Year: 1866

much cruelty as possible and so the freed
men are treated harshly, numerically, I'M
Justly. The public mind is not informed OF
the one-hundredth part of the wrongs en-
dured by the patient freedmen Were
| these wrongs known to good men OF every
creed or party, as they ought to be, astorm
| of indignant vengeance would fall upon the
authorities that allow them, or attempt to
cover them and the department of the
government created for the especial pro-
lection of these freedmen, would be streng-
thened for good, instead Of being strangled
to crafty those who in the South, nurse
this naughty hatred, and practice these saw
age outrages.


| So long as the owners of land in the
South strive to exterminate the freedmen,
so long must labor be uncertain and irreg-
ular in it's activities, unproductive and un-
reliable as to it's results. | am convinced
that as things now are in the South, the
products of that section will be found to
decrease while the lands remain in the
! hands of Southern men, because OF the
wrongs they infict upon the labor they en-
ploy, and these wrongs will diminish or ut
! terly cease only in the ratio that new men,





| try to settle and till it. 1t is as certain as
that day follows the nj hit, that peace and
prosperity will come to the South only in
the train of, and by the operation of just
laws assuring equality before the law to
| the rights of all classes, and banishlng the
present reign of lawlessness and savagery.
! The Freedmen's Bureau, under the COM
mendable administration of Maj Gen. How
ard, is the only source Of protection enjoy
ed by the Freedmen, and were this means
withdrawn, it is my belief that the condi
ton Of the Southern people, black and
white, would be many fold worse than it is.
If good men, acting upon the principle that
it is always best to do right, but uplift
united voice to the National government,
demanding such legislation as will end this
reign of gloom and iniquity at the South,
which now shame and disgrace US, we may
confidently expect such stream OF nation
al prosperity as we have never before had
And no class have the interest, or have the
right to act with more energy in this mat
ter, than the merchants, traders and man
ufacturers of our country. Cotton will new
er come from the South in such quantities
as our condition needs until the labor that
produces it has as much justice and pro
lection as the capital that supplies that Ia
bOr


THE COTTON CROP OF THIS YEAR.


This, so far as the best information which
| have been able to gather from Northern
and Southern men extends, will range nigh
the sum of 100000 bales Had Northern
men been allowed to enter the South, and
to live there in peace, there would have
been another million of bales added to this
estimate. As it is, enterprise has been
paralyzed, and industry has waited the re-
turn of order and security The causes for
this small crop, as represented by many
government officers, and by loyal citizens
resident in the South, are the overflow of
some sections by breaks in the levees, the
worthlessness of the cotton seed in others,
and the want of means with which to en-
ploy laborers.


OPINIONS OF BRITISH CAPITALISTS.


After giving in these terms the result of
his Investigations in this country, Mr. Con
way devotes some space to the views of
British capitalists. He says they have de-
termined to wait until the capitalists of the
North invest money in the South before
they will attempt to invest theirs. They
regard the people of the South as unsettled,
unhappy, and hostile to the national au-
thority the lawlessness and disorder to
be found there makes life and property in
secure, and the treatment Of the freedmen
such as to render the laboring class discon-
tented and dissatisfied. They also affirm
that under the weight of oppressive local
laws, ostensbly against vagrants, but real
ly depressing the freemen, and the exer-
else of violent prejudice on the part of
former masters, the newly enfran chised
bondmen might move in large numbers and
by sudden migration to other sections OF
the country in quest and hope of better
treatment, and that for these reasons the
labor Of the South would be so uncertain
that all investments entangled in it might
be lost rapidly and utterly


The report closes with the following par
agraph: now believe all efforts tend
ing in the direction marked out by the res
olution of the Chamber, and by various
companies of Northern men, are, under the
present mood of the Southern mind, likely
to be wasted upon a people who hate the
North, the Union, and the freedmen, almost
as intensely as they did when the rebellion
was in its full career. l may here state
that have consulted several of the presi-
dents OF companies organized for the pur-
pose Of encouraging and assisting South
ern planters and farmers. and that they in
form me that the infatuation and exaspera-
ton of the Southern people, their persist
ent hatred of Northern men, and their in
Justice to the freedmen have, as a class IN
their Judgment, also rendered efforts com
paratively fruitless and nugatory, until the
mind of the South shall have reached
more settled and kindly state, OF the chap
ter of events have, in Gods wise and good
providence, evolved new and more promis-
ing conditions for the classes that toll and
the classes that rule throughout the South
ern portion of our common country"


A LADY applied to Reynolds, the philan-