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Many could not find employment - idleness and want, induced crime. He alluded to the ignorance of the law among the negroes, and said that they were punished more severely for an infringement of it than a white offender.

Lieut Edward F. O'Brien, Supt. of Govt. Farms, informs me that he has, under his care, several wives of colored soldiers who have been driven out & refused employment by the planters.

Instances of illtreatment, and of the "taking of the law into their own hands" by the white citizens of St Mary's, Charles, & Prince George's Counties, might be multiplied. Many planters made the remark to me - "we shall have another St. Domingo here." Unless some means is devised to secure from these planters simple justice, - the freedmen ask no more, - the fears of the planters may be verified in some bloody outbreak. The negro would be less than a man, not to resort to the [[lex talionis?]] under such oppression with no other remedy provided.

You will be interested in knowing how these planters