Eleventh.—None but regularly ordained ministers should be allowed to preach. At present on every plantation there are a number of preachers. Frequent meetings are held at night, continuing from 7 or 8 p.m. until 1 or 2 o'clock a.m. The day after one of these long meetings many of the laborers are unfit to labor; neither are the morals of the negroes improved by these late meetings, nor the health. The night meetings should break up at 10 p.m., and there should be but one a week on a plantation. Some of the preachers privately promulgate the most immoral doctrines.

Twelfth.—A police guard or patrol should be established under the control of the superintendent of free labor, whose duty it shall be, under their officers, to enforce the rules and regulations that the superintendent of free labor may think best to adopt for the government of the laborers and their families on plantations and in private families.

Thirteenth.—The laborers are at present extremely careless of the teams, carts, wagons, gear, tools, and material of all kinds put in their possession, and should therefore be held accountable for the same. Parents should be held liable for things stolen or destroyed by their children not over twelve years of age.

Fourteenth.—Foremen should be fined whenever they fail to report any of the laborers under them who disobey orders of any kind. The foreman at the stable should be required especially to report neglect or ill treatment of teams by their drivers, and he should be held liable for all tools and halters, &c., put in the stable.

Fifteenth.—The unauthorized purchase of clothing or other property by laborers, or others domesticated on plantations, should be severely punished, and so should the sale by laborers or others domesticated on plantations of plantation products without a written permission be punished by fine, imprisonment, and obstinate cases by corporal punishment. The sale or furnishing of intoxicating liquor of any kind to laborers or others domesticated on plantations should be severely punished.

Sixteenth.—The possession of arms or other dangerous weapons without authority should be punished by fine or imprisonment and the arms forfeited.

Seventeenth.—No one, white or colored, with or without passes, should have authority to go into a quarter without permission of the proprietor of said quarter. Should any insist upon going in, or be found in a quarter without permission of the proprietor, he should be arrested at once by the proprietor.

Eighteenth.—Fighting and quarrelling should be prohibited under severe penalties, especially husbands whipping their wives.

Nineteenth.—Laborers and all other persons domesticated on plantations or elsewhere should be required to be respectful in tone, manner, and language to their employers, and proprietors of the plantations or places on which they reside, or be fined and imprisoned.

Twentieth.—The whole study, aim, and object of the negro laborer now is how to avoid work and yet have a claim for wages, rations, clothes, &c.



No. 31.

OAK FOREST, NEAR TIGERVILLE STATION,

N.O. and O. Railroad, December 1, 1864.

Dear Sir: The earnest desire you have manifested to make the negro laborer under the new order of things successful, makes me the more disposed to offer every assistance in my power to that end. I have no prejudices to overcome; I would do the blacks all the good in my power consistently with their welfare and the welfare of the country; I owe them no ill will, but I am well satisfied that it will demand the highest skill and the largest experience combined to make the new system work successfully, when hitherto all others, including our own two years' experience, have signally failed. No namby-pamby measures will do. We may have more psalm singing, more night preaching, greater excesses in the outward manifestation of religion, but depend upon it there will be less true morality, less order, less truthfulness, less honest industry. It is not the experiment of a few only, or of a day, but of an institution, if anything, for millions; the mixing in industrial association of separate races hitherto distinct; of systems fundamentally changed and not of mere individuals, and the man who does not rise to the height of the great argument fails before he starts. It is not to listen to babblers, to professional philanthropists, to quacks and demagogues: it demands a manly, masculine, vigorous exercise of executive power, adapted to the circumstances of the case. Nobody is absolutely free, white or black. I have been a slave all my life; you have been the same. We were subject to discipline from childhood, and the negro as well, and must continue to be subject to wholesome restraints all of us.

It is well to consider that the measures of the government have rendered labor scarce. It would be safe to say there is not half a supply; that every sort of inducement will be held out to get labor away from present situations; that the inclination of all who are unincumbered is, to get to the city and its neighborhood. Every planter has some already there, living most unprofitably. I have half a dozen, some under the agreement of the present year. Concentration is the order of the day, and none but those who can command the largest sum of money will be able to carry on plantations with any hope of success. I take leave to add some suggestions, believing you will receive them with the same friendly spirit in which they are offered. I am still surrounded by my own servants, and would like to see the system so ordered that they would still find it to their advantage to remain in their present comfortable homes.

Wages, rules, and regulations should be fixed and uniform: nothing left to discretion.

A penalty should be inflicted on every employer who deviates from the established rates, maximum rates.

No field crops should be raised by hired laborers. The evils attending this are numerous and insurmountable.

Wages should be extremely moderate on account of the unsteadiness of labor and exceeding uncertainty of crops of all sorts, but especially of cane and cotton.

Cooking for hands should be confined absolutely to one kitchen, and a charge made for all wood taken to their houses; a certain supply should be allowed, and no additional quantity permitted at any price: otherwise no plantation can long stand the enormous, wasteful consumption of fuel.

All necessary expenditures for the blacks, old as well as young, should be borne by themselves. White laborers are all liable to such charges, and why not wasteful and improvident blacks? They should be early taught the value of what they consume as well as the other costs of living.

About keeping stock the rule should be absolute.

No travelling about, day or night, without a written sanction from the proper person. The violation of this order by a commanding officer has brought the small-pox on my place and already eight grown hands have died with it, and there are not less than twenty invalids besides: this is one of the evils.

Medicine and professional attendance a charge to the patient, as well as all educational arrangements.

Every ploughman or woman, and teamster, to be obliged to feed and curry his or her team once at least every day.

Payments beyond proper and prescribed supplies to be small, the smaller the better, and still better if withheld till the crop is made and saved; but settlements by tickets should be made weekly. (A share in the crop is the best for both parties.) I do not perceive the utility of "home colonies;" they belong to the class of theories more than anything else. Families should be kept together and at the "homes" to which they have been accustomed, if possible, and made to support themselves, all who are able to do so. At present there are many who will not do this because they are made a charge on the master or employer. Vagrants should be punished; work is a necessity. But I only put down a few particulars to impress upon your mind as they occur to me.

I know the difficult task you have undertaken. You have a giant to manage, and you will have to exercise a giant's strength. You have no less than to revise the teachings of all past history. You have to accomplish what has never been accomplished before. Neither in the east nor in the west has the African been found to work voluntarily; but the experiment is to be tried anew in this country, and I shall lend my assistance, whatever it is, to help on in the road to success, if that be possible. I have tried it two years under the military without success, or the prospect of it. If, however, I can in any way assist you to gain the meed of success, both my own interest and my kind feelings towards you combine to prompt me to renewed efforts in the cause.

I remain, very respectfully and truly, yours,

T. GIBSON.

Hon. B.F. FLANDERS.

