arrival in the south that the known Unionists — I mean those who during the war had been to a certain extent identified with the national cause — were not in communion with the leading social and political circles ; and the further my observations extended the clearer it became to me that their existence in the south was of a rather precarious nature. Already in Charleston my attention was called to the current talk among the people, that, when they had the control of things once more in their own hands, and were no longer restrained by the presence of " Yankee" soldiers, men of Dr. Mackey's stamp would not be permitted to live there. At first I did not attach much importance to such reports ; but as I proceeded through the country, I heard the same thing so frequently repeated, at so many different places, and by so many different persons, that I could no longer look upon the apprehensions expressed to me by Unionists as entirely groundless. I found the same opinion entertained by most of our military commanders. Even Governor Sharkey, in the course of a conversation I had with him in the presence of Major-General Osterhaus, admitted that, if cur troops were then withdrawn, the lives of northern men in Mississippi woftld not be safe. A letter, addressed to me by General Osterhaus, states that he was compelled to withdraw the garrison from Attala count}*, Mississippi, the regiment to which that garrison belonged being mustered out, and that when the troops had been taken away, four murders occurred, two of white Union men, and two of negroes. He goes on to say : " There is no doubt whatever that the state of affairs would be intolera'ble for all Union men, all recent immigrants from the north, and all negroes; the moment the pro- tection of the United States troops was withdrawn." General Slocuin, in his order prohibiting the organization of the State militia in Mississippi, speaks of the " outrages committed against northern men, government couriers, and negroes." General Canby staged to me that he was obliged to disband and prohibit certain patrol organizations in Louisiana, because they indulged in the gratification of private vengeance. Lieutenant Iliekney, assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, at Shreveport, Louisiana says : " The life of a northern man who is true to his country, and frankly enun- ciates his principles, is not secure where there is not a military force to pro- tect him." The affair of Scottsborough, in the military district of northern Alabama, where a sherill' arrested and attempted to bring to trial for murder Union soldiers who had served against the guerrillas iu that part of the country, an attempt which was frustrated only by the prompt interference of the district commander, has become generally known through the news- papers. It is true these are mere isolated cases, for which i would be wrong to ,' hold auybocty responsible who was not connected with them ; but it is also true that the apprehensions so widely spread among the Unionists and northern men were based upon the spirit exhibited by the people among whom they lived. I found a good many thinking of removing themselves and their families to the northern States, and if our troops should be soon withdrawn, the exodus will probably become quite extensive, unless things meanwhile change for the better. Aspect op the Political Field. The status of this class of Unionists in the political field corresponds with what I have said above. I was in Mississippi immediately after the adjourn- ment of the State convention, and while the canvass preparatory to the election of the legislature and of the State and county officers was going on. Events have since sufficiently developed themselves in the other States to permit us to judge how far Mississippi can be regarded as a representative of the rest. The Mississippi convention was, in its majority, composed of men belong- ing to the first two of the four classes above mentioned. There were several Union men in it of the inoffensive, compromising kind — men who had been opposed to secession in the beginning, and had abstained from taking a prominent part in the rebellion unless obliged to do so, but who had at least readily acquiesced in what was going on. But there was, as far as I have been able to ascertain, only one man there Avho, like the Unionists of East Tennessee, had offered active resistance to the rebel authorities. This was Mr. Crawford, of Jones county ; he was elected by the poor people of that region, his old followers, as their acknowledged leader, and his may justly be looked upon as an exceptional case. The impulses by which voters were actuated in making their choice ap- peared more clearly in the canvass for State officers, Congressmen, and nu'inbers of the legislature. A Union meeting at Vicksburg may, therefore, be produced as a not unfavorable exponent of Mississippi Unionism. The speakers represented themselves as Union men, and I have learned nothing about them that would cast suspicion upon the sincerity of their declarations as far as they go ; but all there qualified their Unionism by the same im- portant statement. Mr. Cooper: " In 1850 I opposed an attempt to break up the United States government, and in 18G0 I did the same. I travelled in Alabama and Mississippi to oppose the measure. (Applause.) But after the State did secede, I did all in my power to sustain it." (Heavy applause.) Mr. Evans : " In 1861 I was a delegate from Lauderdale county to the State convention, then and in 1860 being opposed to the act of secession, and fought against it with all my powers. But when the State had seceded, I went with it as a matter of duty, and I sustained it until the day of the surrender with all my body and heart and mind." (Great applause.) These speeches, fair specimens of a majority of those delivered by the better class of politicians before the better class of audiences, furnish an indication of the kind of Unionism which, by candidates, is considered palatable to the people of that region. When, at the commencement of the war, Kentucky resolved to remain in the Union, Mr. Hogan, so he informs the constituency, was a citizen of Kentucky ; because Kentucky refused to leave the Union Mr. Hogan left Kentucky. lie went to Mississippi, joined the rebel army, and was wounded in battle ; and because he left his native State to fight against the Union, ''therefore," Mr. Hogan tells his Mississippian constituency, "he cannot feel that he is an alien in their midst, and, with something of confidence in the result, appeals to them for their suffrages." x j I am sure no Mississippian will deny that