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support them. There are cases where men with families desire to have homesteads, which they may rent from their former owners_ Their strong local attachments are well known_ I think they ought to be encouraged to rent land, say from five to ten acres, I will be ready to enter into arrangements to this effect, on parts of the plantation remote from my dwelling house, with negros whose characters are not particularly objectionable_ With regard to the policy to be adopted towards the freedmen, there can be no difficulty, where they are able to maintain themselves_ but from the great number of men in the prime of life, who have entered the public service, amounting, I suppose, to several hundred thousands, & who have been withdrawn from agriculture & their families, it follows there is a large disproportion left, of the old, infirm & women and children_ They form a pauper class, the support of whom cannot be required of their former owners, who are impoverished by the war, nor of the State of Virginia, which has been to a great extent devastated_ I suppose the burden must devolve on the United States government, by whose act they were emancipated_ It seems to me that the best course will be to have the minors bound out as apprentices_ That is done by the laws of Virginia concerning paupers & I suppose there are similar laws in the other States. No distinction is made in the law between white and colored apprentices, except that it does not require the latter to be taught to read & write. (See Code of Virginia 1849, p 530) I do not know that this law requires any modification, unless it be that those to whom apprentices are bound shall be required to support the parents when infirm_ I think every inducement should be held out to keep the former masters and servants together on the same land. As to the removal of the colored population to a territory, to be settled by them, as has been suggested in the South, I am not sure the plan is advisable. The migration of the women & children, where there is no husband, will be attended with great hardships, suffering and expense of life_ It is always the case in the settlement of new colonies_ The loss of labor, which as the children, in a few years would be effective, must be seriously felt where the want
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