P.S.—The great desideratum in obtaining labor from free blacks is its enforcement. How is this to be done? Formerly the known authority possessed by the master over the slave, prevented in a great degree the exercise of it. The knowledge now, on the part of the blacks, that the military authority has forbidden any authority over them, increases the very necessity of the power which is forbidden. This is palpable to any one who sees with an experienced eye for a day. There can necessarily be no order, day or night, no fidelity, no morality, no industry. It is so, speculate and theorize as we may. I wish it were different; it is a great pity to witness these deplorable effects.

Disease is scattered broadcast; my own stock has been for some time consumed, except a few milch cows. The sugar from the sugar-houses has been sold in quantities in every direction. The cotton of one plantation has been sold to the extent of half the crop to a white man, and only by the merest accident discovered in time to be detected. My neighbor's hogs have been taken from the pen, killed and brought home for consumption; his cattle the same. These things are within my knowledge by the merest accident, but there is absolutely no remedy, because their testimony is as good, if not better than mine, and this they know perfectly well. In a case of sugar-selling, I had the oath of a disinterested white man to the fact, and the black and white man identified by the witness. When this witness was through with his testimony, the negro man, the interested party, the accused himself, was called up by the provost marshal, and of course he swore himself innocent, and so he was cleared. In the case of the cotton not a negro can be brought to confess, notwithstanding the confession of the white man and the surrender of the cotton. How, then, can good order, good morals and honest industry be maintained when immunity from punishment is patent to their understandings?

I know no remedy adequate to the circumstances but an always present power to enforce law and order, and this now requires the constant presence of the bayonet. Which is the best, a regular military government, or the quiet, humane exercise of just so much authority as the case demands, by the master, who has every motive, human and divine, to exercise humanity and protect his slave from injustice and injury?

The past, or rather the present year, we had nothing but blank orders, and these are of no avail whatever without enforcement; and this brings us back to the starting-point again, and the bayonet again, and so it is to the end of the chapter. Moral suasion will not do for whites who have had freedom as an inheritance, and education within their reach. How then can it be expected that he who has been predestined by the Almighty to be a servant of servants all the days of his life, shall be capable of at once rising to motives of human conduct higher than those possessed by the white man?

All that my reason teaches and the experience I have had, and the history I have read, bring me to the same conclusion: you must utterly fail unless you add the stimulus of corporal punishment to the admonitions of the law; but as this would be somewhat inconsistent with the freedom which our solons have decreed, I must only confess my inability to prescribe the orthodox remedies according to the received dogmas from the inspired sources of knowledge at the north above all the lessons I have learned heretofore, and entirely above everything I expect to learn hereafter.



No. 32.

FREEDMEN'S BUREAU,

Shreveport, La., August 1, 1865.

Sir: At the date of my last monthly report, (July 2d,) the free-labor system in western Louisiana was an experiment. No contracts between the planters and freedmen had then been entered into, and the difficulties to be met with and overcome by the contracting parties were new to each. The herculean task of removing the objections which the freedmen offered to signing a "contract," and of eradicating the prejudice existing among the planters against countenancing the employment upon their plantations as free men of those whom they had so long and firmly held in bondage, devolved upon the agents of the bureau.

The objection presented by the freedmen consisted chiefly in the fact that they had no confidence whatever in the word of their "old masters." Said they, in substance, "We cannot trust the power that has never accorded us any privileges. Our former oppressors show by their actions that they would sooner retard than advance our prosperity." While in nine cases out of ten the freedmen eagerly and readily acceded to fair terms for their labor when the matter was explained by a government agent, exactly in the same ratio did they refuse to listen to any proposition made by the planter alone.

Their readiness to comprehend their situation and to enter into an agreement to work when enlightened by an agent of the bureau, or, in exceptional cases, when the planters sought in a kind and philanthropic spirit to explain to them their relations to society and the government, is conclusive proof that the disposition to be idle formed no part of the reason for their refusing to contract with their former masters.

With these facts in view, it will be readily perceived that the only feasible mode of success was to send agents into the country to visit every plantation. This was undertaken; but with no funds to procure the services of assistants, and with the difficulty of obtaining the right class of men for these positions from the army, the progress made has not been as rapid or the work as effectual as it would have been under more favorable circumstances. Partial returns have been received, as follows:

From Bienville parish 248 contracts. " Bossier parish 14 " " Caddo parish 172 " " DeSoto parish 246 " " Marion county, Texas 206 " —- Total received 886 " ===

Returns are yet to be received from the parishes of Claiborne, Natchitoches, Winn and Sabine, and from Harrison county, Texas. These will all be given in by the 15th inst., and I shall then be able to determine the exact number employed upon each plantation and laboring under the new system. Regarding the average number employed upon each plantation in the parish of Caddo as a basis for an estimate, the returned rolls will foot up a list of 7,088 names, and the whole number of freedmen contracted with during the month of July in the district under my supervision will not probably exceed 20,000, or fall short of 15,000.

During the month a sufficient length of time has elapsed to render judgment to a certain extent upon the workings of the new system. That it has not satisfied a majority of the planters is a conclusion which, from their disposition at first, was evident would be arrived at. That the freedmen have accepted the arrangements devised by the government for their protection so readily and have worked so faithfully, is a matter for congratulation.

The planters at first expected that, though the power to "control" the persons of the laborers had been torn from them by the stern requirements of war, the agents of the bureau would, through the military, confine the negro to their plantations and compel him to labor for them. In this way it was thought that the same regime as pursued in times of slavery could be kept up, and it was this idea which prompted a planter, noted for his frankness, to remark "that the people of the south desired the government to continue this supervision for a term of years." Finding that their ideas of the policy of the government were erroneous, and that they could not exercise this "controlling power" either directly or indirectly, and that the freedman was to be placed, as nearly as the circumstances surrounding his situation would permit, upon the same grounds as the white laborer, it is but a logical sequence that the planters should be disappointed and dissatisfied with the work performed by the freedmen.

In this place it may be well to notice that the country is yet in a very unsettled condition. After a four years' war which has sapped it of all its resources, and after a life-long servitude for a hard taskmaster, the negro is liberated from bondage, and he finds the people of the country in no condition to offer him the most advantageous terms for his services. This, with the natural desire experienced by all mankind for a period of repose after that of incessant and forced labor, is one of the causes which have contributed to render the freedmen negligent and inconstant at their work.

Reports are constantly brought to this office by the negroes from the interior that freedmen have been kidnapped and summarily disposed of. These obtain circulation and credence among all classes, and, whether true or not, operate disadvantageously to the interests of both the planters and the freedmen.

