Viewing page 7 of 194

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

and it was relieved. I will endeavor to
have it report again tomorrow morning.
I have the honor to be
Very respectfully
Your obedient servant.

Brigadier General

Office Assistant Commissioner
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen
and Abandoned Lands
Montgomery, Ala.
August 1st 1865

Lorenzo James Esqr

Sir:
At your request I submit in
writing my opinion on points suggested by you.
1st I am of opinion that those who in this
crisis tamper with the safety and property of
the community by sale of liquor to negroes, at
present an unsettled, numerous and excited people,
or by aiding them in the disposition of stolen
goods, should be promptly and severely punished
by the civil authorities, and by martial law
where it prevails.
2:Social intercourse must not be denied to
a free people, nor the right peaceably to assemble. But meetings of a riotous nature, or oppressive and injurious to the owners of the property where they are held should be repressed by whatever measures are not unlawful , and are necessary to the peace of the community.
3: Contracts for labor, where time is a material part of the contract, should reserve part of the wages to be forfeited in case of leaving without good cause. This forfeiture is the security of the employer, and is as valid as the

contract.
4th A contract made with the head of a family for their labor, binds all children under age, and with the consent of the wife, binds her.
5th As a matter of course, the Government which secures to every one the reward of his own labor, expects every one to support by such labor himself and those dependent on him. The idea which prevails in some places that the Government will divide out the property of some of its citizens to enable some others to live in idleness, is the fabrication of wicked and designing men.
6th In every trial to which a negro is a party, the testimony of negroes must be received, or the whole proceeding is illegal and the officers liable to punishment. The credibility of this testimony is to be decided upon, as that of other persons.

These views being prepared hastily, I hold myself at liberty to revise their expression- yet you can use them whenever you think you can do good with them.
Very respectfully,
Your obt servt.

Brigadier General.