The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-07-21
The Freedmen,s bureau Bin.


President and is now law of the land. 1t
has been fastened upon the South like an in
cubus for the period of three years, and the
pockets of the people are to be made to dis
gorge to the tune of from So, 900, 600 to 3d.
600, 900, for the purpose of maintaining an
army of Radical office holders. Some Of
these, instead Of duly caring for the freed
men, as recent Investigations have disclosed,
have been using him for their own private
benefit and advantage Further South, they
have been employing poor Cuffee on their
farms, or other private enterprises, aud have
paid him off in pinchbeck jewery and other
brass and zinc trinkets, turned out so prolific
ally from Northern factories, and which. con-
stitute the staple of the various gift swindles
in the country The Radical opposition to
the President is SO intense, bitter and uurea-
sonabls, that the sound objections he urged
against the passage of the bill met with
scarcely moments consideration; and the
vote was taken in hot haste, amid civilizations
on the floor of the Senate, and the rude ap-
plause of the mixture of white and black
spirits in the galleries There were thirty
three, however, who were open to conviction,
appreciated the sound views of the President,
and voted against the iniquitously prodigal
measure. In the legislation of the Radicals,
there has been an utter disregard of retrench-
ment and reform where party ends were to
be gained; and, while the Tribune talks
about protection and the currency, and ap-
peals to his Representatives in Congress to do
something for the country before they ad-
ourn, they carry on the work of centraliza-
ton, and pass bills which are a virtual
squandering of the money of the people,
They utterly ignore the cessation of HOSTILE
ties, the close Of the war, and the existence
of peace, in the midst of which they pro-
long the existence Of bill originally passed
as a war measure, against the reasons for the
adoption Of which, at present, the very ex-
istence of peace protests. as
The South has no heed now, within her
borders. of military tribunals. The civil
courts are fully prepared to protect the freed
man in all his rights; and they do SO protect
them, in the cases which arise under their
Jurisdiction. The passage of this bill demon
strates the utter disregard of Radical classsm
both to the principle of economy, and to a
regard for true republicanism, which has al
ways taught the danger Of comforting upon
the military element exclusive or extraordi-
nary powers, which have been regarded as an
encroachment upon the rights and liberties OF
the citizen. t4y..t{I
1t is well understood in the South how ut
terly unnecessary is this Freedmen's Bureau.
1t is simply drain upon the Treasury, to
support a horde of agents and clerks through
out the South in comparative idleness, who,
it is well known, can be well dispensed with;
and who, instead of being mere consumers OF
the public crib, cumberers of the ground
comparative drones in the political hive,
might be made producers and exercise the
mental and physical powers they possess in
adding to the wealth of the country. In q
portion of Georgia, we have the evidence OF
the negroes themselves, that they do not de-
sire the Bureau to protect them as ''wards
of the Government" but, on tho contrary,
that they are perfectly willing to trust their
rights and liberties as freedmen with the peo-
pie among whom they were reared, with
whom they have lived, and who were their
former masters. If these views, however,
were generally prevalent, as they may be-
if the vote of the negro could be taken upon
the continuance or adjustment Of the Blu
reau-and if that vote should be in favor OF
its discontinuance, we seriously doubt whether
the Radicals would heed such an expression
of opinion on the part of the 'wards." Not
withstanding their professei belief that the
freedman is able to take care of himself; that
he is in condition to enjoy and appreciate
freedom, and exercise the franchise; yet, in
this matter Of the Bureau, he would, beyond
doubt, be regarded as requiring guardian
more especially since the President of the
United States has sent back the bill with
his reasons for declining to sign it, 1t is the
qualification of personal and political spite
which secured the two-thirds vote-and that
low feeling of the vulgar, was manifested in
the Radical civilizations on the floor of the
Senate, and the crowded galleries of negroes
and negro-worshipers. The action of Con-
gress and its hot haste, was designed as the
Radical response to the digni6ed invitation
of the statesman, soliciting the representa-
tives to a more mature consideration Of the
measures proposed in the objectional sections
of the bill, to which he called their attention
Such is the dignity, as well as the utter reok :
lessness of Radicalism.