Again, the threat of shooting the laborers, so frequently made by the planters, is very unwise, and usually has the effect of causing a general stampede from the plantation where the threat was made. The fact that the body of a negro was seen hanging from a tree in Texas, near the Louisiana line; and of the murder in cold blood, in the northern part of the parish of Caddo, of Mary, a colored woman, by John Johnson, the son of the proprietor of the plantation where the woman worked; and that instances have repeatedly occurred similar to a case presented at my office, where an old man had received a blow over his head with a shillalah one inch in diameter, which was so severe as to snap the stick asunder; and also the fracturing of the skull and the breaking of the arm of a helpless, inoffensive colored woman by a vindictive planter in the parish of Natchitoches; and the statement of one of my agents, who says that "upon half the plantations the freedmen are not well clothed and their rations are scanty;" and of another who has visited every plantation in ward No. —, parish of ——, who reports at the close of the month as follows: "The freedmen in my ward are very poorly clothed and fed, although no particular complaints have been made as yet;" should all be taken into consideration in arriving at conclusions in regard to the disposition of the freedmen to work, and before judgment is rendered upon the complaints of the major portion of the planters; and it is also useless to disguise the fact that among the freedmen, as among all classes of people, there are many ill-disposed as well as idle persons, and a few of these upon each plantation create dissatisfaction among the others.

Notwithstanding the complaints of the planters and the above-named facts, the existence of which would cause a disturbance among any class of laborers in the world, the majority of the planters have been eager to contract with their former slaves, for the reason that after their plantations had been visited by an agent of the government, and an agreement had been made upon the prescribed forms, the freedmen worked better than before. This is a matter of significance, and its bearing is readily seen. Having noticed the disapprobation of the larger portion of the planting community, and the causes which led to their complaints, I desire to call your attention in this connexion to the report of one of my most experienced agents. It is as follows:

"In all cases have the employees given satisfaction where their former masters are at all reasonable. I would mention the case of Jacob Hoss as an example: he contracted with his former slaves in the latter part of May for one-fourth of all his crops; they have been steady and industrious, and have decidedly the finest cotton and corn in the district." Mr. Hoss has 200 acres of cotton, 400 of corn, and 8 of potatoes. Your attention is also solicited to the testimony of the liberal few who have taken the amnesty oath with the intention to keep it. One says: "The freedmen in my neighborhood are laboring well where they are well paid." Another, a large land proprietor, states that "he could not ask his hands to work better." The same gentleman also states that "he would not have the freedmen upon his plantation made slaves again if he could."

The testimony is concurrent that, where liberal wages are paid and the freedmen are kindly treated, no difficulty is experienced with them, and that they labor honestly and industriously. The complaints which have been presented at the office for consideration are very nearly in a direct ratio of the two classes, but the wrongs of the freedmen are by far the most aggravated, as they suffer in almost every conceivable way. It has been necessary to fine and assess damages upon several planters for beating their laborers, and also to punish several freedmen for violating their contracts and for other misdemeanors. The following is a literal copy of a document brought to this office by a colored man, which is conclusive evidence that there are those who still claim the negro as their property:

"This boy Calvin has permit to hire to whome he please, but I shall hold him as my propperty untill set Free by Congress.

"July the 7, 1865. E.V. TULLY."

The spirit of the above also made its appearance in another form in the action of the police jury of the parish of Bossier, which was an attempt to revive at once the old slave laws, and to prevent the freedmen from obtaining employment from the plantations of their former masters. The gist of the enactment alluded to is contained in the paragraph directing the officers on patrol duty "to arrest and take up all idle and vagrant persons running at large without employment, and carry them before the proper authority, to be dealt with as the law directs."

As soon as this matter came under the observation of the bureau, the facts in the case were represented to Brevet Major General J.P. Hawkins, commanding western district of Louisiana, and at the same time a request was made that the restrictions imposed upon the freedmen in this section by General Orders No. 24, headquarters northern division of Louisiana, be revoked; and the general issued an order, dated July 31, which removes the said restrictions, and prohibits the parish police juries, established by the civil authorities, from arresting freedmen unless for positive offence against the law. This breaks down the last barrier to the enjoyment of liberty by the freedmen in western Louisiana, and I feel highly gratified that it has been accomplished without referring it to higher authorities, as our mail facilities are so irregular that at least two months would have been consumed by the operation.

Upon the 10th of July the freedmen's hospital was opened for the reception of patients, and enclosed please find a copy of the hospital report for July, marked 1. This is a necessary as well as a charitable institution, as the city authorities have as yet taken no measures to provide for the indigent sick.

Since the establishment of the bureau here, it has been found necessary to issue rations to freedmen, as follows:

To citizen employees 46 To helpless and infirm 236 To sick and hospital attendants 1,169 ——- Total issued 1,451 =====

The number fed by the government to-day is as follows:

Men 7 Women 6 Children 10 — Total number infirm and helpless rationed 23

Number sick at hospital 40 Number hospital attendants 24 Number citizen employees rationed 1 — Total number supplied with rations 88 ==

None but the helpless and infirm and sick have been fed at the expense of the government, and these only in cases of absolute necessity. Many planters who abandoned their homes on the Mississippi and carried away their slaves to Texas have returned to this city, and with a coolness amounting to audacity have demanded transportation for their former slaves to various points from the mouth of the Red river to Lake Providence. Finding that the officers of the government would not oblige them in this particular, they left behind the aged and infirm to provide for themselves as best they could. This and the abuses on plantations have caused the principal suffering among the freedmen, and have brought many to the city who otherwise would have remained upon the plantation, but, all things being considered, comparatively few have congregated about town. There has been such a demand for day labor in the city that I have deemed it a false philanthropy to feed those who temporarily sought refuge from oppression.

The permanent residents are orderly and industrious, and desire very much to have schools established for their children. I cannot here refrain from mentioning the fact that the presence of negroes in town possessing free papers is extremely disagreeable to the citizens.

The tax collected of planters has thus far been sufficient to defray office and printing expenses. The hire of a surgeon and nurses for the hospital, amounting in July to $204.46, is the only bill which it is necessary to refer to you for payment. All the property and money which has come into my hands on account of the bureau has been accounted for to the proper departments, according to regulations.

By Special Orders No. 140, dated at headquarters northern division of Louisiana, June 21, 1865, Chaplain Thomas Callahan, 48th United States colored infantry, was assigned to duty with me as my assistant, and he has had charge of the department of complaints. He is a very capable and efficient officer, and his services are very valuable to the bureau.

Again, I have occasion to return acknowledgments to Brigadier General J.C. Veatch for his cordial assistance in aiding me to carry out the measures of the bureau, and also to Colonel Crandal and Lieutenant Colonel McLaughlin, post commandants, for valuable aid; and to Brevet Major General J.P. Hawkins we are indebted for that which makes the colored man in reality a free man.

Believing that with proper management and kind treatment the freedmen in western Louisiana will be found to be as industrious as laborers in other sections of the country,

I have the honor to be, with much respect, your obedient servant,

W.B. STICKNEY, Lieutenant and Assistant Superintendent Freedmen.

THOMAS W. CONWAY, Assistant Commissioner Bureau of Freedmen. &c.



