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"The Freedmen's Record" is published monthly, and is the organ of the NEW-ENGLAND FREEDMEN'S AID SOCIETY.
All communications for or relating to the "RECORD" should be addressed to M. G. KIMBALL, 8, Studio Building, Boston; and must be accompanied by the name and address of the writer. Terms per annum copies, 10 cents. $1.00 in advance; single
WAS IT THE DARKEST DAY?
On April 15, 1865, the President of the United States died by an assassin's hand. No man filling that honored office, since Washington, has been so widely beloved, so fully respected, so deeply trusted. No man was ever more basely and foully murdered. Our faith in God and humanity rocked to its very centre, that one so generous, lenient, brave, and trusting, could be so foully betrayed. The Christ was crucified again on that Good Friday as eighteen hundred years before, and " there was darkness over all the land."
Yet, in that hour of agony, we could kneel down and thank God for what Abraham Lincoln had been to us for four years, for the chains of four million people stricken off; and could see that the assassin had struck too early for us, but too late for the dastardly power he served; that the great work was done, and the fell blow only scattered the ripened seed to the wind.
That was a darker day in Boston in May, 1854, when the Christ of humanity, not in the person of its noblest, but of its most despised representative, was stripped of humanity, and driven back to chattel slavery,—not by the hand of an assassin, but by the regular course of law. "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Then it seemed as if the very conscience and heart of the nation were stabbed to death, and the sacred name of justice, which should be the guardian of humanity, was its bitterest foe.
Was not that Friday in May, '54, a darker day than the terrible one in April, '65? and was not the power of the former in the blow which struck down our hope and our joy in the latter? God is not mocked. The full demand of justice must be satisfied ; and the nation, which willingly gave up its least and most despised to the slave-power, has paid for it with the blood of its proudest and dearest.
PASSION WEEK.
The last week has been unexampled in our history for the intensity of its excitement, for the flush of joy which spread over the whole nation at its opening, and the heavy cloud of sorrow which fell upon us at its close. Rejoicing with those who rejoiced, and mourning with the bitter sorrow of those who mourned, it now becomes our duty to gather up our thoughts in stillness, and see how these events have affected our position, and the people for whom we labor.
If we sorrow for the great and good man who has been so pitilessly struck down, what is our grief to that of the freedmen, who have believed in him as their deliverer, who know nothing of the beneficence of government, or the protection of law, but as embodied in the beloved name of Abraham Lincoln? We know that the power he so beneficently wielded, welled up from the people; but they think all the good that has been done originated with him. Those of us also who have read the address of the Vice-President to the negroes of Tennessee, in which he pledged himself " to be their Moses," cannot doubt that he will be always the zealous friend of the black man. Still, to the great mass of those most interested, his name is comparatively unknown.
Peace comes to them fraught with uncertainties and dangers. War has brought them emancipation, opportunity to labor for them-
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selves, and to defend themselves by their strong right arms. Every month proved them more valuable and more trustworthy. May they not well fear that, in peace, they may again be sacrificed, if not to slavery, at least to a degradation but little more endurable? And yet we believe they have a firm and loving trust that we shall not betray them.
These facts urge us to greater zeal and diligence in our work. The more intelligent, the more educated, the freedman is, the better able to support himself; the more sure are we of his recognition as a citizen with equal rights, which is the only ground of safety for him and for us. The present military occupation of Southern territory gives us opportunities of establishing schools, with protection for our teachers, with the right to shelter and rations, and with means of transportation at low rates, such as we shall not have when State and municipal governments are in the hands of civilians. "We cannot wish to have this precious interval prolonged; but we must use it wisely and diligently, to implant those principles of knowledge which will help to raise the freedmen to a condition of respect and independence.
"Why should not every town in Massachusetts, nay, in New England, furnish one teacher for the freedmen? It is only educating our brother a little farther off; and their instruction is absolutely, at this hour, more important to our well-being than that of our own people. New England has an invested fund of thought and principle, which has preserved her institutions in spite of the absorption of a mass of ignorant foreigners; but what safety have we for free institutions in States composed of treacherous whites and ignorant blacks?
"We trust that the blessed work which the Sanitary and Christian Commissions have been doing for the soldier will be needed but little longer; and that the stream of benevolent activity which has flowed to them will be turned towards the benefit of the freedman.
OUR TEACHERS.
Since out last issue, which contained the annual report of the Teachers' Committee, our work has progressed so rapidly, that the report would give an idea of it much below the reality. "We accordingly give an unusual amount of space to letters from teachers this month.
Charleston has been the point of greatest interest; and we have sent about twenty teachers to take charge of its schools, under the supervision of the active and efficient superintendent, Mr. James Redpath. Well seconded by the military power, he has ably maintained the principle, that the negroes should share equally with the whites in the occupation of the schoolhouses, and in all the benefits of education. He asks us to supply him with teachers; and we have sent them forward as fast as we could engage suitable ones, and obtain transportation for them. We are often asked, What are the qualifications for teachers? and, as our system of branch societies is spreading so rapidly, it is desirable that this subject should be well understood, that societies may not be disappointed either in having their nominees declined, or in their proving unfitted for the work.
In the first place, health is requisite; not merely on account of any supposed disadvantages of the climate, but to insure energy, cheerfulness, and courage, for the work. No person of the right disposition can be among the freedmen without feeling a constant temptation to overwork. Evening schools, sewing schools, sabbath schools, are often added to the regular school-duties. The people are naked, hungry, sick: the teacher often aids in distributing the supplies, and caring for their bodily wants. Then, the people begin to trust in her, and come to her for advice and comfort and sympathy. This taxes the mind and heart as well as the body; and there must be a good stock of vitality to meet such a demand.
And, then, we must have earnestness of purpose. No mere youthful enthusiasm, love of adventure, or desire of change, will sustain a teacher through the labors and hardships of of her work. She must see in the freedmen the representatives of humanity, the little ones " whom Jesus has told us we serve him in serving. She should feel also the importance of the work in relation to our country: that she is forming the people who are to influence very largely its future, for good or evil. She will need all these motives of religion and patriotism to sustain her in her duties.
With good moral character and a good New-England education, our additional requisite is experience. For the schools of Charleston, and other large cities, we value very highly the knowledge of our public-school system. It is this system, with such modifications as new circumstances may require, that we hope
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to see established throughout our Southern country; and in the great centres our schools will be light set on a candlestick to light all the house. We aim to make them model schools; as thorough, both in discipline and study, as those of New England. "You have taken our best teacher from-------- ," said a gentleman to us. That is precisely what we mean to do: the freedmen need the best, already trained and experienced. New England can raise up new ones to fill their places for herself.
For other places, — where the work includes visiting the people at their homes, instructing them in housekeeping or branches of labor, or where the refugees flock in, sick and travel-worn, and needing immediate care, — we need a different class of women. Those who have had the charge of large households, matrons of benevolent institutions,—one who had gained a medical education, —those who have lived long, and known life well, have come to us; and we have found work exactly fitted for them to do. The charge of asylums of the Freedmen's Rest, of the poor in Washington, of the distribution of supplies, fall upon such persons.
Our young friends — the bright, enthusiastic girls whose hearts are full of zeal for the good cause — ask sadly if there is no place for them. It is with great pain that we have to refuse them so often; but except in rare cases, when we can place them with some older person, as assistant, we do not think it right to send them. We cannot plan the work in detail; we must trust very much to each teacher to regulate her own work according to the need that she finds. But let no one who has the cause really at heart doubt that there will be work for her to do. A few years more of experience at home will fit her for it also; and there are four millions of people to be taught and civilized. Surely there is work enough for us all. It is even harder to refuse those whom we fear are too old to go, — those who, having worked faithfully for many years, feel as if they had yet some strength and life to give to the freedmen. It is true, they have some; and, could we send an unlimited number, they would doubtless do much faithful service; but if they occupy the places which more young and vigorous persons might have, they are standing in the way of the cause they love, instead of helping it forward. There is work to be done for the freedmen, beside going down to teach them; and one may labor for them as truly in Massachusetts as in South Carolina.
We have written this, not to discourage any modest or timid applicants, but mainly for the information of our welcome co-workers, the officers of branch societies, that, in nominating teachers to us, they may do us the great service of suggesting those whom they know to possess the requisites for the work.
SCHOOLS IN NEW ORLEANS.
