The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-12-03

General Es0warG'a Statement of the
Operations Of ei,e Bureau in Vir-
Sinia.
In the report Of Major Howard,
Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau,
the following chapter is devoted to affairs
OF the Bureau in Virginia:
Since the date of my last annual report
| there has been no change in the assistant
commissionership Of Virginia, Brevet Bri-
gadier- General o. Brown having continued
to discharge the duties of that Office.
The organization of the Bureau in dis
tricts and sub-districts, with a competent
and faithful officer or agent in charge of
each, remains substantially the same as at
the date of last report.
Sub-assistant commissioners are required
to make frequent inspections of their re-
spectve sub districts, and to report fully
on all matters of interest connected with
the proper discharge Of their duties. By
these inspections, and the reports Of in
specting officers from his own headquarters,
the assistant commissioner is kept con-
stantly informed Of the condition Of affairs
throughout the State.
The tone of public opinion exhibits a
gradual but constant improvement, though
the prevailing sentiment of the white peo-
pie leaves much to be desired with respect
to cheerful recognition Of the rights Of
the freedmen as citizens. The assistant
commissioner, in his report of operations
for the month of April, 1868, states that
the secret organization known as the ku-
klux Khan have made their appearance in
various localities, visiting the houses OF CO.
lored men at night, in some cases placing
ropes around their necks and threatening
to hang them on account of their political
opinions. No further violence has heen
offered. The object of these midnight d.
monstrations, which have beer v"ry rare
in this State, appears to be to lntinldnte
and control the freedmen In the cxercisc Of
their right of suffrage.
Bureau officers have hal important du-
ties to perform in securing prre admin
stration of justice in cases whcre colorcd
persons are concerned. They have been
required to attend each term of the court
in their respective districts ; and Then in
charge of more than one county, to appoint
certain days in each month when they
would be present at each court-hcuec 10
look after the interests Of the freedmen.
The latter to be notified. 9g.-.aF
While the officers of the Bureau
have been directed not to mingle per-
sonally in the political contest consequent
upon the reconstruction Of the State under
the acts of Congress, nor to become parti-
sans by accepting nominations to civil Of
fee, they have nevertheless endeayored to
assist the freedmen in the proper apprecia-
ton of their legal rights as citizens, and to
secure to them, as far as possible, the free
exercise of the same. To this end, when
in November and December, 1867, the op-.
position to negro suffrage developed itself
in the general discharge of those colored
laborers who voted contrary to the wishes OF
their employers, Bureau officials we're IN
structed to take strong measures to redress
this evil by procuring employment as far
as possible for those discharged, and by re-
lieying the widespread destitution caused
among class who depended upon their
daily labor for their support.
The issue Of supplies TO the destitute has
been confined to cases Of extreme want,
and to prevent starvation. In the month