No. 33.

FREEDMEN'S BUREAU,

Shreveport, Louisiana, August 26, 1865.

Sir: I have the honor to report, in accordance with orders, that in the district under my supervision, comprising eight parishes in Louisiana and two counties in Texas, and an area of about 13,764 square miles, 3,105 contracts have been made, and 27,830 laborers enrolled since the first of July. The work of making contracts is now nearly completed, but the returns for the month of August from the officers acting in the different parishes have not as yet been received. From the data already collected it will be safe to estimate the whole number of laborers working under the contract system in the district at not less than 32,000, 25,000 of whom are in Louisiana.

The experience of two months has demonstrated the fact that the negro will work well when he is well paid and kindly treated; and another principle in the nature of the contracting parties has been equally as clearly elucidated, i.e., the planters are disposed to pay the freedmen the least possible sum for their labor, and that for much compensation the freedmen make an offset by making as little as possible. To acknowledge the right of the negro to freedom, and to regard him as a free man entitled to the benefits of his labor and to all the privileges and immunities of citizenship, is to throw aside the dogmas for which the south have been contending for the last thirty years, and seems to be too great a stride for the people to take at once, and too unpalatable a truth for the aristocratic planter to comprehend, without the interposition of the stern logic of the bayonet in the hands of a colored soldier. Duty to my government compels me to report the following well-authenticated facts:

1. Nineteen-twentieths of the planters have no disposition to pay the negro well or treat him well.

2. In the same proportion the planting aristocracy proffers obedience to the government, and at the same time do all in their power to make trouble.

3. The planters evince a disposition to throw all the helpless and infirm freedmen upon the hands of the government possible, in order to embarrass us and compel us to return them to slavery again.

4. A majority of the planters desire to prevent the success of the free-labor system, that they may force Congress to revive slavery, or, what is more, a system of peonage.

5. The belief is general among the planters that without some means of "controlling" the persons of the laborers they cannot succeed; and for this reason they desire to have the military force removed, and the privilege of enacting such laws as will enable them to retain this power.

6. To defraud, oppress, and maltreat the freedmen seems to be the principle governing the action of more than half of those who make contracts with them.

7. The lives of the freedmen are frequently threatened, and murders are not of uncommon occurrence.

8. The life of a northern man who is true to his country and the spirit and genius of its institutions, and frankly enunciates his principles, is not secure where there is not a military force to protect him.

About the 15th of July Corporal J.M. Wallace, of company B, forty-seventh Indiana Veteran volunteer infantry, was on duty with this bureau, and engaged in making contracts upon Red river, in the parish of Caddo. He visited Mr. Daniel's plantation, and, as it is stated, started for Mr. White's place, but never reached it. Being absent unaccountably, a sergeant and a detail of four men were sent to look him up, but could find no trace of him. Without doubt he was murdered. He was a young man of unexceptionable habits and character, and was highly esteemed by the officers of his regiment. The circumstances of the case are such as to lead to the belief that the planters in the vicinity connived at his death. Captain Hoke, another agent of the bureau, was stopped by a highwayman within eight miles of Shreveport. One of my assistants reports as follows: "In the northern part of this parish (Cuddo) there are men armed and banded to resist the law." These facts prove that the presence of a military force is needed in every parish. Instead of the present system of districts, I would recommend that the officer for each parish report direct to headquarters at New Orleans for instructions, and that each officer be furnished with at least twenty men, ten of whom should be mounted. I apprehend that at the commencement of the next year the planters will endeavor to load us down with the aged and infirm, and those with large families. To meet this and other difficulties that may arise, I recommend that at least five thousand acres of land be confiscated in every parish, and an opportunity given the freedmen to rent or purchase the land, and that every facility be afforded planters in the lower part of the State to obtain laborers from western Louisiana. Another remedy has been suggested, and as it meets with my approval I quote the recommendations of the officer in his own words: "Let the white troops on duty in this department be mustered out; they are greatly dissatisfied with remaining in the service after the close of the war; let black troops be mustered in their stead. In urging this matter, I suggest that the government has the first right to the services of the freedmen, and he needs the discipline of the army to develop his manhood and self-reliance. Such a course of recruiting black soldiers will act as a powerful restraint upon the abuses practiced by the planters on the freedmen, and will also compel the payment of better wages. If the planter wishes the services of a shrewd, enterprising freedman, he must out-bid the government. Lastly, the country needs the soldiers. Politicians may say what they may; western Louisiana is no more loyal now than when the State adopted the ordinance of secession."

The statistics given at the commencement prove that we have experienced less difficulty with the freedmen than could have been expected. At times it has been necessary to adopt stringent measures to stem the tide of freedmen that seemed to be setting in toward Shreveport, and many of them have such vague ideas of the moral obligations of a contract that it has been necessary to strengthen them by imprisonment and hard labor; but the great and insuperable difficulty which meets us at every step is, that the planters and the freedmen have no confidence in and respect for each other. The planters inform us that they are the best friends of the negro, but the freedmen fail to see the matter in that light. I am well assured that as a general rule the old planters and overseers can never succeed with the freedmen; that there must be an entire change in either laborers or proprietors before the country will again be prosperous. The plan of renting lands to the freedmen, as proposed by a few planters, I am of the opinion will prove very profitable to both parties. While, as a general rule, there is constant difficulty between the freedmen and their old masters and overseers, my agents and northern men have no trouble with them; and should the planters employ practical farmers from the north as business managers, it seems to be well demonstrated that the free-labor system, as it now is, with but slight modifications, would be a grand success. In this connexion I cannot refrain from noticing the assertion of a southern politician to the effect "that were the freedmen enfranchised, nine out of ten of them would vote for their old masters," which assertion every freedman will pronounce a wilful and malignant falsehood.

The country is full of arms, and their use upon the freedmen is so frequent, and the general disposition of the people such, that I would strongly recommend, as a measure to secure the safety of life and property, that all classes of arms be taken from the citizens, not to be returned until an entirely different disposition is evinced.

The system to be made binding for the next year should be published as early as the 15th of October, and the matter of contracting be commenced as soon thereafter as the parties desire to do so. I would respectfully suggest the propriety for calling of such statistical matter upon the back of the contract as will enable the officer in charge of the educational interests to determine the whole number of freedmen residing in the different parishes, and also the number of children of school age.

The establishment of schools will be met by the most venomous opposition, and a military force will be required to protect the teacher and scholars from insult and injury unless the tone of public sentiment improves very rapidly.

The civil authorities, so far as my knowledge extends, are not willing to grant the freedmen the rights to which their freedom entitles them. In fact it became necessary, as will be seen by a former report, for the military authorities to interfere to prevent their being virulently oppressed. In consequence of this I have kept an officer constantly on duty adjusting the difficulties arising between the whites and negroes, but important cases have been referred to the military authorities.

