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The Legislature of the State of Tennessee, in disregard of the spirit of the Proclamation of the President, has refused to amend its Code in such a manner as to render justice to the negro, in permitting him to give testimony in its courts. The freedman, against whom in the majority of instances, there exists an intense and bitter prejudice, in cases where men of his color, only, are witnesses of crimes committed upon him, is thrown entirely upon the General Government for the protection of his legal rights.
In the discharge of its clean duty toward him, the authority to adjudicate upon "all difficulties arising between negroes themselves, or between negroes and whites or Indians," has been conferred by Circular No. 5. of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, upon the Assistant Commissioners. While abundant provision is, therefore, made for the settlement of minor difficulties where the negro is a party, it is believed a fortiori that the government is bound to protect these helpless men in the possession of their more sacred