if a candidate there based his claims upon the ground of his having left Mississippi when the State seceded, in order to fight for the Union, his pretensions would be treated as a piece of impudence. The kind of Patriotism taught in Schools. While I was in New Orleans an occurrence took place which may be quoted as an illustration of the sweep of what I might call the reactionary move- ment. When General Shepley was military governor of Louisiana, under General Butler's regime, a school board was appointed for the purpose of reorganizing the public schools of New Orleans. A corps of loyal teachers was appointed, and the education of the children was conducted with a view to make them loyal citizens. The national airs were frequently sung in the schools, and other oxercises introduced, calculated to impregnate the youth- ful minds of the pupils with affection for their country. It appears that this feature of the public schools was distasteful to that class of people with whose feelings they did not accord. Mr. II. Kennedy, acting mayor of New Orleans, early in September last, disbanded the school board which so far had conducted the educational af- fairs of the city, and appointed a new one. The composition of this new school board was such as to induce General Canby to suspend its functions until he could inquire into the loyalty of its members. He found that a large majority of the members had sympathized with the rebellion, and aided the confederate government in a variety of ways. But as no evidence was elicited proving the members legally incapable of holding office, General Canby considered himself obliged to remove the prohibition, and the new school board entered upon its functions. Without offering any comment of my own, I annex an editorial taken from the " New Orleans Times," of September 12. " The schools of New Orleans have been institutions so intensely and demonstratively loyal as to become unpopular with those of our fellow-citizens to whom such demonstrations are distasteful, and they must be brought back under ' popular control,' so as to make them cease to be obnoxious in that particular." It was gener- ally understood, when the new school board was appointed, that a Mr. Rodgers was to be made superintendent of public schools. In Major Lowell's report to General Canby this Mr. Rodgers figures as follows : " Mr. Rodgers, the candidate for the position of superintendent of public schools, held the same office at the commencement of the war. His conduct at that time was imbued with extreme bitterness and hate towai'ds the United States, and, in his capacity as superintendent, he introduced the ' Bonnie Blue Flag' and other rebel songs into the exercises of the schools under his charge. In histories and other books where the initials ' U. S.' occurred he had the same erased, and ' C. S.' substituted. He used all means in his power to imbue the minds of the youth intrusted to his care with hate and malignity towards the Union. He has just returned from the late confed- eracy, where he lias resided during the war. At the time'he left the city to join the army he left his property in the care of one Finley, who claims to be a British subject, but held the position of sergeant in a confederate re- giment of militia." No sooner was the above-mentioned prohibition by General Canby removed when Mr. Rodgers was actually appointed, and he now presides over the educational interests of New Orleans. There is something like system in such proceedings. Treason not odious. There are two principal points to which I beg to call your attention. In 23 legislation of the States, render the interference of the national authority less necessary. As the most difficult of the pending questions are intimately connected with the status of the negro in southern society, it is obvious that a cor- rect solution can be more cosily obtained if he has a voice in the matter. In the right to vote he would find the best permanent protection against oppressive class legislation, as well as against individual persecution. The relations between the white and black races, even if improved by the gradual weai'ing otf of the present animosities, are likely to remain long under the troubling influence of prejudice. It is a notorious fact that the rights of a man of some political power are far less exposed to violation than those of one who is, in mutters of public interest, cornpletel} 7 subject to the will of others. A voter is a man of influence ; small as that influence may be in the single individual, it becomes larger when that individual belongs to a numerous class of voters who are ready to make common cause with him for the protection of his rights. Such an individual is an object of interest to the political parties that desire to have the benefit of his ballot. It is true, the bringing face to face at the ballot-box of the white and black races may here and there lead to an outbreak of feeling, and the first trials ought certainly to be made while the national power is still there to prevent or repress disturbances ; but the practice once success- fully inaugurated under the protection of that power, it would probably be more apt than anything else to obliterate old antagonisms, especially if the colored people — which is probable, as soon as their own rights are suffi- ciently secured — divide their votes between the different political parties. But it is idle to say that it will be time to speak of negro suffrage when the whole colored race will be educated, for the ballot may be necessary to him to secure his education. Aside from a very few enlightened men, I found but one class of people in favor of the enfranchisement of the blacks ; it was the class of the Unionists who found themselves politically ostracised and looked upon the enfranchisement of the lo} f al negroes as the salvation of the whole loyal element. But their numbers and influence are sadly insufficient to secure such a result. The masses are strongly qpposed to colored suffrage ; any body that dares to advocate it is stigmatized as a dangerous fanatic ; nor do 1 deem it probable that in the ordinary course of things prejudices will wear off to such an extent as to make it a popular measure. The only manner in which, in my opinion, the southern people can be induced to grant to the freedmen some measure of self-protecting power in the form of suffrage, is to make it a condition precedent to "readmission." Deportation of the Freedmen. I have to notice one pretended remedy for the disorders now agitating the south, which seems to have become the favorite plan of some promi- nent public men. It is that