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0885

independent of Military or some other restraint. 
If the negro race cannot be removed from the country, it must have to some extent the privelege of suffrage, or the State must remain in its present condition; of dependence on a higher authority.
I have looked at this subject carefully and from every point of view - and I am compelled to accept negro suffrage as the only solution of the many difficulties attending it.
It is the price which in accordance with natural laws the people of the South must pay if they wish their State Governments established on the same footing as those of the North.

I am General,
Most respectfully
Your obedient servant,
A. Baird
Brevet Major General, U.S. Vols. Asst Comr &c
State of Louisiana

Transcription Notes:
corrections, its A. Baird,