We gather from the Report of the Board of Education for Freedmen in the Department of the Gulf, the following statistics :
When, in April, 1862, the guns of Farragut transformed the city of New Orleans from rebel to national rule, no such thing as a public school for colored children was found in the schedule of the conquest. No such thing had ever existed in the Crescent City. Even that portion of the colored population who for generations had been wealthy and free were allowed no public schools, though taxed to support the white schools of the city and State. To teach a slave the dangerous arts of reading and writing, was a heinous offence, having, in the language of the statute, "a tendency to excite insubordination among the servile class, and punishable by imprisonment at hard labor, for not more than twenty-one years, or by death, at the discretion of the court."
In the face of all obstacles, however, a few of the free colored people of the poorer class learned to read and write. Cases of like proficiency were also found among the slaves, where some restless bondman, yearning for the knowledge that somehow he coupled with liberty, hid himself from public notice to con over, in secret, and laboriously, the magic letters.
The advent of the Federal army weakened slavery, and suspended the pains and penalties of its bloody code; and a few private teachers began to appear in response to the strong desire of the colored people for instruction.
In spite of a state of war, of the fierce opposition of prejudice, of passion, of all obstacles and disabilities, so really vital is this system of instruction, that, at the close of the year 1864, after but nine months' existence, the Board of Education was sustaining in succesful operation 95 schools, 162 teachers, and 9,571 pupils. In addition, the number of colored adults of both sexes receiving instruc-
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tion in night and Sunday-schools, under the auspices of the Board, is over 2,000.
Of the scholars in attendance in December, there were 3,883 writing on slates; 1,108 writing in copy-books; 283 studying grammar; 1,338 studying geography ; 1,223 studying practical arithmetic; 4,628 studying mental arithmetic; 7,623 reading; 8,301 spelling; 2,103 learning the alphabet.
SCHOOLS IN SAVANNAH, GA.
The Oglethorpe Colored School of Savannah, founded on the 15th of January, 1865, by the Colored Educational Association of that city, has just had its first public examination. This is the first institution of the kind ever established in Savannah. The usual obstacles of bitter prejudice and opposition have beset this despised people in their efforts at self-improvement. The "Savannah Republican" says:—
"The examination was highly creditable to both teachers and pupils, showing a very rapid intellectual progress since the organization of the school. There are about four hundred and fifty pupils in attendance at the school, aged from five to twenty years. Of this number there are some two hundred and fifty females and two hundred male scholars, to whom all the branches of an English grammar-school education are taught; and it is as refreshing as wonderful to see with what earnestness and avidity these liberated people seek for information. All manifest a desire to learn. About five hours a day are devoted to study. The school is divided into eight different departments or classes, under a separate instructor, and is so arranged that there is no interference one with another.
"The building now occupied for instructing colored children was originally used as a Medical College, but more recently as a Confederate hospital. Three years ago, when Fort Pulaski fell, might have been seen the hospital flag of the rebels floating from the top of this building, now, through the instrumentality of divine Providence, dedicated to teaching the children of bondage the inestimable blessing of a proper use of liberty, and how to act in their new condition of life. What a change since then! Now, in three short years, colored children, many of whom were then slaves and bondsmen living in utter ignorance of that enlightenment which the mind is capable of being taught, are being instructed in the rudiments of an English education, the mind being opened to those higher and more ennobling traits of character of which the black race is susceptible; and that, too, in the very house then occupied by men who were engaged in a war against the Union and for the perpetuation and extension of slavery. What a commentary upon man's destiny! Verily, "man proposes and God disposes." We welcome these loyal teachers to our city, and may their labors continue to be as productive and as successful as the first examination of the Oglethorpe Free Schools. Just think of the astounding metamorphosis that has taken place, when we behold two white men, natives of South Carolina and Georgia, teaching the black race the word of life; a heinous crime, punishable with death, in nearly all the Southern States before the war. "Times change, and men change with them."
SCHOOLS IN LOUISVILLE, KY.
We have received an interesting report of a committee appointed by Major-General Palmer, at Louisville, Ky., to inquire into the condition of the colored schools in that city. The facts embodied in the report afford a striking commentary on the assertion of pro-slavery people, that the negro will not take care of himself because of his innate lack of self-reliance. The report shows, that, in the face of every discouragement, without the assistance or even the countenance of the white population, but while taxed with punctual care for the support of free schools for white children, they pay their taxes cheerfully, and then proceed to spend several thousand dollars annually in educating their own children. If, against such difficulty, while compelled to pay a left-handed tax for the education of white children, the colored people can establish their schools, we have no fear, when duty, policy, and fair play shall actuate the whites toward them, that they will not be able to take care of themselves. The report goes on to say,
"The interest expressed by the colored people themselves in the subject of education, since the prospect of freedom has been clearly before them, is something really wonderful. In proof of this, reference is made to the numerous public meetings which they have held this winter, on the subject; to the great increase in schools and in average attendance; to the desire to secure the services of a white teacher, and to improve the character of all the teachers; to the number attending Mr. Dennechy's night school at St. Marks, averaging for weeks during the shortest days in the year, sixty or eighty; to the fact that no less than seven relinquished their regular employments, at high wages, in order that they might attend day as well as night. It is a fact worthy of remark that all of the schools now in operation are, for the most part, pay schools, and at a rate
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of compensation averaging ten dollars a year for each pupil, — three or four times as much as the average in the free schools of the country; and amounting, for four hundred pupils, to the very large sum of $4,000 a year. Where can a population so small, and of such limited means, be found, who are paying so much for education?
" The like is rarely witnessed amongst uneducated foreigners in this country, and cannot be readily accounted for except upon the principle that they feel the powerful influence of the great change which has come over their social condition and prospects. They plainly perceive the advantages of education in improving that condition, and affording them greater facility in obtaining a livelihood and realizing a small estate. And the duty of the Government, of the city authority, and of the Christian public, to avail themselves of this newly manifested interest in education, and to extend to them a helping hand in every profitable way, cannot be too deeply impressed upon all their consciences. To neglect this opportunity would be as mischievous as it would be criminal. We want to convert our former servants, as soon as possible, into intelligent, industrious, useful Christian citizens.
"The attention of the Christian community throughout the country has been turned to this question in its broader aspects, and the delegates of several Freedmen's Aid Societies have either visited this city, or have written to inquire what work of this kind needs to be done here, and what are the best methods of doing it."
NEWBERNE, N. C.
We give below a consolidated report of our schools in Newberne, N. C., for the month of March: —
Number of Pupils . . . . . . . . . . 968 Average attendance . . . . . . . . 689 Number of males . . . . . . . . . . 483 " of females . . . . . . . . 481 " over sixteen years . . . 100 " under six years . . . . . 35 " who read and spell . . 714 " in Mental Arithmetic. . 598 " in written . . . . . . . . . . 202 " in Geography . . . . . . . 344 " who write . . . . . . . . . .
430 " of mulattoes . . . . . . . . 183 " of blacks . . . . . . . . . . 459
The Committee on Teachers regret much the absence of their excellent Secretary. Our readers will be glad to learn that she is in Richmond, Va., working there as zealously and effectively for the cause as here. The colored people themselves are eager to embrace the benefits we can offer them, and have held meetings to consider the best means of securing education and improvement. Owing to changes in the military department, Miss Stevenson has not yet been able to complete her plans; but five teachers are already in that city, prepared to go to work immediately.
EXTRACTS FROM TEACHERS' LETTERS.
Charleston, March 2,.1865.
I have now seven schools in operation. One of them contained, to-day, nine hundred and fifty children, black and white. I have, at least, two thousand five hundred children in school here, and eighty teachers employed.
All the public schools are Yankee schools, open to black and white alike.
Lists are being taken of all the adults who desire to be taught. I believe, that, before the first of May, five thousand persona, small and large, will be under tuition here if I can get the teachers. The colored people are a unit in favor of learning at once and all together. Everybody from six to sixty is already out, or ready to turn out as soon as I can handle them.
I will make them pay for their own schoolbooks.
James Redpath,
Superintendent Schools.
HILTON Head, April 6, 1865.
My business as Superintendent of Freedmen brings me much in close contact with the newly arrived negroes; and the facts which I gather are of most thrilling interest often. Broken families coming together after years, painful years, of separation. Multitudes apply to me for permission to go, whithersoever there is an opening, in pursuit of friends whom they hope to find.
I have in my thoughts a case of peculiar character, which developed itself to-day, which I may venture to speak of more particularly.
Henry Olmstead, wife, and five children, natives of New York, were employed on a steamer running from New York to Richmond. Four years since, in March, they were decoyed to a hotel in Richmond, robbed of some four hundred dollars in specie, sold as slaves for about twenty-four hundred dollars, taken to Charleston and re-sold, and continued in servitude there till a few days before the evacuation of that city. They escaped inland; and after several days' toil, they reached Blair's Landing, and arrived here only last Saturday ; since which time I have been feeding them at the church. To-day I secured a free pass for them to New York by the " Fulton," which leaves to-morrow.
