The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1866-02-23
The Reasons WHY.


of the Freedmen's Bureau in Ken.
tucky, in reply to communication
from Kentuckians, asking what would
be necessary on their part in order to
secure the removal of Federal inter.
ference from that State, gives the fol.
lowing reasons why 1t is how used
there. He says:
More than twenty thousand nor.
sons, who were for a longer or short
er period in arms for the avowed
purpose of overthrowing Govern.
mcnt OF the State of Kentucky and
forcing its unwilling people into sub.
lection to hostile revolutionary
government, have returned to tho
State, welcomed back to their form.
er homes in many cases by commu-
mites that regard them as patriots
and heroes. In many such commu-
mites loyal citizens and soldiers r
objects of prejudice, dislike, and Of
ten persecution.
Courts organized under the laws
Of the State for the equal distribu-
tion of justice in many cases have
permitted themselver TO be used as
the mere instruments Of tue ven
genace OF those who.are hostile to the
Government, so that loyal men ara
still, in some parts OF the State, com.
PEELED 10 leave their homes, or, il
they remain, are constrained to fee
That their lives and property, and al
their dearest interests are insecure.
The duty of protecting all the peo.
pie of the State, and especially those
who have | eriled their lives In its de.
tence, is one that no Government can
neglect, and, at the same time, escape
the imputation of ingratitude and
subjecting itself TO merited contempt.
1t is also true that upward Of two
hundred thousand of the people who
were, until lately, slaves, are free
AS slaves they were governed by
system OF law adapted to their con-
dition, but the same laws were in
tended to embarrass them as freemen.
The slave laws fell with the de-
struction of slavery and left the State
! without a system of government or
laws adapted to the necessities Of
this two hundred thousand ofits peo-
pl, who have developed upon them
the duties of obedience to tho Gov.
ernment and the discharge of many
public and private obligations, to
which they have been strangers, and
yet have not, under existing laws Of
the State, the rights of the other citi-
zens or aliens.
The President of the United States
D under these circumstances, has at
!, tempted to discharge towards the
c State of Kentucky, for the benefit OF
u such of its people as are not yet en-
+ braced within its general system OF
J protective laws, the constitutional
u duty of providing for them a govern
G ment-a duty which does not origi.
i nate in any law enacted by Congress
'i but from the constitution itself.
C 1t is the duty of the General Gov
/ crnment, with or without the concur
renee Of the State, to protect the lib
l. erty of the people, and in case of nor
II action on the part Of the late author
IS tiles, to provide them with q govern
4 ment which shall be adequate to til,
IS ends for which governments are or
1T dained among men.
rs As, then, the State has so far alto
I, gether neglected to provide specia
l. system of laws for its freed people
&c or TO include them within the provis
is ion Of its general laws, which defn
SO and protect the rights Of all other in
y habitants of the State, upon wha
I'd grounds do any Of her people com
rs plain Of the interference Of the Ma
10 tional Government ?" / assert wit
D as much eaInestness and with as higl
regard for the the honor of the peo
he Pile OF my native State as any on
re possesses, that the general treatmen
T. OF slaves in Kentucky was human
IS and kind, and that the people genei
to orally recognize the fact that SLAYER,
sc has ceased but that many outrage
Il have been committed upon negroes i
ly many parts of the State is true be
You'd all doubt, and after the mos
careful inquiries i have been unabl
to hear of a single instance In whic
the civil authorities have punishe
te the aggressors.
ne Nor are the authorities Of the la'
er wholly TO blame for this failure {
ia justice, Tor have now in my posses
sion the most satisfactory proof, b
le the statements of colored person
a whom am assured, are Of good cha
pc acter, of the murder of two negro(
by white men, who are beyond I'll
N, reach of criminal justice because {
its the legal incompetency of colore
of witnesses in the courts.
In addition to outrages OF tn
20 kind, combinations of lawless me
in exist in many places to drive Il
he colored people from the State, and
for prevent them from obtaining emplo'
ment. Proof from the most respec
its able source has been laid before II
Ick of these facts; still none are punis
pI