The national Republican., 1868-12-07
r.. r-..am.n,. alr..u-wA,

~ THE hkFuBLlCAN. vi COURSE tne rrcoo-
mems Bureau, that bus. bear Of the nations
ignorance and brutality, dies this winter.
Gen. Howard's report that II has ceased to be
necessary will surely result 10 its abrosation
BY Congress. II has been the most effective
benevolent machine Of state devised by the
wisdom Of government in modern times
It's value to humanity will not be thoroughly
appreciated for at least quarter Of CEN
tury; that Is, until the current generation Of
negro haters shall be under the sod, and the
generation Of young negroes, educated to 10.
telligence and usefulness through its ineen-
tives or Immediately under its auspices. shall
be fairly at work adding to our eouutry's
prosperity. character and wealth, and leading
their children In the same path. 1t was con.
ceIvsd to meet public necessity for which
neither the Constitution nor laws embraced
the slightest provision. Nevertheless its sx.
istence as . result Of the rebellion and Its
claims upon tho Government and on the
means, humanity and ssgscity Of the people
Of the United States were as promptly ao-
quiesed in as perceived. Itgrsppled with the
necessities Of four millions Of the abjsct poor
Va tho ihuut ibuOEuut buu uutuslityt boChuso
our ante.robellion national civilization and
philanthropy made II q crime on their part to
become intelligent and to acquire such habits
Of life as dt men to be independent Of their
fellows In better circumstanoes and Of better
training. Relieved from slavery by the Incl
dents and exgeuoiss Of great war, ignorant
Of the habits Of thought common to free labor.
and Of the fret principles Of self.provision,
but for the Freedmen's Bureau the four mil
lions Of liberated American slaves would
surely have fulfilled the destiny predicted for
them BY tho negro hater Of the North and
the bafied traitor Of the South. The policy
| OF the negro hater was to leave them bound
hand and foot to tho tender mercy Of the
bafiisd traitor. The policy Of tho bafasd
traitor was to romano them to q slavery far
worse in its consequences than that from
which tho war relieved them that is, to Q
slavery in which they would DO subjected to
all the pains and penalties Of their former
condition without reaping any Of the meagre
advantages Of being the property Of men, Of
persons responsible to the State that they
should not become public burdens, and inter.
ested In the preservation Of their health and
strength, as being SO much Of their own sc.
tual property. The bureau, under tho wise,
energetic and philsnthropic Standardization Of
Gen. Howard, met all the necessities Of the
circumstances. 1t instantly directed their uu.
applied labor. 1t instantly supplied their
temporary wants, which, unsupplisd At the
moment, would havo swept them Of the face
Of the earth. 1t opened their minds to cult.
vation, which has already advanced them,
intellectually and industrislIy, a hundred. fold
faster and further than any other race or class
Of human beings ever advanced in the same
time In any ago or cline.
Your readers will remember tha. during the
first year after the close of the war, predic.
tions of tho impossibility of rendering the
negro servieeable to society, as free laborer,
were the burden Of all published BY the South
with reference to his future. Now, such prog.
nostications are exceptions to the general
rule. His conduct in his altered condition
has been the wonder Of all weli.informed,
Thoughtful and fair minded Southern men,
who are freely admitting that he has so borne
himself, under his trials and temptations to
} idleness and to revenge for his century Of
personal wrongs, as to make him. not the
curse Of the land, as he was so recently pro-
, nounced, but the hope of its industrial regen.
Grafton.
The Freeimen's Bureau has enabled him to
demonstrate that he Is the most tractable and
teachable of men, that he needs but equal
opportunity to become, at once, at least as
useful and valuable to society as any other
class or race Of men, bred or trained under
like disabilities. Through the help Of tn,
Freedmen's Bureau throughout the South b,
. has acquired letters, the art Of reading ant
D writing, as man never did before, as thougl
: BY magic. In three years he-tho raee-ha
' learned to read and write. when, in fifty years
: the majority Of white (laboring) society ha
failed so to do, with all its opportunities o
freedom and nominal equality before tho lay
. with tho dominant class. In those section
0 he the negro) Is so pressing on In the acquisi
Il tion Of knowledge from books, as that unlss
d the white man emulatss his example In tha
l. direction, In twenty-five years he will posses
It the weight Of general information. Knowledg
}. Is, and ever has been, power, in every age auC
tinent the negro comes to be better educatet
% than the white man, the world will sureI,
10 realize the true value of the common saying
/. that his mind is incapable Of high training
a His intellectual advancement, under the aus
It pices Of the Freedmen's Bureau, has cure
d me, at least, Of all faith In that dogma in
/. vented as an excuse for his oppression. Thank
II to the Freodmsn's Bureau, tho nation ha
}, most wonderful hope in him, while his chroni
enemies, ignorance, prejudice and brutality
!, stand we'll nigh nghast with his progress In a.
n desirable attributes, despite tho relsntles
war they have made on him for the las. thre
years.
In a single decade the Fresdmens Bureau
will come to be fairly appreciated throughout
the South, whero 1t will be recognised, no
/ only as having been the means Of preserving
d hundreds Of thousands of the white victims o
t tho rebellion's folly from death by starvation
D but as having rescued Southern labor whei
5 about to be annihilatsd, and made it, in almos
= incredible short time, as valuable to tho worl,
e as any labor of any description in either hem
isPhere.
l The SOUTHERN OPINION, the paper of th
late Ii. Rives Pollard. was issued on Satur
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