J. G. DODGE.
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Hilton Head, March 29, 1865
My last was dated at Charleston, the city of wonders and ruins. I spent just one month there.
The procession of colored people which passed through the streets on Tuesday of last week was magnificently wonderful, though affecting beyond degree. It was two and a half miles in length, and composed mostly of the native population of the city; while the sidewalks on the whole route were thronged with yet others, too old or too young to endure the march, and the poor, ragged, destitute multitudes recently from the country.
I think at least twelve hundred colored people were in the streets at the same time; and I, for the time being, was painfully impressed with the magnitude of our work, though, upon the whole, as jubilant as was every one around me. I never saw fifty feet of people so happy and so joyous as were those two and a half miles, I blessed God and cursed slavery with the same breath, and so did they; and we all breathed rapidly besides. On my return to this place, I found my wife sick and prostrate, with boxes and bales and bundles, and piles of clothing of every description, so heaped up around her that my greeting was necessarily tendered at respectful distance. I think she will never die in debt to God's "little ones." I have not seen the surface of our table since I came home, until just now I have so far succeeded in the clearing process as to conquer about one square foot for "correspondence."
The clothing arrives tardily, though it reaches at length. To-day the bark "Deney" arrived, with fourteen barrels and five boxes. She is ordered at once to Charleston, and I shall not land the goods here at all; but they will go where they are vastly needed. I write at this time with more particular reference to teachers for Charleston. The schools there are public, in the large, true sense. When I left, I think they numbered nearly twenty-five hundred pupils, five hundred of whom are whites. Mr. Redpath, with other co-operation, has done a great work already, and still it goes bravely on.
G. Pillory.
Hilton Head, March 29, 1865.
I can hardly describe to you my experience during these few weeks. Words can not well portray the suffering and destitution of the freedmen who have been recently coming in from the mainland. A church in Hilton Head has been for some time appropriated to their use. Rations have been given them by the Government, and straw provided for bedding. From long exposure, insufficient clothing, and scarcity of food, many of them are quite sick when they reach here. They are, in many instances, filthy in the extreme; being covered with nothing but dirty rags, and these loaded with vermin. For many weeks the suffering there was necessarily extreme. The sick lay on the floor, unattended in their filth and nakedness, while contagious diseases raged there. Mrs. Pillory, the only white woman, I think, who visited them at this time, aided them as far as possible in supplying the sick with proper nourishment and clothing. But, among the many duties that devolved upon her, this responsibility was greater than she wished to bear unaided. She therefore concluded it would be well for me to leave my school, and give my attention to their suffering condition for a time at least. I was very glad to do so, and immediately responded to the invitation. I had previously visited them, and my sympathies were greatly moved in their behalf. Mrs. Pillory kindly offered me a home with her during the remainder of her stay here. The work of renovating commenced immediately.
The room into which so many had been crowded had been unswept for a long time (no brooms were provided for them); and when you know that the sick were obliged to lie on the floor, too feeble to rise, — no attention being given them in their helplessness, — you can, perhaps, realize the condition of the straw upon which they lay, and the foul atmosphere that filled the room. I talked with them concerning the uncleanliness of their house; but even when I told them I had sent them brooms and scrubbing-brushes to use, they showed no interest in the matter, but stood looking at me, with folded arms, their faces expressive of doubt of my good intentions. So much had been said to them about the condition of their room that they ceased to heed what was said to them. After much talk and persuasion on my part, they expressed a willingness to scour the room. Since then they have taken much better care of the house; though it has been necessary for me to urge the matter daily, that it might be accomplished. During the first two weeks of my visitation there, several died notwithstanding my efforts to save them. Their exposure had been so great, nature could make no restoration. Two cases of small-pox showed itself there last week; but, as they were quickly removed, it has not since made its appearance.
S. Lillie.
Norfolk, March 15, 1866.
"Fourthly, and lastly," of the sessions for the day, has just closed. My Mary Jane, who is "frantic for an education, " and who writes, " If I could go to school two years, I could do something to benefit my wrace, " has gone home rejoicing in the possession of the fact, that " 6 less 2 is" 4!
To-day a black soldier coolly walked into my schoolroom at the close of my second session, and asked if I would teach him "a couple of hours " every day. I gasped for breath, at the thought of two hours more! "Why can't you go to the
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night-school? " I asked. " Oh! I has a school in the jail when the boys are off duty; and I wants to learn more, to teach them, " — " As thy day, " thought I, and Edmond was installed as my pupil; the time to be given whenever he's "off duty. "
The seven varieties of primary geography I have displaced with those sent me, allowing the proprietors of the old ones to exchange for the new, by paying twenty-five cents. It was the best I could do, though your price list rated them at sixty. The old ones I have given Edmond for his pupils, advising him to charge them ten cents each, and invest the proceeds in slates for them. Perhaps it is "professional pride" in me, but I like, above all things, to see these freedmen putting on the dignity of the schoolmaster. What a leap, from their past to such a present! In this respect they seem to fully understand, that 'tis at least as blessed to give as to receive.
My regular school for to-day, as for all days, has been all work and no play for the teachers. It is pretty well understood, that if there be such a quality as African total depravity, it was collected concentrated in this school.
Considering that slight obstacle to success, I am not ashamed of the school as it now is, nor yet very proud of it. I don't admit it here, but there are elements in this school that require all my strength to hold in check. I can do it, and do do it; but not without looking out occasionally to see if that Washington schoolhouse is in sight.
Oh! guess who has honored us with a look, a word, and a tear to-day. Senator Wilson! We did our best to reward him for coming, and hope he felt that his efforts in our behalf had not been in vain.
This reminds me of "a pleasant mention" that will do for the " Record," that is, if its respected editor thinks so. A teacher in one of our schools was exceedingly mortified by the disorderly conduct of some of her pupils during a visit of some friends from the North. She afterwards expostulated with the offenders, asking them if that was the way to show their gratitude to the people who sent them teachers. Whereupon one of the little innocents exclaimed, "I thought God sent us our teachers!"
B.C.
Hilton Head, S. C., March 21, 1865.
You see I am here yet, and still writing for my beloved Island; for I do love it, sands and all.
And now, before going, I must do one thing more; viz., solicit another favor in its behalf. If you look on the little map I sent, you will see Lawton plantation on the southern part. There have been two teachers from New-York society at that place, but they are now about leaving. I have seen Mr. Park, the agent for the lessees, and who resides in the planter's house, and promised him two teachers from your society.
This island is as needy for aid, in some parts, as Edisto, or any location. Hundreds of ragged refugees from Sherman's raid, and from all part, have gone to these plantations, and must be taught. There will be four Boston teachers left the island when I leave. Yesterday, the provost marshal called on me with regard to dividing the island into school districts. In doing this, two destitute sections were found which have been " left out in the cold. " The number of children and youth is large; and houses, or one at least, must be built. Would the society or any town make a donation of a part of the expenses, if the house could be partially built by the colored people, and perhaps the owners of plantations? and then could two teachers be supplied for one school, and one more, perhaps, for another?
At "Spanish Wells,” the people have been as far from the means of knowledge the past year, and ever since the war, as if they had lived in Secessia. "
Misses Fowler and Wesselhoeft are nicely settled at Bessie School. They are noble girls: everybody loves them, and their pretty cottage attracts many a bridle-rein or light carriage.
I have made them almoners of New-England bounty to the poor; and they themselves are already the recipients of many favors, both from their "parish" and white settlers. I am proud of the teachers you have sent to this island. They in the respect and love of all.
Very cordially,
A. Francis Pillory.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 31, 1855.
The colored people here are successfully engaging in almost every branch of industry. Some keep stores of various kinds; and some are employed as carpenters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, &c. The greater part, however, are employed by government in doing its heaviest work, —such as loading and unloading vessels, cars, &c. I know of one who has made considerable proficiency in learning the photographic art, and designs to open a photographic saloon, by and by, for the especial accommodation of his colored brethren. They, i. e., the colored people generally, have long been considered equal, or superior, to the whites in boot-blacking and hair-cutting; but how must the Southern chivalry feel to see them entering into competition with their race in the trades, arts, and professions! What a revolution in condition it would be if some of the negroes should purchase little farms, made from the plantations where they once worked as slaves, and should employ some of the poor whites to assist them in cultivating the soil! Such a change in relations is not all unlikely to occur.
J. S. Banfield.
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CHARLESTON, S. C., March 29, 1865.
