Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1866-07-26

was taken and the result declared,
the people were nearly a unit in
support of the measure.
Q. There were not then many
loyal people in Texas?
A. They were almost unanim-
ously loyal-that is, to their Gov
ernment. A few men of inhu-
ence and character left the State
under the influence of the Presi-
dents proclamation, giving forty
days for departure; and few men
who had welded influence re-
mained, utterly without influence,
but opposed, as was understood, to
the Government.
Q. Were such persons safe?
A. Not entirely so. An ex-
preston of their opposition would
have endangered the best of them.
They received such epithets as
Southern sympathizers in your
Northern States, but were not SO
generally published. Some were
arrested.
Q. Were they put to death?
A. None that / know of. 1t
was stated that, on the frontier,
some were hung. [ was not in
service in that quarter, and. such
obituaries were not likely to be
published.
@. Are they safe now in return
ing? A. Many have returned,
and l believe all are unmolested.
Generally they are not much re-
spected. Some are now In the
Convention. One is Governor.
@. What portion of the Conven-
ton are known as Union men?-
A. i am not informed. | have
seen a statement that eleven were
| what we term Radicals.
| Q. What will your Convention
probably do? A. | believe they
will acquiesce in all that has been
prescribed to States recognizing,
viz: the abolition of slavery by
the Government of the United
States; the surrender of secession
the reputation of the Confeder-
ate debt, and the recognition of
civil rights in the late slave.
Q. Will the people of Texas
probably prepare fer the enfran-
chisement of the negro, or such
of them as may yet meet certain
qualifications of property and in
telligcnce? A. Never, | believe.
| They hold to a distinction of race
that they have repugnance to
compromise. They do not believe
in the capacity Of the negro for
republican citizenship, and if they
did, will not consent to affiliate
with him. In this they are prob
ably as stubborn as the people of
the North, who, like them, feel the
repugnance of race that God has
planted in our instincts.
@. You stated, in the former
part of your testimony, that the
census tables exhibit great dis
parity in the reproductive power
of the negro in freedom and sla
very. Please state to the Com
mittee how you account for the
difference? A. The difference be-
tween the free blacks, North and
South, is chiefly due to climate,
believe; the tropics being the ma
tive cline of the negro. But il
may be partially due to the readi
ness with which destitution is re.
lieved at the South. AS before
we have no poor-houses and nc
beggars. The difference between
the free and slave blacks, is chief
ly due to two special causes. The
care we take of infants, and the
protection of the marriage rela
tion in slavery. The discipline and
police of the plantation enforcei
faithfulness in husband and wife
and secures, as consequence, tht
prolifcacy of families. There il
little confluence in the race, fire,
or slave, and no pride of chastity
Promiscuous commerce is fatal t.
fecundity. This is recognized al
, most universally by those who
know them well by close observa
ton. Negro mothers are proven
bially reckless of, and cruel t.
; their offspring. Blacks, whethe
, infant or adult, have very little Of
the vital force to resist disease tha
whites have. When they get sick
unless well cared for, they die. Th
r owners interest in his slave (ant