Chaplain Thomas Callahan, the officer referred to above, in his last report says:

"To many of the planters the idea of a negro's testimony being as good as a white man's is very unpleasant, and occasional attempts are made to bully and browbeat a colored witness upon the stand. The attempt is never made twice. Once I pitted a lawyer against a negro witness, held the parties on the cross-examination, and the lawyer was badly beaten. Some of the freedmen can conduct a case with uncommon shrewdness."

I cannot urge upon your attention too strongly the importance of keeping an officer in every parish and of providing him with a sufficient guard to command respect and enforce obedience to the laws. The presence of a military force, with judicious and discreet officers to command it, is the only means of securing to the freedmen their rights and of giving proper security to life and property.

With many thanks for that encouragement which has supported and cheered me through every difficulty, I have the honor to be, with much respect, your most obedient servant,

W.B. STICKNEY, Lieutenant and Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen.

THOMAS W. CONWAY, Assistant Commissioner, &c.



No. 34.

Ordinance relative to the police of recently emancipated negroes or freedmen within the corporate limits of the town of Opelousas.

Whereas the relations formerly subsisting between master and slave have become changed 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 no negro or freedman shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without 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 suffer imprisonment and two days' work on the public streets, or shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents.

SECTION 2. Be it further ordained, That every negro freedman who shall be found on the streets of Opelousas after 10 o'clock at night without a written pass or permit from his employer shall be imprisoned and compelled to work five days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars.

SECTION 3. No negro or freedman 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 compelled 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 of ten dollars for each offence.

SECTION 4. No negro or freedman shall reside within the limits of the town of Opelousas who is not in the regular service of some white person or former owner, who shall be held responsible 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 violating the provisions of this, section shall be imprisoned and forced to work for two days on the public streets.

SECTION 5. No public meetings or congregations of negroes or freedmen shall be allowed within the limits of the town of Opelousas under any circumstances or for any 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 shall be imprisoned and made to work five days on the public streets.

SECTION 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 of police under the penalty of a fine of ten dollars or twenty days' work on the public streets.

SECTION 7. No freedman who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry firearms, 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. Any one thus offending shall forfeit his weapons and shall be imprisoned and made to work for five days on the public streets or pay a fine of five dollars in lieu of said work.

SECTION 8. 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 imprisonment and one day's labor, or a fine of one dollar in lieu of said work.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 10. Any freedman not residing in Opelousas who shall be found within 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.

SECTION 11. All the foregoing provisions apply to freedmen and freedwomen, or both sexes.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 13. Be it further ordained, That this ordinance to take effect from and after its first publication.

Ordained the 3d day of July, 1865.

E.D. ESTILLETTE, President of the Board of Police.

JOS. D. RICHARDS, Clerk.

Official copy:

J. LOVELL, Captain and Assistant Adjutant General.



No. 35.

An ordinance relative to the police of negroes recently emancipated within 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 the limits of the parish; and whereas slaves have become emancipated by the action of the ruling powers; and whereas it is necessary for public order, as well as for the comfort and correct deportment of said freedmen, that suitable regulations should be established for their government in their changed condition, the following ordinances are adopted, with the approval of the United States military authorities commanding 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 suffer corporeal punishment as provided hereinafter.

SECTION 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 employer, shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof, shall be compelled to work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 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, conducted 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 on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 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 shall 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.

SECTION 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 convenient chief of patrol. Anyone 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.

SECTION 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. Anyone thus offending shall 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 punishment as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 10. Be it further ordained, That all the foregoing provisions shall apply to negroes of both sexes.

SECTION 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 immediately handed over to the proper captain or chief of patrol.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 13. Be it further ordained, That all sums collected from the aforesaid fines shall be immediately handed over to the parish treasurer.

SECTION 14. Be it further ordained, That the corporeal punishment provided for in the foregoing sections shall consist in confining the body of the offender within a barrel placed over his or her shoulders, in the manner practiced in the army, such confinement not to continue longer than twelve hours, and for such time within the aforesaid limit as shall be fixed by the captain or chief of patrol who inflicts the penalty.

SECTION 15. Be it further ordained, That these ordinances shall not interfere with any municipal or military regulations inconsistent with them within the limits of said parish.

SECTION 16. Be it further ordained, That these ordinances shall take effect five days after their publication in the Opelousas Courier.

Official copy:

J. LOVELL, Captain and Assistant Adjutant General.



At a meeting of the citizens of the parish of St. Mary, held at the court-house in the town of Franklin, on Saturday, the 15th instant, P.C. Bethel, Esq., was called to the chair, when a committee was appointed to report upon certain matters submitted to the consideration of the meeting, which committee reported by their chairman the following, which was unanimously adopted:

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.

The committee appointed for the purpose of embodying the views and objects of the meeting of the citizens of the parish of St. Mary, assembled at the court-house of said parish on the 15th day of July, A.D. 1865, to deliberate concerning the discipline of colored persons or freedmen, respectfully report that they recommend to the town council of the town of Franklin the adoption of the ordinance of the board of police of the town of Opelousas, passed on the third day of the present month, with such alterations and modifications as may suit the wants and necessities of this locality; also the ordinance of the same board of police passed on the same day, relative to the town of Opelousas; which ordinances are herewith presented for reference. And they furthermore recommend to the police jury of the parish of St. Mary, whenever convened, to make such regulations with regard to the discipline and management of the freedmen or colored population for the entire parish as may be most conducive to the quiet, tranquillity, and productiveness of said parish generally. The committee further recommend to all well-disposed citizens to co-operate with the authorities and with each other in producing a return to civil rule and good order within the shortest delay possible, that the State of Louisiana may be restored to her proper condition as regards internal political stability and tranquillity, as well as the representation she is entitled to in the councils of the nation, which representation is more important to her now than at any previous period of her history.

W.T. PALFREY, Chairman.



Proceedings of the Mayor and Council of the town of Franklin.

Friday, July 28, 1865.

Pursuant to call of the major commanding, the mayor and council met this day. Present: A.S. Tucker, mayor; Wilson McKerall, Alfred Gates, John C. Gordy, and J.A. Peterman, members of the council.

The following was unanimously adopted, viz:

ORDINANCE relative to the police of negroes or colored persons within the corporate limits of the town of Franklin.

SEC. 1. Be it ordained by the mayor and council of the town of Franklin, That no negro or colored person shall be allowed to come within the limits of said town without special permission from his employer, specifying the object of his visit and the time necessary for the accomplishment of the same. Whoever shall violate this provision shall suffer imprisonment and two days work on the public streets, or shall pay a fine of two dollars and a half.

SEC. 2. Be it further ordained. &c., That every negro or colored person who shall be found on the streets of Franklin after ten o'clock at night without a written pass or permit from his or her employer, shall be imprisoned and compelled to work five days on the public streets or pay a fine of five dollars.