Miss STEVENSON, — It has been so strongly impressed on my mind all day, that I cannot forbear making it the subject of a special letter to you, — what a magnificent revenge Massachusetts has now an opportunity to have upon South Carolina, and especially Boston upon Charleston, for all the sneers and insults heaped upon them by this Southern State and city, — for the expulsion of Judge Hoar, for the betrayal of Daniel Webster, for the beating of Charles Sumner, and for the numberless indignities which the oligarchs of Carolina have delighted to cast upon the sons of the old Bay State.
Right from the shadow of the monument of Bunker Hill, where Toombs was one day to call the roll of his slaves, came to me, the other day, a large box full of new, children's clothes; and the next afternoon hundreds of freed children, clad in these tokens of genuine practical philanthropy, marched in procession through the streets of Charleston in honor of one of Massachusetts' noblest sons, General Saxton, shouting as they went, in triumphant chorus, "Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!" and acknowledging the kindness of the Northern ladies, as they passed my office, by loud cheers of gratitude.
I couldn't but think then, that those cheers were the proudest answer Boston could make to the threat of the slave statesman, and to the accusation of empty fanaticism, with which the names of her abolitionists have long been associated at the South.
And it has now been impressed on my mind all day, that Boston ought to claim the privilege, above all other places, of clothing every needy black child in Charleston, suitably for the schools where are taught those glorious principles of liberty and loyalty for which Boston has stood up so long and manfully, through good and through evil report.
Oh! for one hour of the wizard's cunning, to evolve the spirit of Calhoun from the trance of death, and show him the thronging thousands of the people he despised as brutes, crowding around the schoolhouse doors, in rags borrowed from fathers and mothers, begged from friendly soldiers, picked up in the streets, — aye, and stolen from the deserted garrets of their former masters, — eager at all events, and at every sacrifice, to learn to read!
And then to show him the stores of goods sent down from the friendly hands busied around countless firesides at the North, proving that love is the inspiration of liberty, and brotherhood the basis of Christian civilization.
And then to tell him that these things came from the New England which he hated; from Boston, which he reviled; and from the abolitionists whom he detested; and that this is the answer Massachusetts makes to South Carolina.
Would this punishment be too severe even for his crimes? Not greater at any rate than that which his misguided disciples are suffering here every day. . . .
The building next the Relief Office was fired Sunday last with the evident design of destroying our building; but was fortunately extinguished in time to save it.
Yours very truly,
JAMES P. BLAKE.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 28, 1865.
Press of business alone has prevented an earlier acknowledgment of the welcome arrival of a long-needed assistant, in the person of Miss Mary F. Lawton. I am pleased to observe how well she enters upon her new sphere of duties. Until Miss Lawton came, I knew by experience the great patience and attention necessary in teaching beginners. I have had some learn the letters in a very short time, almost by hearing them repeated once, while others would be months in learning them perfectly.
It is pleasant to report an increase in our number since I last wrote. Within a few days there have been as many as 132 present at one time. I think there are about 175 names on the list. We shall not want to take more than twenty or thirty more into the school, for fear that proper attention cannot then be bestowed upon the scholars. We welcome the rapid approach of spring. The mud is drying fast, and it is so mild that very little fire is needed in the schoolroom.
We feel very glad that the accumulating debt, contracted in purchasing fuel, was cancelled by a remittance of $16.00 from the Branch Society of Brookline. We now take a fresh start, and intend to pay, hereafter, all bills of a similar kind without taxing the liberality of Northern friends.
March 1. Last Sunday I could not fail to notice and remark upon the large number of tastefully and even nicely dressed, and good appearing, colored people, who were going to and from worship. They are fond of dress, — and that is not a characteristic of colored people alone, — and with sufficient means at command there need be no fear that they will not be neat in their dress and habits.
J. S. BANFIELD.
NORFOLK, Va., March 5.
I find the colored people, as a class, are very religious, and seem sincere. They often make remarks quite amusing. "Uncle, why do you make so much noise in your meetings?" "Why! didn't ye ever read in your Bible, that hollered be thy name?" was the ready reply. They always crave a blessing upon "Abram Linkum;" and seldom omit to pray for " our teachers, who have
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come so far to teach us." With the gratitude manifested, we can afford to go on, cheerful and happy.
MARY C. FLETCHER.
ALEXANDRIA, March 6, 1865.
When I arrived here I found the school in a very good condition. I think the children, have made very great progress indeed in the short time they have been going to school; with a few exceptions, they get their lessons very well. The scholars think we have no right to punish them. Some of the girls sew very nicely, and all of them appear to take an interest in their sewing. Saturday I went to see the inauguration of President Lincoln. I saw the procession; and what I saw did my heart good. The colored soldiers were there, and a Masonic society, and also a colored band. The officers seemed to feel very proud of their men; and well they might, for they were a fine looking set of men. Every person that day seemed to wear a smiling face. When the sun shone so brightly, just as the ceremonies were to take place, a colored woman says, " The Lord bless the child: Heaven smiles upon him!" The Freedman's Bureau has been passed, and also the bill allowing us to ride in any car, steamboat, or other public conveyance in the United States, without regard to caste. This is grand; for several times I have got angry to think I was not free to ride; but that will now be done away with, and we enjoy the privileges and rights of a people, as we ought to.
E. M. LAWTON.
BAKER FARM, Feb. 26.
It is now two months since Miss C. and I took up our abode in the country. Our school numbers one hundred, with an average attendance of forty in each room.
For several weeks, we have had twenty from the Bradford Farm, three miles distant, at our morning session. In the evening school, which we hold in the largest schoolroom, we have from thirty to forty of those who have had no lesson for the day.
LOUISE FISHER.
The report of the James School is highly encouraging. Two of its teachers are sent by the New-York Freedmen's Society. The report is probably written by Miss Bronell. She includes in it a passage by our teacher, Miss Frances Ellis, which we give below: —
NEWBERN, N. C., March 25, 1865.
During all these weeks my school has prospered. I can hardly describe the delight with which I call those girls around me, to whom a few weeks ago I taught the letters, and listen to their reading. I am now brought to grief, however, by the loss of several of my most promising girls. Some of them have gone to wash at the hospitals, and others have found places to work; and among them my favorite, Violet. I cannot remonstrate in such cases, because Government should be relieved as much as possible of the burden of the maintenance of these contrabands; but I have tried to induce them to come to my room evenings, and continue their lessons. All teachers are subject to such disappointments as these: I must make up my mind to it. Since I have been writing this letter I have seen a sight which it were almost worth coming to Newbern to behold. Nine hundred and fifty rebel prisoners, captured near Goldsborough, have passed by. They present the rough, unshorn, tattered appearance which the newspapers so often describe. You will be pleased to learn that many of the ladies are busy in preparing delicacies for the sick and wounded soldiers, of whom there are many hundred in Newbern.
F. E. E.
REPORT
OF RELIEF OPERATIONS FOR FREEDMEN IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, FOR MARCH, 1865.
THE departure of Sherman's army, and the dispersion of the refugees brought by him from Georgia upon the plantation of the Sea Islands, having superseded Beaufort as the chief centre of need, and supply of relief, the principal part of the goods arriving in this department during the month of March has been sent to Charleston, though private parties elsewhere have still continued to receive considerable donations, from friends, destined for their several localities.
The destitution at Charleston was found to be extreme, not only among the old and infirm residents of the place, but also among the numerous refugees from the interior, who had been driven into the city by guerillas, and plundered of the few comforts they sought to save from their burning dwellings. Destructive fires occurring during, and after, the evacuation by the rebels, had rendered very many city families homeless, and greatly impaired their ability to assist the refugees.
Upon ascertaining these facts, the leading men of color were called together and consulted respecting a system of relief. Upon their nomination, twenty-four colored men were appointed to canvass the city in districts, to make a written report of the names, circumstances, and needs of all destitute persons, and to provide them with tickets numbered to correspond with the entries in the report.
This work was effectively done by the committee in the space of about one week, —during which time they generously contributed their ser-
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vices without compensation. Meanwhile, the handful of goods on hand was given out for the relief of a few certified cases of extreme want.
Fortunately, just as the report of the canvassers was completed, a special agent — N. F. R. S.— arrived in Charleston, with a considerable quantity of clothing, and we were enabled to resume giving out immediately. The very old, sick, and crippled, were clothed every morning, and school-children every afternoon.
Many of the whites were found to be suffering very much; and it was proposed to share a portion of the relief with them, until the National Union Association should be able to begin its operations here. Permission to do this, however, was refused by the consignees, and the goods have been devoted exclusively to freedmen. The supply of women's clothing is already (April 2d) exhausted, and but a small proportion of the needy are relieved. Garments for women and children, and piece-goods suitable to be made up for them, are now urgently called for.
