Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1865-03-10

IHE FzE1DAEN AT SAyANNsH.-" Carleton
write as follows to the Boston Journal
Las, Friday, 4. party with Rev Mr. Houston.
pastor .f the third African Baptist church went
down 90 ssilaway Island 60 select their future
homes.
Mr. Houston hiss slways boen a slave. lie IS
u0w Hrty-oue years oh In his early years he
wis a nurse IN the marine hospital He had an
earnest desire 20 learn 90 real. and by his kind
attention 90 the sailors vas able % DO So
Hr h.rei bis time paying his master fifty dol
-i-- month, and established himselfis butch
er. Hr went 90 Augusta and Macon, and all
over eastern Georgia, purchasing cattle, but
employing aii his spare hour learning 20 real.
studying the Bible and ,heolDgy He was or
iruei o. preach by the Baptist Association Of
white ministers three years ago.
Tie and his fellow coloui.,s selected their lots
.s.i out Is vilisge, numbered the lots, put the
numbers into hat. and drew them out 10 was
Plymouth colony repeating itself They agreed
that tary others came 90 iliu them they should
hare equal privileges 50 hl. 0ms the May
n.ve- ol the islands of the South Atlantic
coast
eve shall build our cabins. and organize cur
town government flr the maintenance of order
and 'ae settlement q al difficulties. said Mr.
Houston He has four hundred hides his own
property. ''I Wsut 90 turn them INTO money.
and purchase a portable saw mill 90 cut out tim
h,r tr our houses.
Iu one dsy five thousand acres we're assigned
t1 thrco.1uists. who are eager o. ill them.
a large party went down this morning with
what provisions they could carry They ~ ont
t1 commence life IS citizens. have no doubt
Of their success provided they are not numbered
by arbitrary authority stirred up by Oh preju-
ilres AMI Late.
Yssteriay, there was meeting Of these men
80 the 0li slave market. The room was cr1w O.
3D. sat on the platform where thousands of
their fellow men had been sold, where women
hai been stripped Of their clothing, bearing the
rude jests. the indecent remarks, the insulting
examinations maie by q hard hearted. l1entiou-
cr0wl, where mothers had heard for the last
time the cries of their little ones; where heart
strings hsi been torn asuuier, where the .m-
a-e of God wss bruised and crushed; where uu-
imaginable horrors had b0en witnessei-I sat
there and heard the men, some % them as
white as myself, talk Of their future. They
came together 20 hear remarks from Rev. Mir.
French and Lieut.. Retchum, 10 ass questions and
consult with each other.
They wanted 90 know Whist title they vou,i
Rave 90 their land what assurance they could
have that :; would be theirs after they hai iu-
proved II. Their questions were plain, straight
forward, snd showed a shrewiness which hal
not looked for.
Rev Mr. French sait-''I heard white man
riiicuie the project, who said one white rebel
going among you viii cove down ive Of you. Is
IL So t''
'Let him try it - "weu fight r' were the
responses.
A tall, middle-aged man. black as anthracite
coal, rose and said, calmly. deliberately. but
With tone Of voice which revealed determine
ton not to be tridei with
They may talk about one white man soaring
five negroes, but he can't scare one. It has been
the power Of slavery which has coWei Us, but
that power j. gone. They can't scare Us
now"
Mr.. French said that the freedmen At Beau
fort, although not 80 intelligent as they were.
hal become Independent in thought ami feeling
upon the subject Of their personal freedom.
'What would you DO if your Old master should
come 90 take you INTO slavery again 7'' he asked
OF an old woman who WAS hoeing her cotton
Il would hoe him down, sir That's what
would do ,''
There we're intelligent men in the audience
men who have hired their time, paying fifty dol
lars a month to their masters, supporting them
selves and their fimilies. Il l. idle 10 saw that
they viii not take care Of themselves They
are the bone and muscle Of the South, and they
nave already shown that they have no mean
brain power.
The negroes Of Tennessee have shown a
greater capacity than the poor whites to rise
above the chaos Of the times was the remark
OF an officer who holds high position IN Gen.
Sherman's military family, and who has had
great opportunity to make observations.
In this same old slave market, where the iron
graungs are still standing in the windows, are
hundreds Of colored children, learning the rudi-
ments Of language, taught by teachers Of their
own color