The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-12-27

/ Win thls We have nothing 70 do
is an affair 10 be settled between then
and their princiUsl-the Government
But We have TO do with the baneiui ri
suits OF the system When Govern
ment harpies bounced upon cotto'
plsSas they inaugursted the game o
grab, which was quickly initiated Tn
Planters 81 once lost faith in the iutec
. rity Of the Government, and in resist
ing the efforts Of its agents 10 rob. the
early learned to believe in the morality
Of the lesson that il was fair to rob the
roober. No title, no rights, no paper
OF protection were sufficient to cover s
mans claim TO his own. The onicia
paw was ruthlessly put upon it. and
armed soldiers were called In q
enforce the seizure Once there, the
chances were that the cotton was lost
forever If recovered, a slice had to 20
for release and expenses. Dad a man
have a good aud impregnable title 10 a
I lot OF seized cotton His chauces Of
/ success were IN an inverse ratio with the
4 excellence of his title. We have
| seen men with such claims, stand BY in
hopeless despair, while bogus claims by
the boat load were passed and shipped
abroad, beyond Government reach. We
| have seen strangers and spectators
send OF bales by the thousand, while a
poor widow or a 50ua-tis purchaser saw
his claim sticking hopelessly in the mud
of official delay and bound fast IN red
tape. To became notorious that only
money or part Of the claim could ever
release a lot Of cotton once stricken
with the official paralysis, or shut up il
fine purgatory Of the Cotton Agency.
These are hard things to say, but ei CHIT
months of observation have taught US
that they are the expressions Of naked
truth, and that they are accepted as
stern facts by every man and w0msn in
the community. We speak Of the rule,
and are happy &C admit there are re-
markable exceptions to it, in those few
agents who have remembered that in
dIyIduals have rights TO be respected,
While the Government policy OF appro-
priaung Confederate government cotton
was to be entOrced-whO did not think
It right TO derauge the currents Of the
cotton trade, and put the whole cotton
business under a surveillance and
tyranny in order to discharge their du-
ties TO the Cover nmeut
Gen. Grant on the Southern situation.
GEN Grant IN suggesting that the
Freedmens Bureau should act through
military agents az the South, contrib
utes lar more towards 8 practical solu-
ton Of the question Of protecting the
race than has been done
10y all the philanthropic theorists from
Maine to Texas. NJ Justice Is 10 be
done between the employer and cm-
p0ttt, in their new relations. the umpire /
must be one in whom both parties have /
confidence. IL the ablest and honestest |
civilians that could be named among
the governing class at the South were 10 |
be designated for the post OF arbitra- /
tors between the freedmen and their |
late employers, the negro laborcr would |
naturally and reasonably object that |
be could hardly have fair play in the |
IL, on the other hand, an /
.unerant propagation Of the dogmas of |
negro equality were made the Judge be- |
tween the parties, the employer Of la |
Dor, (only the other day the master Of |
the labOrer.) would naturally-if not !
also reasOnably-feel that his iuteres Is |
would barely find an equitable consid- |
Grafton. On either side the complain |
ugs would superabOund Nor IS the |
case we put at all hypothetical, Gen.
irant says:
81 did not give the operations Of he |
Freedmens Bureau that attention ] |
would have done If more time had |
been at my disposal Conversations,
however, on the subject, with officers |
connected with the bureau, led me 10 |
think that in some Of the States its /
affairs have not been conducted with |
good Judgment or economy, and that |
the belief widely spread among the |
freedmen Of the Southern States that
the lands Of their former owners viii, /
1t least in part, be divided among
thea, has come from the agents OF this
bureau. This belief is seriously inter
lering with the willingness Of the freed
men to make contracts for the coming
! ear. In some form the Freedmen's
bureau IS III Nhe0AlLt necessity AQLlL
civil Jaw is established and enforced.
securing to the freedmen their rights
AID full protection. At present how
ever, it Is independent Of the military
Of the country, and seems
10 be operated by the ditisreut-agenis
Of the bureau according to their indi-
yidual notions
Following this frank statement Of tAe
actual situation is a welImerited trib-
ute to Gen. Howard by the Lieutenant
General And, thereupOn, Gen. Grant
recommends that officers Of the regu-
lar service at the South should be
sr cEci0, the agents Of the bureau.
Sucn agents the freedmen would GER
tainly be disposed to trust And the
of labor have already had
sufficient acquaintance with our army
officers to know AMI feel that the in
terests Of both the employer and the
employed would be perfectly safe in
their hands This is surely practical
statesmanship-N j. Times.