A "Ladies' Patriotic Association," comprising three hundred of the leading colored women of Charleston, has been organized, "to assist the United States Government in caring for the poor;" and has agreed to make up into clothing all the cloth which may be sent from the North for the Charleston people.
With the rapid increase of territory falling into our military possession, there arises a constantly increasing need for the loyal States to enlarge their charities for the freedmen. Three millions of slaves, most of whom have received no clothes since the war commenced, — thrown suddenly on their own resources for support, amid the confusion, terror, and ruin, of a war of which they are accounted the cause, — utterly destitute of education and property, without tools, or seeds, or the means to provide them, — many of them without shelter, even, — constitute an imperative claim upon the charities of benevolent men. If the need in Georgetown, Wilmington, and the cities of the interior, be as great as at Charleston, it will be difficult to overestimate the amount of help needed to enable the freedmen to begin their struggle upward with decency and hope.
JAMES P. BLAKE,
Freedmen's Relief Agent, Department of the South.
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH.
HILTON HEAD, S. C., April13,1865.Miss HANNAH E. STEVENSON, — Secretary of Committee on Teacher's New-England Freedmen's Aid Society, Boston.
DEAR MADAM, —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your valued letter of March 19th, ultimo, in which you speak so kindly of my action in regard to the education of the freed people at Charleston. I did what I could to give a just and equal opportunity to all, without distinction, to attend the public schools. When, a days since, I left Charleston to assume my new duties here, it was a pleasant thing to know that nearly four thousand children, of whom about three-fourths were colored, were in regular attendance upon the public schools.
Theories become facts very rapidly in war; and I do not think that the colored people of Charleston can ever again be barred out from their rightful share in the public schools.
This long-suffering race are, by their earnest acceptance of the opportunities for improvement and education so generously extended by your own and kindred societies, fully repaying your effort.
If it shall be at any time within my power to assist your committee in your holy labor of doing a long-deferred work of justice, I shall esteem it a privilege to be of what service I can.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
STEWART L. WOODFORD,
Colonel, 103 U.S.C.T., and Chief of Staff.
THE NEGRO'S CAPACITY TO TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF.
(From the Report of Lieut.-Col. Eaton, Inspector of Freedmen for the State of Arkansas.)
"THAT the negro is not wholly without ability to realize this prospect, there is convincing proof in the life of a full black at Pine Bluff, well known as 'Uncle Reuben.' He was born in Georgia, and fell to a master who had but few slaves. He discovered such energy and tact, as well as complete devotion to his master's interests, that the latter intrusted every thing to his management. The slave raised him from poverty to wealth. The master was enabled to buy a large plantation in Arkansas, and stock it with negroes. As his circumstances grew easier, his habits became extravagant. His estate became involved, and when overwhelmed with indebtedness he died. The widow, helpless and without resource, called Uncle Reuben, told him that she had no one to rely upon but him, and placed all in his hands. He was aroused by this touching confidence. He became more ambitious than ever to bring the first bales of cotton to town, and to amass still more to the acre than the neighboring planters. The number of bales grown on the plantation increased every year. The children were sent North to school. His success was so remarkable, that the white overseers around became jealous of a negro's outstripping them. They compelled the mistress to place a white nominally, over him. He was not, however, interfered with, until the young masters returned from the North. The fact that a negro slave had educated them, and by his own prudence and energy
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had amassed for them a fortune of nearly $150,000, was not as grateful to them as true. His mistress, however, always treated him as kindly as she dared. On the approach of our armies, he remained till all had left but himself and family. Being assured by our officers that the President's Proclamation was true, he also quietly came in. Spirited and proud, he is the most humble of all. He refuses to sit in the presence of whites, and touches his hat to you at every address,"
(from a recent speech of ex-Governor Wright of Indiana)
"As to the cant about the negro's ability to take care of himself, he had these facts to relate, and he would do so without comment: In 1862, the rebel Legislature of South Carolina raised a committee to inquire into the expediency of enslaving the 6,000 free negroes of Charleston. That committee reported against it, and stated that those 5,000 free negroes paid into the treasury of Charleston annually $27,000, and that their property amounted to $1,500,000. Out of that amount of property $300,000 worth of it was composed of slaves. That the 9,000 free negroes of New Orleans in 1860, were worth as much per capita as the white people of Louisiana; that these free negroes had their own schools, their own benevolent societies, &c. These facts, he contended, proved that the free negro was capable of taking care of himself. He also stated that a lady who owned 500 negroes in 1860 told him that she had lost them all but 200 by the beginning of 1864. That year she made a contract with them to cultivate her farm on the shares; and that last year, under such a system, where the negro was working for himself as well as for his mistress, the 200 made her more money than 500 had done in slavery."
CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN FREEDMEN'S AID UNION.
PREAMBLE.
To promote a General Union, and secure greater harmony of action among the friends of the colored man; to give unity and added effectiveness to the movement now on foot in his behalf, and to insure a more judicious and economical expenditure of the means employed for his benefit, the New-England Freedmen's Aid Society, the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association, and the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People, constitute themselves a General Association, to be governed by the following: —
CONSTITUTION.
ARTICLE I. —This Association shall be called THE AMERICAN FREEDMEN'S AID UNION.
ART. II. —The object of this Association shall be to aid the colored man to overcome the difficulties of his new position; to assist him in his efforts to rise from the degradation to which slavery has reduced him, and to fit him for the full enjoyment of all the blessings and the wisest exercise of all the rights that belong to the condition of freedom.
ART. III.—The means which this Association shall employ to accomplish their object shall be the distribution of material supplies for the relief of physical want; the establishment of rudimentary schools for the promotion of useful knowledge, and the encouragement and support, to the extent of their ability, of all proper measures and institutions having for their aim the good of the colored man. They will also seek, by the diffusion of information and the correction of false opinion, to remove from the public mind the prejudices engendered by slavery, which now stand in the way of the colored man's elevation.
ART. IV. — The affairs of this Association shall be conducted by a Board of Managers, to be composed of three members, chosen annually, on or before the first day of May, by each of the constituent Associations, who shall make their own by-laws and choose their own officers.
ART. V. — The Board of Managers shall seek to promote unity, harmony, and efficiency of action, among the friends of the black man. To this end they shall respect the rights and regard the wishes of the constituent associations; they shall cultivate friendly relations with other societies having in view the same object; they shall have power to define the field from which each constituent Association shall collect funds and supplies; they shall assist by their counsels, and otherwise, to the extent of their ability, in the dispensation of material aid, in the arrangement of schools, in the appointment of superintendents, and the like, so as to insure the wisest and most economical expenditure of time, labor, and money; they shall have power to establish and maintain a paper which shall be the common organ of the Union, and to put into the field, outside the limits of the constituent Association, financial and other agents, for the diffusion of information, and the collection of funds for the common interest; and to do such other acts and things as may be deemed expedient for the promotion of the objects of the Union, as defined in Articles II. and III. of this Constitution.
ART. VI. — Other Freedmen's Associations may be admitted to membership of this Union, by a vote of two-thirds of the Board of Managers.
ART. VII. — The annual meeting of this Association shall be held at such time and place as the Board of Managers may direct, at which a report shall be made of the proceedings of the previous year, appropriate addresses delivered, and such other exercises had, as shall be deemed expedient.
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ART. VIII. — This Constitution may be amended, at any time, by alterations adopted by the Board of Managers, and ratified by all the constituent associations.
ART. IX. — This Constitution shall go into effect as soon as ratified by the societies named in the Preamble, the ratification to be made known by each to the others, on or before the first day of March, 1865. The first meeting of the Board shall be held in the city of New York, on the third Wednesday of March, 1865. The subsequent meetings of the Board shall be held at such times and places as the Board shall determine.
UNION FREEDMEN'S AID INTELLIGENCE AND EMPLOYMENT AGENCY,
383, ELEVENTH STREET, NEAR K, WASHINGTON, D. C.
(Asbury Schoolhouse.)THIS agency has been established by the New-England Freedmen's Aid Society, of Boston, in co-operation with other kindred Associations in the Northern and Middle States, for the purpose of facilitating the obtaining of employment and homes by the surplus freed population now congregated at the National Capital, many of whom are in a condition of destitution and suffering. It proposes also to afford valuable information and counsel to those who have been recently invested with the responsibilities of self-support, and to exercise a guardianship over their rights and interests.
It is hoped that, by this means, not only a most valuable form of relief may be provided, in a mode that shall encourage industry and prevent pauperism, but that a great public convenience will be supplied, which will be appreciated by all who have occasion to procure labor.
