The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-24 00:00:00

The Negro in Georgia.

The Boston Advertiser has a very intelligent correspon-
dent travelling through Georgia. We extract as follows
from one of his late letters, concerning the situation of the
black population in that State :
That many of the leading mon desire to see the negro
have a fair chance is beyond all question. I have mot
many such men. They take pains to 411 mo that he was
very docile and trustworthy during the war, that he is
not to blame for being free, and that he ought to be justly
treated now. A few mon even go so far as to urge that
he must be educated. Two good men are at work upon
the code for the government of the freedmen, and will have
it ready for presentation to the Legislature within a fort-
night. I have some special reason for believing that this
code will be a great deal less obnoxious than that presented
to the South Carolina Legislature. Judge Starne, at the
head of the commission, is represented as a man of liberal
views and quite well disposed toward the freedmen.
General Tilison assured mo he had letters from many
_ending men in the upper section of the State, which indi-
cate that he could rely upon them in his efforts to do jus-
tice to the colored man. This is the bright side of the
picture.

On the contrary, there is a general disposition among
the middle and lower classes of whites to trample upon
the few rights already guaranteed to the negro. I have
heretofore said that I know there are members elect of the
Legislature who aro pledged to vote against allowing him
the simple right to give evidence in cases where his own
people are concerned ; and I am very positive that the
freemen's code will be of very obnoxious, not to say bar-
barous, spirit when it leaves that body, unless the voice
of the North is heeded more than now appears probable.
There was an exciting season in the recent Methodist.
annual conference at Macon over the case of a certain
Rev. J. IL Caldwell, whose only offence appeared to be
that he had preached two sermons on the "Abuses of
Slavery." One would think a minister of the Gospel might
speak upon that subject, but the native Georgian loves the
spirit of slavery as well now as he ever did, and the action
of the Presiding Elder in removing Mr. Caldwell was sus-
tained by the conference. And this in the month of
November, 1865 ! " Take the troops away and admit the
Congressional delegation," said a gentleman from the
neighbourhood of Atlanta to me, "and I give you my
solemn word that I believe three-fourths of the counties
of the State would vote for such a penal code as will reduce
half the negroes to a state of slavery within a year." The
colonisation scheme appears to have very few friends in
Georgia, but large numbers of men believe in the exter-
mination of the negro. "The two races cannot possibly
live together," said one of the most enlightened members
of the convention, and I f►nd that he only gave expression
to the view of a large body of the people.

That the blacks are loth to enter into contracts is a fact
that no honest man will dispute. The plantation negro s
of the lower half of the State aro the most degraded speci-
mens of the race I have anywhere found, and they are
very slow to comprehend the fact that liberty does not
mean idleness and lawlessness. The idea that what be-
longed to old master now belongs to his former slaves is
more sharply defined in that section than in any other
quarter I have visited. They are utterly without con-
science in respect to the sin of theft, and can as yet be
restrained only by fear. In other parts of the State the

negro is more intelligent, and his repugnance to regular
work rests upon better foundation.

Tho complaint that the negro will not work is even more
common than in South Carolina. There I found many
persons anxious to argue the point—anxious to show me
why he would not work ; but hero the fact is assumed in
a somewhat lofty manner that precludes discussion.
That the negro will not work simply because he is free
is the most insolent of all humbugs of Southern Society.
Thus, a Macon gentleman, who has a plantation below
Albany, told me of his experience. He was in the army of
Johnston, and came home in tho early part of Juno. go
heard that many planters were losing their help, and at
once went-down to his plantation, called his negroes toge-
ther, made them a little speech, told them they were fro,
and could go where they pleased, said he would be glad to
have them remain where they were, and would pay them
fair wages for fair work. Some conference followed, re-
sulting in arrangements mutually satisfactory. The
negroes were faithful to their work all through the season,
he has fairly set off to them their share of the crops made,
and everything on his plantation has prospered. 110 has
added about fifty to the hands thereon, and rna,do a con-
tract for the coming year with the whole number. Yet his
neighbours, proceeding on the assumption that the negroes
will not work, have of course found all kinds of difficulty
with them, and are generally unable to make contracts for
next season. I have yet to hear of a single instanc,o in
which the method adopted by this gentleman has failed
in securing work.
The truth in respect to the situation is, that the negroes
are uncommonly ignorant of their rights and responsibi-
lities. The State is very large, and the regular agents of
the Freedmen's Bureau are very few in number.. The old
negro in Macon who said to me, " One say dis, an' on°,
say dat, an' we don' know, an' so hol' till Janerwar9l'
expressed the feeling of his people. The negro is lazy, he
is improvident, and he prefers job work to season-contract
work, but where he is honestly informed and fairly
treated, I believe he does quite as well as any one had n
right to expect that he would.
Bad whites aro using the poor blacks to accomplish their
wicked purposes. There aro numberless gangs °f
marauders—white leaders and negro followers ; and a large
proportion of the worst crimes committed by the freedmen
are instigated by vicious and designing whites. That they
are not a little given to potty larceny is true ; but in all
sections of the State I have been assured that much of
their rascality is properly chargeable to the dominant race•
General Tillson has many letters from leading men which
convey this assurance, and offer to sustain the Bureau in
rigorous measures for the correction of this evil and the
protection of the negroes in this regard.
Tho negro's prospects are not, on the whole, as good as
they ought to be in this great State. He has freedom in
name, but it will be some time before he gets it in fact.
His hope lies in the continued military occupation of the
State, and the continued existence of the Freedmen's
Bureau. Even with those for his aid and protection, his
condition is bad enough ; take these away, and in a good
portion of the counties he would very soon not have left
the name of freedman. And, in a word, and at the least,
there is for him much weary waiting and much conflict
with hardheaded prejudice before he can reach even the
lowest place in civil society and the body politic.