the whele colored population of the south should be transported to some place where the} 7 could live completely separated from the whites. It is hardly necessary to discuss, not only the question of right and justice, but the difficulties and expense necessarily attending the deportation of nearly four millions of people. But it may be asked, what would become of the industry of the south for many years, if the bulk of its laboring population were taken away ? The south stands in need of an increase and not of a diminution of its laboring force to repair the losses and disasters of the last four years. Much is said of importing European laborers and northern men ; this is the favorite idea of many planters who want such immigrants to work on their plantations. But 24 they forget that European and northern men will not come to the south to serve as hired hands on the plantations, but to acquire property for them- selves, and that even if the whole European immigration at the rate of 200,000 a year were turned into the south, leaving not a single man for the north and west, it would require between fifteen and twenty years to fill the vacuum caused by the deportation of the freedmen. It is, however, a question worthy of consideration whether it would not be wise to offer attractive inducements and facilities for the voluntary mi- gration of freedmen to some suitable district on the line of the Pacific railroad. It would answer a double object: 1. It would aid in the con-., struction of that road ; and 2. If this migration be effected on a large scale it would cause a drain upon the laboring force of the South ; it would make the people affected by that drain feel the value of the freedmen's labor, and show them the necessity of keeping that labor at home by treating the la- borer well, and by offering him inducements as fair as can be offered elsewhere. Conclusion. I may sum up all I have said in a few words. If nothing were necessary but to restore the machinery of government in the States lately in rebellion in point of form, the movements made to that end by the people of the South might be considered satisfactory. But if it is required that the southern people should also accommodate themselves to the results of the war in point of spirit, those movements fall far short of what must be insisted upon. The loj r alty of the masses and most of the leaders of the southern people, consists in submission to necessity. There is, except in individual instances, an entire absence of that national spirit which forms the basis of true loyalty and patriotism. The emancipation of the slaves is submitted to only in so far as chattel slavery in the old form could not be kept up. But although the freedman is no longer considered the property of the individual master, he is considered the slave of society, and all independent State legislation will share the ten- dency to make him such. The ordinances abolishing slavery passed by the conventions under the pressure of circumstances, will not be looked upon arf barring the establishment of a new form of servitude. Practical attempts on the part of the southern people to deprive the negro of his rights as a freeman may result in bloody collisions, and will certainly plunge southern society into restless fluctuations and anarchical confusion. Such evils can be prevented only by continuing the control of the national government in the States lately in rebellion until free labor is fully devel- oped and firmly established, and the advantages and blessings of the new order of things have disclosed themselves. This desirable result will be hastened by a firm declaration on the part of the government, that national control in the South will not cease until such results are secured. 25 Extract from Documents accompanying the Report of Major General Carl Schnm STATEMENT OF GENERAL THOMAS KILBT SMITE. September 14, 1865. I have been in command of tbe southern district of Alabama since the commencement of General Canby*s expedition against Mobile. On the 4th of July I permitted in Mobile a procession of the freedmen, the only class of people in Mobile who craved of me the privilege of celebrating the anniversary of the Declara- tion of Independence. Six thousand well-dressed and orderly colored people, escorted by two regiments of colored troops, paraded the streets, assembled in the public squares, and were addressed in patriotic speeches by orators of their own race and color. These orators coun- selled them to labor and to wait. This procession and these orations were the signal for a storm of abuse upon the military and the Freedmen and their friends, fulminated from the street corners by the then mayor of the city and his common council and in the daily news- papers, and was the signal for the hirelings of the former slave power to hound down, perse- cute, and destroy the industrious and Inoffensive negro. These men were found for the most part by the police of the city, acting under the direction of the mayor, R. II. Hough, since removed. The enormities committed by these policemen were fearful. Within my own knowl- edge colored girls seized upon the streets had to take their choice between submitting to out- rage on the part of the policemen or incarceration in the guard-house. These men, having mostly been negro drivers and professional negro whippers, were fitting tools for the work in hand. Threats of and attempts at assassination were madeagainst myself. Threats were made to destroy all school-houses in which colored children were taught, and in two instances they were fired. The 6ame threats were made against all churches in which colored people assembled to worship, and one of them burned. Continued threats of assasAsvuiou were made against the colored preachers, and one of them is now under special guard by order of Major-General Wood. When Mayor Hough was appealed to by this man for protection, he was heard to say that no one connected with the procession of the 4th of July need to come Into his court, and that their complaints would not be considered. Although Mayor Hough has been removed, a large majority of these policemen are still in office. One of the most intelligent and high-bred ladies of Mobile, having had silver plate stolen from her more than two years ago. and having, upon affidavit, secured the incarceration of two of her former slaves whom she suspected of the theft, came to me in my official capacity, aud asked my order to have them whipped and tortured into a confession ofthe crime charged and the participants in it. This lady was surprised when I informed her that the days of the rack and the thumbscrew