While this Agency will facilitate the supply of the labor market in this city, it is believed that a considerable portion of the redundant population referred to, thrown here by the vicissitudes of war, may be drawn away to sections where their labor is in demand, provided reasonable inducements are offered, and proper guarautees of fair usage are afforded.
This Agency, therefore, invites applications help of any description which these people can render, both from residents of this vicinity, and from any quarter where labor is required, or homes can be furnished. Such applications should be accompanied by specific offers as to compensation, and by such references as shall afford guarantee of just and kindly treatment. Efforts will be made to meet such applications, so far as practicable.
It should be understood however, that few able-bodied men can be had, at present, and not many first-class, well-instructed house servants. There are many mothers, with children, who, if favorably situated, could be more than self-supporting; and many young women, girls, and boys, who, with proper and kindly training, will become most valuable domestics, farm-laborers, &c.
A large waiting-room is provided at the Agency, where employers and servants can meet each other (from 11 to 1 o'clock daily), and make their own agreements, Employers residing at a distance will provide for transportation, unless by special arrangement.
To assist in defraying expenses, a fee of $1 each for men furnished, and 50 cents for women and children, will be required of employers, — to be paid in advance. For the present, no charge to servants. Office open from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.
A. E. NEWTON,
Agent.WASHINGTON, March 20,1865.
This Agency has the co-operation of the following named Associations: —
The New-England Freedmen's Aid Society, Boston: His Excellency Gov. Andrew, President; Rev. M. G. Kimball, Secretary.
The Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association, Philadelphia: Stephen Colwell, Esq., President; J. M. McKim, Esq., Secretary.
The Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People. The Friends' Association in Aid of Freedmen, Baltimore: John Needles, President; E. Stabler, Jr., Secretary.
The National Freedmen's Relief Association, Washington: Rev. W. H. Channing, President.
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES,
AND THE FRIENDS OF FREEDOM EVERYWHERE.
THE great problem of the country is solved. It has been demonstrated that chattel slaves may be at once converted into American freemen without damage to any just interest. The superiority of freedom to slavery, as a condition for all classes, of free labor to slave labor, of free society to slave society, of a free republic to a slave republic, has been made clear to the understanding of the most obtuse.
The completeness of this demonstration is due in large measure to the Freedmen's Aid Associations. These bodies have thrown a flood of light on mooted questions, and made to the world most valuable revelations. They have brought out in strong relief the capabilities of the black man, and proved him to possess powers of self-elevation, and resources for his country's benefit, for which he had not before received credit: they have demonstrated, that, under the incentives of freedom, the blacks, as a race, are the moat docile and easily governed of all untutored classes; that, by
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nature, law-abiding and indisposed to faction, with loyal attachments in strong contrast with those of others more favored, they have shown themselves fit for any position which has as yet been assigned them, and equal to all the responsibilities which they have thus far been called to assume; and that all they need to make them altogether happy in themselves, and a source of unmeasured greatness to the nation, is the advantage of training and development.
It is the purpose of the country that this advantage shall not be wanting. In proof of which, witness the multiplication and spread of the associations already referred to. Their object is implied in their name. It is to relieve the present distresses of the black man of the South, and enable him to overcome the difficulties which confront him; to train him for the duties of his new condition, and to fit him for all the privileges of unconditional freedom. It is also to disembarrass the Government in the prosecution of the war, and aid it in re-adjusting, on a better basis, the civil, social, and industrial relations of Southern society.
The success of these associations, thus far, has exceeded all expectation. Under their influence, very considerable districts of the South have been re-organized and reconstructed. In the Sea Islands of South Carolina, where the experiment was first made, and where the subjects were the least promising, large herds of imbruted slaves have been converted into orderly communities of law-abiding freemen. Under a system of elementary instruction improvised for their benefit, blank ignorance has given place to comparative intelligence, chattel slaves have become landed proprietors, black men are tilling the soil on their own account, agriculture has received a new impulse, and trade has added materially to the number of her customers.
What is true of the Sea Islands of South Carolina is true also of other parts of the Southern States. Wherever these associations have bestowed their labor, their assured success has been given to the experiment of freedom.
But, much as they have done in times past, a still greater work is reserved for them in the future. No Government Bureau can take their place, or supersede the necessity of their existence. As the United States Sanitary and Christian Commissions were needed to supplement the deficiencies of the Government's Medical Bureau, so — during this revolutionary epoch — will a United States Freedmen's Commission be needed to supply the inevitable wants of the Government's Freedmen's Bureau.
Recognizing this fact, the associations with which the undersigned are connected have taken steps to establish their movement on a broader basis, and to give to its action increased effectiveness. To this end, the New-England Freedmen's Aid Society, the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association, and the Baltimore Association for the Improvement and Education of the Colored People, have united in an organization, to which they lave given the name of the American Freedmen's Aid Union. Their specific reasons for this action are described in the Preamble to their Constitution to be: —
To promote a general union and secure greater harmony of action among the friends of the black man; to give unity and added effectiveness to the movement now on foot in his behalf; and to ensure a more judicious and economical expenditure of the means employed for his benefit."
The ends to be accomplished and the means to be employed are thus set forth in the same document: —
The objects of this association shall be to aid the colored man to overcome the difficulties of his new position; to assist him in his efforts to rise from the degradation to which slavery has reduced him; and to fit him for the full enjoyment of all the blessings and the wisest exercise of all the rights that belong to the condition of freedom. The means which they shall favor for the accomplishment of this object shall be the distribution of material supplies for the relief of physical want; the establishment of rudimentary schools for the promotion of useful knowledge; and the encouragement and support of all proper measures and institutions having for their aim the good of the colored man. They will also seek, by the diffusion of information and the correction of false opinion, to remove from the public mind the prejudices engendered by slavery, which now stand in the way of the colored man's elevation." The powers of this Union are confided to a Board of Managers, whose duties and prerogatives are thus described: —
"They shall seek to promote unity, harmony, and efficiency of action among the friends of the black man. To this end, they shall respect the rights and regard the wishes of the constituent associations; they shall cultivate friendly relations with other societies having in view the same
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object; they shall define the field from which each constituent association shall collect funds and supplies; they shall assist, by their counsel and otherwise, to the extent of their ability, in the dispensation of material aid, in their arrangement of schools, the appointment of superintendents, and the like — so us to ensure the most judicious expenditure of labor and money; they shall have power to establish and maintain a newspaper which shall be the common organ of the Union; and to put into the field, outside of the limits of the constituent associations, financial, and other agents for the diffusion of information, and the collection of funds for the common interest; and to do such other acts and things as may be deemed expedient for the promotion of the objects of the Union."
The Board of Managers thus provided for consists of the subscribers to this address. They have just been holding their first regular meeting. They have invited other associations to join them, either as equal members of the Union, or in such other way as will ensure their co-operation. They have suggested to their brethren of the West the propriety of a similar organization in that region, with a view to such ultimate connection of both as will give to the whole movement the advantages of substantial unity. They have adjusted, to their mutual satisfaction, the interests, and spheres of effort, of the several constituent associations. They have made arrangements for more economical and energetic effort than would have been possible under their previous isolation. They have taken measures for the establishment of a weekly newspaper, which they have reason to believe will be a journal of general interest, as well as a useful auxiliary of the cause.
Meanwhile, they commend their enterprise to all whom it concerns. They rest its claims, not so much on the grounds of humanity, as of patriotism and public utility. While its primary object is to aid the black man, its ultimate end is to benefit the State. It is eminently a reconstructive movement. It is to build up the South on a new foundation, with the materials which lie there ready for use. It is to re-adjust the relations of Southern society on a basis of impartial liberty.
Assuming, as an inevitable result of causes now at work, that the future status of all loyal people in the South will be that of full equality before the law, it aims to secure to the black man the advantages of education, and, through him, to the country the benefits to be derived from the new order of things. It is an enterprise founded in the interest of humanity, and conducted for the promotion of civilization. As such, it is commended to public favor.
A central office of the Union will be established in this city without delay, with a secretary and others to attend to its duties. Meanwhile, communications relating to its business, or funds intended for its benefit, should be sent to Mr. WENDELL P. GARRISON, NO. 5, Beekman street, who has kindly consented to act as secretary ad interim.
HUGH L. BOND, President.
ARCHIBALD STERLING,
EVANS ROGERS, Baltimore, Md.
