The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-01-21

law, and protecting the citizens. Your
company is not to be a vigilance committee,
nor will it have any authority beyond such
as is delegated specially for the preserva-
ton of law and order. It's duties will be
to protect all citizens, to repress all disor-
der, arresting in such cases all guilty
parties, be they white or black, and to act
strictly rs custodians of the peace. Let
your company discharge these duties faith
fully and persistently, and you will inspire
confidence amongst all classes of our peo-
pie. The very fact that these companies
will obviate all.necessity for their use. I,
therefore, regard it OF the last consequence
that these volunteer organizations should
be at once raised i'll every Distsict of tho
State. Efforts have been made to procure
arms for your company, which I hope will
prove successful Should they not, how
ever, you can, tor the present, obtain pri-
vate arms which will answer. I urge you.
therefore, to organize at once, and when
organized, to watch earnestly over the well
fare of the District, to protect all persons
against evil doers, and to preserve
the peace. To perform these duties, you
will have to exercise tirmness, forbcarance,
patience and prudence. By the constant
exercise OF these virtues, you will be able
not only to extend the most efficient pro-
lection to both the whites and the blacks,
but you will secure the confidence of the
latter. 1t is well that these should under
stand the objects and intentions of your
company, and am glad to sec that so large
q number Of them have been allowed by
their employers to be present to-day. With
your permission, l shall avail myself Of
this opportunity afforded by'their presence,
to offer them few words Of kindly counsel
And begin by saying to them that, if they
Will ask my people, who have lived with me
for years, not one man, woman or child on
my place will say that l ever deceived them,
or told them what was not true. In what
shall say to you, then, to-day, shall speak
only what believe to be true, and l Shall
advise you honestly.
You ere free-frec to seek your own hap
piness-tlee to do the best you can for
vourselves--free to make contracts for
yourselves to work, and ti9e TO sta,re
Il yom LO not 'corE. Freedom has it's duties
as we'll as pleasures. And the first duty of
,very free man is to support himself and
| MS family. You will all have this to do now,
md to do this YOU will have to work. Laws
vii be made by which every man, white
;.ld black, in the country will have to show
lat he IS making an honest support for
n nself, or he will be taken up aud put at
hard work. Now, how can you support
Yourselves and your families best? l say.
bv hiring your labor to the white people.
We want labor to cultivate our fields, and
we would rather hire You than strangers,
who know nothing about planting. You
must make the best contracts you can, and
when you have made them, YOU must stick
to them. AlLwho are willing to work can
get such wages as will enable them, not
only to support themselves, but to put up
something for rainy day. There is not
an able-bodied negro who is not able to do
this, it he chooses to work. But if you do
not work, you will surely starve for no one
can live without work. You know this coun-
try was full of Indians when the white man
first came here. They would not work, and,
1a,,
race than yours, they We're driven of by
the white men, as the wind drives the cllaff
before it.. This Will be your fate, if YOU
will not work, but choose to live like the
Indian, i'll idleness and drunkenness. We
must have labor for our fields. If You will
If you will not, then we will get laborcrs
who will, and they will come here to take
the very bread out of your mouths The
Yankees don't care for you, and they would
be perfectly willing to sec you all die Off. so
that room would be made here for their
poor people. l happened, to-day, to see,
in newspaper, speech made to the ne
groes in Florida, by the Governor, who was
appointed by the President of the United
States; and, as there is good sound sense
IN 1t, ! will read it to you. He said
eff you ask me the question. whether
the South is your friend, will answer you
by saying that 1 hope and believe both of
them are but if it comes to question of
certainty as to which of the two is your bet
ter friend, l shall answer plainly and tell
you, the white man of the South 1 was
born in the North, raised and educated
there, but have spent the last thirty Years
OF my life in the South, and 1 consider N.Y.
self capable Of judging between the two
people, particularly i'll reference to your
selves. know the Northern man, or Yam
kee, as You call him, from the crown of
his head to the sole of his foot, and tell
you to-day as your friend, that the South
crn white man, with whom you were raised
and who is acquainted with your habits
and customs, is the best friend YOU have
got.
Now, after you shall have found your
freedom, and, driven by stern necessity to
do something for yourselves, the question
is, what is the best for you to do? My
advice is to remain ON the plantation where
you have been accustomed to work, with
your former owners, If they VIII make 4
contract with you. Make the best contract
you can with them, and show them that
you are willing to work better, now that
you are compensated for your work, than
you ever have done before. Be faithful, be
honest, be interested in the affairs of the
plantation see that the mules are we'll
fed, that the hogs get good attention, and
neglected.
But you must not think, because You
are as free as the white people, tina: you
are their equal, because you are not. You
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