Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1865-11-09
TO MAJOR GENERAL HOWARD.
Cisief Of the FreedInen's Bureau. Wash

SIR; Your high Official trust max
You, in q certain sense, the representati-
man OF the North, as concerns their dea
ing with the African race in these Unit,
states. 10 Is as such that 1 venture
address YOU, and through YOU all yol
teilow-eitiZeIls or behalf Of this recent
liberated people. Ny purpose is humbl
10 remind you Of your weighty chaTg
and % encourage YOU 10 20 forward Wit
an enlarged philanthropy and zeal !
that career Of benefcence toward n
African which Providence has opene
before you. Rarely has it fallen to III
lot OF one Of the sons Of men to receiv
larger trust, OF 10 enjoy a wider oppol
tUnity for doing good. At the beginnin
Of the late war thece were in the SOut
nearly four millions Of Africans. A
these, a nation in numbers, noy
taken from their former. guardians
are laid upon the hands Of tina
Government of which YOU are the specia
agent for their protection and guidance
To this nation Of black people YOU ar
virtually father and king; your power
for their management are unlimited, an,
for assisting their needs YOU have the re
sources Of the 80 greatest peOpleOn earth.
Your action for the freedmen's good /
restrained 10y no constitution or prece
dents, but the powers You exercise fO
AAlFAA lAE ~ aAAAl a. NLAl ONCE II lalhEI
We see evidence Of this in the fact tina
your agents, acting for the good Of YOU
charge, can seize by military arrest any
one of their fell0w-citizens Of African
descent, FOR no other O1iense than bein-
unemployed. convey him without hi
consent, and without the company Of hi.
wife and family. to a distant field Of in,
dustry, where he Is compelled to whole.
some labor for such remuneration as yOU
may be pleased 10 assign. Another evi-
dence j. seen in your late order, transfer
ring all causes and indictments in which
a freedman is q party, from the courts 0I
law of the Southern States 70 the bar oi
your own commissioners and sub-cOm-
missiouers for adjudication.
/ beg You to believe that these IN
sances are not cited by me for the pUr-
pose Of repeating the cavils against the
Justice and consistency Of the powers ex-
ercised in them, in which some have
been heard 70 indulge. Ny purpose is
not TO urge with them that there Is no
law by which a free citizen can be right
fully abridged Of his liberty of enjoying
the OfilUm cum diQHfgtC so long as he
atstains from crime or nisdemeanOr
therein, merely because he wears a black
skin, while the same Government does
not presume 20 interfere with the eXer-
else Of this privilege by his white fellow
citizens. even though they be those lately
I'M rebellion against it; that this MILF
tary arrest and Urausferrence to the use
ful though distant scene Of compulsory
labor, Is precisely that penalty Of % trans
portatioun which Southern laws never
inflicted. even on the slave, except for
crime and after judicial investigation /;
that these commissioners for adjudicating
cases 10 which freedmen are parties,
are in reality judges at Jaw, appointed
by yOu, for every city and county
in eleven sStates, and empowered TO SIT
without reesrd % the precedents OF status
Of the States; which would exhibit your
bureau a. not only an executive, but ju-
dicial branch Of the Government, esJab-
lished without constitutional authority,
and that a hundred fold more peTYasive
I'm its jurisdiction than rle ,preme Court
itself: and that this ' II has, by me
stroke Of your potent zen. deprived eight
millions of white people Of the right Of
q trial by jury, guaranteed 20 them by the
sixth and seventh additional articles Of
the United States Constitution. in every
case where a freedman happens 10 be a
party against them. ] repeat, that I have
not adauced thee instances for the pur-
pose Of urging these or such like O9jec-
lions. il does not become the subject 10
caVil against the powers exercised by his
conquerors,| but only 10 impress you with
the obligation, which the fullness Of your
powers brings upon you, 10 do good 10
your charge upon great scale
I cannot believe that means VIII be
lacking 10 you any more than powers.
