Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-07-03
General Howell eobb's Opinion of Freed
men and their Late Masters. 3.


A correspondent Of the New York
Herald. writing from Colum Ga,
June IL, gives the following particulars
of an, interview with Howell Cobb:ya M.
n At Macon had an interesting inter
view with Howell Cobb, who is practicng
law in that town with considerable sue
cess. / called on him at his Office He
assured me that the people Of Georgia
accepted the resnlt.of the.war and waited
patiently, and with something like de-
spondency, the action of the government,
prepared to abide by that action, what
ever it might be. The people Of the
South, he said, were not III condition
to resist, even if they we're so disposed,
which they we're not. You are travel
ing with Gen. Steadman, are you Z ne
asked me. "Yes, sir, | am" Well,
now, look here; there are two PROPOSE
tions you may lay down, and, II ever you
find man who deviates from these, DIS
trust his information. One is that
the negro is doing well--much bet
ter than we had right to expect, and
devihsh sight better chan you or wouid
have done under similar circumstances
The other is that the further the niger
is from the bureau the better he will
work. I'll 20 my head on each OF those
propositions Wherever the nigger Is
| treated we'll he will work we'll Take
nv own case. had 600 or 700 negroes
before the war, about half Of them being
working hands: ! am now working hye
plantations, with a force OF l46 heid
hands, and l47 of them were formerly my
slaves; |; the 48th is the wife of young
man who married off the plantation i
feed them, give them their little
patches, ! let them raise their rice crop
| give them the sugar cane to make mo
lasses, and let them keep as many poul
try and pigs as they can, and promise
them one-fourth of the cotton. If things
90 on as we'll as they promise, and cotton
IS worth only 20 cents a pound, every
one OF them will be worth $l25 en- the
lst of January next. Now | never went
to the bureau, nor did my niggers, ano
have never made any formal CONTRACT
with them. / casually mentioned to Gen
Tilson what l was going to do DE ap
proved of it, and | made more liberia
contract than the one mentioned 10 him
You see that desk there (pointing to
neatly made set of pigeon holes); well
that was brought me last Christmas by
one of my old slaves as a. Christmas
present brought him up as wheel
wright and wagon builder, and he is fol
lowing the same trade The only differ
ence in our relative positions is, that be
fore the war he paid me nominal hire
in wagon wheels, and so on, and now he
makes me presents as you see, and comes
to me TO borrow money to carry on MI
business Then another Of my hands
who served all through the war, righ
down to the battle of Columbus, was cap
tured once but escaped and retured to nj
and slavery. Yet, strange to say, a
soon as freedom was proclaimed, he tool
a strange infatuation and ran away ant
left me, though / told him if he wanted
to 90 to tell me and go square and abov'
board He is in this town now, and i
doing we'll; but l never have anything
to say to him, for he has forfeited m.
confidence. There are eight more OF m.
hands, old men and women, whom l hav
placed on small plantation that ha'
not capital enough to work myself
ration them and let them cultivate tn
land on their own account. Aud yo'
will find me, sir, onlya fair specimen o
what the better class of shareholders ar
doing throughout the entire State. Thu
saying, the ex- United States Senator am
arch-rebel threw himself hack in his eas.
chair and enclouded himself in the smok
Of his cigar I left him with iowa
smile ripping all over his Falstafial
| ricoca