The daily clarion. [volume] (Meridian, Miss.) 1863-1866, 1866-01-25
From the n. o. Southern Star.
FreedmEn's H ureau Bill.

- -
This Bill, just reported to the House of
Representatives, contains some Radical
features whichtMill be subjected, hope,
to discussion-possibly to amendment
before its adoption 1t is PLAIN that Cons
gres means to perpetuate the Bureau. 1t is
plain that it means to adopt the negroes a.
wards i'll the place of the Indians, now
nearly extinct under similar guardian
! ship. 1t proposes to allot them, and the
| loyal refugees-whosoever they may be-
! three million acres of lands in three South
ern States, and to constitute q grand gov
| ernmental Freedman's Aid Asylum, with an
endowment sufficient for the education of
| the young and the physical care OF the in
! firm 1t will do for them what it never di d
| for the revolutionary soldiers, who received
| for the last few years of their old age the
| pittance of eight dollars per month. 1t be-
slows upon them consideration which has
! not been vouchsafed to the hardy emigrants
| who have titled the soil and fought the bat
T! ties of the Union.
Possibly they may owe the negro some
! atoDement for having deprived him of a
master. But the whole system is extrav-
! agant and unreasonable 1t it calculated to
promote and to prolong the error under
| which the negro now labors that he has a
| friend in the Government which will never
make him work or see him suffer.
If anything else were now needed to prove
! the antagonism between the North and
! South it will be found III the proposal to tax
cotton excessively, whilst 1t leaves free the
/ "A agricultural products of the North and
| y 1rthwest 1t will be traced also in the al
! tment of lands to the negroes III the States
OF Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi, whilst
| it does not allow them To secure leasehold or
/ fee simple homes in any of the Northwestern
| States. Why this exclusive assignment OF
| the negro to the Southern States! Is 1t in
| tended thereby to admit that he is not fit
company or IA desirable social or industrial
element for the States of the North! The
| inference is inevitable. The Southern States
are intended by the radicals as an experiment.
tai theatre upon which they can test the ca
| pacity of the negro to govern the United
/ States 1t may be intended for another and
more practical purpose. The maintainance
I of the Freedman's Bureau, even upon tho
present scale, will involve an expenditure OF
more than eleven millions per annum. With
the purchase of landsand erection of schools
colleges and asylums contemplated by Con
gress, it must be greatly increased. This
| will involve immense patronage IN offices
and contracts. 1t will give the party II
power the right to assign its friends to III
crative and influential positions-pO sition
where Ia Dor may be commanded and cotton
made, with the indefinite facilities which
local authority always carries with it.
When the campaign of '6S shall open; The
candidates for office will be attracted by thi
immense gift enterprise, and thousands wh'
care nothing for the negroes Will gladly &C
| cept the salary contract which is be
slowed in the name of the negro. We mus
| interpolate a circumstance which shows TIN
innate love of office in our people, AM
proves that they can be readily reconcilet
to any system which brings with it emol
ument We saw recently contest il
Lynchburg between an ex-eaptain in a Con
federaterate battery aud Jealous advocate
ofpersOnal exemption from the act of con
seription. For what will the reader ask
For the appointment of a negro chancello
or commissioner to decide upon the right
of the freedmen. This Office was deter
mined by vote of the negroes, and the can
didates for this important judicial station
made an intensely close race. Yes, our PEG
pie or some of them-anwhere will accep
Office under any authority, and the Rad
| ieals know it. Hence the bill.
As this bill is not reported from the eau
| ems with an instruction to move the previOu
question and pass the bin tOtidem rer5is, W
may expect some modification, and the
will come the grand question whether til
President will encourage extravgance, fat
: ton and intolerance.