were passed, and, though pious, well-bred, and a member of the church, thought it a hardship that a negro might not be whipped or tortured till he would confess what li 3 might know about a robbery, although not even a. prima facie case existed against him, or that sort of evidence that would induce a grand jury to indict. I oiler this as an instance ofthe feeling that exists in all classes against the negro, and their inability to realize that he is a free man and entitled to the rights of citizenship. Sfjeeches of Hon. Sylvanus Evans and Richard Cooper, candidates for Congress and Attorney -General, Vicksburg, September 19, 1865. Pursuant to a call published in our yesterday's issue, a large number of citizens assembled at Apollo Hall last evening to listen to addresses from prominent candidates for office at the ensuing election. <■» Shortly after 8 o'clock Hon. A. Burwell introduced Hon. Richard Cooper to the meeting, who addressed them as follows : SPEECH OF MR. COOPER. Fellow-Citizens : I present myself before you to-night as a candidate for tate and country. Hon. Sylvanus Evans was then introduced to the audience by Mr. Cooper, who 6poke jub> S'tantially as follows : 26 SPEECH OF JUDGE EVANS. Ffllow-Citizens of Warren County : I am grateful to meet you here this evening although a stranger to most of you. Here you must judge of my standing, and I hope you will pardon me while I attempt to explain my position to you. I came to Mississippi in 1837. and moved to Landjfdale county in 1839 ; by profession in early life, a blacksmith, latterly a lawyer, practicing in eastern Mississippi ; to some extent a politician, always be- lieving in the policy of the old-line Whigs, and always acting with them. In 1851 I was a delegate from Lauderdale county to the State convention, then, as in 1800, being opposed to the act of secession, and fought against it with all my powers. But after the State had seceded I went with it as a matter of duty, and I sustained it until the day of the surrender with all my body and heart and mind. [Great applause.] I believed that the majority of the people did not know what was to come, but, blending their interests with minej I could not. with honor, keep from it. We are now emerging; now daylight is dawning upon us. But whether peace and pros- perity shall return iu its fullness is now a question with the people. I am a candidate before you for the United States Congress. Let me say to you, as wise men, that unless the people and the legislature do their duty, it is useless to send me or any one else to Washington, as we cannot there obtain seats in Congress. We are not willing that the negro shall testify in our courts. We all revolt at it, and it is natural that we should do so ; but we must allow it as one of the requisites of our admission to our original standing in the Union. To-day the negro is as competent a witness in our State as the white man, made so by the action of the convention. The credibility of the witness is to be determined by the jurors and justices. If you refuse his testimony, as is being done, the result will be the military courts and.Freedmen's Bureau will take it up, and jurisdiction is lost, and those who best know the negro will be denied the privilege of passing judgment upon it, and those who know him least are often more in favor of his testimony than yours. The President and the conservative element of the North are determined that the negro shall be placed where nature places him, in spite of the fanatics. Another important point — a great debt has been contracted by the federal government. The South cannot pay a proportion of that debt. I am opposed to repudiation, but am in favor of relieving the South of the internal revenue tax. My opponent, Mr West, contends that Mississippi must pay her taxes up to 1805. I do not think so ; and this is the only issue between us. I deny that the government has a right to levy such a tax, and contend that the government cannot impose a tax upon a State unless that State participates in the accumulation of that debt. At the time tJiis debt was contracted we were recognized as belligerents, and not liable to a share of the debt then contracted for. That back tax can only be collected by a special act of Congress, and, if elected, I shall onpose any such act. Determine for yourselves whether or not the President does not offer terms that should suit any of us ; is he not trying to stay the tide of fanaticism at the North that would overwhelm us i Has he not shown itinour own State, in the appointment of our military governor? No man in the State could have been appointed to give more general satisfaction than W. L. Sharkey, an able, straightforward, just man. The President, in his speech to the Southern delegation, assures them that he is determined to stay the tremendous tide of the fanatics of the North, and that suffrage to the negro shall not bo forced upon the people of the South. If elected, I will heartily co-operate with the President in his policy of reconstruction, for I am bi terly opposed to conferring the right of suffrage upon the negro. List of colored people killed or maimed by white men and treated at Post JIosji it a I, Mo n tgomery. 1. Nancy, colored woman, ears cut off. She had followed Wilson's column towards Macon two or three days, and when returning camped near the road, aud while asleep a white man by the name of Ferguson, or Foster, an overseer, came upon her aud cut her ears off. Thi6 in April, about thirty miles cast of Montgomery < 2. Mary Steel, one side-of her head scalped ; died. She was with Nancy. 3. Jacob Steel, both ears cut off; was with the same party. 4. Amanda Steel, ears cut off; was with the same party. 5. Washington Booth, shot in the back, near Montgomery, while returning from his work, May 1. lie was shot by William Harris, of Pine Level, thirty miles from here, without auy jinn i. cation. G. Sution Jones, beard and chin cut off. He belonged to Nancy's party, and was maimed by I'm' same man. 7. About six colored people were treated at this hospital, who were shot by persons in ambuscade during the months of June aud July. Their names cannot be found in a hasty review of the record. 8. Robert, servant of Colonel Hough, was stabbed while at his house by a man wearing in pari the garb of a confederate soldier ; died on the 20th of June, in this hospital, about seven days after having been stabbed. 0. Ida, a young colored girl, was struck on the head with a club by an overseer, about thirty mil's from here ; died of her wound at this hospital, June l 20. 