Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-01-06

A SPEECH IN THE VIRGINIA RECONSTRUCT
TON CONFERENCE.-THE Richmond Dispatch
in its report of the proceedings Of this Con
vention, on Friday, in relation to the Freed
meus Bureau, has the following:
Hodg es (negro) said that he had hearn his
friends peak of de blessings Of de Freedme en- S
Beroo. He acknowledged de wisdom and
kindness of the Beroo and that it was in the in
teresl of de people. he was very tond OF enc
rel Howard q, and had hearn people where Saw
him say tn at he was man Whar was best loved
whar was bet known. He was in New York !;
an he had left dar in 1868 to come down here
an answer to the cry for help that riz up. He
found thousands and hundreds Of thousands in
want, and pedl led up on five dollars piece
When he come on and found de people, he t0le
'em he was pinted to come down and hal p EN- )
and he cat piece out'n de Tribune and all DE-
other papers whar had it in. He had when he
was at home dis year, seen good many men
laboring on Government farms apply to the
Beroo tor jestice and jestice wasn't done for it..
His brightest hope was to see de Beroo got
away He wanted to see de time when "lyap'
men would not be persecuted-dose 'lyaf' me'
whose wives and husbands had went forth 10
de free battle to meet de invadin foe. Dey low
ed dar wives and homes, but dey loved dar
country better And he had seen men speaker
latin on the clothes sent these ''lyal' men By
the instertushin which he represented. YES, he
had seen them speckerlatin right at thar doors,
and he had seen men walking down de streets
of orfolk, Portsmouth and Forchess Monroe.
He told EN- that the white folks had hogs and
they must kill EN- and eat EN- before they sui
fered for somethin to eat. He tole en- to pull
the corn, which was bending the stalks down,
before they should starVe. He tole en- this,
too, on Wise's farm, and he was ordered back
to n ew York, though he rlz MS voice against
it. Ole men and men in his county had been
cold and were shot, and they was freezin, and
Lieut.. Ravens had his floor covered all over
with blankets De truth must prevail, and he
intended to write book on de testimony of his
people, which would make dose men where
which their dark deeds had brought upon
them Dis history of de Freenens Berooo
which he intended to write would sastonish dc
Convention and astonish de world. Toe State
| was to be governed by honest men, and dey IL
tended to drive de rogues off. He was compel
led to speak desc words because dey were true.
Dey intend to organize New Virginia. De
Scripsher told us that old things should pass
away. De power of desc "dislyaP' men, whose
| larnin and houses had been gained by de labor
| of d blacks, and de very. stones under their
feet had been got from their blood, must pass
away, He remembered when his father used
to have good many hogs to feed, and the hogs
would keep on squeelin and squalin round de
pen intel dey was fed and they wouldn't 60
| off to work TIL you fed EN-. Now, the Free
| men 8 BerOO was JeS llKe QaC, anu Lne DlachS
was squalin round, and couldn't 60 to work till
dey was fed with handful O. corn to keep en-
from hangin aroun. God had provided for de
hog, and he could provide for de black man
CESS as we'll as de hog. He had been called a
corn-feld niger. He was but be thanked
God he had been born free De Freem ems Be
70 agents got thirty-fve per cent of what de
black man made.
He had come to the conclusion that de blacks
must root or die to decolate de reproaches
against en- and he prayed as cheerfully as he
ever did in his life that God would help 'em