SEC. 3. No negro or colored person 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 compelled to find an employer, or leave the town within twenty-four hours. The lessor or furnisher of the house kept as above shall pay a fine of ten dollars for each offence: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to any free negro or colored person who was residing in the town of Franklin prior to the 1st January (1865) last.

SEC. 4. No negro or colored person shall reside within the limits of the town of Franklin who is not in the regular service of some white person or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said negro or colored person; but said employer or former owner may permit said negro or colored person to hire his or their time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend to over twenty-five hours at any one time. Any negro or colored person violating the provisions of this section shall be imprisoned and forced to work for two days on the public streets: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to negroes or colored persons heretofore free.

SEC. 5. No public meetings or congregations of negroes or colored persons shall be allowed within the limits of the town of Franklin, under any circumstances or for any purpose, without the permission of the mayor. This prohibition is not intended, however, to prevent negroes or colored persons from attending the usual church service, conducted by established ministers of religion. Every negro or colored person violating this law shall be imprisoned and put to work five days on the public streets.

SEC. 6. No negro or colored person shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people without a special permission from the mayor, under the penalty of a fine of ten dollars or twenty days' work on the public streets.

SEC. 7. No negro or colored person 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 Franklin without the special permission of his employer in writing, and approved by the mayor. Any one thus offending shall forfeit his weapons and shall be imprisoned and made to work five days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars in lieu of said work.

SEC. 8. No negro or colored person shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within the limits of Franklin, without permission in writing from his employer or the mayor, under the penalty of forfeiture of the said articles and imprisonment and one day's labor, or a fine of one dollar in lieu of said work.

SEC. 9. Any negro or colored person 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.

SEC. 10. Any negro or colored person not residing in Franklin who shall be found within its corporate limits after the hour of three o'clock p.m. on Sunday without a special written 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.

SEC. 11. All the foregoing provisions apply to negroes or colored persons of both sexes.

SEC. 12. It shall be the special duty of the town constable, under direction of the mayor, to see that all the provisions of this ordinance are faithfully executed.

SEC. 13. Whoever in Franklin shall sell or give to any negro or colored person any intoxicating liquors, or shall exchange or barter for the same with any such negro or colored person, without special permission from the mayor or employer of said negro or colored person, shall, on conviction thereof before the mayor or justice of the peace in and for the seventh ward of the parish of St. Mary, pay a fine of twenty-five dollars and costs of prosecution, and in default of the payment of said fine and costs the person thus offending shall suffer imprisonment in the parish jail for ten days.

A.S. TUCKER, Mayor.

R.W. McMILLAN, Clerk.

Approved: GEO. R. DAVIS, Major Third Rhode Island Cavalry, Commanding Post.



[Telegram.]

New Orleans, August 10, 1865.

The ordinance relative to the "Police of negroes or colored persons within the corporate limits of the town of Franklin," dated Friday, July 28, 1865, and signed by A.L. Tucker, mayor, being in violation of the emancipation proclamation, the orders of the War Department, and the orders of these headquarters, you will prevent their enforcement and arrest any person attempting to carry them out. The negroes are as free as other people. This ordinance, if enforced, would be slavery in substance, which can never be. Attend to this matter with all the vigor at your command. I have consulted General Canby, who concurs with me in the matter.

THOMAS W. CONWAY, Ass't. Comm. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, &c., State of Louisiana_.

Lieutenant S.E. SHEPARD, Provost Marshal, Parish of St. Mary, Brashear City, or Franklin, La.

Official copy:

D.V. FENNO, First Lieutenant and A.A.A. General.



No. 36.

BUREAU REFUGEES, FREEDMEN AND ABANDONED LANDS, OFFICE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER FOR STATE OF MISSISSIPPI,

Vicksburg, Miss., September 28, 1865.

General: I enclose a copy of the city ordinances. You will see that negroes who sell vegetables, cakes, &c., on the street are required to pay ten dollars ($10) per month for the privilege of doing so.

To illustrate the workings of this ordinance I will give you an actual occurrence in this city.

About a year 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, 1865, 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 himself 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 compelled to go on crutches and was bent nearly double, owing to a severe whipping his old master had given him some years ago.

He 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 such 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. In fact, ten dollars per month is the common wages for negro labor. The mayor refused to allow the negro to continue his sales, 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 bondsmen shall be freeholders. The laws of this State do not, and never did, allow a negro to own land 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 independent 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 Mississippi.

Major General C. SCHURZ.



Proceedings of the City Council.

At a regular meeting of the board of mayor and council of the city of Vicksburg, held at the City Hall, on Monday, August 7, 1865: Present—T.J. Randolph, mayor; Messrs. Stites, Royall, Johnson, Bender, Spengler, Manlove, and Porterfield, councilmen.

Mr. Stites introduced the following ordinance, which was read; and, on motion of Mr. Bender, the rules were suspended, the ordinance read a second time; and, on motion of Mr. Manlove, the rules were again suspended, the ordinance read a third time by its title, and passed.

Mr. Johnson called for the ayes and noes on the passage of the ordinance, which were taken:

Ayes—Stites, Royall, Bender, Spengler, Manlove, and Porterfield—6.

Nay—Johnson—1.

AN ORDINANCE to raise revenue for the city of Vicksburg.

SEC. 1. That there shall be assessed, levied, and collected upon the landholders, freeholders, and householders of the city of Vicksburg, for the year commencing July 9, 1865, upon the ad valorem worth of all houses, lots and parts of lots, and lands, and on all goods, wares, and merchandise, on all moneys loaned at interest in said city, whether by a resident or nonresident or a corporation, a general tax of fifty cents on every one hundred dollars' value thereof; that said valuation or assessment shall be assessed from the 9th day of July, A.D. 1865, and shall be for one year, but the tax so assessed shall be payable in advance.

SEC. 2. That on all goods, wares, and merchandise, produce, &c., contained or sold on board any flatboat, or other water craft, there shall be assessed, levied, and collected upon the ad valorem worth a general tax of fifty cents on every one hundred dollars' value thereof.

SEC. 3. That there shall be assessed, levied, and collected a poll tax of two dollars upon every male inhabitant of said city over the age of twenty-one years.

SEC. 4. That the rate for license for the houses, business, &c., be assessed as follows, payable as set forth in section 1: On all family groceries, porter-houses, eating-houses, oyster houses, and restaurants, per year $40; on all auction stores, per year, $200; on all public auctioneers, $50; on all banks, brokers, and exchange offices, $500; on all insurance companies having agents in this city, $100; on all express companies, $200; on all wholesale and retail stores and commission houses, $50; on all drays and carts, $20; on all hacks, $25; on all private boarding-houses having ten or more boarders, $20; on all hotels, $100; on all rooms where billiard tables are kept for playing, $200; on all rooms where bagatelle or pigeonhole tables are kept for playing, $25; on all alleys known as ten-pin or nine-pin alleys, $200; on all livery stables, $50; on all wagon yards, $40; on all barber shops, for each chair, $40; on all manufactories of ale, porter, or soda-water per year, $75; on all bakeries, $25; on all theatres, circuses, animal shows, or any public performance or exhibition where compensation is paid in money, each day, $25; on all bar-rooms, or other places where vinous or spirituous liquors are sold in less quantities than one gallon, per year, $500; on all confectionary, fruit or ice cream, soda water or vegetable stores, $50; on all cigar stores, $50; on all shops where fresh meat is sold, $50; on all street peddlers of goods, wares, or merchandise, fruit &c., except from market carts from the country, per month, $10; on all live stock sold in this city, one-half of one per cent, ad valorem.