10. James Taylor, stabbed about half a mile from town ; had bcvcu 6tabs that entered his 27 Inngs. two in his arms, two pistol-shots grazed him, and one arm cut one-third off, on the 18th of June Offender escaped. 11. James Monroe, cut across the throat while engaged in saddling a horse. The offender, a white man by the name of Metcalf, was arrested. No provocation. Case happened on August 19, in this city. These cases came to my notice as surgeon in charge of the post hospital at Montgomery. I treated them myself, and certify that th<3 above statements are correct. Montgomery Hall, August 2i, 18G5. J. M. PIIIPPS, Acting Staff Surgeon, in charge of Post Hospital. Office Provost Marshal, Post of Selma, Aktbama, August 2.'3, 1865. I have the honor to report the following facts in regard to the treatment of colored persons by white? within the limits of my observation : There have come iHider my notice, officially, twelve cases in which I am morally certain (the trials have not been had yet) that negroes were killed by whites, In a majority of cases the provocation consisted in the negroes trying to come to town, or to return to tho plantation after having been sent away. These cases are in part as follows : Wilson H. Gordon, convicted by military commission of having shot and drowned a negro, May 14, 1865. Samuel Smiley, charged with having shot one negro and wounded another, acquitted on proof of an alibi. It is certain, however, that one negro was shot and another wounded, as stated. Trial occurred in June. Three negroes were killed in the southern part of Dallas county; it is supposed by the Vaughn family. I tried twice to arrest them, but they escaped into the woods. Mr. Alexander, Perry county, shot a negro for being around his quarters at a late hour. He went into his house with a gun and claimed to have 6hot the negro accidentally. The fact is, the negro is dead. i Mr. Dermott, Perry county, started with a negro to Selma, having a rope around the negro's neck. He was seen dragging him in that way; but returned home before he could have reached Selma. He did not report at Se'.ma, and the negro has never 6ince been heard of. The neighbors declare their belief that the negro was killed by him. This was about the 10th of July. Mr. nigginbothom, and Threadgill, charged with killing a negro in Wilcox county, whose body was found in the woods, came to my notice the first week of Augnst. A negro was killed on Mr. Brown's place, about nine miles from Selma, on the 20th of August. Nothing further is known of it. Mr. Brown himself reported. A negro was killed in the calaboose of the city of Selma, by being beaten with a heavy club ; also, by being tied up by the thumbs, clear of the floor, for three hours, and by further gross abuse, lasting more than u week, until he died. I can further state, that within the limits of my official observation crime is rampant ; that life is insecure as well as property ; and that the country is filled with desperadoes and ban- ditti who rob and plunder on every side, and that the county is emphatically in a condition of anarchy. The cases of crime above enumerated, I am convinced, are but a small part of those that have actually been perpetrated. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. P. HOUSTON Jlijor 5th Minnesota, and Provost Marshal U. S. Forces at Selma, Alabama. Major General Carl Scnunz. Freedmen's Bureau, July 2'9, 1865. Sir : I have the honor to report some testimony I have received of the murders and bar- barities committed on the frecdmen in Clark, Choctaw, Washington and Marengo counties, also the Alabama and Bigbee rivers. About the last of April, two freedmen were hung in Clark county. On the night of the eleventh of May, a freedman named Alfred was taken from his bed by his master and others and was hung, and his body still hangs to the limb. About the middle of June, two colored soldiers (at a house in Washington county) showed their papers aud were permitted to remain all night. In the morning the planter called them out and shot one dead, wounded the other, and then with the assistance of his brother (and their negro dogs) they pursued the one who had escaped. He ran about three miles and found a refugeln a white man's house, who informed the pursuers that he had passed. The soldier was finally got across the river, but has not been heard of since. At Bladen Springs, (or rather six miles from there,) a freedman was chained to a pine tree and burned to death. About two weeks after, and fifteen miles from Bladen, another freedman was burned to death. In the latter part of May, fifteen miles south of Bladen, a freedman was shot outside of tho planter's premises and the body dragged into the 6table, to make it appear he had 6hot him in the act of stealing. About the first of June, six miles west of Bladen, a freedman was hung. His body is still hanging. 28 About the last of May, three freedinen were coming down the Bigbee river in a shift, when two of them were shot ; the other escaped to the other shore. At Magnolia Bluff (Bigbee river) a freedman (named George) was ordered out of his cabin to be whipped ; he started to run, when the men (three of them) set their docs (five of them) on him, and one of the men rode up to George and struck him to the earth with a loaded whip. Two of them dragged him back by the heels while the dogs were lacerating his face and body. They then placed a stick across his neck, and while one stood on it the others beat him until life was nearly extinct. About the first of May, near Landing, in Choctaw county, a freedman was hung ; and about the same time, near the same neighborhood, a planter shot a freedman, (who was talking to one of his servants,) and dragged" the body into his garden to conceal it. A preacher (near Bladen Springs) states in the pulpit that the roads in Choctaw county stunk with the dead bodies of servants that had fled from their masters. The people about Bladen declare that no negro sllall live in the county, unless he remains with his master and is as obedient as heretofore. In Clark county, about the first of June, a freedman was shot through the heart ; his body lies unburied. About the last of May, a planter hung his servant (a woman) in presence of all the neigh- borhood. Said planter had killed this woman's husband three weeks before. This occurred at Suggsville, Clark county. About the last of April, two women were caught near a certain plantation in Clark county and hung ; their bodies are still suspended. On the 19th of July, two freedmen were taken off the steamer Commodore Ferrand, tied, and hung ; then taken down, their heads cut off and their bodies thrown in the river. July 11, two men took a woman off the