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

W. thihh SAS SA
spect that should remove sentinels
and disband the armies, white
and black, that watch us.
@. Is it generally believed that
the troops are kept to humiliate
the people? A. Perhaps that would
too strongly express it. They feel
it is calculated to humiliate, and
that those who order it are reckless
of this fact. We believe it to be OBJ
vious to all, both North and South,
that negro troops to guard their
late masters, is viewed with repug-
nance and proper Indignation by
every man, woman and child of
true spirit in the South; and some
of the military treatment of the
South is accepted by them as in
tended to degrade them.
@. Have negrotroops been gen
orally sent as garrisons in Texas? ?
A. Fortunately they have not.
On the frontier they have been sent
in great numbers, but we have
very little population there, and
do not feel it. At Galveston they
have had them, but only passing to
and from other service. fear
that the results would have been
serious, had they been gene
rally sent through Texas. There
are some things our returned sol
diers would not bear, and | believe
that is one. The question as to
the safety of loyal men l have not
fully answered. From the time
of surrender there were agents
and drummers, and cotton buyers
from the Northern States all over
Texas; and at this time they and
other emigrants and travellers from
the loyal States, SO called, proba-
bly, number thousands in Texas.
In no cases have they been inter
rupted, SO far as | know. If there
have been exceptions, they were
doubtless the result of imprudent
meddling or censorious language.
This will provoke individual re-
tort and chastisement anywhere In
Texas. Those who mind their
own business will be unmolested.
1t is one of our habits to mind our
own business, and to expect and
require it of others. We are glad
to receive men who bring capital
to revive our shattered fortunes,
and do not care whence they come.
believe these remarks hold good
for all the late Confederate States.
@. Do your people view the
Freedmen's Bureau as valuable
and needful institution, and profit
able in the re-establishment of
negro labor?
A. They do not. According to
my own observation and the testi
mony of acquaintances, with
whom l have just compared views,
from five distant portions of oul
great State, the influence of the
Freedmen's Bureau is universally
pernicious, and the institution is
viewed by the people, almost unan
imously, as a nuisance. This re
mark applies, too, according to my
information, to the other States.
@. Why SO? A. For various
causes; the bureau is administer
ed, as far l can learn, by person:
having no knowledge of our people
or the negroes; they are nearly
all imported from distance and
are antagonistic in feeling to the
people, and selfsuficient as t.
their duties, and their despoti'
power seems to have turned thel
heads; even when we'll disposed
and conscientious, they are so pro
foundly ignorant of the s1bjec
they have to deal with, as to blum
der continually, and excite ridi
cule; in Texas we have been un
fortunate in the chief Of the bureau
who was fanatical and exceeding
| ly self-sufficient man; he began
by preaching to the negroes, ant
offending society by his socla
treatment of them; we don't nee'
missionaries to teach us social re
lations or a labor system; and h
offended us by his arrogance AM
turned the heads of the poor ignc
rant negroes.
@. Could you manage the institu
ton better yourselves? Woul
your people deal fairly and hr
namely by the negroes? A
The institution is offensive in il
self, and o nuisance in practice