STEPHEN COLWELL,
FRANCIS R. COPE,
J. MILLER MCKIM, Philadelphia, Pa.
JOHN PARKMAN,
J. B. THAYER,
E. L. PIERCE, Boston, Mass,NEW YORK, March 16,1865.
AN ACT
TO ESTABLISH A BUREAU FOR THIS RELIEF OF FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established in the War Department, to continue during the present war of rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands; to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the Bureau, and approved by the President. The said Bureau shall be under the management and control of a commissioner, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; whose compensation shall be three thousand dollars per annum, — and such number of clerks as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of War not exceeding one chief clerk, two of the fourth class, two of the third class, three of the second class, and five of the first class. And the commissioner and all persons appointed under this act shall, before entering upon their duties, take the oath of office prescribed in an act entitled " An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes;" approved July 2, 1862. And the com-
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missioners and the chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give bonds to the Treasurer of the United States; the former in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum often thousand dollars; conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with securities to be approved as sufficient by the Attorney-General ; which bonds shall be filed in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, to be by him put in suit for the benefit of any injured party, upon any breach of the conditions thereof.
SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel, as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their wives and children, under such rules and regulations as he may direct.
SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an assistant commissioner for each of the States declared to be in insurrection, not exceeding ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the commissioner, aid in the execution of the provisions of this act; and he shall give a bond to the Treasurer of the United States in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, in the form and manner prescribed in the first section of this act. Each of said assistant commissioners shall receive an annual salary of two thousand and five hundred dollars in full compensation for all his services. And any military officer may be detailed and assigned to duty under this act without increase of pay or allowances. The commissioner shall, before the commencement of each regular session of Congress, make full report of his proceedings, with exhibits of the state of his accounts, to the President, who shall communicate the same to Congress, and shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by the President or either House of Congress. And the assistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from time to time may be required.
SECT. 4. And be it farther enacted, That the commissioner, under the direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart, for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen, such tracts land within the insurrectionary States as shall have been abandoned, or to which the Unit States shall have acquired title by confiscation, sale, or otherwise. And to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of such land; and the person to whom it is so assigned shall be protected in the use and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years, at an annual rent not exceeding six per centum upon the value said land as it was appraised by the State authorities, in the year 1860, for the purpose of taxation; and in case no such appraisal can be found, then the rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the commissioner may, by regulation, prescribe. At the end of said term, or at any time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned may purchase the land, and receive such title thereto us the United States can convey upon paying therefor the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining :he annual rent as aforesaid.
SECT. 5. And be it farther enacted, That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
[From the N. Y. Evening Post, July 27.]
FUTURE CROPS OF COTTON IN THE UNITED STATES.
THE PROSPECTS OF FREE LABOR IN THE SOUTH.
IT is constantly argued by the Copperhead press, that, with the destruction of slavery, will end the production of large crops of cotton in the United States. Even the advocates of emancipation are accustomed to admit that the crop must be very small for many years to come, and prices consequently very high. The writer predicts a rapid increase in the annual crop, from a date two years from the end of the war, admitting that, in the first year or two after the war, a small crop will be raised; and he also predicts, that, within ten years, larger crops than were ever before produced in the United States will be raised.
The argument is based upon the ascertained facts in regard to the State of Texas.
Texas possesses the best cotton land in the country. Her capacity to produce cotton is estimated at 20,000,000 bales: her climate is unequalled for health. Much the largest part of her agriculture is performed by whites: the cultivation of cotton, however, being the most simple, requiring no intelligence in the laborers when performed on the plantation system by large gangs under overseers, is almost entirely carried on by slave-labor.
The standard for an able-bodied negro, in Texas, is ten acres of cotton and five of corn, the latter producing sufficient food for himself and family. The average product of cotton per acre is 400 pounds; giving, as the salable product of each field-hand, 4,000 pounds of cotton.
In 1860 the crop of cotton in Texas was 405,100 bales of 400 pounds each, requiring as
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many acres of land, or less than one-quarter of one per cent of the area of the State.
This quantity of cotton, being one-fiftieth part of the capacity of the State, represents twelve and one-half per cent of the entire crop of the country, fifty per cent of the consumption of the North, and twenty per cent of the consumption of American cotton in England, in 1860.
The rude labor of a slave, with heavy, ill-adapted tools, produced 4,000 pounds of cotton per annum, which was worth, in 1859 and 1860, ten cents per pound, or $400.
Free and intelligent labor, using light and well-adapted tools, would double the product of the slave, provided extra assistance could be procured in the picking season; but, as this may not be, it is unsafe to estimate the product of a free laborer at over 6,000 pounds per annum.
It is not believed that the price of the small crops of cotton raised immediately after the war will be less than twenty-five cents per pound.
The first crops of the free laborer in Texas will therefore bring him in a cash income of $1,500 per annum, with less hard labor than is required to raise a crop of corn in New England, and in a more healthy climate. The average return of a slave having been $400, what has been the effect upon the slave population of Texas?
In 1850 the slave population of Texas was 58,161; in 1860 it was 182,566: per-cent increase, 213.89-100.
The per cent of increase in the whole South was 23.44-100, which represents the natural increase.
The surplus increase of Texas was 110,774; known to consist almost entirely of prime field-hands, worth, on an average, 5500 each, mostly placed upon the cotton-fields, and representing a capital of $55,387,000.
Now, if a cash receipt of $400 per hand has caused an emigration, by purchase, from the slave-breeding States, requiring the payment of five and a half millions of dollars each year, what will be the emigration caused by a cash return of $1,500 per annum, upon emigrants representing in themselves no invested capital, but needing only the prospect of such a profit to induce them to move themselves?
Surely, the product of free labor must increase in the next ten years in as rapid a ratio as the product of slave-labor has increased in the past ten years.
The increase in the crop of cotton in Texas has been greater than the increase of slaves : —
1. Because the profit has already induced its cultivation to some extent by free labor.
2. Because the building of railroads and other improvements in inland transportation has opened a large amount of cotton country.
3. Because a large section which was supposed to he fit only for grazing is found to be cotton land of the best kind.
The crop of cotton in Texas, in 1850, was 58,072 bales : in 1860 it was 405,100 bales, or seven times as much as in 1850.
If free labor, in ten years from the end of the war, shall only develop the cotton land of Texas as rapidly as slave-labor has done, her crop of cotton will be nearly 3,000,000 bales, requiring for its cultivation less than two per cent of her area.
Let these principles be applied to the remainder of the Cotton States, and it is believed, that, before the year 1870, the crop of cotton of the United States will be larger than has ever yet been raised.
The average crop of cotton to the hand, throughout the country, does not exceed six bales; although the standard for lair work upon new land in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, is eight bales; in Arkansas and Texas, ten bales.
It will be much more profitable for the free laborer owning good cotton land to give his whole time to the cultivation .of cotton, purchasing his grain from the Western States. This has been the policy of many planters, even with slave-labor.
If slave-labor can produce ten bales to the hand, — and the writer can bring evidence of sixteen, eighteen, and even twenty-two bales to the hand, where cotton only was cultivated, it is certainly fair to estimate that free labor will yield at least as much.
At this moderate estimate, 100,000 laborers would be required to produce 1,000,000 bales, and to each laborer emigrating to Texas must be allowed a family of three, making an emigration of 400,000 required to produce 1,000,000 bales per annum.
If moved in the form of slaves, this emigration would represent a capital of $200,000,000; but, if moved by the will of the emigrant, for his own personal gain, it represents no invested capital, but simply the cost of emigration.
It has taken the slaveholders just twenty years to move 400,000 slave laborers from the breeding States to the Cotton States; but a
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far less profit to the laborer than is now offered in the cultivation of cotton has induced the following increase in the grain-growing States: —
Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Michigan Minnesota Wisconsin Total 2,737,965 Increase Deduct average increase of the whole country, —85.59 per cent 974,441 Increase in ten years, by emigration
alone1,829,309 Or a population equal to the production of nearly five million bales of cotton.
While slavery exists in Texas, free emigration is small, and, leaving the cotton lands to the slaveholder, betakes itself to the grazing country where slaves are few.
Remove slavery, and the extra profit to be made in raising cotton in Texas, over corn or wheat in the west, will turn the full tide of emigration in that direction.
The laboring force engaged upon cotton, in 1860, produced 5,198,077 bales, of 400 pounds each.
This force will be temporarily disorganized and somewhat reduced by the war; but by far the larger portion must return to the cultivation of cotton, unless all the fixed principles of political economy are to be set at naught. The South is essentially an agricultural country; and its labor must, of necessity, be turned to that product which it can most easily raise, and from which it can obtain the most profit, — and that is cotton.
The willingness, nay, the eagerness, with which the negroes work for wages has been fully proved upon the Sea Islands.