SEC. 5. That all ordinances in any way conflicting with the provisions of this ordinance be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

SEC. 6. That this ordinance take effect from and after its passage.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, August 7, 1865.

Mr. Stites introduced the following ordinance, which was read; and, on motion of Mr. Bender, the rules were suspended and the ordinance read a second time; and, on motion of Mr. Manlove, the rules were again suspended, the ordinance read a third time by its title, and passed.

AN ORDINANCE to regulate the mode of obtaining licenses within the city of Vicksburg.

SEC. 1. That, before license shall be granted to any one to keep a family grocery, porter-house, oyster-house, eating-house, or restaurant in this city, the person or persons so applying shall execute a bond in the penal sum of $500, with one or more securities, payable to the mayor of the city of Vicksburg and his successors in office, conditioned that he, she, or they will keep an orderly and well-conducted house, and will not permit any riotous or disorderly conduct, or any gaming in or about the same, and will not sell any vinous or spirituous liquors to any one in less quantity than one gallon during the continuance of his or her license.

SEC. 2. That before any person or persons shall be licensed to retail vinous or spirituous liquors within this city, he, she, or they shall produce before the board of mayor and council of said city the written recommendation of five freeholders of his or her neighborhood, setting forth that he or she is of good reputation and a suitable person to receive such license.

SEC. 3. That no license to sell vinous or spirituous liquors as aforesaid shall be delivered to any person until he or she shall have first produced the receipt of the treasurer of the city for the amount of tax assessed for such license, and shall also have executed a bond in the penal sum of $1,000, with one or more good and sufficient sureties, payable to the mayor of the city of Vicksburg and his successor in office, conditioned that he, she, or they will keep an orderly and well-conducted house, and will not permit any riotous or disorderly conduct, or any gaming, in or about the same.

SEC. 4. That the bonds provided for in this ordinance shall be submitted to, and approved by, the board of mayor and council before said license shall be issued.

SEC. 5. That if any person shall retail any vinous or spirituous liquors within this city in less quantity than one gallon without first having procured license to do so, pursuant to the provisions of this ordinance, or in any way violate the provisions of this ordinance, he shall, upon conviction before the mayor of the city, be fined in a sum not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars.

SEC. 6. That before issuing license to any person or persons for the privilege of running a public dray, cart, or hack in this city, the party so applying shall first file with the mayor of the city a bond, with good and sufficient security, to be approved by the mayor, in the penal sum of $500, conditioned for the faithful performance of their duties as public carriers.

SEC. 7. That all ordinances in any way conflicting with the provisions of this ordinance be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

SEC. 8. That this ordinance take effect from and after its passage.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, August 7, 1865

Mr. Johnson introduced the following ordinance, which was read; and on motion of Mr. Manlove, the rules were suspended and the ordinance read a second time; and on motion of Mr. Bender, the rules were again suspended, the ordinance read a third time by its title, and passed:

AN ORDINANCE to amend the market ordinance.

SEC. 1. That from and after the passage of this ordinance it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to sell or expose for sale in the market-house of Vicksburg, after the hour of 9 o'clock a.m., any lemonade, ice-cream, cakes, pies, fruit, or vegetables, or other articles usually sold in market, under the penalty of $10 for each and every offence.

SEC. 2. That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons trading in the market to buy or bargain for, during market hours, or receive from any person or persons not renting a stall in the market, any meat, fish, poultry, butter, eggs, vegetables, or fruits, and offer the same for sale in the market again within ten days, under a penalty of $10 for each and every offence.

SEC. 3. That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to buy from any person on their way to market, within the city, during market hours, any of the articles named in the second section, or prevent such person from going to market with aforesaid articles, under a penalty of $10 for each and every offence.

SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of the day police of each ward to arrest and bring before the mayor all persons found violating any section of the above ordinance.

SEC. 5. That all ordinances or parts of ordinances conflicting with this ordinance be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Mr. Porterfield introduced the following ordinance, which was read; and on motion of Mr. Manlove, the rules were suspended and the ordinance read a second time; and on further motion of Mr. Manlove, the rules were again suspended, the ordinance read a third time by its title, and passed:

AN ORDINANCE regulating ferry-boats, &c.

SEC. 1. That all ferry-boats crossing the Mississippi river and landing in the city limits shall pay the sum of $25 per week.

SEC. 2. That this ordinance shall be in force from and after its passage.

On motion of Mr. Manlove, the following resolution was adopted: Resolved, That hereafter it shall be lawful for the city marshal to charge for prisoners committed to workhouse for board, per day, sixty cents.

On motion of Mr. Spangler, the following resolution was adopted: Resolved, That the city marshal notify the owners of property to have their side-walks and gutters repaired on Washington street, between second corner of East to Depot street, in thirty days; and if not done, the city marshal have it done, at the expense of the property.

On motion of Mr. Manlove, the following resolution was adopted: Resolved, That the mayor be authorized to pay the policemen the amounts due them respectively to date, according to the report by the city marshal.

On motion of Mr. Spangler, the following resolution was adopted: Resolved, That the overseers of street hands' pay shall be $100 per month.

On motion of Mr. Manlove, the following resolution was adopted: Resolved, That the salary of the city marshal shall be $1,200 per annum, the salary of the deputy marshal be $900 per annum, and the salary of the policemen $60 per month, all of which shall be paid monthly.

On motion of Mr. Manlove, the following resolution was adopted: Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed to receive proposals to publish the proceedings of the city council to the third Monday in March next, and also inquire on what terms the city printing can be done, and report to next meeting of this council.

The mayor appointed Messrs. Manlove and Bender on said committee.

On motion of Mr. Bender, the board adjourned till Thursday evening, August 10, at six o'clock.

T.J. RANDOLPH, Mayor.



No. 37.

FREEDMEN'S BUREAU, STATE OF MISSISSIPPI,

_Office State Superintendent of Education,

Vicksburg, Miss., September_ 28, 1865.

