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March ,1866

To the Council of the City of Richmond,
The Committee for the relief of the poor of the city have had under consideration the communication of Lieut. Merrill in relation to the freedmen under his charge, and beg leave to report.

Until the late great change which has occurred in the condition and status of the coloured population of the state, it has been the practice of the City authorities to provide for the free coloured poor of the city who were unable to provide for themselves, in the same manner as the white poor were provided for. This free coloured population was then small and there were few of them who required such assistance. The emancipation of the slaves has increased the number of this population properly belonging to the city by the whole number of slaves owned in the city amounting to some five or six thousand persons; and the coloured population has in fact been increased by a vast influx from the surrounding country, so that it is estimated that there are now in the city some twenty thousand persons. This great number of persons have come to the city without property, without any previous arrangements for their employment or support, and indeed without any definite plans or purposes.

If these people had been white, those of them requiring support might and no doubt would have been compelled to return to the counties from which they came, and would not have been allowed to impose the burden of supporting them upon the city. As free negroes, when the state laws were in force, none of them could 

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