same boat and threw her in the river. This wo- man had a coop, with some chickens. They threw all in together, and told her to go to the damned Yankees. The woman'was drowned. There are regular patrols posted on the rivers, who board some of the boats ; after the boats leave they;hang, 6hoot or drown the victims they may find on them, and all those found on the roads or coming down the river are most invariably murdered. This is only a few of the murders that are committed on the helpless and unprotected freed- men of the above-named counties. W. A. POILLON, Captain and Ass't. Sup't Freedmen. Brig. Gen. Swatne. A true copy of the original deposited in this office. CHARLES A. MILLER, Major and A. A. A. General. Statement of Colonel Samuel Thomas, Assistant Commissioner B. R. F. and A. L.for Ifississijyri and iV. E. Louisiana. Vicksburg, August 3d, 1S65. The admission of negro testimony will never secure the freedmen justice before the courts of this State as long as that testimony is considered valueless by the judges and juries who hear it. It is of no consequence what the law may be if the majority be not inclined to have it executed. A negro might bring a suit before a magistrate and have colored witnesses examined in his behalf, according to provisions of general orders and United States law, and yet the prejudices of the community render it impossible for him to procure justice. The judge would claim the right to decide whether the testimony was credible, and among the neighbors that would surround him, in many places, he would be bold indeed, if he be- lieved the sworn evidence of a negro when confronted by the simple assertion or opposed. even to the interest of a white man. I recently heard a circle of Mississippians conversing on l bis subject. Their conclusion was, that they would make no objection to the admission of negro testimony, because "no southern man would believe a nigger if he had the damned, impudence to testify contrary to the statement of a white man." I verily believe that in n places a colored man would refuse, from fear of death, to make a complaint against si white man before a State tribunal if there were DO efficient military protection at hand. }' Wherever I go — the street, the shop, the house, the hotel, or the steamboat — I hear tho people talk in 6uch a way as to indicate that they are yet unable to conceive of the negro as possessing any rights at all. Men who are honorable in their dealings with their white, neighbors will cheat a negro without feeling a single twinge of their honor. To kill a negro] they* do not deem murder; to debauch a negro woman they do not think fornication ; to take] the property away from a negro they do not consider robbery. The people boast that when they get freedmen affairs in their own hands, to use their own expression, '* the niggers wiLU catch hell." The reason of all this is simple and manifest. The whites esteem the blacks their property* by natural right, and however inueli they may admit that the individual relatione Of mastery niid slaves have been destroyed by the war and by the President's emancipation proclamation," they still have an Ingrained feeling that the blacks at large belong t<> the whites a( large, and whenever opportunity serves they treat the colored people just as their profit, caprice or pasr sion may dictate. 29 Ordinance relative to the police of recently emancipated negroes or freedmen within the corporate limits of the town of Opelousas. "Whereas, the relations formerly existing between master and slave have become chanrrcd by the action of the controlling authorities; and whereas it is necessary to provide for the proper police and government of the recently emancipated negroes or freedmen in their new relations to the municipal authorities : Section 1. Be it therefore ordained by the board of police of the town of Opelousas, That do negro or freedman shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas with- out special permission from his employers, specifying the object of his visit and the time necessary for the accomplishment of the same. Whoever shall violate this provision shall Bufi'er imprisonment and two days' work, on the public streets, or shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents. Sect. 2. Be it further ordained, That every negro freedman who shall be found on the streets of Opelougas after ten o'clock at night without a written pass or permit from his em- ployer shall be imprisoned and compelled to work five days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars. Sect. 3. No negro or freedmen shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits Of the town under any circumstances, and any one thus offending shall be ejected and com- pelled to find an employer or leave the town within twenty-four hours. The lessor or furnisher of the house leased or kept as above shall pay a fine often dollars for each offence. Sect. 4. No neirro or freedman shall reside within the limitsof the town of Opelousas who is not in the regular serviceof some w : hite person or former owner, who shall be held respon- sible for the conduct of said freedman ; but said employer or former owner may permit said freedman to hire his time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend over twenty four hours at any one time. Any one violatiilg th£ provisions of this section shall be imprisoned and forced to work for two days on the publi'vstreets. Sect. 5. No public meeting or congregation of negroes or freedmen shall be allowed within the limits of the town of Opelousas under any circumstances or for auy purpose, without the permission of the mayor or president of the board. This prohibition is not intended, however, to prevent the freedmen from attending the usual church services conducted by established ministers of religion. Every freedman violating this law 6hall be imprisoned and made to work five days on the public streets. Sect. 6. No negro or freedman shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people without a special permission from the mayor or president of the board ©f police, under the penalty of a fine of ten dollars or twenty days' work on the public streets. Sect. 7. No freedman who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire- arms, or any kind of weapons, within the limits of the town of Opelousas without the special permission of his employer, in writing, and approved by the mayor or president of the board of police. Anyone thus offending shall forfeit his weapons and shall be imprisoned and made to work for five days on the publie streets or pay a fine of five dollars in lieu of said work. Sect. S. No