At vour back stands the great, the pow
e-fiI the rich, the prosperous, the phi
lanLhrOpiC. the Christian North, friend
and li5erator Of the black man. It must
be assumed that the zeal which waged
9 - rfrINn
pended three thousand million Of dollars,
and one million OF lives, in large part o.
free the African, viii be willing TO lavish
ANYTHING else which may be needed for
LIS welfare. And If the Will is present,
The ability l. no less abundant among
neoDle 50 wealthy and powerful, who eX-
hibit the unprecedented spectacle Of an
emerson from a war which would have
been eXhausting TO any other people, with
resources larger than when they began Il,
and who have found out what all previous
statesmen deemed an imp0ssibility, that
the public wealth may be actually IN
creased BIZ unpr0dUctive consumption.
With full powers and means to do every
thing for the African, what may he not
expect from your glardianslipt
The answer which q generous and
humane heart would make 20 this Ques-
risu. must Of course he this; that il would
seek tD 30 for the good Of its charge ereTy-
fEug r-hieh Is possible. But more defl-
uitely wish 10 remind yOu that there l.
"a minimum limit which Ihe cireumsian-
ce- Of the case fOrbidyOu 70 touch COM
mon sense. common justice says: that
Esrr.rJ EaIsf il0u can 40 fOr them must
Ir marc than ne South has 0cc0plpheheo,
from whose tutelage they have seen taken.
To this measure, at least, If ntt 10 some
higher. your country, p0sterity, faniei and
the righteous heavens, viii ritpdlg hold
you. The reason Is almost TOO plain 70
be explained. II a change procured Tor
the Africans at such a cost brings them
10 no actual benefit, then that cost j. uI-
COMPENSATED. and the expenditure OF
human veal which has been made was
bIuuderaud "a crime. Thus Il becomes
manifest that the measure for the task
which YOU have before You, Is the work
which the South accomplished for the
negro while he was aslsve. Iiiequesion,
how much was this? is 8 viiRi one for
YOU. 10 gives YOU your startlntsi8olnt rom
which YOU must advance in your career
Of progressive philanthropy. Listen,
then.
First, for the physical welfare of the
negro the south has done something A
rapid increase Of population and iongeV-
ity are "a safe index Of the prosperous
U.I.L sane NNfINILIHl hl AlAH AAfAAAfH0 W q
people. Tie South hss 80 provided for
The wants Of the negro that his numbers
have doubled themselves as rapidly as
those Of the whites, with no acces-
sious Hy immigration. The census re-
turns show ihat the South 80 cared for
hIm That The percentages Ot COugentlal
defects and diseases, these unfailing re-
Vealer 0f s. depressed physical condition,
idiocyr oiiudness, deafness, dumbness,
hereditary scr0iula, and such like ills,
was as small as among the most prosper
Gus Northern States. The SouJn gave 10
her negro men, on an average "A half
pound of bacon and three pounds OF
bread stufis per day besides his share in
the products OF BIS master kitehen-par-
daa, dairy and orchard and TO the
svomeu aud children al rate eguslI,-
liberal. III. IN some D. 1alrrncods Tie
.t,l.l,ly vas less bouptitul tan the above
theie were d hundred f9lQ fagre IN which
il was even more abunda4L
The south gave 10 every negro, grea,
and small, pair of shoes every winter.
and to the labOring men an additional
-.air al harvest She clothed them ail
with . substantial snit Of wOolens every
winter ga additional suit of eollqn O..
lax every summer, and two shirts an,
iwo pair Of socks every year, while ~
-dllts drew taeir lat aud biaplet each
She furnished saes HegE famA@ Mlta
separate cottage or SSoin, ana duslhi
the severe weather, with about one-thlfl
of cOrG O. wood per day, % Keep ~
those liberal ares on which his healtl
and life - nUch depend She provided
universally, suyh relief Tor his sicknes
That every case Of serious disease Was a.
tended by q physician with nearly IN
same pr0mptitude anA frequency as tn
oases of tie plarters' own wives an,
daughters and 10 all the land never wa
q negro fastened 20 his bed by Illness, bu
ile received The personal, sympalhizinl
visits OF some intelligent white person
besidss naster mistress or their agent
who never went 10 his couch empty
handel. His dead universally receive,
decent and Christian burial where th'
bereaved survivors were soOthed by the
Offices Of Christianity. The South s.
shielded The negro against destitutl0n
that FROM the Potomac 4. thB Gulf no
one ne;sf3 pauper was eyfr seen, unles
De weS free, and not ore African poor
bQuse a6-ted CT was neetgd. Her system