The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-12-22

A startling OmcinI Report-Drendful Con-
difion Of the Blacks In tho Cotton states.
While they are debating and hesitatng upon
the repeal OF the cotton tax in Congress, the
short crops and general restitution throughout
the cotton States have at length brought about
condition of things which 1t is not only mel
ancholy to contemplate, but positively alarm
ing. We would especially call the attention
Of our radical Southern reconstructionists in
Congress to the official report Of General Gil
lem, OF the Freedmen's Bureau, which we pub
fish to-day, touching the distress prevailing
among the blacks and the reasonable appre-
tensions prevailing among the whites in the
State Of Mississippi, in consequence of the
failure of this years crops. Tho absence Of
any fixed relations between landholders and
laborers, the shiftlessness, recklessness igno-
rance, credulity and revolutionary tendencies
Of the destitute blacks in State where they
exceed in numbers the white population, pre-
sent those elements Of social Generalization
and disorder which demand tho immediate
consideration of Congress.
The black laborers have consumed their
share of the years crops. and they have
nothing They are adrift in shoals; and to
keep soul and body together they take any
thing needed that falls in their way. Tho
white planters have nothing beyond the few
cattle, chickens and pigs and the corn in the
crib necessary to support through the winter
their own families; and SO they have nothing
to give No other alternative remains, there
fore, to the idle and destitute blacks but star
walton or spoliation. Moreover Gas General
Gillen states ir, there is "a widespread belief,
which is daily increasing among the freed.
men, that the land in this State (MississippD Is
to be distributed and divided among them.
In some sections" he says I" this illusion Is
assuming practical form by the freedmen
refusing to contract for the next year or to
leave the premises they have cultivated this
year." In consequence Of these dangerous
ideas he "fears collisions, the extent and re-
suits Of which it is difficult to surmse
In support OF these statements and
opinions Of General Gillen we have been
shown a private letter from General Ord,
commander of the Fourth Military District,
embracing the States Of Mississippi aaa A.kan.
sas, in which he says that the condition Of
affairs in the cotton States calls for tho immc-
date attention Of Congress that famine Is
already upon the negroes that in many conn
ties in his District the planters are removing
their families from fear that the whites are
abandoning the rich cotton sections, whore the
blacks are largely in the majority; that these
cla ho viz 10 -
their own, are living on the property Of others
and on what they can shoot in the woods or
catch in the rivers or creeks that he is daily
in receipt of petitions for protection from towns
and villages; that in Mississippi IL is not
question Of votes, but bread that IL Congress
will employ these idle and destitute negroes
and feed them for their work on the liver
levees broken and destroyed during the war.
or on railroads, canals. anything, a war Of
races may DO prevented. He says, in effect
that in the cotton districts, with the failure Of
the staple as compromising product, there
are more negroes than can be sustained and
that something must be done for them.
Nor is this state Of affairs limited
to Mississippi. More or less it prevails
throughout the cotton States. Nearly every
Southern paper is calling on the government
for action, protection or food for the negro.
General Ord says that "the wolf has come
sure enough this time" and that he has
letters and petitions on the subject from lead
ing Union men asking prompt action. The
picture Is not overdrawn. With the general
failure of their cotton fields, from the Carolinas
to Texas, the planters concerned are i'm
povershed and the freedmen are destitute
Il it likely that these blacks, impelled by
hunger will pay any respect to the rights OF
property Is it likely that the whites, pinched
to be robbed Of their slender supplies without
resistance? And before such collisions begin
we may well consider the question, where are
they to stop II beginning be not prevented !?
The horrible French revolution Of 1889 began
with raid upon the bakeshops, and that was
war, not OF races, but Of classes Here II will
be a war, IL commenced, both Of races and
classes; and unless our negro worshipping
radicals in Congress proceed at once to some
broad and comprehensive measures Of relief
on the basis of bread for labor, disabusing the
poor negroes at the same time Of that danger
Gus delusion not only OF free bread and bacon,
but Of free farms, we may have such scenes Of
violence and blood and confusion in tho South
before the end Of tho winter ss will completely
dcmolish the republican party, with Its dis
astrous schemes OF Southern reconstruction.
General Butler Drops n Hint for His
BioGrnphcr.
Al last the world il permitted TO know
exactly what General Buffers ''claims" are
In the matter Of herofsm. III claim he says,