Upon Sea-Island cotton, the average number of acres to the hand, under the slave system, was only five, as it requires more careful and closer cultivation than common uplands. Upon eleven plantations purchased and now being carried on by Edward S. Philbrick, a population of nine hundred and thirty-three old men, women, and children, — the able-bodied men being all in the army, —have 810 acres Sea-Island cotton in full and successful cultivation. They no longer work on the task system, but are paid by the job. They have also 1,500 acres of corn, potatoes, &c., under cultivation for their own use.
Old men, who had been considered past work by their former masters, and who have performed no field labor for several years, have suddenly found new strength, and, under the stimulus of moderate wages promptly paid, are successfully cultivating their allotments of cotton and corn.
Under their former masters, the annual allowance of clothing per head would have been two suits of coarse osnaburg or linsey-woolsey, one pair of shoes, and two hats.
On a small number of the plantations, the owners furnished a little bacon and molasses during the hardest work; but the food of the majority has been corn and sweet potatoes.
Mr. Philbrick has established stores for the sale of supplies at a sufficient advance over the cost to cover expenses.
The following shipments of Northern manufactures have been required to meet the demands of this population of nine hundred and thirty-three old men, women, and children, since May 1: —
Molasses, 75 bbls $1,156.60 Tobacco, 10 boxes 774,46 Bacon, 9,000 lbs 761.81 Salt, 30 sacks 50.40 Hardware, —including spoons, knives and forks, pots, pans, and kettles, handsaws, hatchets, five doz nails &c 414.25 Flour and corn, 300 bbls 1,362.16 Hats and caps 50.40 Drugs 17.79 Shoes 205.00 Soap, 8 boxes 45.00 Dry-goods 1541.66 The above supply having all been sold, the following shipment was called for and made in June:—
55 barrels molasses.
65 " flour.
10 " rice.
20 " sugar.
100 " corn.
4 hhd. bacon.
10 sacks salt.
25 boxes soap.
10 " candles.
27 kegs nails.
250 kettles.
300 Dutch ovens.
12 dozen frying-pans.
10 cases dry-goods.
4 bales " "
10 gross spoons.
10 " knives and forks.
1 " files.
1 " tin plates and pans.At this date (July 20), Mr. Philbrick already has additional orders, among other items, for 1,000 pounds more soap.
The impetus to be given to Northern manufactures, when a slave population of four millions shall increase its wants in this proportion, is obvious.
E. A.
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BRANCH SOCIETIES.
In addition to the teachers adopted by Branch Societies given below, we give a list of those not adopted by any Branch. Societies, not yet in correspondence with any teacher, are urged to select from among them. Societies have also been formed in Lynn, Medford, Portsmouth, Framingham, Foxboro', Exeter, Milton, Rumney, N. H., and other places; but the names of their officers have not been received.
The Secretaries of Branch Societies are requested to send us a list of officers as soon as formed.
SOUTHAMPTON
President, N. B. Fellows.
Secretary, Edson Hannum.GLOUCESTER.
President, W. C. High.
Secretary, Henry A. Parmenter.
Teacher, Letitia Sargent, S.C.CAMBRIDGEPORT.
President, J. M. S. Williams.
Secretary, J. N. Barbour.WALTHAM.
President, James C. Parsons.SPRINGFIELD.
President, Mrs. E. Farrar.
Secretary, Mrs. Hooper.
Teacher, Elmira B. Stanton, Charleston, S. CROXBURY
President, Mrs. L. C. Bowles. Secretary, Miss Anna C. Lowell.
Teachers, Lucy Chase, Norfolk.
Esther C. Warren, Newbern.
James B. Blake, South Carolina.W. ROXBURY.
President, Mrs. Charles W. Dabney.
Secretary, Miss Emily Greene.
Teacher, Frances W. Perkins, Washington.CHICOPEE
President, Mrs. John Wells.
Secretary, Miss Sarah Stackpole.
Teacher, Bessy L. Canedy.WEST NEWTON.
President, Mrs. J. A. Newell.
Secretary, Mrs. Edward Hinckley.
Teacher, Sarah M. Pearson, Newbern.WOBURN..
President, Mrs. A. G. Carter.
Secretary, Mrs. S. R. Pippy.
Teacher, Anne C. G. Canedy.DORCHESTER (BARNARD FREEDMEN'S AID SOCIETY)
President, Daniel Denny.
Secretary, Mrs. Wm. Pope
Teachers, Virginia Lawton, Alexandria.
Mrs. Pillsbury, Hilton Head.
Sarah Clark, Norfolk, Va.
Helen M. Ireson, Newbern.
Selma Wesselhoeft, Hilton Head.
William H. Allen, St. Helena.BROOKLINE
President, Rev. William Samson.
Secretary, Miss Ellen M. Wellman.
Teachers, Ann P. Merriam, Newbern.
J. S. Banfield, Alexandria.BOSTON YOUNG LADIES
President, Miss Annette Rogers.
Secretary, Miss Lilian Clark.
Teachers, Louise Fisher, Norfolk.
Elizabeth Condon, Newbern.AUGUSTA, ME.
Secretary, Miss Eliza Judd.
Teacher, Harriet R. Smith, Norfolk.NORTHAMPTON.
Secretary, Miss Mary E. Cochrane.
Teacher, Eliz. P. Breck, Charleston, S.C.BEVERLY.
President, Mrs. Samuel D. Herrick.
Secretary, Miss Eliza Choate.
Teacher, Margaret R. Smith, Newbern.SOMERVILLE.
Teacher, Sarah E. Foster, Norfolk.LEICESTER.
Teachers, Sarah E. Chase, Norfolk.
Mariana Lawton.GRAFTON
Teacher, Mary C. Fletcher, Norfolk.HINGHAM.
President, Rev. J. Young.
Secretary, Mrs. L. B. Lincoln.
Teacher, Anna Gardner, Newbern.HOPEDALE.
President, E. D. Draper.
Secretary, Jerome Wilmarth.
Teacher, Sarah P. Lillie, Mitchell.WHITNEY FAMILY.
Teacher, Elizabeth H. Botume, South Carolina.OLD CAMBRIDGE.
President, Miss Maria Bowen.
Secretary, Miss Sarah Ropes.
Teachers, Harriet Carter, Washington, D.C.
William F. Allen, Charleston, S.C.MAYHEW SOCIETY IN BOSTON.
President, Mrs. Charles G. Loring.
Secretary, Miss Horatia Ware.
Teacher, Esther H. Hawkes, Jacksonville, Fla.
Emma V. Brown, Washington.PLYMOUTH.
President, Rev. Edward H. Hall.
Secretary, Miss Mary E. Kendall.
Teachers, Martha H. Chase, Norfolk, Va.
87.
HAVERHILL.
President, Mrs. W. H. Hewes.
Secretary, Mrs. R. C. Howe.
Teacher, Angelina Ball, Norfolk.THE LITTLE SOCIETY.
Secretary, Bessie Lehmann.
Teacher, Jane Cooley, Hilton Head, S.CBlLLERICA.
President, Dr. Frank Bundy.
Secretary, Miss Anne R. Faulkner.
Teacher, Elizabeth A. Ball, Norfolk.OLD SOUTH CHURCH, IN BOSTON.
President, Mrs. Blagden.
Secretary, Miss Abby Walley.
Teacher, Mary A. Yenter, Norfolk.ARLINGTON-STREET CHURCH, IN BOSTON.
President, Mrs. Henry Grew.
Secretary, Mrs. E. W. Forbush.
Teacher, Louisa A. Morse, Charleston, S.C.THEODORE PARKER FREEDMEN'S AID.
President, Mrs, Sarah B. Otis.
Secretary, Miss Sarah O. Babcock.
Teacher, Arthur T. Morse, Port Royal.DR. NEHEMIAH ADAMS'S SOCIETY, IN BOSTON
President, Mrs. Arthur Wilkinson.
Secretary, Miss Gray.
Teacher, Frances E. Ellis, Newbern.DANVERS.
President, Augustus Mudge.
Secretary, John S. Laroyd.
Teacher, Sarah P. Towns.SALEM.
President, Prof. Alpheus Crosby.
Secretary, Thomas H. Johnson.
Teachers, Mary R. Kimball, Roanoke Island, N.C.
Sarah E. Lakeman.FITCHBURG.
President, J. M. Steele.
Secretary, Mrs. S. A. Norcross.
Teacher,LAWRENCE.
President, Rev. George Packard, D-D. Secretary, Rev. A. J. Church.
Teacher, Octavia C. Page.LEOMINSTER..
President, Samuel H. Virgin.
Secretary, John B. Greene.
Teacher, M. Louise Boyden.MALDEN.
P