freedman shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within the limits of Opelousas without permission in writing from his employer or the mayor or president of the board, under the penalty of the forfeiture of said articles and imprison- ment and one day's labor, or a fine of one dollar in lieu of said work. Sect. 9. Any freedman found drunk within the limits of the town shall be imprisoned and made to labor five days on the public streets, or pay five dollars in lieu of said labor. Sect. 10. Any freedman not residing in Opelousas who shall be found withiu the corporate limits after the hour of 3 P. M., on Sunday, without a special permission from his employer or the mayor, shall be arrested and imprisoned and made to work two days on the public streets, or pay two dollars in lieu of said work. Sect. 11. All the foregoing provisions apply to freedmen and freedwomen, or both sexes. Sect. 12. It shall be the special duty of the mayor or president of the board to see that all the provisions of this ordinance are faithfully executed. Sect. 13. Be it further ordained, That this ordinance is to take effect from and after its first publication. ^f Ordained the 3d day of Jily, 13G5. E. D. ESTILETTE, President of the Board of Police. JOS. D. RICHARDS, Clerk. Official copy : i. LOVEI Captain and Assistant Adjuta^^^u'rul. VELL, ooMwvit An Ordinance relative to the police of negroes recently emancipaWcMcilhin the Parish of St. Landry. Whereas, it was formerly made the duty of the police jury to make suitable regulations for the police of slaves within tho limits of the parish ; and whereas, slaves have bece'ine 30 emancipated by the action of the ruling powers : and whereas, it is necessary for public' order, as well for the comfort and correct deportment of said freedinen, that suitable regula- tions should be established for their government in their changed condition, the following ordinances are adopted, with the approval of the United States military authorities com- manding in said parish, viz. : Section 1. Be it ordained by the police jury of the parish of St. Landry, That no negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of said parish without a special permit in writing from his employer. Whoever shall violate this provision shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents, or in default thereof, shall be forced to work four days on the public road, or Buffer corporeal punishment as provided hereinafter. Sect. 2. Be it further ordained, That every negro who shall be found absent from the residence of his employer after 10 o'clock at night, without a written permit from his em- ployer, shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof, shall be compelled to work five days ou the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. Sect. 3. Be it further'.ordained, That no negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish. Any negro violating this provision shall be immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer ; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any negro, In violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence. Sect. 4. Be it further ordained, That every negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said negro. But said employer or former owner may permit said negro to hire his own time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend over seven days at any one time. Any negro violating the provisions of this section shall be fined five dollars for each offence, or in default of the payment thereof, shall be forced to work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. Sect. 5. Be it further ordained, That no public meetings or congregations of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset ; but such public meetings and congregations may be held between the hours of sunrise and sunset, by the special permission in writing of the captain of patrol, within whose beat such meetings shall take place. This prohibition, however, is not intended to prevent negroes from attending the usual church services, con- ducted by white ministers and priests. Every negro violating the provisions of this section shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof, shall be compelled to work five days ou the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. Sect. 6. Be it further ordained, That no negro shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people, without a special permission in writing from the president of the police jury. Any negro violating the provisions of this section 6hall pay a fine of ten dollars, or in default thereof, shall be forced to work ten days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. Sect. 7. Be it further ordained, That no negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms, or any kind of weapons, within the parish, without the special written permission of his employers, approved and indorsed by the nearest or most con- venient chief of patrol. Any one violating the provisions of this section, shall forfeit his weapons and pay a fine of five dollars, or in default of the payment of said fine, shall be forced to work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. Sect. 8. Be it further ordained, That no negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within said parish, without the special written permission of his employer, specifying the articles of sale, barter or traffic. Any one thus offending 6hall pay a fine of one dollar for each offence, and suffer the forfeiture of said articles, or in default of the payment of said fine, shall work one day on the public road, or suffer corporeal punish- ment as hereinafter provided. Sect. 9. Be it further ordained, That any negro found drunk within the said parish shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof, shall work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. Sect. 10. Be it further ordained, That all the foregoing provisions shall apply to negroes of .both sexes. Sect. 11. Be it further ordained, That it shall be the duty of every citizen to act as a police officer for the detection of offences and the apprehension of offenders, who shall be immedi- ately handed over to the proper captain or chief of patrol. Sect. 12. Be it further ordained, That the aforesaid penalties shall be summarily enforced, and that it shall be the duty of the captains and chiefs of patrol to see that the aforesaid ordinances are promptly executed. Sect. ID. Be it further ordained, That all sums collected from the aforesaid fines shall be immediately handed over to the parish treasurer. Sect. 14. Be it further ordained, That