Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-04-17
VOLUME XXXIII.
e held liable to damages to the party in.

tutional amendment abolishing slavery, and
| giving the negroes the rights of freemer,
there can be no necessity for the interposition
Of such Courts or powers. The moment
they are free, their right to sue in the civil
! Courts exists.
All free negroes have ever possessed the
right 10 go into the civil Corrts in Tennessee,
| and there would be no necessity for retain
| ing such a power in the hands of an ire
sponsible tribunal and bei.,g, besides out
Of the usual course of the administration of
justice, to which the people of this country
have been accustomed, it would be a source
| of great annoyance, vexation and dissatis-
faction and not calculated to promote the
harmony and repose Of the country.
What, then, is the remedy of the freed
men. if the judgment: rendered in this
bill cannot be enforced by the Court or
authority rendering it?
Suppose the estate of the compliments
testator is insolvent, as alleged in the bill,
and the creditors have to be paid pro rata,
out Of the estate! This party, like all other
creditors Of the estate, must present his
claim, and have it allowed and reported
upon, to the Court having the jurisdiction
TO settle the estate, and by its decree, have
fund.-, to be administered.
This Court does not say that the judg-
| ment rendered by the Bureau is to be con-
ci,tsiUe to such a Court; but that is his
remedy, and he must stand on the same
footing with other creditors of the estate, for
there is no more right in a freedman to have
his claim against the estate paid, than III
any other person; all must stand on an
equal footing before the law.
But the act establishing the Bureau pro-
vides in the first section, that there shall be
committed to it " as hereinafter procided, the
| supervision and management of all abandon
ed lands, and the control of all subjects re-
lating to refugees and freedmen" etc. and
then in section second goes on to define the
character of the duties to be performed, in
the following words, viz:
"The Secretary of War may direct such
issues Of provisions, clothing and fuel, as he
may deem needful for the immediate and
temporary shelter and supply of destitute
and suffering refugees and freedmen, and
their wives and children, under such rules
and regulations as he may direct"
One Of the duties of these officers, then,
| is to see that the refugees and freedmen
shall be cared for and provided with pro-
visions, clothing, fuel and temporary shelter
And in the fourth section of the act, it is
provided that 'the Commissioner, under the
direction Of the President, shall have au-
thority to set apart, for the use of loyal refu-
gees and freedmen, such tracts of land, with
| in the insurrectionary States, as shall have
| been abandoned, or to which the United
| States shall have acquired title by confsca-
ton, or SALE or otherwise"
These are the duties which the officers and
| agents of the Bureau are to discharge under
| the ialC. They were to take charge of aban-
| doned lands, and give the same to freedmen,
and protect them in the possession and en-
ioyment ofthe same.
Is there anything in This that would au-
thorize any agent of the Bureau, as Court
TO take jurisdiction of such a case as this
and pronounce a judgment on contract
| arising long before the act was passed, which
created the Bureau, and perhaps for services
| rendered while the freedman was yet a slave,
| in the lawful service of his owner? or that
| would authorize such agents by military
force to seize and appropriate the property Of
a citizen, and thus enforce judgment thus
| obtained?
The Bureau Court was established as
part Of the operative machinery Of the army,
and for the purpose Of protecting freedmen,
and, as such, the officers and agents might
have employed such powers as were neCes-
sarv to effect the ends intended but the
moment the war ceases, these powers were at
an end.
Circular No ), from the Chief Of the Bu-
reau, provides as follows:
"NlI. In all places where there is an in
terruption of civil law. or in which local
| Courts, by reason of old codes, in violation
| of the freedom guaranteed bv the PrOcla-
nation Of the President, and laws of Con-
| gress, disregard the negro's right of Justice,
| before the laws, in not allowing him to give
| testimony the control of all subjects relat-
| ing 10 refugees and freedmen, being COM
mitted TO this Bureau, the Assistant Com
missioners will adiudicate, either themselves,
| or through officers of their appointment, all
| difficulties arising between negroes them
selves, or between negroes and whites, or In
dians, except those in military service, so
/ far as recognizable by military authority,
and not taken cognizance of by the other
tribunals, civil or military, Of the United
| States"
This is the article establishing the judicial
| power of the officers, and limits it to cases
| where a freedman is not allowed to testify in
| the Courts but the Assistant Commissioner
| for Tennessee SAYS until the enactment of
laws giving freedmen the right TO sue and
| give testimony, you shall hold these Courts"
| That would sanction the exercise of judicial
| power only so long as freedmen were not al
| lowed TO sue and give testimony, and as soon
as such laws were made the powers would be
Invested. BY the Constitution Of the State
| of Tennessee and of the United States, as
amended. those formerly held as slaves are
| free; and the Legislature of this State, at its
| present session, passed a law allowing all
| free colored persons to testify in the Courts
| Of Justice; and if that law is in operation,
| the question is decided, and the powers of
the Bureau Courts, by the terms of Circular
| No 5, which gave them existence, are ter
| minated. But the law does not designate
the time when il is TO take effect and there
| fore il cannot take effect until forty days
after the close of the session.
But upon the views herein before stated
that cannot affect the question arising in
| this case, as the President has declared the
war at an end. NV principal trouble in de-
| Gliding this case is in the bill ITSELF whether
| il states case which should call into action
the injunctiye powers of this Court to re-
strain the defendant from Selling the proper
| ty of the estate of the compliments testator,
and appropriating it 20 the abstraction of
the supposed judgment rendered by the Blu
| reau Court.
Upon a close examination of the bill, and
with an inclination TO interpose and prevent
what would seem, from the statements of the
bill, to be great hardship, the Court has
not been able to arrive at the conclusion
! that this is 4 case which demands the inter
! position of its iniunctive powers.
In the Judgment Of the Court, the bill pre-
sents a case in which it is asked that this
! Court, as a Court of Equity, shall interpose
its authority to enjoim the defendant from
! the commission of n trSpaSs upon the
personal property Of the compliments tes-
| tatOr.
The Court is not aware of any authority
to sustain such an application, and must
! therefore leave the parties TO this suit, to
/ their appropriate remedies at law, in case the
! property Of the estate shall be seized for the
! purpose stated in the bill
The motion of the complainant for an
injunction in this case is therefore over
| ruled.
EXPLANATORY CIRCULAR FROM
/, THE WAR DEPARTMENT.,
Tho following circular from the War De
partment explains the bearing the Presidents
peace proclamation has upon the Freedmen's
Bureau:
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Washington. ID. c. April 9th 1885. !
I Brcyet Mai. Gen. J. NJ. Brannan. Augusta. Ga:
The Assistant Commissioner Bureau Re