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 in caring 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 he was not able to prevent the negroes from having shouting meetings, and that he would keep them from going off the plantation to meeting now if he could, as he formerly did. Aside from this gentleman, every native Mississippian and Irishman with whom I have conversed opposes the instruction 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 suggestive, are received with sneering incredulity and the assurance that they know the negroes better than we do. A little persistence in giving this class of men facts disproving their assertions usually makes them angry, and leads them to declare that if the negroes can learn, the greater the damage that will be done them, for the education will do them no good, and will spoil them. Others take this last-mentioned ground at first, and say that a learned negro is a nuisance; for, while he is ignorant, stupid, and loutish, 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 this 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 be led to respect themselves, and not so easily be made the instruments of the white man's lust.

The people of Vicksburg have asked Colonel Thomas to prevent the establishment of colored schools within the city—they would probably say, to preserve the peace of the city; but I feel sure it is because the sight of them gives pain. And if their removal ever becomes necessary to the peace of a place, the fact will illustrate public feeling sufficiently.

I have heard more than one person say that he would kill a colored teacher if he ever saw one.

The children of a community generally express the public feeling, and we may usually learn from them what the feeling is, even when the parents, from prudence, seek to conceal it. Children often exaggerate, but they get their bias at home. The children of Mississippi throw stones at colored scholars, and are only restrained by fear from mobbing colored schools.

My memorandum book contains such information as to points in the interior of the State as I can gather from officers, and from any reliable source, to guide me in locating teachers. Some of these memoranda are: "Garrison withdrawn; school impossible." "No resident federal officer; a teacher could not be protected." "People much prejudiced; protection cannot be guaranteed." Such things are said in regard to every place not under northern protection. I think I do not overstate in saying that I do not know a single northern man in Mississippi who supposes a colored school possible where there is no federal sword or bayonet. Some northern men do not regret this fact, perhaps; and this makes their testimony on this point more valuable.

White churches recover their houses of worship which the blacks helped to build, and which they have repaired extensively during the last two years, and remorselessly turn the blacks out without any regard to their rights in equity, their feelings, or their religious interests.

I may state here that there is such a general expression of contempt for negro religion, and such a desire to suppress it, if possible, that it seems as if the whites thought it a piece of terrible impertinence for the blacks to worship the same God that we do. The white people also fear, or affect to fear, that opposition to their plans, and even insurrection, will be hatched at the meetings of colored people. The Nemesis of slavery still holds her whip over them. From this source arise the occasional reports of intended insurrections; and these reports are intended, often, to cause the prevention of meetings, at which the colored people may consult together, and convey information important to them.

In view of all these things, I have no doubt but that, if our protection be withdrawn, negro education will be hindered in every possible way, including obstruction by fraud and violence. I have not the smallest expectation that, with the State authorities in full power, a northern citizen would be protected in the exercise of his constitutional right to teach and preach to the colored people; and shall look for a renewal of the fearful scenes, in which northerners were whipped, tarred and feathered, warned off, and murdered, before the war.

I meant to make this letter shorter, but could not. I hope I need not assure you, general, that I am not conscious that any part of the above comes of enmity to the south. I certainly should rejoice to see my opinion of the state of feeling in Mississippi falsified by patent facts.

I have the honer to be, general, your obedient servant,

JOSEPH WARREN, Chaplain, State Superintendent of Education.

Major General CARL SCHURZ.



No. 39.

OFFICE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER BUREAU REFUGEES, FREEDMEN AND ABANDONED LANDS FOR STATE OF MISSISSIPPI,

Vicksburg, Mississippi, September 30, 1865.

General: I see by the papers of a late date that Dr. Murdoch, of Columbus, Mississippi, has made a speech at General Howard's office, in which he makes strong promises of the hearty co-operation of his fellow-citizens in the education of the freedmen in the State.

The officer of this bureau at that place, Captain Hubbard, writes that "the citizens of the place are so prejudiced against the negroes that they are opposed to all efforts being made for their education or elevation; that the people will not give rooms, or allow the children of their hired freedmen to attend the schools; that the citizens of the place have written a letter to the officer saying that they would respectfully ask that no freedmen schools be established under the auspices of the bureau, as it would tend to disturb the present labor system, and take from the field labor that is so necessary to restore the wealth of the State." This is signed by half a dozen citizens purporting to represent the people, and certainly gives us a different idea of the case from that stated by Dr. Murdoch.

I am, general, very respectfully,

SAMUEL THOMAS, Colonel, Assistant Commissioner for Mississippi.

Major General CARL SCHURZ.



No. 40.

To the Voters of Wilkinson county:

Fellow-Citizens: When I consented, some days ago, to be a candidate for the State convention, I confess that, with some of my personal friends, I was vain enough to believe that I was sufficiently well known to the people of Wilkinson county to make it unnecessary for me to publish my political creed. But, to my surprise, it is rumored, to the prejudice of my humble claim upon your suffrage, that I am an "unconditional, immediate emancipationist—an abolitionist."

In the freedom of casual, friendly conversation, it is certainly not unreasonable that I may, as any other man, be misunderstood. I cannot think any of my fellow-citizens capable of misrepresenting me purposely. But certain it is I am misunderstood if any man believes me to favor the policy that wrongs and impoverishes my country. It does occur to me, fellow-citizens, that the charity, at least, if not the good sense of those who know me, would contradict any such insinuation. True, I only claim to have done my duty, but my record for the last four years, I trust, is sufficient proof of my fidelity to the interests of the south and all her institutions. Can any man believe me now in favor of, and ready to advocate, the abolition of an institution for which I have contended so long, and which I am as fully persuaded to-day, as ever, was the true status of the negro? Surely not.

But, fellow-citizens,—what I may, in common with you all, have to submit to, is a very different thing. Slavery has been taken from us. The power that has already practically abolished the institution threatens totally and forever to abolish it. But does it follow that I am in favor of this thing? By no means. And, certainly, you who know me will not demand of me any further assurance than my antecedents afford that I will, as your representative, should you elect me, "do all and secure all" I could for the best interest of the State, and the rights and interests of a free people.

I have thought, and have said, and do now repeat, that my honest conviction is, we must accept the situation as it is until we can get control once more of our own State affairs. We cannot do otherwise and get our place again in the Union, and occupy a position, exert an influence, that will protect us against further and greater evils which threaten us. I must, as any other man who votes or holds an office, submit, for the time, to evils I cannot remedy.

I want it distinctly understood that I do not run on "Mr. Burruss's platform," or any other man's, save my own.

Should you send me to the convention I will go committed, as I think an honest man can only commit himself, i. e., according to my best judgment, and with an intention to guard all the blessings we now enjoy, to the extent of my ability, exert myself, as I have said, to secure all I can for the interest of our State. If I cannot be trusted, then choose some other man, who may have shown himself hitherto, and is now, more truly your friend, and who is, in your judgment, more capable of representing you.

W.L. BRANDON.

Wilkinson County, August 6.



No. 41.

OFFICE ACTING ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER BUREAU FREEDMEN, &c., FOR SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI,