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332 that if the Bureau was not to be a curse, to white and black, instead of a blessing, an immediate purification was imminently necessary- And those who shall be appointed hereafter, and those whom I have already placed on duty in the Freedmens Bureau will be instructed to do their utmost to remedy this evil - resulting to the Bureau from the plague of politics - by abstaining from any expression of opinion upon the differences which distract the public sentiment, and remembering that revolutions never go backwards, to strive by every means in their power to reconcile the whites to the existing order of things, by showing both in their conduct and conversation that they have no higher aim than the establishment of kindly reciprocal relations between the employer and the employed, and no wish nearer their hearts than the prosperity of both. That while vigilant in securing to the negro a recognition of his civil and political rights it is to be borne in remembrance that "Vinegar never caught flies", and therefore to be patient, just, and merciful to the planters who have much to contend with in their changed social condition, and who cannot be expected to unlearn in two years the teachings of nearly a century, but who by firmness and kindness, and impartial justice, may finally be brought to consider the intervention of the "Bureau Agent" in their relations with their former slaves as an evidence of the benificent wisdom of a Government who thus provides for both races, an arbiter in the difficulties which of necessity are continually arising in the intercourse between a people who are but just emerging from the darkness of slavery, and those who have been educated to regard them in the past but as so much chattell property. I understand the meaning of the word partisan, to be one who is violently and passionately, or unswerveably devoted to his party, or interest, and I hold that a man can with all his heart, and with all his soul, uphold the institutions of his country, and a respect for its flag, without making himself stinck in the nostrils of those who may be opposed to his way of thinking. I have ever found that it is the undemonstrative man who makes himself felt in assemblages of the 333 people, and the silent, working, man, who is judged by his deeds, that is respected in communities. Now the moral education of the colored man and his material interests are those which should be subserved by the Bureau Agent, who if he attends to these things in their entirety, and protects the ignorant, gentle hearted negro, from being overreached by unprincipled white speculators in the miseries of these people, he will have his hands and his heart too full to find the time for the political education of the negro, which had better be felt, in this respect, to those most interested in securing his vote, which is not necessary to the Bureau Agent if he is an honest man, devoted to the work set before him, and not an occupant of his office as Bureau Agent for self aggrandizement. I am, General, Yours respectfully. J. Hayden Bvt Brig Genl U.S.A. Asst Com'r Alabama 654 Headquarters Dist of Alabama Montgomery Ala Jany 27, 1868. 331 Howard Major General O.O. Commissioner Washington D.C. General: I have the honor to ask that Mr John P. Miller, Clerk in the office of the Asst Commissioner be appointed Chief Clerk, at a salary of One hundred and twenty five Dollars per month to date February 1st 1868. Very Respectfully Your Ob't Servant J. Hayden Bvt Brig Genl and Asst Commissioner