the corporeal punishment provided for in the fore- going sections, shall consist in confining the body of the offender within a barrel placed over his or hejMdioulders, in the manner practiced in the army, such confinement not to continue luiiLrej^^B^vU e hours, and for such time within the aforesaid limit as shall he (ixed by tlie < c;t]HHp chief of patrol who indicts the penalty. SEcnPiWie it further ordained, That these ordinances shall not interfere with any muni- cipal or military regulations inconsistent with them within the limits of said parish. Sect. 10. Be it further ordained, That thebo ordinances shall take effect live days after their publication in the Opclousas Courier. Official copy : J. LOVELL, Captain and Assistant Adjutant General, 31 Bureau Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, Office Assistant Commissioner for State of Mississippi. Vicksbukg, Miss., September 2S, 1SC5. General: I enclose a copy of the city ordinances. You will see that negroes who sell ve< r et;ibU'. cakes, &c, on the street are required to pay ten dollars (§10) per month for the priVileo"'' of doing so. To illustrate the workings of this ordinance I will give you an actual occurrence in this citv. About a vear ago an old negro man named Henderson, crippled with over-work, about seventy years of age, was sent to me for support by the military authorities. I issued him rations for himself and wife, an old negro woman, incapable of doing anything but care for herself. I continued this till about January 1, 1SC5, when the old man came to me and informed me that if I would allow him to sell apples and cakes to the soldiers on a corner of the street near my office, under a large tree that grew there, he thought he could care for himsolf and make enough to support himself and wife. I immediately gave him permission and an order to protect him. I had but little faith in his being able to do it, as he was com- pelled to go on crutches and was bent nearly double, owing to a severe whipping his old master had given him many years ago. lie commenced his work", and, much to my surprise, made enough to support himself, and asked for no more assistance from me. When the city authorities took charge of the city matters the marshal of the city ordered him to pay the ten dollars per month "for the privilege of supporting himself or desist from Buck trade. The old man told him that all his profits would not amount to ten dollars per month, and that in some months he did not make that amount of sales, but, as Colonel Thomas provided him with a place to live, he could barely support himself by such trade. The marshal of the city informed him that the tax must be paid by all, and that Colonel Thomas could take care of "him, as it was his duty to do so. The old man came to my office and told me the whole affair. I wrote a letter to the mayor setting forth the whole case, and that the collection of this tax on such old cripples would compel me to support them, as they could not pay the city ten dollars per month and make their support. Iu fact, ten dollars per month is the common wages for negro lahor. The mayor refused to allow the negro to continue his sa^s, and I was compelled to take charge of him. I would have refused to allow the city authorities to interrupt him had it not been for General Orders No. 10, from headquarters department of Mississippi, allowing the mayor to take charge of such matters. You will see by the city ordinance that a drayman or hackman must file a bond of five hundred dollars in addition to paying for his license. The mayor requires that the be mdsmen shall lie ireeholders. . The laws of this State do not, and never did, allow a negro to own laud or hold property. The white citizens refuse to sign any bonds for the freedmen. The white citizens and authorities say that it is for their interest to drive out all inde- pendent negro labor ; that the freedmen must hire to white men if they wish to do this kind of work. I am, general, very respectfully, SAMUEL THOMAS, Colonel, Assistant Commissioner, Freedmen's Bureau, State of Misslssqqn. Major-General C. Schuez. FreedmeiUs Bureau, State of Ifississijyri, Office State Superintendent of Education. Yicksbttrg, Miss., September 28, 1S65. General : At the request of Colonel Thomas, I beg your attention to a few considerations touching the turning over of the care of the freedmen in Mississippi to the State authorities, So far as the transfer bears upon the religious and educational privileges of the colored people. Perhaps no one who has been less engaged iu cariug for the education and the moral interests of these people can fully appreciate the facts that I intend to lay before you, or understand them as having the intensity of meaning that I see in them. I have seen a good deal of the people of Mississippi, and have purposely sounded them as to their feelings with regard to the effort to educate the blacks. The general feeling is that of strong opposition to it. Only one person resident in Mississippi before the rebellion has expressed himself to me as in favor of it, and he did not propose to do anything to aid it ; and, to show how much his favor was worth, he said he regretted that lie was not able to pre- vent the negroes from having shouting meetings, and that he would keep them from going off the plantation to meeting now if he could, as lie formerly did. Aside from this gentleman, every native Mississippian and Irislunan with whom I have conversed opposes the instruc- tion of freedmen. Some disguise their opposition by affected contemptuous disbelief of the negro's capacity. All the facts that we can give them, however rich and Bnggestivo, are received with sneering incredulity and the assurance that they know the negroes belter than we do. A little persistence in giving this class of men facts disproving their assertions usu- ally makes them angry, and leads them to declare that if the negro can learn, the greater 32 the damage that will be done them, for the education will do them no good, and will spoU them. Others take this last-mentioned ground at first, and say that a learned negro is a nui* Banco; for, while he is ignorant, stupid, and brutish, he may be compelled to labor: but as soon as he comes to know something the white people cannot make so profitable use of him. Some manifest great spite when the subject is mentioned. They say we are trying to make the negro equal with them. Many do not hesitate to say that he ought to be kept uneducated In order that he may not be superior to ignorant white men. I have discovered that many object to the negro women's being educated lest they should